Well, I'd like you to turn with
me to the second epistle of Timothy that we read earlier, and I want
to look at a couple of verses, 11 and 12, this morning. I did intend to look at the whole
of verses 11 to 13, but I'm so sure we wouldn't have time that
I've cut it short and maybe we'll come back to it next week. And the title of the message
is Union with Christ. Okay, so we're in 2 Timothy,
chapter 2, verse 11. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 11,
which says, it is a faithful saying For if we be dead with
him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also
reign with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. We've
been looking, well the last time we were together, we were looking
at the Song of Solomon, and that's a marriage love song between
believers, the believer, the church, and the bridegroom, the
Lord Jesus Christ, about union with him, as pictured in literal
married union. I'll just make a point, it's
just occurred to me. the situation that we have in
this country amongst our politicians and their rampant determination
at the moment to bring in same-sex marriage. According to the scriptures
marriage is between a man and a woman and it pictures the love
of Christ for his church. And if anything, if anything,
above all the things that I put up with political parties and
say, okay, I'll still vote for them, that's one step too far.
As far as I'm concerned, they're not fit to have our votes anymore,
parties that claim that sort of thing. But anyway, that was
a slight digression, but I've got it off my chest now. We're
thinking about Christ and his church and his people. The scriptures
are absolutely clear. Salvation Isn't that what this
is about? You know, these people out here,
why do you do this? Because we're interested in salvation. We know that we have a soul that
will never die. Don't this body die? We have
a soul that will never die. You're going to meet your maker.
You may try to think that this is just a stupid accident, a
blind, pointless accident. It isn't. There's too much order.
There's too much design. Say what you want. Richard Dawkins
and others. There's too much design. And
it speaks of a God who is holy, who calls us all to account.
And you have a problem. You know us. There's barely a
week goes by these days that I don't mention this. How can
a man be just with God? That's the problem you have.
This is why we're interested in salvation. In your sins you
stand before that God condemned. The soul that sins, it shall
die. This is why salvation is so important. And the Scriptures are clear.
Salvation is not anything that you or I do. It is all about
what God's Son has done. That's why what we believe is
unique in religion. There's no other religion that
says that. It's about what God's Son has
done. And by virtue of legal union,
With him, between his people and him, it's what his believing
people have done in him. Paul speaks of it, Ephesians
5, he's talking about husbands and wives. Husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, submit to your husbands,
be obedient to them in everything. And then he says, I'm not really
speaking about marriage, I'm speaking about Christ and the
church. That's what he's really speaking about. As I said, the
Song of Solemn is a marriage love song. It's about Christ
and his bride, about the feelings that are very tight and warm
and then in picturing in this life how separation comes about. There's times of separation.
He distances himself because the heart of the flesh grows
cold. Are you a believer this morning? Has gospel truth illuminated
your dead heart? Because in the flesh, that's
what it is. Spiritually, it's dead. In the day that you eat
thereof, said God to Adam, you shall surely die. Your spiritual
part will die in that day. You're spiritually dead, your
dead heart, but the gospel truth comes and illuminates the dead
heart. Have you abandoned all hope in
self for righteousness that you must have if you're to see God.
Have you abandoned all hope in that and trusted your soul to
the mercy of God in Christ? Because that's all you can do. The Pharisee who was praying
at the wall and he said, God, I thank you that I'm not like
other men, I'm so good. And then there was that one publican
who said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. As far as he
was concerned, it didn't matter if there were others, he was
the one. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Is that where you've
come to? All you can do is plead mercy in Christ. If so, you're
united to him. You're counted one with him. United to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that Paul says in his letters, Colossians 2 verse 11, he says
that we You and me who believe are circumcised in the flesh
in him, in Christ, in him. Circumcision was picturing that
putting off of the sins of the flesh. That's what the picture
is, that the flesh is corrupt. It's that putting off of that.
It says that his people are circumcised in him. Galatians 2 verse 20. He was crucified. We know that.
But do you know what Paul says? You were crucified in Him. You
who believe were crucified with Him. When He died on the cross,
in the legal reckoning of God, you were there in Him, dying
in Him on that cross. Romans 6 verse 8 says the same
thing. When He died, we died with Him. We died with Him. Romans 6 verse
4, when he was buried in the tomb, it says that we were buried
in him, pictured in baptism when we're buried in water. Colossians
2 verse 12, he was raised from the dead the third day. The Sunday
morning he was raised from the dead. Do you know who else was? All of his people in him. When
he was raised from the dead, we are said to have risen with
him. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
6, He ascended into glory and the apostles assembled and watched
as he was taken up into heaven. And an angel stood there and
said, why do you stand there gazing? He's coming back again.
They saw him go. But in Ephesians 2 verse 6, we
read that God has made us sit together in heavenly places in
him. Circumcised, crucified, died,
buried, risen, ascended, seated in heavenly places in Him. That's
where we are. This is the union of God's people
with Christ. And it's the subject of one of
Paul's faithful sayings. He has four faithful sayings.
One that you might remember, this is a faithful saying, that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Here it is in
verse 11. It is a faithful saying. For
if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. A faithful
saying. All of scripture is profitable
for doctrine. But somehow Paul highlights some
of these that are faithful sayings worthy of particular attention. A cardinal point of gospel truth. And here we have it in verses
11 to 13 that we read earlier. Paul is in prison in Rome. He's
under house arrest. He's in the final two years of
his life. You can read about it at the end of Acts. He's about
to be martyred. He knows that. He knows that
the legal process will take its course and he'll end up being
killed in some way. He's writing his last letter.
In verse 10, he says, he has endured all things for the sake
of God's elect that they may also obtain the salvation which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He's endured all things
that they might hear the gospel. What's he done that for? It's
their God's elect, they're going to be saved anyway. No, how is
it that it pleases God to save his people? By the foolishness
of preaching. by the foolishness of someone
going out and preaching to them. This is the way God has ordained
things. And so Paul has endured all things. He's been shipwrecked,
he's been beaten, he's been imprisoned, he's suffered slander, all things
for the elect's sake that they might hear the gospel by which
they will obtain the experience, the assurance, the knowledge
of salvation. And he tells Timothy that this
is a faithful saying of union with Christ, and it's what he
must teach. Verse 14, of these things, put
them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord. that they
strive not about words to no profit but to subverting of the
hearers. Teach them that this is the truth
and so this is what we'll seek to do. I want to look at just
a couple of these this morning in the time that we have available.
In verse ten we read this, this is a faithful saying, if we be
dead with him we shall also live with him. Remember, we're thinking
about the union that there is, the inseparable union of Christ
and his people. If we be dead with him, we shall
also live with him. What is it to be dead with Christ? You say that you're united with
Christ, you say that you believe the Lord Jesus Christ, yet the
scripture says you're dead with him. But you say, I'm not dead.
And immediately that verse comes to mind. I am crucified with
Christ. You end up dead as a result of
crucifixion. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. But not I. Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. What
is it to be dead with Christ? What was the cause of Christ's
death? Now, you're going to have to
really try and hang in there with this this morning. This
is meaty stuff. This isn't trivial, easy believism. This is hard. Think about it. Meditate on it. Really try and
hang in there. What was the cause of the death
of Christ? Why did Christ die? Why was he
crucified? Oh, because of some jumped up
trial and because of evil men who wouldn't listen to fairness
and they crucified a just man. All of that is perfectly true,
yes. Those Pharisees and scribes and priests and the Romans that
crucified Christ were guilty of absolutely terrible injustice. No question about it, but why
did Christ die? Why did he die? It was because
it was the will of his father that he should die. He died because
it was the will of God that he should die. He died because of
the law of God and the justice of God and the holiness of God. the perfect holy son of God died
under the law because the law condemned him the law that was
made explicit by Moses the law was always there but in the in
the commandments given by Moses and all the books of Moses the
law was made explicit and it says It doesn't say these literal
words in the books of Moses, it says it in Ezekiel, but the
same spirit is there. The soul that sins, it shall
die. It says in Deuteronomy, cursed
is everyone that does not continue in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. Cursed. cursed. Everyone that
does not continue. But Christ did continue. He was
perfect. Ah, no. He was made the substitute
of his people. He was made the surety of his
people. His people were lawbreakers.
They united together. And just as a husband in English
law used to have absolute legal responsibility for the actions
of his wife, Christ was legally responsible for the actions of
his bride. Lawbreakers. And he stood under
the law's curse. For God made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us. He was loaded with the sins of
his people. He bore those sins of his people. Under the law
and the justice of God, he was judged guilty of those sins. We know this because the Psalms,
you read Psalm 69, I think it is, and he talks about my sins
encompassing me. Whose sins are those? They're
Christ's. But Christ never sinned. No,
he didn't. But he took the sins of his people and he made those
sins his own. And the strict justice of God
condemned him. And what was the condemnation?
Cursed is everyone. Cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree. The soul that sins, it shall
die, was the judgment. In the day that you eat of it,
you shall surely die, said God to Adam. And Christ stood there,
loaded with the sins of His people, sweating those drops of blood,
and the curse of death was pronounced upon Him. What was the cause
of Christ's death? The law condemned Him for the
sins that He bore, the sins of His people that He bore, that
He assumed, that He was made. And so the judgment was pronounced.
And we read it in Zechariah 13 and verse 7. Where God the Father
says this, awake, O sword of judgment, against my shepherd,
who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. This is God the Father speaking
of his beloved son. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
the shepherd of his sheep, against the man who is my fellow. The
depth of feeling that there is in those words, against the man
that is my fellow, against his darling, beloved son. But God
being God could not possibly overlook sin. God being God could
not possibly excuse the sins of a people that he loved. Justice
must be satisfied. And His Son must come and bear
those sins, and bear the guilt and responsibility of those sins,
and bear the just judgment, for the law of God will be perfectly
just. It will not punish one iota short
of what the law requires, and it will not punish one iota beyond
that which the law requires. Absolutely perfectly. The sword
would awake against Christ, and he died under the curse of the
law for the sins of his people. And so we read, Cursed is everyone
that hangs on the tree. Galatians 3 verse 13, quoting
Deuteronomy, Christ died justly under the law, loaded with his
people's sins. And if we are to be united with
him, We must die under the law. We must die, not actually in
our flesh, for Christ has died for us. Christ has died in the
place of us. But we must die. Here, what it
means is, if we be dead with him, we shall also live with
him. If we be dead with him, means that we must die experimentally. In our experience, just as Christ
died actually in physical reality on the cross of Calvary. Or else,
says this scripture, there is no union with him. For us to
be dead with Christ, what does that mean? For us to be dead
with, if we be dead with him? For us to be dead with Christ
is to know the utter inability of our law works in any respect
whatsoever to save us from wrath to come. There is a false teaching
that is rampant in evangelical orthodox circles that says this. It seems to sound right when
it talks about justification, but it says that you then have
to go and build on that and add to it your own works of righteousness. It says that you are subject
to the law as the believer's rule of life and it is your duty
it is your duty to which you will be held to account to live
according to that law as your rule of life to sanctify yourself
to add your own improvement and goodness to the point where you're
fit to be taken to heaven. That is not what the scriptures
teach. Absolutely not. When you're dead with Christ,
you know the utter inability of law works, not only to save
you, to justify you, but also to sanctify you, to make you
more holy. You cannot obtain righteousness
by law works. You're utterly lost unless Christ
comes and shows you his dying love, and shows you what he has
accomplished as the savior of his people. You know that that's
the case, and that is what it is to die with him. You die to
all hope of anything that you might do in this flesh. Christ
died under the weight of sin. I'll quote it again, 2nd Corinthians
5.21, For He made, God made Him, Christ, whom knew no sin, to
be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He died under the weight of that
sin. He died to the law. He died to
sin. And His people died in Him. In
this country 50 years ago, we used to have the death penalty.
In some of the states of the US, they still do. for murder. And murder properly tried and
judicially carried out is absolutely according to the word of God.
It shows how highly valued life is. and how much the law of God
is against that light, easy taking of life. Our society has devalued
life. Our society does not punish murderers
as it should. Our society is reaping the consequences
of repealing that law. It always appeals to what it
counts as miscarriages of justice. I think the more you examine
the so-called miscarriages of justice, the more often you find
that the judicial system and the judicial processes it was,
was absolutely right. But when a murderer was executed
for murder, he was found guilty. It was perfectly clear he'd done
it. When a murderer was executed for murder, All the vengeance
of the law which says you shall not kill, you shall not do murder,
all the vengeance of the law is used up. He goes on to the
gallows as a living man who's committed murder and he's taken
down from the gallows as a dead man to be put in a coffin and
buried. The law has used up all its vengeance
upon that person. And that person, that murderer,
is now dead to the law against murder. Because the law against
murder can't do anything more to him. It's done everything
it can do. It's executed him on the gallows. It can do no
more to him. It no longer has any power over
that man. That murderer is dead. He's felt
the full weight of the vengeance of the law against murder. He's
dead. That law no longer has any power
over him. Now that's an illustration of
what it's like with Christ and the law and sin and Him dying
to sin and His people dying in Him. Romans chapter 7 verses
4 to 6 says this, ye also are become, ye, you believers, you
and me, you are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. He came, this is why God's Son
must come. It's coming up to Christmas,
everybody makes such a fuss but how few people understand what
the incarnation was really about. A body was prepared. Christ must
have a body. The Son of God must come in the
likeness of sinful flesh. Without sin, but in the likeness
of sinful flesh. And that body that represented
the flesh of His people must be broken, as we'll remember
shortly, the breaking of bread, and the drinking of wine, the
broken body and the shed blood of Christ. You are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ. That's why God came in a human
body. And his body was broken. And
his blood was shed. That you might become dead to
the law. This is what the scripture says.
You are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. And in
that death, that marriage between the soul and the old flesh is
broken. It's finished. That you should
be married, says Paul, to another. That marriage bond is broken,
that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised
from the dead, for that dead body of Christ went into the
tomb. That dead body went into the tomb broken for the sins
of his people. His blood poured out for the
sins of his people. But he came out of that tomb
in newness of resurrection life. He was raised from the dead.
And he has a new body. And he said, come and feel and
touch my body. And he ascended to his father.
And he's coming again. And all of his people are going
to have a body like unto his glorious body. And so Paul says,
even to him, you should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead. That marriage to the old flesh
is broken by death, the death of Christ on the cross, and the
death of his people in him on the cross of Calvary. But now
we're married as his people to another, which is the risen Christ,
the one who is raised from the dead. Now are we delivered from
the law. That being dead, wherein we were
held, we're delivered from it. Christ has died. Christ has taken
it out of the way. With Christ, in Christ, we are
dead to the law. We are dead to sin. And in dying
to law and sin, the marriage union between the soul and the
law in the flesh is ended. And a new husband comes and captures
the soul's affections. He's dying saving love. He shows
us himself in all of his glory. And so therefore Paul says, I
am crucified with Christ. The old man is crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, because I'm still here, I live by faith of the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. There's a daily
dying with Christ. If we be dead with him, we shall
also live with him." There's a daily dying with Christ in
personal and continual experience, constantly putting to death.
Again, in other places, Paul says, put off the old man with
his works. Put off the works of the old
man. Live according to gospel principles in newness of life.
There's a daily dying with Christ and a continual living with him. J.C. Philpott puts it like this,
a daily death in life and a daily life in death. Every day dying
to the old flesh and its desires. Every day living anew to the
one who was raised from the dead. And that death to the allure
of sin and to the curse of the law is in proportion to the life
experience of salvation in Christ. The more you know of Christ and
His glories, His risen saving glories, the more He comes to
the stricken soul. Your soul is stricken with sin.
And where do you find comfort? You try to reform yourself and
you fail. And the only place you find comfort
is a look at the Crucified One. And you see there that He's borne
all your iniquities. You see there what He's given
in your place. You see there the price of redemption. and how your heart is touched.
And how that changes you. I could rail from this pulpit
at you to tell you to behave differently. And I could waste
my time and breath again and again. Because all I could do
is like flogging a dead horse. Your flesh is dead as far as
the ability to live spiritual life is concerned. And your flesh
and mine, I could flog it with a whip like flogging a dead horse.
And do you know what the dead horse will never ever do? It
will never ever stand up because it's a dead horse. And that's
what it's like trying to transform the flesh, but a look at the
crucified one, a look at the one who is risen from the dead,
a look at the saving glories of the one who loved us and gave
himself for us. What a transforming power there
is in such a look. It's only by the experience of
Christ's grace in salvation that death to the law and sin is made
real. Galatians 6.14, God forbids,
says Paul, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now listen, by whom the world
is crucified to me and I to the world. Death. Death to the world. Death to the world. This is a
faithful saying. If we be dead with him, we should
be dead to the world. The world is such an enticer
of you and me, believer. Let's not fool ourselves. It is. The world is such an enticer. It is such a snare to believers. The Apostle John says this quite
bluntly. He says to believers, he says,
love not the world. Oh, we live in the world. He
gives us all things freely to enjoy. He gives us oil to make
our face to shine. He gives us wine to gladden our
hearts and everything else that is good. He tells us to think
on things that are good, on things that are holy, on things that
are pure, on things that are of good report. Think on these
things, there are good things. But mostly the world is an enticer. that tempts us. Oh, if only you
could have this, how much happier you would be. Oh, if only that
were the situation. Oh, if only you were there, how
much happier you would be. It constantly attracts us by
its charms. It gives us false promises of
happiness. How often have you thought, if
only I could have, then I would be absolutely happy? And you've
got it, and then you realize how shallow and how thin that
really is. Constantly attracts us. It gives
false promises. We're like moths flying, you
know, on a summer's night, you put the light on outside, and
before long, there are the moths flitting around the light. And
if they're not careful, they'll get too close and they'll destroy
themselves. But we must be crucified to the
world. And you're aware of how much
the world has been enticing you. And so you ask God to take away
the love of the world. You ask God to show you again
the glories of Christ. And perhaps, perhaps what happens
is this. Like in the Song of Solomon,
where the bridegroom withdraws himself for a while. You know,
last time we were together, two weeks ago, we saw in Song of
Solomon chapter three, and the Shulamite, representing the church,
the people of God, is in a panic. Where's he gone? I've lost him
whom my soul loveth. Have you seen him whom my soul
loveth? Because he'd withdrawn himself
from her for whatever reason. And perhaps this is how God answers
that prayer. He withdraws himself from us. Causing us to experience more
temptation. Causing us to experience more
despairing feelings of ourselves in the world. Causing us to be
more aware of our sin and our guilty rebellion against him.
Causing us to plead more for a fresh sight of his saving mercy. It's that that we need. We can't
restrain sin, the desires of the world in our flesh, by our
own strength. We can't do that any more than
King Canute could tell the incoming tide to stop and turn around.
We just can't do it. But in experiencing death to
law and sin in Christ, we experience spiritual life. If we be dead
with him, we shall also live with him. Jesus said this in
all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark chapter
8, 35, for whosoever will save his life, will try desperately
to cling on to his life, shall lose it. But whosoever shall
lose his life for my sake and the Gospels, the same shall save
it. If we be dead with Christ, we
shall also live with him, dead to the flesh, dead to the law,
dead to sin, but alive to the risen Christ in all of his saving
glory. Then verse 12, if we suffer,
we shall also reign with him. And we're barely gonna scratch
the surface here in the time that we've got available. But
it says, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.
There is no reigning with Christ except there first be suffering
with him. What is it that suffers with
him in this life of the flesh? What is it that suffers? He's
talking about now. If we suffer in this life in
the flesh now, we shall also reign with him. Why are believers
told that they must suffer with Christ? Well what I think it
is, is this. When you become a believer, the
Holy Spirit comes and puts a new man inside, a new nature. And that new man, that new nature,
is tormented and grieved with temptation in the flesh. The
spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit,
and the two are contrary. one to the other. It's that that
suffers in the flesh. The new nature suffers with temptation. That's our experience here and
now. There's a new man that loves the things of the Spirit of God
as we'll see in the studies when we get to Romans 7. There's a
new man that delights in the law of God after the inward man. And that new man suffers in the
flesh with the temptations of the flesh. But listen to this.
You know how Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes,
he said, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek,
blessed are the peacemakers. In other words, the blessings
of God. How Psalm 32 says, blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed, blessed
of God. Well James says this, James chapter
1 and verse 12, blessed is the man that endures temptation. It's a blessing to endure temptation. Those that are in the world with
no thought of God and no life from God in their souls, they
don't endure temptation because it doesn't bother them. In fact,
they're enticed. They flit around it like a moth
around a bright light. They're not bothered by it. They're
attracted by it. But the life of the new man within
the soul of the believer is tempted and tormented and suffers with
the temptation that is in the flesh. Jesus himself in that
body which he partook of in coming to save his people, it says in
Hebrews 2.18, for in that he himself, Jesus, hath suffered,
how did he suffer? Being tempted. He himself has
suffered being tempted. He is able to succor, to provide
comfort, to provide nurture to those that are tempted. You and
me, his believing people. And thereby, suffering with him,
this scripture assures us, we reign with him. Having overcome
the world, he says, don't fear the world, I've overcome the
world. We reign with him. And then Christ, and I'm having
to be very brief, we'll come back to it next week, Christ
also suffered persecution from men and women around him. And
we do, as his believing people. there'll be situations where
if it's plain that you believe this doctrine of God, that you
believe this doctrine of salvation. You know how Paul says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he says that to the Greeks, that's the non-religious
intellectual people, the whole idea of salvation is but foolishness. And they'll mock for it. They're
regarded as silly. Why are you doing that to yourself?
Why don't you just realize that you can just go and have a good
time and do what you want. and it can become much more pointed
and much more severe than that, right the way through to martyrdom,
but especially at the hands of religious folks. You know, you
think back to the Middle Ages and the martyrs, and it was all
for religious reasons. It was all because false religion
was persecuting, was causing suffering in those that followed
Christ and his gospel, because to them, the religious folks,
it's a stumbling block. They don't believe that you get
right with God by the sovereign grace and particular redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. No. It's especially at the hands
of religious folks, so don't be surprised. Don't be surprised
that those that look so orthodox are those that are the most vehemently
opposed, nastily opposed to the gospel of grace. Those who say
they believe in justification through the shed blood of Christ,
and yet, and yet, they hate the true gospel of scripture, and
they don't preach it, and they preach law works. Don't be surprised,
Jesus himself said this, talking about the Pharisees and the religious
folks of his day, he said, if they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, a devil, how much more shall they call
them of his household? That's you and me who believe
him. Don't be surprised if religious folks say that the doctrine we
believe is the doctrine of devils, because they told Jesus the doctrine
he preached was the doctrine of devils. And they cast out
of their synagogues and their churches, like they cast out
that blind man that Jesus gave his sight to in John 9. They
cast him out of the synagogue with their thin, hard religion
that was just an external gilding. It was just an external decoration,
that religion. And how it persecuted that poor
man who'd been given his sight, but yet inside, in the core of
him, there was the solid gold of gospel truth. What a sight
of Christ that man had in his isolation. He wouldn't have ever
seen Christ in their synagogues, going through all of their religious
orthodoxy, but on his own, what a sight of Christ he had. Do
you know, religion is full of hypocrites. Job 20 verse 6 says
this, the hypocrite's excellency mounts up to the heavens, and
his head reaches into the clouds, yet he shall perish forever.
By contrast, Philippians 3 verse 10, Paul says this, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable to his death. If we suffer with him, we shall
also reign with him. We'll come back and look at more
of this next week.