Let's start in our Bibles to
Ephesians chapter 5. 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
they too 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. Now we're looking
tonight at what the Apostle Paul in this passage calls a great
mystery. You see that in verse 32? This
is a great mystery. We saw last time, last Sunday
evening, the explanation as to what the Apostle Paul means when
he speaks of a mystery. It is a truth that man on his
own could never have known, never could have understood. It is
a truth that is revealed. Now, in the letter here of Ephesians,
If you look back to chapter three, Paul spoke of a mystery there.
And the mystery in chapter three was, verse four says, whereby
when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ. And here's the mystery. And I
point this out to us because I was reading some this past
week about future things and The person writing was of the
opinion teaching that the mystery here is the church, that the
church wasn't known in the Old Testament. And of course, they
believe the church is just a parenthesis, a church age. But that's not
what Paul says. If you notice, that's not the
mystery that was revealed to him, the church. The mystery
that was revealed to Paul, he says in verse five, which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body. Notice that. This was a great
mystery that God revealed unto Paul and Paul, by his writings,
reveals unto us that the Gentiles are part of the same body. There's only one body. And that's
very important to keep in mind when you study about future things. There's only one body, the body
of Christ, the church. one head of that body, and it
wasn't revealed. And Paul says here, as it is
now revealed, it was revealed in the Old Testament that the
Gentiles would be fellow heirs and partakers with the Jews in
the body in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it wasn't
nearly so clearly revealed. as Paul tells us here in this
passage of scripture. There's no difference. That middle
wall of partition that had existed since the law was given on Mount
Sinai that separated the Jews from the Gentiles, that wall
has come down. And he speaks of that in Ephesians
chapter two and tells the Gentile believers that they were strangers. But now that's all changed. We're
all fellow heirs. We're all members of the same
body. And that was a mystery here.
It wasn't that the church was not revealed in the Old Testament.
It was, but the writers that I mentioned there, they're trying
to say that the church was not even known in the Old Testament.
Well, that can't be true because there's only one body, which
is the church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's
not the mystery we're looking at tonight. If you look back
to chapter five, that's not the great mystery that we're looking
at tonight. What is the mystery here? Well,
the mystery is the spiritual union which exists between Christ
and his church. And the apostle here tells us
that it was pictured. from way back in the Garden of
Eden. This spiritual union which exists between every child of
God. If you're a child of God tonight,
spiritually you are joined to Jesus Christ. You're in union
with Christ. And it was pictured, as I said,
way back in the Garden of Eden when God brought and presented
Eve to Adam and said, the two shall be one flesh. Now that's
a fleshly union, but the union between Christ and His church
is a spiritual union. Now I want to read again tonight
what I read last Sunday evening by Arthur Pink, what he said
about this spiritual union. He said he had no doubt. And
I quote, the subject of spiritual union is the most important,
the most profound, and the most blessed of any set forth in the
sacred scriptures. The union which exists between
you, if you're a child of God, the spiritual union, you're in
union with Christ. I'm in union with Christ. Every
child of God is in union with him. And because this union between
Christ and His church began in eternity, that is before the
foundation of the world, then I felt obligated last Sunday
evening, you remember, to point out that Christ had a subsistence
from before the foundation of the world. We're not saying He
had a body and soul, but in the purpose of God. Christ is a beginning
of the creation of God. We looked at that passage in
Proverbs chapter 8. I encouraged all of us to read
it during the week, to think about it, meditate upon it, and
see that there's one person being spoken of in those verses there,
but there are things that are said about that person that could
not be true if he were merely a man. And some things could
not be true if he were merely or only God, but it is the person
of Christ. And it says there, I was set
up from eternity. Christ, I was set up from everlasting. The person there revealed is
Christ, our Lord and Savior, the God man. He's both God and
man. We talk about this and I never
get tired of talking about it either. I hope you don't get
tired of hearing about it, but I want to make it ever so clear.
He has two natures. Yes, he's absolutely God Almighty,
equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, eternal, and all
the attributes that are so of God the Father are true of the
eternal Son. but he's also man, bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. He's both God and man, but not
two persons, one person with two natures. Now tonight, we
will only look at three of these spiritual unions which are revealed
concerning Christ and his church in the word of God. There are
other spiritual unions which are revealed in the word of God.
But these three will be those that we look at tonight. Two
of these unions began in eternity and one begins in time. All of these unions flow from
God's eternal love. God never starts loving anyone. He has loved his people from
everlasting. And out of his love flow these
unions. So two of them that we're going
to look at tonight are eternal unions. One, I believe, begins
in time. On the first, there is the marriage
union. The marriage union. Now this
union was pictured, as I already said, it was pictured between
Adam and Eve in the beginning. The two became one. They became one flesh. Now listen,
depraved men, depraved men today call a union of two men or union
of two women marriage. God calls it an abomination. He calls it an abomination. And I thought what a profanation
or profanation for fallen sinful man to take something that God
instituted, something so beautiful between a man and a woman to
show the union which exists between Christ and his people, Christ
and his church. What a blasphemy it is for brave
men to take something so beautiful and misuse it and misname it. It's a misnomer to call two men
a marriage. There's no marriage between two
men. There's no marriage between two
women. A man may think they're smarter
than God and they have the right to change God's ordination, but
they don't. In the beginning, God created
a man and a woman and presented Eve to Adam, and there was a
union between them. And what a beautiful union. What a perfect, beautiful picture
it is between the union of Christ and his church. The oneness. Among the Jews, there was a private
betrothing. that word betrothing, betrothed
or betrothing. But among the Jews, there was
a private betrothing of a man and a woman before there was
an open marriage. Now, we might think of this like
an engagement, but it's really not the same. There's a big difference. The Jews, when two persons, a
man and woman, were betrothed, They were then considered husband
and wife. From that time, they had not
come together, the marriage had not been consummated, but they
were considered as married. Look at this back in Matthew
chapter one, concerning Joseph and Mary, the mother of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In chapter one, in verse 18,
we read, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when
as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph. That means married,
doesn't it? Espoused. She was married to
Joseph before they came together. In other words, there had been
a private betrothing or a spousal between the two, but before they
came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost,
then Joseph, her husband." He's already referred to as her husband,
although they had not lived together, but they were betrothed. Her
husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife. See, she's already referred to
his wife. The angel called Mary his wife. Why? Because they were betrothed. A private thing, yes. But fear not to take unto thee
Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the
Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. What a name. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. There is a name I love to hear.
In the name of Jesus, one day every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord through the glory
of God the Father. She's going to have a son, Joseph,
a son conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. His human nature
was taken from Mary, we know that. He's the seed of the woman
that had been promised Well, in eternity, Christ, being in
love with the chosen ones, asked them of his father to be his
spouse. And they were given to him to
be his bride. And from that point, we're talking
about old eternity, from that point, he looked upon them as
such. That is, Christ looked upon his
people that he had chosen as his bride. And he became responsible
for her. He became responsible for her.
Now, we live in a different day, I understand. And women have
privileges and rights equal with men. And I'm glad it's that way. And incidentally, that's because
of the gospel. That's because when the Bible
was written, women were pretty much considered, among most people,
as just property. People don't like the gospel,
they don't like the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, but let
me tell you something, you already know this, but how many of the
blessings of life that we enjoy come from us from the gospel,
through the gospel. Everywhere the gospel has gone,
it has eliminated slavery, It has brought women up to the equality
with men. It has produced education. It's
so sad for me to see and hear on the news like we do all the
time what people in this country who are so ignorant of history
and the blessings that have come to us through the gospel. in this country. We celebrate
the birth of this country this week and what a blessing, but
these freedoms are being eroded as men and women turn away from
the gospel. And that's just the way it is
going to continue unless God sends an awakening in this country. Would do God that he would. But
he shed his precious blood to cleanse her from her sins. Now,
it is at conversion. I said that was a private ceremony,
that betrothing, but there's an open marriage. And for us,
when we are converted then there is a open marriage, a union between
us and Christ. The marriage relationship between
Christ and his bride takes place. That hymn we sing, the church's
one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation
by water and the word. From heaven he came and sought
her. To his own to be his holy bride,
and with his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died. When two people marry, they share
the same name. My wife became my wife so many
years ago, her name became the same as mine, and the same is
true of all of you. And the same is true of Christ
and his church. His name is Christ, so we too
are called Christ in the word of God. As the scripture says,
for as the body is one, and hath many members, and all members
of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Well, that's the first union,
marriage union. The second union is a legal union. This is brought out to us in
the letter of Hebrews when Christ is pointed out to be the surety
of a better testament, a better covenant. Better than that old
testament, that old covenant. That old covenant called for
works. that we could not call for obedience, that we could
not render. The Israelites, they couldn't
obey the law either. They didn't. That covenant was conditional.
The covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai, the covenant
that God made with Israel just before they went into the land
of Canaan, it was a conditional covenant and it was based on
their obedience. And of course, we know they didn't
obey. They didn't. When Moses threw
those tablets down, when he came down from the law, that was the
Ark of the Covenant. What was in the Ark called the
Ark of the Covenant. It was the Ten Commandments.
That was a covenant or the preamble to the covenant that God made
with the nation of Israel. And it was conditional. They
had to obey. to receive the promises and the
blessings. The covenant that God has made
with us is sure. Sure. Why? Because Christ is
a surety. He's a surety for his church. The word testament is the same
word for covenant and it is the everlasting covenant or the covenant
of grace that he is a surety of. in this covenant, Christ,
as surety, which means in a legal sense that Christ and his bride,
his church, before the eyes of the law are one. Now I've never,
and thank God for this, I've never needed to be bonded out
of jail. So far. And I've never been,
some of you have, no doubt you have helped someone and were
their bondsman. But as I understand it, when
a person has a bondsman, then that bondsman, he is responsible
for that person to show up on that trial date. And if he doesn't
show up, then the bondsman is going to lose whatever bond they've
put up. Well, that's kind of an example,
I guess, of the legal sense that Christ became surety for his
church, and he was obligated to pay our sin debt. He laid himself under that obligation
to pay the debts of his people, that is to satisfy God's justice
for their sins. In this legal union, when he
kept the law, We kept the law. If you're a child of God, you've
kept that law perfectly in your head, in Christ, because you're
joined to him. And not only have you kept the
law, but you've been crucified. When he died on the tree, you
died on the tree. When he was buried, you were
buried. When he came out of the grave, you came out of the grave.
And when he ascended on high, you ascended on high. And that's
what the Bible teaches. How is that so? Because of this
union that exists, this legal union, representative union,
we might call it. You know, Adam, think of it like
this. Adam was a representative. You say, well, who did he represent?
Everybody. All of the men and women who've
ever born in this world, Adam represented. He was a representative
head and Christ is a representative. Who did he represent? His church,
his body. If you don't believe this or
if you're in doubt about this, when you go home, open your Bible
up to Romans chapter five and begin at verse 12 and read through
the rest of the chapter. And you will see clearly. In
fact, Adam there is called a figure of him who was to come. In other
words, Adam was a type of him, Christ, who was to come. And
in Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive. And the last union is a vital
union. Look with me in John chapter
15. It's a vital union. I believe those
other two unions were made in eternity, but in time, this union
comes into being, a vital union. I am the true vine, and my father
is the husband. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them
and cast them into the fire and they're burned. If you abide
in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and
it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified
that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. So shall it be manifest that
you're one of my disciples. This union is different, I believe,
because this union comes to pass in time. There's a time when
a person passes from death unto life, when a person is called
out of darkness, translated into the kingdom of God's dear son.
We are in him. You are in him. You're joined
to him, just like the branches in the vine. And if a branch
isn't in the vine, it's never going to bring forth any fruit.
It's vital. It's vital that the branch be
in the vine if it's going to produce fruit. And you, if you're
a child of God tonight, you're in Christ by faith. You're joined
to him by faith. And he's in you by his spirit. You're one. We're in him by faith,
he's in us by his spirit. When God calls a person from
death unto life, quickens him, and he becomes a child of God,
he passes from death unto life. And the only reason we have life
is because we're in union with Christ. He is our life. The only reason a branch bears
fruit is because it's in the vine. If it's not in the vine,
forget about it. It's not gonna bear any fruit. And our Lord, I know you notice
this here, he said, herein is my Father glorified that you
bear much fruit. How do we as believers, we're
in him by faith, but how do we abide in Christ? that we might bring forth much
fruit. Well, I believe it's all set to us here in this passage.
His word must abide in us. His word abides in us and we
abide in him. And by that union, by God the
Holy Spirit living in us, we bring forth fruit to the glory
of God. And that's what every child of
God desires. to glorify God, to bring forth
fruit for His glory. Love, the fruit of the Spirit
of love, joy. Let me turn over to Galatians
and read that list. And this is not all of the fruit
of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit.
Notice that singular, the fruit, not the fruits. But the fruit
of the Spirit is love. And these other things, love,
is the fruit of the Spirit. A person doesn't love God, he's
not a child of God. These other things come from
love. That is, these things that are
mentioned here, joy, peace, long-suffering gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. I pray the Lord would bless his
word to us here tonight. What a wonderful subject, a union
between you as a child of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Could
you forget your hand? Could you forget your hand? Could
you forget your foot or something like that? Of course not. And
you're a member of his body. He's not going to forget you. No. He said, Lo, I'm with you
always, even until the end of the ages. Let's sing a hymn.