Good morning. Yeah, spiritual warfare is real. It's been a heck of a weekend. A lot of things went on yesterday. Almost two car accidents on the way in this morning. One caused by a pigeon and another by a concrete rail that jumped out in front of us. No. But God is good and he is faithful and I'm just praying that this message will bless and encourage and edify the saints. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the safe passage here. Thank you that you are God. It doesn't matter who's president, you are king. And so Father, I ask that you would use the words today and your word to convict, to convince, each of us, Father, of these truths, that we might cling to these truths of union with Christ and that in applying them to ourselves and considering and reckoning these things to be true about us, weak, frail, complaining, sinful us, that when we consider these truths to be true, Father, because your word says it's true, that we would live differently. that we would live with eternity in view, that we would live a life of evangelism, and that we would live a life that is gratifying to you, Father, that is honoring to you. Make that so in my life more and more each day, Father, and I ask that for each one of the members here, that we would be a lighthouse on a hill, not ashamed of the gospel, and that others would look and see that we follow Christ and we obey him. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. The first, this is the fourth in a series that we've started with Union with Christ. The first one was a shallow dive into Union with Christ where we talked about our actual salvation is based upon our union with Christ, our sanctification, progressive sanctification, the fact that we are being sanctified and we will be sanctified because of our union with Christ. Also, we are united to each other because of our union with Christ. You and I and each of us are inexorably irremovably, that's a word, joined together with each other. God has placed you here today and here in this local body of believers to practice the one another's, the 53 or however many one another's are, love one another, exhort one another, pray for one another, admonish one another, encourage one another, love one another. All of these things happen within the body of the local church. And these things happen It happened rightly because of our union with Christ. We also learned about our union with Christ in glorification, that he will not present himself before the Father in glory without us. Christian, he will not present himself in glory without you. The second sermon was about federal headship or federal representation, about Adam, Romans 5. that there are two types of people, those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ. And that you have been placed under Adam or under Christ or in Adam or in Christ because of the free will and desire and purposes of God Almighty for His glory and for His praise. The last sermon was on the infinite merits of Christ in contrast to the infinite lack of merit of Adam. And so Christ, we presented him as the excellent husband, as the good shepherd. And so the merits of Christ, I wanted us to focus in that sermon on who we're united to, his glories, his majesty. And so today we're gonna take a deeper dive into you with Christ, Lord willing, in the next series I'm gonna preach on abiding, or in the next sermon I'm gonna preach on abiding in Christ, which the Apostle Paul talks much about. But let's start with a quote that I've used for each of the sermons. Jay Wechter, a theologian, professor, and one of my greatest mentors, says, God's eternal plan to save his people is that they should have salvation by union with the only begotten son. By radical identification with Christ, our sins become his, and his righteousness becomes ours. Reformed theologians have observed that there was never a time in all of eternity past when God contemplated the elect, did not contemplate the elect apart from Christ. So if you're united to Christ today, God the Father has never contemplated you or had one thought about you apart from being united to Christ. Continuing the quote, Christ's righteousness belongs to the believers by virtue of union with Christ. So fully is the believer identified with Christ that what Christ earned for us is rightfully ours as if we had earned it ourselves. His dying and raising is applied to us personally. It is the basis for newness of life in Him. All the believer's blessings are in Christ as source." Wayne Grudem of Systematic Theology defines union with Christ as this, union with Christ is a phrase used to summarize several different relationships between believers and Christ through which Christians receive every benefit of salvation. These relationships include the fact that we are in Christ. Christ is in us. We are like Christ. And we are with Christ. We're going to see that in some of the passages we read today where Paul says with Christ. This is another way of saying united. We are co-heirs. We've been co-crucified. We've been co-resurrected. We will be co-glorified. John Calvin said, as long as Christ remains outside of us and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us. The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to him. There are several biblical illustrations throughout scripture talking about our union with Christ. This is a mystical union and there's nothing quite like it in all of the universe. In scripture we find union with Christ is referred to as stones in a building, branches on a vine, members of a physical body, and also a husband and wife. The first one, stones in a building, if you'd like to turn please to Ephesians 2, 19 through 20. Ephesians 2, 19 through 22, I'm sorry. In Latin America, when a pastor says, you know, mentions a passage and he wants people to go to it, when they all get there, they say amen. So he goes, say amen when you get there. And so you hear these, amen, amen, amen, all over the congregation. Letting the pastor know that they're there. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners but our fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord in whom you also are being built together in a dwelling of God in the spirit. Let's now go to first Peter 2 4 through 8. 1 Peter 2, 4 through 8. And coming to him as to a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes upon him will not be put to shame. Right there's the gospel. That verse right there is the gospel. He who believes in this precious cornerstone that he's laying in Zion will not be put to shame. Verse seven. This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected. This became the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Is he talking about the Jews here? Jesus was a rock of offense. It was a stone of stumbling. They stumble because they are disobedient to the word and to this stumbling they were also appointed. Then we have predestination, election, God's purposes. Like in Acts 2 and Acts 4 where it says in the city of David were gathered together the Jews, the Gentiles, Pontius Pilate, to do that with your hand, predetermined to happen. So in first century building and for centuries after that, and even today, when you're making a stone building, and back then that's pretty much what they made them out of, the cornerstone was special. This was a perfectly shaped stone, equal level, perfectly rectangular or square. and this stone was placed and leveled. And then every stone after that was placed based upon this cornerstone. So the cornerstones were special, selected and cut by hand. They were perfectly square. The entire home was based upon this cornerstone. If this cornerstone was not square, or not laid level, or not set appropriately, the rest of the house would be weak, crooked, and unstable. Now let's look at the example of branches of a vine. This is a familiar passage. Again, we're talking about union with Christ. And we have Christ as the cornerstone. And the apostles and the prophets. And so we are being built upon that as a temple. So branches of a vine, John 15, one through six. John 15, one through six. I am the true vine. and my father is the vine grower. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. He says, I am the true vine. My father is the vine grower, the vine dresser. Folks, pruning is painful. Pruning is extremely painful sometimes. But in order for us to bear much fruit for the glory of God, he prunes us. And towards the end there where he says, talks about the branches that don't bear fruit and they're dried up, these are false converts. These are people that are not saved. If you are in the vine, if you are a branch in the vine, you will bear fruit. We could go to the passage of the four soils. some 30, some 60, some 100 fold, right? We will all bear fruit in different amounts, but the fruit we bear is caused, predetermined, ordained, and brought about by God. Joel Beakey in his Reform Systematic Theology said, the only way for people to bear fruit pleasing to God is to have a living, organic, abiding union with Christ as branches to a vine. If you cut a branch off it'll wither and die. It no longer has a source of nutrition and life. An Italian reformer from the 1500s, I'm not gonna pronounce his first name, but his last name is Zanchi, good Italian name. As a branch can draw no vital sap from the vine unless it is joined to the vine, even so men cannot receive any salvation or life from Christ in whom alone it is placed. unless they are grafted into him and joined in a true and real union, and being joined, abide in him. So I did a little research on vine dressing, and I got a quote from Napa Valley Tours. That's in California, so I don't recommend you go. The grapevine is a climbing planter vine. Left to its own, it tends to grow horizontally, because the first buds to burst are generally the ones at the very end of the cane tips. The vine should therefore always be pruned to counter the tendency of rampant growth. Otherwise, it weakens the structure of the plant. The vine becomes fragile, difficult to tend, and unable to bear high-quality fruit. If the vines are not pruned, then the risk of disease also rises significantly more, and as more buds sprout, and the number of shoots and bunches of grapes increases, the shoots get thinner, the grapes get smaller, and the quality can suffer considerably as a result. Pruning is essential. Be grateful for pruning. Like in Sunday school today, you can go to the Lord and say, why? What are you doing? Like David did. But know that it happens. Why? Because he loves us. If he doesn't chastise you, if he doesn't prune you, He doesn't mold you and perfect you. That's like purifying metal in a crucible in high heat. It's painful. But if he's not doing that, then you don't belong to him. Because we're promised trials, troubles, and tribulation, persecutions. Sometimes it's by our own doing. Still, from the hand of God. Nothing. Either God is sovereign, or he's not God. Is that pink? So let's look at what scripture says about the members of the body and Christ as the head. Another quote from Jay Wechter. The headship of Christ is his lordship over believers. Our relationship to Christ as head is a living, growing union. It's an organic union in which Christ himself takes up residence within the individual. It's impossible that man produce this union on his own. It's not established by any religious act, including membership in a biblical church." End quote. The head is where the mind and the brain reside. It's the control center for the body. My hand doesn't reach up and do anything without my head telling it to. Even if I touch something hot or cold or sharp and I react, that's still the brain sending the signal to the body part to move. When we see that Christ is the head of the body, the church, we see that he is the one who controls all the essential functions of the body. There is a necessary unity of function and purpose because we all have one head, that being Christ. In a healthy body, the members of the body do as the head commands, right? In a dysfunctional body, that's when every member tries to do what's right in their own eyes. tries to operate independently and not under the headship and the leadership of the head, Christ. Let's go to Ephesians 4, 11 through 16 to see in scripture the analogy of the head and the body. Ephesians 4, 11 through 16. And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. This is the task of the faithful pastor, equipping the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. This is the purpose of solid biblical preaching and discipleship. Maturity. bringing others to maturity. I would encourage you if you are not, if you don't have somebody that you're investing your life, time and talents into, find somebody. Even if they're theologically as astute or well-versed as you are, iron sharpens iron. You should have at least one, hopefully multiple, relationships where you are involved in other people's lives. And this is hard because in American culture, It's me, myself and I. But you need to be finding a younger person. Younger couple. Invest in their lives. Prepare them to suffer well. Because we will be suffering. We will have persecution. So prepare them to suffer well. Invest in them. Invest in their marriage. Counsel them. Talk to them. Know what's going on in their lives. And this is so contrary to our human nature and to the American culture. So he says, again, I'm gonna jump back to 13, until we attain to the unity of faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. That's the purpose of discipleship. To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness and deceitful scheming. My friends, this is discernment. And this happens by sitting under the faithful preaching and being in a church where you have a pastor who will call out wolves and warn you of those. And as mature believers, we need to be working with other believers that are less mature and guarding them, protecting them from Joyce Myers and Stephen Furtick, people like that. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes what? The growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Do you see these analogies? He's using word pictures. to describe this mystical union with Christ. And this one's my favorite. One of the most precious and glorious metaphors for our union with Christ is that of a husband and wife. The husband and wife both leave their families and are joined together, becoming one flesh, according to scripture. Throughout the scripture, the Lord continually uses the image of marriage when he speaks of his love for his chosen people. Of course, in scripture, we see that God's people are habitually unfaithful. but yet his love for them remains steadfast. As we saw in the first sermon of this series, Christ is like Hosea, the faithful husband who pursues an unfaithful wife and buys her back from the slave market and loves her. Marriage is a beautiful picture of our union with Christ. It's a beautiful picture. Let's go to Ephesians 5, 22. And in this passage, just pay attention to the word as. So he's saying so and so is like or just as this. So he strongly word pictures here. Wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife as or just like Christ also is the head of the church. He himself being the savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, So also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, how? Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands also ought to love their own wives, how? as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. How? Just as Christ also does the church. Because we are members of his body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great. Paul here says it's a mystery. This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ in the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife, even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. A.W. Pink said, union with Christ is as follows. God gave Christ to them, and he gave them to Christ, an everlasting marriage. Do we see the intimacy, the primacy, the necessity and the beauty of how our union with Christ is compared and presented as a marriage? So we have here four different metaphors, similes of our union with Christ. Let's look at what the cause is. How did this union with Christ happen? What is it for? What's its purpose? Where does it come from? Let's look at just some of the gracious gifts that are given to us by God through his predetermined plan to unite us with Christ. First, the Father's eternal plan of redemption. Let's go to Ephesians 1, 3 through 6. I love this passage. 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. How? In Christ. 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. This was a plan before time began. This is a plan developed, ordained, determined for his glory and given to us graciously. How? In the beloved in Christ Jesus. Now let's look out and see how God gives us this infinite grace. By what means? To what end? We just read in Ephesians one that God has given us his grace and bestowed it on us in the beloved in Christ Jesus. We then also saw that all of this is done according to the good pleasure of his will. And for what reason? To the praise of His glorious grace. His infinite grace is not given to us because we're lovely, we're smart, we're noble, we're rich. He could really use us. He really needs us. No, God doesn't need us. In His grace and His mercy, He uses us for His glory. And that should cause us to be humble when something happens and you do something, you share the gospel or you're bold about presenting a hope, presenting an answer for the hope that is in you. Who gets the glory and the credit? God does. It shouldn't be God used me. It should be God used me. Let's go to First Corinthians one. Verses 26 through 31. 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31. And the first couple of verses, see if you can find yourself in there. I've got a bunch of those categories. For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise, that's me, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. I'm three for three. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the base things, the common things, the low things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not so that he may abolish the things that are. Why? So that no flesh may boast before God. But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus. who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification. Why? So no flesh will boast. What? We're given his wisdom, his righteousness, and his sanctification and redemption. So that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Christian, everything you have, you've been given. The faith and the repentance, godly repentance, is a gift from God. None of us were wise, none of us were noble, none of us were mighty. We were the opposite, we were weak, we were foolish, slow, hard-hearted. But God, in His grace and mercy, chose what is weak in the world to confound the strong. And what's foolish in the world to confound the foolish? My friends, the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. You wonder why when you share the gospel, so many people go, yeah, whatever. Nah, I don't need that. I'm a good person. Because the gospel is an offense. It's foolishness. Because we are wretched, wicked sinners, and the gospel is that we can't be good enough. The Christ was good on our behalf. His perfect righteousness is credited to our account and our sin debt is placed upon Him. The last one, God's poema. His workmanship. In this phrase, excuse me, in this passage I want you to look at in Christ And I'm sorry. Now let's look at the passage that is replete with the phrase in Christ and full of the purposes for God creating us and uniting us to Christ. Ephesians 2, 4 through 10, just a couple pages over. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is a gift from God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand so they would walk in them. Because of his great love and his rich mercy, he raised us up with him. There's co-resurrection. Seated us with him, co-glorification. Chose us in his grace and kindness. How? In Christ Jesus. Where his poetry, his poem, his workmanship created how? In Christ Jesus. Why? so that we will walk in the good works that he designed and that he planned before the foundation of the world for his glory, for his kingdom. These were designed and planned from all eternity past. For all eternity past, the good works that we will do for his kingdom, he predetermined, he foreordained, he planned, to where He gives the glory. He gives us the strength and the will to do these things. Christian, you are complete in Christ. We are united to Him so that we will do the good works He has laid out for us. His plan never fails, nor is it thwarted. Be confident as you serve the Lord, and then remember to give Him all the glory because he is the author and the finisher of our faith. Give him the glory. We are united to Christ and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. A sinner is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. A heart of stone is removed and a heart of flesh is placed in its place. This is where our union with Christ begins. even though it was in the mind of the Father from all eternity past. Salvation, justification, reconciliation, adoption, all take place in space and time. The day, the moment you first believed. This is when the Holy Spirit breathes new life into a dead man. All of the benefits of being united to Christ are applied to you at the moment of regeneration. Some are effectually applied immediately. others are yet future. Glorification. Some are effectual and applied immediately while others are yet future, but so sure and so certain that scripture, when it talks about these benefits, talks as if it's already yours. Romans 8. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee, our seal, our proof of purchase, if you will, that unites us to Christ. And remember, he said, those who the Father gives me, I lose none. Not some, he loses none. We have been united with Christ for all of eternity, but we enjoy these benefits right now in space and time. Let's go to Titus 3, 3 through 7. And this first sentence is about us. B.C., before Christ. Titus 3, 3 through 7. For we ourselves also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not by works, which we did in righteousness, but according to his mercy. How? Through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The Holy Spirit is the one who regenerates us and renews us. He is our seal. He changes us from being enemies of God to now being friends with God, being adopted sons and daughters of God. You see, there's a change in status. You're removed from the family of Adam and you're placed in the family of God. You're placed, you're pulled out from Adam and you're placed in Christ Jesus. We are now justified saints and co-heirs. What can this world do to us? What's the worst thing they could do to me if I'm in a marketplace preaching and somebody comes up and shoots me and kills me? That's the best thing they could do to me, because I'll be with my Lord. As the pastor said earlier, this world is the worst we're going to experience. For a non-believer, this world is the best they're gonna ever experience. Peter says that we're aliens, we're soldiers. We're not from this world, this world is not our world. Oh, if we could just pound that into our heads, tattoo it on the, don't tattoo it, but paint it on the inside of your eyelids. I'm not, that little bumper sticker, not of this world. Those guys, most of those people drive like idiots, but anyway. But the thing is, we are not of this world. We should have eternity stamped on our eyeballs. What can this world give us compared to what we're going to inherit? Nothing. Nothing. And this life is a vapor. This life is here and gone. Here and gone. It seems like just yesterday I was 30. I'm a little older than that now, not much, but a little. This life is a vapor. Co-crucifixion. The doctrine of co-crucifixion, it's a mouthful, is very seldom taught. Therefore, very few Christians see this as a reality. The Apostle Paul saw this as a reality. Co-crucifixion means that when Christ was crucified and died, he put to death. our old man, our sinful self, nailing it to the cross. The Apostle Paul, more than 200 times in his writings, refers to believers as being in Christ, in him, in the beloved. Paul continually talked about our union with Christ as being intimate, complete, exhaustive. I like the way Jay says it. This is radical union with Christ. Paul even says, when Christ died, I died. And in Galatians he says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Let's look at this last passage of scripture today. And please pay attention to how many times the Apostle Paul says that he was either baptized into Christ, buried with Christ, that our old man is crucified with him, and as Christ was raised, that we might walk in newness of life. Paul considers this to be true about him. And when Christ died, he died. When Christ was buried, he was buried. When Christ was raised from the dead, he was raised to newness of life. Romans 6, verses 1 through 14. Notice that Paul thinks of himself in these ways. He states it as a fact. And then he commands us to consider, to reckon, to count this as true. He wants us to count and reckon that we are united to Christ in the same way. Romans 6, 1-14. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? Meganoita! May it never be! God forbid! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that some of us know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing that, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Christian, you have a new slave. You have a new master. You are no longer a slave to sin. You don't have to do what that old taskmaster tells you to do. Verse seven, for he who has died has been justified from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider, reckon, count yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God. to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. We've been baptized into his death. As he was raised, we have been raised to newness of life. If we become united to him in the likeness of his death, certainly, for sure, guaranteed, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Here we see co-resurrection. Our old man was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with. Your old self no longer exists. It's been put to death, nailed to the cross. Why do we still let it have dominion over us? Why do we still listen to it? I am convinced, as I've studied Union with Christ over the last six, seven months on my own, and then for this series, the more that we consider, reckon, count ourselves to be so intimately united to Christ, that it will change the way that we deal with sin in our own lives. If throughout the day, when you're tempted to do something, you say, you know what? That's my old taskmaster. That's my old. I'm not a slave to this anymore. I don't have to do that. I am united to Christ. I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If you have to say that out loud, do it. If you need to put sticky notes in your car, on your dashboard, on the visor, on the mirror, in the shower, whatever you have to do, Paul counts these truths, counts these being united with Christ as absolute fundamental truth in his life. And he writes to other believers. That's his favorite way of referring to other believers. those in Christ Jesus. So Paul is saying, Hey, you guys, you guys who are in Christ Jesus, those who are united to Christ, this is how he refers to believers. But it's so hard. And I've said this before, because I know myself weak, frail, complaining, angry, emotional, whining, James. When I understand that I'm united to Christ so intimately and so radically that when God the Father looks at me, he doesn't see me in my faults. He sees his Son, Jesus Christ. We could go into a whole other sermon on being clothed and what being clothed with the righteousness of Christ means. But also, exactly the same when Christ was on the cross. God saw me and my sin. He treated Christ as if that was me on the cross and poured his wrath and his fury and hatred of sin onto his son. And Christ propitiated. He absorbed all of that wrath to where now today, if you were in Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation for you. No condemnation. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? We've been united to Christ. so fully that God treats us as if we had lived the perfect life of obedience that Christ lived. That just blows my mind. To me, it's mind-blowing. And as we consider this to be true in your life about yourself, I'm no longer an Adam. I am in Christ. I am a new creation. As we consider and reckon these things, It'll change the way you view sin in your own life. When you sin, you won't have the tendency to do like I used to, and I still sometimes do. I just did that. You confess your sin, and you run to Christ instead of staying away. There's no way I can go to Christ. There's no way I can go to the Lord in prayer right now. Look what I just did. I just lied to that guy, or I just got angry with my wife, or I just, you know, whatever it is. How can I go to God? But when you say no, I am in Christ Jesus. You confess it. And that's saying, Lord, I agree with what you say about what I just did. It was wrong. It was sinful. And then run to Christ. Run to the cross. Preach the gospel to yourself. Go into prayer. Thank God for your salvation. But don't hide. As a kid, when I would do something wrong, I would always try to go out in the yard or go to the first place away from my dad. If I broke something, sweep it up, throw it in the garbage, and then split. But our Heavenly Father is not like that. He bids us to come. And He loves us. And He sees us exactly as He sees His Son. And I used this example the last time or the time before, but I think it's very powerful. If a 15-year-old breaks into my house and kills my only son and my wife, and that kid goes before a judge, and I go and say, Your Honor, I don't want to press charges. That's forgiveness. That's mercy. That's not the gospel. The gospel is this, that I say, Your Honor, I don't want him charged. I want his record wiped clean. And more than that, he's going to be my boy. I'm going to adopt him. He's going to live in my house. I'm going to pay his bills. I'm going to put him through college and everything. My vast lands and my houses, my riches that my son was going to inherit. This young man is going to inherit. He's going to be my boy. That's the gospel. Let's go back to our text. Well, that was free. In verse eight, Paul says that if we died with Christ, we shall also live with him. And then he says, consider, reckon, count, to believe as true, that we are dead to sin, but alive to God. How? In Christ Jesus. In verse 13, he commands us to present ourselves to God, not as dead, but as those who are alive. Christian, we consider, when we consider these passages to be true about ourselves, that we are crucified with Christ. When Christ died, we died. We died to sin and to self. We will live with a different perspective. We are no longer slaves to sin. Sin no longer is our taskmaster like it was before. We're given a new heart. We're regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. You don't have to serve sin anymore. That's the good news this morning. You don't have to serve sin anymore. You have a new master. The glorious results of union with Christ. The spirits are generating, okay, I'm sorry, this is a quote from a book called The Cross and Salvation by Bruce DeMaurist, and it's also quoted in an article by Jay Wechter, quote, The Spirit's regenerating work unites us to Christ. An unbreakable union ensues. Because of the believer's union with Christ, final resurrection is assured. We will always be with him. Being united with Christ saves us from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and ultimately from the presence of sin. If a person is only interested in being delivered from the penalty of sin, what does that say about their lack of evidence of understanding their union with Christ? Go to an unconverted person and you say, hey, you wanna go to heaven? Sure. You want your sins forgiven? Absolutely. The Christian life is so much more than that. That's the start, justification. propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, adoption, but then being delivered from the penalty of sin, sanctification, I'm sorry, the power of sin, and then the presence of sin, glorification. I think John MacArthur said, the thing he looks forward to the most in heaven is not having the desire or the proclivity to sin. Can you imagine that? Not having to battle, Christian, The proof that you're a Christian is not that you're perfect or that your win ratio is greater than your loss ratio. It's the fact that you're in a battle. That you're battling sin in your life right now. That the sin you used to love no longer tastes good. It's foreign and you detest it. You don't just hate the sin of the world. You hate the sin in your own life. Continue on this quote. There's nothing that man can do to command or control the new birth. Neither baptism nor religious formula or membership in a church can eternally unite a person to the Son of God. Being united with Christ is an act only God Almighty can perform. It's not even triggered by man's actions. Close quote. Christian, you've been united to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is unbreakable, eternal, and sealed by the Spirit. We are saved from the penalty of sin, justification. We are saved from the power of sin, sanctification and regeneration. And we will ultimately be saved from the very presence of sin and glorification. All of these are benefits that belong to you because of your union with Christ. Outside of union with Christ, all that remains for you is the wrath of God. This has been God's plan before the foundation of the world, to inexorably, completely, and radically unite you to his son. God the Father determined that he would choose a bride, and that he would send his son to die for it, to purchase that bride. And he would seal that bride with the Holy Spirit, and that one day Christ will present that bride blameless, spotless, without blemish, freckle or wart before God the Father in his throne. So Christ came and absorbed the wrath and paid the penalty to purchase this bride. Our union is the basis for all communion. In a few minutes, we're going to take the Lord's Supper. The fact that you can come to the Lord and do and take the Lord's Supper is based upon your union with Christ. Communion. It's not munion. Don't do it by yourself. It's co-munion. Sit at home with some juice and crackers. You can't have communion. It's co-munion. And communion in the church between believers is only possible because of your union with Christ. And that should Make us love one another and pray for one another and support one another. This is what union with Christ accomplishes. Consider it, count it to be true, reckon it, apply it to yourself. Rejoice today that you're united to Christ. And give him thanks and give him glory and give him honor. That he is the one who united us to Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that in your infinite wisdom, you determined before time began, not a plan B, but your one and only plan was that you would send your son to demonstrate your love for unworthy people. And that you would unite them to your son in his death, in his burial, his resurrection, and his glorification. Where he goes, we go. What he receives, we receive. What he inherits, we inherit. Oh, Father, we're so unworthy, but we just marvel at your wisdom and your grace and your mercy on an undeserving people. I pray that you would apply this to our hearts, to our minds, that we would dwell on these things much, and that it would drive us to our knees in gratitude. That would drive us to run from temptation and run from sin. Father, we are your workmanship, your poetry, your poem, and anything good we do, You get the credit. You get the glory. You get the honor and the praise. Thank you for using weak, frail people to do these great and mighty works. Keep us humble. Keep us reliant and dependent upon you. Help us to see the majesty and the glory of your plan to unite us to Christ for all of eternity. And we ask these things in Jesus' name.