This week our midweek service
will be Thursday night. We'll have a New Year service
and we'll have the Lord's Table afterwards. And after the services, there's
going to be two different get-togethers, one at the Harry's and one at
the Vincent's in Green Gables. I think that's what they call
it. Is that what you want to call it? Green Gables? Why? The workhouse,
okay. The workhouse. So let them know
if you're going to be able to make it to their place after
the services Thursday night. I've entitled this message union
with Christ and one another. And I don't believe I've ever
brought a message quite like this. And I hope the Lord will
bless it. I've talked a lot about union
with Christ, but I've not said a whole lot about union with
Christ and one another. Because if you are united to
Christ, and I am united to Christ, that means we're united eternally
to one another. Now let's read verse 10 again. Romans chapter 12, be kindly
affection one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring
one another. Here's how God's word tells me
how to treat you. I think it's interesting. The
Bible doesn't tell you how you need to treat me. I know how
you need to treat me, but it tells me how to treat you. I love that about the scriptures.
The scripture doesn't tell other people what to do. Tells me what
to do. That's a very powerful thing.
Now, according to this passage of scripture, this is how I'm
to treat you. Kindly affection. a tender affection towards you
that is the fruit of brotherly love, a love that only exists
between believers, a love that is the product of the fruit of
the spirit that the unbeliever does not have. Holding you in
honor and preferring you to myself, showing deference to you. Now that's exactly what that
verse of scripture means. Be kindly affection one to another
with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. Now that's
the way we feel toward Christ, isn't it? And it's the way we
feel toward each other. You see how I treat you is how
I treat Christ himself. Now the Lord said this. You remember
when he said in as much as you've done it to the least of these,
my brethren, you've done it to me. And in as much as you did
it, not the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to me. Now, this is only understood
in light of the most mysterious truth in scripture union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. It can't be understood. It can
only be believed. I can't understand how I'm eternally
united to him so that I'm one with him and that this union
never had a time. It began. It's always been. I
can't understand that. I just believe it. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter two. The elect have always been eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 11 of Hebrews chapter
two, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all of one. For the witch cause, he's not
ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to own me as
his brother. That's true regarding all of
God's people, one with the Lord Jesus Christ, not close to Christ,
but one with Christ. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Verse 31. Well, let's read verse
30. No, let's start in verse 28. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And you know, when Christ loves
his wife, he's loving himself. That's how real this union is. When Christ loves me, he's loving
himself, because I'm eternally united to him, one with him. Go on reading. For no man ever
yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth
it, even as the Lord the church. For 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 to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery.
But I speak concerning Christ and the church. All this stuff
I'm saying about marriage, I'm speaking concerning Christ and
the church. Turn to John chapter 17. John 17. Verse 9. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world. But for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine. Now look down to verse 20. Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe
on me through their word. He's talking about me and you.
He's talking about the people that he knows shall believe.
Why? Verse 21, that they all may be
one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, And catch this, and has loved them as thou has loved me. Now would you believe that if
it wasn't in the word of God? It says regarding God the Father,
he loves every believer just as he loves his son. I would
think that would be presumptuous to take that to myself if the
word of God didn't say that. But this is how real union with
the Lord Jesus Christ is. Now, excuse me. Union with Christ
is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. Nothing
more important than this. This is what baptism depicts.
When I'm Confessing Christ in believers baptism, here's what
I'm saying. Here's all my hope. All my hope is that when he lived,
I lived. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When he died, I was in him, I
died with him. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised with him. When he ascended back to heaven,
I ascended with him because I'm united to him wherever the head
is, the body is. I'm eternally united to him. Now in our baptism, we confess
that's our hope. When he was baptized, you ever
thought about the Lord being baptized? Well, he was being baptized to
confess his union with us. That's why he went through water
baptism to confess his union with us. Him and us, we in him. Now, this union with Christ never
had a beginning. He said in Jeremiah 31, three,
behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love. A love that never had a point
in which it began. It's always been. Whom he did
foreknow. Whom he didn't know beforehand,
love beforehand. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. He said to Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now I think there's several examples
in the scripture that we have that teach us something about
what this means. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
one. Verse 27. So God created man
in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. male and female created them. Now, what is interesting is Eve
was not created until the second chapter, the end of the second
chapter. But yet it says male and female created he them. When Adam was created, Eve was
in him and she was created as well because she is one with
Adam. Adam came from her. I think one
of the clearest examples of this in the scripture is found in
Hebrews chapter seven when it's talking about Abraham paying
tithes. You remember the story in Genesis 14 how Abraham rescued
Lot and the inhabitants of Sodom and The King of Sodom said, well,
just give me back the people and you can keep all the goods
and spoils for yourself. He said, I'm not going to take
a shoelace from you, lest you should say I've made Abraham
rich. And Melchizedek appeared to him
and the scripture says Abraham gave him tithes of all. Now there
was someone who was not yet born yet. It was Abraham's great grandson,
Levi. So the scripture actually says
Levi paid tithes. He wasn't born yet, but when
Abraham was born or when Abraham paid the tithes, Levi paid the
tithes because he was in him. Now this is union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm in him so that what he does,
I do. I got to admit, I love that.
There's no doctrine in the scriptures that can be understood apart
from union with Christ. For instance, election. What's
election without union with Christ? It's an arbitrary choice of God
that we don't understand, but it's not. It says, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
What's justification without union with Christ? When Christ
kept the law, I kept the law. I love that passage of scripture.
When the Lord said to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness. He didn't say thus it becomes
me to fulfill all righteousness for you. He said thus it becomes
us to fulfill all righteousness. When he fulfilled righteousness,
I did too. That's all my hope. being united
to him, being in him. What is acceptance without union
with Christ? He hath made us accepted in the
beloved so that God accepts me. God embraces me. God views me
as fit for fellowship with him. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. God's love, nothing shall separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. our Lord. That's why I can't be separated
from that love. I'm united to Christ so that
when God the Father sees me, he sees his son. And he can't help but be well
pleased. Is there any wonder Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him? Now being united
to him, We are united, eternally united, to this One. And if I'm united to Him, and
you're united to Him, we are united to each other. So that,
whatever happens to you, happens to me. If you're honored, I'm honored. If you're hurt, I'm hurt. Because we're one with one another. If I'm one with Christ and you're
one with Christ, we're one with one another. If God gives you
the grace to preach the gospel and saves a thousand people through
your preaching, I get the blessing of that too. Because I'm united
to you. You see, when one member suffers,
all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all
the members are honored with it. That's why there's no competition
in the kingdom of heaven. There's not one having this and
another having that. No, we all have the same thing. We have
Christ. We're united to him. Now, all of the scriptures that
speak of being in Christ and all the scriptures that speak
of Christ being us, in us, speaks of union with him, him and us,
we and him. Cup thrown into the ocean. The
cup's full of the ocean. And the ocean has the cup in
it. Me in Christ, and Christ in him. This spells of union.
And this union is so real that we're actually said to be seated
right now, present tense, in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians chapter two. I want you to see this for yourself. Now I repeat, this is something
believed. It's a mystery, a great mystery
that can be believed, grasped, no. Can you grasp how God never
began to love you? There was never a point which
it began, it's always been. Can you grasp how God never had
a beginning point? He's eternal. Now these things
are believed, not understood. Look at Ephesians chapter two,
verse six. He hath raised us up together,
doesn't say he will, it says he hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Right
now I'm seated in heaven in Christ Jesus. I've heard religious people
all my life say, I'm as sure for heaven as if I'm already
there. Better than that friends. I'm already there. That's how
sure I am. Because if Christ is already
there, I am already there. Now, if you're united to Christ,
this union is so real that how I treat you is how I treat him. Now I want you to think of the
import of that. I want you to think of the implications of
that. He himself said, In as much as you did it to the least
of these, my brethren, you did it to me. And then as much as
you did it, not to the least of these, my brethren, you did
it not unto me. Now with that in mind, turn back
to our text in Romans chapter 12. And what I'm going to do,
I'm going to read a bunch of scriptures that has this phrase,
one another. Romans chapter 12 verse 10, be
kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor,
preferring one another. Now, what I want to do, and I,
I purposely, I don't want to make much comment about this.
I just want to read these scriptures. They speak for themselves. And
maybe I'll end up making more comments than I want to. Every
time I say I do that, I always end up, it's going to be a long message.
So, uh, but, uh, let me read these to you. In Mark 9, verse
5, the Lord said, have peace with one another. Not conflict,
but peace. He said in John 13, verse 14,
you ought to wash one another's feet. You know what that means? Beloved, we get our feet dirty
in our walk, don't we? Wash one another's feet with
the gospel. What a washing that is. And then
in John chapter 13, verse 34, the Lord said a new commandment
I given to you that you love one another as I have loved you. Now did you hear that? He didn't
simply say love one another. He said, you love one another
as I have loved you. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, if you have love to one another." That's the mark
of discipleship, love to one another. You see, we're united
together. You got to love your body, members
of the same body. Romans chapter 12, verse five
says, for we being many are one body in Christ and members one
of another. I'd like you to look at this
passage with me. First Corinthians chapter 12. Beginning in verse 12. For as the body is one and have
many members and all the members of that one body being many are
one body. So also is Christ. For by one
spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made
to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I'm not of the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I'm not the
eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God has
set the members every one of them in the body as it has pleased
him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now there are many members,
yet but one body. The eye cannot say into the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have
no need of thee. Nay, much more those members of the body which
seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
You know, the liver's not very good looking. But the liver's
got more honor, really, than the beautiful face. More necessary. The Lord's tempered all the body
together. Verse 24, for our comely parts
have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given
more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should
be no more schism or division in the body, but that the member
should have the same care one for another. And whether one
member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or one member
be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body
of Christ and members in particular. Romans 12, 16 says, be of the
same mind, one to another. If God sees you in Christ, I'm
to see you in Christ. And you're to see me in Christ. If you believe Christ is all,
I'm to believe Christ is all. Be of the same mind, one to another,
truly like minded. I like this Romans 14, 13. Paul
said, let us not judge one another anymore. May I make it my resolve right
now not to judge you anymore. There are so many reasons we
can give for that. God commands it. That's enough
of a reason, isn't it? God commands it. And it's so
hypocritical. For me to stand in judgment on
you, I do the same things I'm accusing you of. Probably worse.
That's the truth. Paul said, thou art inexcusable,
old man, whosoever thou art that judges another. For you, the
judges do the same things. We can't make an accurate judgment
because we don't really know the facts behind what it is we're
supposedly making this judgment. And it's usurping what belongs
to God only. He's the judge. It's contrary
to love. And should I judge one who's
united to Christ? He said, let us not judge one
another anymore. May God give us the grace to
do that. And then we read in Romans chapter 14 verse 18, follow
the things which make for peace and the things whereby we may
edify one another, build up one another, not tear each other
down, but build up one another. Romans chapter 15 verse five
says, be like minded one toward another. Think the same thing.
Romans 15, seven says, wherefore receive you one another as Christ
received us to the glory of God. How did Christ receive you? Two
words that come to my mind freely and completely. We're to receive each other the
same way in Romans chapter 15, verse 14. Paul said to the Romans, I'm
persuaded that you're full of goodness, His goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another, to gently
warn out of love for one another. I think of that passage of scripture,
exhort one another daily. While it's called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin's
so deceitful, it can make our night day and our day night and
how we need one another with this gentle admonition. It looks
like this. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
You which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. You know that
if you're tempted like your brother, you'll fall worse than they would.
Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 5,
we read, defraud not one another. Now that's speaking to spouses
and you know what it's talking about, but regarding our brethren,
don't defraud them. Don't do them wrong in any way.
First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 33 says, tarry for one
another, wait around for one another. You know, heaven is
a social place. You know that a lot of people
in heaven, it's a social place. No man's an Island tarry for
one another in love, wanting to be together. First Corinthians
12, 25 says, have the same care one of another, promote one another's
cares, interests, and welfare. Galatians chapter five, verse
13 says, by love, serve one another. And the only way you or I can
ever reach greatness in this life is by being a servant. He that would be chiefest among
you. He would, that would be greatest
among you. Let him be servant of all. Truly we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord and ourselves, your servants for
Jesus sake. Galatians 5, 26, let us not desire
vain glory, provoking one another. envying one another. Now anytime
I desire vain glory what I'm going to do is I'm going to provoke
you and I'm going to create envy. He said let's don't do that don't
provoke one another in that sense desiring vain glory. Ephesians
chapter 4 verse 2 says forbearing one another in love. Regarding the great majority
of things that we've ever been offended by They ought to be
just looked over. Just looked over. And everything
else, forgiven. Forbearing one another in love. Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind
one to another. That word kind means gracious.
Gracious. Not holding somebody's feet to
the fire. Gracious. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. Even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Now you think about
the way God, for Christ's sake, forgiven you. There's only one
reason he had for forgiving you. It wasn't because you were sorry
or because you made up for anything. He did it for Christ's sake,
didn't he? That's the only reason that's needed. You be kind, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. Ephesians 5.21 says, submitting
yourselves one to another. That's the opposite of selfishness. Peter said, be subject one to
another. Show deference to one another. We're united. We're eternally
united in Christ. Philippians chapter two, verse
three said, let each esteem one another as better than yourselves,
not as equal, but as better. Colossians chapter three, verses
12 and 13 says, Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, as Christ forgave you, so do ye. 1 Thessalonians chapter
4 verse 18 says, comfort one another with these words. And
he's talking about the resurrection. He's talking about the second
coming of Christ. Isn't that comforting? You know,
the time is coming when he's going to return and everybody's
going to know exactly who he is. The dead in Christ will be
raised because of what he did. Comfort one another with the
words of the gospel. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24,
I like this. Consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works, not provoke to irritation by
my way I treat you, but I'm called upon to provoke you to love me
and to provoke you to follow good works, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Sheep
were meant to be in a flock. And when we forsake the assembling
of ourselves together, something's wrong. We're lost. Get ready
to be lost. Sheep were meant to be in a flock,
not forsaking the assembling of yourselves as the manner of
some is. James 4, verse 11, speak not
evil, one of another, brethren. Speak not evil. And then James
chapter 5 verse 9 says, grudge not one against another. Don't hold a grudge. It's so
contrary to the gospel. First Peter chapter 4 verse 9
says, use hospitality one to another. And James chapter 5
verse 16 says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one
another. Now, I mentioned that scripture
this morning. That doesn't mean I'm supposed
to confess my particular sins to you. I'm not going to do that,
and please don't do it to me. I don't want to know. I really don't.
Don't anybody ever think I need to call the preacher and talk
to him about this? No. No. But I don't want to be a
phony. I don't want to pretend to be
something I'm not and put on some kind of super piousness
that makes everybody sick. Don't confess your false one
to another. Don't have this false Confess what you are. 1 John chapter 4 verse 7, verse
6 says, if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. Now what that's talking about
in the context, somebody says, does that mean if I say I have
fellowship with him and I have sin that nobody knows about that's
in the darkness, I'm nothing but a liar? Well, if that's what
it means, ain't nobody in here saved. Nobody. What that's talking about
is the darkness. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in the darkness of salvation by works and religious
superstition and error, we lie. We're not doing the truth, but
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, the light of
how He saves sinners by Christ, the light of how He saves sinners
by grace. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship, sweet fellowship with one another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin. Now, we are united to Him, sheep
of His flock. Being united to him, we are eternally
united to one another. So as the text says in Romans
chapter 12, verse 10, be kindly affection one to another
with brotherly love, the love of brethren. The love that is
the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
The works of the flesh are manifest, but the fruit of the Spirit.
I'm looking forward to getting to that. It's coming up on a
Wednesday night in the next couple of weeks. Be kindly affection
one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one
another, showing deference to one another. May the Lord enable
us to always have this in mind. How I treat you is how I treat
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that puts a whole different
light on how I treat you. May God give us grace to, in
honor, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love
in honor of preferring one another. Let's pray. Lord, we're so grateful, so amazed. We stand in wonder at the thought
of being eternally united to thy son. And Lord, being eternally united
to one another. Lord, give us this grace. that by this shall all men know
we're your disciples, by our love one to another. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray.