Go from front to back to back to front to front to back. That's how this is going to go, okay? I should have had Scott Jones lead it. It probably would have been more efficient. So all the way to the back and then back to front, front to back, okay? There should be enough for two copies per family. So teenagers and children, we're glad you're here. Look on with mom, pa. Tonight, we're going to consider mom and dad. Sorry. Yes. This is the South, though. I'm from a state that's no man's land. California is, to most southerners, it's just, I'm still a Yankee, so. Tonight we're going to consider union with Christ, and I, in my humble opinion, it is one of the most exciting theological topics to treat in all the Bible. I love talking about the Trinity, I love talking about justification, I am a Protestant, but even more than that, I love talking about union with Christ. So we're going to consider it tonight. I've given you notes because there's a few things in the discussion of union with Christ that get a little involved, but they're important. And it's one of those things where we could probably get through the topic without touching on those issues, but it would not be. It would be still like watching a movie in black and white as opposed to HD. Okay. So we're going to, we're going to look at union with Christ in technicolor, and then we're going to take it to the next level and look at it in HD by considering the whole picture. So, wow. Okay. Does anybody, there's a few extra, does anybody need one? Going once, going twice? Okay. All right. First shall be last, last shall be first. All right. So last week we considered Christ's humiliation, Christ's exaltation, and then we saw on the tail end, well, question 33, that all of these benefits that Christ gives us through his humiliation and exaltation are communicated through the Spirit, okay? And that's where we're going to begin this evening. So in 33, we're made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual application of it to us by the Holy Spirit. So now we're gonna talk about how the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ to us. So let's start with a little example here. Let's say You're going to Italy for a four-week vacation, okay? Wouldn't that be nice? Going to Italy for a four-week vacation, you're thinking, I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb, one of the tourists that, you know, is just a babbling American and doesn't know any Italian, so I'm gonna go get some Rosetta Stone, okay? You're gonna go get a Rosetta Stone program. Your goal is to learn some Latin. excuse me, Italian. Your goal is, that's what they used to speak in the Roman Empire. Your goal is to learn some Italian, and so the first step is you buy Rosetta Stone. Now, once you buy it, it's yours. You own it, okay? And a lot of times with me, it's like, I think that to buy is to consume, or to buy is to absorb. But that's not the case. Whether it's a book, whether it's Rosetta Stone, whatever, you still have to apply yourself to it even though you own it in order to acquire it. Well, that is a simple difference between what Christ has accomplished, and we might say purchased, okay? It is finished. What he's done on the cross and through the resurrection and ascension, it's ours, okay? He has determined that it is for his elect. But now, it's going to get applied through the work of the Spirit. So there's a distinction between what Christ has objectively done on the cross and what the Spirit Subjectively does in applying it to us. So sometimes you'll hear in reformed circles people that just kind of want to be Contrary contrarian, they'll say, you know, whenever people ask me when I was saved I say 2,000 years ago on the cross. It's like, okay, we get it. All right What are they what are they trying to say? They're trying to say it's not my faith that saves me It's the object in which I place my faith, which is what Christ did on the cross 2,000 years ago. Okay, we get it Okay, you made your point but it is helpful in showing the object of work of Christ as opposed to how it Subjectively gets fleshed out in me Okay, so if what Christ did is the objective ground, then what the Spirit does is the subjective operation, and the principle way by which the Spirit applies all of the benefits of Christ, which we're gonna talk about in a moment, is through faith. Think of faith as the instrument through which all those benefits from Christ to us get funneled, okay? So we need to consider two things in order to really put on the table this whole idea of union with Christ. And this is what we call the history of salvation. You have that in your notes. History of salvation. If you want to do a little Latin, it's the Historia Salutis and the order of salvation, which is the Ordo Salutis. Everything I've said up until this point fits into one of these two categories. History of salvation, what is it? Very simply, everything that God has done in history that has to do with redeeming a people is what we categorize under history of salvation. Now more specifically, it has to do with the specific acts of Christ that were toward the end of saving his people. Okay, so incarnation, living under the law, dying, a sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension. All of those things, Historia Salutis. And I want you to just put in your notes, objective. This is the objective ground by which God saves us. Very, very, very important, okay? Now the order of salvation is now the application of that objective work. the application of that objective work in the life of the believer, okay? So look at question 34. Well, we'll get there in a second. So the order of salvation is God, through the Spirit, applying these things to the believer. And you have them in your notes there. They are calling, which we're gonna touch on tonight, regeneration, repentance, and faith, which could be just summarized as conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Now in the weeks to come, we're gonna unpack each and every one of those. This lesson is meant to orient how we think about those things with respect to their application by the Holy Spirit, okay? So, consider secondly, Roman numeral two in your notes, God calls us to himself. So we've distinguished the history of salvation from the order of salvation. Now the Spirit takes the work of Christ, the history of salvation, and applies it to us by question 34, working faith in us and thereby uniting us in our effectual call. Okay, so this is question 34. So what is a call? What is a call? Or more specifically, what is the general calling? Very simply, when the divines talked about the calling, they're talking about when the gospel is preached indiscriminately to everybody. So when the gospel goes out, think of it as fishing, and I think this is one of the very appropriate reasons that Jesus likened preaching the gospel and discipling to fishing, okay? I'll make you a fisher of men, okay? Because it goes out like a net to all people, and who it pulls in is those whom God has elected, okay? So the general call goes out repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This may come through the preached word. It may come through the written word just by reading it. It may come through even the articulation of the gospel through a coworker. But no matter what source it comes from, if you trace it back to its core, it's always going to come back to the word of God, because the gospel is not something you find in natural revelation. It's something that is only given through special revelation, which is the word of God. So if you consider Romans 10, 13 and 14, Paul says, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? In other words, the general call is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But now here's the question. Will everyone respond in faith to that call? And the answer obviously is what? No. So then that comes, that's where we consider what is, what the divines call effectual calling. So you have general calling, gospel goes out indiscriminately, but then there is what we call effectual calling, and this is the idea, it's the call of the spirit that efficaciously or effectively has its regenerating work in the life of the elect, okay? So it actually, if you will, if you think of it in horticultural terms, the seed gets planted in certain people, whereas in other people, it falls on deaf ears, okay? So effectual calling, whereas the general call goes out, everybody hears, the effectual call, it goes out with the general call, okay? But it affects only those whom God has chosen. Now, that doesn't mean that if, let's say, I preach the gospel to a group and five out of 10 people believe, that doesn't mean that the five people who didn't believe are necessarily quote-unquote non-elect. It could be that they're elect, but it's not the Lord's time to regenerate their heart, so it could happen later, OK? But the Lord has determined that there's a certain moment in time where all of his elect are going to believe. This is where we get the idea of irresistible grace. The idea that I can reject the gospel a million times, but the moment that the Lord has ordained that I shall believe, that he will take out my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh, there's nothing I can do to resist that. And by the way, there's nothing we want to do to resist that, right? We want the Lord to take us. So, you know, with respect to effectual calling, there's a number of different verses we could look at. But let me just consider to Matthew 11, 25 and 26. This is where Jesus says these words. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Now, throughout the book of Matthew, little children constantly refers to, in most cases, believers. So he's talking about how Jesus's message goes out, and some think it's foolish, and others embrace it. Doesn't Paul say something similar? He says, you know, he preaches the gospel, and to Jews it's a stumbling block, and to Greeks it's Foolishness, okay? An offense. And then Matthew 22, 14, very simply, this kind of sums up the distinction between a general call and a factual call. Many are called, gospel goes out to many, few are chosen, okay? So, why do some believe and others don't? Well, Let's answer that by asking and answering question number 35. So question 35, what is effectual calling? Answer, effectual calling is the work of God's spirit by which convincing us of our sin and misery enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills, he persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. As I said before, this is not a matter of the Spirit giving somebody a will, okay? Everyone has a will. Everyone exercises a will. That's not the issue. Rather, it's about the Spirit enabling the will, that is, making it spiritually capable of believing in Christ. making it spiritually capable of wanting or desiring to believe in Jesus Christ, of seeing Christ as admirable and glorious and worthy of praise. And so consider for a moment John 1, 11 through 13. Again, we could say there are many verses we could use, but I try to put on the platter, if you will, the most potent. John 1, 11 through 13. John says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. Verse 12. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Now watch this, verse 13. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This is talking about their spiritual birth. their spiritual recreation, if you will. And John makes it very clear that that the moment when their eyes were open and they were able to see and they had a new beginning, a new creation, Paul says in second Corinthians 5 17 old things are past new thing. New things have come. Behold new creation. He says that didn't happen by being born to blood. parents that are Christians, which by the way is a gentle rebuke to our Presbyterian and Methodist brethren Not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, which is to say you didn't do that by yourself Your new birth is from God. You were born of God. And this is why we're called, a lot of people, sometimes they say it with a negative connotation, it's those born-agains, right? Evangelicals are often called born-agains. And a lot of times evangelicals think it's, I believe, and then I'm born again, or I believe, and as a result, I'm born again, but it's the other way around. You are born again, and as a result, you have faith. It's your being born again, being made new, being birthed from above is literally what that means, that you are now able to have faith, okay? So as John Calvin says, The word of God is like the sun shining upon all those to whom it is proclaimed, but with no effect among the blind. Now all of us are blind by nature in this respect. Accordingly, the word cannot penetrate into our minds unless the spirit as the inner teacher through his illumination makes entry for it. And so this is nothing more than what Paul says in Romans 2. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, and God made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. So, effectual calling. This is the initial work of the Spirit and is followed by everything else in the order of salvation. So let's come back to the order, okay? Roman numeral number three. We've seen the distinction between the history of salvation, order, and salvation. We've seen now what effectual calling is, which is basically the doctrine of regeneration. Gospel goes out, the spirit regenerates some and not others. And what is the blueprint for those whom he regenerates and those whom he doesn't? Election. Election is the blueprint for those whom he regenerates and those whom he doesn't. Those whom he has elected will be regenerate. Now we're going to talk about union. So Roman numeral number three, he unites us to Christ and his benefits. So let's consider question number 36. Question, what benefits to those that are affectionately called partake of in this life? Answer, Those that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them. So now coming back to the order of salvation, I want to make a few clarifications. Number one, the elements as you have in your notes or the pieces of the order of salvation are calling, regeneration, repentance and faith, which is conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance and glorification. Okay, what is the scriptural warrant for this? There's many places you could go. I think the place in the Bible that has most of them included in one place is Romans 8.30. where Paul simply says, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. Now, there are some elements in the order of salvation that are missing there, but when you put the whole New Testament picture together, they're all there. Now, here's the next thing I wanna say about the order of salvation, because sometimes this can create confusion. While not all the elements in the order of salvation are necessarily sequential, What they are is they're logical, okay? So, for example, I've already made it clear, you have calling, and then you have regeneration, faith, which, you know, repentance and faith, we'll say repentance and faith, and then justification. When we say that the elements in the ordo salutis or the order of salvation are logical, what we mean is there are certain ones that must take place before the others, okay? So you can't have faith unless you are first regenerated. That's clear. Can you be justified without having faith? No, you can't. So it's important that faith go before justification and it's important that regeneration go before faith. Now, what we're not going to descend into tonight is the relationship between these two, because a lot of times the question is, well, did they happen both simultaneously or does one happen, you know, before the other? The only thing I'll say is there is some mystery there, but obviously this does listen. casually precede faith, it must. Regeneration, you can't have faith unless you're a new creation, and so regeneration must, but it may be as quick as you flipping a light switch and the light coming on. That light switch goes up before the light actually comes on, but I mean, you would have to break that down into an infinitesimally slow motion in order to see that the light switch goes up just before that light comes on, okay? So that's really a casual example of how regeneration goes before faith. And then, of course, you can't be, you know, you have sanctification in here and then you have glorification. You're not glorified before you're justified, okay? You're glorified after you're justified and after you're sanctified. So this is a logical order, all right? We're not necessarily, you know, nailing down that it's absolutely chronological. It's a logical order. Okay, and then all of this is to be understood as a unitary process. It's not that you have one time faith and then you never see faith again anymore. Faith is throughout the whole process. Faith is through justification, sanctification, and even in glorification. Okay, faith is always there. Now, as I said, in the weeks to come, We're going to unpack the scriptural warrant for each of these, so I'm not gonna spend time on each and every one of them. What I wanna do is talk about this whole package of these benefits in the Ordo Salutis, Order of Salvation, which we refer to as union. So consider in your notes, letter B there, union is the source of all the benefits. Union is the source of all the benefits. Now follow me here, okay, don't lose me. And if you lose me, raise your hand, okay? Because this is going to be really important. How does the Spirit apply all of these benefits of salvation of the believer? Now, when I'm using the word benefits, I mean calling, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification. These are all what we refer to as the benefits that Christ has obtained through his perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension. So he's claimed these, he's made them his own. And now he's going to communicate them to the believer through this blessed doctrine called union, union with Christ and the believer. So what is union with Christ? It is our vital union with Christ through faith that gives us everything that Christ has obtained. Now, this is not a I'm gonna say a word and I'm gonna explain it, okay? Ontological union, ontology has to do with being. So it's not saying our nature or our being is now fused with Jesus's nature or being, okay? Then we would be God, that's not what we're saying. It's not a union of being, it's a union of fellowship, okay? So you think of John chapter 15, Jesus is the vine, we are the what? branches, we gain our sustenance. And that is a beautiful picture because the branches are dependent. Are they not on the vine? They draw their sap and their sustenance from Christ. And so in a like manner, think of Christ. This is the Greek word for Christ. OK, Cairo as the center of our relationship. And we are brought into union and fellowship and life with him through the spirit. That's what union is. Union is a doctrine seen all over the place in the New Testament. 164 times Paul says either in Christ or in him or in the Lord. So those three phrases are used 164 times to talk about our connection to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not just believers in Christ, it's also Christ in the believers, right? Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I live, but Christ who lives within me. Okay, so it's a reciprocal relationship. Christ is in us. We are in him. Now, there are three categories or dimensions of union with Christ, and these are very important. I mean, you listen very carefully. Three categories or three ways we can think about union with Christ. The first one is predestined area in union with Christ. So Ephesians one for he predestined you before the foundation of the world in Christ. In fact, in Ephesians chapter one, he probably uses the word in Christos or in Christ or in him, probably about 10 times, if I'm not mistaken. It's an incredibly rich and robust passage talking about our union with Christ. Now, this is a union of intent. So what God intends to do through his predestinating plan with the believers, he predestined them to be saved in Christ. So he's looking down the corridors of time and planning what he's going to do and determining to put his electing love on his people. Okay, so that's the first kind. So that is not, listen, an experiential union with Christ because we're not even created yet, right? You can't experience anything unless you have existence and consciousness. So this is in the mind of God, in the heart of God, he predestines those who are going to be united with Christ. So there's a sense in which Listen very carefully. Even as we were walking around as pagans, as Christ denying people, there is a sense in which not existentially or experientially, but in the predestinating plan of God, we were already united with Christ, okay? Now, you have to be careful about that because some reformed theologians, like, I think, Boving, have used that to talk about this doctrine of eternal justification, which says that you were, in a sense, eternally justified from the foundation of the world. If what they mean by that is in God's plan, that's fine. But if what they mean by that is we were already justified before we believed in Christ, that's a very bad idea. Because the New Testament makes clear that there was a point where we were under wrath, under the wrath of God, and through faith we move from wrath to grace. And you can't have a movement from wrath to grace unless there was a moment you were not saved and then you were saved, okay? So this is only the intention of God, the purpose of God. Secondly, the second way we think about union is in redemptive historical terms. So this is Roman chapter six. Christ, when he died on the cross, Roman six says that we died with him. Well, how can we have died with him if we weren't even in existence? Again, God has us in mind as he thinks about Christ, you know, the eternal God man, as he goes to the cross, he has us in his mind. He is thinking about the people that he is living perfectly for and dying a sacrificial death for. So there's a sense in which it's also not predestinarian, but it's a plan or a union of intent, what he's planning to do to bring us in union. But this is after the foundation of the world, so it's as Christ is going through his earthly ministry. And then finally, number three, our actual or applicatory or existential union with Christ. Paul perceived himself as one chosen in Christ from eternity and as one who was contemplated in Christ during his death and resurrection. But Paul also knew that he was at one time not united to Christ, but rather a child of wrath. And now he is coming into union with Christ as he believes. So union is the hub out of which all benefits of Christ's redemption flow. So before we were in Christ, we were in Adam, and we had all the consequences, negative consequences of his disobedience, guilt, corruption, ignorance, and death. Now, by faith in Christ, By faith in Christ, given to us by his spirit, we partake of all the benefits that Christ has given us. So just consider for a moment, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45. Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Now in your notes, if I put that in there, that verse in there, that S on spirit should be capitalized. Because what that's saying is as Christ was filled with the Spirit, he became a spiritual being, or he was a spiritual being. Not in the sense that he's got a body and a spirit, like material and immaterial, but in the sense that he was led and filled by the Holy Spirit. He became a life-giving spirit. So functionally, the Spirit and Christ are the same. Not, again, ontologically, Okay, Christ and the Spirit are separate, but as they function, they function to bring us into union with Christ. Thus, to be called by the Spirit, we are called into fellowship with Christ. So Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3.17, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So, let me bring all of this together. The moment you are regenerated, and believe in Christ, you have union with Christ, and all the benefits of Christ's work become yours. So faith union with Christ is the source of all your existential or experiential benefits of Christ. So if I could put it this way, you have calling, You have regeneration, justification, sanctification, adoption, those should be flipped, and glorification, okay? And all of these are the benefits of Christ. The moment the Spirit regenerates you, he brings you into the arena of all these blessings. Now this means that all of these things are now yours, okay? Now glorification, you say, are we glorified now? No, but it's so certain that it's guaranteed to give you glorification. Now, all of this to say there are some people who say you can't come into union with Christ unless you are first justified. And so some people, instead of seeing this scheme this way, will say, no, you're justified, and then the next step is you get all Christ's benefits. But the way I've laid it out for you here, if one of the benefits of Christ, listen very carefully, is regeneration, if one of the benefits of Christ is regeneration, then that must come before you're justified. If you say, no, you must have faith and be justified first, and then you get the benefit of regeneration, well, you flip them, see. Does that make sense? And so some people, some people that I respect very much, want to make justification the center of union with Christ. But the center of union with Christ is really regeneration and faith and the Spirit applying that to you and then bringing you into the orbit of union. And so now, Being united with Christ through faith you now get justification sanctification adoption and glorification Okay, let me just give you one scripture to back that up one the first Corinthians 130 And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. Watch this. Here's the benefits. Righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Righteousness, that's tantamount or equal to justification. sanctification, and then another expansion on justification, redemption. So being brought into Christ gives you both the double benefits of justification and sanctification. Now, what's the upshot of all this? Okay, I've really labored to talk about how big union with Christ is. Well, if it's the case that when you are brought into union with Christ, you immediately get the benefits of Christ then that means it's justification and sanctification, which means that sanctification is just as necessary as justification, and justification is just as necessary as sanctification. You say, Josh, I still don't follow you. What's the big deal? Well, there are people today that want to shout justification and whisper sanctification. because they don't see it as that big of a deal. They want to so focus on justification that they could literally go out and do whatever they want, but I have faith, so nothing else matters. Well, if what I'm saying is true, which it is, it's biblical, Christ, by bringing you into union with him, the spirit by bringing you into union with him, identifies you with Christ's death, which justified you, but also with his life. How did Christ walk? perfectly. That is to be the aim and the trajectory and the prevailing disposition of your life. You're not going to do it perfectly. But if you are identified with Christ in his death, that's true. You're also identified with Christ in his life. And so you are going to desire to walk like him. You're not going to make excuses about why you don't have to be holy. That's not how Christ talked. And if you're united with him, you're going to talk like Jesus, walk like Jesus, think like Jesus. This is the beauty of union. So we say very simply, you're united with the whole Christ, not the partial Christ, not just the Christ that takes care of your sins and now acts as fire insurance for you, and you can go off and sin all you want. You're united with the whole Christ, and it's not a burden to follow him. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you love me, you will keep my commands. That's something you want to do. So as A.A. Hodge says, Christ justifies, in the legal dimension, no one whom he does not sanctify. Justification and sanctification are the double benefit or double grace given to the believer by virtue of his or her faith union with Christ. Though justification and sanctification are distinguished as separate benefits, they are inseparably given to the believer. Christ is never separated. If you have Christ by faith, you have the whole Christ. Here's A. Hodge, excuse me. You cannot take Christ for justification unless you take him for sanctification. You can no more separate justification from sanctification than you can separate the circulation of blood from the inhalation of the air. Breathing and circulation are two different things, but you cannot have the one without the other. They go together and they continue, they constitute one life. So you have justification and sanctification They go together and they constitute one life. Okay. All right. Are there any questions about this? Yes. Parents feel free. If you need to go get your kids to go for it. Okay. You're not going to offend anyone if you need to walk out. Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Yes. New. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, so yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think the best way the best in a nutshell, the best way to answer that is to distinguish operations of the spirit. So the spirit can operate on somebody without indwelling them. So here's how I would understand that. When the spirit regenerates my heart, it's an operation. It's not an indwelling. So he operates on my heart, gives me a new heart, takes out my heart of stone, gives me a heart of flesh, and then now my heart is in a place to believe I believe, and then he indwells, and then operation and indwelling is still separate from filling, okay? So being filled with the spirit is kind of like an ongoing thing. OK, you you can be unfilled by the spirit, but you're still indwelt by the spirit. So I think it's a matter of going through and technically looking at the different verbs that the New Testament uses to speak of the operation of the spirit. And after I did that, I came up with these three categories. and I distinguish between operation, indwelling, and filling. Now, some Presbyterians are going to disagree with me, but on the other side, some Presbyterians agree with me. So go figure. It's just a mixed bag. So I know we can talk more, you know, if we want to nuance it a little bit more, but, you know, biblically, you must be regenerate before your faith. And I would say that regeneration is a benefit of union with Christ. And, and so I am in union with Christ in my regeneration. Okay. So when I say union comes by faith, I'm kind of assuming that the, the. Nexus of regeneration and faith. I kind of see them together. Okay. Does that make sense? But it would take more time to unpack that. Yeah. All right. Any other questions? Yes. Right. That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. That's very interesting. That's very interesting. Um, if what you said is what they were saying, yes, that's that it would be a works righteousness just to let you know how the people that sit, the people that say justification is what brings me into union with Christ and gives me all the benefits as opposed to saying, I'm in union with Christ. And now as a result of that, I have the benefits of, you know, uh, justification and sanctification is because they can't conceive of any believer or any human having any connection with God at all, apart from being justified. But as Calvin says in Institutes chapter three, section 10, part 16, he says, if anybody is outside of Christ, he has nothing of Christ. He must first be in Christ to receive the benefits of Christ. And so I think if you look at I believe the Reformed tradition has predominantly taught this, that you come into union with Christ through regeneration of faith, and then you reap the benefits of union with Christ, justification, sanctification, and glorification. And by the way, in the antinomian controversies of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, but predominantly in the 16th and 17th, It was the antinomians who didn't think that you needed to follow the law. That's kind of unfair that it was a little more nuanced than that. But the antinomians who didn't like to make much of the law and the life of the believer, they went with the other scheme that you're justified. And then all the benefits follow from that. But see, if you do that, then again, it separates Sanctification from the benefit of justification just by a step Whereas in the other scheme if you're brought into union with Christ and boom all these benefits are now yours Then justification and sanctification though. They're distinct. They're not separate. They're together It's almost like two sides of the same coin And so you're expected to be sanctified because you've been you've died and now are raised with Christ so They're distinct, but they're inseparable. Yeah, well, you're talking about two different things. I mean, they're distinct in that justification is not sanctification, sanctification is not justification, but they're inseparable as they come as a package to you by being in Christ, okay? Any other questions? Anyone that needs to go get your kids, please go get your kids. You don't you don't need to wait. Willful sin after. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Once you're united with Christ, you can never be separated from that. But you can, if you want, there's a few different analogies you can go, you can not be filled with the Spirit, who is the, if you will, the sticky nature that binds you to Christ. He's the bond that binds the believer to Christ. And if you're not filled with the Spirit, then you're not exuding the fruits of the Spirit, which is kind of like the full entailment of union with Christ. But you can never be separated from union with Christ because these are all the passages in the New Testament to talk about who can separate us from the love of Christ. Once you're in, you're in. But you can experientially and existentially not take full advantage of what that union looks like. That's true. But you can never be out of union with Christ. Does that help? Okay. All right. All right. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this time tonight. Lord, we thank you for the Lord's Day. We bless you that you have given us one in seven days to take a break, to sit down, to stop running, to stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off, just going frantic, but to stop, reflect, worship, to soar in worship, even to you. And Lord, we confess to you as a people, we're not good at that. And we pray that you would give us help, all of us, Father. We need help to learn how to do this, to learn how to do it well, to take advantage of it, and to reap the benefits of it. Help us to do that through your spirit, and we thank you for the blessed union that you've given us in your son. It's in his name we pray, amen.