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Ephesians 5:29-33
Amen.
In 2019, we were preaching through Genesis 1 -11. And when we came to that verse that's gonna be quoted in Ephesians 5 today, you can go ahead and turn to Ephesians 5, but the verse quoted in Ephesians 5, verse 31, is Genesis 2 -24.
And when we came to that verse in September of 2019, I wrote this poem. God put the helpless man to sleep and opened up his side, a promise old intent to keep, to give his son a bride. Adam awoke to see the gift, his eyes on her steadfast.
A perfect helper for him fit, he cried to God at last. The glory of that fateful day, too soon it was dismayed. As Satan led the girl away and Adam disobeyed. They fled disgraced, God called their name, though they strove to hide.
The promise old was still his aim, to give his son a bride. But years unfurled, sin seemed to reign, as all grew worse and worse. Men to their holy maker raged and suffered neath the curse. Was all lost?
Was hope removed? Had just a lie been told? No, God would have his promise proved and sovereign plan unfold. In humbleness, the son of God took on human skin, full obedience, earthly trod, he had a wife to win.
Then on the cross, God crushed the Christ, they opened up his side. A promise old, this was the price, to give his son a bride. The darkness of that fateful day would vastly be outshone, when heavy stone was rolled away, to show last Adam won.
See on the tree, the work complete, when the savior bled, the debt for sin, the son did meet and bruised the serpent's head. Thus resurrected from the grave, the promise carried on, the son of God, a bride would have, now just to bring her home.
And sin stained clothes, his love remained and so she sought to hide. But God, the spirit called her name, redemption was applied. Awakened to a brand new life, her sinfulness confessed, the woman readied as a wife and donned a wedding dress.
Then at the meal of the beloved, all heaven gladly cried. At last, at last, God's promise proved, to give his son a bride. We come today to a text at Ephesians chapter five, where we discuss the doctrine of the marriage of Christ and his church.
Or to put it in more precise theological language, we come today in Ephesians five to discuss the doctrine of union with Christ. Ephesians chapter five. And for all known to me, I believe this will be our last sermon in Ephesians chapter five.
And so would you stand as we honor the reading of God's word? And we come to verse 29. We've covered this already for several weeks now, but now we specifically look at the union of Christ and his church.
I'll start in verse 29 and read through the end of the chapter. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this text. And we thank you for the richness and the beauty and the glory of this text. Help us to just understand what this text is conveying and the union of Christ and the church and this grand and wonderful theology.
Give us ears to hear and eyes to see, a heart that feels, a mind that can think. Let us receive all of this by faith through your sovereign and undeserved grace. We pray, Lord, that you would bless today the preaching of your word for the glory of your name.
And we pray it all in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. We consider today this great doctrine of union with Christ. And let me just say that in one sense, union with Christ is like the theme of Paul's letter to the Ephesians.
Like if you were gonna say, what is the letter to Ephesians about? You wouldn't necessarily be wrong to say, well, the letter to Ephesians is about our union with Christ. And we see that here once more in the text.
It's been repeated time and again as we've gone through. So today is one of those days where I feel like I have more points than a barbed wire fence. And so we just gotta jump in, we gotta go, right? So number one, the picture of this union.
So what does God give us as a picture of the union between Christ and the church? Well, look at the text. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church because we're members of his body.
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. So the picture of union with Christ is what?
It's that of marriage. Paul refers to this glorious picture as a profound mystery that has now been revealed. If you look there at verse 32, he says this mystery is profound. In the Latin Vulgate, the word for mystery is sacramentum.
It's wrong, it's a bad translation. But you can hear the word sacrament there, and that's how the Roman Catholics get the idea that marriage is a sacrament. Well, of course, this is an error. Marriage is not a sacrament.
Rather, it is a picture of a far greater and weightier reality. So when Moses writes Genesis 2 .24, he's actually ultimately pointing us not just to physical marriage, but to Christ and the church. Genesis 2 .24 is what's cited there in Ephesians 5 .31.
The Reformation Study Bible notes this. As a man leaves his family and cleaves to his wife, Christ left his father's side and came to cleave to his bride, having returned to his father, he brings us with him to dwell before God forever.
You see how marriage is a picture of this. And in the text, in verse 31, the Greek word there for hold fast, it has the connotation of join, unite. So Christ and his bride are joined together. They are united in a mystical and spiritual way.
Christ is the head of the church, and all believers of all time are united to him, really and truly and vitally. Two have become one. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. In a marriage, a husband and a wife are joined together in a way that is beyond merely the physical. The two become one.
The wife, we illustrate this in our society today when a wife takes on the last name of her husband, and she is now rightful owner of all that he has. It's strange, right, not to meddle with your marriage, but it's strange, is it not, that when two married couples come together and they keep all their stuff separate, right, keep their bank accounts separate and their property separate and that, it misunderstands the profound nature of joining two separate lives into one life.
By the way, and you'll hear this a few times in the sermon, this is why we must fiercely guard the institution of marriage today. I loathe what's coming up in just a few days. You all understand that on June 1st, our culture has accepted this idea that the month of June is pride month, but I'm telling you, in the month of June, yes, we must be gracious, but we also must be bold, and we must not give an inch on the institution of marriage.
God's design for marriage is between one man and one woman, and I'll push this even further. It's also why we don't take divorce flippantly. Every family in this room has in some way or another been affected by divorce, but we also must guard carefully the reality that Christ does not divorce His bride, and neither does His bride divorce Him.
Let me just offer it this way. It's actually compromise on biblical marriage that has sown the seedbed to where we're at today, right? You understand that when we, for maybe 50 years ago, said, well, it's okay for little Johnny and little Susie.
I know they're not married, but we're gonna let them shack up together, and the church isn't gonna say anything because that's none of your business, or it's okay if Bob and Sally get a divorce over here, right?
Or it's okay if, I'm running out of names, if in Tom and Susie's marriage, it's okay if really Susie's the head and Tom is not. It's okay, we'll just conflate the gender roles. Well, friends, what we've done over the years is create a reality whereby today that's been taken even further, and it's the battles that we're facing with the LGBTQ front, as it were.
So we must guard the institution of marriage. Christ loves His bride, and so look at verse 33. The husband, however, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Christ loves the bride. The husband must love his wife. The church reveres Christ, so too the wife honors, respects, reveres her husband. So what the text is saying is that marriage is a picture of the union between Christ and the church.
The chief point of marriage, not the only point, but the chief point of marriage is that it pictures the union of Christ and His church, number two. So it's a picture, the picture of this union. Number two, the profoundness of this union.
Verse 32 says, this mystery is profound. The ESV word, English word for profound, the Greek word, I'm trying to say, is megos, which you can hear the word great, mega. It means great, but the connotation there is also the idea of surprising, right?
This is a surprising mystery that is. Let me illustrate it this way. Have you ever been part of a wedding or have you ever met a couple when you're surprised that this couple is together, right? You're surprised that a man like him is married to a woman like her or a woman like him is married to a man.
It just surprises you. Well, consider this to an infinitely greater extent with Christ and His church, right? In Hosea, there's this example, right, if you know the book of Hosea, where Hosea marries a woman of ill repute and God likens this to Himself and Israel.
So think for just a moment of the unworthiness.
Of the church.
Think of her sins and think of her shame and think of her uncleanness and think of her spiritual adultery. Think of her many failures and rebellions.
Think of all that the church is.
Compared to who Christ is. And yet, nevertheless, she is united to Christ. What a profound mystery that the church is united to Christ, her husband.
He loves her.
He gave Himself for her and gladly by His Spirit unites her to Himself. This is the profoundness of the union. Behold this wonderful mystery. Thirdly, the position of this union. Now, we're gonna have to think deeply here.
So I hope you've maybe sipped a little bit of coffee this morning. We need to think well here about something. And when I say the position of this union, we need to talk about the positional nature, as it were, of our union with Christ.
Maybe a better word here would have been propriety. That is, how is this union right? So verse 32 says, this mystery is profound. I'm saying it refers to Christ and the church. And what I want you to see in this point, and we're gonna get to an application of this in just a moment, but what you need to see in this point is there is a legality, if you will, to this union.
That is, before this union with Christ is experienced personally, in time, through the application of redemption, before this happens in time, in eternity past, God has legally bound the church to Christ.
Now, I'm gonna illustrate it from the text. It's not as plain in Ephesians 5, but it is plain in Ephesians 1. So turn to your Bibles to Ephesians 1 for just a moment. Ephesians 1. Now, maybe this will help you see what I'm saying.
So in Ephesians 1, it says, Ephesians 1, verse 4, Paul says, even as he, that is God, chose us, now this is the important two words, in him, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
The church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. That is, the Son of God in this great covenant of redemption is legally obligated, legally bound, as it were, though he does joyfully and does it willingly, he's legally bound to represent his people.
Now, consider two real-life examples of legal representation to wrap your mind around this. First, when I was, well, I don't know how old I was, I can do the math here in a minute, but Braden was around two, and we went to Hobby Lobby, and he was probably like 20 feet away from me, and he picks up this glass football, okay?
He picks up the glass football, and like, I see what's unfolding in my mind, like, I see the future, right? I know what's about to happen.
I can't get to him.
He picks up the football. Hey, dad, hut, hut, and he throws the football, and I see it, it took like two seconds, but in my mind, it's like five minutes, you know, slow motion, and I'm like, no, you know?
Boom, hits the ground, shatters. Now, thankfully, Hobby Lobby was very gracious, but suppose they come to me and say, sir, you need to pay for it. I say, I ain't pay for that. I didn't break it. He broke it, right?
That's not gonna fly, right, why? Because I'm the legal representative of my son, right? I stand as representative of him. Second illustration might say like a power of attorney, right, so we have this idea of power of attorney.
This allows someone to act on your behalf as a legal representative. Now, back to Christ, and this is important, and it's beautiful, and it's like, so it's all inspiring. Legally, Christ is our representative.
This is by virtue of God choosing us in him in eternity past, and the ramifications of this are glorious. This means that as Christ fulfills all righteousness, as he is obedient to the point of death, all that he does, he does so as what?
Our representative and our surety.
But the church has been legally represented by Christ in such a way that his actions and hers, his actions are hers by imputation. That is, God credits his people by grace through faith with the work of Christ.
We are bound to him in a legal position. What I'm trying to say on a practical level is that all that Christ did in fulfilling all righteousness, if you, by grace through faith, put your trust in Christ, it is yours.
You are counted as doing those things.
Why?
Because Christ is your representative.
His righteousness is yours.
And by the way, this works the other way. That is, what Christ has earned, what Christ has earned, what he has purchased, he has done for the church, he has done as her husband, he has done as her federal head and legal representative, and what the church has done is his.
Meaning, on the cross, God imputes, that is, God counts, God credits the sins of his people on Christ. That is, we're the ones that broke the football, right? And Christ is the one that had to pay for it.
You understand that to a much infinitely greater extent, we're the one that rebelled against God. We're the one that spat in his face. We're the one that turned our backs on him. We're the ones that lie and cheated and stole.
We're the ones that committed idolatry. We're the one that worshiped the false gods of this world. Jesus didn't do those things. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, but Jesus will not say to the Father, that's not my responsibility.
Instead, he takes our sins as our legal representative on the cross. Christ, in a positional union, this positional union is responsible before God, for his people, and he has accomplished a great salvation for the church whom he says, behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Despite her sin, despite what she deserves, despite the reality that what she deserves is the lake of fire and eternal hell, the son of God was slain for her, all out of the riches of his sovereign and undeserved grace.
This is how Paul can say in Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ, by the way, again, in Christ with what? Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Now, our fourth point, the personalness of this union. So back to Ephesians 5. What I wanna bring to bear now is not to just talk about eternity past, not to just talk about in history what Jesus has done, but I need to bring this to bear upon your soul in real time and personally.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound. I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Now look at verse 33.
However, let each one of you, this is singular, love his wife as himself, and let the wife, that's singular, see that she respects her husband. So it's not just the institution of marriage that represents Christ and the church.
Rather, each individual marriage shows a picture of Christ and the church. Now sadly, we understand, most marriages show a poor picture. But just as the individual marriage pictures Christ and the church, so too must there be an individual and personal union with Christ in time.
What I mean is, you can't just show up to church and say, man, I hear these great things you just said about the gospel, and I hear about God giving his son a people, and I hear about him dying for the church and representing the church.
Well, here I am. I'm sitting in church today. That must be my reality as well. Well, not necessarily. Not if you're refusing Christ today, right? All the stuff about Christ and the church cannot just merely be some corporate matter for you.
It must come to bear on your soul individually and personally and experientially, or it is of no use to you. There is this legal union in eternity past that must come to bear in time, whereby you are personally united to Christ by grace through faith.
Let me illustrate this again from Ephesians chapter two. Look at Ephesians chapter two, verse 12. This is what Paul says, even though the church has a legal unification with Christ in eternity past, this is what Paul says of the Gentiles.
Well, really, it's specifically the Gentiles, but it's all unbelievers. Verse 12, Ephesians chapter two, verse 12. This is your reality. Remember that you are at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
In other words, what I'm saying is that's the reality of every unbeliever, separated from Christ. The unconverted cannot say Christ's representation of his church is good news for them as long as they remain outside of Christ.
So think about that this morning. Think about the terrible danger some who are hearing this message are in. You hear about this grand reality and the wonderful legal representation. Christ gave us such a wonderful legal representation.
You get mad about Adam and you say, it's not fair in the garden that Adam fell and it represented all mankind. Oh, but think of the grace though in Christ that he too is a legal representative for those who put their faith in him.
But this is no good news to you if you remain outside and don't trust Christ. Do you see his beauty this morning? Do you see his glory? Do you see his sacrifices, his substitution, his atoning work, his death and his resurrection?
Do you see his sufficiency? Do you see his willingness to save undeserving sinners? Children, listen to me. Do you see Christ and his willingness to save undeserving sinners? Do you see your hopelessness before him?
Do you see your sin? Then you must come to this Jesus by grace through faith. I love this from Vim and Sobrekel. He says, come therefore, you the chief of sinners or whoever you may be and in whatever sin you may have lived until now and ask me, does Christ also call me?
May I come? Would Christ also be willing to accept and save me? I answer you in Christ's name. Yes, he calls you and promises you that if you come and believe in him, he will save you. Oh, friends, hear me this day.
All of these promises of Christ and his church, they are yours if and only if you believe in him. It's only if you turn to him in repentance and faith. You can have him even now if you will, if you will consciously and willingly place your faith in him.
Set aside for a moment the mysteries and the difficulties you have in your mind about the doctrine of election and the reality that God chose a people in eternity past for his own glory. If you allow that to be your stumbling block, then you have misunderstood.
Christ says, come. You must be personally united to Christ in time by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit or you have no hope of eternal life. And the point here is I cannot do that for you. Your parents, your grandparents, they cannot do that for you.
You must come to Christ. And what a glorious reality that you sit now of all the places that you could be sitting on a Sunday morning, you sit now under the heralding of the gospel. This is not the greatest gospel preacher that has ever lived by a long shot, but it is the greatest gospel that's ever been preached.
And you sit under the gospel this morning, hearing today God's gracious offer of salvation. And if you resist such marvelous truth today, your judgment will be all the greater. And come to Christ, believe the gospel, find Christ alone as your only suitable and all sufficient savior.
Consider this morning from the text in Ephesians 5. Is this you? This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Is this you? What sins in your life this morning prevent such a coming to Christ?
Oh, if I come to Christ, I'll have to turn away from this. If I come to Christ, I'll have to let this go. And I say to you, let them go. Turn from them, repent of them, see them as a hideous thing and the vileness that they are.
Turn from those sins and see the King today.
Offering you peace.
See him offering you pardon. Go to Christ and find your rest in him. Find rest for your soul and forgiveness of your sins. The union of Christ and his church is personal. Fifthly, the presence of this union.
And Paul says that it refers to Christ and the church. So when we personally come to Christ by the work of the spirit and through faith and repentance, being united to Christ, we're united to Christ in such a way that the Bible says that Jesus is in us and we are in him.
This is no longer a merely legal union, but it's now a personal presence. It's now an intimate reality. I'll illustrate this in just two verses in Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter two, verse six. Ephesians chapter two, verse six, Paul says it this way, that God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places.
And then here it is again, in Christ Jesus. Friends, I wanna tell you something today. If you are a believer, if you are born again, if you have put your faith in Christ and turned from your sins, then just as sure as you are seated here before me today in a marvelous and mysterious way, so too are you seated with Christ and in Christ in the heavenly places.
You say, I don't understand all that. Great, you're in good company. I don't understand it all fully either because it's mind blowing that we are in Christ. But also Ephesians chapter three, verse 17 says this, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Now think about this for just a moment. The spirit unites us to Christ in such a way that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Now I don't like the phrase, you need to ask Jesus in your heart. It's not in the Bible and it's been misused.
So it's never commanded in the scriptures and it's been misused. People have been told, hey, you wanna become a Christian? Just ask Jesus into your heart. Okay, I don't think that's wise. I think it has been harmful, but I don't wanna gloss over that the cry of a truly penitent man or woman or boy or girl is desirous of Christ to dwell within them.
That's what we want, to have him capture our affections and our attitudes and our actions, to have him reign supreme within us and to conquer within us every rebel power and to sit gladly and absolutely and supremely upon the throne of our hearts and to bid the newborn person to do all of his holy will.
We desire that, the true believer desires Christ to reign supremely within them. This is the presence of this union. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. Sixthly, the provisions of this union. So again, in verse 32, Paul says, the mystery is profound.
I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church, that this union of a husband and wife is a picture of Christ and the church. Now, what I wanna say here is really, let's do it this way. Let's go back to Ephesians 1 .3 because I mentioned that earlier.
So let's put this together in our mind. So here's, let me try to show this to you in real time. In Ephesians 1 .3, it says this, 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.
So track with me here, think through what Paul's saying. We are blessed, how? In Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So you say to yourself, what does that mean? Does that mean if I just give my life to Christ, he'll give me a mansion?
If I just give my life to Christ, he'll give me a new car. If I just get serious about Christ, he'll keep me out of jail, I'll get a raise at work. No, none of these things, though sometimes God blesses us certainly with material possessions, but that's not what Paul's saying.
He's talking about every spiritual blessing. So what is the provisions of this union? What are, I should say, the provisions of this union? All of our soteriological, that's a big word, blessings, all the blessings of salvation, flow out of the application of Christ to our souls.
So let me give you five provisions. This will make sense, I think. Five provisions of our union with Christ. Let me give them to you. By virtue of our personal and vital union with Christ in time, these blessings are ours.
Number one, regeneration, right? We are regenerated by virtue of union with Christ that is being born again. God removing the heart of stone and replacing it with the heart of flesh. Justification, number two, justification.
This is that legal declaration whereby God forgives us of our sins and declares us righteous based on the merit of Christ alone. By the way, justification, it only happens in time. This is received only by grace and only through faith.
And Christ is the object of that faith. You cannot work for only what Christ has accomplished or can accomplish. It is only received by grace through faith. A theological note, Lewis Burkoff notes, union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification by faith while yet chronologically, the moment when we are united with Christ is also the moment of our regeneration and justification.
In other words, what happens in theology is we try to tease these things out and it's okay. We wanna look at each distinct part of salvation. It's beautiful, it's okay. But what you need to know this morning is out of Christ, where do these blessings flow?
Like, are you regenerated out of your good deeds? Are you regenerated because you're an American or you're regenerated because of your skin color or something like that? No, no, no, all of this flows only through Christ.
All of the blessings of salvation for God's people flow out of Christ. Christ has done it all.
You can't do it.
You sit here this morning and say, well, yeah, but I did this, I did that. Sometimes people hear these things, they get upset. That's good. I want people to get upset sometimes. I want God to press you because I want you to find your lack of sufficiency in your own brain and in your own heart and in your own actions.
You have no sufficiency, but Christ has it all. And there's great grace for those who see such sufficiency in Christ. It's out of our union with Christ that we have these blessings. Thirdly, adoption.
Regeneration, justification, adoption. MacArthur defines adoption this way. That part of salvation in which God receives the estranged sinner back into the relationship and benefits of being his child.
The term connotes positive favor as contrasted with mere forgiveness and remission of sins. You know, we leave this one out sometimes, don't we? But it's in Ephesians 1 .5, for example. Look at Ephesians 1 .5.
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. Isn't that amazing? That we've been adopted into God's family through our union with Christ. God is our father.
We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are sons and daughters of God. We are king's kids all through vital union with Christ. Regeneration, justification, adoption. Fourthly, sanctification. Sanctification, now back to Ephesians 5.
Remember this, it's been a few weeks. But Ephesians 5, look at verse 25. Well, I mean, we talked about this last week, but it's been a while since we applied it to Christ and the church. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
And then this is Christ's work with the church. That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.
So out of our union with Christ flows real and meaningful and practical sanctification. Out of our union with Christ flows real and meaningful and tangible holiness. Because we are united to Christ and in Christ and Christ is in us, we desire holiness and we really and truly are sanctified.
We grow in grace, we fight sin, we mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit of God. Regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification. Finally, I'll just mention this one that flows out of our union with Christ, glorification.
We have been spiritually united to Christ's death and resurrection. Paul talks about this in Romans 6. But we're also bound to him in such a way that we are bound for a physical resurrection whereby we will really and truly one day be in a glorified state.
We will have no more sin or imperfections. And what I'm saying to you in this point is all of this is secured by union with Christ. Friends, if you're not in union with Christ, none of these things are yours.
If you are in union with Christ, all of these things and more are yours. So we've seen the picture of this union, the profoundness of this union, the position of this union, the personalness of this union, the presence of this union, the provisions of this union.
Seventhly, the power of this union. Look at verse 30, because we are members of his body. We are members of the body of Christ. Christ is the head. This is another analogy, another metaphor as you are, as it is.
Scratch all that.
I don't know what just happened, right? This is another analogy and metaphor, okay? Christ is the head, we're the body. You heard this morning in the service as we opened up in worship that John 15 says that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.
So again, John 15, five, listen, whoever abides in me and I in him, again, union, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you could do nothing. You think about this for just a moment. You say to yourself, I have this besetting sin.
I just can't, I wanna, I just can't, I just can't get over it. I can't crush it.
I can't mortify it.
It just always seems to come back or I'm struggling with my marriage. I'm struggling with my children. I'm struggling at work.
I struggle.
I'm cowardly when it comes to evangelism or I just, I'm not reading the Bible like I need to. I wanna pray better.
What do I do?
I've got no power.
I've got no strength.
And one of the first things I would say to you is this. Amen.
You're right.
You got no power and you got no strength,.
But Christ does.
And those who are united to Christ have the power of Christ. They have his blood, as it were, flowing through their veins and we must find our sufficiency in him. So there's power then in this union for fruit.
That is we bear fruit in Christ. We are vines that produce blossoms. These blossoms produce fruit. This fruit falls to the ground and produces more fruit. We pour the scriptures into one another. We grow in holiness together.
We make disciples and we evangelize. The vine produces fruit in its branches. What an outlandish thing to say that Christ is in you and you are in Christ, but the power of holiness is not in you.
How?
That's a mockery of Christ. There is power in this union, not only for fruit, but also fellowship. What a strange thing that people claim to be in union with the head, but not the body. As though Christ is multiple vines, each having just one branch disconnected from all the other.
I think that's how some people think. This is insulting to Jesus. It's insulting to the Bible. It's insulting to Christian theology. To pretend as though you can be connected to the head, but not the body.
Show me a part of my body that is connected to my head that's not connected to my body.
It's like you can't have it, right?
So union with Christ necessitates union with the body. Now, to say that I can be connected to the head or I can be connected to the vine and not the other branches is the exact opposite of the analogy of our Lord.
In John 15, He is one vine and the branches are many. And you cannot be connected to the vine without the branches. You cannot be connected to the head without the body. Through Christ, there is power for fellowship in the local church.
I love these words from Herman Bavinck. He says, every local church is the people of God, the body of Christ, built upon the foundation of Christ. Because in that location, it is the same as what the church is in its entirety.
And Christ is for the local church what He is for the universal church. In other words, listen very carefully, Bavinck's right. But when Paul says, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh, this mystery is profound.
I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. If you hear that and you say, that's just talking about the universal church, then you misunderstand. Yes, it's talking about the universal church, but this universal application has tangible application in local visible congregations.
That is Christ is the head, not just of the church, Christ is the head of this church. Christ is united, not just to believers all time ever, Christ is united to us. There is power in union with Christ for this continued fellowship of the local church.
Let me press this, it's really absurd and insulting to the Bible to talk about being in union with Christ, but have no desire for union in the local church. Eighthly, the permanence of this union. Now again, Paul says, uses marriage as the analogy, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and that is, he ain't coming back, right?
When your young man leaves your home to marry, say, don't come back. A man shall leave his father and mother. And then what? Cling, cleave, unite himself, hold fast to his wife. That family has ended and a new family has begun.
The two now become one. And this is a permanent union. There is actually no way, if I may offer some marital thoughts here, there's actually no way to undo the one flesh union of a husband and wife. Even in a divorce, this one flesh union is not ultimately erased, it's only ultimately erased at death.
Similarly, but to a greater degree, those in union with Christ can never become ununited to him. So the provisions of this union and the power of this union that we just finished discussing carry out the believer to the end.
True saints, yes, yes, yes. They may lose some battles while fighting sin in this world. While fighting against the world and the flesh and the devil, they lose sometimes, but ultimately God keeps them.
God keeps them, God renews them to repentance. Ultimately, the saints of God endures to the end. Think about this, dear believer. You say, I don't have the strength today.
To hold on to Christ,.
But God is keeping watch over you and God is holding on to you. Marvelous grace flows out of this gospel to us. What would it say about the nature of this union? If there were no power in the believer's life for fighting sin and growing in holiness and producing fruit and loving the church, God keeps us to the end in a way that we persevere.
Friends, if you say I'm in union with Christ, but I just live like the devil and I worship the idols of this world and I forsake the church, whatever, that would be like a couple married on paper, but they live in two different countries.
They live separated lives. They frequently just hook up with other people. Well, that is a terrible picture of Christ and his church. It will not stand the test of biblical investigation. This is not the union of Christ and his church because the union of Christ and his church is permanent, persevering, and preservinging.
We're kept in such a way that to the very end, our lips and our lives ultimately will echo the refrain, Christ is King and all glory goes to him because all that we are and all that we will be stems from this glorious union with Christ.
All right, one more point. We have seen the picture of this union, the profoundness of this union, the position of this union, the personalness of this union, the presence of this union, the provisions of this union, the power of this union, the permanence of this union, and finally now the purpose of this union.
Now in verse 33, Paul says, "'However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.'". Now, I remind us something here again. Why does Paul spend so much time on husbands and wives?
Why these reminders and exhortations and commands? It's not merely because these things will help your marriage though they will help your marriage. And it's not merely because this is just what we are supposed to do though it is what we're supposed to do.
Rather, it is because marriage points us to Christ and the church. The Son of God has obtained the bride. He has done everything necessary to secure her eternity and his union and his fellowship with her.
Thus, Paul's argument is, we must fiercely protect the sanctity of marriage, not just for the benefit of society, not just for the benefit of churches, not just for the benefit of individual marriages, though there are benefits for sure, but we must fiercely protect marriage.
For the glory of Christ because this is the grand purpose of our union with Christ, the glory of God. Why did the Son of God leave the glories of heaven above to race, to chase after his bride? Why did he come as the knight in shining armor.
And slay the dragon?
Why did he give his life as a ransom for many? Why did he take our sins upon himself? It's all for this one great purpose. And listen, don't confuse this. It's not because the church is worthy. It's not because the church in and of herself is something beautiful, but for the glory of God, for eternity, we will sing not how great we are, but how great God is and his marvelous and sovereign grace in choosing us in eternity past, despite our filth, despite our rebellion, despite our sin.
And he came for us and he lived for us and he died for us and he represented us and he resurrected for us. And now he intercedes for us and all this by his grace and all of this to the glory of God. This is the purpose of our union with Christ, the glory of God.
Now there are some wonderful implications here, too many for one sermon, but let me just mention a few and we close. First of all, Christian, you need to think about all that I just said. God then is for you in Christ.
What I mean is he's for your sanctification. There's no one else that is more for your sanctification than God. He's for your growth. He's for your knowledge of him. He nourishes and cherishes his body.
Think about this. Think about this. Husbands, ask for these things. Last week, in the last two weeks, a hard challenge. Wives submitting to the husbands, husbands loving wives as Christ love the church.
There's no one though that is more for those things than God, ask him for these things. He knows, he sees, he is provided. Go to him, dads. Go to him, moms and husbands and wives. He is glad to give these things to you by virtue of your union with Christ.
Ask him to live out better experientially your union with Christ. Ask him for more of his power in the Christian life. Ask him for increase in love for and fellowship with the local church. Ask him to grow in your abiding in him.
These things bring God glory and your very dependence on him brings him glory. Some of you perhaps you're not growing like you should be because you've not humbled yourself before God and you've thought now the sanctification, this is on me, it's on my shoulders.
I'm gonna carry this to the end. And God invites you today to say, stop, stop and remember who you are. You are Christ's and you are in Christ. And in Christ is sufficiency for all that you need for life and godliness is mediated out through his word.
Church, these things are ours because we have every spiritual blessing in Christ. We are united to him. Another implication I would say is this, can you see the church losing? Can you see Jesus doing all of this for the church and then like the church is losing?
Can you see her snuck out and destroyed? Can you see a victory just given ultimately to the enemy? No, no way. We are Christ's body. He will protect and defend his body. And while local churches all over the globe may come and go at times, the church ultimately, because she is in union with Christ, she will be victorious to the end unto the glory of God.
Final implication will be done. Who would dare stand today in between Christ and his bride? You better be very careful about the comments you make about the church. For when you disparage the church, you disparage the one in union with the church, namely Christ.
Who would feign love for Christ's bride while disparaging the bridegroom? Only a foolish and wicked person would do either of these. Yet so many, maybe even some in this room, live in this reality, but God will get his glory through the church and he will slay his enemies.
Do not be foolish or wicked today. You must not straddle the fence. You must not stand outside of this union. You must hear the gospel call today and go to Christ, finding in him your only suitable and all-sufficient savior.
Friends, as one of your pastors, as your friend, as your brother in Christ, it is my great hope that no person in this room today would neglect these wonderful promises that we've seen in God's word. You have heard the truth, friends.
Do not harden your hearts. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. We pray that you would bless it to go far beyond what we ask or think in bringing about your good and sovereign purposes.
Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for Christ. Thank you for the union that we have in Christ. And we plead for the things that we were exhorted to plead for today. We plead to be living more experientially in this union with Christ.
Help us have the power of holiness in our daily lives, in the life of this church, in the lives that we live in this community.
