Good morning, welcome to Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Jackson, Georgia. It's November 30th, 2014. Join us now as Pastor Brandon Smith continues our sermon series in the book of Ephesians. Open your Bibles to Ephesians. We'll read verse three of chapter one and then we'll pray. 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, let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you and we ask for your mercy upon us during this time. That we will be able to hear your word rightly, the truth of your word will be illumined to us by the power of your spirit. And Lord, we pray for anyone who's not a believer. For those who are not in Christ. Lord, will you apply the truth of your word to those souls in such a way that they would be enlivened and enabled to believe in the Lord Jesus and to be in union with him? We ask that you would help our minds to be focused. We would not have wandering minds. And Lord, you would. Use the preacher for your glory alone. By the power of your spirit, it's in the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Well, this morning, I want to conclude this section of Ephesians foundations on union with Christ. And close it out. And I do so by reminding us of the importance of the doctrine that is before us. That all of these things are given to us. In God, the father, God, the son and God, the Holy Spirit union with Christ is a most comprehensive doctrine now. Most of the time you don't hear much about union with Christ and many other church context except the reformed church context. And the reason is, is because many churches have gone to a view of what Christ has done is just saying simply Christ died for your sin. That is the most. a complete construct for most pastors preaching the gospel to their people in most churches today is just to simply say. Christ died for your sin. Now, that is true, but there's a lot. Other things that Christ did when he died, there's also some things he did when he lived. There's also things that Christ did before he was incarnate on the earth. Union with Christ is a comprehensive doctrine that helps us to understand the true basis of salvation and that it's not just looking to the person of Jesus. I served in the church one time where I think the gospel has become so watered down That the idea of having a banner with the name Jesus put on it and a bunch of jewels and a crown at the top of the banner, that that marching into the church, that was the real basis of people's understanding of salvation was a Jesus banner. And that shows you the point that we've come to in churches today when really the gospel can be just almost dwindled down to a point where the name Jesus can be put on a banner and a stick and paraded through a church or even put into the bad history and hoisted up before everybody. And we look at that and we go, oh, the gospel, the Jesus banner. The union with Christ tells us something totally different. and gives us something more comprehensive than that, it really puts us into a greater perspective than that. O'Brien in his commentary said the selection of the father. The sacrifice of the son and the seal of the Holy Spirit, that is what union with Christ is. The selection of the father. The sacrifice of the son. In the seal of the Holy Spirit, see, it's more comprehensive than just saying Jesus died for our sin. I pause there because I really want you to think about that. We often look at election as some separate doctrine, it's over here, the doctrine of election. And then we look over here, we say, OK, well, there's sanctification over here or there's glorification over here. That's why Paul's chain in Romans is so important. It's made with commas. Now, we put the commas in there, but we did so for a reason. The thought is changing, but it's not as though it's not congruent, it's not together. So you have the selection of the fathers, the sacrifice of a son and the seal of the Holy Spirit. That's union with Christ. It's that comprehensive. It's all of those things together. Thomas Manton said our union is from God in God and to God from the spirit with God through Christ. There's a whole comprehensiveness there. It's very Trinitarian. It's a holistic doctrine. It's not in pieces and parts. Now, I say these things as a reminder of things that we've said earlier to kind of now press us forward to think on union with Christ in this last section. It truly is redemption accomplished and applied. There has to be a redemption that is set forth in plan, God had to do something in plan, it can't be that redemption just kind of happened. Everybody's just kind of here on the earth. There's a bunch of people and they're kind of sinful. And some of them are better than others. And, you know, they're fairly decent. And all of a sudden, somebody decided, oh, you know what? We got to kind of do something here. I mean, you know, we got these people and they're kind of wandering around down there like little ants. And they're kind of moving around and they occasionally war and they fight with each other and they steal from each other and they do these bad things and they committed adultery and they do this and they do that. And so, you know, well, I guess we'll kind of, well, hang on, let's see. I got my, I got my big cauldron here. Let me put it in. Oh, redemption. There's real order to this. There's real understanding. It's not something that is a magic spell that was cast all because we saw an issue and a problem. It's a plan, and that plan has to be accomplished, and once that plan is accomplished, it has to be applied. Think about it for a minute. When you build a building, there's a plan, right? Somebody sits down and thinks about the plan. There's people that have a vocation to draw out the plan. And you have people that have a vocation to do what? Apply the plan and actually build the building. Architects have great minds and it's all wonderful and great if all their stuff's on paper, but what's the real goal? Hopefully they are actually going to construct something that this architect drew out that actually works. It's one of the problems with modern architecture, if you've ever noticed it, it's become in the modern architecture world, it's become this thing where you just kind of make these buildings that don't really, really have any real congruency to them, any real order. I went in the building one time and it had this arched stairway to nothing. It was decorative, it was pretty. But it was to nothing. I read about a building one time that had hallways that went nowhere. That sounds like something out of Willy Wonka. The point is, there has to be a plan, there has to be a plan that is accomplished, and you want it to be applied. Architects get real upset at builders when they don't build it like they said to build it and builders go, yeah, great old paper, but it doesn't work in the real world. If you want this thing to stand, you got to do this. Well, we need to be thankful that God. Knows how to plan, knows how to accomplish and knows how to apply and he does it perfectly. When it comes to our salvation in Christ. Now, sometimes to really deal with the reality of a doctrine, there's tensions and we talked about those last week, so sometimes to really get the fullness of a doctrine that has a lot of tension to it, you have to deal with the negatives, what it's not. And we have to come to some place to understand that when Paul says that we are Given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, what does that mean? We know it's comprehensive, we know it's Trinitarian, but what does it what does it mean? Well, first of all, we are not glued to Christ. I don't know if this is a good illustration or not, but I've chosen to use it, we'll see. If any of you ever watched when you were younger, a late night TV show, David Letterman, he put on this Velcro suit and he went running onto this wall and he jumped and he Velcroed himself to a wall. You ever seen that? All right, there's some idea sometimes that people get that we're Velcroed to Christ and we're glued to it. It's like all of a sudden we just jumped off this trampoline and we just stuck ourselves to this wall. That's not what it is. It's not that you've been adhesed to him. Flavel says it's not it's not a union by adhesion, but incorporation. We're not just stuck to him. We're not glued to him. I mean, think about when you glue something there, you glue something to the wall, they've got these little things now you can glue these little hangers to the wall and it's supposed to hang your pictures on there and you glue it up there. Is that really a part of the wall? That little hanger you just glued on there, it's not really a part of the wall, it's still just a hanger that's glued on the wall. When you are in union with Christ, though, it's something greater than just being glued to him, just stuck to him. Some type of incorporation. But we have to be careful when we say it's a type of incorporation, because then there gets all kinds of muddled ideals and thinking that comes along with that, say the Roman Catholics when they take the Lord's Supper and even some Lutherans. We have to understand, we do not partake of his actual body. We're not glued to him. We're somehow incorporated with him, but we do not partake of his actual body. One pastor said it's not a carnal union, it's not a cannibalizing of Christ's body. We don't come to the Lord's Supper table and say this is the actual body of Christ. We don't come to the Lord's Supper table and say this is the actual blood. We don't believe in transubstantiation. So we're not incorporated in such a way that we're eating the body of Christ. But neither are we just glued to him either. We are not approximately around Christ, it's not sacramental. Our Presbyterian or Pedobaptist brothers, they will have this idea of because the child is around the things of Christ, the child is baptized. Into the covenant body. Well, how can that child truly be covenant covenant when he's not in Christ? It's not just about being around the things of Christ, you're not in union with Christ because you're around it. That also goes along with Hebrew six. Go and read Hebrew six. Many try to take Hebrew six out of context, but the reality is the writer is trying to say you're either in Christ or you're not. It talks about the ones that have once been enlightened, they've been around the things of Christ. I can be around something and touch it and still not be a part of it, right? If you're around water and you touch the water, are you a part of the water? Some people get proximity confused with union. We're not approximately around Christ. You're either in Christ or you're not. Neither do we assume his person or personality. Now, this is important because we're saying in one sense, we're not just glued to Christ, we're incorporated in him in some way. But at the same time, we don't take on his person or personality. There's no confusion. Thomas Lye said, should there be such a union between Christ and believers, then there would be as many Christ's As believers, if we take on his person or personality, then you have that really bad theological idea. Robin talked about in Bible study earlier, you're either a good theologian or a poor theologian, I think is the word you would rather use either a good theologian or you're a poor theologian. Well, poor theologians say, well, we're like little Christ's bad theology. No, you don't take on Christ personhood and his personality. You don't become little Christ's. We have to understand this union. In the concept. That it's not about parts, just think about it for a minute. We are incorporated into Christ. We are in union with him, but yet we don't take on his personal personality. If we did, that would mean there would be parts. What would Christ be giving us? He would be giving us a part of his person, a part of his personality. It would be separating Christ into parts. in the sense of what he gives to his people. Christ is not giving us parts. We are in union with him. Burkow said, it is not a mechanism in which the parts perceive the whole, but an organism in which the whole is prior to the parts. We think about that reality. We have to grip what Paul is dealing with here. When he starts to tell us in verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, we have to say that there's not parts there. We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. Yes, it's not in its fullest completed because it's not applied yet to all God's people. But there will come a day when it is in its fullness and it will be applied in completion, but it still does not mean that we were not in him before the foundation of the world. Something can be applied later. That was always a part of the plan. When you got married, your hope was that you would enjoy the relationship you have with your spouse and you would enjoy it for a lifetime. At least I hope that was your hope and goal. Now, we all know that marriages aren't perfect, right? How many of you have a perfect marriage? Don't raise your hand. Marriages aren't perfect. Relationships aren't perfect. But there was a plan in mind. Your hope was that you were going to have a wonderful relationship with your spouse. The struggle for us is that we could not foresee all that would come down the road, and how could we apply our desire to have this wonderful relationship, even though we couldn't see everything that comes down the road before us? A lot of times out of ten, that happens to be one of our biggest problems in our marriages, is we can't see everything that's ahead. And although we have a plan to be one with our spouse, to love them, hold them, oh, and yes, and yes, and all those wonderful things that Hallmark teaches us are American greetings. But then life happens and it starts to unfold. And now we're trying to apply this idea of our plan and love to the fact that life is happening before our eyes. What is happening to us is that we are now on the fly and we're having to bring in parts and pieces, right? I didn't know this was going to happen. This is a new part. So somehow I've got to take that new part that I didn't understand and bring it into this relationship and somehow fit it with everything else and put it together. Sometimes it makes us feel like we've started with a Corvette and now we're putting pinto parts on it, right? It's a union with Christ. It can't be that way. You can't have this mentality. It can't give us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places if it's got all these parts and it's not a whole. It's something that God has done before time began, worked out in time, given in an accomplished sense, and then applied to us. And it's all there in one big whole. And we have to see union with Christ. For its necessity. In chronology. Warfield said this, it is easy to make out a Trinitarian distinction. But the natural lines of development are chronological rather than economical. Tracing it consecutively in its preparation, execution, publication and application from eternal purpose to eternal consummation in Christ. There is such need for us to see this in chronology, in its foundations, and that brings me to this first point. Union with Christ is foundational. Union with Christ is foundational, first of all, in the context of the past. Verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. So even before the foundation of the world, there was something else that was foundational and it was being chosen in him. One pastor said, Union with Christ is the oldest thing in the world. You ever thought about that? That kind of made me just kind of go, hmm. I really hadn't thought about that like I should have. Union with Christ is the oldest thing in the world and certainly it's the oldest thing in the world that we know about, right? Now, what God was thinking before I don't know exactly how this works, but if there's eternity in the Godhead. This was a part of eternity and union with Christ is the oldest of those things. You can't get any more foundational than that. Now, let's let's take that and let's let's compare that to the way the modern world thinks. OK, what's the modern world saying? They're always trying to find the first cell or they're always trying to find the first jawbone or the first dense or that the other everything for them. They're looking to the stars and astronomy to come up with some foundational principle. And it's all about what nature center. And we have to say nature center because they don't even think man is an entity to itself. Most of the time, man is just part of nature. We've evolved from nature, right? So to them, the foundational concept is about whatever it was in nature that form. So you need to start to realize how anti-biblical the world is around you. They do not love God. They do not love Christ. They do not want to enjoy him. They do not want to worship him. They do not want to appreciate him. And they will do everything they can to suddenly just take little strings and pull them apart and take you away from what God has ordained. And you know what God ordained first? For his people to be in Christ. That's foundational. Not finding the first cell, not finding the first galaxy. That's important, but before there was ever a created thing on the Earth, before time itself even began, there's a foundational principle at hand. Those who are in Christ. If you want to know foundation. Start with being in Christ. And all the other stuff falls into place. Chaos comes about when we ignore the biblical teaching of union with Christ. I mean, all these other things are really just an attempt to get away. From the judgment of God. Let's think about that, the world is always seeking to find a way to say, you know what, no can't judge me, God, it won't be fair. They're always trying to find that. But in reality, you don't have to look for a way To get out of God's judgment, if you'll understand the importance of union with Christ. That's how foundational it is. John Owen said the first union with Christ, the first spring or cause of this union and of all other causes of it lies in that eternal compact that was between the father and the son. John Murray said as far back as we can go in tracing salvation to its fountain, we find a union with Christ. It is not something tacked on, it is there from the outset. You know, there were times I used to read this chapter of Ephesians and I would get to verse four and I would love it and I would say just as he chose us in him, it was all about the choosing. It was about the doctrine of election. I love that doctrine. I love it. What's he saying here? He chose us in him. Trinitarian based. And Christocentric all at the same time. Wow. Not only is union with Christ foundational. But union with Christ is factual. Now, it's factual in the past, and it's factual in the present, and it's factual in the future. But the facts and the foundations of union with Christ from the past set up the present. And this union being factual causes it to be existential. That that means that there's something more to this union than just the identity of being tied to his belt, so to speak. Remember, we're not glued to him, we're not velcroed to him, it's something more than that. John Murray said this union with Christ, it's. It's not cold, metallic ascent. There's something about union with Christ that encourages us. There's something about union with Christ that grows us. There's something about union with Christ that deals with the tensions in our life. There's something about union with Christ. And it stays constant, even with our when our emotions are up and down. When you have a bad day at work, a bad day at home, a bad day at school, struggles in life. When a child screams all night long and won't let you sleep or coughs or sneezes or whatever it is that a child does that keeps you awake. When you have an annoying co-worker who just won't be quiet about this one thing that should have been settled a month ago. Or when your spouse just can't leave that one thing alone. Just can't leave it alone. It's not some cold, metallic ascent, it's that union with Christ that's so constant, so consistent. That when we turn to look at what he did. It gives us different perspective on what we're going through in the present. It's so factual, it affects our focus. I mean, think about it. The world constantly trying to solve every problem in the world by looking to man. Not that men aren't responsible, and they should be responsible, and God's called men to responsibility. But even in calling men to responsibility, God has never said, look elsewhere. God is saying you're responsible to look to me. The union with Christ is so factual, it's so existential, it's so meaningful. that it changes our focus and causes us to look in different ways. And when we don't look to the Lord our God, the application by the Spirit is conviction. One of the great things about understanding a right view of union with Christ is you begin to understand further a right view of the work of the Spirit. I'm getting ahead of myself. Flavel said there are only two ligaments or bands of union between Christ and the soul. The spirit on his part and faith on ours. Man said Christ without us. Now, I want you to listen to this, folks, I really want you to get it. Christ without us does not save us. But Christ in us, Christ without us is a perfect savior, but not to you. The appropriation is by union. The acts without us do us no good unless we have the copy of them in us. You can be around it. You can have all these things around you. Some of our young people have grown up in Christian homes and they have some mentalities that they have some Christian thinking in some ways, but there's a difference between growing up in a Christian home and having Christian thinking in some ways and being in union with Christ. He's still the Savior. He's just not your Savior. He's still the Lord. He's just not your Lord. And you can have all of that about you being around those things, and you cannot be in Him. And this union with Christ also affects the church. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, united to one another, have communion with Him. We have to understand that this union impacts the life of the church. This is why we as Baptists believe, one of the reasons we believe in believers baptism, and we also believe in people who join the church are to be professing believers. What you're professing is my union with Christ. You're not just professing, well, Christ died for my sin. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're professing. Union with Christ, he died for my sin. That's true. But you're professing that he lived according to law and that his righteousness was imputed to me. And my sin was imputed to him. You're professing that the spirit of God did a work and you applied that glorious work to you and has caused you to hate your sin and you want to walk away from your sin. When we join a local body of believers, we're saying we are in union with Christ. So this union is foundational, it has a past foundation, this union is factual, both in past and present. But this union is also in the future. Union with Christ is eschatological. Now, a lot of people don't use that word often, but we've used it around here at different times. Something that is eschatological, meaning it's in its future sense. The end times, so to speak. But union of Christ is for the future. Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, was dealing with their concern about the brethren who had died. And in giving them comfort, he told them not to worry because they died in Christ, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. They died in Christ. That's a pretty important future context. Now, think about the difference in that. Now, we're not just saying. We're not just saying, well, Christ died for my sin, therefore, I'm going to have a good future in eternity. No, no, no, we're saying we are in union with Christ and once in union with Christ, all that that encompasses and means. That is applied to me, and so when I die, I die in Christ. That's your only hope. First Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul writing to the church at Corinth in verse 19, he says, If we have hoped in Christ in this life only. We are of all men most to be pitied. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only. We are of all men most to be pitied. Now, think about what Paul's saying there. A lot of preaching today, a lot of teaching today, a lot of what church people hear is a teaching of Christ that gives them something for the moment to try to give them some security. A lot of times it's financial or physical security in this world at the present time. Most charismatic teaching gives you an important context of what Christ has done and how he will help you in the moment. Paul said, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. So I'll never have ten million dollars all at one time. I'll never be this rich person, or I'll never have that particular job, or I'll never do this, or you'll never do that, or whatever it may be. But is that your only hope in Christ? Certainly we should be responsible to take care of our families and provide for our homes And all the things that God has asked us to do as husbands and wives and mothers and fathers and children and sons and daughters and all those types of things and co-workers and, you know, bosses and whatever you may be. But the greatest hope of being in Christ is that he has sold and applied the sin problem and resolution to those who are in him. You can have a lot of stuff, but one day all men will stand before God. And you will either be in Christ or you will not be in Christ. Leighton said, there is a union between believers in Christ as it began in heaven. So it is completed there. Notice, remember what Paul said, that God, the father of Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. This blessing of union with Christ is in the heavenly places. It started there and it's going to end there. All these things in this life, if this is our only hope in Christ, Paul said we're most to be pitied. Boy, that's hard to really focus on though, isn't it? The world crowding in on you, constantly showing you what you don't have, what you need. You know, every time you see a commercial, it's selling you. It's just telling you, you don't have this and you need it. You need that new razor that has that thing on it that makes it swivel and it's going to get every possible hair known to man on your face in the right way and it's not going to cut you and it's going to actually make your face feel fresher and, you know, I mean, just people are going to come out of the woodwork to say, oh, look at that man's face. It's so beautiful because he used that Gillette razor. I mean, just look what you don't have it. You need it. Is that really what it's about? We're inundated with our consumer society telling us this is what you need. And the scriptures all the time telling you, no, no, no, this is actually what you need. You need union with Christ. Maybe we'll. shave in our new glorified body, but when we shave. It'll shave perfectly, I don't know. But you know what I know that. That doesn't matter when it comes to standing before God one day. Matter of fact, the last few months I've gotten ready for that glorified body, I'm not shaving anymore. I just gave it up. I tried for many years to have the perfect shave and nobody can give it to me. I bet that little rollerball thing will still leave a hair there somewhere. Union with Christ leaves no stone unturned, it does everything at the right time, it's applied in the right moment, it procures everything that we need to stand declared righteous before God. Union with Christ, it has a beginning point, but it has no end. You ever thought about that? I hadn't thought about that. I read that. I thought to myself, you know, that's pretty cool. We always talk about things having an ending point. But union with Christ, it has a starting point, but it has no end. And you have that new glorified body, when you are with the Lord one day, you will still be there in union with Christ. Matter of fact, that'll be one of the great goals. is learning and glorifying in the person and work of the Son, understanding what God has done in redeeming His people, what the Spirit has applied to us, and doing it without sin. This union with Christ will keep us for eternity. You know how you're going to stay in the heavenly places? With Christ Jesus, you know how you're going to stay in the heavenly places before a holy God? By union with Christ. Without that union, you would fall. And you would even fall from the heavenly places. So I'll leave us with this question and two answers. I got these from a pastor friend of mine, his notes, I thought they were so important I couldn't leave them out. How may we know and be assured of this union? Well, firstly, we can know of it and be assured of the union by the manner of its entrance, or Christ's entrance. The best evidence of a changed life is a changed life. Do you desire things differently than you did before Christ? The manner of the entrance was one that was irresistible. When your heart was truly changed. You were unable to believe. And not only were you enabled, but you wanted to. It changed your water. Remember, we talked about that before. You got a water in there somewhere. It wants stuff. And you got this water and it wants things and it wants and it wants and it wants. And a lot of times what it wants is sinfulness. But upon union with Christ. This irresistible intrusion came about. And your water was changed. Doesn't mean you don't sin, doesn't mean you don't struggle, but it means you don't want to sin in the same fashion that you wanted to sin before. Your desires have changed. Secondly, by the measure of his residence, Thomas Brooks wrote, Holiness is a substantial evidence of real union with Christ. Get that now holiness is a substantial evidence of real union with Christ. Renovation speaks out union renewing by Christ speaks out the souls in being in Christ. Look, there could be no deprivation from our union with the first Adam, so there can be no renovation. but through our union with the second Adam. Sometimes people buy old homes and they want to renovate them. Nine times out of ten, what do they have to go in and do? They have to go in and get the old stuff out. They have to deal with all that stuff on the inside. And so it is with our union in Christ. Our union with the first Adam has caused us to have a sin nature, to love sin. The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Our righteousness is as filthy rags. Not one of us is good. And not one of us seeks God. So union with Christ works a renovation, makes a change on the inside that is truly clear and definite. Will we still battle the flesh? Yes, but the point is we will have a desire to battle it. Whereas before, there was little desire to do anything but follow our nature. And the only time we didn't like possibly sin is when that sin brought up a problem for us. We weren't concerned about what our sin did before God. Our union with Christ causes us to think differently. I'll leave you with this thought by Morton Smith. We dare not forget this doctrine. The coldness that so often marks us is due to a lack of appreciation of this great doctrine. This doctrine will richly repay prolonged meditation and study. Union with Christ, let's pray. Heavenly Father, you are merciful to us to give us your word that we could have it See it, read it, hear it. And now, Lord, we ask that your spirit apply it. Illuminate truth to us. Even as we leave this place today, that would cause us to think on the rest of this afternoon, Lord, don't let us get caught up in the things of the world this afternoon, but let us think on the glories and the things of union with Christ today. that it would strengthen us for this new week, which we've started on this new day. It's in the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.