As God the Holy Ghost will enable
me, I wanna talk to you the best I can about a great mystery. Turn to Ephesians chapter five
again this evening. A great mystery, something that
cannot be known except by divine revelation. By divine revelation,
not only in the Word of God, but by the experience of God's
grace in salvation. A great mystery, something altogether
completely hidden from human wisdom and human reason and human
understanding. The title of my message is Union
with Christ. Our text will be Ephesians 5,
verses 30 through 32. We are members of his body. of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they
too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. This
is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. We are members of his body flesh
and of his bones." What an astounding statement. This truly is a great
mystery. Having made that statement, we
are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Paul says, this is a great mystery. And I don't hesitate to say that
this portion of Scripture is one of the most wonderful meaningful,
fruitful statements found in all the Word of God. It sets
forth the mystery of mysteries, the very substance of the lofty
doctrine of divine revelation, and that is the living, loving,
lasting union of Jesus Christ and God's people, His elect,
His redeemed, His Church. Most assuredly, We will never,
never, at least in this world, fathom the depths of this sea. This text is one that we will
continue to roll around and I trust rejoice in throughout our days,
the mystery that's here revealed. But understand it, we will not,
at least not this side of heavenly glory. This is manna from heaven. It's not to be looked at as just
a matter of doctrinal correctness and orthodoxy and say, well,
that's right, move on to something else. But rather this is bread
to be tasted, eaten. and digested and lived upon day
by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. This is a text to
take to your closet. Turn it over in the meditation
of your heart. If all you learn from these words
of scripture are what I have to say, you will leave here with
less than a tithe of the riches in this text. When I'm done preaching,
get alone with your great husband, your Redeemer, your God, your
Savior, and worship. And then, in your heart, you
shall rejoice in that which is here revealed. Even now, pray
that God will give you a heart to hear his word, and give me
a heart and grace to communicate his word. Let's come like Mary
and sit at the Savior's feet, leaving the cares of the day
behind, and here drink in the love of Christ, which is like
wine upon leaves, well refined. We are members of his body, of
his blood, of his flesh, and of his bones. This is children's
bread. It belongs just for the children
of Israel. Like the manna poured out from
heaven day by day for all the years of wandering in the wilderness,
this bread is poured out just for the chosen seed. Like the
water that flowed from the smitten rock, this flows not for Edom
nor for Amalek, but just for God's elect. If you're not joined
to Christ, I know that everything I have to say will just be sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal. But if your members of Christ,
members of Christ joined to him, if you live in him and he lives
in you, nothing can be more, more joyful than what's here
declared. We are members of his flesh,
of his body, and of his bones. These words are written for us. Paul says we. And you don't have
to guess who he's talking about. Back in the first chapter of
Ephesians, he speaks of this same people. We, we who are chosen
of God, we who are blessed of God, we who are predestinated
by God unto eternal salvation, we who have redemption through
the blood of Christ, acceptance with God in the beloved, the
forgiveness of sins, This is for we, Paul says, we, you and
I who are gods are members of his body, of his flesh and of
his bones. What Paul is telling us here
is that there is between Jesus Christ and his chosen redeemed
bride, the church, a sacred eternal union by which we become one
with God's Son, our blessed Savior, one with Him. As Brother Merle
read the 17th chapter of John, and our Lord Jesus repeatedly
praying that they may be one, that they may be perfect with
one, that they may be one as we are one. He is praying that
we may experience that we who are chosen and redeemed by His
blood, that we who are God's own elect, that we may experience
the blessedness of a union that took place before ever time began. When God put us in Christ, when
Christ stood forth as our surety in the covenant of grace before
the worlds were, we stood in him, one with him, one with him. Now I could easier hold the entire
ocean in a thimble. then explain to you what that
means. I don't have a clue what it means. So tonight, all I can do is scratch
around the edges of the surface and show you what is plainly
revealed in Holy Scripture about this blessed union. In doing
so, I'll try to briefly answer two questions. What is the mystery? And what does our union with
Christ secure for us? What is the mystery? We're members
of his body and of his flesh and of his bones. The Apostle
Paul speaks of the mystery of godliness when he speaks about
the incarnation of our Savior. When the Lord Jesus came into
this world taking into union with himself our nature. We tend
to say taking upon himself our nature. That's not correct. He
took into union with himself permanently and everlastingly
our nature. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Seated today in glory is a man,
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and as really and truly as all
the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the body of the man Christ
Jesus who was crucified for us and rose again and now makes
intercession for us at the right hand of God. So we are one with
Him. This is the mystery of grace
as that is described as the mystery of godliness. When Paul calls
this a mystery, Charles Hodge correctly stated, any explanation
which dispels that mystery and makes the doctrine perfectly
intelligible must be false. I've been studying this the last
several weeks and I've been studying this for a long, long time. It's
a subject that just is never off my mind. I pray God it never
shall be. But I looked up everything I
could find on the subject of our union with Christ, and you
would be amazed at how well men take away the mystery in describing
it. explanation that makes the mystery
intelligible must be false. This is a mystery known only
by experience in the revelation of God's grace. realizing the
impossibilities of fully answering my question when I say, what
is this mystery? I can only show you some things
that are revealed in the scripture, things I've experienced by God's
grace and I hope to experience until I leave this world, things
that I know to be so because God has written them upon my
heart by the finger of the Holy Ghost. And I pray he does the
same for you. As you read these words, we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Recall the
events that are recorded for us in the second chapter of Genesis.
The apostle here quotes directly from the words of Adam, when
the Lord God brought Eve to him and he spoke these words as he
gazed upon that first woman who was taken out of his sight, created
to be a companion and a help meet for him. Adam said, this
is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called
woman because she was taken out of man. What did Adam mean by
that? It's certain that the great husband
of our souls must mean the same thing, only in an emphatically
spiritual sense. First, there is with Christ and
his church a similarity of nature. The first thing that's evident
is this similarity of nature. When Adam looked on Eve, he didn't
regard her as a stranger. or as a creature of a different
kind, a different mind, and a different nature. He said, this woman is
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. One very simple meaning
of those words is that she was of the same nature and of the
same race as Adam. There's a very blessed spiritual
truth here. Our Lord Jesus has taken on himself
and into union with himself forever our nature. We rejoice to declare
that Christ himself is God over all, blessed forever. And we
rejoice that the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, and we rejoice to know that
He was made one of us. He became all that we are. Listen to the scriptures, Hebrews
chapter 2. You don't need to turn, let me just read it to
you. Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things, since
he took on him the seed of Abraham, it behooved him, it was necessary
for him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. In order
for Christ to be our priest, our mediator, our redeemer, he
must be exactly what we are. The Lord Jesus Christ possesses
the very nature that we possess. He carried about the very same
nature that we carry about. He lives in the same nature in
which we live. He lived like that on this earth
like we do. and he lives in heaven with that
very same nature. So that this one who is God,
willingly, gladly became all that we are, sin alone accepted. And while he lived on this earth,
our Lord Jesus experienced everything we experience. I can't even imagine that, let
alone comprehend it. But pastor, he was never tempted. Read the fourth chapter of Matthew. But pastor, he never knew sin. No, he didn't. Until by the grace
of God, in a mysterious way that can't be understood, that can't
be explained, that can't even be expressed fully in words,
he was made sin. So that he who intercedes for
me in heaven knows by experience everything that touches my heart. every trial, every heartache,
every concern, every emotion. He even knows what it is to have
to confess his guiltiness before God. He is one with us in our nature. And by the grace of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God, dying as our
substitute, was buried, and now has ascended into heaven. Some
years ago, Brother Herman Moore, who was pastoring in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, came up to Ashland, preaching one of the conferences,
and he preached on the subject to man in glory. And he made
these two statements. This was the essence of his message.
He said, there is a man in glory who once lived on this earth,
exalted above all things, bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. And then he said, since there's a man in heaven like
myself, there's hope for me. If one man, why not another?
If one man, why not me? The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into heaven, the God-man, our Savior, to open the door for
sinners like you and me. And now, by the mighty operations
of God himself, you, my brother, my sister, you and I, being born
again by God the Holy Ghost, been made partakers of the divine
nature. Peter declares it so in 1 Peter
chapter 1 and verse 4. What can that mean? Does that
mean that we are little gods? Of course not. Of course not.
This is what it means. The new birth is nothing less
than God forming Christ in us. It is nothing less than Jesus
Christ himself entering into the heart and setting himself
upon the throne of man's soul and ruling and living in us by
God's almighty grace. And not until Christ enters into
you by his grace will you ever have any confident, assured hope
of glory. This is what the scriptures say,
Christ you the hope of glory. The basis of that hope is what
Christ did for us. The basis of that hope is his
obedience. The basis of that hope is his
death. The basis of that hope is his
acceptance. The basis of that hope is his
intercession. The basis of that hope is his
grace. But the hope comes when you're
born again, when Christ is born again. and you're made partakers
of the divine nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ came and
entered into us and made us new creatures, new creatures, all
together new. He didn't come and repair the
old man. He came and put a new man in
us, Christ in you, so that now we live in his nature. As he cried out to God, we cry
out to God. As it was his meat and drink
to do the will of his father, it is the believer's meat and
drink to do his father's will. In agony of soul, he strove against
sin, and God's people strive against sin. As his heart beat
with love for God, every heaven-born soul, his heart beats with love
for God. As his life was marked by one
goal, longing for God's glory above all things. The believer's
heart longs for one thing, the glory of God. You can't be satisfied even as
he could not be satisfied until at last you're with him in glory. What a blessed truth. We are
members of his body, of his flesh, And if his bones, when I had
finished my message late this afternoon, just before Brother
Lindsey came in, I was thinking about that statement. And I went
back and wrote down again what Mabel Dick said to Shelby several
weeks ago. She said, I'm in Christ and Christ
is in me. Everything's all right. Bless God, everything's all right. We are one with Christ. He lives
in us and we live in him. Now, can you tell me something
else that you desire? Something else that you want?
Something else that you need? For another thing, these words
imply an intimate relationship. Eve was Adam's helpmate. joined
to him in the bonds of intimate communion. Therefore, he didn't
simply say, she is of the same bone and same flesh as I am. He said, she is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh. They were one, they were one. Now there's no relationship upon
this earth that is nearer, more blessed, dearer than the relationship
of a husband and wife. It's a relationship of love,
of joy, of peace. It is the divinely ordained union
of a man and woman that's dissolved only by death. Now think of this,
you women as you relationship to your husband, you men as is
your relationship to your wives, such is the relationship that
exists between you, a believer, and the Son of God. This is the
nearest, closest, most intense, most intimate relationship that
can be imagined. This is a more intimate relationship
than than that of parents and children. I have heard women
speak of their children and say, well, they come first. Oh, no. If they do, your home's
in trouble. Parents may forget their children
and fail to have compassion on them, but the Lord God, our Savior,
will never neglect his wife. Children, at least when they're
small, cannot enter into the thoughts and feelings of their
parents, but the wife communes with her husband. She's one with
him. She knows his cares, his sorrows,
his joys, his delights. His very will, she knows. She knows what he wants. Without
him expressing it, she knows what he wants. Children, on the
other hand, are born and raised for the purpose of separation.
We raise our children, if we raise them right, so that they
will leave the house, not stay there. We raise our children,
if we raise them right, so that they will become independent
of us, not ever depending on us. We raise our children, if
we raise them right, to be good husbands or good wives, to have
their own families and to go their own way. Children of God,
we can never explain or even understand this deep, deep mystery,
but our souls are wed to the Son of God. Let him kiss me with
the kisses of his mouth. His love is better than wine. He espoused us to himself before
the world began. He redeemed us with his own precious
blood. He prepared our wedding garments
for us. He allured us into the wilderness
and sweetly forced us into his arms. And then our Lord Jesus,
taking us into union with himself, brings us home to God. Blessed
be God, my Maker, my Redeemer, my King, is my husband. We are members of his body, of
his flesh, and of his bones. And this is a mysterious union
with a mysterious origin. Though Adam was conscious when
Eve was created, or unconscious when she was created, he knew
that she had been taken from his side. And our Lord Jesus
knows right well the origin of his spouse, the wound is still
in his side. As Eve was created the mother
of all living, so the church of God is spoken of in scripture
as the mother of God's saints. She's spoken of as that one who's
now has to enlarge her stakes because God increases her soul.
Our Lord Jesus said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. What did he say? Here I am, the
corn of wheat. I must die. If I don't go into
the earth and die, I will forever be alone. but I die that I may
bring forth much fruit that my people may live with me. By his
suffering and death, his church is born into the world. This
church, the whole body of God's elect, every sinner who trusts
the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's something more implied
in these words. She is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. What did Adam say? What's he
saying? This lady belongs to me. She's mine. She's mine. And so it is with any man who looks
upon his wife as he ought. She's mine. And you be wise not
to bother her. She's mine. You'd be real smart
not to hurt her. She's mine. I'll take care of
her. And the Lord Jesus Christ declares
of his church, she's mine. You're not your own. You've been
bought with a price. Brother Bobby read the 12th chapter
of Romans back in the office. Paul said, I beseech you, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. That's the only thing that makes
any sense. What else makes any sense for you to do? But to present
yourself a living sacrifice continually, holy, acceptable unto God. Tis
done, the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's and he is
mine. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess the voice divine. For many years, We willingly,
like Gomer, laid in the arms of another, but we were his. Christ redeemed us by the price
of his blood and by the power of his grace, so let him alone
have our love. And this union is a vital union,
a vital union, vital both ways, vital to him and vital to us. In the first chapter of Ephesians,
the apostle Paul, the same apostle, says, we are the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. Now that can't possibly be talking
about anything except Christ as the head of his church, as
our mediator, as our substitute, as our surety. And he, being
our surety, cannot be satisfied, and cannot be complete, and cannot
be full, except all his people be one with him. And we can have
no existence and no life apart from him. The branches cut off
of the vine die. They're dead, they wither, they're
good for nothing but the burden. Our life is joined to him, the
vine. And we draw life from him and
his life flows into us. When I say this is a vital union
between Christ and our souls, I mean we can't do without him. Whom have I in heaven but thee? How is it that we're one with
Christ? We were one with him eternally, accepted in the beloved,
blessed in him, justified in him, sanctified in him, glorified
in him. All his works were accomplished
and finished before the world was. Did I explain that? Well, not hardly, not hardly,
but that's exactly what the book says. One with Him eternally. But that was a secret union.
This is the union that preserved us through the Adam fall. This
is the union that preserved us through the ages of time. This
is the union that preserved us in life under the day of our
calling. And then the Lord God comes by his grace at the appointed
time of love and Christ comes to live in you. And now it's
a manifest union. we come to know the reality of
the union when Christ comes to dwell in us by his grace. This
union with Christ is the union of one who is our representative
before God, our surety, our federal head, the head of his bride,
the head of his body, so that everything he is as the God-man, Everything he
possesses because of his obedience to the Father, everything about
him is ours, fully, fully ours, immutably ours. Well, what does
all this secure for us? Our union with Christ secures
our everlasting safety. Our Savior said, because I live,
ye shall live also. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. If my security depended on me,
I'd perish in a heartbeat. But our life is Christ. Our life
is Christ, not just in him, it is him. And we can never, never
perish. If I'm one with Christ, then
I shall forever enjoy his love. As my father hath loved me, he
said, even so have I loved you. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end. We are loved by God. our Savior says, Brother Merle
read it to us just a few minutes ago, even as God loves Christ
our Mediator, and for the same reason. Therefore doth my Father love
me, He said, because I laid down my life for the sheep. not as
God essentially, but as the God-man, our mediator, as Jehovah's righteous
servant. Our Lord Jesus earned, He earned,
did you hear me? He earned His Father's love by
His righteousness and His blood. And we were one with Him when
He did it. We're loved by God as He is loved by God and for
the same reason, because of His obedience. We're accepted by
the triune Jehovah with the same perfection and fullness with
which He is accepted and for the same reason, because of His
righteousness and blood. We are eternally and immutably
loved by God, accepted by the Father, the delight of the Father,
just as He is, and for the same reason, His eternal accomplishments
as our surety. And blessed God, oh, blessed
be God, it never changes. The Lord God Almighty from everlasting,
delighted in His Son. And the Lord God Almighty from
everlasting, delighting in His people in His Son, delights in
His people all the time. Sometimes He appears to frown. but he always has a smiling face
and says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So that the Lord God looks upon
us as he looks upon his son. And he never looks down from
heaven on Don Fortner He never has, He never does, He never
will, except He sees me in His Son, bone of His bone, flesh of His
flesh, member of His body. If we're members of His body,
of His flesh and of His bone, then one day soon he will present
us to himself a glorious church without spot or reekle or any
such thing. Then we shall possess all his
glory. His glory he will not give to
another, but his glory he gives to his bride. He says, Father,
The glory which thou hast given me, I give them. The very glory that you give me because
of my obedience, I give them. And we shall have that glory
forever. Does he have perfect holiness?
Us too. Does he enjoy perfect rest? Soon
we shall. Is he seated upon a throne? We
shall be seated upon his father's throne with him in heaven's glory. Does he wear a crown? We see
his people around his throne wearing crowns he put on their
heads. Does he have perfect joy? This is just almost unimaginable. Nobody on this earth knows what
that is. Perfect joy. You've never had a relationship
with anybody that hasn't cost you pain or will, I promise you. No possibility, no possibility. In the dearest relationship,
death will soon part you if nothing else does. But we being joined
to Christ, one with Christ, When all the sorrows and trials and
darkness and heartache of life in this world because of our
sin is over and there is no more sin, we shall have perfect joy
and perfect rest. There'll be no regrets and no
sorrows and no sighing. To which Jesus and his chosen
race, subsist the bond of sovereign grace, that hail with its infernal
train, shall ne'er dissolve nor end in vain. Hail sacred union,
firm and strong, how sweet the grace, how sweet the song, that
worms of flesh should ever be, one with incarnate deity. one
in the tomb when he arose, one when he triumphed over his foes,
one when in heaven he took his seat, while Sarah sang all hell's
defeat. This sacred union forbids our
fears, for all he is and has is ours. With him, our head,
we stand or fall, our life, our surety, and our all. Oh, God, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For Jesus Christ,
our Lord, and thank you. Oh, my God, thank you for making
him one with me and me one with him. Amen.