WEBVTT 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.479 It's been a great and glorious weekend. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:31.519 And I want to thank not just the members of Grace, but all of you for your prayers, not just for the ministry, but for one another, for the fellowship, which is so special, and for the hospitality and to the Grace Church. 00:01:31.679 --> 00:01:32.799 You did a great job. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:34.799 I commend you in the Lord. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.439 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:48.159 As you can tell from my voice, I have a little bit of an allergy issue going on. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.959 Sister Ann did really good. 00:01:51.039 --> 00:01:52.639 She helped me out last night. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.319 I slept good. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:02.319 I dried up, and then it decided right at the last 15 minutes, I'm gonna make a return, you know. 00:02:02.479 --> 00:02:08.800 And uh so God is able to overcome our voice. 00:02:09.519 --> 00:02:20.159 And if my voice gets crackly, I pray it's not a distraction from whatever of the truth that I'm blessed to proclaim to you today. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:28.479 I want to turn to a verse of scripture found in Galatians chapter 2. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:34.879 It's a verse that Brother Philip dealt with, but that wasn't his primary text. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:40.319 I think if I was to categorize it, it would have been Galatians 2.16. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:47.039 But 2.20 is where I want to start, God being my helper. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:52.159 And then I want to proceed to Ephesians and look at some things there. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:02.399 And these verses that I have on my mind are connected in the phrase, we're in the word union. 00:03:04.079 --> 00:03:06.800 We're united with Christ. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:22.400 And there is something I have found to be so special about that concept, to be to know that we are united with Christ. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.919 What does it mean to be united with Christ? 00:03:26.079 --> 00:03:28.639 How do we become united with Christ? 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.039 What does it entail for us today that we are united with Christ? 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.799 Well, there's four levels to that, or four aspects, maybe I should put it like that. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.120 There's not four separate unions. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:43.919 But each looks at that union from a different perspective. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:48.079 And the first one would be eternal union. 00:03:49.359 --> 00:03:54.799 And we'll have to go to uh Ephesians to prove that one, but keep that in mind. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:59.919 The next one is representative union or legal union. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:02.719 And that happened on the cross. 00:04:04.079 --> 00:04:10.240 We'll have to uh we can say right here in Galatians for that one, but there's some good places in Ephesians to go to as well. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:13.919 The third one is what we call vital union. 00:04:14.799 --> 00:04:18.319 Another way of putting that, that's when you're born again, when you're regenerated. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.879 Eternal union said it's the basis. 00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:31.279 Uh legal union is the accomplishment, vital union is the application. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:37.199 But there's a fourth one that deals with you and me in particular. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.600 And it's this last one, this fourth one, is based upon the other three. 00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:45.680 You see, the other three, we are entirely passive in. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.439 We didn't do anything to get united with Christ. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.199 We didn't do anything to get Christ to die for us. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:56.319 We didn't do anything to get Christ to born us again. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:58.480 We didn't cooperate with him, we didn't help him. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.039 We are totally passive in that work. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:06.319 But the fourth one, you are to be very active in the doing thereof. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:11.120 But let's not ever confuse the fourth one with one of the first three. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.079 There's different ways to call the fourth one. 00:05:14.799 --> 00:05:21.600 There's no particular phrase set out in God's Word to say it like this, but one of the words that comes to mind is participation. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.759 We participate in Christ. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.720 Another one would be communion. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.840 Common union. 00:05:32.799 --> 00:05:35.519 That is very definitely taught in God's Word. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.240 We practice a service called communion. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:46.320 And it means we together partake of the body of Christ in a figurative way, that is. 00:05:46.559 --> 00:05:53.519 And in the participating in that service, a blessing comes forth that would not come otherwise. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:59.360 Another way to put it is experimental union. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.000 And notice I didn't say experiential. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:05.120 I'm going to go with my fathers of the ministry on this one. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.279 They use the word experimental. 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:10.159 And if that bothers you, I'm sorry. 00:06:10.960 --> 00:06:14.639 But uh experiential may be the more accurate term. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.080 But my fathers of the ministry, they call it experimental union. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:19.840 I'm going to stick with that, Brother Travis. 00:06:19.919 --> 00:06:21.600 I'm going to call it experimental union. 00:06:21.919 --> 00:06:42.000 But it's an arbitrary way of saying when you are blessed to know who Jesus is and what he's done for you, then you are to take up your cross and follow him, starting with baptism and then taking your place in the church. 00:06:42.159 --> 00:06:47.120 And in so doing, you bring glory and honor to your Lord who died for you. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:53.519 But you also bring something else, not just for you, but it does include something for you. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:54.720 You do something else. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:57.120 More importantly, you bless other people. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.200 And that is the true mark of Christ. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:07.120 Not that you love indiscriminately. 00:07:07.919 --> 00:07:18.639 And it's not that loving God is lesser, it's just that this you prove your love for God by showing love to your brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:25.600 The Apostle Paul has a unique way of describing things, unique to him. 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:34.240 And one of the oft-quoted ways, often seen ways that he does it, is with the preposition, that little two-letter word in. 00:07:35.679 --> 00:07:36.879 In Christ. 00:07:37.200 --> 00:07:40.720 In him, in whom, in the Lord. 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:45.039 And you find it all throughout the Apostle Paul's letters. 00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:48.399 The one that right now comes to my mind is Romans 8 and 1. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:53.279 There is there now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:56.159 May I say that that's a great place to be. 00:07:56.320 --> 00:07:57.759 It's the best place to be. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.279 In, as the word, as we use the word, means location or place. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.639 It doesn't have to mean an actual geographic place, it can mean a place of or sphere of influence. 00:08:10.960 --> 00:08:14.399 But in Christ, it means that you are united with him. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:23.279 Brother James Conley quoted from 1 Corinthians 1 and 18 yesterday when he said, But of him are ye in Christ. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:27.919 And that right there explains how you get in Christ. 00:08:28.159 --> 00:08:29.840 But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. 00:08:29.919 --> 00:08:32.399 Let's go to Galatians 2.20. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.279 Brother Mike doesn't want me to leave him any time. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:37.600 He's made that pretty clear. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:49.519 But I would be remiss if I did not give him plenty of time to speak to us and share with us those things the Lord has put on his heart. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:58.320 We said Galatians 2.20, and Galatians 2.20 is in the midst of Paul's speech to the apostle Peter. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:08.559 Don't have time to get into the particulars of it, but he's talking to the Galatians by telling them what he told Peter. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:26.480 And I found that way of looking at this section of Galatians very helpful to remember that what we're reading is it's universal to all of God's people, to the church in all ages, but it's based on a confrontation that Paul had with Peter. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:32.480 And that confrontation happened in the church at Antioch. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:36.159 And Paul's using this to talk to the church at Galatia. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.600 And the Holy Ghost is using it to talk to the church today. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:57.439 So the speech really begins around 214, 2.15, and then it lays out the great doctrine of justification by the faith of Jesus Christ, where the Philip preached about that. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:05.839 And that one verse is to Galatians, like Romans 1.16, 17 is to Romans. 00:10:06.319 --> 00:10:15.439 If you want to get the thesis statement of the letter that Paul wrote to the Galatians, it's Galatians 2.16. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:22.879 And then for the rest of the second chapter, he he supports and defends what he just said in the 16th verse. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:29.199 And 2.20 being the next to the last verse is really a summation. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:30.559 It's really the conclusion. 00:10:30.719 --> 00:10:35.519 It's the conclusion statement of the speech of Paul to Peter. 00:10:37.199 --> 00:10:40.399 If you're not familiar with Galatians 2.20, you really should. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:42.799 You owe it to yourself to do that. 00:10:42.959 --> 00:10:49.600 It's the most personal statement that the Apostle Paul will make in any of his letters. 00:10:49.839 --> 00:10:53.120 Even more personal than Romans 7, and that's saying a lot. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:58.000 This is Paul not talking about me in a rhetorical sense. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:00.799 He's talking about me in the actual sense. 00:11:00.959 --> 00:11:02.639 He's talking about himself. 00:11:03.199 --> 00:11:09.600 This is the Paul's heart laid out in front of everybody. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.519 It ought to be our heart, too. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:22.559 But we have to, to get to that point, we need to, in prayer and meditation, look at Paul's words and try to see them for what they are. 00:11:22.959 --> 00:11:29.279 And try not to read things into it that are not there and try to read out of it what is in there to be read out of it. 00:11:29.439 --> 00:11:30.879 So I'm going to quote it to you. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.959 I know you got your Bibles open. 00:11:33.199 --> 00:11:36.000 Again, I'm an old-fashioned preacher. 00:11:37.199 --> 00:11:40.639 If it helps you to read along with me, then fine. 00:11:42.079 --> 00:11:45.439 But I much rather prefer you listen to me. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:47.839 Does that hurt anybody's feelings? 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:49.679 Oh no, I don't hurt anybody's feelings. 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:51.519 I don't mean it for that way. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.079 You know, I'm thankful everybody brings their Bibles. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:59.519 You know, when I was a young lad, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:04.719 When you brought a Bible to church, the old brethren would come to you and says, What do you think you can preach today? 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.159 You know, I'm 12 years old. 00:12:06.319 --> 00:12:08.719 And so I didn't want anybody to catch me with the Bible. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:12.639 I didn't want anybody thinking I was thinking that I was called to preach. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:14.319 I'm glad those days are behind us. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:18.639 I'm glad it's great that people bring their Bibles. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.000 I think it's great that husbands sit with their wives. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:27.519 All my adult life I've had to sit on the front row, not because I wanted it, well, kind of did want it. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.919 I'm a long-legged person, and it's not a lot nicer to sit on the front row. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.480 And I, this is a terrible say, too. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.159 But you have less distractions on the first row. 00:12:38.719 --> 00:12:40.399 I'll just leave it at that. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.039 I am crucified with Christ. 00:12:45.199 --> 00:12:50.639 Now, this verse 20 has to be understood in light of the verse that preceded it. 00:12:50.959 --> 00:12:54.639 And I'll talk about that in just a second, but let me just finish reading the verse. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:57.039 I am crucified with Christ. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.839 Nevertheless, I live. 00:13:00.319 --> 00:13:03.839 Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:13.439 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.399 This is the heart of the apostle. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:19.519 Well, he meant every word that I just read. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.759 And he means it to impact the Galatians. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:29.600 And the Holy Ghost means for us to be impacted likewise. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.959 So when he says me, he means me, Paul. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.199 I, he means I, Paul. 00:13:35.439 --> 00:13:40.480 He's not talking about an us or a we, he's talking about an I and a me. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.079 And we may say, isn't that rather selfish? 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:45.759 I say, no. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.319 As a matter of fact, I'd say, until you can get to the we and the us, you've got to deal with the I and the me first. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.879 You've got to see the I and the me in Christ. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:02.319 And that means seeing things that are good to see that you don't want to see, but you must see. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:06.879 And you must see those things before you can see the glorious things. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:11.600 First of all, the apostle Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.519 Let me ask you a question. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:18.000 Was Paul there when Christ actually was crucified? 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:19.360 No, he wouldn't. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:20.480 Of course he wouldn't. 00:14:21.199 --> 00:14:25.199 He doesn't mean I was co-crucified with Christ. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:30.639 And he's not saying I fell in love with Christ, so I crucified myself. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.399 He's not even saying that. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:35.199 He's not saying I wanted to, so I did. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:36.319 That's not it. 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:39.679 He's saying a fact, an established fact. 00:14:40.079 --> 00:14:42.319 I am crucified with Christ. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:52.399 Christ didn't have all of his people present on the cross with him, visibly, actually, but representationally he did. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:00.240 That Paul came to understand that he was one of those people that Christ died for. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:05.679 And that's what it means to begin with: that I am crucified with Christ. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:20.240 You come to the realization that what the Son of God did for you, did for you, he did it for you on the cross, and what he did for you did something for you that nothing else would have done. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:22.959 I am crucified with Christ. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.759 And he makes it, he then he throws the curveball. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:27.039 Nevertheless, I live. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.240 Well, what is it, Paul? 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:29.759 Did you die with Christ? 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:31.199 Or do you live? 00:15:31.439 --> 00:15:34.319 And my answer to that is yes, to both. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.679 He died when Christ died. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:38.719 You did too. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:45.839 If you belong to Christ, and you need to see this, you died with Christ when he died. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:46.480 Why? 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.039 Because he represented you on the cross. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:56.639 That representation is only there because God purposed it before the world began. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:11.519 And he purposed it so that the people that he chose in Christ would be atoned for and be able to stand before him in love, especially in the great day of days when he comes back to take his home to glory. 00:16:14.719 --> 00:16:19.759 We see right off the bat, Paul is talking about representational union. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:21.279 I am crucified with Christ. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:29.519 That preposition with means not just, uh it means not alongside with, but a part of. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.640 Do you believe that he was crucified for you? 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.200 Because you deserve to be crucified. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.559 That he must pay the penalty for your sins. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:18.400 I say that at our communion service. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.360 I say, when you take the bread, you know what you're saying? 00:17:21.600 --> 00:17:36.480 You're saying I'm responsible for Christ's body being torn like it was, for the immense pain and agony that he endured for me, and as some brothers said, He did it for me, even if I was the only me that there was. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.039 He suffered untold agony. 00:17:39.120 --> 00:17:43.920 He told those two men on the road to Maeus, ought not Christ to have suffered. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.799 He had to go through the valley of the shadow of death. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:58.079 He went to death, and he was for a while buried within the tomb, but death could not hold him. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:02.400 And because it could not hold him, it will not hold us. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:03.519 Amen. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.880 That's the glory of being united with Christ. 00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:08.880 Yes, we died with him. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.799 That has a doctrinal and a practical aspect. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.079 You've got to see the doctrine of it. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:15.600 You've got to see the teaching of it. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.880 And when you see the teaching of it, you come to this realization. 00:18:19.040 --> 00:18:28.480 Like Paul said to the Romans in the sixth chapter of Romans, he says, likewise reckon ye yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto Christ. 00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:44.640 It's not that it's actually now true that we are in a sin-free environment, our bodies are free of sin, but we ought to reckon that what Christ did is such that we can live a way that otherwise we couldn't. 00:18:45.120 --> 00:18:54.080 And I've felt this for the longest time is that if we are going to heaven, and I believe we are, then we ought to live like we're in heaven right now. 00:18:54.800 --> 00:18:58.320 We ought to treat one another like we're all in heaven. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.640 Because Christ has done for us the most wonderful thing. 00:19:02.800 --> 00:19:06.960 He's made us meet to be with him in glory one of these days. 00:19:07.120 --> 00:19:12.240 Now, I know we have to be glorified in the resurrection, but you get the point, I trust. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.040 He says, Nevertheless I live, yet not I. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:17.600 Now, here's the other part of this living. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:28.320 In that he sees himself crucified with Christ, and yet he lives, he realizes that the life that he has is not his life, it's the life of Christ in him. 00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:33.200 Christ was raised from the dead to walk in newness of life. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:38.000 He has that newness of life where he is right now at the right hand of God. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:45.360 And we are privileged to walk in newness of life because we have his life in us. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:20:01.519 Because he has his life in us, as Paul says to the to the Romans of 8 chapter, Romans, if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also raise up your bodies too. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.200 I didn't put that exactly perfect, but uh you get the point. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:13.040 The thing that's in you right now, if you have the life of Christ in you right now, you have the power of the resurrection in you right now. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:15.200 Just think about that. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.880 That ought to change our perspective on so many things. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:31.120 And we just remember that although we are in bodies that are crumbling as I speak, he says, yet the inner man is renewed day by day. 00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:36.960 That inner man is the life of Christ in us, in you and in me. 00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:52.720 And then he says, uh, I live in the life I live, this life of Christ that I live presently, now, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:58.000 Those two things epitomize what the faith of Christ is all about. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:04.320 It is the love and the self-sacrificing of himself for those that he loved. 00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:12.560 In this verse, we see uh we see explicitly stated legal or representational union. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.400 We see vital union. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:23.519 We even see participation in that he mentions that we are to live the life of faith with the life of Christ within us. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.640 What is implied, what is underneath it all, is eternal union. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:36.000 Because Christ wasn't named, who wasn't unified or did not unite to him people that he didn't already know. 00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:38.560 And when did he come to know them? 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:40.960 Before the world began. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.840 Now I turn to Ephesians chapter 1. 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:53.519 And we begin to look at the beginning of the letter, and we want to get to the fourth verse, but I'll start with the third verse to get there. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:22:03.759 He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:05.440 You talk about a union. 00:22:06.080 --> 00:22:08.960 It's not just in Christ, it's in heavenly places in Christ. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.560 It should be enough that we're in Christ. 00:22:12.800 --> 00:22:14.960 But we're in heavenly places in Christ. 00:22:15.040 --> 00:22:16.960 These heavenly places are in Christ. 00:22:17.040 --> 00:22:18.720 And guess who else is in Christ? 00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:19.519 You are. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:20.240 I am. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:22.480 We belong to Christ. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.440 He has us in himself. 00:22:26.560 --> 00:22:29.840 The spiritual blessings, I want you to think of them in two ways. 00:22:30.080 --> 00:22:34.000 There's two kinds of blessings, if I may put it like this, that are in Christ. 00:22:34.320 --> 00:22:40.400 And that comprehends all spiritual blessings, whatever they are, they're in one of two categories. 00:22:44.080 --> 00:22:49.040 There are the promises that are yours without condition. 00:22:50.080 --> 00:22:51.680 And we're going to read about some of those. 00:22:51.840 --> 00:23:04.560 I won't read them all, but you can start in the fourth verse and read down through most of the first chapter, and you can see a lot of things that we have in Christ, blessings that are in Christ that we had nothing to do with, that were totally passive in. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:09.920 But that's not to say there aren't other blessings, and these are conditional. 00:23:11.120 --> 00:23:14.160 They're in Christ, where you are in Christ. 00:23:14.800 --> 00:23:20.720 But for you to participate in them, you must follow, thus saith the Lord. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.840 You must obey the commands of Christ. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:27.600 You must love one another as you love the Lord. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.400 And you may or you may not do that. 00:23:31.040 --> 00:23:32.560 I can speak from my own experience. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:41.840 If indeed I am a child of God, I can prove, as a matter of fact, that I have acted in such a way that I've given up certain blessings. 00:23:42.560 --> 00:23:51.440 And that's the shame on me because I have the capacity to do those things that I've been called, because God worketh in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. 00:23:51.600 --> 00:23:55.680 So the first thing that we want to say is found in the fourth verse. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:00.640 And this really we'll say this, and then we're going to jump to the second chapter. 00:24:01.040 --> 00:24:07.680 He says, according as he hath chosen us in him, there's your eternal union right there. 00:24:08.320 --> 00:24:11.680 According as he hath chosen us in him, why do I know it's eternal? 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.840 Because it started before time began. 00:24:14.560 --> 00:24:17.600 This choice was before time began. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:21.600 And he says, according as he hath chosen us in him. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.120 Paul's saying, me and you. 00:24:38.080 --> 00:24:39.600 That's not his point at all. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:46.720 No, anything, any kind of salvation where you have to do something, it's not eternal salvation. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.360 Just take that as a rule. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:50.960 It's in the book. 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:57.920 Anything mentioned that sounds like salvation that says you have to do something to get it, it's time salvation. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.840 This is not time salvation. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:03.600 This is eternal. 00:25:04.800 --> 00:25:13.360 According as he had chosen us and him before the foundation of the world, before the world began, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. 00:25:13.840 --> 00:25:23.360 You read on down, I challenge any of you young people here, look through that first chapter and count the many times the preposition in is used. 00:25:23.600 --> 00:25:31.840 And then see how many times that preposition is used in connection with him or in whom or in Christ. 00:25:32.080 --> 00:25:40.480 The vast majority of them are about being in Christ or experiencing or participating in a blessing. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.560 In these passively, uh, thank goodness it's not up to us. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.200 It's all done by the power of God. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:51.840 But we have a sense as we move through that first chapter. 00:25:52.320 --> 00:25:53.840 I'm not going to say anything more about the first chapter. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.440 I'm not going to read anything else out of the first chapter. 00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:56.880 I'll leave that to you. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.160 Because that we'd spend all the time. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.720 We'd spend the rest of our lives talking about that. 00:26:03.040 --> 00:26:11.360 I'm just telling you, the first blessing, the first in him, in Christ, is the fourth verse. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.600 And now I you can say, what about the third verse? 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:15.680 You said all heavenly blessings in Christ. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:19.040 But I think the fourth verse is very directed, very specific. 00:26:21.360 --> 00:26:24.160 You wonder why would Paul even write about this? 00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:26.640 Well, I'm glad he did, aren't you? 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:37.120 I I hope if you're not glad about it now, that you'll meditate on it and you'll see the beauty and the power of it. 00:26:37.360 --> 00:26:38.960 But think about who he's writing to. 00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:44.400 He's writing to people who what we would call like us Gentiles, not Jews. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:49.440 They had no uh covenant link to God going back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:51.519 They had none of those promises to them. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:57.680 But so how how can they not be inferior to that group of people? 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:00.000 Well, Paul makes it pretty plain. 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:02.240 There is no such thing as inferiority. 00:27:03.120 --> 00:27:04.640 We're all in Christ. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:10.000 And in Christ there's neither male nor female, bond or free, Jew nor Gentile. 00:27:10.320 --> 00:27:12.400 He says about a new creature. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:20.800 To us today, we have a pedigree that is the finest, highest pedigree that you can imagine. 00:27:21.040 --> 00:27:26.480 And it's not because we we uh failed to be descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:30.720 No, we have the same pedigree as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has. 00:27:31.360 --> 00:27:37.519 We belong to Christ because we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:39.440 That's eternal union. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:43.840 Now I want to go to the second chapter and look at something here. 00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:50.000 Time is it is the enemy. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:56.560 We start with the first verse, and uh it says, and you have to quicken. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:00.160 You were dead in trespasses and in sins. 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:04.080 That word quicken is not in the Greek. 00:28:06.080 --> 00:28:09.440 But the context is all about quickening. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:13.120 It's all about being born again. 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:14.480 Why do I say that? 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.040 Because you were, he said you were dead. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:20.320 You walked a certain way that you don't walk anymore. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.080 What changed? 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.560 It was you were born again. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:25.759 You were quickened. 00:28:26.080 --> 00:28:27.279 Doesn't mean you stopped sinning. 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:28.000 I'm not saying that. 00:28:28.080 --> 00:28:31.920 But I'm saying your whole life was redirected, refocused. 00:28:32.320 --> 00:28:36.720 Quickening is divine life, giving, the giving of divine life. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.120 And this is what we call vital union. 00:28:39.360 --> 00:28:44.560 But I want you to see the power of how the apostle Paul was blessed to write this. 00:28:44.800 --> 00:28:48.240 And then you know the first three verses is all about what we were. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:49.840 We were this way. 00:28:50.320 --> 00:28:53.120 And it was a it was a bad thing that he describes. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:58.240 And you have to see it, you have to own it before you can own this other thing that's more blessed. 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:02.880 You are you were quickened, not that you asked for it. 00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:05.360 No, you were dead in trespasses and in sins. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:06.800 The dead don't know anything. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:08.320 The dead don't want anything. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.160 They don't want anything from God. 00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:19.040 Uh, but when God quickens you, whether you ever come to the truth or whether you ever join the church, you are changed forever. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:23.920 You have something in you that is pure as Christ is pure. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.759 You have something in you that is the life of Christ. 00:29:28.080 --> 00:29:29.440 It is eternal life. 00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:31.600 You you're not waiting to get eternal life. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:36.800 You already have eternal life, that is, in your soul and spirit, because Christ has born you again. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:38.320 He's regenerated you. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:50.880 You go to Titus 3.5 and John 3.3 and John 3.5, uh, very sundry places, uh, John 1.12 and 13, and you can find where the inspired writers make it clear. 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:56.080 God does this to you without asking for your permission. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:58.960 And thank God He does. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:05.120 Vital union is what gives you the spirit, and it gives you the capability. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:07.120 Notice I use the word capability. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:09.519 It means the capacity for doing something is there. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.960 Whether or not the capacity is utilized, that's another question. 00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:32.400 But you have that within you to do that which is pleasing in God's sight, and you'll want to do it, though sometimes you feel like you don't, because you have something in you, a living, breathing spirit of Christ in you, that bears witness with your spirit. 00:30:32.560 --> 00:30:41.759 That Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, he takes up his abode in your heart, and he sits upon the throne of your heart, and he never leaves. 00:30:42.080 --> 00:30:45.360 God doesn't give you the spirit one day and take it away the next. 00:30:45.600 --> 00:30:46.880 He's not that way. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:52.560 He gives that life and he gives it to the people that Christ died for. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:31:05.360 So on that basis, I can say from the dawn of time, uh, for however long God's people, God's elect have existed upon this earth, every single one of them has been born again. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:11.040 And I'm not saying that they were born again at the age of two or twelve or 120. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.440 I can say that John the Baptist was born again in his mother's womb. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:16.880 How do I know that? 00:31:17.040 --> 00:31:25.680 Because the Bible says he leaped for joy at the salutation of Mary as she was uh carrying the baby, unborn baby Jesus. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:33.040 John did something that can only be accounted for by being born again. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:42.400 In his heart, in his little infant heart, in his unborn body, infant heart, leap for joy. 00:31:42.800 --> 00:31:45.279 But did he know why he was leaping for joy? 00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:49.920 I mean, that we could we can argue the point, I suppose, but he was a baby. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.160 He didn't intellectually know, but his heart, his soul knew. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.240 It could be the last breath you breathe. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:03.519 God's never too late, he's never too early. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:09.840 There's no circumstance that's too great for him to do his will because he said, he's promised this. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:15.920 This is part of the covenant of grace, and the covenant of grace was made not with you and me. 00:32:16.080 --> 00:32:17.360 We're the recipients of it. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:19.680 We're included in it as the recipients. 00:32:19.840 --> 00:32:28.160 But the ones who agreed to it, the ones that said, I'll do this, and the other one said, I'll do this, and the other one said, I'll do this, that is God, the triumph. 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:35.759 Each of the persons of the Godhead have a role in our salvation. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.600 And it started before the world began. 00:32:40.320 --> 00:32:48.640 Vital union comes to all, whether you join the church or not, whether a babe dies in infancy or like the thief on the cross just before he dies. 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:58.640 You don't hear Christ saying a single word to the thief when that man changes from cursing the Lord to blessing the Lord, to defending the Lord. 00:32:58.800 --> 00:32:59.920 What changed? 00:33:00.320 --> 00:33:01.440 Was he baptized? 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.400 Is that what changed? 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.000 No, he wasn't baptized. 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:06.720 Was it because he heard the gospel preached? 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:10.000 Well, if he did, it was because Christ spoke to his heart. 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:18.000 God, and here's Christ at his weakest ebb on the cross. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:23.279 And he quickens who at the time is acting like one of his worst enemies. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:32.640 But vital union is dependent upon legal union, representational union. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:35.120 And there is another kind of quickening. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:37.360 It's not that you're born again two different ways. 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:46.560 You're only born again one way, but there is a quickening that happened for all of us at the same time, together in Christ. 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:48.000 And we'll read about that now. 00:33:48.320 --> 00:34:01.120 We go down to the fifth verse, and he says, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. 00:34:01.360 --> 00:34:04.080 For by grace ye are saved. 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:06.800 What are we to make of this verse? 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:09.519 Well, again, we see that word with. 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.119 There's that word with again, isn't it? 00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:13.119