Begin our final talk together this morning. I'd like to turn with you to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, reading verse seven through 14, and then jumping to chapter four, verse 13. Philippians three, beginning at verse seven. The Apostle Paul has just been speaking of his own life in trying to pursue enough righteousness to come to God, self-righteousness. And he now says, But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yea, indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And then chapter four, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Well, we looked in our last session together at faith, repentance, and assurance in Christ. And now I want to look together with you at life in Christ really as an antidote to legalism and antinomianism. In some ways this flows out of and recaptures some of the things we've said already, reaffirms them. But I want you to really have, if there's one thing brought home, is that everything in life really is only gotten right when we have Christ right, when we have Jesus right. When we know Christ as he is, these other things fall in place. Of course, all in the light of his word. As Sinclair Ferguson says in that excellent book, The Whole Christ, the gospel is Christ himself, clothed in its garments. And for that, we need to see Jesus. For when we see him, we know him, we trust him, we have life in Christ. Then we have the antidote to both the legalism and the antinomianism that rises up in our own hearts and lives. And then as well, we find that we are increasingly equipped to really minister to other people as well, when we understand the issues of our own hearts, but above all, we know Jesus. In this Christ-centeredness, of course, this is not to neglect a Trinitarian awareness, right, of the of the perfect and complete sufficiency of the Father and the Spirit for us. But in our talks, we're really focusing here on Christ. There is so much richness to be packed, or unpacked, I should say, thinking about the work of the Father and the Spirit as well. I'd recommend John Owen's wonderful book, Communion with God, the Puritan paperbacks, the banner of truth. have sort of an abridged version that takes out some of the longer sentences of Owen and makes it a little more concise, more readable, but it's just a beautiful book. If you really want to dive into something, it's not that thick, and it walks through what is it to live in communion with God the Father? What is it to live in communion with God the Son and with God the Holy Spirit? Just really warm, scriptural, heart application. Great book. Well, let's turn together to look at what it means to be united with the all-sufficient Christ. There's a theologian named John Brown of Haddington. There were a lot of John Browns in Scotland. John Brown here, of course, too, at Harper's Ferry. I don't know if he was related to them. But John Browns in Scotland, who were pastors and theologians, and one John Brown of Haddington, was a theologian who stood in the line of Thomas Boston, the Erskines, but a generation later, he said this, Christ graciously brings us into the covenant of grace by uniting himself to us as our husband, the Lord, our righteousness, our sanctifying head. And we enter into the bond of it by faith. We receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, as he's offered to us in the gospel, in which Christ is made of God to us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Well, as we step into thinking about what it means to be united to Christ, As the Merriman did in their sermons, Thomas Boston in particular, but also the others, they spent a lot of time simply reflecting on who Christ is and proclaiming Christ. And so we'll begin there, reflecting on our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is one person in two natures. He is God, and he had to be God. To sustain and to keep his human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death. He is fully God and this makes his suffering obedience an intercession of real value and effect. Satisfies God's justice, he gained God's favor, purchased his own people, gave his spirit to them. Because he's the divine son, he conquers all our enemies. He brings us to everlasting salvation. He's fully man. He had to be so that he could obey the law in our stead, so that he could suffer and make intercession for us in our own nature. He knows firsthand our weaknesses, our temptations, He's like us in every way except for sin. He became man so that we might be adopted as sons and have comfort and access and boldness before the throne of grace. Christ as mediator to reconcile God and sinful man had to be himself both God and man in one person. to make the works appropriate to each nature, acceptable to God on our behalf, and counted on us as the works of His whole person. So when we think about Jesus Christ, we have the eternal, only begotten Son of God, one of the persons of the Godhead who existed eternally, who is the same in substance as the Father and the Spirit, Son changing, who is perfect, who is his attributes. Glorious God the Son, with the Father and the Spirit and perfect wisdom, decreed that there would come a point in time where he would not in any way diminish his divinity. but would take to himself your and my nature. So as we read in Philippians, he emptied himself, he humbled himself. By addition, he added to himself our humanity. And the great mystery of that union of the two natures in the person of Christ. And that union doesn't make his humanity divinized, and it doesn't make his divinity humanized. He is fully both, but both retain what they are in perfection and completion. And so we have the God-man for our salvation, our Savior, our Christ. And the Merrill men love to unpack his names as well. Why is he called Jesus? He's called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins. Why is he called Christ? He's called Christ because he is the Anointed One. Anointed with the Holy Spirit beyond all measure. Set apart, completely equipped with all authority and power to carry out his three-fold office. of prophet, priest, and king of his church, both in his earthly ministry and his humiliation and his exaltation. And so it pleased God to choose and ordain his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus, to be the mediator between a holy God and sinful people. to be the prophet, priest, and king, to be the head and savior of the church, the heir of all things, to be the judge of the world. And God, the Father, did from all eternity give a people to be his seed, his children, his brothers, to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. Our human nature in Christ is gloriously exalted, and in the union and communion of the natures of Christ in His one person, in and through Him, we enter also into, in union with Christ, into communion with God, with the Godhead through His great saving work. Well, the Merrill men love to speak of the fact that Jesus willingly did this. It was his delight as the son. It was the father's love that sent the son. But it was the son's joy and delight to take up this call. It is his joy and delight. It is the father's love. But today as well, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so he delighted to carry this out. He was made under the law, and he perfectly fulfilled it. He endured grievous torments in his soul and painful sufferings in his body. He was crucified, dead, and buried. He remained under the power of death, yet without corruption. On the third day, he rose from the dead. with the same body in which he suffered, but resurrected in resurrection, glory, and power, with which he's also ascended to heaven, where he sits right now at the right hand of the Father. He's making intercession for us right now, and he will return to judge men and angels at the end of the world. He, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice, He's fully satisfied the divine justice that is due to us. He's purchased for us reconciliation to God, and as well, everlasting inheritance, restoration to God, but also welcome into the kingdom of heaven, into the family of God, for all those the Father has given to him. So there's so much richness that the Merrill Brethren loved to proclaim. Thomas Boston loved when the copies of the Marrow of Modern Divinity were printed, particularly in Scotland, often at the very back there was a writing, a short writing by the earliest Scottish reformer was tucked in. It was just a few pages long. It was called Patrick's Places, written by Patrick Hamilton. And Thomas Boston loved Patrick Hamilton's summaries of the gospel in Christ. If you Google it sometime, Patrick Hamilton, it says Patrick's Places. They're just very short, kind of poetic statements. I want to read one list that Patrick Hamilton gives in this short writing that was at the end of The Marrow of Modern Divinity. It's just a list about Christ. Christ is the savior of the world. Christ is our savior. Christ died for us. Christ died for our sins. Christ offered himself for us. Christ took our sins upon his back. Christ bought us with his blood. Christ washed us with his blood. Christ came into the world to save sinners. Christ came into the world to take away our sins. Christ was the price that was given for us and for our sins. Christ was made the debtor for our sins. Christ has paid the debt and he died for us. Christ has made satisfaction for us and for our sin. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our wisdom. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our redemption. Christ is our goodness. Christ has pacified the Father of Heaven. Christ is ours. And everything that is His is ours. Christ has delivered us from the condemnation of the law. Christ has delivered us from Satan's reign. Christ has delivered us from an eternity of hell. The Father of heaven has forgiven us for Christ's sake. In a sermon titled, Christ's Treasures Opened Up By Himself, Ralph Erskine, Thomas Boston's friend and a pastor in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, proclaimed this, oh, happy are believers All things are yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. You have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. You have everything, all things in Christ. It's easy for Christ to supply all your needs. and to give you all sufficiency in all things. There is an overflowing ocean of good in Christ for sinners. And so we see the duty of all poor and needy sinners, where they should go for supply, for a share in everything they need. And what a great foundation for faith is here. God in Christ is the fountain of living waters that your thirsty soul needs. God the Father has all things, but how can we receive them? Well, Christ says, come to me, because they're all mine, mine to give out, mine to distribute, mine to share. James Fisher, another preacher in the same group, a younger man, he was a son-in-law to Ebenezer Erskine, he wrote this, he said, come to Christ with all your sins that they may be pardoned because he has paid the ransom price. With all your wants so that they will be supplied. Come to him with all your doubts so that they can be solved. Come to him for everything that you need. William Wilson, another preacher of this group, said, oh sirs, the market of grace is a rare market because the wares that are proclaimed here or being sold here are all given away freely. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. He that has no money, let him come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Whosoever wills, let him take the waters of life freely. Oh, come and take freely. Oh, come and enjoy. Oh, come and share in the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus, the worthy Lamb of God. come to Christ, find and live life in Him. So, what would be the consequence of this gospel of Christ in life and ministry? It's that life, that new life, a true life is life in Christ, life in union with Christ. And the Merriman emphasized that this is not only what the unconverted need to be called to, those who are not in Christ, but it's also essential for us as Christians. We need to hear this over and over again, and we need to grow in knowing this reality, grow in knowing our Savior. We are welcomed into a vast richness in who he is and the greatness of his love and goodness and mercy. And here we find this great antidote to legalism and lawlessness. I wanted to read with you just some quotes here from Thomas Boston's sermon on union with Christ. And then you really get a taste here. of the things that he emphasized in his preaching. He's preaching a sermon on 1 Corinthians 12, a passage that talks about by one spirit we're all baptized into one body. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, we've all been made to drink into one spirit. It says the apostle has just asserted that Christ and believers are one. They make up one mystical body. And he talks about how that's connected to the sacraments, but he goes on to say here, it's the Holy Spirit who applies to us the redemption bought by Christ, purchased by Christ, by working faith in us and uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. He says, let's consider how this happens. How is Christ's redemption applied to us as sinners? It's done through uniting sinners to Christ. A sinner is put in possession of Christ's redemption through union with him. 1 Corinthians 1.30, of him you are in Christ Jesus. So there's a real union, a real uniting. a real bond between Christ and believers. And scripture speaks of this many times. Christ is said to be in believers, Colossians 127, Romans 8 verse 10. So Christ is said to be in us as believers, and we are said to be in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.30. He is said to dwell in them and they in him. John 6.56. They're said to abide in one another. John 15.4. Believers have put on Christ. Galatians 3.27. They're so joined together as to be one spirit. 1 Corinthians 6.17. A scripture gives different analogies, Boston goes on to say, to talk about this union with Christ. It gives the illustration of the vine and the branches in the Gospel of John. The relationship between the head and the body in Ephesians. Between food eaten and the eater in John 6.56. and even to that union between God the Father and Christ. In John 17 verse 21. It says these are all real unions that we see and that we know of and so is our union to Christ. It's also a real union. And he goes on to say to his hearers in this sermon, now I want to show you what that union is that takes place between Christ and believers. And he says this, he says there are three mysterious unions in our faith. There's the union of the three persons in one Godhead. It's the first glorious union. Secondly, there's the union of the divine and human natures in Jesus Christ. And then third, there's what he calls the mystical union between Christ and believers, where Christ and believers are so joined that they are described as being of one spirit and one body. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 17 and 12 verse 13. In this last union, the whole man is united to a whole Christ. Our believing souls are united to him, Ephesians 3.17. Our bodies are also united to Him. 1 Corinthians 6.19, 1 Thessalonians 4.14, right? Think of Paul in Corinthians saying, you can't yoke yourself with a prostitute. How can you do that when you're united to Christ, when you're the temple of the Holy Spirit? The preciousness of our bodies to Christ. He's going to raise these bodies. We're not Christians of disembodied souls. Our whole person belongs to Christ, body and soul. And that's important for our sanctification as well, and our love to Christ. We're united to Christ in his divine nature, Colossians 1.27, and in his human nature, Ephesians 5.30. And so through the mediator, we are united unto God. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 16. Now I want to show, Boston says, what the bonds of this union are by which Christ and believers become one. It says physical union is made by contact. So if you physically unite two things, it's made by putting them together. You weld two pieces of metal together, you unite them physically by pulling them together, attaching them together. It says, but Christ is in heaven, and we're on earth. We can't have a union like that with him. And if we did, what would it profit? John 6, verse 63. The union that we have with Christ is not physical, it is spiritual. 1 Corinthians 6, 17, and so are the bonds of it. So how exactly are we bonded to the risen Jesus? To the eternal son? How are we bonded to him? So there are two parts to the bond. First of all, the spirit. on Christ's part, by which he apprehends, he takes and keeps hold of us. The same infinite spirit that dwells in Christ, he communicates to his people in their effectual calling. So the spirit at work and by the means of the word, right? comes and as the Word is proclaimed or as the Word is read or maybe as the Word is spoken in a conversation, the Holy Spirit accompanying that Word comes and comes within us and works within us and takes hold of us and keeps hold of us. He does not fail in what He does. It's a sovereign, powerful, unilateral work of the Spirit of God. Spirit of Christ. Comes to us in this effectual, powerful calling. So that the one Spirit living and acting in both, in Christ as the head and in believers as the members, they truly become one by that means. And this is a whole area of doctrine, thinking of the reality that you and I, in our human soul reality, in our whole man, we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. That God, by His Spirit, dwells within His people. That is something that should fill us with wonder and awe and make us tremble. Fill us with joy and amazement. So that reality, that the same spirits, both in Christ in the head and in believers as his members, we truly are united by that. And so the distance between Christ in his risen humanity and us here on earth, however big that distance is, we don't know. We've never traveled that distance at this point. But that distance, as great as it is, does not hinder the joining of our souls and bodies to his, since the spirit is an infinite spirit. He's everywhere present. The same spirit is in both. They are thereby made really one. notwithstanding the distance. Thomas Boston gives this analogy, for what it's worth, often analogies break down, but he says, if there was a man standing on the earth with his feet and his head would reach the stars, it was that tall, that huge, he would still have the same soul in his body. The same soul would animate both his head and his feet, even though there was such a huge distance between them. And his head and feet would still be part of one and the same body. Now, it's not a perfect analogy, but he uses that to say, Christ in heavenly glory, and we here are united by the one spirit. And this makes a real union. So the one side, the Holy Spirit taking hold of us and working regeneration in us, and then faith on the believer's part is the other part of the bond. Ephesians 3, 17, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. And so the believer, in that first moment of faith, and then through a life of faith, has apprehended, takes, and keeps hold of Christ. And why is it that we, in the first place, initially take hold of Christ, and that we continue to take hold of Christ? Well, it's because Christ, by His Spirit, has a hold of us, that this happens, and that this continues. It's by faith that we receive Christ, John 1, 12, come to Him, John 6, 35, feed on Him, verse 56. By true faith, we heartily receive and rest on Christ for all our salvation. No distance can hinder our faith from ascending to the mediator. Now, we can't see Christ with our eyes. We have not touched Him with our hands. He's in heaven right now. We are on earth. We know Him by His Word. And this is the means that God has given for us to unite with Him by believing His Word. Blessed are those who have not yet seen but have believed," Jesus says, those who will believe on My Word. Why did God choose this? Well, Boston reflects a bit on this, the fact that we have faith in the Word that He has given. It's in what is unseen for us. Well, he says faith is self-empty. It's really a creature emptying grace. It throws off and puts away all those things that could keep the soul at a distance from Christ. Faith is suitable in receiving our unseen Christ, which appears to us in the word. It is the hand that receives. For in the word, Christ offers himself and all his salvation to us. We can't take hold of it by physical means. but faith, which believes the testimony, agrees to it, rests on it, and in doing so, actually gets Christ. Well, the party, he says, that makes this blessed union is the Holy Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ comes in the Word He enters into the heart of the elect sinner who's dead in sin. The spirit entering into that elect soul works new life in it, regeneration, the beginning of new life, which includes the faith. And so true faith is worked within us. And by that faith, the soul lays hold on Christ and unites with him. It acts in believing. Thomas Boston says in this sermon, this is wonderfully illustrated in Lazarus as an illustration. Jesus says the words, Lazarus, come out, come out of the grave. And his soul re-entered his body so that he was alive again physically. And being alive and enlivened, he moved and he came out of the grave to Jesus. And Boston says this is exactly the way it works with us. We're dead. The Word comes. The power of the Spirit effectually works inside us, creates new life spiritually. We are enlivened, and we come out of our death, out of our grave of sin, and we come to Christ. Our dead souls are made alive. It says there's two aspects to the way we receive Christ. It says there's sort of the passive side of the spirit coming and taking hold of us, uniting us to himself, and then the active side of our faith taking hold of him. And so how do we describe this union, the Holy Spirit to us and our faith to Christ? Well, Boston says this is a real union. This is not a figment of the imagination, this is real. It's a spiritual union. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 17, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. It's a mysterious union. The apostle calls it a great mystery in Ephesians 5.32, Colossians 1.27, a glorious mystery. Now, it's been unfolded. It's been declared plainly in the scriptures. So why is it called a mystery? Well, because it takes faith to believe it. And faith does believe it. It's a close and intimate union. Thomas Boston must have been familiar with carpentry. His father was a tradesman. He says that Christ and believers are joined together like two boards glued together. It's an illustration he uses. Then he goes on to say that it's even really greater than that because the believer has Christ in him and he is in Christ. This union as well is indissolvable. It cannot be broken. Once We are in Christ. We are always in Christ. He says to his congregation, which of you would lose a limb, a part of his body, if he could help it? I mean, none of us, right? We wouldn't say, I don't mind, just my foot gets cut off, that's fine. No. I want my foot to stay attached to my body. Who then can imagine that Christ would lose a member of his body? They are all precious to him, exceedingly precious to him. And nothing can separate the saints from the love of Christ. Nothing can separate them from union with him. This is a great comfort. and a great hope also in the face of death. Nothing separates us from Christ. This is, Boston says, the greatest privilege of believers, that we are united to Christ. You are Christ's, 1 Corinthians 3.23. All other privileges, all other blessings flow out of this. Because the Spirit has taken hold of you and regenerated you and caused you to take hold of Jesus, that's what your justification takes place upon. Your adoption, your sanctification throughout your life, and your glorification, all of these grow on this root. Your obedience is acceptable before God through union with Christ. It is foundational. Well, how can we apply all of this, Boston says. And he says, I wanna squeeze out the juice of the pomegranate of this to you. He says, first of all, it tells us that the saints are honored beyond all else in the world. Why have we been honored like this? Why have you and I received such a vast eternal privilege that we have not deserved? To be members of Christ, to be made a royal kingdom of priests, We have incredible riches. And flowing from that, woe to those who mistreat or oppress or persecute the saints. What a fearful thing to do so. And when we think of the application of that, of course, it's not just persecution, but how sad it is. Well, we as fellow believers would mistreat each other. How contrary that is. How can we do that when we're united to Christ? He says, how it delights the Lord when his children do good to the godly for Christ's sake. For as we do good to one another, we're doing it to Christ as well, who is united to them. We're loving a fellow believer, showing mercy to them, kindness, perhaps exhorting them, calling them, encouraging them. We're not only loving that fellow believer who's a sinner saved by grace like us, but in doing so, we're loving Christ who dwells in them by His Spirit, who they're united to, just as we are. Our Lord will take it as such and graciously reward it, Matthew 15, verse 35 to 40. So the apostle says, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Third, believers are members of each other, belong to each other. There's a real and true brotherhood and sisterhood between all Christians. Why? Because we're all united to Christ, it necessarily follows that we're united to each other. And so, Boston applies, how awful it is if we by our sin would tear that bond apart. It's like trying to tear apart Christ's seamless coat. And how we should be careful not to separate ourselves from other believers. Again, there's so much application here, isn't there? We can sometimes build up a grudge or irritation or something and just start to separate ourselves from another believer. There may be times and seasons where in conscience we need to walk away from an unfaithful church that still has believers in it, but how that should break our hearts and how we should still love those believers. Though there is an earthly separation of a kind, there's so much application there. On the side of encouragement's applications, he says, the marvelous encouragement that the saints will persevere. And a great reminder. We need no other righteousness than that which we received through union to Christ. The way to obtain true repentance and sanctification is by looking to Christ, is in him. You can't repent, you can't be holy if you're not united to Christ. If you are united to Christ, in Him you have everything you need to grow in holiness, in repentance, in faith. Finally, Boston says, the fact that we're united to Christ is our sure hope of a glorious resurrection. There's a union between Christ and the bodies of believers which death doesn't break. And so the dust of our loved ones, the skeletons in the graves, in the catacombs of Rome, they're all precious to Christ. He knows where every molecule is. He's the sovereign creator of the heavens and the earth. All things were created by him and through him. He formed Adam out of the dust of the earth. He will have no problem reassembling our dust in an instant and making a glorious, beautiful, strong, marvelous hope of the resurrection. All of this doctrine, Thomas Boston says, tells us a lot about the happiness of the saints. This is one of the reasons why I think it's good for us to meditate on these things. We live in a culture that's realistically in decline. And if we just read our news headlines every day, there'll be plenty there to leave us utterly depressed and fearful. What we need to read is the headlines of the Word. We need to see Jesus, to think more about what it means that we're united to Him, to consider all this blessedness and goodness and mercy, and to realize that As Christians, we have the richest privileges. You have happiness beyond compare to come and already. And even in the midst of sufferings that are real in this world, Christ has called us to take up our cross and follow Him. There will be trials, there will be hard things and sufferings, but in the midst of them, Christ is yours. And he says, and my beloved, speaking of all of you trust in him, my beloved is mine. We belong to him. What Christ has is ours. He's the heir of all things. This world belongs to Jesus. Despite all the ragings of Satan, And all the wickedness and brokenness of the sin of mankind, it belongs to Christ. He is reigning till every enemy is made his footstool. He's going to renew this heavens and the earth. I think of the promised land of Canaan, just a little picture of the inheritance of the saints in who Christ is, but also in the whole creation that belongs to Him. So we have a great hope there, great encouragement. In union with Christ, you are perfectly safe from the wrath of God. Perfectly safe from the wrath of God. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, Boston says, our sins are still very displeasing in the sight of God. And they do deserve condemnation just as well as those of others. But being in Christ, we have gotten into the city of refuge where the avenger of blood cannot attack us. In Christ, we are no longer under the curse of the law because the curse of the law has fallen on him. The penalty of our sin has fallen on him. The Lord will discipline us and chastise us for our good. He will give consequences for our earthly sin to teach us and to train us. But we're no longer under his wrath. The Lord takes pleasure in us. This is the greatest mystery. The triune God takes pleasure in you and me and accepts us in our persons in the things that we do, even with all their imperfections, because even though a body of death hangs around us, as Boston says, even though there's a lot of dross in our lives, yet because we are united to Christ, because the image of Christ is upon us, we are accepted. And our duties, though they're far from the perfection which the law requires, are accepted by him. I think Sinclair Ferguson gives a great illustration in one of his sermons of his fathers or mothers, when one of your little children draws a picture for you, or tries to color a picture, and the coloring's way out of the lines, and it's kind of crumpled and a bit tattered. And it, you know it's not a Rembrandt. but you are pleased. You are truly pleased and delighted and thankful. And so through the work of Christ, Christ the Father, the Spirit, there is a true triune delight and joy in us sinners as we in our weakness strive after Him, as we pray, as we seek to grow, as we stumble and fumble our way at times, as we repent and cry out to Him. Well, this is a delight to God. He loves us in it. It's a joy to Him. We're precious. in his sight, and he's given his own son for us, Romans 8. And if he's given his own son for us, how will he not freely give us all things? It's the joy of God to do so. And all of our needs, all of the things we lack, whose shoulders are they on? They're on Christ's shoulders. They're in the arms of God. He sees, he knows. He knows our struggles, our trials, what we really lack. He knows what we lack better than we realize it ourselves. He knows our sins far better than we know them ourselves. And he's at work to fill those needs and to supply them. So how can you know whether or not you are united to Christ. Well, Boston says there's some questions you can ask yourself. Number one, are you coming to the point where you're realizing that you can't make yourself good to come to God? You can't earn your own place before God. You realize that. that can't be done. You can't cover up your sin by doing something good afterwards. You can't atone for your own sin. So have you come to that point? And in response to that, realizing that by law-keeping you can't make yourself right with God, have you cried out to the Lord? Have you prayed to Him and said, This is who I am. I'm a sinner. I know I can't make myself righteous in your sight. I need your son. I need you, Lord Jesus. I need your forgiveness. Have you broken off from self-confidence and put your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ? Secondly, do you have a desire to break with sin? Is there a hating and forsaking of sin in your life because it's displeasing to God? It's not complete. It's not as full as it should be. But is it there? Is there a sign of life there in Christ? Are you confessing that? Are you crying out to God saying, Lord, I don't have enough of it. Give me more. Desiring to put sin to death because you love him? Are you looking to Jesus in all of these things? Because the soul united to Christ lives by looking to him, lives by him, has an awareness of its own utter impotency. for salvation and relies on Christ. This is the life of faith. A man united to Christ lives to the Lord. A man or a woman not united to Christ lives for him or herself. And there's no life there beyond that. There's no looking to Christ there. The soul united to Christ is not barren of good works. It will bring forth fruit and desire to walk in ways that please the Lord. This is a sure evidence, Thomas Boston says, to me to live is Christ. And how does Boston conclude this sermon? He doesn't leave it there. He says, Christ offers to unite with all of you. Revelation 3.20. He offers to unite himself even with the worst, the most evil and vile of you. He sends out his ambassadors to you. This is what happens when some family member shared the word with you. Christ is sending out an ambassador to you. On Sundays, wherever you worship, when the man who comes forward to preach the Word preaches the Word and proclaims Christ, Christ has sent, in His providence and by His calling, this particular person set apart in the church to be His ambassador to you. He's pleased to speak by ordinary men and women in conversations through men preaching the Word as His instruments. He is in heaven. He's pleased to use other people as his instruments. And so Christ has sent his ambassadors to you to call you to himself, to win your hearts. And so believe. Christ and all of his redemption are there before you, offered to you. You're called to him, believe his word, embrace him, say amen to what he offers in the gospel. And as you agree, you can know from this point on, he is mine and I am his. Well, Boston flowing out of this talks about continued life in Christ. I'll just sum up with a couple quotes from a few other sermons that he preached. He preached two sermons, one earlier on, the first time in 1706, another one in 1722. The one is titled Christ the Life of the Believer. It's on for me to live as Christ. And then the second one is Christians strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus from 2 Timothy 2. Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And in both of these sermons, he just really, Christ stands front and center. And he talks about just the beauty of having Christ as the sum, the scope of your life. And the fullness of Christ in this, the sufficiency, what it means to walk in communion with Christ, in prayer, in being in his word, in participating in corporate worship. means of grace, the sacraments, and how through those things Christ delights to commune with us, and to nourish us in life in Him, and to grow us in that life in Him. The sweetness, the goodness, the beauty of that. And it just really exhorts and encourages us, and I want to encourage you to make God the triune God, make the son, make Christ your study in life. Read about him. You know, if there's one thing you can do between now and your death as a believer, grow in knowing him and loving what he says and serving him. It's going to go quick for all of us. We don't have a long time on this earth. A lot of us are probably halfway to death. Some of us have a little longer, some of us have shorter. And so for the rest of the days that we have, let's seek to take hold of all the things and to know God more fully, to delight in Him, to serve Him, to rest in Him. And so be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Look to Him. And through that, be resolved to grow in Him, to serve Him faithfully, to face oppositions and difficulties, looking to Jesus, receiving the grace that He gives, the fullness of the Spirit, all that He pours out upon His people to His members. and to know that he delights to do so, to strengthen you, to supply all that you need. Well, I'd like to close there. Let's pray together. Lord our God, we thank you so much for the riches of your grace. We stand in amazement at the fact that you have united yourself to us and united us to you. Lord, as we think of your strong arms taking hold of us and bringing us to yourself, how we thank you, Lord, for taking us out of our blindness, out of our hardness, out of our sin, and giving us new life, giving us the marvelous gift of faith to take hold of you. Lord, we pray that you would help us to grow in gladness and thanksgiving and trust and confidence and holiness in every good thing, to your praise. And Lord, we pray this morning. Again, for those who don't know you, Lord, if there's anybody here or friends around us, oh God, make it our joy to be your ambassadors, to proclaim you, Lord Jesus, to those around us. So Lord, we pray that you would be pleased to use us in the way that you have used others around us in our lives. Lord, be pleased to use us as instruments in your hand for the salvation of others and for the sanctification of others. Lord, help us to love each other as members, fellow members of your body, as united together to you, to bless each other, to encourage each other. Lord, where there are sins and divisions among us, Lord, where there's brokenness, we pray, Lord, help us to see it. Help us to repent. Lord, help us to be eager to see any divisions or brokenness among us. By your grace, more and more overcome and restored to the praise of your name. So, Lord, we pray that you'd bless us. Watch over us as we go our separate ways. Prepare our hearts, Lord, for Sunday as we gather to worship you in many different churches, in different places. So, Lord, cause us to come with great joy and reverence into your holy presence with your gathered people to worship you. In Jesus' name, amen.