If you will, open your Bibles
with me today to the letter of Ephesians, Chapter 5. Ephesians,
Chapter 5. We will look this morning at
the subject of spiritual union. Spiritual union. The spiritual
union which exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and every one
of his children. The union, mystic union, which
exists between Jesus Christ and each of his elect, every believer
in Christ. Listen to these words by Arthur
Pink about spiritual union. The present writer, speaking
of himself, the present writer has not the least doubt in his
mind that the subject of spiritual union is the most important,
the most profound, the most blessed of any set forth in sacred scriptures. Now that's saying a lot, isn't
it? That spiritual union, according to Arthur Pink, is more profound, more important, and more blessed
of any set forth in the sacred scripture. Spiritual union. The church of which the Lord
Jesus Christ is the head and every believer, I'm not talking
about a local church, Our national church, I'm talking about the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which consists of every chosen
sinner that Christ redeemed. He is the head. The church is
his body. And every member is in union,
spiritual, mystical union with Christ. Now, I had my subject. and I look for a text. I don't
like to do that. That's not my way. Usually I
have a text, a passage of scripture on my heart that I want to preach
from. But this time I had a subject,
spiritual union, and I look for my text. And there are many texts
that I could choose from. For example, these words of the
Lord Jesus Christ in John 14 in verse 20. He said, at that
day you shall know that I am in the Father. Christ is in the
Father, and you, his disciples, those who believe in him, you
in me, and I in you. That's the union we're talking
about. Could have chosen that text.
Also, there's another one in 1 Corinthians 6. There's many,
but I just chose these two as examples. 1 Corinthians 6 and
verse 17, we read, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one
spirit. He that is joined unto the Lord,
every child of God, everyone who trusts in Christ as their
Lord, as their Savior, who come to know him, is joined unto him. and is one spirit. But I chose this passage. Let's read from verse 25 to verse
33, and I'll tell you why I chose this passage. It speaks of this
union. It's called a conjugal union,
the union that is pictured that exists between husband and wife. They become one. They become
one. That's the way God created man
and Eve and presented Eve to Adam. And the scripture tells
us that the two become one as a union, a spiritual, mystical
union. Now let's read beginning with
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. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth 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 unto his wife, and
the two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." I chose this passage
to speak to us about spiritual union, because you notice after
saying in verse 30, for we are members of his body, of his flesh,
and of his bones, in verse 32, he says, this is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. That is, this union, this spiritual
union which exists is a great mystery, the apostle tells us. What does the word mystery mean
in scripture? It's very important that all
of us understand what the word mystery means in the word of
God. Because we're not talking about
a mystery like a thriller written by some man that Certain hints
are given out through the book and you figure it out. That's
not what we're talking about here when we speak about a mystery. According to the scripture, and
Paul uses this word mystery 17 times in his writings and the
epistles, inspired epistles that Paul wrote, he uses this word
mystery 17 times. The Lord Jesus Christ, he too
used this word mystery. Paul uses this word mystery. This is the fifth time that he's
used it in this letter of Ephesians. So it's very important that all
of us understand what is meant by mystery. And I have two definitions. One I've taken from Lloyd-Jones. in his work on Ephesians. But
basically, his definition is, the word mystery in scripture
refers to a truth that man, that man with his unaided fallen mind
and intellect could never discover on his own. It must be revealed
to him, enabling him to believe. We use the word understand, but
we never fully comprehend. Yes, those to whom the Lord reveals
mystery, we believe it. We understand it, but we don't
comprehend it. We might say the same about the
Trinity. And there is one verse of scripture
where we have the word mystery and Colossians and the three
persons of the Godhead. And it is a truth. We don't comprehend
it, but we have it revealed unto us in the word of God and we
believe it. We believe it. A second definition
of the word mystery, J.C. Philpott, he gives three scriptural
marks of a mystery. Number one, it is a truth beyond
the comprehension of nature, sense, and reason. Number two,
it is hidden from the wise and the prudent. And number three,
it is revealed by the Spirit of God unto babes. I know that he used that definition
or those three marks from our Lord's words in Matthew chapter
11 and verse 25. Listen now to the Lord. I thank
thee, O Father. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man
speaking to his Father. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these things
from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Now, a babe is one who is recently
born. And spiritually speaking, a babe,
spiritually, is one who is recently born of the Spirit of God. and is enabled to understand,
to believe the mystery. The world doesn't believe it.
The world thinks you're crazy. I mean, many of these mysteries
that we have in the word of God, the world laughs at, but God's
children believe, and not only believe, but rejoice in the truth,
love the truth, One example I would give is this. In 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse
16, we're all familiar with this verse where the apostle Paul
wrote, but great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. What a mystery. What a mystery
is that? That Jesus Christ is Almighty
God, and at the same time, He's man. He's the God-man. That must be revealed to a person. It's a mystery. It's a truth. What I'm saying, it's a truth
beyond the human intellect to receive and believe. It must
be revealed. And think about this, that mystery
of God manifest in the flesh, that mystery when the Lord Jesus
Christ asked his disciples, whom do men say that I the son of
man am? You remember Peter finally spoke
up and he said, thou art the Christ. Now listen, the son of
God. Now think about that. Here's Peter, here's a man just
like you, just like any of you men here this morning. There
wasn't a halo over his head or anything like that. He was made,
the scripture says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. He had no sin,
but he looked like other men. He was a man. He was 100% man. And at the same time, 100% God. And Peter looks at him and says,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He's calling
a man the son of the living God. And what did our Lord say? Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Isn't that
a good example of a spiritual mystery, how it must be revealed? In 1 Corinthians 2, the apostle
says, the natural man, and we all come into this world natural
men and women. strangers, foreigners from God,
far off from God, dead in trespasses and sins. Paul said the natural
man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. Look over a few pages in Ephesians
chapter six And verse 19, here the apostle calls the gospel
a mystery. Listen, this is one of the reasons
that man hate the gospel. There are several reasons, but
this is one of them, because the gospel must be revealed to
a person. It must be revealed to a person.
That doesn't mean that a man cannot learn, take a theology
book and read this, this, this, and memorize all that, and know
it up here in his head. But to know, to believe the gospel,
it must be revealed. Where grace must be given to
a person to believe and to love it. Not only to believe it, but
to love it. I'm convinced there's many people
in this country, in the world, that they could answer, if you
asked them certain questions about the gospel, they could
answer them all correctly. But they have no love for the
gospel. Because it's not demonstrated
in their lives. Everything else is more important
to many of these people than the gospel. Here in chapter six in verse
19, Paul said, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel. A mystery must be revealed. One of the hymns that we sing
here And I love this hymn, the title is My Savior. But the first
verse begins, I'm not skilled to understand what God hath willed,
what he hath planned. I only know that at his right
hand is one who is my Savior. But I especially like the third
verse. Let me read it to us. That he
should leave, that is Christ, that he should leave his place
on high and come for sinful man to die. You counted strange. That is unbeliever. You counted
strange. You're telling me that God came
into this world, that God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son, that God, man died for the sins of his
people. You counted strange and lost
people. Those to whom the mystery has
not been revealed, they counted strange. Well, that's ridiculous. You're saying that he who created
the worlds and universes and created all things, that he took
unto himself a body made of a woman to be our savior? That he left
the glories of heaven where he had always eternally
been praised and worshiped and glorified for who he is? And he turned and came into this
world as a man to save sinful men. The hymn writer said, you
count it strange. So once did I before I knew my
Savior. It is strange, isn't it? And
you know, when our Lord said, I thank thee, O Father, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, but hast revealed
them unto babes. Do you remember what our Lord
told his disciples one day? He said, except you be converted
and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter into
the kingdom of God. The natural man, especially haughty,
proud men. When the scripture speaks about
God hiding something, All God has to do, all God does when
he hides something is just doesn't reveal it. Just doesn't reveal
it to a person. It's hidden. He's hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent. Paul said, you see your calling
brethren, how that not many mighty. You know that passage there in
first Corinthians chapter one. Let me turn over there and read
it. 1 Corinthians 1. I don't want to misquote it,
which I'm sure I would do. 1 Corinthians 1. Let's just begin with verse 21.
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews' stumbling block and under the Greeks' foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
have it not many, and please note, he didn't say have it not
any. Now there's not many. He didn't
say not any. And thank God there's some men,
very learned scientists, and have all the learning this world
can give. And yet they have this truth
revealed unto them. But for the most part, the wise,
the Lord's revealed these things
to the wise. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. I don't know about you, but for
myself, over the years, I've wondered. I've wondered at men,
learned men, scientists, medical doctors, study this body, and
yet believe in evolution. That just doesn't seem reasonable,
does it? Why is it? Because the truth
of God must be revealed by God. And it has nothing to do with
a man's IQ, has nothing to do with his college degrees or lack
of college degrees. I've said this, that's the reason
the gospel, you see, is preached and going to all the world and
preached. Well, preach it only to the faculty of Rice University. No. Well, preach it only to the
medical doctors. No. Preach it only to those who
have PhDs. No. Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whoever believeth not shall be
damned. It has nothing to do with a man's
education. It has everything to do with
God's purpose of grace. Have you ever thought about that?
Why some of these people don't understand and don't see these
things? And you see them, you believe
them. Praise God if you believe. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow if you believe. You are a miracle if you see
these things and believe these things. Now let me give us three
things about spiritual union. First of all, And I think John
Gill and his body of divinity, he has about five things that speak of spiritual unity, but
I have three for us this morning. Number one, it is eternal. This union that exists between
Christ and every believer, it is an eternal union. Now this we know from the scriptures
because the scriptures reveal that God's love is everlasting. In Jeremiah 31, the scripture
says, yea, God speaking, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. In Romans
chapter 8, the apostle declared that nothing, and he names A
litany of things. And he says, nothing shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. All that Christ loved with an
everlasting love, we know that in our head, in Adam, we fell. We fell into sin. But this couldn't
separate us from the love of God. Couldn't and didn't. We all went astray from our mother's
womb, speaking lies, defying God and our rebellion. But this
didn't separate us from the love of God. Nothing can separate
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And since we
have come by faith into union with Christ, how many times have
we wandered away from the side of our Savior, like a sheep who
wanders away from the shepherd, how many times? But it doesn't
matter how many times, it has never separated us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate
a person from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If
God loved you, if he loved you in eternity, he loves you today,
he will always love you. And nothing you did caused him
to love you, and you could do nothing now to cause him not
to love you. This union is eternal. If you notice in our text here,
if you still have your scripture open to Ephesians 5 and verse
27, his purpose is, and his purpose will be accomplished. that he might present it, verse
27, he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Well, there's a lot of spots.
There's a lot of wrinkles in God's people in this world. When we look into the mirror
Into the word of God thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy being. I see a lot of
wrinkles. I see a lot of spots. Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. But you know, the Lord's loves
his church, those who he has chosen, those who are in union
with him. And one day, he's going to present
each and every one, his church, every member, before himself
and before his father. There's not going to be one spot.
There's not going to be any wrinkles. Why? Because we're going to be
like he is. We're going to be like Christ.
Not only with him, but like him. The second thing I'd say about
this union, it is a representative union. This is also many times
called a federal union between Christ and his elect. And this
brings us, of course, to the everlasting covenant of which
the Lord Jesus Christ is the surety. Remember in Hebrews,
he's mentioned as a surety of a better covenant. He's a messenger
of the covenant. He's a mediator of the covenant,
and he is the surety of the covenant. Now, when the covenant was made,
it wasn't made with Christ as a single individual, but as a
representative head, as a representative person. All of his elect represented
In Romans 5, the last part of that chapter, Paul runs a parallel
between Adam, the first man, and Christ, the last man. And
all that Adam represented is a federal head, the representative
of all men who've ever come into this world with the exception
of Christ. He's the seed of the woman, not
the seed of the man. He didn't partake of Adam's sin,
but everyone else Adam represented. And the scripture says for all
have sinned at one particular time, at one point, all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. In Adam, in our head, Well,
Christ is a representative head of all of his people, all of
his chosen people, his posterity, spiritual posterity. When he kept the law, now this
is what is so wonderful, so beautiful about this. When Christ kept the law, and
he did, and he kept it perfectly, he kept it as our representative. And before God, we kept the law. We kept the law perfectly. And when he was crucified, when
he was hanging on the tree, we were crucified with him. Representatively. Paul said,
I'm crucified with Christ. Not literally, no. But as Christ
was his head, his representative, he was crucified with Christ.
When Christ was buried, all of His people were buried. When He arose, all of His people,
we too, arose. And listen, when He ascended
on high and sat down, we sat down on high in Him. You say,
where do you get that? Well, look here in Ephesians
2. Let's read again with verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, made
us alive by grace you are saved. Now notice, and hath raised us
up together and made us sit, us, us, in our representative. made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This union is eternal. It is
a representative union. My last point is, it is a vital
union. It is a vital union. What do I mean by vital? I mean,
if you're not in union with him, you're dead in trespasses and
sins. Our Lord spoke of it in John
15 when he said, I am the vine, you are the branches. A branch
has no life in itself. A branch has no sap in itself. A branch cannot produce fruit
of itself. It must be in the vine. The branch
in the vine is vital. It's vital. Not going to be any
life in the branch. Not going to be any grapes on
the branch if it's not in the vine. This is a vital union. And in this union, we are in
Christ by faith. and He is in us by His Spirit. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the reason we preach the
gospel, believe. Now, some might say, well, secretively,
secretively, We were in union with Christ when we first came
into this world. That's true, that's true. But
it becomes manifest when we believe, when we have faith in Christ.
And that union, you see, that's very important. Some people misuse
to their own detriment the truth of the word of God, and they
say, well, if this union is eternal, then I don't have anything to
do with it. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You must believe in Christ. You
must trust in Christ. And if you do, then you know
you've been in Christ. from before the foundation of
the world. And nothing can separate you
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
this message. It's a little bit different for
me. But it is a subject that is good
and needful. I used to listen, when I was
in Mexico as a missionary, Brother Henry Mahan, the 13th Street
Baptist Church, they sent us a bundle of tapes, these CD tapes. About every month they'd send
us some. And I'd listen to those as I was going out to a village
or coming into a village, these messages. And how many times
did I hear Henry say, you already knew this? Aren't
you glad? And that's what I'm saying today.
You already knew this? Aren't you glad you know it?
Aren't you glad you know it? Amen.