No Mere Cheap Grace

The following quotations are taken from a blogpost I read and are very helpful in understanding what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Certainly, true Christians are forgiven; certainly God in his Word holds out to us the promise of eternal life.  But being united to Christ by faith also affords the believer real power over sin.  Here are the quotes:

"'Salvation,' instead of being construed as the gift of a transformed, abundant life in the now-present kingdom of God, begins to be equated with an otherworldly reward. More crassly put, 'salvation' is increasingly viewed as a fire-insurance policy - rather than the gift of new life in the here and now that stands confident even in the face of death, 'salvation' becomes a 'Get Out of Hell Free Card,' guaranteeing an escape from the fires of torment and ensuring the receipt of treasures in heaven."

"Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel accounts relate, always comes asking disciples to follow him, not merely 'accept him,' not merely 'believe in him,' not merely 'worship him,' but to follow him."

"A 'disciple' is a 'pupil,' a 'learner,' an 'apprentice,' one who typically follows a master or teacher in order to learn how one should live and conduct one's life."

"For Paul, God's grace is always much more than mere legalistic forgiveness of sins; grace is not a mere forensic transaction in which the legal accounts are cleared so we will not be sent to hell in the afterlife. Grace is not merely pardon, but power: for Paul, the gifts of God's love are manifested not merely in forgiveness (though certainly in forgiveness, which we desperately need), but also in freeing us from lives of 'slavery,' freeing us to be the people God intends us to be, seen most fully in the incarnation of Christ."

"Grace that is merely 'forgiveness' is what Paul calls 'sinning that grace may abound' (Rom. 6:1). Or is is what Bonhoeffer called 'cheap grace.' Grace does not merely provide forgiveness so that we may be forgiven, but empowerment to be the people of God, to be the body of Christ, to continue the work and ministry of Christ in human history."

"The Pauline epistles do not depict a cheap salvation by grace by which w are 'forgiven' by giving mental assent to 'Jesus as my Lord and Savior,' but a gospel that proclaims the power of resurrection working among us and in us, that Christ himself now works in us."

Lee Camp, Mere Discipleship, 22, 23, 105 113, 114, 157.

Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior

Here is another hymn saturated with gospel truth.  Even those who have walked with Christ for many years need to be reminded often that it is all God's grace, from start to finish.  Our sanctification, growth in Christ, and increasing holiness is not something we drum up, but it is looking to Christ and our union with Christ that progressively enables us to obey.  May we look to the Author and Finisher of our faith and delight in Him daily!



Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
 
Refrain
Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
 
Do not pass me by.
Let me at Thy throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief,
Kneeling there in deep contrition;
Help my unbelief.
 
Refrain
 
Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace.
 
Refrain
 
Thou the Spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me,
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in heav'n but Thee?
 
Refrain

Words - Fanny J. Crosby, 1868

Come Heavy Laden

Christ's love and mercy are inexhaustible!  All of the words of this great hymn below, written by William Williams who lived between  1717 and 1791, stir my heart.  However, the chorus is particularly glorious.  O Savior, that I would seek to know you more intimately.  Jesus is far greater than anything this fleeting and dying world could ever offer!

Come heavy laden, come and rest,
Your souls from fear and pain;
Jesus the God was crucified,
And died and rose again.

Chorus:
Sweet are His words, sweet is His voice
His smiles are heaven below;
Of all the pleasures in this world,
Tis Jesus I would know.

His holy yoke’s easy and smooth,
His burdens all are light;
In His commandments, though severe,
Is infinite delight.

O! would He raise my feeble soul,
To a celestial flame;
I would, for Jesus, either do,
Or suffer all the same.

Romans 8:1– Union with Christ

INTRODUCTION

There are many in the world who claim to know God. Many of these claim to know God apart from Christ. In our post-modern culture, the concept of God has been reduced to a free-for-all. Sin doesn’t exist and God is a mere genie in the sky. The general attitude is something like “whatever works for you is great, just don’t try to force it on me”. Since sin is a concept that isn’t addressed, God can be whatever we want him to be at the moment. In what is probably an unprecedented time in human history, millions of people think they can come to God on their own terms, rather than His terms.

There are even those who lay claim to Christ without really being associated with him in anyway. In the culture we live in, everyone from talk show hosts to money-seeking prosperity evangelists to presidents and would-be presidents claim to own or be affiliated with Christ in some way – most to fulfill their own agendas. Even some followers of Eastern religions and human philosophies claim Christ as a sort of “spiritual guru” or alternate path to “God” – a god of their own making. This isn’t too surprising since this is what the world has tried to do from the beginning. By “world” I mean those whose only allegiance is to a system of wisdom that is contrary to biblical God-centered, God derived wisdom; wisdom that is really no wisdom at all, but folly. These kinds of ideas are the height of the earthly wisdom that we see spoken of in 1 Corinthians chapters 1 through 3 and the entire book of Colossians, among other places.

Having only about a month ago celebrated Christmas, or our Lord’s breaking into human history in the form of man, we saw many Americans who probably wouldn’t even consider themselves Christians celebrate the holiday in some form or fashion. Many claim Jesus only for the benefits the holiday affords; many celebrate Christmas merely because that’s just what you do. Many claim that Christ was a good teacher, one whose moral commands are good for us to follow. Yet these same people, when confronted with the truth that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, God in the flesh- who died for sins he didn’t commit will categorically deny that He is just that. They will stop short of allegiance to Christ on God’s terms because they refuse to submit to His Sovereign lordship. They will not have a man to tell them how to live their lives.

It seems that there are almost as many different belief systems in some kind of “god” as there are people. There are those who freely say things like “I don’t believe in God, but if there is a God, I am good enough to get to heaven” – or at least their lives reflect that belief.

In today’s American culture, there are professing evangelical Christians who hold to similar ideas. There are those in the churches that see Jesus as one of among possibly many ways to get to “God” or “heaven”. Of course as I said, in this culture, there is no such thing as sin. Or if there is, it is not generally regarded as the bible regards sin. It is reduced to “missing the mark” or “making a mistake”. They don’t see sin as the bible sees sin: a transgression against the character and being of God deserving of God’s wrath and death – or as Grudem puts it “ Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature.”¹

….All this is not to denigrate or disparage any group of people in America or anywhere else. It is only to say that there is great confusion and ignorance in the culture about who God is, who Christ is, what the significance of Christ’s life, death and resurrection are, and who we are before a holy God. Let this not be said about us. We look to the bible to see what the way to God is.

We see throughout the bible in both the Old and New Testaments that God is indeed a holy God. God indeed pours out wrath on those who sin against him. And He is just and right to do so. His righteousness is a pure righteousness; His holiness is pure. To give a big picture understanding we need to look no further than the book of Romans.

THE TEXT

The book of Romans in the New Testament is widely regarded to be one of the most grand and sweeping biblical texts exposing the deep rich truths of God’s Gospel of Grace. It is a lengthy discourse on the terrible lost, hell bound state of mankind without Christ and the new eternally blessed state of being for those who belong to Christ. Really, the letter is an in depth declaration of the glory and love of God and how He saves sinners. We are going to key in on one verse that kind of sums up what the way, the only way to God is: Romans 8:1. Before we go there, let’s get a bigger picture biblically God centered overview of redemptive history:

Adam sinned in the garden by disregarding God’s word and eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Gen. 3:3-6) Thus God placed Adam, all mankind, even all creation under a curse. (Romans 3:10-18). This curse is death and humanity is linked to Adam in such a way that Adam is its representative (Rom 5:12 and Rom 6:23). This linking of all humanity to Adam is very important – keep this in mind as we move on. Death, biblically defined is “eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thes 1:9)- this would be hell. And although humans from Adam onward have been trying to make things right before God by being righteous enough by doing good works, this is impossible (Isa 64:6 ; Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16). God’s perfection requires infinitely more than fallen sinners can provide. Hebrews 9:22 also tells us that there is no forgiveness of sin by God without the shedding of blood.

This is a lot of bad news. Man is in a pitiable state and without hope in the world. But, there is good news. In fact, there is tremendously great news that is beyond our wildest imagination. God has provided a way to repair and reverse the curse that mankind is under and even make better the position of a certain group of people. It can be summed up in one verse: Romans 8:1:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom 8:1 NASB)

The Apostle Paul has just described in chapter 7 how by attempting to keep the Old Testament Law and by doing good works man cannot be saved from the curse. In fact, mankind under Adam – its natural state- is cursed, or like it refers to in our verse (Romans 8:1) - under condemnation.

As sons of Adam, we are subject and slaves to sin. Romans 7:5 puts it this way: For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. We see already that just this far into our study, things don’t line up with these aforementioned views of how to get to heaven or how to get to God. In fact, we can look a little further and see that man apart from God’s grace cannot even understand the things of God as revealed in the Word through the Holy Spirit. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1Co 2:14 NASB)

So without God’s initiative mankind does not nor cannot accept heavenly things. Again, this is a pitiable and sad state to be in. Such were we all.

Condemnation, as defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary is as follows:

to pronounce guilty :a: to declare to be guilty of wrongdoing; convict b: to pass judicial sentence on; inflict a penalty upon c: to doom <condemn a prisoner to die>

Biblically all of these apply to mankind. In the bible, to be condemned is to be under God’s wrath and in fact, in our natural state, already dead. Consider with me Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Eph 2:1-3 NASB)

Here Paul tells us that before, we were dead in sins, objects of God’s wrath. And notice the “even as the rest” in verse 3. Before, we were just like the rest of the world. So all, apart from Christ are already condemned. We are, along with Adam guilty before God. But in this passage Paul uses the past tense “were dead”, “formerly walked”, “formerly lived”; and “were children of wrath”. So before what, were we children of wrath and why aren’t we anymore? If we go a little farther in this passage we see just what it is that makes all these things past tense and not applicable anymore to those God saves.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Eph 2:4-6 NASB)

It is God who fixes the problem. It is God who makes it right. God made us alive together with Christ. And going back to our verse Romans 8:1, we see it put another way:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom 8:1 NASB)

If we are “in” Christ Jesus, we are no longer condemned. If we are in Christ, we have been made alive as Ephesians 2:5 puts it. The New Testament is full of this language: “to be in Christ”. Christians often use such language in our everyday talk. We generally have a level of understanding of what it means to be in Christ. But what does this mean at a deeper level and what are some of the implications and benefits of being “in Christ”? How do those who are in Christ differ from those who are not? How does being in Christ, which is sometimes called being in union with Christ or the believer’s union with Christ, necessarily affect whether we know the true God or not? Let me just say at this point that there’s no way I can do full justice to the biblical presentation of what it means to be united to Christ. One could preach a whole series of sermons on this. So I’m going to barely be scratching the surface; but hopefully when I’m done I will have shown enough from Scripture to see at least part of the glory of the believer’s union with Christ and why it matters. Let’s look at this more closely.

THE NATURE OF OUR UNION WITH CHRIST

We have already seen that in our original state, or in Adam we are condemned. Furthermore, we are separated from God. We are alienated from him. To put it even more plainly: we are enemies of God. So the first thing we can say just from examining Romans 8:1 is that sinners cannot share in the saving benefits of Christ’s redemptive or saving work on the cross unless they are in union with Him. Let’s look at the nature of the believer’s union with Christ. Keep in mind that we cannot deal with all of these issues exhaustively or comprehensively. I want to go quickly through a few aspects of this great doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ and concentrate on a few aspects more deeply.

INITIATED and KEPT by GOD

How are we united to Christ? By what means does this take place? We can see very clearly from a passage we have already looked at how we are united to our Lord Jesus. In fact, we can even expand on the passage and look at it more closely. Please turn to Ephesians 1. Beginning in verse 4 and going through verse 11:

just as He [that is, God] chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, (Eph 1:4-11 NASB)

We can see that this is a very rich passage that sheds much light on many aspects of our union with Christ and we will look at some of them in more detail later. But to begin with we are shown very clearly and beautifully that if we are in union with Christ it is by the will of God the Father. This is absolutely crystal clear that we are “chosen” in Christ before the foundation of the world – not by some good he saw in us, but because of the good in Christ! He “predestined” us to be His children in Christ. He redeemed us in Christ according to the riches of his grace that He lavished on us. In Christ we have obtained a heavenly inheritance. And on it goes. The great puritan pastor John Owen said of this “This is that fellowship to which all saints are called, and in which, by the faithfulness of God, they shall be kept. We are called by God the Father, who loves us, to this fellowship with his Son our Lord.”² To be in Christ is to be blessed beyond any earthly comprehension. In fact, it is so incomprehensible, especially by those who are not united to Christ, but even to a degree those who are in union with him that this doctrine is sometimes called by theologians “The Mystical Union.” We, not being divine and not being infinite cannot fully understand the inner workings of the relationships within the council of God and can at some point only worship in awe. Dr. Charles Hodge says about the Mystical Union:

“The technical designation of this union in theological language is “mystical” because it so far transcends all the analogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of its connection, in the transforming power of its influence, and in the excellencies of its consequences.”

It is these that I would like to now look at:

THE FACT THAT IT’S A PERSONAL UNION

HUMAN ANALOGIES FOUND IN THE BIBLE

AND THE FACT THAT THIS UNION IS A TRANSFORMING UNION

Personal Union

Let’s begin by exploring how our union with Christ is a personal union. Indeed, it is more than just a title. We will see that those who are truly united to Christ are so inextricably tied to him and he to us that all our human words eventually fall short. It is indeed incomprehensible. We have seen clearly that it is God the Father who chooses the sinner to be “in Christ” from all eternity. So how does this work? Although objectively, we are in Christ from all eternity, subjectively to us in space and time it does not seem that way. In space and time God the Holy Spirit applies to us the redemption (see John 3:3-8 and Eph 2:8-10) and all its benefits that Christ purchased through his death on the cross by granting us faith and thereby uniting us to Christ by the preaching of the Word of God (see Romans 10:17). So, although the elect are in union with Christ before the foundation of the world, it is only when they, as sinners are brought to faith in him as their Lord and Savior that they become partakers of Christ and all the saving blessings of his death upon the cross. The faith that we receive and then place in and on Christ is the outworking or the way God in his providence brings this union to pass that has been from before the foundation of the world.

This is such a union that the union with Adam that we had before we were believers (whether we knew it or not) has now been replaced by our new union with Christ. This union is irrevocable. Ephesians 1:13 says this: in Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

(Eph 1:13 NASB)

18th century biblical commentator, Adam Clarke says about this sealing with the Holy Spirit:

"The Holy Spirit, which is promised to them who believe on Christ Jesus, was given to you, and thus you were ascertained to be the children of God, for God has no child who is not a partaker of the Holy Ghost, and he who has this Spirit has God’s seal that he belongs to the heavenly family."³ Our passage in Romans puts it this way: Romans 8:9 - However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

(Rom 8:9 NASB) The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. So if we are children of God, we have the seal of the Holy Spirit that keeps us until the end. Notice also that through this union, we are also in union with the Holy Spirit and indeed the entire Trinity.

The Believer’s union with Christ is central to the Gospel and the entire Christian life. Some have said that it is the hub and all of the other doctrines are spokes radiating from it. In fact, some aspects of salvation only really make sense in light of the centrality of this union. Let’s now look more closely at some of the different ways we are personally united to Christ and him to us. We can begin by looking at some of the benefits and their nature that we as partakers of Christ obtain in this union.

By this union Christ saves sinners. Here we get to some of the inner workings of salvation. We have already seen glimpses of who Christ is. And of course we know that Christ is God in the flesh or incarnate. Christ’s union with us is perhaps most clearly seen in his condescension – leaving the glory of heaven, being born as a man, taking human form, walking among men – this is something that God had not expressed before in such a way. This is a very clear way Christ has united himself to us, by becoming like us! Philippians 2:6-7 puts this succinctly and profoundly: …although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (Php 2:6-7 NASB)

Our union with Christ goes deeper than just the fact of our shared humanity. Because of this stooping down into history, uniting the divine with the human in one person, Christ and Christ alone is able to save sinners destined for eternal hell. John Owen says this about the fitness of Christ's ability to save definitely and finally:

"The uniting of the nature of God and the nature of man in one person made Christ fit to be a savior to the utmost. He lays his hand upon God by partaking of his nature (Zech 13:7). And he lays his hand upon us, partaking of our nature (Heb 2:14, 16). And so he becomes an umpire or referee [Mediator] between God and man…By this means, Christ brings God and man together who were driven apart by sin…For this very reason, he had room enough in his heart to receive us and strength enough in his spirit to bear all the wrath that was prepared for us. Sin brought infinite punishment because it was committed against an infinite God. Christ, being the infinite God in human nature, could suffer the infinite punishment the sinner deserved. And so, by this personal union we are saved."⁴

The way God saves sinners is entwined in this union. My intention isn’t necessarily to describe all the aspects of salvation – I’ll leave that to Pastor Shaan in his Sunday School class (he’s much more competent and prepared for that than I am). But what I would like to touch on are a few aspects of the salvific process that are very dependent upon the believer’s union with Christ:

We have seen that the believer’s union with Christ has been planned before God created anything. This plan of redemption has existed in the mind of God before all eternity. We know that God is a Trinity- the three persons being the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ’s appearing at the right time to save sinners was planned among the members of the Trinity throughout eternity past. What I’m saying is that Christ became a man exactly for the reason to unite Himself to sinners that he might save them. This is exactly what Matthew 1:21 says of Jesus’ impending birth: "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Mat 1:21 NASB) and we can see that Christ came to redeem us that we might be adopted as sons of God in Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Gal 4:4-5 NASB)

We know that we are regenerated, or born again by the Holy Spirit – (see John 3). However, it is by Christ’s life, death and resurrection that we are united to him and thus experiencing the further aspects of salvation. Justification, adoption, sanctification and glorification, among others would not be possible without this union.

At the heart of salvation is righteousness. We have none; Christ has perfect infinite righteousness. We need it, Christ has it to give. This righteousness needs to be somehow given to us. Well through regeneration and the faith that follows, this is exactly what happens. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. Paul tells us this in Philippians 3:9 “[I] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Php 3:9 NASB). Furthermore, Paul writes to the Phiilippian saints as “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. “ (Php 1:11 NASB) We can see perhaps most clearly this receiving of Christ’s righteousness in 1 Cor 1:30: But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (1Co 1:30 NASB). This is wondrous! This is the heart of Christian life. This is where our hope lies; not in us, but in Christ! The righteous that God sees when he looks at us is not our own, but Christ’s. This is because we are in union with us. He is our representative before the Father.

Furthermore, we can see from Scripture that as Christ’s righteousness is given to us, our sins are given to him and he bears the wrath of God that is due those sins on the cross. Hebrews 9:28 says: so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. (NASB) Christ has taken the sins of those who are his and paid the punishment for them; he has satisfied the justice of God. Moreover, he has reconciled us to God through this work on the cross. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”(Rom 5:8-10 NASB) These verses tell us that God in his love, when we were His enemies, through and by Christ justified us (Grudem’s definition of justification: an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven, and Christ’s righteousness belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in His sight.)⁵

Through and by Christ He reconciled us to Himself; and through and by Christ he has saved us. We could go on, but as I said this isn’t a comprehensive study of salvation. I merely wanted to show that the entirety of God’s plan of redemption has everything to do with the redeemed believer being united to the Lord Jesus in such a way that it would be impossible to try to even think about any aspect of salvation apart from this union. I’ll close this section with the very concise words of John Murray: "Union with Christ is a very inclusive subject. It embraces the wide span of salvation from its ultimate source in the eternal election of God to its final fruition in the glorification of the elect. It is not simply a phase of the application of redemption; it underlies every aspect of redemption both in its accomplishment and in its application. Union with Christ binds all together and insures that to all for whom Christ has purchased redemption He effectively applies and communicates the same."⁶

As we have caught glimpses of this in our study so far, it will not be surprising to learn that this deep personal union believers have with Christ affords many benefits above and beyond just being saved from sin and its consequences. As those in union with and represented by Christ, we are partakers of all that Christ bought for us! All the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ. The bible uses language such as “obtaining an inheritance” Eph 1:11; “fellow heirs with Christ” Rom 8:17; Galatians 3:29 says that if we belong to Christ, we are heirs according to promise. This inheritance is undefiled, pure, eternal. It is the Kingdom of God and Christ himself. (1 Pet 1:4) We share in all that Christ has inherited. Revelation 3:21 says of this: 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev 3:21 NASB) If we are in Christ, we will reign with him in Heaven for all eternity. Christ himself is our inheritance. We will deal more fully with this in a minute. These eternal promises lead to a couple practical outworkings of all that this union affords. Here are just a couple thoughts on this:

The soul united to Christ finds safety, protection, strength and comfort. What greater security could one have than to be eternally united to Christ! Because God is faithful, believers will be kept by his power. This is a very real union believers enjoy with Christ. No doubt, it is a union of spiritual nature; nevertheless it is real and tangible. It is what our faith is all about. God has granted us through Christ the ability to lay hold of divine power and wisdom. Indeed Christ is our wisdom (1 Cor 2:2-10). If we are in Christ, He belongs to us and we belong to Him. According to John 10:27, Jesus’ sheep hear his voice, and follow him and He knows them. Finally, it is in Christ that his people will be resurrected and glorified. It is in Christ they will be made alive when the last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:22). It is with Christ they will be glorified (Rom. 8:17).

Again, John Murray: "Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. ...There is no truth, therefore, more suited to impart confidence and strength, comfort and joy in the Lord than this one of union with Christ."⁷ This aspect of the believer’s union with Christ leads inevitably into the last aspect I want to look at: the transforming power of this union. But first I would like to look at a couple of analogies that the bible uses to explain this union.

HUMAN ANALOGIES FOUND IN THE BIBLE

There are many analogies of this union between Christ and his saints in the bible. Of course this union is so deep, so all encompassing, so incomprehensible that even these biblical metaphors at some point fall short of the real and ultimate union that believers have with Christ. Nevertheless they are all helpful and glorious to meditate on. We will now look at three of them.

It is a union like a vine and its branches (John 15:5). Jesus is the vine, those that are united to Him are the branches. We know that a vine is the part of the plant that carries the nutrients to the branches. The branches produce the fruit. Without the Vine, the branches can do nothing. Jesus says in verse 6 that the branch does not bear fruit is thrown into the fire. The one who does not produce fruit keeping with the repentant humble nature shows himself to be not truly united to Christ. Jesus says that he who abides in Him and Christ in that one will bear much fruit (verse 5). Of this true union Jesus also says in verse 8 that one of the reasons for this is that the vinedresser, who is the Father, is glorified. So among other things we see our union with Christ as one of total dependence upon Him.

It is a union like a foundation and the building that sits on it (1 Pet 2:4-5). In this passage Jesus is the “Living Stone”. This has reference in the Old Testament. The living stone was and is God who is the sustainer and upholder of all things. Peter is saying that Christ is the most important part of the building – the cornerstone or initial foundation stone, and those united to Him, are the spiritual house built on and around Him. Being in construction, I know the great importance of the foundation being sure and solid. If it is, the rest of the building will not fail. If the foundation fails, there’s nothing that’s going to keep the building from crumbling to the ground. If we are united to Christ, we know that the building will not fail, because Christ the foundation cannot fail! This metaphor shows both the believer’s vital dependence on Christ and also their resemblance to Him.

It is a union like a marriage between a husband and a wife (Eph 4:22-31). This is the analogy in Scripture that is probably for me the most amazing and profound. We are probably all familiar with this passage of Scripture. It tells husbands and wives how are they to treat each other, comparing the Husband to Christ, and the wife to His Church. What is remarkable to me is that in verse 32, the Apostle Paul flips the metaphor on its head. He reveals a mystery: not only is Christ and the Church a model for marriage, but on a deeper level marriage is a model of Christ and his Church. This is to say that marriage exists to demonstrate in some faint way the profound unity of Christ and those that belong to Him! We see that way back in the creation account of Genesis 2:24, God describes the union between a husband and a wife. It says that the husband and wife shall become one flesh. The believer’s union with Christ is so deep, so profound, so incomprehensible that when God the Father looks at us, He sees Christ – and Christ is preparing us, His bride to be holy and without blemish (verse 27). This leads us naturally to the last aspect I want to look at that is a characteristic of this wonderful, mysterious union.

THE FACT THAT IT’S A TRANSFORMING UNION

It is important to realize that Christ does not redeem us to improve the old self, to guide and redirect it to a better life; he comes to put to death the old self, and to raise us to newness of life. He is not the friend of the old self, happy to cater to the whims and desires of the flesh. He is the enemy of the old self, set on replacing it with a new self. We saw earlier that through this union, we are born again. This being born again is just that, if we are in Christ, we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). As we are regenerated, justified and adopted, by virtue of this union we are transformed. God doesn’t give us new life and make us right before him so we can continue living in our fleshly sinful condition. We are not united to Adam anymore, but to Christ the Son of the Living God! We have been redeemed from our Adamic nature. We are so united to Christ that we will become like him. This is called sanctification. Christ saved us to be his pure, spotless, sinless bride (Eph 5:27).

As we have seen, Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us, and all our sin and the guilt and wrath due that sin has been imputed to him. One aspect of this will result in our increasing holiness. Our increasing depth of love to Christ will enable us to be obedient. Again, God saved us in Christ to be set apart from the things of the world. 1 Peter 2:9 puts it this way: But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (NASB) If we are in Christ, we are priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. God will surely change us from sinners who can do no good, to saints worthy to be in His presence. We are not saved to keep living like the world! The apostle John puts it like this: We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1Jn 5:18 NASB) If we are born of God, our lives do not follow a pattern of sin. In fact, if we do sin, and we will struggle with sin as we are still battling the old sinful nature, we will hate our sin and this will drive us even closer to Christ. So we are transformed from following the old pattern of sin and death and are now hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Matt 5:6; 6:33). Back in our Romans 8 passage only 8 verses after Paul declares in verse one that those who are in Christ are no longer under condemnation, he also tells us in verse 9: “ you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” (NASB) Jesus himself minces no words when he tells us "He who does not love Me does not keep My words”(Joh 14:24 NASB). Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Colossians 3:1-3 tells us that since we are united to Christ we will set our minds on the things of Christ. We could go on, but we see from just this very small sampling, and the Old and New Testaments are full with dozens of examples that if indeed we are in Christ, we will be transformed in holiness.

Not only are we transformed in holiness, but we are transformed in our affections. The soul united to Christ will increasingly delight in Christ above all things. We will grow in love to Christ. As we grow in grace, we will understand with a sharpening focus just who Christ is and what he has done for us. He will become our treasure. One picture of this that illustrates this well is Matthew 26:6-11: Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, "Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. "For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. (NASB) This woman is remarkable for the fact that before his crucifixion and resurrection, she had been given profound revelation of who Christ was, and what she did was done in faith and it sprung from real and sincere love to him, and was designed for his honor and glory. She loved Christ with a pure love that would give Him all she had. It would be a huge understatement to say Paul’s loved Christ deeply: But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ (Php 3:7-8 NASB). In fact, our lives aren’t even ours anymore: Colossians 3:3-4 say that we are “hidden with Christ” and that Christ is our life. We show our love to Christ by obeying his commandments (John 14:5 NASB). Christ and his Gospel are treasure to us (2 Cor 4:7). We follow His commandments and they are not burdensome (1 John 5:3 NASB). To borrow from Pastor Shaan, if we love Christ: 1. Christ will be the most engrossing subject of thought to us. 2. Christ will be the attractive theme of conversation. 3. Christ will be the source of delight to us. 4. We will become like him. 5. We will love his cause. And 6. We will love his people.

Grace, Grace...God's Grace

 If there is one thing more detrimental to the Christian's walk than legalism, I do not know what it is.  We need to walk and live and breathe and eat and drink in God's grace freely given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Here is a quote from a delightful post by Tullian Tchividjian from is blog Liberate:

"But while I’m not surprised when I hear venomous rejoinders to grace (the flesh is always resistant to “It is finished”), I am saddened when the very pack of people that God has unconditionally saved and continues to sustain by his free grace are the very ones who push back most violently against it. Some professing Christians sound like ungrateful children who can’t stop biting the very hand that feeds them. It amazes me that you will hear great concern from inside the church about “too much grace” but rarely will you ever hear great concern from inside the church about “too many rules.” Why? Because we are by nature glory-hoarding, self-centered control freaks. That’s why."

 Click below to read the whole post:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2012/01/05/might-as-well-face-it-youre-addicted-to-law/

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

One of my favorite hymns, O For a Thousand Tongues, written by Charles Wesley in 1739, was originally a poem conceived by Wesley as an expression of his conversion experience.  Most are familiar with the first six verses typically sung in hymn form today.  But its interesting to read and ponder the other lines:

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

In Christ your Head, you then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Glory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, living life
I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,
Ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in heaven I knew
When written on my heart.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own
Your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

Awake from guilty nature’s sleep,
And Christ shall give you light,
Cast all your sins into the deep,
And wash the Æthiop white.

Harlots and publicans and thieves
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew
In holy triumph join!
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Savior died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Whose Righteousness?

 Many think that Christianity is about what Christians "do".  But the heart of Christianity is not about what we do, but about what has been done for us.  It is about the grace of God in the person of His Son.

What a great comfort there is for those who find rest in Christ.  This quote sums it up well:

At the cross this “righteousness” was found; human, yet divine: provided for man and presented to him by God for relief of conscience and justification of life. On the one word, “It is finished,” as on a heavenly resting place, weary souls sat down and were refreshed.

The voice from the tree did not summon them to do, but to be satisfied with what was done. Millions of bruised consciences there found healing and peace.

Belief in that finished work brought the sinner into favor with God, and it did not leave him in uncertainty as to this. The justifying work of Calvary was God’s way, not only of bringing pardon, but of securing certainty.

It was the only perfect thing which had ever been presented to God in man’s behalf; and so extraordinary was this perfection that it might he used by man in his transactions with God as if it were his own. –Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness

 The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 

Question #4:

What is God?

Answer: