Romans chapter 8 verse 1 is our text for today. This is the 39th message in a study through the New Testament book of Romans. The book of Romans was written by a missionary, the Apostle Paul. One of the reasons why he wrote the book was to raise money for his missionary trip to Spain. The heart of God is missions, and since that is true, you yourself should prayerfully consider whether or not God is calling you to be a missionary. If He is not calling you to do that, well, one thing that we do know is that He is calling you to help send those so that they can go and be missionaries. This past week I had the honor of being at a missionary training facility in Tijuana, Mexico, Radius International. We support that ministry, and I bring back a great report to you that they are doing a wonderful job of training young people to go not just to be missionaries, but to be missionaries to unreached people. So continue to support and to pray for Radius International. Today's message is 35 handwritten pages, and the title of the message today is Room in the Inn. I-N-N. Please turn to Romans chapter 8 as you do. Keep in mind that God loves you in Christ, and hear the word of the Lord as I read our text for today, Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Father in heaven today, it is our desire to learn about union with Christ and to enjoy our union with Christ, Lord, so that we might be in union with you, our heavenly Father. Teach us these things this day, but more than that, Lord, help us to enjoy this beautiful truth which you have lavished upon us. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So when I was about nine or 10 years old, my father's cousin's mother died and my father's cousin came to stay with us for a little while. And she was at our house for several days mourning the loss of her mother. You know, if something reoccurs in Scripture, it has to be important. Let me qualify what I mean by that. Everything in Scripture is important because it is all God breathes. But the things which are restated are restated because they are especially important. Not everything in the Scripture is of equal importance. Well, one such repeated and therefore important topic in Scripture is the doctrine of union with Christ. Kevin DeYoung has humorously but yet accurately said that union with Christ is the most important doctrine in the Bible that you have never heard of. What is union with Christ? Well, quite simply, what it means is Jesus in you and you in Jesus. You in Jesus and Jesus in you. And ironically, we sing a lot of theologically rich songs at North Shore Baptist Church. We're not going to stop doing that. But with reference to this particular doctrine, perhaps the best song that we could sing is the children's song, Into My Heart. Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in today, come in to stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. To me, this doctrine of union with Christ, I'll have to be very honest with you, there is a mysterious aspect to it. It is simultaneously simple and mysterious. Perhaps It is a doctrine that most Christians know very, very little about. Because it is so nebulous, it is so hard to wrap your mind around. It's difficult to think exactly what is this union with Christ. And so, if that's you, I can sympathize with you, because I'm there as well. But it is everywhere in Scripture, including our text today, which is Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, As we study this today, I want to put out a few disclaimers. First of all, this is going to be a topical message. We are springboarding off of Romans 8, verse 1, but we have essentially said everything that we are going to say about Romans 8, verse 1 up to this point, except for a few comments about the introduction and the context which we covered last week, but that's going to be very brief. This is going to be a topical message about union with Christ, but the reason that I'm doing this is because as we make our way through the rest of the book of Romans, it is important that we understand what it means to be in Christ, because it's going to be very prominent as we move through the remaining chapters and verses of this book. Another disclaimer that I want to put out is that I taught this material several years ago. In fact, it was about a decade ago. And I just feel that we are much in need of a refresher, even if you've heard it before. To be reminded of it is a good thing. I know that I myself needed the refresher this week on it. But it is material which, in various forms, has been presented in years gone by. This in Christ phrase that we see in Romans 8 is not isolated. What I would like to do for you to start off is just to do a very quick Bible study in the book of Romans just to prove the point that the sheer volume, the number of times that appears in this book proves to us that it is an important doctrine. So put your seat belt on and let's do a little in Christ study in the book of Romans. What do we know about this doctrine explicitly stated from Romans? Well, in 322 we read that the righteousness of God through faith is in Christ Jesus for all who believe. Romans 3.24 speaks of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In chapter 6 verse 11, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 6.23, one of the most famous verses in all the Bible, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 8.39, teaches us that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Chapter 9 verse 1, I am speaking the truth in Christ. Chapter 12 verse 5, so we though many are one body in Christ. Chapter 15 verse 17, in Christ Jesus, then I have reason to be proud of you." 16.3, greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ. 16.10, greet Apellas, who is approved in Christ. Did you get that? I hope not. My intention was not for you to get it, but my intention was to give you a flood, to give you a quick, rather impactful variety of verses that you would not be able mentally to grasp the meaning of all of those things individually, but just sort of to be overwhelmed by it all and say, enough already, please stop, we get it. In Christ is a frequently used phrase, off the pen of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans. That is what I wanted you to get. When you go to the Ocean City Bible Conference and you get knocked over by a wave, as you are walking to your towel with sand everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, You are not going to be asked by anyone, how did those drops of water feel? It is not the drops of water, although technically a wave is a collection of drops of water, but it is the cumulative combined force that knocks you over. In the same way, I wanted to give you Romans 8, 1 plus 10 other verses, that's a total of 11 verses, and there are many more from the book of Romans which prove unequivocally that whatever this in Christ thing means, it is important to the Apostle Paul because it is everywhere in this book. But it's not just explicitly stated, but there is also the imagery of it in other portions of Paul's writings. So, for example, his entire argument for baptism by immersion for believers, rooted in chapter 6, has as its basis and as its main teaching the doctrine of union with Christ. Turn, please, back to Romans chapter 6. Notice what Paul says in Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. for if we have been united to him, or joined to him, or in union with Christ, for if we have been united to him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." Wow! Union with Christ is the basis for believer's baptism. And it's not very challenging for any preacher to prove the point that the doctrine of union with Christ is an important one in the book of Romans. And the reason this is true is, as I said, just because of the sheer volume. It is not My overarching goal, however, in giving you this at this time for you to be grasping this and to be understanding everything that is being said to you and to concentrate upon that. Again, it is my intention now just simply to knock you over with the sheer volume of this. And it certainly is not for me to try to prove to you how astute I am or how observant I am to have detected all of these things. I think the only thing that I have proven thus far in the sermon is that I have a keen sense for the obvious. In Christ is plain, it is in your face, it is repeated, it is clear, and therefore it is obvious. But let's look at it from another angle. This past week, I watched a small portion of a movie. It was a very bad movie. Not that it was a morally bad movie. It was just a really low quality movie. So I did not watch very much of it. But as I was watching it, I learned something from it. It's a story of two burglars. And one of the scenes has them in an apartment, and they're trying to decide what to steal. The one man is more experienced and more confident than the other, and he starts to talk about all of the items in the living room. And he was making a case in front of his fellow burglar that what they were doing was actually doing a favor for the residents of that apartment. And the reason was because people, he said, do not fully appreciate what they have. And he says, most of these valuables, I believe that they take them for granted and they are more or less invisible, even though they are in plain sight. So we are doing them a favor so that when they walk into their house and they see that they are gone and that the shelves are empty, and when they have to go to the store and replace these things, they will then be appreciative of what they once had. So in a twisted way, he claimed that he was helping those from whom he stole. I want to do that today with reference to union with Christ. But let me take a commercial break and put the text into its context by doing a very quick review. I will rob you of your union with Christ in just a moment, but for now, let's put the text in its context. Romans 8 is considered by many to be the greatest overall chapter in the Bible. It opens with a conclusion, because it has the word, therefore. And it is concluding or carrying on what has been stated back in chapter 5, verse 21. As sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then you have the parentheses of chapters 6 and 7, essential material but parenthetical. But then if you take chapter 5, verse 21, and you blend it immediately into chapter 8, verse 1, it makes perfect sense. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And whatever this is that is being concluded with the word, therefore, whatever it is, here's one thing we know. It is now, N-O-W, now that Jesus died and rose again, now that we have been saved and had our sins washed away. Now and forevermore, our salvation is secure. And then we concentrated last week also in chapter eight, verse one, on the word no, N-O, that there is no condemnation. There are some people who will be condemned, but we who are in Christ will never know that. There will never be any actual final condemnation. There will not be any partial condemnation. There will be no, and should be no, figurative condemnation or self-condemnation. Why? Because Christ was condemned for us. He died in our place. The gospel is of first importance. So, that is what we covered so far in chapter 8, verse 1. Now, the second half of chapter 8, verse 1, concentrating on union with Christ, based on the phrase, for those who are in Christ Jesus, I now that I have given it to you, I want to take it away. I am in your apartment with another burglar, and I am going to steal from you the spiritual blessings which are yours in Christ Jesus. So let's play the game, assuming that I am the burglar, I have broken in, and I have stolen one of your spiritual blessings, and the one that I have chosen to take is your union with Christ. Now that you are not in Him anymore, and He is not in you anymore, you are not joined to Christ. What then? Well, now that that has been taken from you, and it has disappeared, I want to redo the Bible study that we just did, and I want you to see what you now don't have anymore, but what you used to have. Here we go. You're looking at the shelves. They are empty. What used to be there? Chapter 3, verse 22. You no longer possess the righteousness of God. Remember, the righteousness of God is a free gift, and it is what you use in order to present your case before God in order that you might be justified. Don't even worry about it anymore. You don't have it anymore because it was only yours in Christ. Since in Christ has been taken away, you no longer have the righteousness of God. You are now left with your own righteousness. 324. Redemption is no longer applied to you. The purchased price is now null and void. Chapter 6, verse 11, without union with Christ, you are no longer alive to God. So this whole thing, quite frankly, is a matter of life and death. For you, it is death, because you are no longer alive to God, since you are no longer in Christ. Chapter 6, verse 23, one of the most famous verses in the Bible, says that the free gift of God is eternal life. You don't have to worry about that anymore, because you are not in Christ, and therefore you do not have eternal life. Chapter 8, verse 39, here's one thing that you've lost. You're going to miss this one. You're going to miss this one. When you are not in Christ, you are now separated from the love of God. Why? Because the love of God is found in Christ. About 40 years ago, when I was first in the ministry, our little church in suburban Atlanta embarked upon an evangelistic endeavor called Good News America, God Loves You. And we purchased cases and cases of King James Version Bibles, which we were going to give out to our neighbors. There was a fellow pastor that was there visiting us. He saw the cases of Bibles, and he knew that we were going to go out and be passing them out to people. And I said, what do you think about this campaign? Good news, America, God loves you. And he said, well, I'm glad that you're passing out the word of God, but I would like it a lot better if it said, good news, America, God loves you in Christ. because apart from being in Christ, God doesn't love you. He has a general concern for you. There is a love that he has for you that he has for all image bearers, but redemptive love is not yours unless you are in Christ. And so did you notice today when I opened my sermon, instead of saying, turn to Romans chapter eight and remember that God loves you, I said what? Turn to Romans chapter eight and remember that God loves you in Christ. But you don't have to worry about that anymore. You don't have that anymore because it has been taken away from you because you are not in Christ. What else have you lost? Chapter 12, verse 5. We are no longer a body unless we are in Christ. Our unity is meaningless apart from our union with Christ. Chapter 16, verse 10. We are not approved before God unless we are in Christ. And that is just the book of Romans, and that is not all of Romans. So hopefully once again you didn't get all of that. It was not my intention for you to get that. I just wanted to knock you over with a wave of subtractions of things that you have been robbed of if you are not joined to Christ. So This reminds me of the Joni Mitchell song from 1974 in which she said, don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. To which I say, if in my sermons they were to be robbed of 60s and 70s song lyrics, you would be losing absolutely nothing. However, if you extract the in with respect to your relationship to Christ, you are left with nothing. You have lost everything. Therefore, there had better be room in the in, in Christ. You see, the importance of union with Christ came to my attention in the fall of 2015. I was 54 years old, I had been in church my entire life, I had been in the ministry for 31 years at that point, and my daughter Savannah, side note, my daughter Savannah is now pregnant with a boy. Yes, we are happy, happy, happy for that. But when she was a sophomore at Boyce College at the age of 18, she was not pregnant, but she was taking a theology course. And she would always talk to me. The entire semester, she talked to me about union with Christ. And you know what? I would listen to her politely, but I really didn't see what the big deal was. I mean, I was not denying union with Christ. I understood that it was in the Bible. I knew that it was a biblical doctrine. But it's kind of like Kevin DeYoung said, it's a really important doctrine that nobody knows anything about. Well, I was among the people that knew nothing about it. She wouldn't drop it. She would constantly press me and want to have conversations about it. And quite frankly, I didn't have that much to say. Once again, not antagonistic, I just wasn't that enthused. Well, on Christmas morning, she gave me this book, and I highly recommend this book to all of you. It's called One With Christ by Marcus Lucas Johnson. Highly recommended to you, One With Christ. And in it, as she gave it to me, I took the paper off, I opened the book, there was a little note on the inside which said this, Ed, that's what she called me, that's my name, Ed, we are not saved because of some intrinsic merit in our faith, but because we actually become united to the object of our faith, Christ himself. Dad, please enjoy what has conceptually been perhaps the greatest blessing in my Christian life thus far. Preach it. I love you. Savannah." So, you know, you get lots of books, right? But when someone writes you a book or gives you a book and they put a note in it like that, you got to read it. So on Christmas Day, very skeptical, I pick up the book and I start to read it. And as I am, again, I'm going into it not really seeing what the big deal is. Because for my entire life I've read my Bible, and I think by now I probably have discovered all the big ticket items. Again, I'm not denying union with Christ, but it's just not that big of a deal compared with Calvinism and the cross-centered life. So on Christmas Day 2015, I start reading this book, One with Christ. and I was knocked over by a, not a wave, but a tsunami of biblical truth. I got to page 15 and I read these words which were a paradigm shift in my thinking forever. Johnson writes, We are content, more often than not, to refer to the atoning work of Christ. You know what I mean by the atoning work of Christ? The fact that Christ died on the cross for our sins. We are content, more often than not, to refer to the atoning work of Christ as the basis for our salvation. And I just stopped right there and I said, well, duh, yes, I'm content with that because that is absolutely true and I find no fault with that statement. Then he goes on to say, We are in dire need of the reminder that Christ's saving work is of no benefit to us unless we are joined to the living Savior whose work it is." In other words, it is not just the fact that Christ died for us. but he died for us so that he could be joined to us. It is not just the work, but it is the person of Christ, union with Christ. The work of Jesus gets a lot of press, and it should get a lot of press because he has done a lot of work. But Jesus himself essentially becomes like Santa Claus. We welcome him to show up and to leave his gifts, but he himself is not allowed to stay for breakfast. It's what Johnson calls Christ for us, without Christ, in us. Christ for us, without Christ in us. And you see, it's not an either or, it is a both and. But Johnson's point is, is that we as Christians usually stress what he did for us to the exclusion of the fact that he himself is in us. Let's say you have a really ratty back porch. And you have a friend who is both competent and generous. This friend comes and says, you know what, I can build you a deck off of your back porch, tears down the back porch, builds a beautiful deck, structurally sound. And so you want to express your appreciation to this person for the deck that he has built for you, and you invite him over one evening for a barbecue. And as you sit there on this deck all evening, all of your comments are about the deck. Wow, the boards sure are level. Wow, it sure is sturdy. Wow, it looks nice. There is so much space. And you just talk and talk and talk and talk about the deck, but you never talk to the person who built the deck, and you are not interested in him at all. It's just the work. Yes, amen. Hallelujah. Jesus has done the work. But he's not Santa Claus who just does a job, drops off gifts, and then leaves. He does it so that he can be joined to us. It's what Johnson calls Christ for us without Christ in us. So what I would like to do at this time is do another Bible study. I don't want you to get it. I just want to knock you over with it. And this one is one which looks at Paul's larger body of work, not just Romans, but what Paul has written overall. Let's do the math, first of all. Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament. That includes 87 chapters. In them, he speaks. directly about union with Christ 164 times. That is explicit statements in Christ, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord, in Him. I'm not counting now any allusions or illustrations like Romans 6 and baptism to union with Christ. I'm just speaking about explicit statements in Christ, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord, in Him, 164. By far, it is the most dominant theme in all of his writings. So, let's travel outside of the Book of Romans for just a moment, and here is a small sample of what we have in Christ. I'm going to give you 10 samples. I don't intend for you to get them. I just want to knock you over by them. First Corinthians 1.2, those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Our sanctification is in Christ. First Corinthians 15.22, in Christ shall all be made alive. Our final resurrection is in Christ. Galatians 3.26, in Christ you are sons of God. You don't just get adopted, but you get adopted in Christ. Ephesians 1.4, which was read earlier this morning. He, the Father, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. The doctrine of election has as its basis and its ultimate goal union with Christ. Ephesians 2.5, He made us alive together with Christ. Regeneration is in Christ. Colossians 1.27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Your hope is in Christ. in Christ alone. Colossians 3.3, your life is hidden with Christ in God. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Colossians 2.12, we are buried with him in baptism. Ephesians 5.30, we are members of his body. Now again, I hope you didn't catch that. I just wanted to knock you over with the wave. It is everywhere. And so you know what I've given you? 21 samples. One is Romans 8.1, and then 10 from Romans, and then 10 more from the other writings of Paul. You know what I haven't given you yet? the other 143 explicit references from Paul. And I'm going to give them to you right now. No, I'm not. At this point, even if you can't grasp or concept fully what this means to be joined to Christ, and if you can't, you have company, I am with you. But here's what you can do. You can conclude that whatever it means, it's important. That there is no condemnation and a whole lot more for those who are in Christ Jesus. And it isn't just Mr. Johnson. But this is what the reformers taught. Listen to what Calvin and Luther have to say about this doctrine. Luther, and you remember Martin Luther, he was pretty big into faith. The just shall live by faith, sola fide. Faith was a big deal to him. Listen to what he says about faith as it relates to union with Christ. This is Martin Luther. Faith must be taught correctly. Namely, that by it, you are so cemented to Christ that He and you are as one person which cannot be separated. And therefore, faith justifies because it takes hold of Christ and possesses this treasure, the present Christ. Therefore, the Christ who is grasped by faith and who lives in the heart is the true Christian righteousness." What does he say? He's saying that your righteousness is the possession of the person of the righteous Christ himself he goes on to say on account of which God counts us as righteous and grants us eternal life end quote and boy did Luther say it well but what about John Calvin you know he was really big into very definitive statements concerning soteriology, and especially concerning predestination. What does John Calvin say? Calvin says, as long as Christ remains outside of us, all he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value. Doesn't matter what Jesus did, if he himself is not in you. Which begs the question, why, if it is all over the New Testament, and why, if the reformers spoke of it so eloquently, why is it that 21st century Christians are so unaware of it and speak so little of it? Johnson gives three reasons. We give several reasons, I will give you three of them. First of all, he said theologians don't write about it that much anymore. By anymore he means kind of in the last 150 years. And then he says the reason why we don't think about it very much is because we usually only think about salvation in terms of legal language. How many sermons have you heard? How many sermons have I preached which you have heard in which our salvation is sort of a courtroom drama where the judge declares that you are not guilty? I mean, even when you come to be a member of North Shore Baptist Church and you are asked the question, if you were standing before God right now and he were to ask you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would your answer be? Well, the answer that we, the elders, are looking for has nothing to do with union with Christ, but we want to know, do you understand substitution as the basis of your justification. And substitution as the basis of your justification is not a bad thing, but we only stress justification in courtroom language, whereas Johnson says, hey, you need to see what the Bible says about this. This is also union with Christ. Third reason, he says, we don't really know that much about it is because we just don't read church history enough. Today, my goal is to revive your awareness of this very, very beautiful doctrine. Now, this is not an evangelistic message. Those of you that are not in Christ, I invite you to believe in Him and to be joined to Him. and you are welcome to listen to the rest of the sermon, but I am not speaking primarily to you so that you will be in Christ. I'm just talking about this to encourage the hearts of those who have already been joined to Christ. Moving on, let's now consider something that's a little bit more complex, and that is the Trinitarian nature of our union with Christ. Does union with Christ have as its final goal us being joined to Christ? The answer is no. There is a Trinitarian aspect to this doctrine which surpasses what we have already covered. And that is this. First of all, there is one God. This one God exists in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Here's where I need you to put on your thinking caps when you think of union with Christ in Trinitarian terms. Listen again to Johnson. Because the Son is one with the Father, our being joined to the Son means that we are joined to the Father, and because the Spirit exists as the bond of communion between the Father and the Son, He, the Spirit, brings us into that communion by unity to Christ. If you didn't get all that, that's okay. I'm going to illustrate it in just a moment. Let me try to explain it by giving you a couple of Bible verses that you're very familiar with. 1 Peter 3.18 and John 14.6. First of all, 1 Peter 3.18. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. Now, That is a really good verse to explain substitution. You have a righteous Christ, you have an unrighteous sinner, and they swap places, the just for the unjust. What is the purpose for that? It is that he might bring us to God. Conventional wisdom says what that means is When Jesus swaps places with you, you then get His righteousness. He takes your sin so that you can go to heaven. But the verse does not say what the end goal is, is to go to heaven, but it is to bring us to God. Don't be thinking, well, because God is in heaven, that's the goal of substitution. God indeed is in heaven, and substitution will get you to heaven, but there is something much more beautiful and valuable than heaven, and that is being joined to the Father Himself. Another example comes from John 14.6, but let's set up John 14.6 in its context. It's in the upper room discourse, Jesus is talking, and he says a few verses later concerning the union of the Father and the Son, in 1410, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? Next verse, 1411. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You see there is a union, and this is a natural union between the Father and the Son, and why can there be a natural union between the Father and the Son? Stick with me, because they are both God. And they are both perfect, and they are both holy. That makes sense. Therefore, when we are joined to Christ, we are also joined to the Father, because He is joined to the Father. And so, with that established in your mind, does it not add more meaning to John 14, 6? Again, one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. In which Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. Conventional wisdom says God is in heaven, the way that you get to heaven is through Jesus. Once again, I'm not denying that, that is true. But what is being said here is more important and deeper and more beautiful than you actually going to heaven. It is going to the Father. It is being joined to Him. That is a bigger deal than going to heaven. Why can't we, in our non-in-Christ state, be joined to the Father? It's because we are sinful and God is holy and He cannot have fellowship with guilty, unholy sinners. In other words, let's just go back to what we said about those Bibles. Good news, America, God loves you. That's not actually a true statement. Good news, America, God loves you in Christ is the true statement. Apart from being in Christ, there is no love from God, at least not redemptively. So here's how God does it. Here's how he becomes both just and the justifier. And again, you've got to have those thinking caps on securely. God sends His Son, the second person of the Trinity, from heaven to earth through the womb of the Virgin, and in so doing, the One that comes arrives as a human being, 100% human. At the same time, He, Jesus, is 100% God. He's not 50-50. He's not in and out. Sometimes God, sometimes man. There isn't this blend of God and man in Him. He is completely 100% God, and He is completely 100% man. And then, in His body, His human body, He takes our sins upon Himself. He bore in His body our sins upon the tree. He takes our sins and dies for them. The Gospel is of first importance. And now, since our sins are paid for, we can be joined to a Holy Father when we are united to His human Son. because our sins are gone. And our relationship with the Father is not direct. It is always mediated through the one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. And apart from being joined to Christ, we are not accepted by the Father. But if we are joined to Christ, we are accepted by the Father. As it says in the New King James Version of Ephesians 1.6, we are accepted in the Beloved. The one doing the accepting is God, and the Beloved One is Jesus, and we are in Him, and when we are in Him, we are accepted by God. Which brings us to the most beautiful and amazing and mind-boggling portion of the sermon today, and that deals with love. Turn over please to John chapter 17. This is a portion of scripture known as Christ's high priestly prayer. If you are not familiar with this, this will blow your mind. If you are familiar with this, it should still blow your mind. John chapter 17 verses 21 through 23. Jesus prays to his father that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. There is a union between Father and Son. That they also may be in, not me, but us. That they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. the glory that you have given me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know here's the mind-blowing part that you sent me and loved me loved loved them even as you loved me even e-v-e-n Wait a minute, what are you saying here, Jesus? You're mentioning a lot of stuff about union between yourself and the Father, and then them being in you, and then since they're with you and in you, then they're with Him. And it's all gonna come out to this one bottom line that in the end, here's what the world is going to know. You have loved them even as you love me. that He loves us as much as He loves His Son. Now, He does not love you as much as He loves your son in yourself, with your own righteousness in and of yourself. But when you are in His Son, since He loves His Son and you are in His Son, therefore He loves you as much as He loves His Son. And then notice what He says in verse 26. I made known to them your name. I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. You really ought to blow a fuse on this one. I mean, think about, first of all, the love that God has for His Son. Well, I mean, we know that he has a love for his son because on multiple occasions he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. But what does that mean? This was an inter-Trinitarian relationship which has gone back from into eternity past, which is a perfect love. And an intense love such that we are not able to grasp. God is love. As image bearers, you are capable of love, but your love has a limited capacity. You do know that God is able to love more than you. And you do know that the one that God loves more than He loves anyone else is His Son. You are not capable of grasping how great the love of God is or the love that he has for his son. But let's just say for the sake of argument, and it's not true, but we will argue from the lesser to the greater, let's just say for the sake of argument that the capacity that God has to love is no greater than your capacity for love. So you know what love is. If God loves you as much as you are capable of loving, Even that is a wonderful love. But we are talking about an infinite God, and we are talking about a God that is so loving that He gave His only begotten Son. We are talking about a God that is so loving that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. We don't have the capacity to grasp the love of God. He has that for His Son. And Jesus said, and I want them to know, the members of North Shore Baptist Church, I want them to know that the love which you have for me is the same love that he has for them. And how does it all come about? It comes about in His humanity. Merry Christmas. It is because He became a man. For when we are united, to his humanity. We are not united to his human nature. You don't get united to a nature. You get united to a person. He is a complete person, fully God and fully man. We cannot be united to his divinity. See, there's one reason. We have limitations. Know what those limitations are? We're not divine. We are human. But He is fully human. And when we, by faith, are joined to Him, Jesus Christ the man, that's why it's so important that 1 Timothy 2, verse 5 says that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. It is not denying the deity of Christ, but it is emphasizing the mediatorial humanity of Christ whereby we can be united to Him So now there is this connection between holy God and sinful man through the God-man Christ Jesus. There's a connector. There's a mediator in the middle. Now I've told you before that when I was a child, I was a bad child. But I don't think I've ever illustrated just how bad I was. My dad's cousin mother dies, and my dad's cousin's probably in her 70s at the time. In our kitchen, and to this day I don't understand how all this works, but there was a refrigerator and there was a stove. And so if you would grab a hold of the door of the refrigerator and simultaneously grab a hold of the door of the stove, you would get like a major shock. I don't know why, but it was really a fun thing to do with my friends. So here's this woman, probably in her mid-70s, walking around in our house mourning the death of her mother, and I said, Come on in the kitchen. I said, grab the refrigerator and grab the stove. So she grabs the refrigerator, lets go of it, grabs the stove, nothing. I said, no, no, no. I said, grab the refrigerator, hold onto it, and then grab the stove. I nearly sent her to see her mother. She got such a jolt. What was happening there? There was a connector in the middle, which made a real special union between these two appliances. And then I got saved several years later, but still, that's what kind of a, and that's why I don't get too mad at children when they, but another sermon for another day. Christ is our mediator, which leaves one piece of the puzzle out, and that is an important piece, and that is the Holy Spirit. For remember, we are speaking of a Trinitarian union with Christ. Listen to how Johnson speaks of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the bond who unites us to the living Christ. So don't think of the Holy Spirit sort of as you would think of tag team wrestling, where you have, you know, you guys know tag team wrestling. You have the two wrestlers in the ring, and each of them has a partner. And if you tag your partner, you can get out of the ring, and then your partner can come in and relieve you. Don't think of Jesus ascending to heaven, tagging the Holy Spirit, who then gets into the ring. No, the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ, not to replace Him. John 15, 26, But when the Helper, speaking of the Holy Spirit, comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. John 16, 14, He, speaking of the Spirit, will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. If you go to a meeting and they call it a Holy Spirit revival, and all they talk about is the Holy Spirit, there's one thing I can tell you about that meeting, it's not a Holy Spirit revival. For the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to magnify Christ. And if Christ is not being magnified, then the Spirit is not at work. J. I. Packer puts it this way, The distinctive, constant, basic ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant is to mediate Christ's presence to believers." And he's right. So, there's one God who exists in three persons, and I am trying to drive home the point now that our union with Christ is what unites us to God the Father. If I can illustrate it in this way, Dan, if you would come here for just a moment and stand here. And Dan, for purposes of this illustration, you are going to represent you. Phil, if you would just come here for just a quick moment, I'm going to need you to represent yourself. So you're going to be God the Father. You're going to be Phil. Okay, so you are divine. You are God. You are holy. You are bad. He is bad. You are bad. You are a sinner. You cannot be united to the Father. But, Brian, if you could come here for just a moment, I'm going to need you to help me out. You are going to be Jesus, and you're the mediator in the middle. Now, you are united to your Father, because you are good and you are divine, and you are good and you are divine. For purposes of this illustration, I am the Holy Spirit. The gospel has been preached. It has reached His ears. What I do as the Holy Spirit is I bring Him to life, I regenerate Him, I grant Him faith, and I join Him to Christ. Now when He has been joined to Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, watch what happens. He is still human, So he cannot relate to the Father, because the Father is divine and he is human. However, since he is united to the human Christ, not just to the human nature of Christ, but to the person of Christ, he is united to Christ, and since Christ is united to God, therefore, Phil is united to God the Father through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ, and that is why our Trinitarian concept of the doctrine of union with Christ is so important. We now have been brought to God the Father. Christ, the just for the unjust, dies to bring us to God. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And that is why it is so important that we are united to Christ. Hopefully that illustration will help you to understand that a little better. Let me close with this illustration. Several years ago when I presented this material, one of our missionaries, Pavel Steiger in Prague, was listening to the sermon and he sent me an email. I want to read this email to you. He said, last evening I was listening to your sermon concerning union with Christ. Excellent. However, I was quite surprised that this doctrine is not frequently taught or understood stateside. After I was born again, I understood union with Christ immediately. Ed, one cannot miss union with Christ in the Czech language simply because of the grammar. English does not decline nouns. I don't know what that means. Czech, however, does decline nouns. The sixth case is called, in Latin, local. If you say so. Czech has it. It localizes the noun. Thus, where the English says in Christ, Czech says kristu. Ed, do you see the U? No Czech can misunderstand it. It means locally inside Christ. And then he goes on to say, union with Christ is like a pickle in brine. Just as the pickle is saturated with brine, in the same way we ought to be saturated by Christ. What a union. Noah had to be inside the ark. Just looking at it wouldn't save him. I can neither fly 30,000 feet high nor move 600 miles an hour. But localized in a plane, I can do it. Not by my abilities, but by the plane's ability. Whatever the plane does, I can do positionally. Similarly, in a spiritual sense, being inside Christ, whatever He does, I can do positionally and let Her and your mission stallers hard at work. Hopefully today you have learned something about what it means to be in Christ Jesus. Or at least you have been refreshed or reminded of what you already knew. It is a really important doctrine, and it is an essential doctrine for us to remember and know as we make our way through the rest of the book of Romans. Two applications before we leave. Number one, even though this was not an evangelistic message, if you right now are not in Christ, and you know you are not in Christ, I want you to come and talk to me. I want to meet with you. I want to share the gospel with you in detail. Even if you have any doubts about whether or not you are in Christ, I want to meet with you, and I want to tell you how you can be saved and be in Christ, because it's the most important thing in the world. And for the next five weeks, I'm not going to be preaching here on Sundays. I'm going to be at every service. I hope that you are here every week as we have people who are going to be subbing for the next five weeks. But I have plenty of time on my hands, and what I would want to do more than anything else in the next five weeks is to spend time with you And if you would like to know more about what it means to be in Christ, give me a call. It would be my delight to talk to you about that and to share the gospel with you. The second point of application is for those of us that are saved. And that is simply this, as you read your Bible, and I hope you do read your Bible, and you come across the words in Christ or in him, don't breeze over them as if they are synonyms for salvation. As I've tried to demonstrate today, this is a very special, precious, important doctrine which needs your attention, and the more you know about it and meditate upon it, the better you will be as a Christian. So study this and enjoy this. Concentrate upon it and remember that not only does God love you, But God loves you because of your union with Christ, and He loves you as much as He loves His Son. Concentrate on that, and you will be knocked over with a wave of joy. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Make sure there's room in the inn. Okay. I will see you from this pulpit in April. I will see you in these services next Sunday morning. 187 down, 246 to go, which means we're getting there. Father in heaven, I thank you that you've chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. Lord, even as I have preached today, I have felt, Lord, like There's more to say even than before I even started, Lord. To say that we have scratched the surface would be for us to brag, for we've not even done that. Lord, I thank you that this is a bottomless truth, and I pray, Lord, that we will not be content today with what we have learned, but I pray, Lord, that the appetite of the people will be whetted to go and to learn more and more of what it means to be united to Christ. Thank you for this great blessing which we have in Him. We pray in His name. Amen.