Union With Christ, Part 2

Review of the Holistic Approach to Atonement and Union with Christ

0:01 Now, that which I propose to give to you this morning is the applicatory section of the previous lecture. And since three weeks have passed from the last lecture until now, let me seek to recreate something of the mental and spiritual climate of the preceding lecture. And I hope to do this in the form of a review that will take us about maybe five minutes, and then we'll move on into the application of what was covered. I remind you of the issue before us, namely the question, for whom did Christ die?

0:35 And the simplest formulation of that question, and the most accurate that I've ever encountered, is the one that asks the question, did Christ die for all men indiscriminately and distributively, or for some men specifically and exclusively? Now, if you want terminology that accurately captures the question, I believe that little couplet is perhaps the most helpful linguistic tool. The question before us is this, did Jesus Christ die for all men indiscriminately and distributively, or did he die for some men specifically and exclusively?

1:18 The approach to this question is not the proof-text method, our approach, but the holistic method. And I don't know why, but in the dictionary you'll find that wholistic can be spelled with the W or without it. H-O-L-I-S-T-I-C or W-H-O-L-I-S-T-I-C, whatever else it is in there. Don't try to spell whole without the W.

1:40 People will think you're ignorant, but you can spell holistic with or without the W. And I looked it up in the dictionary to make sure I was using the right word, and it is the right word. The dictionary definition is, the view that an organic, integrated whole has a reality independent of, and greater than, the sum of its parts. The holistic approach is an approach that asserts that an organic, integrated whole has a reality independent of and greater than the sum of its parts.

2:16 So, we're approaching the subject of the atonement of Christ, particularly the extent of the atonement, by considering the larger categories of biblical truth, which exist, of themselves, but also exist, in an organic relationship to the work that he accomplished upon the cross. Ultimately, we shall consider that work as a work of sacrifice, a work of propitiation, a work of reconciliation, a work of redemption. But, it must be considered as a work of him who is our high priest.

2:54 The work of one who effected this work in a peculiar relationship, to his people, and who did all of this, within a larger framework of the covenant of redemption. Now, we've thus far considered the biblical evidence for the covenant of redemption, and its relationship to the design of the atonement. We saw that particularity, a specific people given to the Son, in this inter-trinitarian arrangement, that specific, a definitive, group of people were given to the Son, that he might assume all of their debts and liabilities, and if the work of the cross,

3:38 and we saw exegetical materials that indicate this, if the work of the cross is one aspect of the covenant responsibilities of the second person of the Godhead, then it is wrong to divorce any consideration of the work of the cross from its larger category, namely, the covenant of redemption. Then, in the last lecture, we considered the work of the cross in the light of the biblical doctrine of union with Christ, or Christ's peculiar relationship to his people. We saw that this was a logical necessity, and more importantly, an exegetical necessity, and then we looked at the nature of this relationship of Christ to his people,

4:22 and I suggested that it was a two-fold relationship, a legal or a federal relationship, Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15, and then that it was a vital or a mystical union, Ephesians 1, 4, Romans 6, and Ephesians chapter 2. Well, so much for that brief overview. Now we come to the application of this truth, and I would suggest that an understanding of the death of Christ in relationship to the doctrine of union with Christ oozes with implications both theologically, both theologically, experimentally, and ministerially,

Theological Implications: Efficacy, Interrelatedness, and Defense of the Atonement

5:04 and those are the three categories under which I would collate the materials this morning. First of all, then, the implications of the doctrine of union with Christ as it relates to the work of the cross, the implications of this theologically. And under this first major heading, I have a couple of subheadings, no, I have three subheadings. First of all, our theological perception of the efficacy of the atonement is to some degree bound up with our appreciation of the atonement

5:43 and its reference to the doctrine of union with Christ. When we behold the cross of Christ, what are we beholding? Is it a bloodletting and a curse-bearing for all men indiscriminately, securing release from sin and death for none, with certainty? Or is it a bloodletting and a curse-bearing on the behalf of and in the room instead of a specific people to whom he was united in legal and mystical bonds?

6:19 Well, if the latter is true, then it forms the basis of the efficacy, the triumph, and the glory of the cross. The cry of our Lord, It is finished! is a triumphant declaration that a real redemption has been effected. If the former position is true, the cry, It is finished!

6:47 is in a sense interpreted, I am finished. Now, not ultimately, in the minds of many, but if the logic of the thing is pressed, that's what the cry must be. If the doctrine we've been expounding, namely, that the cross of Christ, the work accomplished, was the work of one who stood in the position of a legal and federal head of his people, in some way vitally and mystically joined to them, if that is a true biblical doctrine, then we see that salvation is a matter of debt to Christ and wholly of grace to us.

7:31 That God the Father cannot, God the Father cannot withhold any influence necessary in the universe to give to Jesus Christ that which He legally and rightfully procured in His death upon the cross. If Christ only died somehow in some vague and indistinct way for all men, distributively and indiscriminately, then you can have an atonement that in some way or other has some kind of influence, after all, in securing the salvation of some people. But there is no sense

8:14 in which the concept of debt to Christ enters, whereas if Christ actually assumed the legal obligations, the liabilities of His people, in His real and legal sense, is if you become surety for another person, as legally binding as when you co-sign for a debt. If Jesus Christ was actually constituted the federal head of His people, so that what He did in His life, culminating upon His activity upon the cross, is legally accepted before God, then you see the salvation of those whose debt was cancelled upon the cross

8:58 is a moral and legal obligation upon the Godhead. And therefore, the effect of what He did is infallibly certain. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and He shall be satisfied. And so the first theological implication, then, of the doctrine of the cross, when viewed in the light of the truth of union with Christ, is that its certainty, its efficacy, comes into very strong prominence.

9:36 But then, secondly, the interrelatedness of divine revelation is secured. When we view the cross of Christ, in the light of the doctrine of union with Christ, the second theological implication is the interrelatedness of divine revelation is secured. Not only the efficacy and certainty of the atonement, but the interrelatedness of revelation. If it is true, as Professor Murray has stated, that union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation, not only in its essence, in its application, but also in its once-for-all accomplishment

10:20 in the finished work of Christ, if it is indeed true that the whole process of salvation has its origin in one phase of union with Christ, and salvation has in view the realization of other phases of union with Christ, if those two statements are true, and if this statement is true, quoting from Murray, that union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation, end quote. Then can you see what happens when you view the central saving act in salvation divorced from the substructure on which it is built? Is union with Christ the central truth

11:04 of the whole doctrine of salvation? I believe that has been established by Professor Murray in his chapter on union with Christ. We just looked at union with Christ in relationship to the cross. But every phase of our salvation derives its locus, from this matter of union with Christ.

11:22 In fact, as I was meditating on this, I came up with a statement that I want to try out on you. But I think it is true. What the covenants of God are to the history of redemption, that is, they are the structural framework, isn't that what we have been seeing? The structure of the Old Testament history of redemption are God's covenantal dealings.

11:41 What the covenants of God are to the history of redemption, that is, their structural framework, union with Christ is to the orbit of redemptive design, procurement, and application. That is, it is its governing framework. What the covenants are to the history of redemption, union with Christ is to the orbit of redemptive design, procurement, and application. Design, we were chosen how?

12:13 In Christ, Ephesians 1.4. Procurement, we are redeemed by the objective acts of Christ performed in this federal relationship with his people. He died, we died in him.

12:28 He was buried, we were buried with him. And then when we come into the orbit of redemption applied, we are recreated anew how? Ephesians 2.10.

12:37 In union with Christ Jesus. Right? So what the covenants are to the history of redemption, the structural framework, union with Christ is to the orbit of redemptive design, procurement, and application. It is the framework within which the whole salvation is both planned, procured, and actually accomplished in the life history of the redeemed.

13:04 Now if that's so, then you see the tragedy then of wrenching the central redemptive act out of that orbit. Nothing but disjuncture, fragmentation, and confusion. Results. And I'm sad to say that for years my thinking about the cross, though thank God there were elements of saving, attachment to Christ crucified, my thinking was filled with confusion, fragmentation, a bifurcation is a word that keeps coming to me, because I could not see the interrelatedness of divine revelation, because I was not seeing

13:49 this doctrine of union with Christ. And so much of the confused theology in our day is just a reflection of talk and thought about the cross divorced from the doctrine of union with Christ. And then third theological implication is understanding the cross in this way helps to give an adequate defense of the doctrine of the atonement. We have a responsibility, all saints do, to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

14:24 Jude 3. We are to be followers of the Apostle Paul in this respect among others. He was set for the defense as well as the proclamation of the gospel, the book of Philippians. Well how are we then to give an able polemic defending the cross of Christ from the accusations of injustice?

14:44 It is not just for an innocent to take the place of the guilty. It is against the interest of holiness to have everything done for us and to say that our salvation rests solely upon the doings of another. Well how do we defend that? I say there is no sure defense but the doctrine of union with Christ.

15:08 Because in the light of this doctrine the innocent did not suffer for the guilty. The innocent himself became guilty and suffered as the guilty one. 2 Corinthians 5 He who knew no sin was what? Made sin for us.

15:29 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Galatians 3 and verse 13 So when people say by no amount of legal juggling can you have an innocent person bear the guilt of the guilty. We say by the arrangement of God such a federal legal judgment and a legal mystical union was established between Christ and his people that he is actually regarded as the guilty one. And at this point I want to share a little tidbit from Hugh Martin's book The Shadow of Calvary

16:12 that just about blew my mind when I read it. He said if you ever noticed how in the gospel records there is this two-fold strand of emphasis from the moment of Christ's arraignment or the moment of his capture in the garden when they came with swords and staves to take hold of him and took him to Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate and the rest. There is this two-fold strand. There is on the one hand the constant and at times almost mysterious declaration of his innocence and at the same time the constant affirmation of his guiltiness.

16:53 From the garden of Gethsemane until he is laid in Joseph's tomb his outward appearance would only come to Jerusalem say from Jakarta or you would come from New York or Rome or somewhere else and you came to Jerusalem and came into the town just at the time that Jesus Christ was being dragged by the soldiers to the place of trial. What would you have seen? In every outward form you would have seen what? A guilty criminal.

17:23 From the moment of his arraignment to the moment of his crucifixion when he bowed his head. You would have seen nothing but a guilty criminal. But if you had been close enough to listen to what was being said what would you have heard? You would have heard first of all a bunch of false witnesses having little caucuses saying what in the world can we find to get on this guy?

17:42 And then all the witnesses come forward and you see none of them agree. This looks like a put-up job. This guy may be innocent. Then you see the strange sight of a woman blanched white coming out and whispering into the ear of her husband.

17:55 And if you were close enough to hear you would have heard, have nothing to do with this what? Just man. Then you would see a man wash his hands saying, innocent, I find no fault in him. Then you would hear a soldier saying surely this was what?

18:10 A common criminal? No. Surely this was the Son of God. You see what the Holy Spirit has captured for us?

18:16 Two things. In his external appearance everything says he is a guilty criminal. While at the same time everything is declaring he is innocent. And Hugh Martin's point is that God was doing in the external world giving an object lesson of what was going on in the internal spiritual world.

18:40 That he was in a very real sense a criminal before the bar of God because he was being charged with the sins of his people. In his position, totally guilty. But in his person, totally innocent. He was never more loved of the Father than when he hung upon the cross and carried his obedience to its culmination.

19:04 Isn't that a tremendous thought? And it's biblical. That's not fanciful, it's biblical. He spared not his own son.

19:14 Now what makes sense in all of that? I say nothing but this doctrine of Christ's union with his people. So literally one with them in the legal reckoning of God that he becomes the guilty one. If that's not so then he was getting false information in his soul when he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me?

19:41 Now was he playing games or was there real abandonment felt in the soul of the Son of God? There's no legal fiction. This was no mere juggling of the record books. He was constituted sin for us.

19:57 You say, I don't understand it. I don't either. But there is no rationale for the cross or for the deliverance of the guilty apart from this doctrine that Christ is truly one with his people. And we are able then to give a defense of the doctrine of the cross when we say, no, this is no legal fiction.

20:19 Christ is so identified with his people that his guilt becomes theirs and wonder of wonders, I mean their guilt becomes his and all of his virtue and innocence and righteousness becomes theirs. And so we have a basis then to defend the doctrine of the cross from those who say on the one hand it's unjust and then others who say, well, to teach that people are saved solely by the doings of another is to undermine all morality. If you take away the idea that a man must do in order to be accepted with God, no, no, you're back to the doctrine of union with Christ. Because just as surely as union with Christ

21:00 is the orbit of salvation's procurement, it is the orbit of salvation's application. And when that salvation's application is applied, then God's going to bring a sinner out here in time to share in his own conscience and in his own heart the virtue of Christ's death. He does so by bringing him into a vital union with Christ through the Holy Spirit which gives him a new heart. And in that heart is placed love for the one who died.

21:29 And now a man does not to gain merit, a man does because he has freely received the merit of Jesus Christ. Now, any of these lines could be traced out. I just want to be suggestive in my lecture this morning to show that when we assert that we must never do any deep thought about the cross of Christ, divorced from this corollary doctrine of union with Christ, we're dealing with things that have profound and far-reaching theological implications. Now, at this point, let me give a word of caution before we move to the second broad area.

Caution Against Philosophical Imposition and the Centrality of Union with Christ

22:08 I'm aware that the great quest of philosophers is that of seeking to find the unifying principle, the one among the many. That's the great problem of every philosopher. And he thinks, I think I've got the one. And then when he's convinced he does, then he bends all the facts to his theory.

22:25 And we must beware of that in our study of the Scriptures. But you see, we have not, on the basis of philosophy, found a unifying principle and imposed it upon the biblical data. We've gone to the biblical materials and seen that there is a unifying principle for all of the redemptive activities of Jesus Christ. And that unifying principle is his relationship to his people.

22:52 All right? Now then, and I could quote here, but in the interest of time I won't, but there's some tremendous quotes both in Hugh Martin and in Pink. Let me just give you the shorter quote from Hugh Martin. Speaking to this very subject, he says, the keynote of federal theology as we take it is union with Christ.

23:19 Though it took shape as a formal scheme of doctrine or exposition later than the days of Calvin, it's virtually, through the predominance and ruling power in the institutes, the idea of union with Christ that is the leading thought in Calvin's theology, far more so than even all of the five celebrated points. And if this is true, if the heart and soul of this theology is found in the union and communion of Christ and his people, then it is so full of vital power that it will adopt into its service all fresh forms of literary effort and all valid products of literary culture. And he goes on to say, I'm not carrying on a polemic, he says, for time-worn phrases.

Experimental Implications: Salve for Troubled Consciences

24:04 He says, the thing so big that every generation will come to its feet and try to serve the biblical concept by coming up with fresh statement and fresh terminology, but the reality is there that the whole of our salvation grows out of this blessed, this wonderful union that Christ has assumed with his people. Well, we hurry on then by way of application to the second broad area that I'm calling the experimental implications of considering the doctrine of the cross in relationship to the doctrine of union with Christ. Now what do I mean by experimental? Now that's a word you ought all to be fully aware of

24:47 as to its meaning in theological discussion. And I was surprised that even the first definition in the dictionary, latest dictionary I have, it says this, experimental, based on experience rather than on theory or authority. Based on experience rather than theory or authority. Now the word experimental when used in older writers, it would be parallel to the matter of, we would use the word today, experiential or devotional.

25:19 In other words, we are thinking of truth not in its abstraction in terms of philosophical or theological statement, but truth in its application to life and to experience. When people talk of certain man being an experimental divine, what do they mean by that? Well, they don't mean that he was a man who was half god who did experiments in a laboratory. Now that's the meaning the average 20th century American would put on it.

25:47 Well, divine is the old word for theologian. Experimental meant he was a theologian who wasn't just banding about ideas, he was always taking ideas and pinching you where you live. Now that's why we call John Owen the experimental divine par excellence. He stands head and shoulders above most divines because no matter how high he went or no matter how deep he went in grappling with truth, he was always bringing it back to impinge upon the heart, upon the life, upon the conscience.

26:20 And by God's grace, that's what we're trying feebly to do here that under God, every man would be an experimental theologian. You've got to have your noose straight. You've got to think straight. You can think straight without walking straight.

26:35 But you can't walk straight for long if you don't think straight. Truth. Truth alone begets godliness. Now you can have truth without its companion.

26:46 But you can't have godliness without truth. But we don't want to stop. So we're moving now from the theological implications to the experimental implications. And this is what the word of God was given for.

26:57 The Bible was not given to fill our head with wonderful notions. All scripture is God breathed and what? Profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. Or more simply stated, Titus 1.1.

27:12 I love this phrase. Paul says, the truth which is according to godliness. Which accords with godliness. All right?

27:24 So to consider any theological truth in its experimental application is a biblical necessity. Well, let me give you just two lines of thought here. And then we'll perhaps have a time of discussion on some further ones. But let me suggest that some understanding, and I'm choosing my words carefully, some understanding of the cross of Christ, its design, that Jesus died for a specific people, infallibly to secure specific ends on their behalf, an understanding of that in relationship to this doctrine of union with Christ

28:08 will have as its first experimental fruit that of concocting a wonderful salve, s-a-l-v-e, for troubled consciences. You see, many theological issues seem very, very, many theological distinctions seem very unnecessary and inconsequential until you get into the orbit of the problem which that particular theological issue is meant to solve. You see, run that by again. I don't think I can.

28:44 I got lost halfway through stating it myself. Many theological distinctions seem very inconsequential. We question, well, why be concerned? Until you enter the orbit of that concern to which that point of theology addresses itself.

29:00 Now, when a man begins to get concerned with that issue to which the cross addresses itself, and what is that issue? How can a man be just with God? When a man begins to take seriously that he's answerable to the God of the universe before God, for whom all things are naked and open, who's perfectly just as well as perfectly holy, who will by no means clear the guilty, who sent Adam out of the garden for one sin, who brought the whole human race under condemnation for one sin. If I begin to take those facts seriously, and then I ask the question, how shall I ever appear before that God?

29:42 And then someone says, well, Jesus did something on the cross. What did he do? Well, he died for all men. What do you mean he died for all men?

29:49 Well, Judas is for me. My Bible says that Judas went to his own place. You mean Jesus did something to resolve the problem of sin, and he did it as much for Judas as he did for Peter. Peter's in heaven and Judas is in hell.

30:05 Well, what did he do? Did he die in such a way as to absolve every claim of the law against Judas? No, no, no, no, no, no. He died to make possible that all the claims of the law against Judas might be removed if Judas would believe.

30:29 Oh. Well, what did he do for Peter? Well, he did the same thing he did for Judas. The difference is Peter believed it and cashed in on it.

30:38 Oh, then what you're saying is then that on the cross he did not actually satisfy the demands of divine justice. For if he did, then Judas is illegally in hell. Payments being exacted twice. Once in the person at his substitute.

31:01 Once in himself. God's getting double payment. If he did it with Judas, why may he not do it with me? How can I know?

31:12 How can I face the judgment with some rest of conscience that every last claim against me in terms of my breaches of the law and thought and word and deed, times innumerable throughout my life history, how can I have a salve for my troubled conscience that will not fail me? Ah, when we begin then to look at such passages as Galatians 2.20 in the light of this doctrine. The Son of God who loved and gave himself up for me.

31:52 There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the law, through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. You mean something was done there that has such a vital relationship to me here that this becomes mine and my guilt becomes his? You see what I'm driving at?

32:25 The salve for a troubled conscience is the knowledge that I am so united to Christ in the reckoning of God that God can no more exact of me the payment for one sin than he can put his Son back upon the cross and exact it from him. That's it. You talk about having a salve for a wounded conscience. That's it.

32:54 That's it. And so Paul can argue as he does in Romans 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all and in the context the us all are those who are described in verse 28 and then on into 29 those who are the called according to his purpose those whom he foreknew those whom he predestinated to be made like his Son and then calling again is brought in he says if he delivered him up for us how shall we not with him also freely give us all things? In the language of Romans 5 if we were saved by his death if we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son it doesn't say if reconciliation was made possible

33:38 it says if then we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son how much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life. In other words the certainty of salvation rests down upon the certain accomplishment of Christ's work upon the cross. Romans 1 as 1 John 1.9 used to bother me in the early years of my Christian life for many years I used it to worry about where would I be without 1 John 1.9

34:05 where would you be? time and time again I had to come before God and say Lord here is your promise if we confess our sins he is faithful now I could understand that but that next word used to bother me he is faithful and righteous to forgive and that used to bother me I say how did righteousness enter into my forgiveness? righteousness says damn him he sinned again and if not damn him at least spank him good in the light of all his privileges righteous to forgive do you plead righteousness when you come seeking mercy from God? I don't say now Lord give me what I deserve and yet

34:49 we can do that he is faithful and righteous to forgive why? what forms the righteous basis of that forgiveness that Christ actually bore my sins by virtue of that union that he sustained to me upon the cross here we come back again to the legal obligations to Jesus Christ the legal obligations to Jesus Christ on behalf of his people you talk about having a salve for a wounded conscience there is the salve but at the experimental level this doctrine will not only provide a salve for a troubled conscience it forms a foundation for future expectation most of you men are too young

Experimental Implications: Foundation for Future Expectation

35:34 to think seriously about death and that is not wrong I think it is psychologically impossible for a young man to think too often about death or too frequently because or unless God puts him in circumstances where he has been chronically ill and death has come by very very frequently and so I am not trying to make you morbid but there is something about passing that 40th birthday and you realize if I have my three score and ten plus my extra ten half of it is gone and I tell you that hits you and you feel it right down here it is gone gone it is gone it is gone gone and I tell you when you feel it most of you have the buffer of one or two generations

36:19 who still are waiting to go into the grave before you you have got a living grandmother and a living mother who when all the grandparents die and then your parents start dying you know you are coming up in the ranks it is like being in a bloody battle during the civil war and they would line up and one wave of soldiers would come and they would line up you can imagine what it would be like in some of those bloody battles out there in Gettysburg and you knew in the fourth rank well you didn't you know there was apprehension but that is not so bad but one in the first rank of your buddies goes and then the second you say hey there is only two between us and then there is only one and the next thing you know your commanding officer is calling you up well I face that now in the past few years

37:03 I had grandparents with great longevity they lived into their nineties both grandmothers did but they are gone and now there is just my dad and my mom and my wife's real mother and we have seen two stepfathers go in long before I am going to be up there in those ranks and you start facing death in the eye and you say now look I want to take seriously that somebody is going to walk over a plot of ground with a little plaque in it that has got my name on it and my bones and my rotting flesh are going to be there now as I face death and the grave and I believe the Bible that beyond death and the grave is judgment how can I do all of that and not be totally unstrung what is the ground of confidence

37:48 that that is not the end of me well I tell you when you start looking death square in the eye that way you need something more than some vague general notions that you know Christ is somehow going to take care of all that that doesn't satisfy I want something more than that and you know what doctrine you know what doctrine becomes the buttress to your soul it is this very doctrine I am talking about listen to what my Bible says those that sleep how in Jesus will God bring with him now what sleeps not the soul the body sleeps not the soul the body sleeps not the soul the body sleeps not the soul not the soul not the soul not the soul but in that grave it is still in union with Christ when that truth first came home to me I would like to blow up my fuses what can give me confidence

38:33 well when the soul departs the body the union with Christ is not dissolved my union with Christ is going to abide the radical dissolution the soul and body then the sleep in Jesus will God bring with him the dead in Christ I should use that term and the those that sleep in union with Christ God will bring with Him. The wonderful fact that just as surely as my soul is in an indissoluble union with Christ as is my body because He has come to inhabit it by the Spirit and I don't understand it but my Bible says if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you

39:17 He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. You mean in some way the Holy Spirit still inhabits that dead carcass? Apparently. I don't understand it.

39:32 But there, He's the bond of that union. Yes, but the body decays and I know all the problems.

39:41 But they must not be big problems to God if He tells me my union with Christ is not dissolved by death and the grave. It's not. That union is not dissolved. And therefore every benefit that He purchased for me must come to me by debt.

40:02 The Father owes to the Son that rotting body coming out of the tomb and joining a glorified spirit and forever being with the Lord.

40:13 The Father owes that to His Son and He's going to give it to Him. By man came death. By man came also the resurrection from the dead each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits then they that are Christ's at His coming.

40:31 That's enough to make you shout. Isn't it? That's the glory. And people say, well, I'm just a humble Christian.

40:40 I don't want to get my friends. Listen, God has revealed these things for our edification. And at the experimental level to think of the benefits purchased at the cross in the light of the doctrine of union with Christ is not only to provide a salve for a troubled conscience but the foundation for future expectations. Let me quote from Professor Murray again.

41:02 He said, It is union with Christ now in the virtue of His death and the power of His resurrection that certifies to the believer the reality of His election in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's looking backward. He has the seal of an eternal inheritance because it is in Christ that He's sealed with the Spirit. And then, of course, it is this union with Christ that gives Him confidence of the future.

41:30 Apart from union with Christ, we cannot view past, present, or future with anything but dismay and Christless dread. By union with Christ, the whole complexion of time and eternity is changed and the people of God may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Ministerial Implications: Overflow and Symmetry in Teaching

41:54 Well then, in the third place, this doctrine of union with Christ as it relates to the cross of Christ not only has theological implications, experimental implications, but it has ministerial implications.

42:09 Now, the first is very obvious. If we have a biblical view of the ministry, the ministry is a continual extension of the apostolic statement that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.

42:24 True preaching is in many ways the overflow of a man's own dealings with God explained and expounded in biblical terms and on the basis of biblical categories. He's not just up there giving his testimony. But any true view of the ministry will never divorce the minister's own dealings with God. And I'll use a word that's been so prostituted because the world has taken it and I don't use it publicly, but as I told Mr. Fisher yesterday,

42:53 it's such a good word. The word intercourse. A man's intercourse with God, his communion with God, his dealings with God form the subsoil out of which a living ministry is always flourishing. You just can't separate them.

43:10 So, to the extent then that I as a teacher of others, be I a father, husband, teacher of a Sunday school class, or one put in that awesome office of a teaching elder, you see the implications of this doctrine ministerially will be found here. That as I feed upon the reality and the glory of this truth, that it was in union with His people that Christ died, then as I lead the people, the people of God in prayer, as I lead my family in prayer, as I instruct my family, my wife, my children, my people in the flock of God, to the extent that this truth has gripped me and becomes more and more clear in my own mind, then there's going to be the overflow of that and the absorption of that

43:55 by my people. You see? So it has great implications, we might say ministerially at the indirect level, but now directly, I want to give two things. It will give symmetry to our teaching.

44:08 You know what symmetry is?

44:11 We say when something is asymmetrical, we mean it's, the form is, it's not a joint. Symmetry is, everything fits, it's in due proportion.

44:24 Back when I was a kid and used to lift weights and look at the bodybuilders' magazines, one of the terms you'd find that so-and-so was noted for his symmetrical proportions. You might get some guy that he became a bicep nut and he just worked eight hours a day, and he had these big 20-inch gobby arms, but then he had these little skinny calves and these undeveloped lats or pecs or anything else. But someone else, he worked on all this, but there was symmetry. Everything fit together nicely.

44:52 All right? Well, this is what I mean when I say it will give symmetry to our teaching.

44:59 When we see that the orbit of all of God's redemptive activity, both in design, procurement, and application, is union with Christ, chosen, and in Christ, redeemed in Christ, created anew in Christ, sanctified in Christ, and in the last day, glorified in Christ. When we understand something of that, then you see all the lines that draw or go out from the cross and iridate, as it were, to the whole of God's revelation. There will be a beautiful symmetry in our teaching because we understand this coordinating aspect of biblical doctrine, not just to understand it,

45:43 but have some appreciation for that aspect of doctrine. And no part, then, will be greater than the whole, and no part is appreciated until seen in relationship to the whole. Why have we refused to come to the all passages and say, let's let the whole issue stand or fall? We say, no.

46:03 The cross of Jesus Christ is, in a sense, a part of this larger whole, this orbit of union with Christ, within which Christ does His work upon the cross. And therefore, when we see something of the whole, then we'll appreciate each of the distinct parts in relationship to the whole, but we will never, we will never have a view of any of the parts that negates or cancels or becomes greater than the whole.

Ministerial Implications: Intelligent Understanding and Stability in the Church

46:35 And so that's what I mean by symmetry and due proportion in our teaching. And then it will form the basis of intelligent understanding in the midst of our people. It's a wonderful thing to have a well-instructed congregation. To have a well-instructed congregation is to have a stable congregation.

46:56 Ephesians chapter 4, You be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. When I go off in pastors' conferences, which I don't do much anymore, not because I'm not invited or don't feel it's a necessary ministry, there's just too much to do here. But often, brethren come to me very distraught and say, Brother, what are you doing with the inroads of the charismatics in your church? I say, we don't have any.

47:23 Oh, you don't? Man, we're split right down. What do you do with the crusade? What do you do with this?

47:28 I say, we don't have the problem. We don't have the problem.

47:34 And sometimes they look at me as if to say, you're just bragging, you're an egoist. No, I say, I'm being true. We don't have the problem. And I'm convinced one of the reasons lies right here.

47:46 One of them. Now, the ultimate reason is the grace and goodness of God. But God works by means. One of the means he uses is when a people have an intelligent understanding of some fundamental concept such as these, then they're not looking for something novel.

48:03 They're not looking for, you get excited about this and you don't need to have somebody lay hands on you and get you to speak in tongues. This is enough to make you shout intelligently for a long time.

48:15 Isn't it? I mean, you don't need to wait for some shiver to make you feel good and hoggle, hoggle. No, no, no, no. You just meditate on the thing like this and then with the mind inflamed with truth and the tongue articulating intelligent words of praise, you can bless God.

48:30 And then you're not shaken, you see, when you find a verse that, oh boy, what does this mean? Over here it seems to teach that, you see, you're not shaken by the universe. It is, look, as in Adam all die, so in Christ all be made alive. That's what it says.

48:45 And the believer will say, that's exactly what it says. And the God who ordained that the whole human race should be constituted in a federal union with Adam, also ordained that the new humanity, the elect of God chosen in him, should be constituted as federally one with him and as certainly as all who were included in the first all died. All who were included in the second all shall live. Now, I'll give you another verse, sir.

49:10 Well, I, uh, what, some intelligent understanding? Is that, is that just for theologians? No, that the people of God be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine. And this grand doctrine of union, the union of Christ with his people, particularly as it relates to the work of his cross, becomes the basis of wonderful stability among the people of God.

49:41 I'll give you a little incident from Hugh Martin and then I'll be, be done and we can have any questions for a few minutes if we need to. Hugh Martin, as he's pleading that people reconsider the doctrine of Christ's atonement in relationship to this larger category of union with Christ, says, there are not many congregations of the church that if questioned on the subject would as yet feel themselves driven to give an answer analogous to what Paul once got from certain disciples at Ephesus. We have not so much as heard whether there be any covenant of grace. We've not so much as heard whether there be a doctrine of union.

50:18 with Christ. On the contrary, the pious eldership and the patriarchal piety of the church generally are familiar with the doctrine of the covenants and are not insensible of the great extent to which their own vitality and vigor are bound up with the intelligent appreciation of it. This was back in the Highlands when he wrote back in the late 1800s. We venture to say that in very many districts of the church, our probationers, that is the young men who are candidates for the ministry, and younger ministers could not take a course more fitted to commend them to the love, esteem, and gratitude of our pious people than just to expound to them to use a well-remembered phrase of Dr. Cunningham's

51:01 quote, the provisions and arrangements of the covenants of grace. He's saying to the younger ministers, look, some old saints out there in the boondocks and they feed upon this wonderful truth. It's a stable bulwark to their souls. Instead of taking it up with German novelties, and this was one of the things that Hugh Martin was fighting.

51:22 Some of the younger men in the Free Church of Scotland had gone off to Germany and picked up some of the German rationalism who were toying with that which became blatant liberalism in a very short time. And as a prophet, seeing this, he's calling upon the men, come back to this. To what end? For the stability, the nourishment, the edification of your people.

51:42 He goes on to say, if this teaching should fall into neglect, there's reason to fear that the materials of pulpitism will be destitute of that compactness and connection, apart from which conscious advancement in knowledge on the part of the people is impossible. The topics handled will be disjointed and isolated. Progressive instruction will cease to be realized and perhaps cease to be aimed at. The next step will be it will cease to be desired.

52:15 You see, he's speaking with a pastor's heart and then goes on to give the exhortation. And I would say, brethren, if you are ever put in that awesome place as a father instructing your children, a shepherd instructing a flock, you can do few things better in the interest of their intelligent understanding of the word of God than to teach the doctrine of the cross of Christ in this larger category of Christ's union with his people. So then there will be, I trust, these other holy fruits that flow from it as we've tried to articulate them in the previous part of the lecture. Well, I see why I didn't try to stick that on at the end of the last lecture.

Personal Exhortation and Warning

52:59 It would have just been too hasty and I'm convinced there's much here that I need to exhort my own mind to further investigation and contemplation. And frankly, I'm jealous of you men. Here I am, almost 43 years of age, and it's only been in about the past five years five to six years that I ever knew there was such a thing of Christ's union with his people. Now that's a tragedy to be all those years in grace and in the ministry and not to know.

53:32 Oh, I had some vague notion that somehow in one way or another Christ and I were related, but that was the extent of it. If you'd asked me to describe it, to define it, to give some intelligent biblical articulation of it, then few things have had a more profound influence upon my own soul and my own appreciation of my Savior. And then the knowledge of the intimacy of the relationship that he sustains to me, both legally, vitally,

54:01 mystically, any other word you choose to use. Well, I hope that you won't have to say that. But to whom much is given, much should be required. If you ever turn from this concept, your apostasy will be a frightening thing.

54:17 Frightening thing. So let me urge upon you to feed upon the truth until you suck sweetness to your own soul. And as we go back to Owen, he who has seen the glory of truth and felt its power will never relinquish it. He who relinquishes it has never seen its glory nor felt its power.

54:36 The only safeguard against apostasy is the power of the truth in the heart as well as the form of the truth in the mind. And one without the other won't keep you. But thank God that's an unbreakable bond under the blessing of the Holy Ghost.