Romans ch. 5 Our Union with Christ, Gods Great Plan and Purpose for the Church

Well, it is a real treat for us to be here. We just wanted to say thank you to everybody who has been so incredibly kind and hospitable to us and had us into their homes and for meals and all sorts of things. We've really, really enjoyed it. It's been really a pleasure. to have been at such a distance for such a long time and know people in little bits and pieces. But it's amazing to get together and realize just how much you love one another. And we love you guys.

And it's quite clear to us that you love us, so thank you. And on that note, we just want to let all of you know that anyone, any of you is welcome to come up to Canada now. Now that you know us and you know, we would love to host you if you want to do a little trip to Canada.

Has anyone been to Olds, Alberta, other than the McCullies? You guys don't count. That's right, Mike and Donna. Does anyone know where Olds, Alberta is even? Yeah, okay, one soul. That's where we're from. We're from Olds, Alberta in Canada. And it's a pleasure to be here. We connected with Holly Hills three and a half years ago through JD and Leslie. And it's been quite the trip. It's been quite the journey. We're loving it. And we're so happy to be here.

That kind of leads into a question I was going to open with this morning is, why am I here? And I don't mean it in the way that Mike means it when he walks into a room and he says, why did I, what am I doing here? Mike and I were having that conversation the other day. I do it too. I do that too. I go to find something and I can't remember what I, but I usually find something else to do there so I make it worth the trip.

But But why am I here today? And in case you're worried that I've forgotten what I'm supposed to be doing up here, but I mean in a different way. This is a long way from home for us. Why in the world are we here? Why are we here today? But then I could ask you the same question. Why are you here today? Is it just because this is where you normally are on a Sunday morning? But I was asking myself that question as I prepared for this, because I kind of knew it would be kind of surreal to be here after so long of just zooming in. And it really is.

It was over a year ago that Mike and Roger asked, would you guys be interested in coming down to visit us? And we were excited about the idea, but we very quickly found out that that wasn't going to be a possibility. And we almost wondered if it ever would be a possibility. But it was part of the Lord's timing, part of the Lord's plan. So why are we here now? Why the delay? And to answer that question, I have to say I really don't know. I don't know why now. And I can see fragments of it as I look back over the last years, but I really don't know. But I am convinced that there is some reason that the Lord wanted our family here at this particular time. Probably because He knew the toilet was going to overflow and flood the Airbnb last night and we needed that trial.

But you see, God never works through chance. He never works through happenstance. That's not the God that we know. And so you and I are right now, right where God wants us this morning, right now. And He's planning on carrying out specific things in your life individually. It's different from the person next to you in the specifics. But He's doing something in your life this morning. And that's why you're here.

So let's open in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are here together this morning because you put us here. You placed us here for your purposes and we thank you for that. Lord, we're just joyful to know that that's the kind of God you are. are individually and intimately at work in each one of our lives to draw us to you, to draw us to the knowledge of you and of your son Jesus Christ. And so we pray that that's what you would do in each of us this morning as we look into your word. And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. So open your Bibles. We're going to be in Romans, but open your Bibles first to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. That's where we're going to look at first. So this morning, we are going to deviate a little bit.

I know Jim told you I was going to exposit that entire passage, but we're actually going to deviate a little bit from our verse-by-verse journey through Romans. When Mike asked me to speak this Sunday, he was kind of looking forward to the schedule, and he says, it looks like we're going to be right between chapter 5 and chapter 6. So you nailed it. But because the schedule is a little bit uncertain, he said, I can't tell you exactly what verses we might be on. So, I suggested to Mike, just off the cuff, that maybe I should kind of do a big picture look at Romans 5 and 6. And Mike okayed that, and then I got thinking about it, and I was beginning to feel fairly unqualified to teach this content. And then I was reminded of a quote from Samuel Rideout. I don't know if the book, The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit that we studied, in the first hour for the last few years, or a couple years. And this quote really stuck out to me, so I just wanted to share it here.

Samuel Rideout said, it ever remains that the Holy Spirit amply qualifies every vessel that he may choose for the ministry. Do not be afraid that the ardent young evangelist on fire with love to God and souls will fail to be used because his grammar is not perfect and he knows only one thing. Ah, brethren, the man who knows one thing is the man who will speak in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power." And this is key. All that is needed is to be a broken vessel that the Spirit of God may use us.

And that was an encouragement to me because it's the Lord who, oh, there we go, it's the Lord who qualifies each one of us for precisely the thing that He intends to use us for. And I'm not just trying to justify the fact that you have a, just so you know, you have an uneducated, blue-collar Canadian in front of you this morning to teach you the Word of God. That's not the reason I share this quote, but I wanted each one of us to recognize that it is the Lord Himself who qualifies us to carry out the specific work that He places before us. I find myself here this morning, but He's got a work in front of you, and He's qualified you for that. But what is the one thing that Samuel Rideout referred to in that quote?

I emphasize that because I think it's really important. What is the one thing that must be known? And the one thing that we must know, as he says, in order for the demonstration of the Spirit's power. So look at 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 and 2. And he says, and when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." So what is the one thing that we must know? It's Christ, and Christ crucified.

But I'd like to qualify that statement by saying that we must never, never limit the cross to the fact that Jesus died for our sins. Knowing that our sins are paid for is important, but it will not lead to the demonstration of the Spirit's power. We must come to know our participation in His death and resurrection through the fact of our union with Christ. Only then will His powerful resurrection life be lived out through us.

And this is the monumental message of Romans. That's what we've been studying, and that's what we're going to talk about this morning. But before we dive into that, I want to back out and look at where we've been in Romans already, and show that Paul has been leading up to this core doctrine. So now you can turn your Bibles to Romans 5. Romans is Paul's greatest letter, in which he lays out Christian doctrine. Throughout the early chapters, Paul has demonstrated the utter sinfulness of every single person in Adam.

And beginning with Romans 3.21, Paul declares the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

That is the death of Christ for us. in 321. And we see that in Romans 5, verses 6 and 8. He says, for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. And verse 8 says, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the death of Christ for us.

These are birth truths. And as critical and as wonderful as they are, we can't camp out on them forever. Because if we're ever to grow beyond them, or if we never grow beyond them, we'll never move into the life that God intends for us. And that's why Paul immediately follows up that truth in chapter 5 by presenting us with the doctrine of the two men, as Mike was teaching us about.

And in Romans 5.12-21, Paul lays out the fact that all men, without exception, are born in Adam, and that all who receive the free gift in 5.15 by faith are taken out of Adam and united to Christ.

And William Newell said this about this portion of scripture. He said, the great truth of Romans 5, 12 through 21 is that a representative acted involving those connected with him. A representative acted involving those connected with him. And that's in the margin of my Bible because that just clicked for me. The words connected with are key.

We were connected with Adam, and because of that, we participated in his sin. We were directly involved in it. We didn't just inherit the consequences of it, we were in Adam, sinners. And in contrast, Jim, as believers, we are now connected with Christ.

And we're familiar with the phrase identified with Christ, and this morning I want to use the phrase united to Christ, which is another biblical phrase for this. Chester Macaulay taught that anytime we see the words in Christ in the New Testament, we will not be wrong if we insert the words union with between them. So that's so we have in union with Christ.

So that's what we've been learning for several weeks now. And we're about to move into chapter six. And what I think we're going to see in chapter six is that once Paul has established the fact of our union with Christ, Everything that he teaches from here on simply flows out of this fundamental truth. So look at Paul's language as we move into Romans 6. He keeps looking back to this doctrine. So in 6.1, he says, what shall we say then? On the basis of what we said here about our union with Christ, what shall we say then?

And then he moves into it, Romans 6.3, and I just cherry-picked a few, but you could all through here, it's the same thing.

Romans 6.3, or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ And then he details the implications of that union. Romans 6, 5. For if we have become united with him, he assumes our union as believers. 6, 8. Now if we have died with Christ, again, because of our union we've died with him. 6, 12. Therefore do not let sin reign. Why? Is this me bootstrapping it? No. Because based on our union, sin has no power over us. Therefore do not let sin reign. You're dead to it. And on and on it goes. And once... Paul has brought us to this preeminent Christian truth. He camps out here and he builds all of Christian practice on this ground.

So Paul has introduced us to our union with Christ at the end of chapter 5, and as we move into chapter 6, we're going to be seeing the results and the practical effects of this union. But this morning, this is really the perfect time to just pause and take a close look at our union with Christ. And so to do that, what I wanted to do, and this by no means is exhaustive, but I just wanted to look at our union with Christ in four aspects. So we have our union with Christ, the significance of it, the purpose of it, the enemies of it, and then the implementation of it. So, number one, the significance of it.

Union with Christ is the most significant truth for the Christian. And this is because union with Christ is what defines the church. Chester McCauley said it like this, the church is most clearly defined as all those who have been placed in permanent union with Jesus Christ. So that's what defines what the church is. It's all those who have been placed in union with Jesus Christ. And union with Christ is only ever used to describe those who believe between the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and the rapture when the church is completed. That's why it's unique to the church.

It's never used of Old Testament believers. They're eternally saved, but they're not in Christ, in union with Christ. One of the sad facts throughout the majority of church history is that most believers have not known the basic fact of their identification with Christ. Since his union with Christ that sets apart the church from Israel, the failure to recognize our union has led to this crippling confusion in the church.

And most Christians today believe that they are under the law of Moses in one way or another. And if the church is ever to understand this distinction between the law and between grace, we must learn it on the basis of the distinction of being placed in union with Christ. That's the only way we can learn that distinction and how it is that we're no longer under law, but we're under grace.

So it's incredibly significant. The second reason, and like I said, this is not exhaustive, but another reason why our union with Christ is so significant is that union with Christ is what Paul was sent to teach the church. Our union with Christ was the major theme of Paul's entire ministry and and we were talking about this with Macaulay's last night and and this for me just kind of Made this click in my mind, but this is kind of coming from Chester Macaulay as well He said just as Moses was God's chosen instrument to reveal the law to Israel Just as Moses was his chosen instrument to reveal a lot to Israel Paul was God's chosen instrument to reveal this this new thing to the church Often, Paul writes about the mystery which God sent him to explain.

Ephesians 3.8.9 is a good example. He says, To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. And what is the mystery?

And Colossians 1.27 is clear. This mystery, which is Christ in you. That's what the mystery is. It's Christ in you, or your union with Christ. You in Christ, Christ in you. An undividable union.

And Paul was chosen by God to reveal to the church the fact of our union with Christ. And in Romans 5, 12 through 21, where we've been for weeks, we have arrived at this great truth. And here Paul lays out our union with Christ. See, Paul knew that the church had to get a handle on the significance of our union with Christ, and that was his mission.

And it's still the critical mission of the church today. This is what needs to be taught. This is what needs to be understood by the church. And all too often, it's not. But let's look at the purpose of our union with Christ. Hopefully that gives us a bit of the flavor, the significance of it. But what's the purpose of it? I put it like this. We're joined to the person of Christ in order to be vessels of His righteous life, both right now and throughout eternity.

In Philippians 3.9, Paul writes, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from law, but that which is through faith in Christ. And remembering that we can put the words union with between the words in and Christ. What Paul is saying here is that the righteousness which is to be produced through you and I is due to the fact that we're in union with Christ.

So this is the purpose. And I broke it down into a couple parts here. So the purpose of our union is in Christ's present earthly ministry. Union with Christ means that Jesus Christ is living through us in the world right now God's God's present purpose in the church is that the life of Jesus is displayed through us as his instruments So we are we're simply to be vessels of the righteous life of his son. We're just vessels of his life Galatians 2 20 it's one of my favorite verses. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and just as a vessel. The resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus is just as present in the world today as he ever was and ever will be. Because he's present in his body, the church. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, do you remember what he said? He didn't say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting the church? No, he said, why are you persecuting me?

That's Acts 9.4.

As Christians, we don't have a piece of Christ. were united to Him in His fullness. And that's why Paul can say, to me, to live is Christ. He talked about, do I die and leave the world? Do I stay here? And he was kind of torn between the two. But to live here is Christ. And that's what union means. Full participation in everything that He is. And that's why I say Christ is as present in the world as He ever will be. bodily present as he will when he's revealed, but he's present in the church, his body, and he's accomplishing his work in us. And so the other side of that, that's a little look at what he's doing now in the church, but the other side is that the purpose of our union with Christ is Christ's eternal earthly rule.

I had to take a bit out of my notes for the sake of time, but if you want just two verses that will demonstrate Jesus Christ's eternal earthly rule, look at 2 Samuel, you don't have to turn there now, we're not going to have time to read them, but you can jot it down. 2 Samuel 7, 12-13. An earthly king over the entire globe in Psalm 2, verse 8. Just two key verses that talk about the eternal reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.

At the rapture, the church will be taken up from the earth, and the world will enter into a time when Jesus has no bodily presence on the earth. And this will be the case throughout the whole Tribulation period, the first phase of the 70th week of Daniel. But at the end of Daniel's 70th week, when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, we will return with Him.

And in Colossians 3, verse 4, Paul says, when He is revealed, we shall be revealed. That's how indivisible we are from Christ. You can't separate us, such that when He is revealed to the world, we are revealed with Him, in Him. We're eternally joined to Him. Look at it. I got it on the screen here. Oh, there we go. Missing some slides, right? No, I don't have this on the screen. Sorry. Revelation 5, verses 9 to 10. I'll just read it out.

And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, Americans and Canadians, and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests who are God and they will reign upon the earth.

And I believe that throughout eternity we will continue to reign with Christ in His kingdom in a personal and intimate way. And it couldn't be any other way. It couldn't be any other way, because the union that we have with Christ is permanent and unchangeable. If He's ruling on the throne for all eternity, then we will be united to Him in that. So the purpose of our union with Christ is that we should be vessels Here we go. So we should be vessels of His righteous life, both right now and throughout eternity.

All to His glory. All to His glory. And that has, I think, God's great purpose for the church. However, a purpose that's not implemented is just an idea. It's a great idea, you know, to be united to Christ. But if it's not implemented, it's just an idea. And God is right now, and He will carry out His purpose in the church. And He's working in us to bring this purpose, this idea, this plan into practical reality. And so we're gonna look at how the Lord implements His plan for the church, but before we do that, I want us to be clear on the fact that this process that He's implementing in us is not without enemies.

So let's look at the enemies of our union with Christ. First of all, it's critical to understand that no enemy can destroy or undo our union with Christ. Romans 8, 38 and 39, which we'll get to eventually, says that nothing in all creation can separate us from Christ. Our union with Him is eternal and unchangeable, so none of these enemies can undo that reality. Nevertheless, we need to recognize that there's a battle raging over what God is doing in the church. And the hungry heart from Thursday, I believe it was, stuck out to me here, so I inserted this into my notes.

And this is a quote without a reference to who said it. If ministers and teachers of God's word would set saints free and establish them in the gospel, just like Paul did, establishing believers in the gospel, let their preaching and teaching be based upon the 6th and 7th of Romans, the central theme of which is our union with the Lord Jesus. That's kind of neat. That's exactly what I was planning on talking about today.

The central theme of which is our union with the Lord Jesus in death and burial and our resurrection and ascension with Him into newness of life where not the law but grace reigneth, where not the letter but the spirit moveth, the heart and life of the believer. And this is where I get to the enemy.

Satan will fight most fiercely against such teaching, but no other will establish the Lord's people." Satan will fight most fiercely against such teaching, but no other teaching will establish the Lord's people. So when this truth, when this fact of our union with Christ is being presented, there is an enemy. And Satan, we have to remember, the Bible is very clear on this, that Satan is still the god of this age. If there's a threat, as Satan might term it, if there's a threat of the life of Christ being displayed in this world, then he's going to put up some serious opposition to that.

He's not happy to have Christ manifest in his kingdom. But a much closer enemy, and probably the one, well, definitely the one we are more commonly dealing with, is our own flesh. Our own flesh is an enemy of our union with Christ. For at least two reasons. One, because union with Christ means death. Death or separation from the desires of the flesh. So if our union with Christ means that we're going to die or be dead, we have died, to the desires of the flesh, do you think the flesh is excited about that? That's the first reason.

And two, and related to that, our flesh hates grace. Our flesh hates grace. The flesh always wants to seek its own glory. And this work that God's doing is entirely based on grace. It leaves no room for self-glory. And so our flesh is constantly warring against the very idea of a union with Christ that put the old man out of service.

So that is perhaps a greater enemy for us. And then, of course, to round it out, we have the world system, which is used by both Satan and our flesh, really, to make us very comfortable here. The world system is a place we can be very comfortable. And when we allow ourselves to be drawn to earthly comforts and pleasures, we can be controlled by them. And Paul says that the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. That's part of our union. Our union with Christ means that we have died to the world. and the world to us. The world says, yeah, get comfortable and stay a while. Let's enjoy this here. Let's enjoy the earthly pleasures.

Now, when we look at these three enemies, like I said, never forget that none of these enemies can remove us from union with Christ. They can only keep the reality of our union from having any practical effect. So they're enemies. They cannot undo what God's done, but they can keep us, or keep this reality from having any practical effect. So now we want to look at the implementing of it. Now that we know that there's enemies, let's look at how this is going to be implemented.

Maybe you're still in Romans 5. I want to look at Romans 5, verses 1 through 5. So there are two parts to this implementation. The first is the knowledge of our union, and the second is what I've termed here based on Romans, the proving out of the life of Christ. So we're going to talk about both of these, but first let's look at how Paul introduced the order of this process in Romans 5, 1 through 5. So we're stepping back a little bit in Romans. But look at verses 1 and 2. Paul first tells us the fact of our union with Christ.

In verse 1 and 2, therefore, having been justified with faith, so you've accepted that Christ died for you, you're justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also, we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.

This grace in which we stand, and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. If we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our justification is a once-for-all deal. And on the basis of that fact, we've been made to stand in this position of grace. That, that's the fact of our union with Christ. That's the gracious position we stand in, united to Jesus Christ.

But then he continues in verse 3, and not only this, but we also exalt in our tribulations. This is a funny change here. We exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character and proven character hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So notice that no sooner has Paul declared the fact of our position than he starts talking about trials.

And what do they lead to? Proven character. But it's not my character. The point of the trial is not to prove out my character or my ability in something. Whose character is it? It's the character of the one that we've been joined to. It's the character of Jesus Christ. So first of all, we need to know the fact of our union as Christ. This came up in JD's Monday group just the other day.

Miles Stanford said, too few realize their identification with the Lord Jesus. This is mainly due to the fact that the identification truths have long been neglected, neglected teaching in schools, churches, and homes. Oh my goodness, schools teaching identification truths? When did that ever happen? That goes back a long way, doesn't it? Yeah, we can talk about schools and Canadian schools and stuff later, man. This is as true today as ever. This is as true today more so than ever.

Churchianity, I've noticed this, churchianity, I don't know, I think Vern used, who used that term? I caught it from Holly Hills, churchianity. I took it. Churchianity uses the phrase in Christ all the time. You see it in worship songs and so forth, and you hear it in things, but there's almost no comprehension of what those words mean. They use them because they're in the Bible. They say, oh, we're in Christ, we're in Christ, but they have no idea what it means.

And I had a recent conversation with a retired pastor in Canada, and he's been talking to Alyssa and I about union with Christ for a number of months. Actually, we were talking about marriage and, of course, union. And so we were talking about union with Christ.

And as he's beginning to see it, he said to me just the other day, he said, I can't believe that I've been a Christian and a pastor for so many years and I've never seen this before. And all I could respond was, yeah, me too. That's me too. And I think that quite a few of us, maybe all of us, I don't know, have had that same experience.

We went for years as a Christian without knowing the fundamental reality of what it is to be a Christian. We had no clue as to the fact that we had been taken out of our union to Adam and placed into permanent union with Christ. Sadly, our enemies that we were discussing have been really effective at keeping the church from this fact. Very effective at that.

And just like Paul, we need to be serious about teaching believers their union with Christ. And we have to depend on the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of believers to this reality. Because we can't just tell them about it and expect them to get it. It's going to have to be the Holy Spirit that opens their eyes to it. We aren't placed in union with Christ simply so that we can know about it as a fact. Holly Hills has had the rare, rare benefit of having been taught the truth of identification for many years. And that's a tremendous blessing. It really is.

But we can talk about the fact of our union with Christ until the cows come home and still not come... Is that a Canadian expression you guys use? There's a lot of cows in Wyoming. We can talk about our union with Christ until the cows come home and still not come into the effective outworking of it.

The Spirit must take the knowledge of the facts and bring them to fruition in our lives. And He does this by bringing us to know, not just the fact, but to know the One with whom we've been united. That's His goal. He wants to bring us into the knowledge of Him, Jesus Christ, with whom we are united. So that's letter B, knowing Him.

Turn to Philippians 3, verses 8 through 10, if you care to. How does the Spirit bring about this intimate knowledge? How does the Spirit bring about this intimate knowledge? How do we go from just knowing the fact to this intimate knowledge of Christ? It's brought about through a death process. It's brought about through a death process.

Union with Christ has two sides. Death, separation from everything other than Adam. Everything. And on the flip side, our union to Christ alone. Philippians 3 verses 8-10 says, More than that, I count all things to be lost 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 as rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, verse 10, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, Notice that Paul speaks of suffering the loss of some things? No. Suffering the loss of all things.

And this separation from all things is the death process that I'm talking about. And it leads to, as we saw in verse 10, the knowledge of Him, knowing Him. This intimate knowing that the Holy Spirit is bringing us into. is this death process, and it's through trials and difficulties. Through trials and difficulties, we come to an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ that we couldn't gain any other way. Let me give you, this is just, this is not in my notes. So yesterday, we don't get Chick-fil-A, but, you know, I hear that, ah, whatever, politics aside. But, you know, we ought to try Chick-fil-A while we're down here, right?

So we're in the line, and this is a busy, you guys are busy, busy fast food restaurants. And we're standing in line, and it's a little bit hectic and frantic. Like, what do you guys want to order? We're going to go up to the line, we're up to the front.

And I was kind of, I haven't done this yet, but I got to apologize to the kids because I was a little stark. He's like, choose right now, you need to choose. And my flesh was just right there because of a fast food restaurant, because of a And then, I was really... Some of you heard, our Airbnb flooded a little bit last night, and I walked in the door, and there was water on the floor, and we're mopping it up, and it's late, and I was like, now I'm killing it, because I'm not complaining.

But trials and difficulties. bring us to this really important knowledge. I guess that does illustrate what I was going to say here. Why are they so effective? Why are trials and difficulties so effective? Because first, they show us our old man for what it is. They show us our old man. As soon as we're failing, we're like, oh man, the old man. As soon as we're doing something right, we're like, oh yeah, I can do this. So they show us the insidious wickedness of that man. But secondly, they make clear the necessity of the new nature, which is Christ. And that's the key.

Alyssa and I enjoy reading Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie and her sister Betsy knew about their union with Christ before they went to the German death camp. But it was in the hell on earth of that death camp that their union became real. You know, they knew the fact going into that terrible difficulty, but it was through the trial that they came to know Jesus as their very life in a deep and intimate way. And for the rest of her life, the rest of her time on earth, I should say, Corrie spoke clearly and powerfully about being connected to Christ. And I wanted to share this quote, Alyssa. Oh, sorry, I had that passage on the PowerPoint. Here's Corrie's quote.

My ability is very limited. But I am no more and no less than a branch of the vine. Without the vine, I cannot do anything. Connected with the vine, He gives the branches His nature, His victory, His love, His power, with Him more than conqueror. Not good if detached. Kori Tenbu.

Difficulty is designed by God to bring us to the end of ourselves. Our default mode as sinners is to depend on ourselves to get through hardships, but God won't have that. He intends to bring us to the point where we finally give up on self-effort. We hang on to our own strength, our own wisdom, our money, our power, our influence, our friendships and relationships, and we try to get through things with those resources. But trials and sufferings are allowed and designed really by God to pry our fingers off of the things that we cling to. He's trying to pry our fingers off of these things, off of everything except Christ. And when we think of it like this, God is very gracious to allow trials. We were talking about that yesterday a little bit. It is gracious of Him to bring us off of depending on ourselves in order to bring us to the point where we can begin to rest on Him for what He will do.

And this is the process of death in the believer. It's the process of coming to realize our once-for-all separation from the earthly things that we hold dear. 2 Corinthians 4, 11-12 says, for we who live, this is the death process, are constantly being delivered over to death. for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our mortal flesh, so death works in us, but life in you." So we can rejoice. We can rejoice in this death process because the outworking of this death is the very thing that precedes the outworking of his resurrection life. And that's why we can rejoice in it.

The trials that come to us are always carefully designed to show us where our affections are. The anxiety that we feel under trial shows us what we're still clinging to. The more we come to grips with our union to Christ, the more we become aware of our complete and total separation from everything outside of Him. And gradually we can begin to rejoice in the fact that our union with Christ includes our death with Him. The Lord will patiently work to show us our separation from our possessions, from our health, from our comforts, from our rights. We're getting introduced to American freedom and our rights. We don't get those. No, I'm just kidding. Our rights, our reputation, our relationships, even our physical life.

And we're I have my nose often, but I'd say pretty much always Consumed with the pursuit of things like these But when we finally begin to count on the fact that we are dead to everything earthly we can begin to pray this way Lord Use me in any way that you would see fit. I don't care what it is. I don't care what earthly things I will lose because of it I'm already dead to those things do whatever you will through me, only so that Christ would be made known." Now, I've prayed that prayer, but really this is a prayer of the Christian who is counting on his crucifixion with Christ, but I think it's somewhat naive, because we can pray this way without realizing what we're really even saying. Hudson Taylor said this, it is an easy thing to sing, I all on earth forsake, But God sometimes teaches one that that little word, all, is terribly comprehensive.

I believe that once the Lord has us in a place of thinking that we understand our separation from earthly things, He will allow us to be tried in that. He will allow trials that show us just how much we still desire comfort, or health, or a reputation. And only then can that prayer become genuine. Only when we've felt the sting of that death and learned to rejoice in it, do we know the fellowship of his sufferings.

And I could be wrong, but I believe that trials are currently on the increase for believers, for the church. It's my own personal conviction that unless the rapture comes soon, the church in North America is going to have some very hard days ahead. If that's the case, and I think it likely is, then it is more important than ever that we learn with great conviction the fact of our death separation from everything other than Christ. At the same time, if I'm worried about the prospect of increased difficulty, that's because I'm still holding dear things that I'm already dead to. I'm not resting in my union with Christ. I don't yet understand that my union with Christ means that I'm separated from everything else. We often ask ourselves, how could God allow so much suffering for His children?

The reason is simple. that only when we've been brought down into the fellowship of His death are we prepared to be vessels of the power of His resurrection life. The Lord doesn't simply want us to know our death to everything earthly. He intends for us to know the resurrection life of Christ. The Lord is patiently leading us into greater and greater dependence on Him for His life. And these verses will be at, before you know it.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection." That's the goal. That's the aim. The likeness of His resurrection. His resurrected life being lived out through us. And only when we know this death life union with Christ.

Are we prepared to be a living sacrifice, to be poured out as a drink offering, the fragrant aroma of Christ in this world? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the unfathomable reality of our union with Christ. And Lord, I pray that we would just continue to ask the question, what does that mean? It's an infinite and unfathomable reality, this union with your Son, Jesus Christ. And so teach us to just continue to ask, Lord, what does it mean that I'm united to Him? And just continue to discover that through everything that you've placed in front of us for our for our growth, for the implementation of this plan and purpose of yours to display the life of Christ in and through us, both now and throughout eternity, for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.