 The title of our sermon this morning is In Him. Two simple words but a profound truth. In Him. For those of you visiting with us, our usual practice on the Lord's Day is sequential exposition through books of the Bible, verse by verse preaching through books of the Bible. But we are currently between books of the Bible. And so prior to beginning our next book, we have purposed to take a relatively brief amount of time to work through a series that we're calling the essentials. Each sermon in introduction to those foundational subjects that we believe to be essential to the health, the growth, and maturity of the Christian. And in recent sermons in this series, we've been dealing with the application of our redemption in particular and how all that was accomplished for our redemption through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ is now applied to the elect of God by His Spirit. And this morning, it is our great blessing, our great privilege to consider union with Christ. In consideration of union with Christ, if you and I were to span the ages, if you and I were to go forward in time, back in time, stand at the brink and peer into eternity, we would find that all the plans, all the purposes of God concerning our redemption to be in Christ Jesus, our Lord. From the first determination of God within the councils of the Godhead to final consummation and the assembly of glorified saints, all pertaining to our redemption has been purposed, promised, directed, executed, and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The great love with which He loved us is set upon us, set upon the elect of God only in Him, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. And it's not to be in Him. He didn't choose us to be in Him. He chose us in Him. There's a distinction there, right? He predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in Him. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. In Him He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Him, having believed we were also sealed with a Holy Spirit of promise, you recognize Paul's words from Ephesians chapter one, right? In Him we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the council of His own will. That so that in Him throughout the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us. We are His workmanship. We were created in Him for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We were once Gentiles. We were without Christ. We were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in this world. But now we who are once far off have been brought near in Him. He Himself is our peace. In Him we are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. In Him partakers of His promise through the gospel. In Him members of His body, each of us, of His flesh and of His bones. Notice our union with the Lord Jesus Christ is not simply another step in the process of redemption or in the application of redemption. There is to union a past, a present, and a future perspective concerning our union with Christ. And that perspective is Trinitarian. The Father, Son, and Spirit involved. That union, union with Christ determined by the Father, secured by the Son, is then wrought by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. When Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, satisfying the demands of God's law. When Jesus Christ went to the cross to die for His people, a sacrifice for sin. He did all of that. And all that He did is by virtue of a union with them, which was determined by the Father in eternity. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 that it is of Him, of the Father, that you are in Christ Jesus, right? He did all that He did, Christ in all that He did, did all that He did by virtue of a union that was determined by the Father in eternity. And what was determined by the Father in eternity was then secured through the incarnate Son, life and death in history. And then wrought and applied by the Spirit of God. When in time that elect one of God is born again, reconciled to God through repentant faith in Christ. Though we were chosen in Him by the Father in eternity past, and though the Son died to redeem those given to Him in the first century, the Holy Spirit is the one who brings a sinner separated from Christ into saving union with Him in time. It's through our union with Christ that we then experience all the blessings of our salvation. There's not a blessing that comes to us from the person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ that doesn't come to us by virtue of our union in Him, right? Regeneration occurs in union with Christ. Justification occurs in union with Christ. Reconciliation with God. Peace with God occurs in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Adoption, sanctification, preservation, glorification all occur in union with the one who died for us, the one who gave himself for us. So if we think about it that way, right? At the very source of the spring, at the fountainhead from which flows every blessing and every benefit ever given to any one of God's elect, we find there at the fountainhead union with the Lord Jesus Christ, even those blessings that are yet to come, right? Even the blessings that are still yet to come. John said that he heard a voice from heaven saying to me, blessed are the dead who die in him from now on, right? Even the death of the saints is considered blessed. And why? Because the death of his saints are in him. Yes, says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. John Owen said this, this union is the cause of all other graces that we are made partakers of. They are all communicated unto us by virtue of our union with Christ. Hence through union is our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our fruitfulness, our perseverance, our resurrection, our glory. We could go on to say our hope, right? Our joy, our blessedness, any faithfulness that we have, any joy that we have, any hope that we have, any love that we have, any affection, any devotion, any blessing that comes to us, every gift that comes to us comes to us by virtue of a union with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the blessed one, right? It's not about the gift per se, it is all about the giver. John Murray has simply said, there is nothing more central or more basic than union and communion with Christ. And I would submit to you in thinking about this subject, there is nothing more precious to the believer. When you stop to meditate on that truth, nothing more precious than union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not simply a student-teacher relationship, right? Rabbi? Not simply that it is that, but not merely or only that. It's not simply a master-slave relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am united to him. You brother, you sister are united to him in a relationship with him that is far more intimate than that. It is a spiritual mystical, if you will, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am in him and he is in me. I am his in all that that entails, and he is mine in all that that entails. Paul says my life is hidden with Christ in God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer me who live, but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, right? I've been crucified with him. I have died with him. I am living in him. I shall be raised together with him. And as he is, so am I in this world, just staggering realities, earth-shaking, universe-quaking realities that dead in sins, hell-deserving, hell-bound sinners, could be brought into a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ such that we can say as he is, so am I in this world. If that just, if that doesn't blow your mind, we need to read our Bibles more. It is a marvelous mystery, a stunning revelation prompting many over the centuries to call it a mystical union, so closely identified with the one who shed his blood to redeem us. Paul says it's no longer I who live. It's amazing. Paul describes our union with Christ in this way, Colossians chapter 1 verse 26. Paul says it is the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints, to them, the saints. God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now whatever we know or don't know about union with Christ, we know that it involves the hope of glory. Whatever that is, that is staggering, amen? The riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The mystery hidden through generations past, the hope of the one who has put their faith and trust in him. Our glory into the ages is Christ in you. A union with the Lord Jesus Christ, a fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, a vital uniting spiritually to the one who gave himself for us. It's amazing. Union, communion with him. A stunning, staggering truth with stunning and staggering implications. In this life and in the life to come, you'll notice with me that our understanding of union with Christ is most clearly informed through the New Testament use of those familiar words in him, in him. The expression in him throughout the New Testament makes use of two different prepositions in the Greek. Those two different prepositions translated in, translated by the word in. The Greek words are n, epsilon, nu, and ace, n and ace. N in Scripture most often translated in, ace, most often translated into. Now follow along with me, this will make more sense as we go, okay? But this is a point, we're building to a point. It's interesting to consider that the vast majority of the gospel calls in Scripture, calls to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament, calls to believe in him for salvation, are calls to believe ace into the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about that before or heard that before, right? Most of the calls to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation are calls to believe into him. Turn with me to John chapter three, few pages to the left. John chapter three and look there beginning at verse 14. John chapter three beginning in verse 14 where the Lord himself says verse 14 and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, that's n in, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Now notice in the wilderness, that word translates the Greek word n, epsilon nu meaning in, okay? Now think with me, I know this is not going to be difficult for you, before they were in the wilderness, they were outside the wilderness, okay? Being outside the wilderness then they went ace into the wilderness. Outside they go into the wilderness, right? And Moses, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, they're standing in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Having gone into ace the wilderness, they were said to be in n the wilderness, okay? Verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. So that, verse 15, whoever believes ace into him, different word, there's a different nuanced meaning there, right? And this has implications for our understanding of union, that whoever believes ace into him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes ace into him should not perish but have everlasting life. Verse 17, for God did not send his Son ace into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes ace into him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed ace into the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that light has come into ace the world, that men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Now think with me. We are called to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. We're not merely called to believe that he exists. See the distinction? We're not merely called to believe the things said about him are true. We're not merely called to believe about him like we would believe about George Washington or how we would believe about Abraham Lincoln. We are called by Scripture to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a difference between those two concepts and it's a very important difference. The reason being millions, millions think that they are saved believing some facts about the Lord Jesus Christ to be true. Millions misunderstand that point. They believe they're saved while not in a vital union with him. One example of this, it just comes to mind for me every time I think about this subject, is the example. I won't mention him by name because I don't know where he is today, but it was a journalist with a Chicago Tribune. This journalist was an atheist and he decided as an atheist, you know what I'm going to set up? I'm going to set out to investigate the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ and his intention for setting out to investigate the claims of Jesus Christ was to prove them false, to show that this was all a sham and that Jesus Christ was not who he claimed to be, right? He was going to prove Christianity wrong. Well he sets out on his investigation. He starts interviewing people, thinking about the subject, talking to scholars, talking to other atheists, talking to a bunch of people and after a long process this atheist Chicago Tribune journalist comes to the conclusion that these things are true, that what the Bible claims is true, what Jesus Christ claims of himself is true and so this atheistic Chicago Tribune journalist says to himself, well then I'm a Christian because I believe these things to be true. He believed about the Lord Jesus Christ. When you hear that testimony, there's a tragedy to it that, okay, he was a historical person and he did these things and I believe the resurrection to be a historical fact and so now I'm a Christian. On the basis of finding certain facts about him to be true, he said to himself, I'm now a Christian. Millions, brothers, sisters, millions. It's not an exaggeration not trying to speak with hyperbole here. There have been countless numbers of people who have placated a guilty conscience, who have given themselves a false sense of security believing some facts about him apart from a vital union with him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see? It's one thing to believe some things about him. It's another thing entirely to believe into him such that you shall not perish but have everlasting life. John chapter six, we see this illustrated for us. A couple of pages of the right. John chapter six. In John chapter six, the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ is feeding the five thousand and after having performed this miracle before them, they now wanting to take him by force and make him king. The Lord said this in verse 26. He answered them and he said, verse 26, most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you because God the Father has set his seal on him. Then they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe ace into him whom he sent. Drop down to verse 38. The Lord says for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes ace into him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. This believing into the Lord Jesus Christ is turning from sin. It's a repentant faith, but it's a faith that justifies. It's a faith that saved because it's a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that results in that vital union. It's by virtue of that vital union with him. Those who believe into the Lord Jesus Christ are then said to be found in him. We'll get to this as we build our case. Those who believe into him are then said to be found in him. Turn to John 14. John 14 makes this clear. John 14 and look there beginning at verse 12. These are, so we understand, these are representative examples. The Bible is replete. The New Testament is filled with just these kinds of references and just these kinds of distinctions. Okay. No way is this an exhaustive list. Sometimes we're, or occasionally we're called to believe upon, believe upon epi, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved overwhelmingly in the New Testament. We are called to believe into Jesus Christ. Look at verse 12. John 14 verse 12. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes ace into me, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. And whatever you ask in epsilon new, right? N, whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the father may be glorified in epsilon new, the son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me. Verse 15, keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in epsilon new. He is not into him. He is in him. Notice the difference? He says in verse 18, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Verse 19, a little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also. Verse 20, at that day, after the resurrection, you will know that I am in as a stated positive position, right? I am in epsilon new, not into. I am in my father and you in epsilon new me and I in epsilon new you. No longer into, but in, right? In. Having believed into the Lord Jesus Christ, it would be through the earth shaking events that follow that they would know that he is in the father, that they are in him and that he is in them. In other words, they would come to understand through the death, burial, resurrection, ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ through the giving of the spirit, they would begin to understand union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that that union entails and all that that union infers implies all of the implications of it. He says in verse 19, a little while longer and the world will see me no more. Why is that? Why is it that the world will see him no more? Because in just a little while longer, the Lord Jesus Christ would bear the weight of our guilt and shame up to the rocky hill to the place of the skull where he would hang upon the cross and die in the place of ruined sinners who would believe into him for eternal life. Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse 7, in him in this union with Christ, we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins. Because the Father had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, our union to the Son of God established through our election to salvation in him now stands as Jesus Christ ascends Golgotha to the cross. Do you see? Our union stands as he takes upon himself the dust of our existence. Our union stands in place as he fulfills all righteousness in his perfect life. That union compels him as he steadfastly sets his face toward Jerusalem. And that union with his own in his heart and in his mind as our Lord for the joy that was set before him endures the cross, despising the shame. That union, our union with him in place, having been determined by the Father, in place as he bears our sin upon the tree. That union in place as he drinks the dreadful cup of wrath in our place on our behalf. And that union in place as he gives up his spirit and breathes his last. Romans 6, Paul explains that we are united together with him in the likeness of his death. We are united together with him. However, that union is also in place when the Lord Jesus Christ is raised from the dead for our justification. Amen? We're united to him in the likeness of his resurrection. A little while longer, verse 19 says, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me, why? Because I live, you will live also. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, you and I in union with him will be raised together with him. His death wouldn't be the end of our union. His death wouldn't be the end of their relationship. We are raised in him and we live forever in union with him. Romans 6, verse 4 says we were first buried with him. Romans 6, verse 6 says our old man was crucified with him. Romans 6, verse 8, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Christ, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. That is a glorious thought, isn't it? The hope of the believer to be raised in him, we are considered to have died with him by virtue of our union with him. It's not those weird theologies of, you know, we were in the loins of Christ as he hung upon the cross or, you know, we were there present hanging there with just foolishness. We are considered to have died with him by virtue of our union with him, established by God the Father in eternity past, secured hard one by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, and wrought by the spirit of God in us when we repent and believe the gospel. And we are considered to be raised with him by virtue of that same union. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6, he raised us up together with him and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in union with him. All that to say, right? To summarize all of that, in other words, all, all that Jesus Christ accomplished through his perfect life, all, all that Jesus Christ merited, earned through his sacrificial death, all of the blessings that he has won, all of the promises that he has secured are all said to be ours in him because we were united with him when he won them. We were united to him when he secured them. His perfect life is my perfect life. His righteousness is my righteousness. How perfect is his righteousness? Spotlessly, perfectly perfect. As perfect as perfect can be perfect, it's perfect and it's mine in him. Staggering, his death is my death. His penalty paying sacrifice, my penalty payment of his sacrifice, his resurrection, my resurrection, his glory, my glory. First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30, by God's doing, you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That, as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord, amen. Planted by the Father in eternity, secured by the Son at Calvary, applied by the Spirit in all its fullness when I am created anew in time. It's his resurrection you see back to John 14. It's his resurrection. It's his ascension. It's the coming of the Spirit that makes that clear or will illumine the understanding of his disciples. He said in chapter 14, verse 20, at that day you will know that I am in my Father. It's all going to become clear, right? Though we cannot explain the mysteries of the Trinity, we know that Jesus Christ is one with the Father. If you're in Christ, you know that. Jesus Christ is one with the Father. It's clear on the pages of Scripture. We can't define and comprehend the inscrutable, incomprehensible mysteries of the Trinity, but we know that Jesus Christ is one with the Father. And you will know, he tells the disciples, you will know that you are in me. I can't fully explain that. Comprehend the incomprehensible, the mystery of union with Christ, but if you're in Christ, you know it, or you have a growing sense of that. You are in me, and I am in you. Having believed into him, we are now found in him and he in us. It's amazing, right? And you know, I would encourage you to spend a little time meditating on that. It is staggering the implications of that. That doesn't mean, doesn't mean that you and I are brought into the Godhead as another member of the Trinity, right? It's not an ontological union. It's not a union of essence. We are united spiritually. And although we're united spiritually, listen, it's also not a mere legal declaration. There's an ineffectual aspect to it, right? It produces fruit. There are blessings poured out to us through that union with Christ. But here in John 14, in a staggering analogy that he uses elsewhere, in a staggering analogy, the Lord uses Trinitarian language to describe our union with him. I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. It's amazing, isn't it? Now there are other analogies that the Lord uses in Scripture that the Bible uses to describe our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are referred to in the New Testament, we're referred to as members of his body and he is our head. As the body is joined to the head, we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see the picture? Paul describes this in Colossians 2 verse 19 where Paul says, where members of the body should hold fast to the head Christ from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the increase that is from God. Why is it that the body is nourished, knit together like joints and ligaments? And why does the body grow with increase? It grows, it's nourished, knit together by virtue of our union with our head who is Christ, do you see? In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, this union is such that if a believer were to unite themselves with a harlot, they are uniting Christ to a harlot. That union is nothing to be trifled with, you see? Christ said to Paul, didn't he? Paul who was Saul at the time, persecuting the church, the Lord Jesus Christ meets him on the road to Damascus, Acts chapter 9 and says to Saul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Because Jesus Christ is one with his body, the church. We are described in another analogy as the temple of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our chief cornerstone. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, Paul says, listen, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together now grows into a holy temple in the Lord. You see how the temple grows in union with him. The temple doesn't grow apart from him. The temple doesn't grow in spite of him. The temple grows in him in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. There's work going on through our vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, right? We're being built up. We're growing and maturing. We will be presented complete in Christ. We're also described not only as a body to our head or as a building to our chief cornerstone. We're also described as the bride of Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ is our bridegroom. In Ephesians chapter 5, verse 30, Paul says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Paul could have said, couldn't he? You know, we're together with him in all this. You are together with him in the work that he's doing in the... No, it's not what Paul says and not how he describes it. We are members of his body of... And he could have stopped there, right? Your members of... And we would have said, we're members of the church. We joined the church. I, you know, came to that church, and I decided to stick around there and serve there. I became a member of the church. No. We are members of his body, spiritual union with Christ, of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, Paul says, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It's a staggering implications to that, just stunning, aren't they? Can you see how this would have drastic, dramatic impact on how we view our relationship to him? But not just our relationship to him, but our relationship to one another, doesn't it? We are members of his body. That means members of one another. We are of his flesh and of his bones. In this case, specifically here in Ephesians chapter 5, it's the relationship of a husband to his wife. If you've been to a cornerstone wedding, you've heard us talk about that reality. Husbands, how should you treat, love, sacrifice for your wife, considering that your relationship to your wife is a picture of the bridegroom's relationship to his bride, the church, a staggering reality. High calling and amazingly high responsibility, but also the wife to her husband, kids. That is a tremendous responsibility placed upon you to love, respect, and obey your parents. We are in union with Christ. We're to love one another and fulfill our roles in marriage, our roles in the family, our roles in the church, as we are united to Christ, our Lord. By virtue of our union with him, we are brought then into vital communion with one another. In other words, our union with Christ extends beyond our individual incorporation into the body, into the building, into the household. It becomes the basis for our fellowship together. It becomes the basis, the ground, the foundation on which we build or is built, the unity and the peace of the church. The relationship of bride to bridegroom from body to head is a corporate relationship. Do you see? That means that for we who are in Christ, the union that we have together in him transcends your disagreements. We are to endeavor, we're to labor to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace in love for the Lord Jesus Christ, in love for the body, and that peace, that unity transcends your disagreements. It transcends, frankly, it is far more important than your conflicts, your hangups, your preferences, your desires, whatever pleases you. If you were to write those two on a list, that would be way down the list compared to that union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that you sweep that disagreement under the rock. I'm just going to ignore that conflict. I'm going to ignore that conflict because this over here is far more important, union, peace in the body, unity in the church, far more important. So I'm just going to ignore that conflict. No, because that is so important, you resolve that conflict. You labor, you labor to put it away by doing righteousness, by resolving that, by going to your brother, by going to your sister, by going to your husband, going to your wife, going to mom or dad. You go and resolve conflict, resolve disagreements, resolve issues, put aside preferences, put aside desires because the unity of the church, the peace of the church is so important by virtue of our union with our head. We must endeavor to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. It also renders absurd the notion that you can be in union with Christ without being in a healthy, loving, serving communion with the church. That notion is absurd. First John chapter three, verse 10, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. They're seen, made clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Well, I love my brother. I just don't want to be in church with him on Sunday night. Really? So, as a body to our head, as living stones to our cornerstone, as bride to our bridegroom, we see these analogies in Scripture for our union with Christ. Why is all of that? It's because the one in union with Christ will produce the fruits of that union by his spirit. You see? It's a fruit producing union so the Lord can say, if you don't love your brother, you don't love me. How can you love me whom you've not seen when you don't love your brother whom you do see? It's just a simple logical deduction, isn't it? The one in union with Christ will produce by the spirit the fruits of that union. There's another analogy that we find right here in the Gospel of John. If you'll turn the page and look at John chapter 15, in this example analogy that the Lord gives in John chapter 15 gives further implications of union with Christ for the Christian life. John chapter 15, we get verse one. It's Passion Week. It's the last week of our Lord's earthly ministry. In fact, we're just a few short hours from his arrest in the garden. Judas has been exposed as a traitor. In events have been set in motion, which will lead to the Lord's mock trial, will lead to his scourging, his crucifixion, and finally his death. So these are parting words to his disciples before he leaves them. He says in verse one, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me, the one who professes to be in him, that does not bear fruit. He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Now, verse four, abide therefore in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. Verse five, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me. Do you see that word abide referencing union with the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Maintain a healthy, vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ if you are to bear fruit. I am the vine. Verse five, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do precisely nothing. Just as but sin. You can sin just as the branches depend on the vine for life, for growth, for health, for fruitfulness, for vitality, for strength. So also does the believer depend upon this union with Christ for life, for strength, for joy, for hope, for vitality, for perseverance, for growth, for fruitfulness, for faithfulness. Apart from a vital union with the Lord, we the branches can bear no fruit. We draw all of our nutrients from him. We draw all of our spiritual life, our spiritual health from him. And it's through our union with him that there is a communication of grace and power and strength and life. He says in verse six, anyone does not abide in me? He has cast out as a branch and is withered. They gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. But what does that sound like? Sounds like hell. And that's, you'd be right in making that assertion. If anyone does not abide in me, if he's not in vital union with me, the Lord is saying, he is cast out as a branch. What is the evidence that he is not in vital union with him? He bears no fruit. He's a fruitless branch. Why is he a fruitless branch? Because he's not united to Christ, the vine. Do you see? By this my Father is glorified, verse eight, that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples. When we were working through this text in the Gospel of John several years ago, we made this our premise statement to summarize the teaching of this text. Listen, here's the summary. It is the urgent necessity of every professing Christian. In fact, it is their highest priority. Their highest priority must be to glorify God by bearing increasing fruit in union with Christ through a prayerful and dependent abiding upon him. Union with Christ will produce fruit in the life of the Christian. John chapter 15, verse one, apart from him, you can do nothing. Now, let me ask you the question, why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't? There are so many people who profess to be Christians today who are not united to Christ. They live like devils and they call themselves Christians because they donned the door of a church on Sunday. Why wouldn't it produce fruit? One, the Spirit of God is operative in the fruit bearing. If the Spirit of God is operative in the fruit bearing, what do you think is going to be produced? Fruit. The Spirit of God will accomplish the work that he intends to accomplish in you and through you. Spirit is operative in the fruit bearing. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12. Listen, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all have been made to drink into one Spirit. If you're in Christ, you have the Spirit. The Spirit dwells in you. Notice drinking into one Spirit and being baptized into one body are simply two ways of describing one reality. That reality is union with Christ. One external, we're baptized in the body, right? Baptized by the Spirit in the body, external. One internal, we drink of the same Spirit, you see? The Spirit works on them and the Spirit works in them. Romans chapter 8, verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, notice the power, right? If the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you, spiritual life. Why wouldn't union with Christ produce fruit? Second, a biblical understanding and a faith filled embrace of that union will rocket propel the Christian life. It will add jet fuel to your Christian life. He, Christ, is the fountain head of every blessing and every benefit that flows from God. He is the fountain head. Apart from him, you can do nothing. I was listening to Albert Martin years ago and on this concept, this issue, Albert Martin said this. He said, according to the New Testament, we must increasingly understand and believingly embrace the reality of who we are in Christ and what we possess in Christ if we are to increasingly conduct ourselves in a manner that glorifies Christ. You see what he's saying, right? Use an analogy of, I think you use the analogy of a chipmunk if I remember correctly. He says he takes this little chipmunk. He called him Chippy. Chippy, you know, I want you to fly. Chippy can't fly because Chippy doesn't have wings, right? You're asking the chipmunk to do what a chipmunk can't do. A chipmunk can't fly, right? But you take a bird and you say to that bird, fly. The bird does what the bird is and does what the bird is designed to do. The bird flies. Why? Because the bird has wings. Listen, outside of Christ, apart from a vital union from Christ, you can do nothing. Might as well tell you to fly as we would say to you, glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with your life. But upon a spirit-wrought union with the Lord Jesus Christ, you're giving wings. Fly, little bird. And you can fly because you have strength and power to fly. So listen, when the commands come to you, when the commands come to you, some may sit back and say, oh, just so oppressed, the commands of Christ are burdensome to them. Why? Because they have no wings. There's no vital union with Christ. There's no spirit empowering that one to be and to do who they are in Christ. Do you see? But with the spirit, the more that you and I embrace and love and cherish and treasure who we are in Jesus Christ and the expanse, the vastness of all that we have in Him, then when sin tempts me to despair, I look upward and He is there, the one who made an end of all my sin, and I rejoice in Him to fly. It's, we then are what we have become, and we do what we have been enabled by the spirit and union with Christ to do. We fly because we have wings. That makes sense. Union with Christ becomes the bedrock of sanctification. Union with Christ becomes the jet fuel that propels our growth and maturity and sin-mortifying work by His spirit in the Christian life. Union with Christ is the basis for our Christian life, and we must learn to, we must learn that truth and learn to live in accordance with that truth and learn to meditate on that truth and rejoice in the Lord for that truth. He is worthy of our praise, worthy of our devotion because of it. Well, the conclusion of all this, what is the goal or the aim of this union? The Lord tells us Himself in John chapter 17. You notice how on union with Christ we've walked through the gospel of John. So much in many of the books of the Bible on union with Christ, here particularly in John's gospel, it's just filled with it. The Lord tells us though what the goal or aim of this union is in His high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. Look beginning with me at verse one. Jesus spoke these words. He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You. As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You've sent. Notice, verses one through three there, that those whom the Lord is praying over are those given to Him by the Father. When did that gift take place? It takes place in eternity. Before the foundation of the world, God chose them in Christ, and He gives them to Christ. Who are the ones who are united to Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection? Those whom the Father has given to Him. Look at verse 20. He says, I do not pray for these, speaking of the disciples. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's you and I. John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus Christ, prays for me. He prays for you. That so that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and as I am in you, so that they also may be one in us. It's, can't even get my mind wrapped around that reality, right? So that the world may believe that you sent me. Verse 22. And the glory which you gave me, I have given them, so that they may be one, just as we are one. Trinitarian language to describe our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing. I in them, verse 23, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. I mean, you can't get excited about that, Lord, that the Father has loved us as He has loved the Son. Why is it that the Father loves us as He has loved the Son? Because we are united with the Son. We are in Him. Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, so that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, and I have declared to them your name and will declare it so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. Union with Christ, and union with Christ into eternity, into the ages. What glory? What glory? What manner of love? The Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God, united to the Lord Jesus Christ. What exalted worship should be provoked by that reality? What exalted devotion should be provoked by that reality? What love? What gratitude? What joy? What encouragement? Let the world burn down around us. If you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, praise God, right? Glory be to God. If you're not in Him, all of those gifts, all of those blessings, all of those benefits, all of that joy, all of that hope is found not in the gifts themselves, but in the one who gives them. And if you will turn from your sin, why would you live for yourself when the end of that road is death? Why would you live for yourself when you could live for the one who brings us into union with himself and bestows upon us the treasures of his grace, so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding magnitude, the exceeding wonder, the exceeding glory of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's a wonder. Put your trust in him. Turn from your sin and trust yourself to him and be saved. Let your sins be blotted out. Rejoice in him for all eternity with the saints. He is worthy of our worship. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. I want you to take just a few moments and consider our union with Christ that it is worthy to worship the Lord for and consider whether you are in a vital union with him. Consider whether you are abiding dependent upon him and lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest in him. Abide him in him so that we may as his people produce fruit. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray now Lord that the seed of the gospel would not be taken away by devilish birds and that that fledgling plant, which may have sprouted Lord would not wither, but that you would receive the full reward of your suffering and that you would be magnified and glorified by bringing sinners into vital union with yourself through the spirit. I pray Lord for my brothers and sisters that we would be built up in our faith and that we would learn more deeply to live in the light of this glorious truth and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ would preach the gospel with fervency and faithfulness and would serve you, Lord, until you call us home. And we look forward to the blessedness of eternal union with you into the ages for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.