Union with Christ in Scripture

The Method of Transformation: Co-Quickening, Co-Raising, Co-Seating with Christ

0:02 This morning to our careful analysis of the words of the Apostle Paul, which are indeed the words of the Holy Spirit, is found in his letter to the church at Ephesus in chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, the chapter which you have been reminded again and again is basically a statement of two great contrasts, the two before and after pictures, the first being framed by the first ten verses and the second picture framed by verses 11 through 22. In the first picture there is the contrast of the before and after of the Ephesians and all Christians with reference to their condition as individuals before God. Verses 1 to 3 describe the before and then with those blessed words beginning in verse 4, but God, we have this amazing description of what men become by the grace of God when they are brought into vital union with Jesus Christ. And in our careful study of these words, we have moved into the before, into the after, into the after, into the before, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after, into the after,

1:26 of the first picture, the description of what the grace of God did in the lives of these Ephesians. We have noted that the author of this transformation is God himself, the motive or the moving cause is his mercy and his love, and then the method by which he has effected this transformation, stated in general terms, it is a method in which the person and work of Christ are central. Four times in verses 4 to 10, the name of Jesus Christ is set before us explicitly. In general, it is a method in which the biblical notion of grace is dominant. Three times he mentions the grace of God. And then thirdly, it is a method in which the reality and magnitude of the change is evident. He piles word upon word to describe the greatness of this change and the evidence of this change in the lives of the Ephesians. But now in a very specific way, the apostle tells us that the method of this transformation is to be found in these unusual words of verses 5 and 6, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace have we been saved, and raised from

2:55 the dead, and raised up with him. God's method according to these words is nothing less than a co-quickening, co-raising and a co-seating with Jesus. In other words, whenever God takes dead bound, guilty mail people, and places them, he has taken them away from Him. He calls them poor, Kindergarteners. He calls them values of his and others' lives, such that God is critical of their Abraham andlaughter. And He says, lest I calendar does not although sit against an image of shame and negatively object a judgment that he is no open to forgiveness, firmly that either�� are described in verses 1 to 3, and confers upon them His grace, He always does so in such a way as to quicken them with Christ, to raise them with Christ, and to seat them in the heavenly places in Christ, for the Apostle tells us this is precisely what it means to be saved. For in the midst of describing this co-quickening, this co-raising, and this co-seating with Christ, He says, by grace have ye been saved. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be quickened with Christ. What does it mean to be saved? It means to

4:09 be raised with Christ. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so, for several reasons, we must be quickened with Christ.

Three Axioms of Union with Christ

4:19 For several weeks we have applied ourselves with great mental and, I trust, spiritual diligence to the task of grasping the amazing significance of this concept of being quickened, raised, and seated with Christ. And having demonstrated that this is not an isolated notion in the writings of the Apostle Paul, but is found scattered throughout his epistles, I have suggested that one way, and certainly not the only way, to grasp the meaning of these words is to think of these three fundamental axioms, these three statements that gather together in some kind of a cohesive whole what the Apostle is teaching us. And I shall simply give you those axioms, and then we shall move on to our study today. Axiom number one is this. Axiom number one is this.

5:18 All that transpired in the life history of the Lord Jesus Christ bore the distinct nature of representative, substitutionary, soteric activity. And you who are visiting with us let me assure you that I did not simply spit out that mouthful and leave it unchewed and unexplained. The entire exposition was given over to demonstrating that everything that occurred in the life history of our Lord boreстанов resettled and unexplained...

5:47 bore the distinct nature of activity that he performed as the representative of his people, what he did, he did on their behalf, as the substitute he did as them, and he did soterically, that is, to deliver them from sin and its consequences. The second axiom, all that transpires in the realized salvation of a sinner, bears the distinct nature of an application of some aspect of the saving work of Christ. When God saves a sinner, what does he do? Well, he applies to that sinner in some specific way something that was wrought on behalf of that sinner by the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the third axiom is this, that which brings together the saving activity of Christ and the one who saves him. On the one hand, and the realized salvation of the sinner on the other, is the reality of the union which exists between Christ and his people. That's why the apostle can take three things that are obviously aspects of Christ's work, his quickening in Joseph's tomb, his being raised from the dead, and his being seated at the right hand of the Father.

7:08 Three events in the life of the Lord, he can bring them together, and say, they occurred in the life history of every single Ephesian Christian. Was Jesus Christ quickened? Was Jesus Christ raised? Was Jesus Christ seated?

7:24 And the answer of the gospel records is an unequivocal yes. Well, the apostle says, so was every Christian believer at Ephesus quickened, and also raised, and also seated, but not in some way that simply reflects what happened to Christ, as Christ was given life, so believers are given life. No, the words bring us into something more blessed than that. It is said that we are actually quickened together with him, in union with him.

7:59 We are actually raised with him. We are actually seated with him. Well, what then can bring together what is separated by hundreds of years? The quickening of our Lord in Joseph's tomb occurred 2000 years, years ago.

8:14 In the case of the Ephesians, it had occurred probably some 30 years or 25 years prior to their experience. How can they say, in any way, how can it be said of them that they were quickened with him, raised and seated? Well, that which brings together, you see, that which Christ has done, and that which happens in the life of the believer, is the reality of the union that exists between Jesus Christ, and his people. God willing, next week, we shall then move on to consider what is the wonderful result of this method of divine deliverance.

Union with Christ: A Central and Spanning Doctrine

8:54 And that result is that we are seated with him, and all of the privileges that that entails. But as I promised you several weeks ago, I shall, this morning, simply attempt to give you some other lines of biblical truth that I hope will help clarify, clarify, and cement to your understanding this great doctrine of union with Christ, which we have unavoidably confronted in our exposition of these verses. Someone has said, and rightly so, that the doctrine of union with Christ is perhaps the most central truth, or the central truth, of the Scriptures with relationship to the salvation of sinners. And all I'm going to attempt to do, this morning, having made an effort, and time alone will judge how successful that effort was, at least it was a bona fide effort, to open up this biblical concept, what I propose to do this morning is to back off now from our specific concern with the concept here in Ephesians, and show that this concept of union with Christ, binding together what he did in time, and what he does, by the Spirit in time, in the event of saving a sinner, that this great concept

10:20 is indeed one of the fundamental concepts of the Word of God, as it expounds the salvation that is ours in Christ. And what we're going to do in the time allotted, in about half an hour, is to make a sweep through eternity. We're going to start in eternity past, if I may use those terms, without someone nailing me for being so non-technical as to put the limits of time onto eternity, but if you will please picture a huge blackboard here before us, and at the top of the blackboard there is a bracket that is holding everything together, and at the point in the bracket is the phrase, Union with Christ. And what I propose to do is to demonstrate from the Scriptures that this union with Christ is, something which spans Eternity. That the salvation of rebel sinners has its roots in Eternity in such a way as to be found bracketed under Union with Christ, and then the prospects for the consummate joy of salvation when we are forever with the Lord is also to be seen as a salvation under that bracketed concept of Union with Christ. First of all then, consider the place of Union with Christ

Union with Christ in Election (Eternity Past)

11:48 in the election of sinners unto life and salvation. The Scriptures everywhere assert that the salvation of rebel sinners by the grace and power of God is a salvation rooted in sovereign purpose and executed according to eternal plan. The salvation of sinners is rooted in sovereign purpose and executed according to eternal plan. The biblical words elect, election, chosen, predestinate, foreknow, foreknowledge, force such concepts upon us. May I pause simply to say, if you're having problems with the biblical doctrine of election, remember it's your Bible that creates the problem, not some theologians importing philosophical notions into the Bible. It's the Bible that forces these words upon us. And the scriptures use these words because the salvation which they set forth is rooted in the exercise of divine and gracious sovereignty and is executed according to the Bible.

13:09 eternal plan. Assuming, though not pausing to prove, that election or this eternal gracious selection of sinners is the fountainhead of our salvation, what we need to understand is that the act of election is not an act of naked sovereignty and love. Turning back to Ephesians chapter 1, we are instructed by the apostle to look upon that sovereign gracious choice as being exercised by God within the bracket of union with Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with the glory of His name. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with the glory of His name. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed

14:04 us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In other words, as the apostle begins this eulogy, he envisions every believer blessed with every blessing, but within a very restricted orbit. Every believer blessed with every spiritual blessing, but only in Christ. In other words, every believer blessed with every spiritual blessing, but only in Christ. No man receives any blessing outside of that sphere or orbit of union with Christ.

14:45 As surely as every believer is blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, no one is blessed with any spiritual blessing outside of Christ. And then he begins to unfold some of those specific blessings that come to Christ. Every believer in Christ, and the first one he enunciates is verse 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him, in love having predestinated us unto adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to himself. The first blessing with which every believer is blessed is the one which is blessed in Christ is the blessing of this sovereign selection of God. Now notice he did not say we were chosen to be in him, as though it was the choice that put us into Christ. And he certainly does not say we are chosen to be in him because we would choose to be in him. Rather, the text simply states, without setting forth any of our choices,

16:06 that we are chosen to be in him. And he certainly does not say we are chosen to be in him, because we would choose to be in him. Rather, the text simply states, without setting forth any elaborate discussion or proof, that we were chosen in him to be holy. Not chosen because we would be holy and therefore worthy to be in him, nor even chosen to be put in him that we might be holy, but the text simply states, even as he, God the Father, chose us in you.

16:36 Now, it is obvious from this text that that choice conceived of us not as mere creatures. Notice what it says. We were chosen in him to be holy, which we were not when we were contemplated in that act of choosing. We were chosen to be brought to the place where we would be holy. And we were chosen to be brought to the place where we would be holy.

17:07 And we were chosen to be brought to the place where we would be holy and without blemish before him. In other words, in eternity, God beheld the certainty of our creation and our fall in Adam. And in eternity, he framed the scheme, the plan of redemption, for Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And in eternity, we were chosen in union with God. And in eternity, we were chosen in union with God. And in eternity, we were chosen in union with Christ Jesus. In other words, as Scripture forces us to conceive of our salvation as being rooted in divine and sovereign selectivity, Scripture also forces us to acknowledge that tracing our salvation back as far as that act of gracious selection by the Father, we are to think of it as selection by the Father. And in eternity, we were chosen in union with God. In other words, after замedetization, to who are we to continue living a select life for the сравable with one another.

18:14 Even John the Evangelistene gave us an idea to exploit the duality of the lie. Theшего ephemeria явereas transformatelnitkv. Does himself to a bride that was laden with ugliness and liabilities in herself. Let me illustrate.

18:50 When a man commits himself to marry a woman, he automatically takes upon himself all of her legal debts, all of her liabilities. If she is sickly, if she's not so pretty to look upon, he must dwell with her homely face for the rest of his days. If there are other problems, there are legal involvements, he binds himself to that woman and to all of her liabilities. And furthermore, he binds himself not only to be held responsible for her liabilities, but to confer upon him, her, all of his assets. And as I've been thinking of these thoughts this morning, I've been thinking of the fact that I've been thinking of the fact that I've been thinking of the fact that I've been thinking of the fact that I've been thinking of the week, my own mind and spirit have reeled within me to think that in eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ beholding me in all of the liabilities of my sin, all of the wrath which my sins would deserve from the hand of the Father, all of my spiritual blindness, my antipathy to Him and to His ways and to His glory. All of the legal and the moral debts and problems incurred by my sin. Yet he said, Father, I will

20:18 marry myself to that sinner, assuming all of his debts and all of his liabilities, and I will discharge every one of those debts. I will meet every one of the liabilities, and then the wonder I will continue. And I will meet every one of those liabilities, and then the wonder I will continue. And I will meet every one of those liabilities, and then the wonder I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue. And I will continue to infer upon that sinner all of the assets of my glorious person. My friend, when you begin to trace out that concept in the Word of God, it's mind blind. Is he the beloved? He says, I'll not rest until the Father says each one of them is beloved.

20:58 So the name beloved becomes a peculiar title for the people of God. Is he the elect one? We are the elect ones. Is he the Son? We are the sons.

21:12 adopted. You go right through all of the titles and names of Christ and privileges and the scripture says we have been constituted what? Joint heirs with Christ. All that is rightfully His is now ours. And my dear Christian friend, when did it all begin? When in a way that I cannot explain, but in a way which I dare to proclaim on the basis of a text such as Ephesians 1.4, Jesus Christ married Himself to His people in eternity. We were chosen in Him. So that tracing our salvation back as far as the scriptures allow us to trace it, we find ourselves before that mysterious and yet blessed veil of the sovereign selection of an innumerable company of sinners out of every kingdom.

22:14 And we find in that selection they are bound to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are chosen in Him. Toplady expressed it in this poem very beautifully. To Thee, O Lord, alone is due all glory and renown. Ought to ourselves we dare not take or rob Thee of Thy crown.

22:40 Thou wast Thyself our surety in God's redemption. Thou art our God, our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God, our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:44 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:45 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:46 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:47 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:48 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:49 Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God. Thou art our God.

22:51 Ere the world began.

22:55 What place does union with Christ have in the salvation of sinners? Well, when we see that salvation under the brackets that encompass eternity, we trace back to our election in Christ and we see that it was an election that was not bare sovereignty nor near love, if I may use the term near love. But it was a choice that had a distinct connection with a union constituted between Jesus Christ and His people.

Union with Christ in Christ's Earthly Life and Redemptive Acts (Time)

23:32 Well then, let's move on into time. When the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Word, who was with God and was God, became flesh,

23:44 where is this union with His people? Well, the very fact that He came and took upon Himself our nature, our Lord was manifesting in space and time the intimate bond between Himself and His people when He took upon Himself their very nature. The Scripture said, For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took upon Him the seed of Abraham. Not just the seed of mankind, but He took upon Him the likeness of the people for whom He came to live and to die.

24:22 And as the Lord Jesus in that true humanity, in a humanity that was as real as yours and mine, as He lived, He lived under the law. Why? He Himself was the giver of the law. He voluntarily placed Himself under that law because that was one of the debts that His bride owed to the Father.

24:45 The bride owed to the Father obedience to that law. The bride had not rendered it. And the heavenly bridegroom says, I shall render what my bride has failed to render. I will take that responsibility upon myself.

25:01 And when He comes formally to identify Himself with His people before the eyes of the world in that ordinance of baptism, and John says, Lord, this is a sinner's ordinance. This is not for you. I need to be baptized of Thee. He says, No, suffer it now to fulfill all righteousness.

25:19 I must take that place. And so, Paul can tell us in Romans 5, As through the disobedience of the one, the many were constituted sinners, so by the obedience of the one, the many are constituted righteous. The Lord Jesus in that obedience carries it to its pinnacle when in loving submission to the Father, having cried, Not my will, but Thine be done, bearing our nature identified with us, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, He bears our sins in His own body to the tree. And in all of those acts, His death, His crucifixion, His burial, His resurrection, our Lord was conscious that He was bound to His people and they were bound to Him. He was acting for them. They were being dealt with in Him. And it's interesting.

26:14 This is no fancy of the preacher. And very quickly, I want you to flip through your Bible and look at these six or seven things that happen to Christ that are said or declared to have happened to us. Was Jesus Christ crucified? Galatians 2.20 Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. How could it be? Paul lived some years subsequent to the crucifixion of Christ, though there was the overlapping in his own experience. Yet he says, I have been crucified with Christ because the Lord Jesus, was bound to His people in all of His acts of obedience.

26:58 Colossians 2.20 says, If ye have died together with Christ, when the head of the Son of God bowed upon His own chest after the cry of triumph into thy hands, I commit or commend my spirit. It is finished. Paul says, You believers at Colossia, you died with Him.

27:21 As He expired in the full weight of the Lord, the law exhausted its demands upon Him. He said, You expired in Him and with Him and the law's demands have been met as far as you are concerned. We were buried with Him, Romans 6 and verse 4. Not only crucified, dead with Him, but Romans 6 and verse 4 declares in the same kind of vigorous, explicit language, we were buried therefore, with Him, through baptism into death, crucified with Him, dead with Him, buried with Him, and then as we have seen in our Ephesians 2 passage, we have been quickened together with Him. We have been raised together with Him. Colossians 3.1 If then ye have been raised together with Christ, we have been seated together with Him.

28:18 Ephesians 2.6 And the Scripture says, We shall be glorified together with Him. Romans 8. And verse 17.

28:27 Colossians 3. When Christ who is our life shall be manifested, then shall He also be manifested with Him in glory. What is the Apostle telling us in these passages? Oh dear Christians, put it all together and do you see it?

28:41 As surely as our salvation has its tap roots in eternity. When there was this sovereign selection of God and that selection found us married to the Son, bound to Him, so when the Son comes forth into time, and in time as the God-man He walks, He lives, He prays, He weeps, He agonizes in Gethsemane, goes to the awful, terrible blackness of Golgotha, and goes through the open tomb and ascends. We are bound to Him and He to us, so that with but one exception in these verses I've just quoted, Paul uses those compound words, the little preposition soon, with, and then the verb, and it's only in the Colossians 2 passage that he uses the preposition separately in all of the others, so intimate is the union that we are with Him crucified, we are with Him dead, with Him buried, with Him quickened, with Him raised, with Him seated, and we shall be with Him glorified. Again, the Christian poet has tried to capture these strands of thought in the phrase or in the verse, one in the tomb, one when He rose, one when He triumphed over His foes,

30:10 one when in heaven He took His seat while seraphs sang all hell's defeat, with Him their head they stand or fall, their life, their surety, and their all, you see, Christian, when the intimacy of that union that exists between Christ and His people breaks in upon your spirit, it becomes the most unshakable ground of solid confidence. With Him I stand or fall. Shall He ever fall? Has He exhausted the demands of the law?

30:50 Has He been raised to a place of acceptance? Shall He assure, surely as day follows night, shall He be manifested in glory and in power? Well, if I am one with Him, it is absolutely certain that I am accepted and that I shall be manifested with Him in glory. We'll come to a few practical implications later on, but may I pause at this point to say, don't ever, some of you wrestling with the matter of the extent of God's intention of the atonement, you discuss this with others, never think of the atonement, its nature and extent, never discuss it with others, unless you first of all zero in upon the biblical doctrine of union with Christ.

31:45 You see, all such discussion is scratching the surface. Don't talk about those for whom He died upon the cross and the efficacy of that death until you see He was crucified. Don't talk about those until you see He was crucified. Don't talk about those for whom He died upon the cross until you see He was crucified.

31:57 He was not there alone. He was there joined to His people. All discussion of the atonement is doomed to skirt the real issue until we come to this matter of union with Christ. Don't ever discuss the final perseverance and preservation of the saints until you've discussed this issue.

32:24 There are some verses that speak of people falling away and there are some examples in Scripture that are frightening. But when we ask the question, shall one who has actually entered in and tasted genuinely and vitally of the redemptive work of Christ fail to be manifested in glory with Christ? We're asking, can a bond which was begun in eternity be severed in time?

32:53 If Jesus Christ married Himself to His people in eternity, shall anything in time sever Him from those who are not His? Who are His? So you see, don't discuss Hebrews 6, Galatians 4, or other passages until you've backed off and said, what is the nature of that union that exists between the Lord and His people? Well, let's hurry on.

Union with Christ in Effectual Calling and Present Christian Life

33:20 We've seen the union in eternity. The union that existed when Christ came and lived here upon the earth. Now what about the actual conferral of salvation upon the sinner? That which we call effectual calling.

33:36 The Bible simply uses the word calling when God seizes upon the sinner by apprehending grace and He's made a new creature. What place does union with Christ have here? Well, look at verse 10 in the paragraph that got us started in this whole excursion. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10.

34:01 For we are His workmanship created in Christ. Jesus.

34:10 We are His workmanship created in union with Christ Jesus. That is, this work of the new creation occurs within the orbit of union with Christ. That election union, that union in the once-for-all redemptive acts of Christ, that union is not suspended, but when God actually lays hold of the individual sinner and in time will bring him into the full and conscious possession of what was purposed in eternity and purchased in time. He does so within the same orbit of spiritual concern.

34:52 He creates him anew in union with Christ Jesus. This is why the apostle can say in 1 Corinthians 1-9, God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship, unto the koinonia, unto the shared life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called into fellowship of the Son of God, not only created anew in the virtue of union with Christ, but unto the conscious enjoyment of union and communion with Him. For until we are brought into that vital union with Him, we have no way of knowing that we were chosen in union with Him, that we were in Him when He was. When He lived and died and was buried and rose again, the only way any sinner can discover the past dimensions of His union with Christ is to discover it in the present awareness of that union in the new birth and in the subsequent repentance in faith and embrace of the Son of God. In other words, until I volitionally embrace Christ in the union of faith, I can never have any assurance that He embraced me in the union of election and of redemptive activity.

36:18 You got it?

36:20 The only way I can know that He embraced me in eternity, that He was embracing me upon the cross and in the tomb and in the resurrection and in the ascension, is when I embrace Him in the embrace of faith.

36:41 Well, what about the future dimensions? The present life is lived in union with Him. Even our bodies are said to be members of Christ. You want something again that will blow your mind to use the current in terminology.

36:54 Meditating upon this week, I said, Lord, that sounds unbelievable. Paul is dealing with the thorny problem of fornication and he says, what, don't you know your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

37:14 And I sat there and I looked at my hands and I says, you mean, God, you're telling me that this body, this soma, this thing that I can touch and feel and if I pinch it, it hurts, is vitally joined to the Son of God? And God says, isn't that what I said?

37:32 Isn't that what I said?

37:36 If He said your spirit, that would have been a little easier to grasp because I don't know what my spirit is anyway. But my body, I know what it is. That's that hunk of flesh and bones that's been lying in bed all week with coals and little bugs and all the rest and obviously should have probably had another day in bed before it tried to come out and preach.

37:57 I know what that is. And God says, that is joined to Christ.

38:03 And He said that union is not suspended even when that body descends to the beastly carnality of fornication. The union is so indescribable.

38:19 And so the present Christian life is carried on in the virtue of that union with Christ. We're to abide in Him, He in us, John 15. We can't, we can't go into it. We're just trying to give the broad overview.

Union with Christ in Glorification (Future)

38:29 But now what about out there? The consummation of redemption, the other end of the bracket, when we are glorified. What place does union with Christ have in our glorification? Well, for most of us, the majority of us, the consummation will come in two stages. Death, at which time our spirits will be made perfect according to Hebrews chapter 12. And then the coming of Christ and the resurrection when our bodies will be raised to join our perfected spirits. And we shall be forever with the Lord. Now what part does union with Christ have in that process of glorification?

39:07 Well, the Bible says when we die, we die in union with Christ. We die in union with Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 14 and 16.

39:21 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. While their bodies lie in the grave, they are still in Christ. And whenever it says the dead shall rise, it's never speaking of their spirits. It's talking of the body, the resurrection of the body.

39:47 You mean to tell me that a body that is disintegrated to dust, that's been eaten by the beast or the rodents, is still indissolubly united to Jesus Christ? I mean to say that's exactly what these words force upon us. The dead in Christ.

40:08 They died in union with Christ. That severance of soul and body is a reality.

40:16 But he says it does not sever any part of their true humanity from union with Christ. The dead in Christ. Verse 16. Verse 14.

40:29 I'm sorry. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus. Those that have fallen asleep in union with Jesus. Revelation 14, 13.

40:43 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. You see, death does not sever that union.

40:52 My friend, if you want to see one of the practical implications of this doctrine, you look death straight in the eye. Don't look at him as he tries to present himself in modern burial practices. The corpse is made to look like it's in the flush of hell. But you face death in all of its ugly reality and know that after a few short months, when all that the undertaker could do for you to make you look pretty will have long since spent itself. A carcass being eaten by the worms is going to be lying there in the earth. And if you get a sealed vault, it only delays it for a short amount of time. My friend, face death. Something you've never experienced before. That violent

41:38 wrenching of soul from body. How can you face it with confidence? How can you look upon that body with which you sit in that pew here this morning, downstairs, in the overflow room, in the balcony, here in the main auditorium? How can you look at it and know that in a few short years at best, the worms will have eaten the flesh from the bones?

42:03 You say, Pastor, you're getting gruesome. No, I'm just being real. Yeah. Those hands that you put your nice lotion on this morning, the worms are going to eat them.

42:16 That face that you saw in the mirror, a few short years from now after death has done its work, would be a hideous enough sight to turn the boldest amongst us white and blanched with fear. What confidence do you have facing that? Ah, my friend, here's the cut line. This body dies in union with Jesus Christ.

42:40 And Paul says, if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you. You mean even death does not strip me of the indwelling of the spirit? I don't understand that! But it's revealed!

43:03 I will be inseparably joined to my Lord, even in death! And as certainly as the grave could not hold the bodily form of the Son of God, it won't be able to hold mine. Now you see how the Christian can face death with confidence.

43:25 I can face death in the knowledge that the grave is going to have to cough me up. In the voice of the archangel, in the shout of God, my union with Christ that lies veiled beneath the activity of the worms and the maggots will come to light before all the intelligent universe, to the astonishment of men and angels. That's why Paul says, your life is now what? Hid with Christ in God.

44:00 But when he comes, he says what? We shall be manifest.

44:05 You see, the world looks at your body and mine and says, what's so special about you? You say you're engulfed by the spirit, united to Christ. You get flu bugs like the rest of us. You get laryngitis when you've had a cold, just like the rest of us. There's nothing special about you.

44:20 No, my life is hid with Christ in God now. But when he comes, it's going to be manifest. I'm going to have a body with no more flu bugs, with no more laryngitis. It can serve God with no need, no need for rest, no vacations.

44:36 And that's going to be manifested. You see, it's hid now. It's hid now. The same way all that I am in Christ as a renewed man inwardly is hid. I still have the remains of sin with me. And there are times when the world wonders if there's any difference between us and them. But if we're united to Christ and have the first fruits of the spirit, my friend, though our present life is hid with Christ in God, there's a day coming when it's going to be manifest. It's manifested what we've been all the while.

45:07 And they'll say, hey, those guys were right. Those people were right. They weren't making fool's claims. They are what they claim to be.

45:17 So that these bodies are joined to Christ in death. And at the resurrection, they're resurrected in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 22. All that are in Christ shall be made alive.

The Preciousness and Practical Implications of Union with Christ

45:32 That's why the Bible says we shall be glorified together. With Christ. Oh, dear Christian, do you see the preciousness of this doctrine of union with Jesus Christ? Do you see why it is proper to say that there is no phase of our salvation that can rightly be understood or can be properly viewed divorced from union with Christ? From our choice in Him in eternity to our glorification with Him whenever that will occur. It is union with the blessed Son of God that binds it all together. And Professor Murray, to whom I'm greatly indebted in seeking to articulate these things, has rightly said, and I paraphrase him, it is proper to say that salvation in all of its glorious dimensions is but an unfolding of one and another of the implications of our union with Jesus Christ. Now, if this be so, oh, what a tragic thing to be out of Christ this morning.

46:40 Dear unsaved fellow girl, man, or woman, listen to me. Do you see how frightful it is to be out of Christ?

46:51 If all of God's blessings are treasured up in Christ, and if sinners are blessed with those blessings only if they're in Christ, can you see what a frightening thing it is to be out of Christ? To be out of Christ is to be out of the wall in the orbit of grace and of hope and of pardon. Oh, dear person here this morning, my question is not, are you in the church? Are you in a religious way of life? Are you in the orbit of Christian thought? My question is, are you in Christ?

47:33 You say, how can I know? I don't know if I was married to Him in eternity. I don't know if He had me upon His heart when He lived and died. I, my friend, the only way you can know is the way we've come to know. You can know that He embraced you when you embrace Him. But you say, am I warranted to embrace Him? Oh, listen to His words. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now that's pretty plain language, isn't it? Jesus Christ says through the words of the prophet, turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Seek ye the Lord while ye may be found. Call ye upon Him while He's near. My friend, you're warranted to come. You say, what qualifications must I bring? None. Come buy wine without money and without pride. Dear child of God,

48:32 do you see why you ought to study the nature of your union with Christ? You may get a little help and encouragement from a verse here and a verse there that speaks with certainty of how God will carry on what He's begun, but you let just a surface grasp of a promise here and a promise there be battered by a real sight of how bad you are. You begin to have an acquaintance with how fickle your heart is even though you're a new man or woman in Christ, and you begin to long for a solid foundation of assurance and confidence that has something more in its fabric than the promise you may happen to pull out of your promise box the next day. You want to see that that which binds every promise together and makes certain the fulfillment of every word of the promise is that in Christ the promises are yea and amen. It's because I'm united to the Son of God that those promises cannot fail, for they were made essentially to Him and to me in Him. And as God would never break His promise to His Son, He will never break that word of promise to one who is in Him. Oh, child

49:54 of God, some may call it abstruse theology, some may call it too deep, some may call it this, some may call it that, but you hunger for the real resting place of confidence, for the place where you're lost in wonder, love and praise. And I suggest that place will be found above all others in loving, loving, contemplation of all that is encompassed within the glorious biblical doctrine of union with Jesus Christ, the Savior of His people. Oh, may the Lord make us a congregation who study much, who meditate often, and who lovingly contemplate something of the glory, the majesty, the privilege of being in Christ Jesus. Let us pray.