The Nature of Union with Christ

Introduction and Scripture Reading (Ephesians 1)

0:01 Will you turn again this evening to the portion of the Word of God which I read in your hearing last night? Because the nature of these first two studies is topical in form, I am concerned that we realize at the outset, though we are not located in one specific portion of the Word of God, it is certainly a subject which is found throughout the New Testament in particular, and it is well that we introduce it each night by a reading from the scriptures. And so I read from Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 through 14, emphasizing in the manner in which I read that which is the theme of our studies together, the doctrine of union with Christ. And so every time the little phrase, in him and in whom, occurs, I shall give a rather grotesque emphasis. But I trust it will send home the truth of the scripture to our hearts. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1.

1:11 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus and the faithful, in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 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 foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Christ, through Jesus Christ, unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him.

2:32 Unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will. To the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory who had before hoped in Christ, in whom ye also having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is in earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Recapitulation of Study One: Union with Christ in the Plan of Salvation

3:26 For the benefit particularly of those who are with us tonight and were not with us last evening, I shall take just about three to four minutes to recapitulate and catch the main threads of thought that I sought to lay before you from the scriptures in the previous study. I sought to secure a very earnest and careful hearing and study of this subject by introducing it with the statement of Professor Murray concerning the doctrine of union with God. I sought to secure a very earnest and careful hearing and study of this subject by introducing it with the statement of Professor Murray concerning the doctrine of union with God. And all I attempted to do last night was to lay before you something of the place of this doctrine of union with Christ in the plan of salvation.

4:39 And we saw that from eternity to eternity the blessings of grace and salvation come to needy sinners only in union with Jesus Christ. We saw that our election is a choice in him. We saw that in him, Ephesians 1 and verse 4, we saw that in the saving acts of Christ, those redemptive acts which he himself performed on behalf of his people, the scripture says we were in him when he died, in him when he was buried, in him when he rose and was seated at the right hand of the Father. Then when God applies that salvation with power and we are made new Christians. Preachers, the scripture says we are created anew in union with Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2.10. And then in the continuance of the Christian life and its experience, we saw that that life is carried on in union with Christ.

5:44 And so deep is that union, so essential to that life that the scripture says when Christ who is our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested. And then we saw in the consummation of our redemption, in our glorification, it is glorification in Christ. And so union with Christ brings together every single facet of that salvation with its tap roots in eternity and its full-blown fruit in eternity to come. And in every stage of that salvation, graciously.

6:27 Powerfully designed, powerfully conferred upon sinners, union with Christ is central. So much for the thrust of what we covered in about 55 minutes last night. And now tonight what I propose to do is to attempt to lay before you the scriptural teaching concerning the nature of this union with Jesus Christ. But the nature of that union particularly in the application.

Scope and Focus of the Present Study

6:57 Of salvation. And so we're dealing tonight with the nature of union with Christ, particularly as that union is found when we are actually joined to Jesus Christ in effectual calling. Now there is a pre-temporal union with Christ. We were chosen in Him.

7:19 There is a pre-calling union with Christ. We died with Him. We were buried with Him. We were raised with Him.

7:27 And these subjects of the pre-temporal and the pre-calling union with Christ are not matters of indifference or unimportance. Hugh Martin, one of the great Scottish theologians, has conclusively demonstrated in his work on the atonement, particularly in the chapters on the relationship of the atonement to the covenant of grace and the atonement in federal theology, that this is a vital subject. And I commend to you preachers and serious lay people a study of that treatise on the atonement, particularly the chapters which deal with the nature of our union with Christ, the pre-temporal union chosen in Him, and then the pre-calling union with Christ when He effected our salvation in the objective work upon the cross. But we must limit ourselves in the interest of time. And in the interest of trying to have somewhat of a semblance of a popular vein to our study, for these are not to be theological lectures, and I've constantly been torn with trying to get them down where they would be accessible to all and yet not in any way deflect from the strict lines of biblical truth that are forced upon us. So then we are dealing with the nature of union with Christ

8:54 in terms of the union that comes when the sinner embraces the Savior because the Savior has embraced the sinner. The mutual embrace of effectual calling. Now because this is a precious doctrine, there is all the more reason why the devil, the spirit of error, has done his best to abuse and to pervert this truth. The more basic, the more lofty a truth is, the more the enemy of truth will assert his vicious energies to pervert that aspect of biblical revelation.

False Conception 1: Not Pantheistic

9:35 And the doctrine of union with Christ, particularly that union which the sinner experiences when he is united to Christ, has suffered at the hands of heresy throughout the history of the Church. And what I propose to do in about ten minutes, is to give a quick sweep through the six main false concepts of the nature of union with Christ. What is the nature of this union with Christ? Well, we are going to start by saying what it is not.

10:07 And in so doing, I hope to clear the field to focus upon that which it truly is. First of all then, this union with Christ as to its nature is not pantheistic. Now, some of you kids don't go to sleep because I used a big word. You listen carefully and you can appear very smart when you go back home next week.

10:29 And when you go out in the neighborhood, you just gather the kids around and say, Hey, do you know where the word pantheistic comes from? And when they don't know, then you can say, Well, I just happen to know. All right? Because it comes from two Greek words.

10:43 Pan and theos. Theos is the word for God. Pan, all. And so you have pantheistic.

10:53 All and the basic doctrine of pantheism is that all is God and God is all. In other words, the creator-creature distinction is utterly obliterated in the thinking of pantheism. Now, when we talk about union with Jesus Christ, we are not thinking of some kind of a so-called Christian pantheism, in which the Christian is absorbed into the personality of the Son of God. For remember, as God, he is creator.

11:31 All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that hath been made. John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. And as Mr. McLeod reminded us this morning, in taking to himself a true humanity, he did not cease to be what he always was.

11:53 And because he always was and is the creator, that vast distance between creator and creature will always exist. So whatever union with Christ involves, it does not involve some kind of a so-called Christian pantheism. The Lord Jesus Christ maintains the full integrity, the full integrity of his person as the God-man, the theanthropic. Two more Greek words, kids.

12:26 Theos God, anthropos man, the God-man, theanthropic. So you can show off twice when you go back home next week. He never relinquishes all that he is in the full integrity of his person as the God-man. So let no one think that we're teaching some kind of an absorption, into the deity, when we talk of union with Christ.

False Conception 2: Not Pietistic

12:52 Nothing could be further from the biblical truth. Secondly, we are not thinking of the nature of union with Christ as being pietistic. Now the chief characteristic of pietism is its preoccupation with inward experience, generally at the expense of objective truth. Pietism is concerned with inward experience, generally speaking it is indifferent to objective truth, the propositional statements set forth in the word of God.

13:28 However, the biblical doctrine of union with Christ, though teaching that that union results in the deepest exercises of subjective communion and fellowship with Christ, it is never fellowship cut loose from the objective facts of who Christ is theologically and what Christ has done in space-time history. May I repeat that? Though union with Christ brings us into the deepest exercises of subjective, that is, experiential, experimental communion and fellowship with Christ, that means fellowship is never cut loose from the objective facts of who Christ is theologically and what he has done in space-time history. No, union with Christ is not pantheistic, it is not pietistic. Thirdly, as to its nature, it is not rationalistic.

False Conception 3: Not Rationalistic

14:50 Now rationalism asserts the supremacy of the human reason. It makes man's ability to reason the measure of truth and reality. And whatever the mind cannot conceive and grasp is not true nor real. Now the biblical doctrine of union with Christ is not a doctrine of reason.

15:15 It is a doctrine of pure revelation. That's why it is called a mystery, as we shall see further on in the study. It is a truth which never could be perceived or even conceived by the human mind. And it has come to us by way of pure revelation.

15:36 And nothing revealed by God is a contradiction of reason. But much revealed goes beyond reason. The truths of the gospel are not irrational, but many of them are supra-rational. Thinking of this very thing, Watson said, Faith may swim where reason and understanding may only wade.

16:04 Faith may swim where reason and understanding may only wade. Spurgeon, speaking to this same point, said, Faith is reason at rest in God. Faith is reason at rest in God. When we come to the doctrine of union with Christ, we're dealing with that which Paul called a mega-mystery.

16:35 We talk now about mega-vitamins and megaton bombs. And when he said this mystery is great, he said it's a mega-mysterion. It is a great mystery. It is something that the human mind could never conceive of.

16:50 It comes by way of pure revelation and is addressed to faith, not the ability of unenlightened reason. Unenlightened reason to cut it down and put it in the test-room and analyze it and synthesize it and then make statements about it. No, no, this is not a rationalistic union as to its nature. Not only is it not pantheistic, pietistic, rationalistic, it is not materialistic.

False Conception 4: Not Materialistic

17:18 And I'll only speak a moment on this. Based upon a text of questionable validity, Ephesians 5 and verse 30, the last part, we are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Some segments of the Christian Church have conceived of union with Christ in a very materialistic way. This is one of the errors of the Church of Rome, where you have a materialistic partaking of Jesus Christ in the sacraments.

17:49 He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, John 6. That refers, say the Romanists, to partaking of Christ as he is present in the consecrated wafer and in the wine. No, no, union with Christ is not materialistic. And now will you listen carefully as I touch the last two negatives, for they are so much with us and are the two great areas of error in American evangelicalism with reference to this doctrine.

18:24 . . . . . .

False Conception 5: Not Quietistic

18:36 whose name was De Molinos, and aspects of quietism were expressed in two people who were mentioned in Mr. Mack's lecture, Fenelon, the Frenchman, and Madame Guion, if you want to sound French, or Guion, if you want to give it the anglicized version. Now, the main thrust of quietism is this. The height of spiritual attainment is that of complete passivity in the state of perfect rest in God.

19:15 Actions are so absorbed into God's that you are no longer conscious of the actings of your own rational faculties, your own volitional faculties, your own emotional responses. Now, I do not know of too much full-blown consciousness. I do not know of quietism as a system present in evangelicalism. But oh, how the leaven of this thought abounds in almost every form of deeper life, higher life, abundant life, victorious life teaching.

19:50 It abounds, and it is quietism dampened. And this is the idea expressed in such areas of thought. Since union with Christ is the source of spiritual life and vitality, and therefore a victory over sin in the world, we must come to a point, you must come to a point, where we yield so to the indwelling Christ that he lives his life through us. And that's the catchphrase that betrays the quietism of all forms of deeper life teaching.

20:31 Christ living not in us, but through us. And once you have learned, say these modern-day quietists, the graciety of union with Christ, union is saving act. You died with him, buried, raised with him. Union with him now is branch in vine.

20:57 Once you learn that, and you can yield sufficiently, the struggle will be gone. The warfare is terminated. Your wrestling days are over. You have entered into victory.

21:10 Isn't it interesting that in the passages in the New Testament, where the indwelling, the intimacy of our union with Christ is most clearly stated, the necessity of our conscious effort and activity are most forcefully underscored. In the passages where the intimacy of our union with Christ is most clearly stated, the necessity of our conscious effort and whole activity are most clearly stated. forcefully underscored two examples will suffice Colossians chapter 1 verse 1 if then ye were raised together with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God having stated we died with him in verse 20 of the previous chapter he now says since we've been raised verse 2 set your mind and the things that are above not on things are in the earth for ye

22:31 died and your life is hid with Christ in God what a statement of intimacy would anyone like to come up now and expound that verse I don't feel confident to expound it your life with intimacy and will you notice what surrounds that statement verse 1 if yen then ye were raised now is that passive or active if you're seeking something you sitting down half asleep in some kind of a situation and you're sitting down half asleep in some kind of a situation and semi suspended state now if you seek something everything about you is actively involved in the pursuit of that which you seek he says seek the things that are above furthermore he says set your mind he doesn't say if your mind is active that's a sign of carnality you haven't entered into Union in communion with Christ no no he says seek he says set your mind now look at verse 5 put together your mind and your heart and your heart and your heart and your heart and therefore your members does he say let Christ live through you and there will

23:55 be you know no he says put to death put them to death fortification then he follows with the exhortations put off verse 12 put on oh do you see that in a passage where the reality and the intimacy of our union with Christ is most forcefully stated the necessity of conscious effort and whole soul activity is coming to us or comes to us with equal force and clarity Philippians chapter 2 is the second example and the New Testament abounds in these I'm being selective in the interest of time verse 13 of Philippians 2 it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure in chapter 4 in verse 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me upon the basis of the work of Christ the present mediation of Christ and all the gifts and graces purchased by the Lord Jesus in fulfillment of the Father's purpose he

25:18 works in his own there is a present energetic effectual working of God in his own both to will and to do now does that mean then we sit back and we just wait for him to will through us and to perform through us no for this very statement was made to buttress an exhortation to activity that is whole-souled activity earnest conscious deliberate activity for verse 12 says so then my beloved beloved even as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling give yourself in whole-souled activity carried out under the eye of god in the consciousness of the great issues at stake know the reality of our union with christ should never lead to questions quietism. This is error. And when it leads people to the place that it has led some, it moves from error into absolute heresy. And then finally, it is not externalistic. Now what do I mean by that?

False Conception 6: Not Externalistic

26:48 I mean simply this, that the union with Christ is not merely the union of a teacher with his pupils, a political leader with his followers, the platoon sergeant with the raw recruits. No, no. For in those relationships there is a form of union, but there is no indwelling, there is no shared life, there is no exchange of legal standing. No, the union with Christ goes far beyond that of a disciple with his master, the teacher, and the pupil, the political leader, and the follower. Well, having cleared the deck of these six things that union with Christ is not, what then is the nature of union with Christ? Well, let me suggest in the first place that it is a spiritual union. Secondly, we shall see it is a mystical union. And finally, an indissoluble union.

Positive Teaching: A Spiritual Union

27:57 What then is the nature of union with Christ? Well, let me suggest in the first place that it is a spiritual union. Let me suggest in the first place that it is a spiritual union. And secondly, it is a spiritual union. And finally, theciem in the spiritual union.

27:59 So it is a special union. It is not every facet of the union with Christ, remember now. Not every facet of the union but the union effected in the call of God. the third person of the Godhead.

28:30 A spiritual man or woman, boy or girl, is one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 and verse 9. Look at that text, if you will, please. Romans 8 and verse 9.

28:47 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. What constitutes a man a spiritual man?

29:07 According to the apostle, it is the indwelling of the Spirit. And to be devoid of the Spirit, to be a non-spiritual man or woman, is to be severed from Christ. It is to be one who is called none of his. And so union with Christ is a spirit of a spiritual relationship as to its nature, because it is a union effected by the Spirit himself.

29:36 And the most helpful phrase I have found, used in the writers, is this. The Holy Spirit is the bond of our union to Jesus Christ. The same Spirit that filled him, given to him without measure, is the Spirit poured out from him into the hearts of his own. And because it is one in the same Spirit that fills him, that now comes to abide in us, the Spirit is the bond of that union.

30:12 This is why we read in this very context, Romans 8, 9, ye are not in the Spirit, but in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. But look at verse 10.

30:31 And if Christ is in you, see the progression? Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Christ himself.

30:41 When the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us, he comes as the Spirit of Christ. And since he is the Spirit of Christ, one with the Father and with the Son, it is Christ who comes. And so the bond of that union is the indwelling Holy Spirit, therefore the nature of that union is a spiritual union. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13 is another explicit statement concerning this fact.

31:13 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, or back up to verse 12, For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, notice this, so also is Christ, not so also is Christ's church, he says, as it is true in your physical body, there is one body, but many members, many appendages, toes, ears, eyes, feet, noses, and the other members of the body, but it is one body, so also is Christ.

31:52 Christ considered mystically, Christ considered redemptively in terms of his people, his pride, his glory, his body, his church. The scripture says, there is this analogy, as the one is comprised of the many, so the one Christ, mystically considered, is comprised of the many members. Now how do they get joined to Christ who is the head in that body? Verse 13, For in one spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one spirit.

32:34 How did we become members of Christ when by the spirit we were incorporated into the body of which he is the head, both the organic living head as well as the administrative head of his own body, the church. Again, this emphasis comes through in chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 3. Verse 15, Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?

33:08 Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. Or know ye not that he that is joined to an harlot is one body? For the twain said he shall become one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

33:28 Verse 19, Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Lord? The Holy Spirit. How do I actually become a member of Christ when the spirit comes to indwell me? And being joined unto the Lord, I am one spirit with him, the same spirit that filled him now comes to indwell me.

33:49 There is a bond of a spiritual union, that which is effected by the Holy Spirit himself. And oh dear people, this is not an abstract, theological concept. A recognition of this fact that the nature of the union is spiritual, wrought by the indwelling spirit, will keep us on the one hand from the error of any kind of a carnal, sensual conception of our union with Christ. And on the other hand, it will keep us from the error of a mere sentimental, notional attachment to Christ.

34:26 My attachment to him is real. Spiritual does not mean unreal as opposed to real. It is opposed to material and physical, which is the real. There is a real world of the spirit.

Positive Teaching: A Mystical Union

34:38 And when the spirit joins us to Christ, that is a real and a vital union. Then in the second place, it is not only a spiritual union, it is a mystical union. Now when we use the word mystical, we don't mean spooky. We don't mean scary.

34:57 We don't mean ethereal. We use the term mystical, taking our sphere of reference, from the New Testament concept of what constitutes a mystery. Now will you look at two of the great mystery passages. Now we're not going to tell you something spooky, kids.

35:16 Not a mystery story. But these are the mystery passages. The first one is in Romans chapter 16. Romans 16 and verse 25.

35:30 Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations, unto obedience of faith, to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Keeping your finger in that passage, turn over to Colossians 1, 26 to 28, another great passage concerning this matter of the gospel mystery. Verse 24 of Colossians 1, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church, whereof I was made a minister according to the dispensation which was given to me to you, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations, but now it hath been manifested to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory

36:59 of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now the dominant idea concerning a gospel mystery, if you'll read these passages, meditate upon them, draw out their common denominators, you'll come to this conclusion. The dominant idea is this. A gospel mystery is something which the human mind has not conceived of itself, but which God has conceived and revealed, and which is now proclaimed as an object of believing reception and the appropriation of faith.

37:39 So then a gospel mystery is a spiritual reality originating in God's mind. A spiritual reality originating in God's mind. It is secondly a spiritual reality hidden for a time. God purposed it from times eternal, Paul says, but it was hidden, hidden for a time.

38:06 Thirdly, it is a spiritual reality now revealed and deposited in the word of God, and made the subject of preaching. It is now revealed, it is now manifested, and the mystery having been revealed, the apostle says, it is now proclaimed. And fourthly, it is a spiritual reality which is the object of faith. It is preached for obedience of faith.

38:34 Now the doctrine of union with Christ as to its nature is not only spiritual, it is mystical, in this sense that it is the unfolding, or it is in its essence that which could only be known by the unfolding of the mind of God. Now fully aware of our limitations, God has graciously condescended to give us many likenesses or many analogies of this union. And again, you children don't be scared by the word analogy, that's just another word for likeness. If something is analogous to something else, it is like it.

39:16 An analogy is something that is like, but it doesn't mean it's exactly the same as. Looking out the window at some of you playing ball out there today, some of you gals even, I could say some of you played like she-tigers. Now that did not mean that I saw you running around out there with a big long tail, with yellow and black stripes, and with big long claws pouncing on anything that moved. No, there is a likeness, but when we say you played like she-tigers, we are not making you identical to she-tigers.

39:48 You may be in other respects that we could not observe from the window, but certainly no one would assume that when I gave such a likeness that I was making an identity between you and a tigress. Now God has condescended to say union with Christ in its mystical aspect is something like that. And it's something like this, and it's something like that, and it's something like the other. But they are all likenesses, none of which brings in the whole scope of the relationship, none of which is to be pressed to identity.

40:27 Similarity, but not identity. And the beautiful thing is, the more one meditates upon these many likenesses, one discovers that in each of them a certain aspect of union with Christ is underscored more forcefully and more definitively than in another analogy or likeness. And so if we are to come to an appreciation of the nature of our union with Christ, we should not, as many have done, simply park on one of these analogies and build a whole structure of our concept of union with Christ upon that one analogy. This is wresting the Scriptures to our own destruction.

The Five Analogies of Union

41:09 Now, what are the likenesses? Well, there are at least five of them. I'll start with the lowest, and then the highest, and then range some at random order in between. What is the nature of our union with Christ if we are Christians?

41:26 Well, God says at the lowest level it is like the union of the stones in a building, all of which are related to the chief cornerstone and to each other. This, of course, is the figure of Ephesians chapter 2. You may wish to look at it as I read just a section of that text. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself, the chief cornerstone in whom each several building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. Christ Jesus, the chief cornerstone. The apostles and prophets, not in their persons but in their doctrine, are the ones who comprise the foundation. When we are quickened by the Spirit, we become part of that living temple.

42:35 We become related to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in the building, rests down upon the cornerstone. It supports the structure. And here the element of the objectivity involved in union with Christ, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

42:54 The Lord Jesus, as he is preached to us by apostle and prophet, the truths unfolded, the doctrines that surround him, which lead to him and flow out of him. Union with Christ is like the relationship of the stones in a building to the chief cornerstone. And there the underscoring is in the area of the objectivity of the one in whom we trust. But then the highest analogy, and if scripture did not force it upon us, it would almost seem blasphemous to suggest it.

43:31 But the highest analogy of our union is this. Our union with Christ is in some way like the union that exists within the persons of the Godhead. That first and primal mystery of being, one God, one person, but one God. And our Lord himself indicates that our union with him, in some respects, takes into its orbit of the union within the Godhead.

44:14 John chapter 17, and verse 21. Backing up to verse 20. Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word, that they may all be one. Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, there is the union of the Father and the Son, that they also may be in us.

44:47 And I in thee, and I in thee, and I in thee, that they may be in us. Now we must guard that by everything that I stated at the outset in the list of negatives. This does not mean any absorption into the deity. There is not one gram of what constitutes us human beings that is ever absorbed into deity.

45:19 We were made creatures. We shall die creatures. And if we rise to everlasting life, we'll be creatures in the world to come. Yet there is some aspect of our union with Christ that is analogous to the union with the persons of the Godhead.

45:39 And I would not dare to say what it means, but I would at least suggest that it has something to do with that union, that unity, that confluence of will, of love, and of purpose. And I will say no more than to say that. Now in between the lowest and the highest, in between the lowest analogy, the union of stones to the cornerstone. The highest analogy, the union that exists within the Godhead, ranged in between, you have these other likenesses, the union of Adam and his posterity, Romans 5, 12 to 21.

46:22 Again and again the apostle draws a parallel. As in Adam this happened, so in Christ this happens. By the one, by virtue of the union he sustained to his posterity and they to him, certain things that he did have consequences in their life history. So likewise because of the union of Christ with his people and they with him, certain things he has done brings blessing and salvation to all who are in him.

46:54 And again of course the other great passage telling us something else, the beginning of this aspect of the union is 1 Corinthians 15, 19 to 49. You have the first Adam and the last Adam showing that there are parallels in these unions. But then in the third place the nature of this union is set before us as a union that is something like that which exists between a vine and its branches. John 15, 1 to 8.

47:27 I am the true vine. My father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth fruit, he prunes it. Every branch that does not is taken away.

47:38 Abide in me. I in you. My relationship to you. The nature of the union is something like unto that which exists between a vine and its branches.

47:50 The fourth analogy is the union of the head and the members of the body. Ephesians 4, verses 15 and 16. Ephesians 4, verses 15 and 16. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom all the body, fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.

48:26 1 Corinthians chapter 12, from which we read earlier, this same concept is brought before us. And then finally the other union that is something like unto the union we have with Christ is that mysterious union between a husband and a wife. Ephesians chapter 5, the apostle is giving directives to wives, to husbands, and he is speaking of this oneness in verse 30. And he says this is a great mystery.

48:56 Nevertheless, I speak concerning Christ and the church. There is then this parallel as to the nature of the relationship. Now when you put them all together, what do you have? Put them all into one pot and boil them.

Synthesis: A Real, Vital, Intimate, and All-Inclusive Union

49:15 Let them stew on the back burner until you begin to smell, as it were, something of the fragrance that comes from the compilation of these concepts warmed by reverent meditation. Brought, as it were, into focus by earnest prayer for the illumination of the Spirit. And you will come, I'm sure, to the conclusion that the nature of our union is that of a real, vital, intimate and all-inclusive union. There is the sharing of legal standing.

49:52 There is the communication of life. There is the interchange of mind and affection. The flow of sympathy, of love, of trust and obedience. It is a union that is intimate for it's likened unto that of a husband and wife where two become one and as they share their years together, there are times when they wonder if they've even kept any of their own identity.

50:20 They begin to be able to so read each other's minds and the slightest intimation of each other's will and purpose and respond to them as if it were a mystery. That's a great mystery. Meditating upon this doctrine has caused me to reason from the earthly relationship to the higher. And we'll celebrate our 18th anniversary this weekend.

50:43 And as I was meditating in the study the other day, it struck me. After 18 years, you'd think you really knew someone. And yet new aspects of my wife's personality come to light with each passing week and month. And I realize that a lifetime of 60 or 70 years together will in a real sense only scratch the discovery of a fellow mortal with whom I've lived in the most intimate of human relationships.

51:14 Now if 60 years with a fellow mortal just scratches the surface, what must it be to be in union with the infinite God? You wonder what you're going to do for eternity, child of God? God can unfold more and more of the glory of his being and never exhaust that unfolding for he is the infinite God. And you'll be a creature still.

51:39 Something of the intimacy, the sharing of the mind and the heart. When we think of the relationship analogous to Adam, there is the dominant emphasis upon the legal status. His fall became ours. His sin brought condemnation to us.

51:56 And so our union with Christ is one in which we exchange legal places. He stood in our room instead, bore the guilt, that should be ours, the punishment that should have crushed us into an eternity of conscious torment. And yet he bore that in his own body on the tree. And the righteousness which we did not have but he possessed is given us.

52:24 And so you just take some of these lines of thought. I can only be suggestive and point the direction and trust that in prayerful, loving meditation you'll follow down some of these paths on your own. Now having covered the ground in a very broad overview concerning the place of the doctrine of union with Christ in the plan of salvation, having seen something of the nature, what it is not, what it is, it is spiritual, it is mystical, it is indissoluble and I'll only state that. Romans 8 is the commentary.

Brief Statement: An Indissoluble Union

53:01 I won't even pause to expound upon it. I feel I must take a few minutes in closing tonight to underscore a third line of concern. The place of union with Christ in the plan of God. The nature of union with Christ particularly in the application of salvation.

The Context of Union: Within the Apostolic Gospel

53:20 Now this third area of concern. What is the context of union with Christ? That is in connection with what does God actually bring sinners into this vital and blessed union with His Son? Well we could look at that from God's perspective and that would open up the whole doctrine of God's covenantal commitments.

53:46 He always joins sinners to His Son within the framework of the covenant of redemption. That inter-trinitarian covenant. And I'm convinced apart from that kind of thinking we cannot understand such passages as John 17. And then it is a union administered from God's standpoint in terms of the covenant of grace.

54:14 But we're going to bypass that and I want us to look at it from the human standpoint. When are the purposes of God rooted in the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace? When do they actually terminate upon needy sinners so that those sinners actually come into vital experiential union with Christ? Let me make it more personal.

54:38 In what context will someone sitting here tonight who is out of Christ, under condemnation, under wrath, within what context can you ever hope to be brought into union with Christ and out from under condemnation and into all of the privileges of that union? And I have two answers to that question. The first is this. Union with Christ will always be found in conjunction with the objective propositional truth concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

55:19 In the two great union gospel mystery passages which of course refer to this concept of union with Christ, the apostle uses these words in the Romans 16 passage. My gospel, Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, in other words, this mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory, is never realized in the life of an individual unless there is the objective propositional truth concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. Take away historic Christianity. Take away preaching which finds its great themes in who Christ is, what he has done for sinners. Take away preaching rooted in the very words of Scripture. And it will not be long before union with Christ is not experienced, let alone conceived of, even in the professing church. The deepest, most intimate relationships between Jesus Christ and needy sinners are rooted in the inflexible objectivities of the apostolic gospel.

56:36 Turn to Colossians 1. For a moment, as we see this truth underscored so forcefully by the apostle, he says in verse 25, he was made a minister, a minister of the great mystery, verse 26, that has been hid but now is manifested. Then in verse 27, he tells us what that mystery is, Christ in you, the hope of glory. But now notice, if you will, verse 28, whom we proclaim admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ.

57:16 How do people come into the possession of this great gospel mystery? Not by some kind of striving after subjective religious experience with a little smattering of Jesus and the cross and the blood to make them some kind of acceptable diet for Christian churches. Paul said no. Men come into the possession of this great gospel mystery when Jesus Christ is preached.

57:48 How preached? Preached as Paul always preached him. The God-man, the Christ of Philippians 2, who was true God, assumed a true humanity, in that humanity lived and died under the law, rose again from the dead went back to the right hand of the Father, sent forth the promised spirit into the hearts of all who believe upon him. And so the great pivots of his preaching were, according to Acts 20, 21, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

58:26 And it is only in that context that there will be found this blessed relationship of union with Christ. And so I exhort my preacher friends here today, pray that you'll have the spirit of the Apostle Paul as reflected in Galatians 1. Pray that you'll have the spirit of John as reflected in 1 John. A holy, I say a sanctified opposition to heresy that would rob Jesus Christ of any of the glory that he is due in the apostolic message concerning who he is and what he has done for sinners.

59:08 To the extent that there is a relinquishment of any essential element of apostolic gospel, we are jeopardizing the souls of men. And that union, the objective to smart creature wisdom, sneer that you believe in such concepts as an incarnate God, such concepts as divine wrath that needs appeasement, a God who needs to be propitiated in the bloodletting of his own beloved Son. Don't, when they sneer with their pseudo-intellectualism, don't be backed into a corner by the pervasive subjectivism in our day that says it's dead orthodoxy that's cursed the church. Let's get the spirit. And so there is the wildfire running of evangelicalism and of the truth of Christ.

Pastoral Exhortation: Prize Sound Gospel Preaching

60:31 Christ, my preacher friend, don't be bullied. Don't be locked in to the spirit of our own nasty doctrinaire Calvinists. Why can't you just be content to preach the simple gospel? My friend, do you know what the simple gospel is?

61:12 It's the apostolic gospel. It's the whole counsel of God's counsel, not because we are doctrinaire. It's because we so love the souls of men and desire him of a false not only to my preacher friends, but you dear people who form the backbone of our churches whom God has brought together in a loving relationship of shared vision of Christ and shared concern for his glory and his kingdom in our day. You better prize pure gospel preaching. Oh, it makes you think, doesn't it? And sometimes you get a hankering to go back to the leeks and garlics of guitar strumming gospel dittyism. Sure you do.

62:12 Some of you get weary of your reformed Baptist preachers, all exegete. Friend, listen. You better not despise God has given you. I don't say this with any mock humility.

62:32 There are some of you who are blessed to have preachers that I'd walk 20 miles any day to hear if I could. And some of you fall asleep under their preaching. God have mercy on you. And in your heart you hanker for preaching that's more clever, more acute, doesn't make you think.

62:51 You were reminded this morning that holiness is not a feeling, holiness is that conscious, deliberate conformity of every facet of life to the most minute precept of the living God. He says we're to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our minds. And if ever it is right to love Him with the whole mind, it's when His mind is being unfolded in the Word. Now I'm not excusing preachers who are obtuse and use 1423-syllabled words and never knock some holes in their sermons with analogy or illustration.

63:35 If I had just preachers here, I'd preach to the preachers about trying to be simple, talking where possible on the level where the tortoises can get it because the giraffes can always bend down and eat too. But my dear hearers, assuming that your preachers are laboring at simplicity and clarity of order and structure and form, there is no substitute for your coming to the house of God sufficiently rested and sufficiently praying with a prayerful spirit, coming to give yourself to God in the ministry of His Word. That's what listening to preaching is. Giving yourself not to the preacher but to the preacher's God and to the truth of God as that truth is mediated through an appointed spokesman. And oh dear children of God, let me say to you how your heart ought to run out with praise to God that He ever put you within the orbit of pure gospel preaching or you'd never been joined to Christ.

64:51 It's in the orbit of the objective truths of the apostolic gospel proclaimed that union with Christ is effected. And then my closing point is that this union is found always in the context of a believing response to that objective propositional truth concerning the person and work of Christ. That's why Paul could say in Romans 16, 26 this mystery was made known unto the obedience of faith. And let me speak very tenderly to the children.

The Context of Union: A Believing Response — Evangelistic Close

65:25 Your mummies and daddies warn you about many sins and they ought to. The writer to the Proverbs put his arm around his son and said, my son, when sinners entice thee consent thou not. And he warned him about laziness. If you get tired of mummies and daddy warning you about being lazy, they're just being scriptural kids.

65:45 They have to be. And he warned him about lechery. Don't embrace the bosom of a foreign woman. Her steps lead to hell.

65:55 Warned him about bad debts. Warned him about many things. But you know what sin I want to warn you about tonight, dear children, fellows and girls? It's the one sin that is the mother of all other sins.

66:12 You know what that sin is? The sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief. The scripture says, he that believeth not shall be damned.

66:25 The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. And oh dear young people who are privileged to sit in churches where Sunday after Sunday, no matter what text the preacher is expounding, he always finds a legitimate avenue out of that text to set Christ before you as a willing and an able Savior. And he calls upon you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of you do not rise up in your seat and say, no preacher, I want nothing to do with the Jesus you preach.

67:02 You don't do that. You believe he was a real person. You believe the preacher even loves him. There are times when in your heart you say, I know the preacher is real.

67:11 And I know when he speaks of his Savior, he's not just talking professional shop talk. But you know what happens? You leave the service week after week never embracing the Lord Jesus for yourself. Oh listen dear young people and any adults, you may listen in as well, but I'm going after the young people, the children tonight.

67:30 Listen. There must be the mutual embrace, Christ of you and you of Christ, before there'll ever be union with Christ. He embraces us when he sends his Spirit into our hearts to quicken us. But we're not conscious of that quickening.

67:48 It's beneath the level of our consciousness. Consciously embrace him in faith. And there is never union with Christ without the mutual embrace. Oh dear young people, the Son of God stands tonight in his Word, in his preached Word and says, come unto me.

68:13 Him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out. Your mommy and daddy can't come for you. You've got to come. Your preacher can't come for you.

68:24 You must come. No one can come for you. You must come. You must embrace him.

68:32 You! Child, little one, you must embrace him. Suffer the little children to come unto me. But they must come.

68:44 He says to adults, don't stand in the way. But neither did he say, you can bring them. Bring them to come. And we do not stand in your way tonight, children.

68:56 We don't tell you you've got to be twenty. We don't tell you you must feel some great and overpowering sense of conviction so that you weep for three days and three nights or six weeks before you come. Know yourself this night to be one of those sons or daughters of Adam and you know it because you can be as mean as anybody in your heart even though you never say mean things with your lips. And you can be stubborn and rebellious and sash your mum and fight with your brother and sister.

69:26 And you know no one ever had to taught you how to do those, teach you how to do those things. You just did them naturally. You're being a very consistent son or daughter of Adam. And Almighty God frowns with holy hatred against your sins, children.

69:40 God doesn't have some kind of special attitude to children's sins. His anger burns against all sin and sinners. And I plead with you, dear children, flee to the Lord Jesus. He stands in His Word ready, willing, and able to save you.

69:58 And any adults who are here and some of you who've despised the Gospel for years, I close with a note with which I closed last night. You may smart mouth the Gospel and the Son of God in union with Christ and everything that has to do with these sacred things, but you'll not smart mouth them in the day when you stand before Him who will come in the full fury of His wrath. For the Scripture says He will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on all those that obey not the Gospel. My friend, the Gospel is not merely an invitation with all the entreaty and earnestness of divine love and compassion.

70:42 It's a command in all the overtones of regal and majestic authority. It comes from the throne of God and it says, repent, believe, be saved. Pay not that Gospel command, you shall perish. Union with Christ, what a blessing.

71:04 What is it like? God says it's like these things, and it's not that. Oh, my friend, are you joined in? If you are, your present status is of all men most blessed, your prospects most bright.

71:19 Without Him, it's nothing but darkness. Now and for eternity. Let us pray.