I did choose thee, Lord. Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.

Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert.

I want to read a verse of scripture from John chapter 14. The Lord says to his disciples in verse 20, at that day, you shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you. In that day you shall know what? That I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you.

I want to attempt to speak upon this subject, union with Jesus Christ. That's what's described in this passage of Scripture where the Lord says to his disciples on that day, That day being the day in their experience, God the Holy Spirit comes to them, and they become those who know. On that day, you shall know. This won't be speculation, this won't be guessing. On that day, you shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. union with Jesus Christ. Now, before I go on, I want to quote a verse of Scripture from Hebrews 2, verse 11. Both he that sanctifieth, that's Jesus Christ, and they who are sanctified, that's every believer, are all of one. Not closely joined together, They're all of one. For the witch cause, he's not ashamed to call them brethren.

Union with Jesus Christ, this is what every believer has, union, oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I love the way he says, on that day you shall know. Believers are people who know. The Lord said, we speak that which we know and testify that which we have seen. And when the Lord says we, he's including every believer. We know. I love it when Paul said, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. When he says we, he's speaking of every believer. We know this. We know this by revelation. We know this.

Paul said in Romans 7, verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Do you know that about yourself? that the law is spiritual and you are carnal, fleshly, sold under sin. Now, if you do not know that about yourself, you're not in this group of we know. All the we's know. When you know, you know.

In John chapter eight, verse 46, we read where the Lord said, if I say the truth, Why do you not believe me? He that's of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not because you are not of God. He said in John chapter 10, verse 26, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. My voice, I know them and they follow me.

Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Not I know what I have believed. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against that day.

Now, believers are people who know. On that day, you shall know that I am in the father and you are in me and I am in you. You shall know that I am in the father. Now, what in the world does that mean? He and his father are one. What his father does, he does. What his father says, he says. One in essence, one in purpose, one in substance. Though the son is a different person from the father, there are three persons in the Godhead. There is only one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and they are all one. These three distinct persons in the one God. Illustration of this would be in John 1.1 when we read, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God as a distinct person, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

The Lord said to Philip, he that has seen me, listen to these words, he that has seen me hath seen the father. All we'll ever see of the father is the son. He is one with his father. He is in his Father. Colossians 2, verse 9 says, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. All the fullness of deity, all the attributes of God dwell in the body of Jesus Christ. He is in the Father. And then he says, You shall know that you are in me, just as I am in my Father, you are in me.

Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world. Of Him, Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1.30, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Paul said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, so that when God sees me, all He sees is His Son. That's the desire of every believer.

Christ is in His Father. Christ is in His people. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, does that mean Christ's physical body is in us? No, that's not what it means. Christ's physical body is seated at the right hand of the Father, but Christ is in us by His Spirit. You see, as Christ is one with the Father, Christ is one with the Spirit. What the Son does, the Spirit does. Christ dwells in the heart of the believer by faith. And that's what Paul meant when he said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We dare not give ourselves the credit or the glory for anything. It's Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Now, here's three things every believer knows because God has begotten them. They know Christ is in His Father. We are in Christ, every believer, and Christ dwells in every believer. He goes on to say in verse 21, here's the evidence of it, and I'm going to talk about this more in a moment, "'He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.'" Here's the evidence that I'm in Christ, and he's in me. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him."

Now, the gospel is a mystery. Think about that word, and that is scripture. There are mysteries involved in the gospel. Now, a mystery is not, I don't know. If you ask me a question, I say, well, it's a mystery to me. That's not what mystery means. Mystery is something we could never have known had not God made it known in his word. The Bible is filled with mysteries. They're not so much things we understand, but we believe them. because God has revealed them in His Word.

There are only two mysteries in the Scripture that God calls great. Now, there are many mysteries and they're all great, but there are only two mysteries that God calls great. The first mystery is called the mystery of godliness. First Timothy 3.16, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Eternal God, God the Son, became flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Lord Jesus Christ is 100% God, just as if He were not man at all. He's 100% man, just as if he were not God at all. Perfect, complete deity, perfect, complete humanity in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has two natures. He has the nature of absolute deity and the nature of absolute humanity. And what a mystery that God became a man. I stand amazed at that. I can't grasp it, but I believe it. God became a man. Great is the mystery of godliness. The songwriter said, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with us. This is more than God for us. It's God with us.

And the second great mystery mentioned in Scripture is found in Ephesians chapter 5. Paul says in verse 32, this is a great mystery. There's the second time it's used, a great mystery. Now, like I said, all the mysteries of Scripture are great, but these are what God calls great. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Here is something else we would never have known had not God made it known. Now, what was Paul speaking about? Well, he was quoting Adam in Genesis chapter 22. 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 talking about the intimate act in marriage. The two become one flesh. Now Paul says this is a great mystery. But I'm really not speaking of Adam and Eve. I'm speaking of Christ and his church. The two become one flesh.

Now, let me repeat the verse of scripture that I began this message with, both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are one, for the witch cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." As a matter of fact, in this passage in Ephesians 5, we read beginning in verse 25, "'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself." Now this speaks of the union between Christ and his church. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. The church is so united to the Lord Jesus Christ, his bride, called the Wife of the Lamb, the Bride of Christ. He is so united with his church, so one with his church, that when he's loving his church, he's loving himself. That is how real and vital this union is.

Now, let me give you what I believe the scripture teaches regarding this union between Christ and his church. It's not a union with all men. This is just the church. This is just the believer.

The union between Christ and his church, first of all, is an eternal union. Now, we're creatures of time. Time began at creation, and it is pretty much impossible for us to conceive of eternity. But that does not mean there is not eternity. God is eternal. He never began to be. I've had people say, well, if God made everything, who made God? Well, nobody made God. God's eternal. He, everything he does is in the eternal present. He, there's no yesterday with God, there's no tomorrow with God. He said, I am that I am, God is eternal.

And he said, regarding his people, listen to this scripture from Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before Jeremiah had any existence, God knew him as a person. And that's true of every believer. He said in Jeremiah 31.3, behold, and this is said to every believer, behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love. He never began to love. There's no starting point to his love. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, "...according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him." Romans 8 verse 29 says, "...for whom he did foreknow." He knew beforehand. They had personality before the creation of the world. Somebody says, explain that to me. I can't explain that. I just believe it. It's what the Bible says. I wouldn't dare say it. Did not the Bible teach this?

Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, God is eternal and the objects of His love have always been His people. They've never been viewed independently of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This union is an eternal union. It never had a beginning.

Now this union that exists between Christ and the believer is a vital union. It's an eternal union. I've always been one with Christ. There's never a time when I began to become one with Christ. There's never a time it will end. It's eternal, but it's vital. Vital means absolutely necessary, indispensable, essential for the continuing of life. You see, he is the head. We are the body. He is the vine, we are the branches. The church is called in the book of Ephesians, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. This is a vital union and an absolutely necessary union.

Now, it's vital to us to be united to Christ. We're vital to Him in order for Him to have the fullness of His body. Now remember, the church is called the fullness, the completeness of Him that filleth all in all. Now this is a great mystery. We wouldn't dare believe anything like this had not the Bible taught this. but every believer is a member of his body.

Now there is a lot of teaching and preaching going on under the name of Christianity that says that Jesus Christ shed his blood for all men without exception and desires for all men without exception to be saved. And that is just a given with most people. But I want you to think of the implications of that If Jesus Christ could die for someone and they wind up in hell, he wouldn't have a complete body. For Him to have His complete body, everybody He died for must be eternally united with Him in heaven. It's blasphemous to think that Christ could die for somebody and they would wind up in hell anyway. Let me tell you this, there will be nobody in hell that Jesus Christ died for because He's going to have the fullness of all of His body. He would be incomplete. I say this, I hope with fear and trembling, amazed by it. But He would be incomplete if one of the members of His body was not with Him eternally. Oh, this is vital for the Lord Jesus Christ to have the fullness of His body. And this is vital for me to be saved. I will not be saved except as I am in Him so that all God sees is Him. My standing before God is in Christ. Not in my works, not in my efforts, not in my intentions, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is absolutely vital for me to be found in Him.

Now, the third thing I would like to say about this union, it's an internal union, it's a vital union, and this union is the union of life. Now, once again, this is beyond our comprehension, but it's what the Bible teaches. Every believer is united to Jesus Christ in his life. The only life that God will accept is the life of Jesus Christ, his son. Now, my life cannot be like his life. My life must be his life. This is the union of life. The reason I can have boldness, stand before God with boldness on the day of judgment is because his life is my life before God.

The Lord said in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Now, his life is my life. Now somebody says, how can that be? How can his life be your life? Well, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 makes this statement. Not a more important verse of scripture in all the Bible. For he, God the Father, hath made him, the Son, sin. He hath made him sin. For us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. And that's the life of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. in Him. My life on Calvary's tree became His life. And God can do this. Man can't do this. God can.

When he drank that cup in Gethsemane's garden, he was drinking up the cup of the sins of his people. Their life became his life so that he became guilty of the commission of every sin that every believer ever committed. Now, he never sinned. But God made him to be sin, just like the high priest laid his hands on the scapegoat signifying the transference of sins. That is what happened on Calvary Street. God can do this. My life became his life. That's why God forsook him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because that's what I deserve. And just as my life became his life, his life becomes mine. The very righteousness of God is mine.

Now, hear the scripture, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And when we're born of the Spirit, it's Christ in you. the life of God in the soul. Just as Christ has two natures, the divine nature and perfect human nature, the believer has two natures. The nature he was born with, and that won't go away until he dies, but also the nature he has when he's born again, and given the very spirit of God Christ in him, the hope of glory.

Now, the Lord says at that day, You shall know that I am in my Father. That means you'll know everything God does is what I do, because I'm in Him. I'm one with Him. I am Him in the sense that I am God. God the Son in God the Father. And you shall know that you are in me. You're going to understand that your only hope of being saved is being in me. and you will know that I am in you. Now, what is the evidence that I know this? Well, he said in verse 21, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I'll love him, and will manifest myself to him. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them.

Now, here's the person that Christ is in, who's in Christ. It's that person who has his commandments and keeps them. Now, is that talking about the Ten Commandments? Well, in Christ, I have kept the Ten Commandments. I stand before God's law without guilt. You see, in his life, he perfectly kept the Ten Commandments, and his life is given to me, so I have perfectly kept the Ten Commandments. In myself, I haven't kept one commandment one time, nor have you. And if you think you have, it's because you don't really understand the Ten Commandments. You don't understand the holiness of God or your own sinfulness. If you did, you'd know you haven't kept one commandment one time. But the commandment the Lord is speaking of is the one in 1 John 3, verse 23. This is His commandment, that we believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He hath given us commandment.

Now, what is the evidence that I'm in Christ and Christ is in me? I believe on the name of His Son. Now, the name represents the person behind the name. It's just not knowing how to articulate the name. If you know me, you know my character, you know my tendencies, you know who I am. Well, when we believe on his name, we know the person behind the name. He's holy, he's Sovereign, he's all-powerful, he's omniscient, he's incapable of failure. And we're relying all of the hope of our salvation in who he is.

And we love one another, every believer, he that loveth him that begat loveth him also that's begotten of him. Every believer loves other believers because of what God has done for them.

Now here is the great knowledge that every believer is given by revelation when God reveals himself to him. He finds out that Christ is in his Father, one with his Father. He is in Christ, that's his only hope, and Christ is in him. And the evidence that that is so is we believe on His name and love one another as He hath given us commandment.

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