Amen. We're turning this evening to Ephesians chapter one. The book of Ephesians, the chapter number one, we're going to read a number of verses at the beginning of the chapter, and it will commence a little study together. So Ephesians chapter one, and so let's hear God's word as it is read publicly in this house. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption. through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. We should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. We'll finish our reading there at the verse number 14. of Ephesians chapter 1. And may God bless even the reading of his precious and holy word. Who am I? Is one of the most profound and searching questions that we could ever come to ask ourselves. Such a question brings us face to face with one of the most fundamental issues of life. Are true identity. I don't need to tell you that we're living in a world that is populated with many people who are questioning their identity today. At the very forefront of that movement there are those who question their gender and their sexual orientation. Am I male? Am I female? Am I neither? Am I gender fluid? Am I straight? Am I bisexual? Am I a homosexual? Am I trans? These are just some of the terrible questions that are being asked by people today in our world. In an age where many are questioning their identity, I believe then that every Christian should ask themselves the question, who am I? I say that because the varied answers to that question are some of the most encouraging and some of the most comforting truths that you'll ever come to think upon as you make your journey through this world from this earth to glory. over the next number of weeks at our mid-week Bible study, I want us then to consider how God in his word comes to answer the question, who I am as a Christian, and see what we can learn about our identity as a child of God. I trust that the messages will be helpful, instructive. Maybe you're an individual and you're having an identity crisis in your life with regard to who you are as a believer, and if nothing else, they will be a reminder to us of what we've become through the redemptive work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Before coming then to begin answering the question, who I am as a Christian, we need to take a step back and think firstly about this question, who I was before I became a Christian. who I was before I became a Christian. What I want to say about this matter will be nothing new to you in this congregation. But if nothing else, it will be a reminder to us of what we were once or prior to God's salvation visiting our souls. And I believe that that will engender at least a spirit of thankfulness in our hearts for all that the Lord has done for us in salvation. So let me quickly mention a number of passages of Scripture that remind us who we were before we were brought to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Before becoming a Christian, 1 Samuel 2, verse 8 reminds us that we were residents of sin's dunghill. We were residents of sin's dung hell. Hannah, she sang these words, he raiseth up the pearl out of the dust. and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, to make them inherit the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. Hannah's words are repeated again by the unnamed psalmist in Psalm 113 and the verses 7 and 8. Speaking of God, it says, he raiseth the poor out of the dust. and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set them with princes, even with the princes of his people." That's who we were before we met Christ. We were residents of sin's dunghill. Psalm 40 verse 2 reminds us that we were sinking deep into sin's mire. For the psalmist, he said, he brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. We were those who were confined to the horrible pit and those who were sinking into the miry clay of sin. Now in Ephesians chapter 2 and the verse 11, Paul encourages the believers in Ephesus to recall who they were before they came to faith in Jesus Christ. Notice what he says there. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called on circumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. And so Paul, he encourages the believer to remember who they were. Remember, remember who you were in the past. Don't forget what you wear. Don't forget what you wear. Now Paul does that as he takes us through the second chapter of Ephesians. He brings their attention, these believers, to a number of things regarding them. of who they were, their state before they met Jesus Christ. They were spiritually dead, as we're told in verse one, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Secondly, he reminds him that they were children of wrath in verse number three, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past and lust of the flesh. fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, this is what we were, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Thirdly, he reminds them that they were without Christ, without hope, and they were without God. In the verse number 12, that in that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth, of Israel, and being strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. And fourthly, he reminds them that they were once afar off. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. In Romans chapter 5, we're reminded that before we met Christ, we were without strength. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5 verse 10 reminds us that we were enemies of God. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved from his wrath. In Isaiah 55, in the verse 7, we're reminded that we were wicked and unrighteous. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 64 verse 6 reminds us that we were unclean. But we were all, and we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. John 3 verse 18 reminds us that we were condemned already. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That's what we were before we met Christ and before Christ met us. I haven't exhausted the listing for you, but with these terms before us, it is needless to say that the picture that God, the Holy Spirit paints is not a pleasant one, and yet it is an accurate one. The portrait of humanity under sin is a very bleak one. As one Christian author put it, he said, we should not flinch to apply to our pre-Christian cells the infamous label of totally depraved. You see, brethren and sisters, if we are going to love Jesus Christ as much as he deserves to be loved, then we need to remember the depths from which he has saved us, the depths of sin from which he has rescued us. And if we are going to treasure all that we have in Christ Jesus, then we need to remember who we were without Him. And if we're going to have the assurance that God intended for us to have, then we need to remember who we were and what God loved before we are what we are today. A distorted view of what we were before God visited our soul in salvation. lead I believe to a defective love and a deficient adoration for the one who has redeemed us from the hand of our enemy. Beloved, I believe that too often we think of ourselves too highly at times. We think too highly of ourselves at times. We need to remember that all we are sinners saved by grace and we would do well to take heed to the counsel that Isaiah gives us in Isaiah chapter 51 in the verse number one whenever we come to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think because in Isaiah chapter 51 and the verse number one we read these words hearken on to me ye that follow after righteousness and ye that seek the Lord look on to the rock from which you're hewn and to the hole of the pit which ye are digged." In other words, look back, consider where you were before grace ever intervened into your life. Consider the depth of the misery, the depth of the misery that you were originally in. Reflect on the hardness of your heart before God by His Spirit so worked upon it, that heart that was so insensitive to spiritual things. Look upon your dreadful alienation from God and consider what you are now and all reflection. Be humbled by it, not proud. This is what we wear. This is what I was before I was a Christian. I was one who was condemned already. I was one who was unclean. I was one who was separated from God. I was one who was without strength. I was one who was dead. I was one who was a far off. This is what I was, but now no longer because of God's redemption, because of his salvation. Who am I then as a Christian? Who am I as a Christian? Well, that's the question that we want to begin answering this evening. And we're not coming to this in any kind of specific order, but I want to begin this series of messages by reminding you that the Christian is one who is in Christ. That is who you are. Tonight you are in Christ, in Christ. Now, that two-worded statement, in Christ, is one that is favored by the Apostle Paul over every other inspired writer whom God used to pen Holy Scripture. In fact, the Apostle Paul uses this exact prepositional phrase some 72 times in his letters. In Christ. In Christ. Added to that, Paul uses other statements or other phrases that are similar. They could be what we would call synonyms, similar statements. He uses, in Christ, 72 times, but he also uses statements like this, in him. Speaking of Christ again, in him, or in the Lord, or in Christ Jesus. And when he does that, he's really simply presenting the same truth. I'm informed, as I studied this out, I'm informed that this kind of statement that brings us to speak about our union with Jesus Christ, this particular statement is used some 200 times in the New Testament Scriptures. Christ, in Him, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord. This simple phrase encapsulates the glorious, the glorious benefits and the blessings of the Christian life. If you had met the Apostle Paul on the street, And you would have asked the Apostle Paul to describe himself as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul most probably would have not used the word Christian. Who are you, Paul? Who are you? Paul would most likely not have used the word Christian. And he would most likely not have used the word believer. But what he would have spoken about was, I am one who is in Christ. This is my identity. I am in Christ. This is how Paul, he speaks of himself in 2 Corinthians 12, in the verse 2. I'm your man in Christ. above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth such an one caught up into the third heaven." And whenever you study that portion of God's Word, you come to understand that Paul is speaking about himself. He's speaking about himself in the third person. And he says here, I knew a man, and this man was in Christ. This is a terminology that Paul uses concerning himself. And really, this phrase, it brings our attention to one of the most comforting truths that any believer can find themselves dwelling and meditating upon when they come to read the Scriptures of truth. It is the truth of the Christian's union with Jesus Christ. I am in union. I am joined to Jesus Christ. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, when we come to consider this doctrine, the doctrine of our union with Christ, we are looking at one of the most glorious of all doctrines of the Christian faith. There is none which is more sublime than this. John Owen said, union with Jesus Christ is the cause of all other graces that we are made partakers of. They are all communicated to us by virtue of our union with Christ. Hence is our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our fruitfulness, our perseverance, our resurrection, our glory dependent on our union with the Son of God. Now remember how we set this message up. Who we were before we met Christ and before Christ dealt with us in the gospel. Who were we? Well, could I say that we were, and we've already spoken and highlighted this to you, we were without Christ. That's what we were. We were once without Christ. Look at verse 12 of chapter 2 of Ephesians, that at that time ye were without Christ. That is our state by nature. We are without Christ, but we are in Adam. You see, God has only ever dealt with humanity through two representative men. Adam, the first Adam, and the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And whenever we come into this world, we are in union with the first Adam. Adam, that federal representative, that one who represented who represented humanity at the dawn of human history. And we are all born in Adam, as in Adam all die. We read that in the book of Corinthians. We are in Adam. But something happens in the new birth. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are brought from being in union with Adam to being in union with Christ. And we are now in Christ. And because we are no longer in Adam and now we are in Christ, the end of that is that someday we will be with Christ, with Christ, and with Him forever. Now, knowing our limitations when it comes to grasping theological truth, the Spirit of God, He often presents truth using pictures. Just in the same way as a child is given a picture book, the first day at school, you get a picture book, A is apple, and there's a picture of an apple, and the word apple's underneath, and B is for bowl, or banana, or whatever it is, and C is for cat. And so the child, they start to understand it. Well, the Spirit of God knows that we're simple folks. And so He gives us pictures in order for us to grasp theological truth. And He doesn't give us just one picture with regard to this union with Jesus Christ. He gives us multiple, multiple pictures, imagery, whereby you are able then to try and understand what this union between me and the Son of God actually is like. And I'm sure they're familiar to you, and some of them are coming now to your mind. You think about, first of all, The words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 15. Let's turn there, let's turn there for a few moments, John 15. I need to speed through, John chapter 15. The Lord Jesus Christ, he says, I am the true vine and my father is the husband man. Jump down there to the verse five. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, in me. And I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. Now remember what I said, or what John Owen said, he talked about our fruitfulness is in connection with our union to Jesus Christ. Well here it is, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's saying here that the fruit that you bear as a Christian is down to the fact, not that you are gritting your teeth and trying your best, but in fact that you are united to the vine. The branch is simply bearing the root and the fruit of the root. And so here we have the believer is united to the Lord Jesus Christ in a similar way as a branch is united to the vine. We have been grafted in, grafted into the vine. the new birth. And now we receive from God and from Christ all of the blessings and all of the grace and all of the power that we need to live the Christian life. We draw it from Him, from the root Christ who is divine. Another example is there in Ephesians chapter 2, we're in the book of Ephesians, and it's really using the imagery of a foundation and then the building that is upon that foundation. Ephesians chapter 2 and the verse number 20, and are built upon the foundation of verse 19. Now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners, And it's lovely the way Paul puts it. He always seems to remind them of what they wear. Notice Paul's doing this, the Apostle Paul by inspiration. Don't forget what you wear. or we maybe want to forget, and we should forget our sins, thank God they're under the blood, but let's not forget what we were, brethren and sisters. Now ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but this is what ye now are, but fellow citizens with the saints and with the house of God, and ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom, in Christ, all the building fitly framed together, growth unto unholy temple in the Lord, in whom, there it is again, in whom ye also are built together through inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Just as a building is joined, united to the foundation, so we are joined, we are united to Christ. Colossians chapter 1 is another portion of God's Word. And this time we have the picture, the metaphor of the head and the body. Colossians 1 verse 18, and he, speaking of Christ, he is the head of the body. The church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. Just as a physical body is connected to a head, so we are connected to Christ, who is the head of the body, that is the church. What happens the head, happens the body. Happens the head, happens the body. The final illustration is found back in Ephesians chapter 5, and it relates to the marriage union between a husband and wife. Let's read verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Verse 30, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Just as there is a union that exists between a husband and wife within the marriage bond, so a union exists between the Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, and his church, the bride, of which you are a member by the new birth." These various illustrations, they point us to the fact that we are in union with, we are joined to Jesus Christ. All who are in a state of grace, all who have repented of their sin and received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. As I've already said, we who were once in Adam are now in Christ. You see, in Adam, we possessed all that the first Adam possessed. Original sin, judgment, condemnation, fear, alienation, that was what we were in Adam. But now in Christ, we possess all that was secured for us by the last Adam in his life, death, and resurrection, namely the forgiveness of sins, a perfect righteousness, our justification, our adoption, our glorification, victory all over sin, and every other blessing that we encounter in the Word of God that Christ secured for His people. They are ours because we are united to Him. Now, this union is not, as it were, a physical union where my physical body is connected to Christ's physical body. But rather, this union is what is known as a mystical union. It is a union that is a spiritual union. It is a union that is spiritual in nature. Spiritually, we are united to Christ. We are in Him. And thus, when God looks upon us, get it? When God looks upon you tonight, child of God, how does He see you? Does He see you as a faltering, failing believer? No, he sees you in his Son. He sees you in Jesus Christ. He sees you in the Beloved. And that's why you are accepted, because you are accepted in the Beloved. We are accepted because God views us in Christ. And one of the consequences of this union is that we come in to participate in His merits. What Christ accomplished in His life, His death, and His resurrection is made over to those who are in union with Him. When Christ lived a perfectly righteous life, When he honored the law and satisfied its just demands, God used those who are in Christ, those who are joined to Christ as having lived that life themselves. Now, we haven't, but his righteousness has been made over to me, credited over to me. That's a wonderful thing. It has been imputed to us. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, you, were in union with Jesus Christ. And so, whenever He went to the tree, you went to the tree. You were in Him, and thus His death on the cross is looked upon as your death, in the sense that you were in union with Him. He died, we sing it, He died for me, Paul says that Christ loved me and he gave himself for me. Romans chapter 6 verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is, but that term or that verb should be, was crucified with him that the body of their sin might be destroyed and henceforth we should not serve sin. Now the work of sanctification is in view there in Romans chapter 6 verse 6, but Paul shows us that our victory over the old man is traced back to Christ's death on the cross. When Christ died on the cross, we died in him. We sing about this in one of our favorite hymns, O Christ, what burdens bow thy head. We sing in the fifth stances these words, for me, Lord Jesus, thou hast died, and I have died in thee. Thou art risen, my bands are all on tie, and now thou lives in me, when purified, made white and tried, thy glory then for me. And so whenever Christ died on the cross, we died in Him, and when Christ rose from the dead, you were raised with Christ because you are in union with Him. Ephesians 2 verses 5 and 6. It says, Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Note the terms are in the past tense. He has quickened us, he has raised us, he has made us to sit in heavenly places. The sense is that it's already done. It's as good as done, brother. It's as good as done. And notice that our being raised and exalted is always in connection with our union with Jesus Christ. We are quickened. Notice what it says there in Ephesians chapter number five. It says there that we are quickened together. Let me get the verse for you. We are quickened together with Christ. I'm in the wrong book, so I am. Ephesians chapter five. Shout it out, tell me where it is. Chapter 2 verse 5, apologies. Chapter 2 in the verse number 5, even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ, there's our union with him, and hath raised us up together, there it is again, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why will you come to be in heaven? Why will I ever come to be in heaven? It was because, and it is because, I am in union with the one who is already in heaven. And with the head already in heaven, he will bring every member of his body to where the head is. He is drawing us slowly, incrementally to heaven itself. When Christ died, we died. When Christ was raised, we were raised. When Christ was exalted, we were exalted. What happened to the head has happened to the body, legally speaking. Christ the head is in glory, he's seated upon the throne, and his people are viewed in Christ there, even though part of the body is still here on earth. Thank God we are viewed as those who are joined to Christ, as those who are in him. Tonight I'm in him. I'm in Him. And therefore all of the virtue and the value and the victory of His sacrifice is mine tonight. I just stand in by faith into the victory and into who I am as a child of God. I am one who is united to Christ. I am joined to Him. And therefore, his victories are my victories, and I receive all his blessings that he secured for me through this vital, living union with Jesus Christ. The takeaway truth tonight, brethren and sisters, is this. By our union with Jesus Christ, or through our union with Jesus Christ, God confers on those who trust in him all of the saving benefits that our Lord and Savior merited by His life, His death, and resurrection. They're all mine through Him, through Christ. We need to stop there this evening, but we want to revisit this matter about being in union with Jesus Christ over, God willing, next week in the will of God and consider the benefits that flow to us through this indissoluble And child of God, it is an indissoluble union. It's a union that cannot be broken or severed. Once, as it were, created in time. Our union with Christ predates time itself. We were in Christ before even the world was created. But I'm speaking here with regard to our own present personal experience. Thank God, being in union with Jesus Christ, this union is a union that will never be broken and can never be severed. And thus, child of God, our preservation in this world is one that is guaranteed for every genuine Christian. because we are in union with him. And for any of his who are in union with him, for any of his to be lost is impossible, because that would mean that part of Christ's body is lost. And that will never be the case. So rejoice, believer, rejoice tonight that I am now as one who was without Christ, Out of Christ, I am now in Him. I am in Him. And I will forever be in Christ Jesus. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. Child of God, rejoice. This is your identity tonight. Someone asks you what it means to be a Christian. Well, here's an answer that you can give them. I am in Christ. I am in Him. Our loving Father, we thank Thee for the tremendous comfort to know that tonight we are in union with the living head. We thank Thee, O God, that Christ is the one who has purchased and procured all that is required to bring His children safely from earth to glory. And because of Him and Him alone, we will stand before the very throne of God accepted in the beloved, accepted as Christ is, and loved as Christ is loved, because the Savior is never, and the church is never parted from the Savior. They are always in union with one another. And so, Lord, may our hearts rejoice in this fact. Oh, may we remember what we wear. Oh, may we not forget that. That'll keep us humble. That'll drive out our pride, to remember, oh God, what you found and where you found us, in sin's dung hell, and in the Maori clay. Lord, cast out in the field, a line in our blood. Lord, that's where you found us, like a cast-out aborted child. That's the way you found us. And yet, Lord, now you've clothed us, and you've made us your own, and you've set your name upon us. We are the children of God, sons and daughters of God. That's who we are. We're sons and daughters of God. Oh, what a privilege is ours. Thrill our hearts, Lord, encourage our souls, and bless us, we pray, for we offer prayer through the Savior's great name. Amen and amen. Well, we're getting down to just a season of prayer, and there are a number of matters just to keep before you, please. has.