Union With Christ, #3

The Centrality of Union with Christ in Salvation

0:01 Let us resume this morning our examination of union with Christ in its theological perspectives. Is this thing adjustable? I think there's a little bit too much microphone. Is there not?

0:14 It seems to be bouncing around. It's all right? Okay, very good. It's just the acoustics of where I'm standing. We resume our examination of the broad consideration of the doctrine of union

0:27 with Christ. Yesterday I began with the assertion that nothing is more central or basic in the whole doctrine of salvation than is union with Christ. And once we understand that the term union with Christ brings within its scope all of the in Christ terminology of the New Testament, all of the with Christ terminology, the Christ in us, the we in Christ, all of Christ, the mutual indwelling, the mutual abiding terminology of the New Testament, then I believe we will see that the statement is justified that nothing is more central

1:10 or basic in the whole doctrine of salvation than is union with Christ. We then looked at Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 as an index of this pervasive emphasis of the New Testament. And then as time was running out, we were just beginning to consider this first major subheading, the place given to union with Christ in the plan of salvation. And we considered the place of union with Christ in the fountainhead of salvation in God's sovereign and gracious

1:49 electing purposes, Ephesians 1.4 and 2 Timothy 1.9. Grace was given us in Christ in the plan of salvation. Now this morning, we pick up at the point where we concluded yesterday,

Union with Christ in the Saving Acts of Christ (Incarnation)

2:05 further considering the place given to union with Christ in the plan of salvation. Having considered that our election is in Christ, we now move to the second major division under this category. And it's what I'm calling the place of union with Christ in the saving acts of Christ. And it's what I'm calling the place of union with Christ in the saving acts of Christ.

2:27 The place of union with Christ in the saving acts of Christ. The apostle tells us that in the fullness of the times, Christ came, Galatians chapter 4. Now when he came at the incarnation and right through his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension and session at the right hand of the Father, we must ask the question, what place of union with Christ in the plan of did his union with us and ours with him have in those actual space-time events of the incarnation

3:09 to the heavenly session of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I would suggest that the scriptures tell us in no uncertain terms that our union with Jesus Christ was very much a reality in every one of those saving and redemptive acts of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider, if you will, what the scriptures tell us concerning this matter in relationship to the incarnation. When his covenant or federal union with his people breaks into the world of flesh and blood, the scriptures teach us

3:49 that at that point our Lord was in union with his people and, in some sense, his church was in union with his people. In some sense, his church was in union with his people. In some sense, his church was in union with his people. When his people were in union with him. I direct your attention to two portions of the word of God

4:02 in particular. In Romans chapter 8, beginning with verse 1 and reading through verse 3, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

4:19 Apart from union with Christ, there is nothing but condemnation. In Christ, there is no condemnation Now, what is the rationale that lies behind the no condemnation state of those who are in union with Christ? Well, the apostle is going to expound that issue to us. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. We are in the state of no

4:54 condemnation because we have been liberated through union with Christ Jesus. We have been from the law of sin and of death. Now, what is the basis of that liberation? Well, the answer of the apostle is, in verse 3, the whole matter of Christ's identification with his people in flesh and blood. For what the law could not do, that is, it could not justify, in that it was weak

5:23 through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of the Son of God, the Son of God, of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Do you see the progression in the apostle's reasoning? If we are in Christ, no condemnation. How is it that there is no condemnation? Well, it's because of the truth of verse 2. We have come into a state of liberation

5:49 from the law of sin and death, which brings condemnation. But now the question is asked, by what means did we come to the state of liberation? And his answer is, the liberation is rooted in the identification of Christ with flesh and blood, an identification so deep that when sin is judged in him, it is judged on behalf of all those who are in him. So there could be no liberation from the law of sin and death, resulting in the state of no condemnation, unless there had first of all been this,

6:28 intimate identification. Now the language of this passage is that he took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh. Now is the apostle teaching that Christ became identified with man in a generic sense, so that we are to view him as coming into union with true humanity, humanity conceived of as some kind of an indiscriminate mass? Well, this would be contrary to everything that the apostle teaches us elsewhere, and it would certainly contradict the explicit teaching of the book of Hebrews. And it is this passage to which

7:11 I now direct your attention, Hebrews chapter 2. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, we read in verse 10, and I'm not starting the reading in verse 10 because I'm embarrassed about the language of verse 9. It's just a matter of exercising the discipline of exclusion in the English language. It's just a matter of exercising the discipline of exclusion in the English language. For it became

7:36 him for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, a direct reference to Christ as he was described in the first three verses of this epistle. It became him for whom are all things, through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that is in him, and he that is in him, and he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Now notice the brethren in this passage are those that are sanctified, those that

8:18 are set apart unto God through the virtue of the redemptive work of Christ. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, and now we have a quote from the 22nd Psalm, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise, and again I will put my trust in him, and again behold I and the children whom God hath given me. Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood. He also himself in like manner partook of the same, that is, a true humanity, flesh and blood, that

9:00 through death he might bring to naught him that had the power to do so. For he that is in him, and the power of death, that is the devil, and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is

9:41 able to succor them that are tempted. Now again, without attempting a detailed exegesis, do you see the thrust of the passage? If the children, those who are called, those who are designated the brethren, if they are to be delivered from the bondage of the devil, if they are to be released from captivity, one must be identified with them, sharers of flesh and blood. And in assuming a true humanity, our Lord does not identify himself with mankind generically, but he identifies himself with the

10:22 seed of Abraham. So that in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act

10:34 of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act

10:36 of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act of the living God, the seed of Abraham. And in the incarnation, our Lord is manifesting in this mysterious act intimate is His union with His people. He sustains from eternity that covenant federal union with His people. They are chosen in Him. They are never conceived of apart from Him. He is not

10:54 contemplated as Redeemer apart from them. And in the fullness of time, He manifests the bonds of that union when He takes to Himself what the old writers call the assumption of a true humanity. But I emphasize it was not humanity generically. It was humanity in terms of His brethren, humanity in terms of the seed of Abraham. And so the incarnation then is one facet of this union

11:28 as it comes to manifestation in the fullness of eternity. In the saving acts of Christ. And then when our Lord carried His voluntary obedience to a climax in death and resurrection, the scriptures tell us He was not acting as a private person, as the appointed surety of His people, as the living head of His people, as the one who saw His seed. Our Lord was in the closest bonds of union with Him.

Union with Christ in the Saving Acts of Christ (Death, Resurrection, Session)

12:02 And again, in a way we cannot fathom but which is clearly revealed, His people were in union with Him in all of those acts which surround Gethsemane, Golgotha, the open tomb, and the glory of His heavenly session. It is not surprising then to find as the language of the New Testament, that which we confront again and again in Romans 6 verses 2 to 11, Ephesians 2, 4 to 6, Colossians 3, 3 and 4, or the passage we read last night, 2 Corinthians 5

12:41 and verse 15. In fact, and I want to demonstrate this in specifics, there is no major redemptive activity of Christ in which His people were not in the most intimate union with Him and He with them. In all but one of the references I shall now quote, quote, you have a compound word, you have the word of God, you have the word of God, you have the word of God, you have the word of the little preposition sun, which means with, as you elementary Greek students know, those of you just beginning to take your Greek course, and it's a compound word all but in one instance where the sun is used separately. You have these compound verbs so that our withness in Christ is of the

13:24 most intimate kind. We are said to be crucified together with Him, Galatians 2, 20. I have been crucified together with Christ. We are said to have died together with Him, Colossians 2, 20. If ye

13:42 died together with Christ, we are said to be buried together with Christ, Romans 6 and verse 4. As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death, we were buried therefore with Him. We are said in Ephesians 2, 5, to be quickened together with Him. In Colossians 3 and verse 1, we are declared as having been raised together with Him. Ephesians 2, 6 says we have been seated together with Him. Romans 8, 17

14:21 says we shall be glorified together with Him. And in all but the Colossians 2, 20 passage, you have those compound verbs. Christ activity is not the activity of an independent or private person. It is the activity of one who is in the most intimate relationship with His people. If ever the Lord Jesus was bound

14:51 with His people and His people in Him, it was in those agonizing events of Gethsemane and Calvary and in the triumphantly liberating events of the open tomb, and of the parted heavens. Those who were in Him from eternity are surely in Him when He is wrestling and travailing for their salvation. In the agony and the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, our Lord was not in agony for some indiscriminate, ill-defined, or non-definable mass of humanity. When our Lord went into Gethsemane and began to do His work, He was not in agony for some indiscriminate, ill-defined, or non-definable mass of humanity. When our Lord went into Gethsemane and began to do His work, He was in agony for some

15:35 to be troubled and sore amazed. When the Father, as it were, took the cup full of divine wrath against the sins of His people and held it to the lips of His Son, and in all the integrity of a true humanity there was this recoiling from the anguish, from the bitterness of drinking that cup, and He cries, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass. Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done. O dear child of God, don't look upon that as some kind of stoical

16:14 resolution on the part of the Son of God to die simply because He was appointed of the Father to die on behalf of who knows whom. It was His thirst for your salvation and mine that caused Him to take the cup to His lips and to drain the last drop of His blood. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass. It was His commitment to save His people. When we behold our Lord upon Golgotha's

16:47 hill, travailing in the abyss of divine abandonment, my God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned me? When we behold Him in the triumphant cry, Tetelestai, it has been completed. What was completed? Some ill-defined, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, unfulfilled, indescribable, general provision, some general satisfaction to divine justice that may or may not be applied willy-nilly according to the whim of the sinner and the power of the evangelist?

17:25 No, a thousand times no. As in the garden of Gethsemane, when the cup was placed to His lips, as it was His thirst for the salvation of His people that caused Him to say, Not my will but Thine be done. As upon the cross He cried, My God, my God. As upon the cross He shouted in triumph, It is finished. The scriptures tell us He loved the church and

17:59 gave Himself for it. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And you see the biblical concept of particularism is not the imposition of a cold and calculating logic upon the simple testimony of the Bible. I reject with every fiber of my being that accusation. It is this glorious

18:33 doctrine of union with Christ that opens up the cross and at least in some measure enables us to see its glory. He who took upon Him the seed of Abraham, in the virgin's womb. He who knew all of the unbounded liberty and glory of pre-incarnate worship and adoration of all intelligent beings in heaven. He who is willing to come to the confines of a virgin's womb, upholder of the universe, sustained by the umbilical cord of a little Hebrew maiden.

19:16 Why? Not because of the unbounded liberty and glory of pre-incarnate worship and adoration of all the unbounded life. Not because there was some general wish that in some general way, some general provision might possibly be made for sinners. No, no. Out of the womb, as it were, of the covenant

19:35 of redemption and on behalf of all those who were given to Him and chosen in Him, He comes to Mary's womb. And from the womb of Mary, He goes down into the darkness of Gethsemane. into the deeper darkness of the abyss of the abandonment of Golgotha. But he goes not alone.

19:58 He goes in union with his people, and his people in union with him,

20:06 so that his death is reckoned their death, his resurrection their resurrection, his session at the right hand of the Father, their session with him.

20:22 Then the scripture says, We shall be glorified together with him.

Union with Christ in the Application of Redemption (Effectual Calling)

20:28 And in the last day, as we shall see, if time permits, this morning, when the Lord Jesus returns, it will be the manifestation of all the reality of that union and all of the blessings that were purchased by the Son of God for his people. Well, we must hurry on now to the third division under this matter of union with Christ in the plan of redemption. We've seen the significance. We've seen the significance of this doctrine in terms of election, the fountainhead of salvation.

21:00 We've seen the doctrine of union with Christ in relationship to the saving acts of Christ. Now we move on and consider union with Christ in the application of redemption. When God actually lays hold of specific sinners in space and time, what is the relationship of that work of God, and union with Christ? When a sinner is seized upon by apprehending grace, as we saw last night, he has made a new creation, and union with Christ is at the center of that new creation.

21:41 And I'm not going to re-preach last night's sermon, but I am going to direct your attention to one of the texts to which I referred in passing, Ephesians 2 and verse 10. Whenever a sinner has, by grace, been saved through faith, not of works, this also is true of him, for we are his workmanship. Whenever an unbelieving sinner becomes a believing sinner, God's been at work.

22:20 We are his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus. So that the apostle here indicates that the whole complex of divine activity that results in a sinner being actually brought out of a state of nature and into a state of grace. The whole complex of that activity, from the first stirrings of his conscience, to a genuine awakening and conviction in all the other stages and aspects of God's dealings, in whatever terminology we wish to describe them, that whole complex of activity by which he's made a new creature,

23:04 The future has the entirety, the entirety of its reality in one sphere, union with Christ. We are created anew in Christ Jesus. It is in the virtue of that which Christ has accomplished that the Spirit is ever sent into the heart of a sinner. And it is in terms of Christ's righteousness that the sinner thus united to him by a God-given faith has imputed to him the perfect righteousness of Christ, is given the gift of the Spirit, causing sin's dominion to be broken

23:45 and a principle of life and holiness implanted so that Christ actually becomes that sinner's life. So in the application of redemption and effectual calling, union, with Christ stands at the very forefront. And then I refer to another text which was alluded to last night in passing, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9.

24:12 God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, one of the points that we need constantly to emphasize is, is that though there are grand and glorious, objective, legal relationships, justification is a legal term. It's a forensic reality. It has to do with something outside of me and objective to me.

24:45 But in our holding tenaciously to that truth, we must never relinquish this balancing truth without which the other becomes a form of legal fiction. That it is only when the sinner, is truly joined to Christ, that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him.

25:06 And he is joined to Christ when in effectual calling, he is brought into the fellowship of God's dear Son. In the larger Catechism of the Westminster Standards, this concept is laid out very beautifully. In question 65 we read, What special benefits to the members of the invisible church enjoy by Christ? The answer, The members of the invisible church by Christ enjoy union and communion with him in grace, that's now, and glory.

25:41 Question 66, What is that union which the elect have with Christ? Answer, The union which the elect have with Christ is the work of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically yet really and inseparably joined to Christ as their head and husband which is done in their effectual calling. Now I must pause to underscore something at this point in order to set up a barrier to heresy. You see, if the devil cannot keep us from running up to the hill of any truth, he'll push us down the other side of the hill of that truth.

26:23 If he cannot blind us to a great biblical reality, he'll cause us to run off with it in an unwarranted extreme. Now some seeing these truths that I have sought to emphasize that we were chosen in Christ and in one sense were never contemplated apart from Christ, that we were in him and with him in his incarnation, in his life of obedience, in his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his session, have come up with what has been called in the history of theology a doctrine of eternal justification. And there is no such truth taught in the word of God. Question 67, we are never justified until we believe,

27:05 and we never believe until we are effectually called. So the same apostle who describes the Ephesians in Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 as in Christ and chosen in Christ, says in chapter 2 that until they are called by the gospel, they are without hope and without God. They are dead and they are children of wrath, even as the rest. And I would warn any of you from taking this truth to an unwarranted, carnal, logical extreme.

27:35 We must preach to men as God says they are. And we can say to any man, if he is not in Christ, he is under condemnation. He is dead in trespasses and sins. The wrath of God hangs over his head.

27:50 If he is brought to true repentance and faith, we can tell him with equal certainty he was loved in Christ before the foundation of the world. He was in Christ in the incarnation. He was in him in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And yet Paul can say, give greetings to those two brethren who were in Christ before me.

28:11 Romans 16 and verse 7. And we must live with that biblical tension. And as we reminded you yesterday quoting from Thornwell, that great southern theologian of civil war days, that we must keep ourselves continually under the discipline of the Spirit, so that we do not go beyond what is written, and we do not stop short of embracing what is written. Well then, we move on very quickly to consider the place of union with Christ in the continuance of the Christian life and experience.

Union with Christ in the Continuance of the Christian Life

28:49 In the application of redemption, the sphere in which the divine activity occurs is that of union with Christ. Well, what about the life that we begin to live? From our effectual calling onward to glory? Well, the scriptures tell us that the power to walk in newness of life is rooted in the virtue of Christ's death and Christ's resurrection in which we share because of our union with him.

29:17 Romans 6 and verse 4 is one of the most powerful texts pointing in this direction. We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death in order that, like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. You see, our walking in newness of life, that's the Christian life, is rooted in the reality of our union with Jesus Christ in death and in life. We could bring then at this point the words of our Lord into the picture, those words of John 15,

30:02 1 to 8, I am the vine, ye are the branches. And as there is this absolute dependence on the part of all the branches with respect to the sap, the life that flows through the vine, so our Lord says, severed from me ye can do nothing. All fruit bearing is dependent upon this union and communion with Jesus Christ. Any gifts or graces, that are exercised to our own and to the profit of the church, the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 1, 4 and 5, ye are enriched in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge,

30:45 so that ye came behind in no gift. It is in union with Christ, the great head of the church, who is the embodiment of all gifts and all graces. And as the church is in union with him, the head himself confers upon the body, all of the gifts and graces needful for its own edification. And so in the continuance of the Christian life and experience, union with Christ is central.

31:15 I hope to develop this more fully from a practical standpoint in one of the evening sessions, but I want to underscore it again. We are not dealing with abstractions. When the apostle would urge the Colossians to deal with the practical, practical matters of remaining sin, he puts his whole exhortation in the context of union with Christ. Colossians 3, Since then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

31:49 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things of the earth. Why? For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. He says, be what you are.

32:01 Your dead men, dead to this world. Your resurrected men, alive with Christ. Live accordingly. Let your mind be filled with the reality of your union with Christ.

32:13 And then conduct yourself accordingly. Or as I alluded to just briefly yesterday morning, the thorny problem of sexual impurity. A matter that in our day, we cannot afford the luxury of being unarmed with any biblical principle that will enable us to stand in a day of abounding licentiousness. Well, the doctrine of union with Christ is central, as the apostle points out in 1 Corinthians and chapter 6.

32:49 Flee fornication. On what basis? Well, on the basis, he says, don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

33:03 Meginata, God forbid! 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. The same spirit that rested upon him in plentitude and was given to him without measure for the sake of saving his people.

33:28 It is that spirit which is the bond of my union with Christ. The same spirit that rests upon the head comes down to the least member of that body. And I am joined to him, not just my soul. And that's the point I want to emphasize.

33:44 My union with Christ involves all that I am as a redeemed man or woman. The whole of your redeemed humanity is joined to Christ. So he says, will you deliberately take the members of Christ? Even your sexual organs are in union with Christ.

34:04 Do I join them to an harlot? God forbid! You have to sit as I do as a pastor and sort out moral problems by people who sit under a good ministry, who are under wonderful influences that ought to cause them to know better. You'll know this is no luxury.

34:28 To come to grips and to live and think and act and react in the light of the validity of your union with Christ. Well, I must hurry on now, and it looks like I will complete this morning what I had hoped to complete. What do we say about the consummation of redemption? We started in eternity, chosen in him.

Union with Christ in the Consummation of Redemption (Death)

34:48 We broke into time in the incarnation, again into time in our own effectual calling. We've passed through time in terms of the continuance and all the vicissitudes of the Christian life. What about the prospects for the future? What is the place of union with Christ in the consummation of redemption?

35:08 Well, in the vast majority of cases, the consummation comes in two stages. Death and then the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the body. Now, for most of us, all who've passed before us, this has been true. It may well be true for us.

35:26 The consummation comes in two stages. Death, when we then join what is called in Hebrews 12, 24, the company of the spirits of just men made perfect. This is no little thing. In taking away the dread of death is to know that the moment the soul and the body part, the same God who by mighty power joined me in time to his beloved Son, who has given to me the earnest of the spirit, will in an instant purge my entire soul and all of its faculties of every last remains of sin.

36:04 And my first consciousness will be as a departing spirit that I look upon the face of my Savior sinless. We join the company of the spirits of just men made perfect. What happens to the body? Well, the undertaker takes over and he puts you in his back room, takes the blood out of your veins, fixes you up, places you in a casket.

36:33 Some people come and pay their last respects and then you're put in the ground. And in a few years, those hands that now hold your Bible, the flesh will be eaten by the worms. Those eyes that now look upon me will be eaten by the worms. And if the Lord tarries, there'll be nothing but some dust in the dusty remains of a wooden box, even with the best of concrete vaults to protect you from the elements.

37:02 Now, it's not pleasant, but those are facts, my friends. It's appointed unto men once to die. Well, in the face of those gloomy prospects, what do we say concerning this matter of union with Christ? Well, the Scripture gives us glorious hope, for the Scripture tells us two things.

37:23 Number one, the people of God die in union with Christ, and that violent wrenching of soul and body, that abnormal bifurcation, that splitting of the integrity of what man is as man, a soul-spirit, a psychosomatic entity, in that violent abnormal wrenching, there is no wrenching of his union with Christ. How do we know that? Well, 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16 says, The dead in Christ shall rise first. That has exclusive reference to their bodies.

38:04 The dead in Christ shall rise first. You mean, when the undertaker takes over for me that lifeless carcass that remains? I say the word of God answers, unequivocally, it is indeed in union with Christ. For if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit which dwelleth in you.

38:45 Believer, think of it. Is my union with Christ now one that involves the entirety of my redeemed humanity, body and soul? That's the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 6. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ, temples of the Spirit?

39:03 Well, death cannot sever that union. And I know of nothing that gives me greater consolation. And in my own mind, as I meditated in the early hours of the morning, it filled me afresh with a sense of wonder and glory as I looked at my hands and said to myself, Albert, in a few more years, the worms will eat those fingers and they'll be done. But the worms and time and all the pressures of what we call the natural processes of decay and deterioration, they cannot sever a union which goes back to eternity and will issue in the world to come.

39:48 That's why John can say, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Revelation 14, 13. In a way that we cannot understand, it is in union with Christ in the totality of our redeemed humanity that we die. And then the scripture tells us secondly that we are resurrected in union with Christ.

Union with Christ in the Consummation of Redemption (Resurrection and Glorification)

40:17 1 Corinthians 15, 22. As in union with Adam all die, so all who are in union with Christ shall be made alive. And there again, the made alive has exclusive reference to the physical resurrection from the dead. A resurrection, follow me now, in which there is continuity between the body that now is and the body that shall be at the last day.

40:44 Now there will be great disparity at many points. It is sown in dishonor, it's raised in honor. It's sown a mortal body, raised immortal. But the apostle is careful to emphasize, though there is disparity, and amazing areas of difference, there is continuity.

41:02 It is the identity of this body that is laid in the ground that is still in union with Christ. And it is that body that will be raised again at the last day. It is sown in dishonor, not something else, but it. What was sown in dishonor, it is raised in honor.

41:21 Now you say, but don't you understand, Pastor Martin, people die and are eaten by sharks, and sharks digest the entirety of what they are, and then the shark is killed, and yes, I know all of that, and that doesn't bother me at all. Because it is God who does it work, my friends. Don't subject God to your little teacup mind. The problem for God to call together all of the atoms of any body at any point that He chooses to do so, He's God.

41:57 And I say the doctrine of union with Christ is a wonderfully comforting doctrine. To know that when death takes its toll upon us, it cannot sever this bond with Christ. And when He comes, two more texts quickly, the scripture tells us in Romans 8, 17, we shall be glorified together with Christ. And Colossians 3, 4, when Christ who is our life shall be manifested, then shall He also be manifested with Him in glory.

42:38 All the world will see, is that the soul and the body have been wrenched asunder, as the body apart from the spirit is dead. That's all the world will see. Poor John, poor Henry, poor Susan, poor Mary, she's gone. That's all they see.

42:57 And that's all they will see until He returns. And then they're going to see what they never expected to see. The world says, it doesn't know you because it doesn't know me. Our Lord says, the world doesn't know you because it doesn't know me.

43:12 The Lord says, the world doesn't know you, didn't know me. But when He returns, it will be what the scripture calls the manifestation of the sons of God. That union, and all that was designed of God in that union from eternity, will now be visibly manifested to the entire moral universe. People walk by you on the street, and what do they see?

43:34 Oh, just a fellow human being. That's all. Nobody special. Especially since not many mighty, not many noble are called.

43:40 God takes the weak things of the world and the things that are not, and the things that are despised. What one man called God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness. That's what God's people are. The weak, the foolish, the things that are not, the things of no account.

43:55 What does the world see? We go out and walk down the streets of Toronto. There's no halo hanging over our head. There's no neon light reflecting off our forehead.

44:05 These are the sons of God in vital union with Christ. And the very seeds, the seeds of everlasting life are planted in them. They don't see a thing. But when Christ shall appear, then all that we really are will be manifested.

44:20 Now it doesn't say we'll become that. It says it will be manifested. That's what we are. And then it's going to be seen.

Concluding Exhortation: Rejoice and Maintain Communion

44:29 Oh, child of God, the doctrine of union with Christ ought to fill you with great consolation as you think of the brevity of life and the certainty of death. And I close the lecture this morning by reading from Professor Murray, who, having given a survey similar to the one I've attempted to give this morning, said, We thus see that union with Christ has its source in the election of God the Father before the foundation of the world and has its fruition in the glorification of the sons of God. The perspective of God's people is not narrow. It is broad and it is long.

45:10 It is not confined to space and time. It has the expanse of eternity. Its orbit has two focal points. One, the electing love of God the Father in the councils of eternity.

45:24 And the other, the glorification with Christ in the manifestation of his glory. The former has no beginning. The latter has no end. Dropping down now in the quote, Apart from union with Christ, we cannot view past, present or future with anything but dismay and Christless dread.

45:49 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. Now do you see why the Apostle said, If any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema? Do you see why God burns with such holy wrath to those who despise his Son if he has treasured up this kind of blessing in his Son and freely offers it to all sinners in the Gospel? What greater crime is there than to despise so gracious a Savior

46:34 and to treat lightly such glorious blessing? And child of God, can you see now why the enemy marshals all of his vicious attacks at you in seeking to undermine your ability to walk in conscious, delightful communion with Christ? If it is in union and communion with Christ that your life is imparted and sustained, the enemy will strike at that issue above all else. Now do you understand why it's so difficult to maintain consistent, lively times of prayer and Bible reading?

47:12 You see why? It's because by this means you're unable to feed upon Christ. And if you're to be strong in the Lord, you must feed upon him. But you must realize it's not just some arbitrary rule, read your Bible and pray.

47:30 This is the appointed means of feeding upon Christ. And if I cease to feed upon him, then I cease to be strong. And the first step to gross sin is not inducement to that sin which cripples us. It's weaning us from living vital communion with Christ in which alone is our spiritual safety.

47:56 Well, may God be pleased to write these things upon our hearts and make us as never before worshipers of this glorious Savior and full of gratitude for so great a salvation.