Sunday English Service – 11 JUL 21

Transcript

We’ve been talking about the blessings of our salvation. We’re choosing to focus on what we have, rather than what we don’t have, on what we might have lost, or what has changed, or what has gotten affected. I know a lot has happened, but certain things have not changed; your salvation hasn’t changed. I’m talking about blessings that you’ve already received through your salvation, which is like a big package in which there are several blessings. And we have been trying to unwrap that package if you will. These are blessings that you’ve already received in full: forgiven, cleansed, justified made righteous, born again, sanctified, right? There are other blessings, which you may say are being continuously given — not already given in full — but given more and more continuously.

You know, there are different kinds of blessings in salvation. So, I’ve only so far just covered a few. And that to only those who are which are already given in full already, you’ve got it, got it. It’s like money in your bank that you have, you know what I mean? And so, I purposely preach on this during this time, because I believe it is so important that you keep going back to what you’ve got. Because the world is always going to try to pull you to see what you’ve lost, what’s changed and all that, right. So that’s why we’re looking at blessings of salvation. And that’s also why we’re looking at spiritual blessings because spiritual blessings are the foundation, the base, the foundation. Without these, the other blessings won’t be there, right. And also, the spiritual blessings are the least bit affected. I’m talking across the board for everybody, okay? They’re not affected even one bit through all the events of the last one year. And that’s why I choose to focus on this because it’s foundational, because it’s basic, because it is of first importance and because it is rock solid. Right? So, you start here, you pay attention to this, it will have ripple effects in every area of your life—not just spiritual—in every area. If you’re sure that you are righteous in Christ, then, you know, you go to God boldly in prayer, and you ask and receive in faith. It changes the whole dynamic of the way you live life. So, when you’re sure about your spiritual blessings, it has ripple effects in every area – physical, material, work, family, whatever.

So, we’ve seen certain spiritual blessings that we’ve already been given in full, like, you know, we’re forgiven, we’re cleansed, were justified, we’re born again, we’re sanctified and today I’m going to continue. And we’re going to look at another spiritual blessing, you may say. Today, we’re going to look at our union with Christ, our union with Christ. But let me say, in the beginning itself, let me just also clarify. “Union with Christ”, what we mean by that? Sounds like a fancy name. It’s the name that’s used in theology, for the very important teaching in the Bible, that the believer is joined to Christ, or Christ is joined to the believer. The Bible teaches this in various ways. For example, the Bible says, “We are in Christ”, right? The Bible also says, “Christ is in us”. Right? Let me just read one verse, where both appear, this thing that “we are in Christ”; “Christ is in us”, right? Just try to picture that, you know. You are sitting here inside this auditorium, as though we are in a place. The Bible says, “You are in Christ”; “Christ is in you”, right?

It says it like that, because of the closeness of the union, the connection. Look at 1 John 4:13, both these statements appear here. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. It’s just one verse; there are many verses right. So many verses talk about Christ being in us, so many verses talk about, we are in Christ. There are some verses which combine the two. It says, “God has given us of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit”. And the result of the Holy Spirit being in us is what? Christ is in us, and we are in Him. “We abide in Him and He in us”; it’s this very tight union, very close, intricate, intimate union. Jesus Christ is in you; you are in Christ because the Holy Spirit is in you, right?

So, this teaching is found throughout the New Testament, so much so, that it’s easy to miss it. It’s everywhere so, you just keep reading it without thinking about it and keep going, you know. And there are other ways the Bible teaches the same thing. For example, Paul says, “In Christ”, more than 100 times, but he also uses other language, like, “We are raised with the Christ; we died with Christ; we were buried with Christ, we were raised with Christ, we’re seated with Christ”, right. So, all that, is this whole teaching about our union with Christ. It simply means, there is some very tight connection between you and Christ. If you’re a believer today, you and Jesus Christ are intricately and intimately united. You are one with Christ. That’s what “union with Christ” means.

Now, let me say, before we get into this, that this matter of our union with Christ, this is not just one of the many blessings of salvation. This is the blessing. This is not just a blessing; this is the blessing. This is the most fundamental reality of your salvation. This is the thing that is behind other blessings of salvation. This is the foundation, you may say, this is part of that foundation, right? This is foundational to your salvation. This is the most foundational, fundamental reality of your salvation. And at the same time, it is the most climactic of your salvation, if you think about your salvation as well. You know, this truth about union with Christ is such that it pretty much covers everything. It functions as the foundation of our salvation, as well as the climax of our salvation. If you take a circle, it’s like the centre and the circumference. It’s where it all begins, but it’s where it all goes towards, right? If you take a building, it’s like the ground floor and the top floor – you can think of it like that, you know. So first, I thought, I’ll put off this teaching a little bit and bring it towards the end, when I talk about the climactic or the greatest blessings, or things like that. But then, the more and more I postponed it, I am unhappy with myself, because it is not only climactic in salvation, it is foundational; it is both.

Okay, now we’ll talk about this today. Mainly, we’ll focus on the foundational aspect today – how this union with Christ is most foundational to our salvation. That’s what I want to focus on today. I want to show you that this is most foundational, this is the most basic reality about your salvation. What’s the most basic reality about your salvation? If you ask me to just summarize your salvation in one sentence? Here’s the summary: you are united with Christ forever. In that, you can bring in everything. This is such a kind of truth, where, from the least to the greatest, everything is connected to it, and everything is because of it. Right? So, I want to show you first that this is most foundational, most basic, to your salvation. This is the most basic reality of your salvation. And then I want to look at the implications: how this helps us understand our salvation in the right way, and how this helps us experience our salvation in a better way. Right? It’s so important that we understand this truth that we’re talking about today, because then only, we will understand our salvation itself in the right way, then only we can experience and enjoy more of it. Right? Let’s begin.

The most fundamental reality of your salvation is that you are joined to Christ. First, let me just explain it in a kind of simple way. We’re talking basic, fundamental foundation, right? See, everybody knows that we are in Christ, Christ is in us. I think you already know that. The Bible teaches that. What we’re saying specifically today is, this is the most basic thing about your salvation. That’s what we’re saying today, right? So be clear in your mind about what we’re focusing on. So let me just first show you this in a simple way. You know, when we preach the Gospel, for example, to people who hear it for the first time, after preaching the Gospel, sometimes, the preacher will say, “Would you like to receive Jesus into your heart?” Right. That very language itself is about this truth only. “Would you like to receive Jesus into your heart?” And then, we sometimes lead them to a prayer where we say, you know, we make them say, you know, “Jesus come into my heart”. Just stop and think about that language. Even a child uses that kind of language. Even children, you know, they sing songs like, “Into my heart”. Have you heard that song? It’s a children’s song: “Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus”, right? What does that mean? Just think about that. Jesus, come into my heart. That is what salvation is about. Jesus coming into your heart, right? It’s expressed even in that simple children’s song, right? It is something real; Jesus really does come into your heart. If a person, even child, if they truly ask Jesus to come into their heart, if there is true faith, inspired by God Himself, if there is genuine faith there, and the person says, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus”, right? I’m talking about genuine, right? I know, sometimes, it’s not genuine or sometimes people are without understanding. They’ll just, you know, for namesake say some words or something like that. I’m talking about, when it’s genuine, when there is a basic understanding of the Gospel, and who Jesus is, and when there is a desire, and then the person says, “Jesus, I want You, I need You”, you know, “You be my Saviour, come into my heart”. When that is genuinely done with the help of God, Jesus really comes into our heart, doesn’t He? That children’s song is not just some story. It’s not just a nice way to think about it. It’s actually true. Jesus really comes into our heart. And when He comes in, what does He do? He changes our heart, He cleans up our heart, He changes a lot of things. And then does He just say, “Bye and go away?” No! He stays there. Everybody knows, this is the simple stuff. He comes in to stay. The song says, “Come in today, come in to stay. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus”. Small children sing it, but it’s so true.

What happens in salvation is, Jesus actually comes into our heart, the Lord Jesus, the risen Lord. This is not just a nice way to think about it. This is not just a nice way of picturing it. This is true, Bible truth. The risen and exalted Lord Jesus Christ, in a real way, comes into a person’s heart to stay forever.

What I’m talking about today, this basically covers it all. In a way, I can end right here. But we won’t. Salvation is about Jesus coming into our heart, staying there forever. What happens? The believer is united with Christ; that’s what happens. This only, the Bible describes in various ways, which we’re calling “union with Christ” because that’s the name people use in theology. Only the Bible describes as, we are in Christ. Jesus comes into me, or I am placed into Him; both are true. Or the Bible describes it as, “We are raised together with Christ”; or the Bible describes it together as, “We have become one with Christ”; “We have become one Spirit with Him”; or the Bible describes it as “We have become one body – we have become the body of Christ”. So many different ways to basically express this simple truth that there is a real, tight, and intricate connection that gets established at salvation, between the believer and Jesus Christ. Okay? So that’s the simple explanation.

2nd Corinthians 13:5, Paul says, “Do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” He’s talking to the Corinthians. He says, “Don’t you guys know that Jesus Christ is in you? Looks like you don’t know that He’s in you. You’re acting like you don’t know; you’re living like you don’t know. Test yourselves!” Don’t you know that if you’re a believer, that if you are really, you know, believers in Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ is in you. Do you know this? So, this is quite simple, in a way. But now, let’s go into this because it’s simple, but I want you to realize how foundational it is, how basic it is to your salvation. And in order to help you realize that, let me make a few statements and then show you.

One is, without being connected to Christ in this way, without being joined to Christ, you can’t receive any blessing of salvation. Let me say that again. Without being joined to Christ, you cannot receive any blessing of salvation. Notice what I’m saying, very carefully. I’m not saying without Christ, you can’t receive any blessing of salvation. Yes, that is also true. I’m not even saying without Christ’s work on the Cross, you cannot receive any blessing of salvation. That is also true. I am saying without being united to this Christ, who died for you and rose again for you; without being united with Him, in a real and living and deep union, you cannot receive any blessing of salvation.

Let’s go to Ephesians 1:3. You’ve got to be clear on what we’re talking about, right? You’ve got to be clear. Yeah, we need Christ. Yeah, we need the Cross. But what I’m saying is, one step more than that. I’m saying, this Christ who died on the Cross, needs to be united with you, needs to become one with you, for you to receive any blessing of salvation. That’s how foundational this is. Because all blessings, every blessing, can only be received and enjoyed in your union with Christ. Ephesians 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Paul is starting out the letter and usually, when we start the letter, like when we start a sermon, we will be kind of calm, you know. Preachers get going when the sermon progresses. But Paul, in the beginning of the sermon itself, it’s like he’s shouting, you know. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” It’s like he’s so excited, he’s praising God right at the outset. “Blessed be!” He’s writing to people, but he’s praising God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Who? Why is he praising God? Why is his heart full of thanksgiving and praise, where he’s blessing God? See why. He says, “Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. Paul chooses to focus on the blessings that are his, right. Paul is a person who endured a lot of hardships, suffering, persecution, trial. And even this letter might have been written from that kind of a place. But the thing is, he chooses to focus on, his heart and mind is filled with thanksgiving. How, my friend? He focuses on the blessing, the blessings he has received, and the beliefs that believers have received. Right? Look how he puts it; he says, “God has blessed us”. Everybody say, “God has blessed us” – already done. God has blessed us, with what? “With every spiritual blessing”. Everybody say, “With every spiritual blessing”, right? God has blessed—his mind is so full of this—God has blessed us already, with every spiritual blessing. Notice the priority given to the ‘spiritual’. Because again, that is the foundation for everything else. God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And then, he says something else. He says, where he has blessed us. It’s interesting. He says, “God has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, where no one can touch it, or steal it or take it away”. Right? In Christ, in the heavenly places, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, in Christ. Everybody say, “In Christ”.

Now, what does that mean? Now immediately, people will usually think that means all the blessings are in Christ. Yes, it does mean that all the blessings are in Christ. That is true, all the blessings are in Christ. You know, He is the sphere of all blessing, all blessing is contained in Him. All goodness is contained in Him. The Bible says, “In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. Paul says, “In Him is the fullness of the Godhead, dwelling in bodily form”. In Him is every good thing to be found; in Him is all blessing. Yes, in Christ is all blessing but that’s not Paul’s main point here. Paul is not trying to say just all the blessings are in Christ. No. He says, “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ”. There’s a difference. What is he saying? Yes, all the blessings are in Christ, but he means much more. He means we are also in Christ. All the blessing is in Christ, and we are where the blessing is, which is in Christ. That’s what he means; you should not miss that. All the blessings are in Christ, but we are also in Christ. Everybody say, “We are in Christ”. That’s what he means. For Paul, that “in Christ”, when you see those two words, or “in Him”, or in home, all these things, it’s like a shorthand. As soon as you see it, you can understand the meaning is the believers union with Christ. As soon as you see the words “in Christ”, in Paul’s writings, you should understand this is about the believers union with Christ. He’s so close that he’s in. It’s not enough to say the believer is next to Christ; Christ is with the believer. No. We are in Christ. Right.

So, for Paul, you know, here’s the assumption Paul is operating under. He doesn’t explain it. He doesn’t care to explain it because he thinks people know it. Why does he think people know it? Because he’s been teaching in the city of Ephesus for two and a half years. It’s all in the book of Acts. And I’m sure he would have taught this truth because he mentions “in Christ” more than 150 times, they say. It’s foundational to him, okay. And I’m sure he would have taught it in Ephesus, and therefore he doesn’t care to explain it here. But we have to explain it. Let me state the assumption of Paul. If Paul assumes that we know this; know what? Every believer is placed in Christ, where all the blessing is. Every believer, every true believer, every person who has received true salvation has been placed in Christ, where all the blessing is. This is the assumption that Paul has.

When Jesus walked on this earth, if people needed anything, you know, the more and more they heard about Jesus, they were convinced, if you just go to Him, you will get what you want. If you just go to Him, your problems can be solved. If you just go to Him, you know, you’ll get healed, or you’ll get blessed, or you’ll get whatever you need. If you

just go to Him, that’s enough. He has everything; in Him is everything. Well, in salvation, God kind of makes it a little easier. He puts us in Him so that we don’t have to go to Him, or He doesn’t have to come to us. He is connected to us forever. That’s what salvation is about. Right? You are in Christ, where all the blessing is; you’ve been blessed. Now, what are we trying to say? We’re trying to say that, for Paul, or according to the Scriptures, without being joined to Christ, you can’t receive any blessing. In Christ, you can receive every blessing, which means, being joined to Christ, you can receive every blessing. Being joined to Christ, you can receive every blessing; without being joined to Christ, you cannot receive any blessing.

Now, let me just read; let me go to the next step. What I just said, applies even to the most basic salvation blessing. What I just said applies even to the most basic salvation blessing. I want you to think about what the most basic salvation blessing is. Most people will say forgiveness of sins, right? Let me show you, Ephesians 1:7, that even forgiveness of sins you cannot have, without being joined to Christ. Ephesians 1:7, people say this is the most basic thing in salvation, right? But even that most basic thing — forgiveness of sins — you cannot have, without being joined to Christ. Look at Ephesians 1:7: In Him, we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us and so on. Every word, you’ve got to note, the kind of teaching we’re doing today is, like, that one word is important – “In Him”, right? But look at this. This verse is talking about forgiveness of sins – “redemption, through His blood”. That’s another beautiful word: redemption. We could preach an entire sermon on that. It means to purchase by paying a price and setting free from the bondage – redemption. Redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, and look, he says how we got this forgiveness of sins. Look at how he describes it. How did we get this forgiveness of sins? “According to the riches of His grace”. Everybody say, “The riches of His grace”. What does that mean? God is rich in grace, and that’s why He sent His Son to die for us, shed His blood.

This verse also talks about the blood of Jesus, right – according to the riches of His grace, through His blood. So, God is rich in mercy and grace, He sends His Son to die for us, the Son sheds His blood, that’s why you can have forgiveness. But there’s something more. What else is there in that verse? “In Him” — did you see that those words — “In Him”? People just read over it, gloss over it, like it’s not even there. I can remove those two words, “In Him”, and for most believers, it will not make any difference. You should not remove words from the Bible. But let me just remove and read it and show you. I’ll read 1:7, removing the first two words, “In Him”: We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace. For most people, there’s no difference. Beautiful. Paul cannot say that. For Paul, it makes a huge difference. No, no, no. You can’t say we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches… You can say, the forgiveness of sins was prepared according to the riches of His grace, through His blood, but you can’t say we have it. You can’t say we have it. You can only say, we have it, for Paul, if you put in that “In Him”; in Him, only we have it! What does he mean by that? Again, I say to you, he means being joined to Christ, in this union with Christ only, we have forgiveness of sins.

But people don’t realize that, you know? Look how Paul is thinking. For him, even thinking about something as basic as forgiveness of sins, he has to think so many things, he has to attach it to the riches of God’s grace, only because God is rich in grace, only because Jesus shed His blood. But that’s not even enough. Only because we are in Christ, we are joined to Christ. It’s not enough that God is rich in grace; it’s not enough that Jesus came and shed His blood for us. Yeah, that makes available the forgiveness of sins, but we can’t have it, we can enjoy it, we can’t receive it, we can’t experience it until we are “in Him”. Right? We have to be in Him, even to get something as basic as forgiveness of sin.

So, let me ask you. People say the most basic thing in salvation is forgiveness of sins, right? If to receive the most basic thing, you need something else, then you tell me which is basic? People say this is most basic. What is most basic? Forgiveness of sins. But according to the Scriptures, you can’t even get forgiveness of sins, unless you are joined to Christ. So now, you tell me, which is more basic, more fundamental? I said to you, it’s your union with Christ. Your union with Christ is what gives you forgiveness, and every other blessing. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, in our union with Him; by connecting us with Him, we receive the blessings. Right? So, what’s happening here is, again, I say to you, Paul doesn’t just think, you know, because of the Cross, we received blessings, because of Christ’s finished work, we received blessing. Yeah! Because of the Cross, because of Christ’s finished work. But that’s not enough. Then, this Christ who finished everything and is risen and alive, and ruling and reigning today, must join Himself to me, and I must be joined to Him. I must be “in Him” to receive what He has finished for me. For Paul, you cannot have nothing without union with Christ, not even forgiveness of sins. Christ’s saving work is of no benefit to us unless we are joined to the living Saviour, who finished the work.

Let me read the words of John Calvin to you on this. He says, “First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from Him, all that He has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race, remains useless, and of no value to us”. He’s saying, Christ may have done so many things, suffered and died, shed His blood, prepared so many blessings for you, but it’s useless to you, if Christ remains outside of you, if you are separated from Him, if this connection is not there, this deep connection. Then listen, “Therefore”, he says, “to share in what He has, He had to become ours and to dwell within us”. “…To share in what He has, He had to become ours and to dwell within us”. All that He possesses, all that Christ possesses, is nothing to us, until we grow into one body with Him. All that Christ possesses, the forgiveness of sin, and everything else, is nothing to us, until we grow into one body with Him.

I say all this to say, how fundamental, how basic our union with Christ is to our salvation. It is more basic, more fundamental than the forgiveness of sins. Without it, there is no forgiveness of sins. Without it, there is no salvation. Without being joined to Christ, there is no salvation. I’m not just saying, without Christ, there is no salvation. Yes, that is also true. I’m not just saying, without the Cross of Christ, there is no salvation. Yes, that’s also true. I’m not just saying, without the present-day work of Christ from the Father’s right hand, there is no salvation. Yes, that’s also true. I’m saying, without this Jesus Christ, who lives today, if He doesn’t come and join Himself to you, if you are not joined to Him in this deep union, no salvation, no nothing. So, if you have salvation, if you’re a believer, if your sins are forgiven and if you’ve got anything at all, today, if you’re saved, truly, it means you are joined with Him. This happened at the moment of your salvation.

Let me quickly show you that it happened at the moment of your salvation. Quickly, Ephesians chapter 2, this happened. You see, in salvation again, we only tend to think of what we do. Yes, I believed in Jesus, brother. Yes, I said a prayer. You know, yes, I asked Jesus into my heart. Yeah, all that’s fine, but it’s nothing compared to what God does. We just put simple faith in Christ, we just call out to Him. What God does is a miracle. He joins you to Christ forever. Right? That’s what real salvation is all about. If only you did something, you just said, you know, I believe in you, Jesus. If only, you know, you just say yes. People talk about salvation, think like that. Right? Yeah, I started believing; yeah, I follow Jesus, yeah. You know, salvation is, yeah, you do that but when you put your faith in Christ, God joins you to Christ. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 4: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Look at the words carefully. “Even when we were dead in trespasses” – he’s talking about the time when we were not saved. “Even when we were dead in trespasses”.

And then, he’s talking about the moment of salvation. Look at these words: “Made us alive together with Christ”. Everybody say, “Together with Christ”. That’s another way of saying union with Christ. When we were dead in our sins and trespasses, God came to us, we believed at the moment of salvation, God does the miracle. We just do a simple thing: put our faith in Christ. God makes us alive; He raises us – that’s what the next verse says. “Made us alive together with Christ”, that means, He joins us to Christ, makes us alive together with Him, by grace you have been saved and raised us up together. Paul has to insert that — [“by grace you have been saved”] — there in brackets, you see that? Why? He’s trying to say that God did this. Of course, you couldn’t have done it. You couldn’t have raised yourself up from the dead. Which dead person raised himself up from the dead? No. God made us alive, together with Christ, raised us up together. Everybody say, “Together”. Made us sit together; everybody say, “Sit together”. You see all those “togethers” there? In the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. Everybody say, “In Christ Jesus”. Every one of the things I made you tell, is about union with Christ. He made us alive, together with Christ. He raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. Paul is saying, at the moment of salvation, God does a work of uniting you with Christ and together with Him, you are resurrected, elevated. It happens in salvation; God does it. Right.

Look, another verse; 1 Corinthians 1:30. God does it. Who puts you in Christ? God does it; you can’t. What you can do is believe in Him and when you put your faith, this miracle happens. 1 Corinthians 1:30 — now, again, every word is important — But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus. In the Bible, these little words, in and of, are very important. What does that mean? “Of Him”, means because of Him, because of what He did, because of His power. Of Him, means because of the Father; of the Father. It’s the Father, the omnipotent Father’s work, of Him, you are in Christ Jesus. Everybody say, “Of Him, I’m in Christ Jesus”. This happened, in every case of true salvation. I’m not talking about, you know, people saying salvation. I’m talking about true salvation, when it actually happens, and Jesus comes in and you are put in Jesus by the power of God. There’s a divine connection established. Right? Of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us. 

Now, once he says, “You are in Christ Jesus”, now see, he goes to the next stage. He says, “He became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. Once you are put in Christ Jesus, then everything that Christ Jesus has, becomes yours. What does Jesus have? “Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption” – notice the language. Jesus doesn’t just give us wisdom or righteousness; He becomes our wisdom. Once we are joined to Christ, it’s like the vine and the branches, which is one of the ways the Bible describes this union. He’s the vine, we are the branches; what flows in the vine, flows in the branch. Once you’re joined to that vine, the wisdom comes from the vine into the branch; the righteousness, the sanctification, the redemption, all flows freely. See? That’s why, you know, this truth about righteousness, sanctification, all that, it’s only true in Christ, right? He has made us righteous in Christ. Romans 5:1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Again, what does that mean? We are joined to Him, and therefore, no condemnation. Once you’re united to Him, He has no condemnation, therefore, I have no condemnation. Once a united to Him, well, His track record becomes yours, His accomplishments become yours, His obedience becomes yours; real union. There is therefore now no condemnation, you’re sanctified in Christ, right? 1 Corinthians 1:2 — I don’t have time to read it, but you can read it — Everything is in Christ only, in our being joined to him we get everything, right.

So, all this, I say, to simply say how fundamental and how basic our union with Christ is to our salvation. At the moment of our salvation, God joined us to Christ; Christ is now joined with us forever. And this is the most fundamental, basic reality. So, if I say, summarize your salvation in one sentence, what would you say? I’ll tell you the summary. Salvation is being united to Jesus Christ. That’s it. Within that, is the A to Z and more, actually. This union with Christ thing goes even beyond your salvation experience, actually, because the Bible says, “Before you were saved, before you were born, before the world was made, before the foundation of the world” — I don’t have time to read Ephesians 1:4 — “God chose us in Him to be blameless”. That’s not even at the time of your salvation. Before the foundation of the world, before He made the world, He had you in mind, and He didn’t think of you alone, He put you together with Christ, chose you in Him to be blameless, to be adopted, and so on – Ephesians, chapter 1.

So, it began way over there. It’s beyond your salvation experience. And in fact, before you were born, when Jesus died on the Cross, the Bible says, “You died with Him”. Have you read those verses? Strange verses in the Bible, right? You died with Christ when He died? You lived with Him, you died with Him, you are buried with Him, and you rose again with Him. What a strange thing to say. It’s union with Christ. Christ and the believer together from eternity past to eternity future. That is how wide this truth of union with Christ goes. We’re only talking about how this relates to your experience of salvation. Okay.

Coming back to the point, if I say, summarize your salvation in one sentence, you should be able to summarize it like this. If I say, what is the most fundamental reality of your salvation? The proper answer is not forgiveness of sin. Even though I presented it like that, and I preached it like that, didn’t I? I’ve preached about four or five weeks on this salvation and the way I presented it is what? The first blessing I said was, in the first thing about salvation I preached is, we are saved from the greatest danger. Why? Because that’s the way people usually think about it. They think about salvation as being saved from sin and hell, which is true. So, I was just trying to gel with the way people usually think. My point was, even if you have the base view of salvation, this view of salvation, that salvation is nothing but just, you know, saved from sin, you don’t have to go to hell, you go to heaven. I was trying to tell people, even if that’s all you know, that itself should amaze you, that itself should give you great hope and confidence and joy and how to live your life. That was my point. And then, I went to forgiveness of sins. Why? Because people say salvation is basically forgiveness of sins, and I was trying to show people that, if that’s all you had, that itself should give you great joy because that itself is amazing! And that’s why I presented it in a certain way but now, I’m correcting my own presentation. What is the most basic, fundamental reality of your salvation? The proper answer would be, not “I’m saved from sin, I’m going to heaven, I’m forgiven”. No. Even that, you won’t get without being joined to Christ. When you’re joined to Christ, you get all that. If you’re not joined to Christ, you get nothing, not even forgiveness of sin. And the believer is joined to Christ. Everybody say, “I’m joined to Christ”. I’m joined to Christ. I didn’t do the joining; God did the joining.

So, I’m saying this because I want you to think about salvation in these terms. It is very important to think about your salvation in the right way. Ephesians 1 was written to believers. So, believers, please listen. Because the way you think about your salvation, determines how you understand it, appropriate it, enjoy it, and experienced it. People usually don’t think of salvation in these terms. Usually, if we ask a bunch of Christians or believers, you know, summarize your salvation, or what is the most foundational, or the most basic to your salvation, they will give what kind of reply? They will give a list of blessings, like the way I’ve been stacking it up, the last few weeks. They’ll say, we are saved from hell, we are forgiven, we are cleansed, we are made righteous, you know. They will make the list, right. People think of salvation as a list of blessings; that’s how we usually think – most people, at least. We think, we believed in Christ, we got saved; our sins were forgiven, we are now going to heaven. And some people will add a little more to the list. They will say, you know, we can live a blessed life. Even now, we can you know, live an overcoming life. Now, we can have blessing in every area of life. Even now, and so, some people’s lists will be longer, some people’s lists will be shorter. But in the end, it’s a list. If you think of salvation as a list of blessings, no matter how big your list is, how long your list is, you will never understand the glory of salvation. I’ll give you an example.

Imagine a homeless boy living on the street. He’s dirty, hasn’t had a bath in days. No money, no family, nothing. Just begging for a living, basically, left in a horrible condition to live, and if left, will die horribly. But imagine a great, and a very wealthy man comes that way. He sees the boy, and in his kindness, he helps the boy. You can say, he saves him. He helps to clean him up, he gives them new clothes and he, you know, he gives him, maybe, an education, he sends him to school. Later on, gets him a job, right. You can imagine how well he can help him. He settles him well, you may say. Now, that’s a nice example; that’s wonderful. The boy will be grateful, thankful, amazed. Is that salvation? Does that describe salvation? No. No, it doesn’t quite describe salvation. Why? I can keep adding things to that list. I can say that the rich man, you know, not only gave the boy clothes and school, but he also helped him get a job, then he bought him a house and he said, “You live here”. You know, he settled him well and he made him very great. I can keep adding on, adding on, it still doesn’t qualify as a true illustration of salvation. Why? Because salvation is like this: the rich man comes that way, sees that boy, and what does he do? First thing he says is, “Come with me”, takes him by the hand, never lets him go, takes him home to be a part of his family, adopts him, brings him into his family. Will he get all the perks; will he get all the good things? Of course, he’ll get it because I told you, this person is very wealthy, very great. In fact, he’ll get more than if he was just settled well. Now, he’s part of the family. Can see the difference? It is so fundamental. It is so huge. There’s a huge difference between that picture and this picture. That’s the difference in the picture of people having a list of blessings and thinking salvation is like that, versus, salvation is being joined to Jesus Christ forever. It’s a huge difference. I hope you realize that.

God took us. We were worse than beggars; we were in the miry clay of sin, dirty, without hope in this life and the next, living a meaningless life, now and forever. God didn’t just give us a bunch of blessings. That’s the wrong way to think of it. God took us, joined us to Christ, joined us to His Son, united us to His Son, brought us into His family, established a relationship there. It’s a divine connection through which, everything happens. Every blessing is a part of this union, but only in and through this union. So, more than the blessing is big in your mind; the union has to be big in your mind because this is greater. Like I said, people have lists and the lists are of varying sizes. Some people have a smaller list – only forgiveness, heaven. Some people have a slightly bigger list – forgiveness, heaven, peace, and joy in this life, maybe, some victory over sin. Some people have an even longer list – all this, plus maybe, bodily healing and prosperity. And some people have even longer lists – you really rule and reign in this life and so on. I say to you, no matter how long your list is and how great your list of blessings is, it is still not going to capture the glory of salvation, because the glory of salvation is in this: that you are united to Jesus Christ. Not that you’re given a list of blessings; you’re united to Christ, and Him is everything! The list is actually endless. And even if you add up everything in the list, it’s still not going to be equal to Christ. A union with Christ doesn’t just give you a set of blessings, it gives you Christ Himself, who is greater than the list combined. You put your list. I challenge you to make it as great as you can. It still will not match the glory of what God accomplishes in salvation because He unites you to Christ, and you get Christ. The sum of all blessing still doesn’t compare with Jesus Christ. He’s greater than it all.

See, the glory of salvation, this is higher than our mind. This is the salvation God offers. Actually, if you want to talk about a list, I mean, it goes pretty high. The Bible says, one day we will rule the world. We will rule the world – think about this. You’re sitting there, you know, some of you slouched in the chair, but I think you should sit upright, you’re going to sit on a throne someday and rule the world with Christ. That’s amazing. It sounds so far off, doesn’t it? But that’s how high this list goes. One day we will rule the world with Jesus Christ, and the foretaste of that can be experienced even now. All those things are there, but the thing is, it’s all in Christ; it’s all with Christ. He rules the world, and we are connected with Him and therefore, we rule. That’s how it works. But even if you take that, it still doesn’t compare to what God does in salvation. You can think in the terms of, “Yeah I’m going to rule the world”. No! I’m united with Christ, that gives me this. What is greater? Christ. It’s important how you think about it. That is why I say to you, think of this as the most fundamental reality of your salvation, because otherwise we’ll end up thinking in this ‘list’ way, and we end up thinking that salvation is like a transaction, where if we go to Christ, we get something wonderful. And we say, “Thank you so much and I’ll never forget you. I’ll be grateful to you forever”. And we go home. Is that the way it works?

Sometimes, that kind of picture is there in our minds, I think. It’s like we go to a store, you know, and things we cannot buy and afford — forgiveness of sin, heaven — but Christ pays the price. We get the blessing; we say, “Thank you so much, Jesus. I’ll never forget it; I’ll always be grateful to you. Bye. Go”. Is that the way it works? No, that’s not the way it works. Let me tell you the way it works. You go to the store – you go to the Cross. He pays the price. He suffers and dies, sheds His blood – you get the blessing, all kinds of blessings. And then when you’re saying, “Thank you so much, Jesus. This is more than enough. I’ll forever be grateful to you”. And when you turn and say, “Bye-bye”, and you’re trying to go home, you find, He’s stuck with you. He’s got your hand; you can’t let Him go. Sometimes you don’t even know, but you end up taking Him home. You just thought you’re taking some blessing home; you end up taking Him home. He is the greatest blessing. You pictured this, right? He’s the One holding you. To really fill out the illustration, I have to say that He holds you by the hand at the store itself. That’s where you get everything. And then you take Him home. And most believers, they don’t even realize He’s there with them. But at some point, we realize that He’s right there with us, in us and He becomes our everything. He just doesn’t give us a set of things and say, “Okay fine, you be there, I’ll be…” No. He becomes our everything in our day-to-day lives. He becomes our help, our strength, our source of wisdom, our guide, our shepherd, our everything! He provides our needs. Am I resonating with you? Do you find this to be true of your experience?

And then, He doesn’t just provide your needs, like a good, you know. He doesn’t just give you good things and just leave it like that, like a good Santa Claus. He turns your life upside-down, doesn’t He? He turns your life upside-down. You know, it’s like a real union. You may say it’s like a marriage union. The Bible describes our union with Christ, with using many pictures. One of them is vine and branches; another picture is the marriage union, like husband and wife are one flesh. The Bible says, “Believer and Christ is one spirit” – 1 Corinthians 6:17. One spirit; everybody say, “One spirit”. So, there’s a real union, like the marriage union is real. It may look like something ordinary is happening, the preacher’s saying something, they’re saying something and then they’re signing something. But it’s a real union. If you want to break it off, you’ve got to go to court. It’s something real, it’s something solid, and it lasts, doesn’t it? It has the effect; it’s like that. Our union is of spiritual nature, you may say, but it’s real, and it lasts, and you can’t break it off in court. Because this is a different court. He won’t break it off, and if He really united Himself to you, you can’t break it off. I’m talking about true salvation. Not, what people sometimes casually think of as salvation. It’s a real union, like a marriage union. What happens in a marriage union? People end up changing, don’t they? Either the wife changes the husband, or the husband changes the wife. You can’t stay the same. Do you know what I’m talking about? Sometimes the change goes heavy one way but maybe, more times, it’s both ways. In many ways, the wife becomes like the husband and in some ways, the husband becomes like the wife.

In our union, the change will go only one way because He doesn’t have to change; He’s not going to change, Jesus. We have to change. He’s not going to sit there, allowing us to just do whatever we like. That’s not the real experience of salvation; the real experience of the Christian life. We think of a wife nagging; that a term that’s used. He will nag you; He will pull you; He will prod you; He will not let you rest until He changes you. That’s the real experience of salvation because it’s a real union. These people find the other type convenient. The going to the store and getting the blessing, you know, because that’s so common. That’s the way the world thinks about going to God. They think of just going and they’ll say, you know, “If we pray to Him, will we get something?” So, they’re thinking, you go to God, you pray, you get something. You go, and you say, “Thank you, God. Now and then I’ll just, you know, worship You; now and then I’ll just think of You; now and then I’ll just give You something, you know, help you out”. God doesn’t need our help. Christianity is not like that. Sometimes it may be portrayed like that, it’s understood like that but it’s not like that. It’s not just where we come to Christ and get a bunch of things and go. No. We come to Christ; we enter into a relationship with Christ. It’s totally different. And we get everything in the relationship. But it’s totally different. 

People find the other way convenient, right. Because if they can just say, “Tata, bye-bye”, go home, live their life, Jesus doesn’t have to mess with it too much. They don’t have to turn everything upside-down, but Jesus will turn everything upside-down. He will provide all your needs, but He’ll also turn your life upside-down, because right now, our lives are the wrong side up. He will turn it the right side up. Do you know what I mean? He’ll bring good change. How many of you know what I’m talking about? Good change. If Jesus wants us to change something, it’s for our good. He’s perfect, He’s glorious, He’s holy, He’s victorious, and we are connected to Him. And we are becoming more and more like Him. Does that resonate with your experience, my friend? See, we’re talking about how you think of this salvation. It’s so important how you think. If you end up just thinking of it as a list, it’ll just take you in the wrong direction. You see, we are tempted to think in those terms, though. What did I get? Why haven’t I gotten this? Why have I lost this? Right. The focus easily is drawn to just what I’m getting, what I’m not getting, what I lost. This, that and the other. But the focus in the Christian life is on Jesus Christ; that’s where the focus ought to be. But people focus on, you know, why didn’t I get this; why did I lose this? It’s natural. But let me tell you also something else. When you focus like that, you end up not getting a lot of things; you end up not enjoying it as much, compared to when you focus on Christ.

I’ll give you an example, again, the marriage. You’ve got to approach marriage like a marriage. Again, not like a transaction. Right. Imagine if you’re approaching your marital relationship, living in your home with your spouse, with the mindset of, you know, well, what can you give me? And, you know, what have I gotten? And why haven’t you given me this? And what else is missing here? And why, you know. Imagine if you’re just thinking like that. Imagine how miserable your life is going to be. The more you focus on that, the more it’s going to backfire. It’s a marriage; it’s not a business transaction. Even in business, even in marketing, they’re saying, “Let’s not have a transactional relationship”, you know, “Let’s be relational, let’s establish relationships”. Have you heard this? In marketing, they’re saying, “Let’s not go the transactional way but the relational way”. It a relationship, it’s much more like that. When you, on the other hand, pay attention to the spouse and realize that this is a marriage. This is my spouse and I’ve got to pay attention to them, you know, and when you give that kind of attention and give them that priority—the person, not what they can give you, not what they’re not giving you, the person—when you do that, you will even get what you don’t have now. What they’re not giving, maybe they’ll start to give. Why? Because you are giving them first importance. That’s what marriage is about; it’s about the union of two persons. Christianity is about your union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, people think if they focus on, like, how to get more and how to, you know, this and that and the other thing, they’ll get more. But actually, it’s the opposite. If you focus on Christ, you will get more and more and more and everything you ever need. But that’s not the point; Christ is the point. Again, don’t fall into the trap of just thinking of it, in terms of things, and blessings, and this advantage, and what can I do, what can I get, all that, right. Don’t fall into that trap. Focus on your relationship with Christ. You’ll actually end up living a more blessed life, more joyous life, more satisfying life.

I think, finally let me just say this. I think this is the way to glorify Christ, the most. Only, if you think of your salvation as a relationship with Christ, as a union with Christ, where you get Christ and Christ is the greatest blessing, this is where Christ gets most glory, my friend. I forgot to tell you. Here’s a test to see, then maybe we can end here. Here’s a test to see whether we realize what a great blessing Christ is. What’s the test? Here’s the test. It’s just one test; can give many tests, maybe. Whatever a believer gains in this life, cannot be that much of a gain, because they have already gained Christ. Think about what I just said. Whatever a believer gains in this life, cannot be that much of a gain because they have already gained Christ. Now, let me reverse the test. Whatever a believer loses, cannot be that much of a loss, because they’ve got Christ.

I’m not saying we don’t have losses. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt. I’m not saying it doesn’t cause great grief and sorrow but I’m saying, when you’ve got Christ, at some point, you’ve got to reach down and say, “This is a huge loss, but since I’ve got Christ, it’s not a loss that can break me. If you’ve got a trillion dollars and you add a million dollars to it, that’s not going to be that much of a gain. If you’ve got a trillion dollars, and if you lose a million, that’s not going to be much of a loss. I’m talking about, you have Jesus Christ, the greatest treasure; He’s yours, He’s united with you. Do we understand His value, He’s greatness in the Christian life? You know, we all, when we enter the Christian life, we’re all in it in a transactional way only. Let’s be honest, right. That’s how I came; that’s how most people come. We come to Christ because we can get something. Of course, you want forgiveness, you want a better life, you want healing, we want blessing; that’s natural, go ahead, come to Christ. He’s got everything and more you need. I’ll warn you, maybe, He’ll change you. You won’t be the same, because as you enter into relationships with Him, you will begin to then, not view it as transactional. At some point, you will realize His worth and glory and value and greatness. So that, then, as you live your Christian life and grow, it doesn’t become so much about, you know, whether I have everything in place or whether I lost or this. I’ve got Jesus Christ; He’s mine forever. That ought to make me stand firm in the hardest times; that ought to give me the greatest joy. That is growth in the Christian life, my friend. Do you have that growth? There has to be a growing love for Jesus Christ. Not just for what He gives but a growing love for Him. Like I said, we come in with the ‘just what can we get’ kind of mentality, but then, we begin to see His worth, and we are attracted to Him, and we develop a love for Him. We have a love for the Lord; that’s the real salvation experience. Let’s all stand up.

I say again, don’t fall into the trap of focusing on the blessings and the things. It’s about Jesus Christ. We have a relationship with Him. You have all blessing and more in Him but that’s not the point. The point is you have Him. And when you treasure Him and you value Him, and you give Him the first importance, everything finds its place. Amen.

Let’s praise God; let’s thank God; let’s ask Him to open our eyes, that we may value Him more.