Okay. All right, well, good morning. As Amanda, using this stool here behind me, the chair, Phillip and I had a wonderful time at the fire conference in Oklahoma. And except for the tornado warnings and the touchdowns, I got there Sunday night and got to the hotel at about 9.30. My phone started beeping and going off and said, go to lower ground. And I was on the top floor of a hotel there across the street from the church. And my first experience of it was being called out with a tornado warning. I've seen him as a kid growing up in West Texas, but it was neat. Got to spend time with a bunch of pastors from around the world and around this country that share the same beliefs and the same structure that we do. So it was a wonderful time. They preached imitating Christ and all of Christ's offices. And we're going to cover some of that today. So as we begin, I'd like to thank the pastor for his selection of songs. Behold our God, behold our King, and this is what today I hope to present before you. A glimpse of the majesty, a glimpse of the infinite merit and mercies of Christ. It's only, the second sermon in the series, the last sermon, we talked about our union with Adam. And this time, as we move forward, teaching union with Christ, I want to first give us a look at who that second Adam is. I want us to just stop and look up and behold our God. And behold our King. Then, when we understand how we are united to Him, I believe it will give us a greater appreciation, a humbleness of heart, a heart of gratitude, a heart of worship, as we know who we are united to. So in this series on union with Christ, we initially scratched the surface of what union with Christ means. And I'm praying that my voice lasts throughout this. I came back from Oklahoma a little bit sick. But, um, so we're going to, in the first one, we scratched the surface of how we are united to Christ in salvation and sanctification, fellowship and glorification. I think it's worthy of a brief review. So we learned that we were united to Christ through the Holy Spirit. We saw that we are united to Christ in salvation, and we looked at Ephesians 1 and 2, 2 Corinthians and 2 Timothy. So I'm going to just read some scripture here that we studied during the first sermon, just to recall our attention to these glorious truths. Ephesians 1, 3 through 6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, just as he blessed us Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved. Let me start my timer here. Okay. And then Ephesians 2, 4-7, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, even when we were in Adam, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing richness of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. You see, Christian, because of our union with Christ, in the mind of the Father, we are presently seated with Him in the heavenly places. There has never been a time in all of eternity past that God the Father has not considered you in Christ. That's how He looks at us now. He looks at frail, fragile, complaining, whining, unfaithful me. And He sees His Son. And He declares me just. I'm justified. before him. Because I'm just? No. Because Christ was just. Followed the law and was righteous on my behalf. We also saw how we were united to Christ in our sanctification. Ephesians 2, 8-10. For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves. So you've been saved by grace through faith and this is not what you did. It's nothing you did. It is a gift of God, not of works Why? So that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, his poema, his poetry. We are the work of his hands. We are a masterpiece. We're his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So we are his workmanship. We are his creation. And we were created in Christ Jesus And even the good works that we do, He prepared them beforehand that we should walk in them. To the praise and glory of His grace. No one can boast and say like, look what I've done for the Lord. Look how many people I led to the Lord. No. Oh, Christian, if you have an attitude like that, you need to humble yourself. Because even the good works we do, opening the door for somebody, seeing somebody crying and stopping and helping them, somebody on the side of the road you stop and repair a tire for an older woman. What is that? Is that because you're good? No. This is Christ in you. And so we do these things. And these are the works that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Galatians 2.20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. When Christ was crucified, I was crucified. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. We also look to scripture as we studied our union with Christ and we saw how that affects our fellowship. First Corinthians 12, 12, for even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body. So also is Christ. We are each members. Of the body of this church, and we are united in separately because of Christ, because of my union with Christ, I am united to you all, to y'all. So our relationship and communion with one another is solely because of our union with Christ. Lastly, and again, we're still reviewing that first sermon, because I think it's important that we see where we were, where we've been, and where we're going to. Lastly, we saw that we were united to Christ in our glorification, and that we had been saved by the second Adam, had been plucked out of our union with the first Adam. 1 Corinthians 15.20-23. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by one man, Adam, came death, by a man also, Christ Jesus, came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ all will be made alive. but each in his own order. Christ, the firstfruits after that, those who are Christ's at his coming. So we see that Christ will not present himself in glory without us. He is the firstfruits. He is the firstfruits of many. In the last message, we painted a bleak picture. We discussed and defined federal headship. God decides who your federal head is. You don't. I don't. Man is impotent. Doesn't have any power in this decision-making process. And that goes against our ego and our pride and our self-determination. But that's not fair. Read Romans 9 and you'll see that Paul addresses and answers these questions, these rebuttals that someone might have when he was teaching the sovereignty of God and salvation. He used Romans 9 and he said, oh, but then you would say, why does he find fault? So read Romans 9. I challenge you that if these doctrines have not hit deep in your heart and you see. Brothers and sisters, the doctrines of grace. Should cause humility. should not make you proud. The fact that God chose you, the fact that God chose me, you should be saying, why? Why me? Why me? So we discuss federal headship. We show from scripture that you are judged according to your representative. In Adam, all die. And by their actions, we discuss our union with Adam. You are in Adam or in Christ. There's only one type of person, those who are in Adam, and those who are in Christ. From conception, you were in Adam. Okay? That's what federalism explains, is that you sin because you're a sinner. You're not a sinner because you've sinned. See, you're born a sinner. We discussed imputation. On the cross, God the Father treated Jesus Christ, his son, without spot or blemish, his perfect, obedient son. He treated him as if he was you, if he was me. And now he treats us as if we had lived the perfect life that Christ lived. Did we live that life? No. I blow it all the time. Ask Mary Beth. She'll fill you in. But you see, God now treats us as if we had actually lived that perfect life. Imputation is to credit or to count. Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness. It wasn't works, it was his faith. So this is when someone else's actions are credited to your account. We sinned and that's all we do is sin. sin was credited to Christ's account. And he had to pay for those sins. And then his perfect righteousness is credited to our account. You see how we had a negative balance? Let's consider a bank. You have a negative balance of sins, all the transactions you've committed against God. So we have a negative balance of Christ on the cross zeroes that balance out, but we're still not acceptable in God's eyes. We need to be credited with Christ's perfect righteousness and obedience to now have peace with God. In Romans 5, we read, therefore justice, and I'm going to just read some of the highlights of this, this text, but it's 14 through 20. Therefore, Therefore, just as through one man sinned in the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. For as through one man's disobedience, Adam, the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be appointed righteous. So now we've done a brief review of where we've been Like I said earlier, today I want to present to you some of the merits, just some of them, the merits and mercies of the second Adam, the perfect Adam, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. So we saw that the folly and wickedness of the first Adam, this is what Adam accomplished for us. Sin, death. Through sin, death entered the world. We are now born enemies of God. We are enemies of God. All of human mankind from Adam forward is born an enemy of God. Trouble in marriages. That's a result of what the first Adam did. Sickness. Death. We've had death in this church recently. We still have brothers and sisters from this church that are sick, that are ill. And it says that all of creation groans. yearning for redemption, all of creation, grooms. You see, when Jesus Christ returns, he will settle all accounts and he will make all things right, including the restoration of nature, the restoration of our universe. Now let's look at the second Adam. As we look at glory and revel, the majesty of our representative Christ, I believe that will lead us to be a grateful people, to be a people who worship. As we continue in the weeks ahead to study our union with Christ, I want to pause today and take a look at the excellencies of who we are united to. We saw the ugly, we saw Adam. Now let's look to who Christ is. I'd like to show you who He is, what He accomplished, and how that relates to us and our union with Him and our union with the entire Trinity. It's amazing. To understand the necessity of Christ's work, we need to look at God the Father. God is good, ergo, because, therefore, He must be a good judge. I've used this example before. Let's say somebody here in Texas has multiple DUIs He's driving and runs over a three-year-old girl and kills her. And he goes before a judge here in Texas. He goes, your honor, I'm a good guy. It was an accident. Yeah, I didn't mean to kill her. Yeah, I killed her, but I didn't mean to. Look, I won't do it again, I promise. If that judge here in Texas says, yeah, you know what, Billy Bob, Billy Joe, Jim Bob, you seem like a good guy, I'm gonna let you off the hook. Especially if that little girl was your daughter or your granddaughter or your niece. We would march down the streets with banners and megaphones and we would say that that is a bad judge, a corrupt judge, a bot judge, that he's not good. He's a horrible judge. But because God is good and he is just, he must be a good judge. God's holiness demands justice. He doesn't let one little sin, one wicked thought slip by. Can you imagine? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The first commandment. None of us have done that for one second. The way he deserves it. Everything we do is tainted by sin. Everything we do is tainted by sin. But God's perfect holiness demands perfect justice. God is a jealous God. He's jealous for his character. He's jealous for his name. He's jealous for his people. And he's just for his glory. He will not share his glory with anyone. God is a God of vengeance. Do you remember Israel? They were idolaters. And it says he grabbed the Assyrians by hooks through their jaws and brought them out against Israel. And they punished Israel. And then God punishes Assyria for coming against his people. God is a just God. He is a holy God. He demands perfect obedience. Perfect obedience, not one mistake, not one error, not one wicked thought. Christ demonstrates his love by voluntarily fulfilling God's demand for perfect obedience, perfect righteousness. And he does that on behalf of the elect. He does that on behalf of his sheep. He does that on behalf of his bride, the church. So the wrath of God was being stored up for each one of us. For each of the elect, Christ willingly, knowingly drank it down. Luke 22, 42. Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. John 18, 11. So Jesus said to Peter, Put the sword into your sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? Christ willingly, knowingly drinks the cup of wrath. In the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood. This is a medical condition under extreme stress and anguish. The capillaries, the vessels break and you sweat drops of blood. Three times he prayed, and his cup passed from my hands, but not my will, but yours be done. And I've shared this before. He wasn't scared of the Romans. He wasn't scared of the 39 flashes. He wasn't scared of the crown of thorns. He wasn't scared of the nails, the ignominy, the shame. The reason he was sweating drops of blood is that in a very short time, he was going to drink that cup of wrath from God the Father. And he was going to drink it down to the dregs. Like it says in Romans, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And again in Romans 8, 8.33-34, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, who is rather, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. He says, who will bring a charge against God's elect? You see, the wrath of God against you, Christian, has been satisfied. His perfect justice. His perfect anger and vengeance and jealousy for his own name and character and glory. That justice was satisfied in the punishment of Christ Jesus. God displayed Christ publicly in humiliation. This is propitiation. Propitiation is the wrath of God coming after each one of us and Christ standing in the middle and absorbing that wrath, not deflecting it, someone that wrath has to fall upon someone because God is just and he is good and he is holy and It fell upon Christ Jesus and he absorbed it all That way now there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus But God displayed Christ publicly Romans 3 25 through 26 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith for demonstration of his righteousness. Because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just, the good judge, and the justifier. of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. You see, this places God as the holy judge, and he can now be just. He can be a good judge and let me go. Yes, I committed the crime. I did it. I'm guilty. He can't let me go, otherwise he's an unjust judge. He's a bad judge. But somebody paid my debt. So now he can say, James, you may go free. Propitiation is the satisfaction of a debt. Expiation. A lot of times that word propitiation and expiation has been kind of flip-flopped or used, you know, same with that same word has been defined both these ways. Expiation means it's a change in our disposition towards God. From enemies to now not just friends of God, sons and daughters, adopted, co-inheritors with God. with Christ. He can't just pass over sins or injustice. His wrath must be satisfied. And He satisfied His own perfect judgment by crushing His own Son. Let's look to Christ. Let's see what He endured for our sake, on our behalf. Isaiah 53, 10-12. Isaiah 53, 10 through 12. But Yahweh was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If you would place his soul as a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide for him a portion with the many, and he will divide the spoiled with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death. and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. God the Father was pleased to crush his own son. Why? Because this has to do with God's glory. It also has to do with the ultimate exaltation of Jesus Christ, our Lord. As we go on, we'll see this. Christ was a guilt offering. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. We just read, there it is, perpetuation. As a result of the anguish of Christ's soul, he will see it and be satisfied. God the Father will see it and be satisfied. Yet he himself bore the sins of many and interceded for the transgressors. Christ willingly came and dwelt among us. He humbled himself and he took on flesh. Despising the shame, he went to the cross and drank the cup of God's wrath. This was a covenant made amongst the triune God before time began. This is the eternal covenant that God the Father would send the Son. The Son would be humbled and submit to the point of death, even death on the cross. You have been loved and you have been placed into union with the triune God for all of eternity. Titus 1, 1-4 Titus 1, 1 through 4, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to Godliness in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity, but at the proper time manifested his word in preaching with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. One of my favorite Puritans, John Flable, puts it this way. This is a imagined, a supposed conversation between God the Father and God the Son in all of eternity past, before the world was created, before he said, let there be light. The Father, my son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves. and now they lie open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these poor souls? The Son says, O my Father, such is my love to and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their guarantee. Bring in all your bills, that I may see what they owe you. Lord, bring them all in, that there be no after reckoning, nothing left over. At my hand will you require it. I would rather choose to suffer your wrath than they suffer it. Upon me, Father. My Father, upon me. be all their debt. The father says, but my son, if you undertake for them, you must pay the last penny. Expect no discounts. If I spare them, I will not spare you. And the son says, I am willing, father. Let it be so. Charge it all to me. I am able to pay their debt. And though it will undo me, though it will impoverish all my riches and empty all my accounts, yet I am content to undertake it. Can we see and savor Christ? This eternal compact, perfect union, perfect love in the Trinity, For all of eternity, in Christ's wisdom, I'm willing. I am willing to become a substitute. I am willing to come down and pay the debt that these poor, miserable souls can't pay, to purchase them. Can we see him here as a faithful high priest interceding on our behalf? Bring in all their debt. Everything bring it all in. Let me see it. I will discharge it. I will pay it He's mediating and interceding for his elect Can we see Christ as our faithful loving husband Laying down his life to purchase his bride Preserve presenting her before the throne of glory without spot blemish or wrinkle He didn't choose us because we were lovely or desirable. He chose us and He loves us for His purposes. He loves us because He loves us. Christian, you are not elect. You are not saved. You are not in Christ today. You are not united to Christ because you were lovely, you were smart, you were wise, you were special. Christ, as the husband, goes to the market and picks out a dishonorable woman, not lovely, dressed in rags. This week at the Fire Conference we heard incredible sermons about Christ. Christian, today I want you to be amazed by your Savior, your King, your Lord, your High Priest, your future husband, your tender shepherd and your wise prophet. Christ brought us back from the cruel owner that we had before as a faithful husband with an unfaithful wife. Read the book of Hosea. God commits the prophet Hosea to marry this prostitute. And she goes out and she's unfaithful and she's unfaithful. And eventually she owes money and they take her to the slave market to sell her. And what does Hosea do? He goes and he buys her back. He goes and he buys her back. Galatians 3, 13-14. Galatians 3, 13-14. Christ redeemed, purchased, bought us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, curse it as everyone who hangs on a tree, in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. He purchased us. Christ redeemed us. It's like redeeming a coupon, redeeming food stamps. You're getting something back. You're paying something. You're giving up something to purchase something back. Christ is our loving husband. Our union with Christ, we, the unlovely, unfaithful, dirty, vile, worthless people, are made altogether lovely. We are made lovely before God, and Christ will present us without spot or wrinkle before the Father. Can you gaze on the wonder of Christ? Can we comprehend His excellencies and His merit? And we've just barely started to scratch the surface. of who our wonderful Savior and our Lord and our King and our husband and our faithful high priest is. Is he altogether lovely to you, Christian? I think we should spend much time dwelling, meditating on the beauty of Christ. Luther has a great book, Theologian of the Cross. There's books out there on the excellencies and the merits of Christ. on his threefold ministry, prophet, priest, and King. And the more we get a glimpse of who Christ is, the more we will see sin still left in our lives. And the more we will worship and have a grateful heart for what he saved us out of and saved us to. Do we completely throw off any merit or self-righteousness? Christian, have you completely left behind any hope that you have of pleasing God through your own efforts, your own Bible study, your own tithing, your own fasting, your own works? Have you left that? Until we see the excellencies of Christ in a greater perspective, in a greater way, we will not let go of what remains in us of that self-righteousness. Can we truly acknowledge that we're paupers, that we're beggars, that we have nothing to bring in need of someone to stand in our place. Christ is our substitute and our good shepherd. He is the one and through our union with him, he will bring us to glory. This is the will of God accomplished by the Son and sealed by the Spirit. John 6, 37. John 6, 37 through 40. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last day. Out of all those that the Father gives Him, He loses none. And Christ himself will raise us up on the last day. Christian, marvel and be amazed at the excellencies of the second Adam. Can we see the intimate relationship between God the Father and God the Son and our union with the entire Trinity solely through our union with Christ in this passage? Christ is the Good Shepherd. We know him, are known by him, Just as he knows the Father, the intimate relationship between Christ the Son and God the Father, that intimacy here in John 10, we're about to read, that that same intimacy is the intimacy we have in union with Him. During the first sermon, we read John 17. That's a great passage for understanding the purposes of God. and God's love for us and our union with Christ and our union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. We know him and are known by him just as he knows the Father. John 10, 14 through 18. I, and this is one of the great I am statements that Christ did, the ego I me. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep. She says, I know my own and my own know me. Even as, just like, I know the Father and the Father knows me. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep which are not from this fold. I must bring them also. And they will hear my voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but from myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father. Christian, you are secure. You are written on His palms. Christ came and willingly laid down his life, and then he raised himself from the dead. So that we can not only be partakers with him, but also joint heirs, co-inheritors with him in glory. Let's consider Christ's condescension. Christ bore the wrath of God and suffered beyond anything we can imagine. and was humiliated on our behalf. We spent days going through all the different nuances and the tragedy and the horrible things in Roman crucifixion. But he was nailed to a cross. He was stripped of his clothing. He hung there naked. This was a way that the Romans used to completely demoralize and humiliate someone. People would walk by the road. This was a very busy thoroughfare and would look up and there you would be hanging completely naked, nailed to a cross. They ripped out his beard. He was spit upon. He was mocked. Can you imagine the creature mocking the creator, spitting on him, scourging him, hanging him on a cross to die? and then mocking him. Consider his humility and condescension. Hebrews 12, one through three. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. We don't know who the author of Hebrews was, but here he is. He's saying, gaze upon Christ. Not just gaze, but fix your eyes upon Christ. The author and perfecter of faith. So is faith something we create? It says here Christ is the author and the perfecter, in other versions it says the finisher. the finisher of our faith. Who? Why? For the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. Why? so that you will not grow weary, fainting in the heart. There's days where I just don't want to do it anymore. There's days when I have doubt of my own salvation, my own goodness. Why am I here? Lord, you're not using me. All the stupid, wicked thoughts that the deceiver brings in. But here he says, consider him. Meditate on him. Dwell, let your thoughts remain on him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. Why? So that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. In times of trials and tribulations, in times of doubt, in times of fear, In times of sadness, look to Christ. Consider Him. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author, the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. He accomplished everything necessary to bring us into union with the Father by uniting us to Him. This was for the joy set before Him. What was the joy set before Him? Us. He came to purchase a specific people, an ugly snaggletooth, wart, bald bride. But when he presents us in glory, we will be beautiful and magnificent without spot, wrinkle or blemish. This is the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of the head of the church, Christ. This is what is happening. He is conforming us. Through discipline, through trials, through tribulation, through suffering, He's conforming us to the image of His Son. And He will present us before God the Father spotless. Oh, hasten the day. Maranatha, even the Lord, come quickly. Oh, we could go on forever talking about the merits. I had six pages front and back. of verses and merits of Christ and it's a worthy study studying his excellencies. But in this message I wanted to draw your attention and point your gaze and just spotlight some of the glories and the merits of Christ Jesus. He's invaluable. He's immeasurable. Incomprehensible. He's incomprehensible. And as we read scripture, as we gaze at Christ, there's themes and topics that are so hard to put into words. Our human language and our human minds don't have the capacity to capture. But as I've said before, it's like this diamond that you hold. And every time you look at it, you can look at it for all of eternity and you will see different facets, different lights, different colors, different beauties. He is worthy of all honor and glory. He is worthy of all praise. Dwell on Him much. Spend time every day meditating on the merits of Christ. The more we cast our eyes upon the beauty of Christ, the less the things of this world will hold sway over our hearts. The more we look to Christ Jesus, All this other stuff becomes fluff. Nothing. Becomes nothing. Last message we saw the bad news of who we were because of our union with Adam. This message we looked at the second Adam. The much better Adam. The eternal Adam. The perfect Adam. The preeminent Son of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we go forward studying union with Christ, I pray that today has given you a better glimpse, a better view, a better perspective of who Christ is. Because as we study our union with Christ, it's really easy to say, yeah, okay, I understand that. Because of Christ united, okay, his righteousness, clothed in his righteousness, God see, okay, yeah, yeah. It's easy to have it here, But when the eyes of your heart gaze upon Christ and what He accomplished and what He did, to be united to Him in any way is glorious. And it's only through our union with Him. It's not because we're lovely. It's not because we're good. It's not because of who we are. It's because of who He is and who He was on our behalf. The fact that He accomplished what we can't accomplish that he came down and he purchased that which is unlovely, that which is imperfect, that which is sinful and vile. He came down and purchased a bride. And the entire triune God is at work to sanctify us and to conform us to his image and to present us holy and blameless before the Lord in glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Oh, to get a glimpse of your son who, despising the shame, went to the cross, knowingly, willingly drank the cup of wrath that was due us. Father, it should have been me on that cross. I'm the one who deserves your wrath and your judgment. But in your grace and mercy and love, you saw fit to punish your beloved son on my behalf. Oh Father, that that would ring true and ring new in my ears every day. That because of the joy of that truth, that I would be one that would share that with other people. That I would always be ready with the gospel on my lips to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, for this eternal covenant that you and your Son and the Holy Spirit came to before time began to display your glory and your grace and your mercy on a people who don't deserve it. Father, sanctify this church, purify this church. Father, make this church strong. Give us a strong bond of unity. with each other because of our union with Christ. I pray for our pastor and for Renee, Father, as they take these little bit of time away, Father, give them rest, bring them back encouraged and built up and strong. We thank you for our pastor, for his commitment to preach your word in season and out. Father, use us throughout this week to reach others with the gospel. to tell others about your goodness, your greatness, and what it means to be united to Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.