Union with Christ in Scripture

Introduction: The Two Pictures of Ephesians 2

0:02 This morning, through our careful analysis of the words of the Apostle Paul, which are indeed the words of the Holy Spirit, is found in his letter to the church at Ephesus in chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2.

0:22 The chapter, which you have been reminded again and again, is basically a statement of two great contrasts, the two before and after pictures, the first being framed by the first ten verses, and the second picture framed by verses 11 through 22. In the first picture, there is the contrast of the before and after of the Ephesians and all Christians with reference to their condition as individuals before God. Verses 1 to 3, we describe the before,

1:03 and then with those blessed words beginning in verse 4, but God, we have this amazing description of what men become by the grace of God when they are brought into vital union with Jesus Christ. And in our careful study of these words, we have moved into the before, into the after of the first picture, the description of what the grace of God, what God did in the lives of these Ephesians. We have noted that the author of this transformation is God himself, the motive or the moving cause is his mercy and his love,

1:45 and then the method by which he has effected this transformation, stated in general terms, it is a method in which the person and work of Christ are central, four times in verses 4 to 10, the name of Jesus Christ, is set before us explicitly. In general, it is a method in which the biblical notion of grace is dominant. Three times he mentions the grace of God. And then thirdly, it is a method in which the reality and magnitude of the change is evident.

The Meaning of Salvation: Co-Quickening, Co-Raising, Co-Seating

2:20 He piles word upon word to describe the greatness of this change and the evidence of this change in the lives of the Ephesians. But now in a very specific way, the apostle tells us that the method of this transformation is to be found in these unusual words of verses 5 and 6, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace have we been saved, and raised us up together with him, and made us to sit together with him, and made us to sit together with him, and made us to sit together with him, and raised us up together with him, and made us to sit together with him, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

3:05 God's method, according to these words, is nothing less than a co-quickening, co-raising, and a co-seating with Jesus Christ. In other words, whenever God takes dead, bound, guilty sinners, such as are described in verses 1 to 3, and confers upon them His grace, He always does so in such a way as to quicken them with Christ, to raise them with Christ, and to seat them in the heavenly places in Christ. For the Apostle tells us this is precisely what it means to be saved.

3:50 For in the midst of describing this co-quickening, this co-raising, and this co-seating with Christ, he says, by grace have ye been saved. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be quickened with Christ. What does it mean to be saved?

4:09 It means to be raised with Christ. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so for several weeks we have applied ourselves with great mental and, I trust, spiritual diligence to the task of grasping the amazing, amazing significance of this concept of being quickened, raised, and seated with Christ.

Three Axioms for Understanding Union with Christ

4:36 And having demonstrated that this is not an isolated notion in the writings of the Apostle Paul, but is found scattered throughout his epistles, I have suggested that one way, and certainly not the only way, to grasp the meaning of his words is to think of these three fundamental axioms. These three statements that gather together in some kind of a cohesive whole what the Apostle is teaching us. And I shall simply give you those axioms, and then we shall move on to our study today. Axiom number one is this.

5:17 All that transpired in the life history of the Lord Jesus Christ bore the distinct nature of representative substitutionary soteric activity. And for you who are visiting with us, let me assure you I did not simply spit out that mouthful and leave it unchewed and unexplained. The entire exposition was given over to demonstrating that everything that occurred in the life history of our Lord bore the distinct nature of activity that He performed as the representative of His people, what He did He did on their behalf, as the substitute He did as them,

6:01 and He did soterically, that is, to deliver them from sin and its consequences. The second axiom, all that transpires in the realized salvation of a sinner bears the distinct nature of an application of some aspect of the saving work of Christ. When God saves a sinner, what does He do? Well, He applies to that sinner in some specific way something that was wrought on behalf of that sinner by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Union as the Bridge Between Christ's Work and Believer's Salvation

6:36 And then the third axiom is this, that which brings together the saving activity of Christ on the one hand and the realized salvation of the sinner on the other is the reality of the union which exists between Christ and His people. That's why the apostle can take three things that are obviously, aspects of Christ's work, His quickening in Joseph's tomb, His being raised from the dead, and His being seated at the right hand of the Father. Three events in the life of the Lord, He can bring them together and say they occurred in the life history of every single Ephesian Christian. Was Jesus Christ quickened?

7:20 Was Jesus Christ raised? Was Jesus Christ seated? And the answer of the gospel records, is an unequivocal yes. Well, the apostle says, so was every Christian believer at Ephesus quickened and also raised and also seated, but not in some way that simply reflects what happened to Christ.

7:44 As Christ was given life, so believers are given life. No, the words bring us into something more blessed than that. It is said that we are actually quickened together with Him. In union with Him.

7:59 We are actually raised with Him. We are actually seated with Him. Well, what then can bring together what is separated by hundreds of years? The quickening of our Lord in Joseph's tomb occurred 2,000 years ago.

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

8:54 And that result is... that we are seated with Him and all of the privileges that that entails.

The Centrality of Union with Christ in Scripture

9:01 But as I promised you several weeks ago, I shall, this morning, simply attempt to give you some other lines of biblical truth that I hope will help clarify and cement to your understanding this great doctrine of union with Christ which we have unavoidably confronted in our exposition of these verses. Someone has said, and rightly so, that the doctrine of union with Christ is perhaps the most central truth or the central truth of the Scriptures with relationship to the salvation of sinners. And all I'm going to attempt to do this morning,

9:44 having made an effort, and time alone will judge how successful that effort was, at least it was a bona fide effort, to open up this biblical concept, what I propose, what I propose to do this morning is to back off now from our specific concern with the concept here in Ephesians and show that this concept of union with Christ binding together what He did in time and what He does by the Spirit in time in the event of saving a sinner, that this great concept is indeed one of the fundamental concepts of the Word of God as it expounds the salvation

10:29 that is ours in Christ. And what we're going to do in the time allotted in about half an hour is to make a sweep through eternity. We're going to start in eternity past, if I may use those terms without someone nailing me for being so non-technical as to put the limits of time onto eternity, but if you will please picture a huge blackboard here before us and...

10:56 And at the top of the blackboard there is a bracket that is holding everything together and at the point in the bracket is the phrase union with Christ. And what I propose to do is to demonstrate from the Scriptures that this union with Christ is something which spans eternity. That the salvation of rebel sinners has its roots in eternity in such a way as to be found bracketed, unbounded, under union with Christ and then the prospects for the consummate joy of salvation when we are forever with the Lord is also to be seen as a salvation

Union with Christ in Eternal Election

11:38 under that bracketed concept of union with Christ. First of all then, consider the place of union with Christ in the election of sinners unto life and salvation. The Scriptures, the Scriptures, everywhere assert that the salvation of rebel sinners by the grace and power of God is a salvation rooted in sovereign purpose and executed according to eternal plan.

12:13 The salvation of sinners is rooted in sovereign purpose and executed according to eternal plan. The biblical words elect, election, chosen, predestinate, foreknow, foreknowledge, force such concepts upon us. May I pause simply to say if you're having problems with the biblical doctrine of election, remember it's your Bible that creates the problem, not some theologians importing philosophical notions into the Bible. It's the Bible that forces these words upon us.

12:54 And the Scriptures use these words upon us. They use these words because the salvation which they set forth is rooted in the exercise of divine and gracious sovereignty and is executed according to eternal plan. Assuming, though not pausing to prove, that election or this eternal, gracious selection of sinners is the fountainhead of our salvation, what we need to understand is that the action of election is not an act of naked sovereignty and love. Turning back to Ephesians chapter 1, we are instructed

13:38 by the Apostle to look upon that sovereign, gracious choice as being exercised by God within the bracket of union with Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In other words, as the Apostle begins this eulogy, he envisions every believer blessed with every blessing

14:20 but within a very restricted orbit. Every believer blessed with every spiritual blessing but only in Christ. In other words, no man receives any blessing outside of that sphere or orbit of union with Christ. As surely as every believer is blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, no one is blessed with any spiritual blessing outside of Christ.

14:59 And then he begins to unfold some of those specific blessings that come to every believer in Christ. And the first one he enunciates is verse 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before him, in love having predestinated us unto adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to himself. The first blessing with which every believer is blessed in Christ is the blessing of this sovereign selection of God.

15:42 Now notice he did not say we were chosen to be in him. As though it was the choice that put us into Christ. And he certainly does not say we are chosen to be in him because we would choose to be in him. Rather the text simply states without setting forth any elaborate discussion or proof that we were chosen in him to be holy.

16:16 Not chosen because we would be holy and therefore worthy to be in him. Nor even chosen to be put in him that we might be holy. But the text simply states even as he, God the Father chose us in union with Christ before the foundation of the world.

16:44 Now it is obvious from this text that that choice conceived of us not as mere creatures. Notice what it says. We were chosen in him to be holy which we were not when we were contemplated in that act of choosing. We were chosen to be brought to the place where we would be holy and without blemish before him.

17:10 In other words in eternity God beheld the certainty of our creation and our fall in Adam. And in eternity he framed the scheme the plan of redemption for Christ is the land slain from the foundation of the world and in eternity we were chosen in union with Christ Jesus. In other words as scripture forces us to conceive of our salvation as being rooted in divine and sovereign selectivity scripture also

17:54 forces us to acknowledge that tracing our salvation back as far as that act of gracious selection by the Father we are to think of it as selection in Christ Jesus. That there was a union constituted with Christ before the world had any being and before we had any being. May I say it reverently the Lord Jesus married himself to his people in eternity.

Analogy of Marriage: Christ Marries His People in Eternity

18:29 And what he married himself to to was not a pure and spotless virgin. He married himself to a bride that was laden with ugliness and liabilities in herself. Let me illustrate. When a man commits himself to marry a woman he automatically takes upon himself all of her legal debts all of her liabilities if she is sickly if she is not so pretty to look upon he must dwell with her homely face for the rest of his days.

19:10 If there are other problems there are legal involvements he binds himself to that woman and to all of her liabilities and furthermore he binds himself not only to be held responsible for her liabilities but to confer upon him her all of his assets.

19:32 And as I've been thinking of these thoughts this week my own mind and spirit have reeled within me to think that in eternity the Lord Jesus Christ beholding me in all of the liabilities of my sin all of the wrath which my sins would deserve from the hand of the Father all of my spiritual blindness my antipathy to Him and to His ways and to His glory all of the legal and the moral debts and problems incurred by my sin. And yet he said Father

20:16 I will marry myself to that sinner assuming all of his debts and all of his liabilities and I will discharge every one of those debts I will meet every one of the liabilities and then the wonder I will confer upon that sinner all of the assets of my glorious person. My friend when you begin to trace out that concept in the word of God it's mind-blowing. Is he the beloved? He says I'll not rest until the Father says each one of them is beloved.

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

21:09 We are the sons adopted. You go right through all of the titles and names of Christ and privileges and the scripture says we have been constituted what? Joint heirs with all that is rightfully his is now ours. And my dear Christian friend when did it all begin?

Union with Christ in Time: Incarnation and Redemptive Acts

21:35 When in a way that I cannot explain but in a way which I dare to proclaim on the basis of a text such as Ephesians 1 for Jesus Jesus , Christ married himself to his people in eternity. We were chosen in him so that tracing our salvation back as far as the scriptures allow us to trace it we find ourselves before that mysterious and yet blessed veil of the sovereign selection of an innumerable company of sinners out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and we find in that selection they are bound

22:20 to the Lord Jesus Christ they are chosen in him. Toplady expressed it in this poem very beautifully to thee O Lord alone is due all glory and renown ought to ourselves we dare not take or rob thee of thy crown thou wast thyself our surety in God's redemption plan in thee this grace was given us long ere the world began.

22:55 What place does union with Christ have in the salvation of sinners? Well when we see that salvation under the brackets that encompass eternity we trace back to our election in Christ and we see that it was an election that was not bare sovereignty nor near love if I may use the term near love but it was a choice that had a distinct connection with a union constituted between Jesus Christ and his people. Well then let's move on into time when the second person of the Godhead the eternal word

23:39 who was with God and was God became flesh where is this union with his people? Well the very fact that he came and took upon himself our nature our Lord was manifesting in space and time the intimate bond between himself and his people when he took upon himself their very nature the scripture said for verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took upon him the seed of Abraham not just the seed of mankind but he took upon him the likeness of the people for whom he came to live and to die and as the Lord Jesus

24:24 in that true humanity in a humanity that was as real as yours and mine as he lived he lived under the law why? He himself was the giver of the law he voluntarily placed himself under that law because that was one of the deaths that his bride owed to the Father the bride owed to the Father obedience to that law the bride had not rendered it and the heavenly bridegroom says I shall render what my bride has failed to render I will take that responsibility upon myself and when he comes formally to identify himself with his people before the eyes of the world in that ordinance of baptism

25:08 and John says Lord this is a sinner's ordinance this is not for you I need to be baptized of thee he says no suffer it now to fulfill all righteousness I must take that order to you I must take that order to you I must take that order to you I must take that order to you I must take that place and so Paul can tell us in Romans 5 as through the disobedience of the one the many were constituted sinners so by the obedience of the one the many are constituted righteous the Lord Jesus in that obedience carries it to its pinnacle when in loving submission to the Father having cried not my will but thine be done bearing our nature identified with us bone of our bone in flesh of our flesh

Christ's Experiences Attributed to Believers Through Union

25:52 he bears our sins in his own body to the tree and in all of those acts his death his crucifixion his burial his resurrection our Lord was conscious that he was bound to his people and they were bound to him he was acting for them they were being dealt with in him and it's interesting this is no fancy of the preacher and very quickly I want you to flip through your Bible and look at these six or seven things that happen to Christ that are said or declared to have happened to us was Jesus Christ crucified Galatians 2.20 Paul says I have been crucified with Christ

26:36 how could it be? Paul lived some years subsequent to the crucifixion of Christ though there was the overlapping in his own experience yet he says I have been crucified with Christ because because the Lord Jesus was bound to his people in all of his acts of obedience Colossians 2.20 says if ye have died together with Christ when the head of the Son of God bowed upon his own chest after the cry of triumph into thy hands I commit or commend my spirit it is finished Paul says you believers at Colossia you died with him

27:21 as he expired in the full weight of the law exhausted its demands upon him he said you expired in him and with him and the law's demands have been met as far as you are concerned we were buried with him Romans 6 in verse 4 not only crucified dead with him but Romans 6 and verse 4 declares in the same kind of vigorous explicit language we were buried therefore with him through baptism into death crucified with him dead with him buried with him and then as we have seen in our Ephesians 2 passage

28:05 we have been quickened together with him we have been raised together with him Colossians 3.1 if then ye have been raised together with Christ we have been seated together with him Ephesians 2.6 and the scripture says we shall be glorified together with him Romans 8 and verse 17 Colossians 3 when Christ who is our life shall be manifested then shall he also be manifested with him in glory what is the apostle telling us in these passages oh dear Christians put it all together and do you see it as surely as our salvation has its tap roots in eternity when there was this sovereign selection

28:50 of God and that selection found us married to God and we were to the son bound to him so when the son comes forth into time and in time as the God man he walks he lives he prays he weeps he agonizes in Gethsemane goes to the awful terrible blackness of Golgotha and goes through the open tomb and ascends we are bound to him and he to us so that with but one exception in these verses I've just said just quoted Paul uses those compound words the little preposition soon with and then the verb and it's only in the Colossians 2 passage

29:34 that he uses the preposition separately in all of the others so intimate is the union that we are with him crucified we are with him dead with him buried with him quickened with him raised with him seated and we shall be with him glorified again the Christian poet has tried to capture these strands of thought in the phrase or in the in the verse one in the tomb one when he rose one when he triumphed over his foes one when in heaven he took his seat while seraphs sang all hell's defeat with him their head they stand

Practical Implications: Assurance and Confidence

30:19 or fall their life their surety and their life and their all you see Christian when the intimacy of that union that exists between Christ and his people breaks in upon your spirit it becomes the most unshakable ground of solid confidence with him I stand or fall shall he ever fall has he exhausted the demands of the law has he been raised to a place of acceptance shall he ever shall he as surely as day follows night shall he be manifested in glory and in power well if I am

31:03 one with him it is absolutely certain that I am accepted and that I shall be manifested with him in glory we'll come to a few practical implications later on but may I pause at this point to say don't ever some of you wrestling with the matter of the extent of God's intention of the atonement you discuss this with others never think of the atonement its nature and extent never discuss it with others unless you first of all zero in upon the biblical doctrine of union with Christ you see all such discussion is scratching the surface

31:48 don't talk about those for whom he died upon the cross and the efficacy of that death until you see he was not there alone he was there joined to his people all discussion of the atonement is doomed to skirt the real issue until we come to this matter of union with Christ don't ever discuss the final perseverance and preservation of the saints until you've discussed this issue there are some verses that speak of people falling away and there are some examples in scripture that are frightening but when we ask the question

32:32 shall one who has actually entered in and tasted genuinely and vitally of the redemptive work of Christ fail to be manifested in glory with Christ we're asking can a bond which was begun in eternity be severed in time if Jesus Christ married himself to his people in eternity shall anything in time sever him from those who are his so you see don't discuss Hebrews 6 Galatians 4 or other passages until you've backed off and said what is the nature of that union that exists

Union with Christ in Effectual Calling

33:17 between the Lord and his people well let's hurry on we've seen the union in eternity the union that existed when Christ came and lived here upon the earth now what about the actual conferral of salvation upon the sinner that which we call effectual calling the Bible simply uses the word calling when God seizes upon the sinner by apprehending grace and he's made a new creature what place does union with Christ have here well look at verse 10 in the paragraph that got us started in this whole excursion Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 for we are

34:02 his workmanship created in Christ in Christ Jesus we are his workmanship created in union with Christ Jesus that is this work of the new creation occurs within the orbit of union with Christ that election union that union in the once for all redemptive acts of Christ that union is not suspended but when God actually lays hold of the individual sinner and in time will bring him into the full and conscious possession of what was purposed in eternity and purchased

34:46 in time he does so within the same orbit of spiritual concern he creates him anew in union with Christ Jesus this is why the apostle can say in 1st Corinthians 1 9 God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship unto the koinonia unto the shared life of the Lord Jesus Christ we are called into fellowship of the Son of God not only created anew in the virtue of union with Christ but unto the conscious enjoyment of union and communion with him for until we are brought into that vital union

35:31 with him we have no way of knowing that we were chosen in union with him that we were in him when he lived and died and was buried and rose again the only way any sinner can discover the past dimensions of his union with Christ is to discover it in the present awareness of that union in the new birth and in the subsequent repentance in faith and embrace of the Son of God in other words until I volitionally embrace Christ in the union of faith I can never have any assurance that he embraced me in the union of election and of

Union with Christ in the Present Life

36:15 redemptive activity you got it the only way I can know that he embraced me in eternity that he was embracing me upon the cross and in the tomb and in the resurrection and in the ascension is when I embrace him in the embrace of faith well what about the future dimensions the future dimensions the present life is lived in union with him even our bodies are said to be members of Christ you want something again that will blow your mind to use the current in terminology meditating upon this week I said Lord that sounds unbelievable Paul is dealing with the thorny

37:00 problem of fornication and he says what don't you know your bodies are members of Christ shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot and I sat there and I looked at my hands and I said you mean God you're telling me that this body this soma this thing that I can touch and feel and if I pinch it it hurts is vitally joined to the son of God and God says isn't that what I said isn't that what I said if he said your spirit that would have been a little easier to grasp because I don't know what my spirit is anyway but my body I know what it is that's that hunk

37:45 of flesh and bones that's been lying in bed all week with colds and flu bugs and all that and all the rest and obviously should have probably had another day in bed before I tried to come out and preach I know what that is and God says that is true and he said that union is not suspended even when that body descends to the beastly carnality of fornication the union is so indescribable

Union with Christ in Glorification and Death

38:19 and so the present Christian life is carried on in the virtue of that union with Christ we're to abide in him he in us John 15 we can't go into it we're just trying to give the broad overview but now what about out there the consummation of redemption the other end of the bracket when we are glorified what place does union with Christ have in our glorification well for most of us the majority of us the consummation will come in two stages death at which time our spirits will be made perfect according to Hebrews chapter 12 and then the coming of Christ and the resurrection when our bodies will be raised to join our perfected spirits and we shall be forever with the Lord now what part

39:03 does union with Christ have in that process of glorification well the Bible says when we die we die in union with Christ we die in union with Christ 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 14 and 16 for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first while their bodies lie in the grave they are still in Christ and whenever it says the dead shall rise it's never speaking of their spirits it's talking of the body the resurrection of the body

39:45 you mean to tell me that a body that is disintegrated to dust that's been eaten by the beast or the rodents is still indissolubly united to Jesus Christ I mean to say that's exactly what these words force upon us the dead in Christ they died in union with Christ that severance of soul and body is a reality but he says it does not sever any part of their true humanity from union with Christ the dead in Christ verse 16 verse 14 I'm sorry

40:29 if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus those that have fallen asleep in union with Jesus Revelation 14 13 blessed are the dead who die in the Lord you see death does not sever that union my friend if you want to see one of the practical implications of this doctrine you look death straight in the eye don't look at him as he tries to present himself in modern burial practices where the corpse is made to look like it's in the flush of health but you face death in all of its other reality and know

41:14 that after a few short months when all that the undertaker could do for you to make you look pretty will have long since spent itself a carcass being eaten by the worms is going to be lying there in the earth and if you get a sealed vault it only delays it for a short amount of time my friend face death something you've never experienced before that violent wrenching of soul from body how can you face it with confidence how can you look upon that body with which you sit in that pew here this morning downstairs in the over phone in the balcony here in the main auditorium how can you look at it and know that in a few short years

41:58 at best the worms will have eaten the flesh from the bones you say pastor you're getting gruesome no I'm just being real yeah those hands that you put your nice lotion on this morning the worms are going to eat them that face that you saw in the mirror a few short years from now after death has done its work and would be a hideous enough sight to turn the boldest amongst us white and blanched with fear what confidence do you have facing that ah my friend here's the cut line this body dies in union with Jesus Christ and Paul says if the spirit of him

42:43 that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you you mean even death does not strip me of the indwelling of the spirit but it's revealed I will inseparably join to my Lord even in death and as certainly as the grave could not hold the bodily form of the son of God it won't be able to hold mine now you see how the Christian can face death with coming I can face death in the knowledge

43:27 that the grave is going to have to cough me up in the voice of the archangel and the shout of God my union with Christ that lies veiled beneath the activity of the worms and the maggots will come to light before all the intelligent universe to the astonishment of men and angels that's why Paul says your life is now what hid with Christ in God but when he comes he says what we shall be manifested you see the world looks at your body and mine and says what's so special about you you say you're ingrained in the spirit united to Christ

44:12 you get flu bugs like the rest of us you get laryngitis when you've had a cold like the rest of us nothing special about you no my life is hidden with Christ in God now but when he comes it's going to be manifested I'm going to have a body with no more flu bugs with no more laryngitis it can serve God with no need for rest no vacations and that's going to be manifested you see it's hidden now it's hidden now the same way all I am in Christ as a renewed man inwardly is hid I still have the remains of sin with me and there are times when the world wonders if there's any difference between us and them but if we're united to Christ and have

The Consummation of Union in Glorification

44:56 the first fruits of the spirit my friend though our present life is hid with Christ in God there's a day coming when it's going to be manifested what we've been all the while and they'll say hey those guys were right those people were right they weren't making fool's claims they are what they claim to be so that these bodies are joined to Christ in death and at the resurrection they're resurrected in Christ 1 Corinthians 15 22 all that are in Christ shall be made alive that's why the Bible says we shall be glorified together with Christ oh dear Christian do you see the preciousness of this doctrine

45:41 of union with Jesus Christ do you see why it is proper to say that there is no phase of our salvation that can rightly be understood or can be properly viewed divorced from union with Christ from our choice in him in eternity to our glorification with him whenever that will occur it is union with the blessed son of God that binds it all together and Professor Murray to whom I'm greatly indebted in seeking to articulate these things has rightly said and I paraphrase him it is proper to say that salvation in all of its glorious dimensions is but an unfolding

The Tragic State of Being Out of Christ

46:25 of one and another of the implications of our union with Jesus Christ now if this be so oh what a tragic thing to be out of Christ this morning dear unsaved fellow girl man or woman listen to me do you see how frightful it is to be out of Christ if all of God's blessings are treasured up in Christ and if sinners are blessed with those blessings only if they're in Christ can you see what a frightening thing it is to be out of Christ to be out of Christ is to be out of

47:10 the one orbit of grace and of hope and of pardon oh dear person here this morning my question is not are you in the church are you in a religious way of life are you in the orbit of Christian thought my question is are you in Christ how can I know I don't know if I was married to him in eternity I don't know if he had me upon his heart when he lived and died my friend the only way you can know is the way we've come to know you can know that he embraced you when you embrace him but you say am I warranted to embrace him or listen

47:55 to his words come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest now that's pretty plain language isn't it Jesus Christ says through the words of the prophet turn ye turn ye why will ye die seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he's near my friend you're warranted to come you say what qualifications must I bring none come by wine without money and without pride dear child of God do you see why you ought to study the nature of your union with Christ you may get a little help and encouragement from a

The Foundation of Assurance: Union with Christ

48:40 verse here and a verse there that speaks with certainty of how God will carry on what he's begun but you let just a surface grasp of a promise here and a promise there be battered by a real sight of how bad you are you begin to have an acquaintance with how fickle your heart is even though you're a new man or woman in Christ and you begin to long for a solid foundation of assurance and confidence that has something more in its fabric than the promise you may happen to pull out of your promise box the next day you want to see that that which binds every promise together and makes certain the fulfillment of every word of

49:25 the promise is that in Christ the promises are yea and amen it's because I'm united to the son of God that those promises cannot fail for they were made essentially to him and to me and him and as God would never break his promise to his son he will never break that word of promise to one who is in him oh child of God some may call it abstruse theology some may call it too deep some may call it this some may call it that but you hunger for the real resting place of confidence for the

50:10 place where you're lost in wonder love and praise and I suggest that place will be found above all others in loving contemplation of all that is encompassed within the glorious biblical doctrine of union with Jesus Christ the Savior of his people oh may the Lord make us a congregation who study much who meditate often and who lovingly contemplate something of the glory the majesty the privilege of being in Christ Jesus let us pray