Good Works Are The End of Your Legal Union with the Son

Well, please turn your Bible to Romans chapter four, or excuse me, Romans chapter seven.

So last week we looked at half of Ephesians 2 .10, and I said that this week the plan was to look at the other half of Ephesians 2 .10.

I still do intend to look at the other half of Ephesians 2 .10. When we speak of union with Christ, which refers to all those verses that talk about being in Christ, there are two different kinds of union.

There is a legal union and there is a spiritual union. Ephesians 2 .10 talks about that spiritual union which is established by the

Holy Spirit in our hearts, by which we are grown in holiness and more and more have the capacity to follow after God.

But before that, prior to that, and so typically treated before that is a legal union that is created with Christ Jesus where we are identified in Him, apart from, or not necessarily apart from, but not on the basis of any kind of work of the

Spirit in us. It seemed important to speak of that first and how that relates to good works. So today we are looking at Romans 7 .4,

which speaks of this reality. For our scripture reading, I'll read verse one through six, but preaching text is simply verse four.

Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's word. Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, though the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death, but now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in the new way of the

Spirit and not in the old way of the written code, amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the union that we have with Christ.

We pray that you would help us to understand this union more deeply from this passage, and this would help us to bear fruit that we would not be hindered by our ignorance of this union, but we would be helped by our knowledge and understanding of it.

In Jesus' name, amen. So there are many people in this world who think that they live very fruitful, very profitable lives.

You look at it, you look at the things they're accomplishing. It seems that they are living very fruitful lives, but in God's economy, this is not the case.

They are not living fruitful lives at all. They are slaves to sin. How can they even do work for God, do those works which really matter?

And if they have a debt to pay for their own sin because they have sinned against him, because all have sinned, and have a debt to pay down, how can any of their works be profitable if the only thing that they could do, even in theory, is to pay down debt?

And since each of our works are imperfect, all it actually does is accumulate more and more debt.

So many people who think that they live profitable, fruitful lives live very fruitless lives.

There are others who recognize that they don't live fruitless lives, but they don't know how they could live a fruitful life, and the answer is through Jesus Christ.

And there are others, I'm hoping many of you today, most of you today, are in Jesus Christ.

You have the capacity for good works because you are in him, but to the degree that you do not understand this identity in him, this legal union that we have in him, is the degree to which you may be hindered in bearing fruit for God.

So I'd like us to look at this passage to understand that legal union that we have with him, the basis of that legal union, and then how that leads to a communion with him that helps us to bear fruit for God.

And putting all these together, I'm hoping that it will embolden you to bear fruit for him without fear, and with a clear identity of who you are in Jesus Christ.

So just to read this passage one more time, this verse. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

So this speaks of the law as a sort of husband, speaks of Christ as an alternative husband.

Now what this means when it talks about us belonging to the law, is not just that there is an obligation to obey the law, even as a

Christian, even as one who is united to Christ, there's still an obligation to obey the law.

As Paul explains in the previous chapter, in this chapter, and elsewhere in the book, all are obligated to obey the law.

Even Christians are obligated to obey the law. So this isn't about obedience. What this is talking about is being united to the law as a covenant of works.

In other words, as a means of obtaining life. Those who are not in Jesus Christ, those who are not united with him, those who have not been joined together with him, they are united, rather, to the law, so that the only way that they could live is by their complete obedience to the law.

This is the only means by which they could have life. And of course, since everyone has sinned, that means no one has any real means to have true life.

And yet, they remain married to this entity that demands of them what they cannot fulfill.

But being moved from having that covenant to the covenant of grace,

Christ's covenant, having Christ as your husband, he is one who fulfills the law on behalf of his people, so that they may be counted as righteous.

And he has done this perfectly, so that we can be free from obligation to fulfill the law perfectly as a means of life, but free to serve him, obeying the law, knowing that he has provided life perfectly.

So this is that transition that it's describing. Now, how does that transition take place?

How can it take place? Well, using this analogy of a marriage, the previous passage explains it.

A marriage covenant lasts as long as the husband is alive. So long as the husband is alive, the wife is bound to that husband.

And so you think, what is the, well, there seems to be a problem here. How are we to be free from this law if the law never perishes?

Jesus said, not a jot or a tittle shall ever be removed. This is not something that perishes.

On the other hand, if we were to die, then this doesn't help us at all because this doesn't give us life.

We are, the whole reason we would want this fixed is to have life, but if it were just us that would die, we would instead be dead.

So what happens is Christ dies on our behalf, that we may be dead to the law in him, and then raised with him so that we can be alive in a way where we can be united to him.

So this is the master plan. It's rather than the law dying, which would be impossible, rather than us dying, which would be counterproductive,

Christ dies on our behalf in order that we may be dead, we may die with him and raised with him to newness of life, joined to him in marriage, no longer bound to the law as a covenant of life, but rather bound to him, the one who gives life perfectly.

And this is the plan of salvation. Now, what that implies for us is a union with him that would be a fruitful union.

The church is the bride of Christ and us individually united with him. Our union with him is to be one that is fruitful.

This is not like a widow who lives how she pleases because she's no longer united to a husband.

Okay, this is a picture of one who is united to a new husband, and so must obey and must bear fruit for him.

Now, a widow, what kind of fruit can she bear? Especially if we're talking about the fruit of children.

She can only bear illegitimate children. There are no good works that could come from if we were to die to the law, but then not be united to Christ.

That would not sufficiently solve the problem. But in being united to Christ, we have the capacity to bear fruit, using this analogy of a marriage, to bear legitimate children, to be fruitful for God, to pursue good works, those things which please

God. We are free to do that through our union to Christ. Now, this union that I'm speaking of, as I explained a moment ago, is different than the spiritual union that we have to him through the

Holy Spirit. What I'm talking about here is a legal union. You can see later on this passage, it transitions to speaking about a spiritual union, and a lot of passages, it talks about the work of the

Spirit in our hearts, uniting us to him that we may be transformed. Today, I am not addressing that.

I am addressing the legal union that we have with him. This is an accounting of his statuses to us, of his titles, his qualities to us, his righteousness to us.

Many people think that our righteousness comes by virtue of having the

Holy Spirit within us. This is not the case. It is not on that basis.

Now, yes, no one receives that righteousness of Christ apart from the

Spirit's work. However, it is not on the basis of the Spirit's work in us. Consider what it says in Romans four, verse five.

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith that counters righteousness, him who justifies the ungodly.

Okay, if the Spirit is working in us, producing some kind of faith, producing some kind of godly quality in us, and that were the basis upon which

God is justifying us, is he justifying the ungodly? He would not be justifying the ungodly.

He'd be justifying those who have become somewhat godly. So that faith is not the basis on which he is justifying us.

And then consider also Romans three, verse 24, which says we are justified by his grace as a gift.

It is a gift. It is not on the basis of anything that is in us, including faith, not on the basis of anything in us.

Okay, so he has, this is how he credits these things. This is how he credits these things to us, is on this, is not on the basis of faith, but only by virtue of his goodwill and pleasure.

Now if you think about a tradesman, right, a tradesman might take on an apprentice and he might tell that, you might give that apprentice free lessons about how to do the craft.

And then eventually, he might make him a journeyman. Now if he gave him free lessons, someone might think, okay, well, he is giving him the status of journeyman for free.

No, he wouldn't be doing it for free because it would be on the basis of the fact that he learned some things. Even if he only taught him one lesson, it would be on the basis of the fact he learned some things.

Even if he just gave him tools, and then on the basis of that, gave him the status of a journeyman.

But this is not how Christ imputes his righteousness to us. This is not how he counts us in him.

It is not on the basis of anything that we have, that he has done in us.

It is not on any kind of work that is wrought in us. It is only by his free will and pleasure that he counts us as righteous in him.

And this is important in order for us to bear fruit. So hopefully that analogy makes sense that none of those situations would be one where that status of journeyman is imputed freely, is credited freely to that apprentice.

It would be only if nothing is done in the apprentice and he is counted as a journeyman.

This is how it is accomplished in us. Now, yes, we are given faith.

You might ask, well, what, I thought we were saved by grace through faith. This is not our own doing, right?

We're saved by grace through faith. How can you say it is not on the basis of faith? Through faith does not mean on the basis of faith.

Through faith means that faith is the instrument by which you are able to receive and recognize the righteousness that Christ has given.

It is declared in heaven before the court in heaven that you are righteous and then simultaneously you are given faith so that in the court of your conscience you can recognize yourself as righteous.

And God never declares someone as righteous apart from also giving them faith so that they can recognize it, but it is not on the basis of that faith.

Otherwise, it would be on the basis of something wrought in us. It would be something about us, but he gives us freely as a gift without any kind of reason in us.

So these things happen together, but it does not happen on the basis of faith. It happens with faith as an instrument so that we can recognize and receive that righteousness.

Now, what is this word I've used, imputation, this crediting to us, this legal union?

You think about other kinds of legal statuses that you can have that aren't necessarily reflected in reality, and maybe they become reflected in reality over time, but at the time of their pronouncement they aren't necessarily considered.

You can adopt a son and over time you more and more bond with that son, but there's not a biological sonship that makes that adoption, it's not the biological sonship that makes that adoption valid.

That's declared valid by the government apart from any kind of working. And then consider we have a fictitious business name here at this church.

We're called Silicon Valley Reform Baptist Church. Our official name is Lakewood Village Baptist Church. And so there's this legal status we have to be called by this other name that is not the real name of this church for the purpose of business.

And you can go on and on with different examples. Corporations are considered as people, so by a legal declaration the government ends up making entities that can be sued, that can be treated as having assets like people even though they are not people.

So you have different kinds of things in government where there are legal statuses so that these titles or qualities are attributed to something that don't necessarily have that inherently.

Those things may develop over time. So that is the kind of imputation that we are talking about here, that Christ imputes,

He credits His righteousness to us. Our sin is credited to Him.

His righteousness is credited to us. Our sin is credited to Him so that when He dies He is bearing the penalty for our sin and His righteousness is credited to us so that as He is raised up we are able to be raised up with Him.

This is spoken of a number of times in Scripture. Second Corinthians 5 .21 says, for our sake

He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

So though He knew no sin, He made Him to be sin. Our sin was credited to Him so that in Him we could have

His righteousness. And consider the words just from the previous chapter.

The previous chapter says in verse five, for if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

So that union with Him in His death where our sin is credited to Him so that He is dying on our behalf and then

He is being raised up on our behalf, us being united with Him so that we may have His righteousness. This is that imputation that's happening, that double imputation.

Our sin to Him, His righteousness to us in both directions. Now many people find this to be very unjust, especially if you talk to anyone who's

Eastern Orthodox. And I don't know if this is just a feature of Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States or if this is a global feature of Eastern Orthodoxy.

I have reasons to suspect this is just a US thing. But especially if you talk to people in Eastern Orthodoxy, a lot of times the thing that drew them to Eastern Orthodoxy was that they found this idea unjust that Christ would die on behalf of another.

Rather they say, yes, He dies for our benefit in order to produce some kind of restoration in us, you know, that work of the

Spirit that I talked about, but not any other kind of righteousness, any other kind of legal status.

That He is not suffering for our sins. That would be a problem in their eyes.

And a lot of times they will say, well, that's a very Western view of things. And if you had an Eastern view, you would see it otherwise.

And this sounds like a very, that is something that makes people think. It's like, oh, wow, do I have a biased Western view because of the way that I've grown up?

But then you read all these verses that speak so directly this way, even Romans 7, 4.

You have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another.

These are all legal statuses that these are talking about. This is not some Western invention that opposes equally valid Eastern thought.

These are the words of Scripture itself that this is a legal status that we have in Jesus Christ.

And this is necessary in order to produce good works for the reasons I've mentioned before. If we are constantly indebted to God, how can we be profitable?

If we are constantly, if we are a slave to another, how can we serve

Jesus Christ? You can't, you can only serve one master. And so all these things are necessary in order to bear fruit for God.

Now, this imputation of Christ status to us comes in two forms.

Okay, well, it produces a communion with God. If you've ever, if you've always wondered what do we mean when we say union with Christ and communion with Christ, or union and communion with Christ, what is that?

A lot of people think by communion it's some kind of like quiet time or sweet fellowship with him or something.

And the word fellowship is actually connected to the idea of communion. But communion, think with a com, think common.

It is things we share in common with him. So the union is the actual bond. Here we're talking about the legal bond.

Communion would be the things he shares with us in that bond. Okay, so it is the statuses we receive from him.

These would include his titles. They would include his qualities that are credited to us.

And it is through this communion that we are further enabled for good works. So considering just his titles, now using this analogy of a wife, you know, when a wife marries her husband, she'll take his name.

You know, my wife is now an Owens. She was a Reeves before. Right, these are, this is a title that she has received by marrying me.

If I had already owned a house, she would have considered herself an owner of a house when she married me, even though her name wasn't on the title.

That title would be credited to her in a legal way because she would know that she has authority over these things.

Okay, so titles can be credited. Think about the various titles that Christ has that are credited to us.

Okay, he is called in scripture the only begotten Son of God. Okay, he is the

Son of God. He has perfectly obeyed the Father. There is a sense in which

Adam was called the Son of God, but any kind of sonship that we could have in Adam was lost in him so that Jesus even calls some sons of the devil.

Right, there is no sonship from God that you can have apart from being in Jesus Christ who is truly the

Son of God. So we are counted sons of God by adoption, by this legal status, not independent of Christ, but in him because he is the

Son of God, his status as son is counted to us so that we are also sons.

Consider his status as being Israel. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah, we're getting to a lot of passages as we preach through Isaiah.

We're getting through a lot of passages that will talk about Israel being a servant of God, and we've seen some of those already, but there will be others later where it talks about the suffering servant that you may be familiar with, and there are a number of passages that do this that speak of the

Messiah as being the ultimate fulfillment of this idea of a servant of God, one who does not fail to serve, but one who actually serves.

You see him fulfill this in a number of ways, even being in the wilderness for 40 days successfully, suffering trials, whereas Israel unsuccessfully went through their trials in the wilderness for 40 years.

You see Jesus form a nation by appointing 12 disciples, where Israel had 12 tribes.

Jesus communicating that he is the fulfillment of that nation of Israel. And so in him, we have status as being true

Israel. You know, in Hosea 11, one, it says that out of Egypt, I called my son.

This, speaking of Israel, but Matthew interprets that prophecy as ultimately being fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Out of Egypt, I called my son. And so Jesus is this fulfillment of Israel, and then we have in Galatians 6, 16 this statement about the

Israel of God, which seems very evidently to be referring to the church, and frequently, the church is referred to as Zion, the heavenly

Jerusalem. Right, we have status as Israel in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of Israel.

And then beyond that, he is our great high priest. In him, we are counted priests.

Peter talks about us being a royal priesthood. And at that royal priesthood, we are kings.

Jesus is king, we are kings in him. We are seated in the heavenly places, as it says in Ephesians.

We are placed with Christ, seated with him on the throne, so that we would have that status as kings.

Now, how are these things necessary for good works? How are these things necessary in order to bear fruit?

Well, consider each one of those. If God has called us to serve as sons, how can you serve a son if you are not a son, if you do not have the status as a son?

How can you obey any of your filial duties, filial meaning as a son, right?

How are you supposed to love the brothers with brotherly love if you are not a brother of them?

That status is needed. How are you supposed to pray our Father if you are not legally adopted, if you are not a son of the

Father? And then beyond that, the qualities necessary in order to obey, those things which would embolden you, having a certain inheritance so that you can suffer loss in this life, knowing that you will not lose the love of God because a son does not lose the love of his father.

These are things that are necessary in order to be emboldened for good works. And then how are we supposed to be a light to the nations if we are not in Christ, that true

Israel, right? This is what Israel is commanded to be, a light to the nations in order that others from the nations can join with that nation.

If we don't have status as a nation, how can we be the light that Christ has commanded us to be in order for others to join together with us in any kind of status as a nation?

And how can we offer right worship to God unless you have the status as a priest?

How can you offer prayers without the status of a priest? How can you make judgments in the house of God without having the status of a king?

It doesn't matter whether or not you're wise or unwise, these things are rendered invalid. You see, an unwise king can still make legitimate judgments if he is a king, and a wise person, if he is not a king, cannot make legitimate judgments.

It's not just about wisdom. We need the status of being a king to make judgments in the household of God.

1 Corinthians 6, two, speaking of this, says don't you know that one day you will judge the world?

That we are supposed to be able to judge things in the household of God because one day we will judge the world.

Is our status in Jesus Christ reigning with him on his throne whereby we do that? Now, there's a sense in which that reign is not completely manifest yet.

It explains in 1 Corinthians 4 that we don't reign yet in that sense. However, it does say that we are seated with him in the heavenly places.

We have status as kings to make these kinds of judgments. We're told to test the spirits. We're told to even anathematize false spirits.

That means to declare them as cursed. How can you make authoritative judgments on God's behalf without a status of a judge, a king being essentially the highest judge in the land?

How can you make those judgments without the status of a judge or of a king? You need the status in order to do these good works that God has called you to.

Now, this is also the case with the qualities that are imputed to us. So those qualities, if you think about the various qualities that Christ has that are imputed to us, a very good verse to talk about this is 1

Corinthians 1 .30. Might as well turn there, but I'll once again apply this analogy of a wife and a husband.

A wife might say, we are rich, because her husband's quality as rich applies to her.

My wife might say, we're well -respected, even though that she might be primarily referring to what's true of her husband.

That quality is attributed to her as well. A lot of times people will do this in reverse in weird ways that I find odd.

You know, a lot of people say, we are pregnant. I've had nine kids, I've never been pregnant. So this primarily works with the husband's status being imputed to the wife, those qualities.

And so this passage in 1 Corinthians 1 .30, and because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

So it talks about us being in Christ Jesus, it's talking about that union. He became to us, that language of becoming to us doesn't speak of transformation.

You know, he talks about transformation elsewhere. It speaks of that status being imputed to us. He became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

These are all his qualities that are attributed to us. We are counted wise in him.

Colossians 2 .3 says that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 3 .3 says that we are hidden in him.

So if all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him, and we are hidden in him, we have that quality of having all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And think about, if you're familiar with this part of Corinthians, think about what he's claiming. He's not claiming that the

Corinthians are acting wise. There's a lot of ways that they are not. And he's telling them constantly about how foolish they're being.

But he's saying if Christ is your wisdom, then you do not need to try, that removes any kind of motivation to appeal to earthly wisdom, because you have the status of having

God's wisdom. So he begins by appealing to having the status of God's wisdom in Christ Jesus before he talks about developing the actual wisdom itself.

And then he speaks of sanctification. Now, or sorry, righteousness. Righteousness, this is known as justification where Christ's righteousness is credited to us so that we are counted as perfectly blameless even though we have sinned.

Also talks about sanctification. And when we think of sanctification, a lot of times we're thinking about the growth in holiness.

We're thinking about transformation. Remember, the Bible is not using all these words in a textbook style.

It's not using the words every time to mean the same thing. Here it's talking about something positional. Just like later on in 1

Corinthians 6 -11, it says, but such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified. You were, these are like past things that have happened.

You've been made fit for service. This is what has to happen to the priests, right? They have to be sanctified.

They have to be consecrated for service. Jesus even consecrated himself, right?

And so he said in John 17 that he has sanctified himself by his own blood, right?

It is something that he has accomplished. He has purified, as a priest, just like the Old Testament priests had to purify themselves with blood in order to be able to offer right worship,

Christ has purified himself, or rather, by that I mean sanctified himself, set himself apart for this particular use by his own blood in order that he can be this high priest.

And we in him have that status of being sanctified, of being made fit for holy uses.

And it says redemption. Once again, we tend to think of redemption as being, well, bought out of a slavery that Christ was not in.

But once again, there's a reality to this that's worth considering.

In Isaiah chapter 63, it speaks of Christ having accomplished redemption.

It says in Isaiah 63, four, for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.

This is Christ speaking. It talks about him having trodden the wine presses, that hymn that we occasionally sing, who is this who comes from Edom?

All his garments drenched in blood. That's talking about this passage. This is Jesus Christ. This is his day of redemption.

What it's talking about is removing from oppression. So he has fought the battle. He has removed himself from oppression.

And then we in him have that status of being removed from oppression. We have that quality of redemption.

Now, how are all these things necessary in order to pursue good works, in order to bear fruit? Well, if you do not have righteousness, if you are not counted as righteousness, any good works you do are simply paying down a debt that you can never repay.

And as I said before, all your works are imperfect, and so they are actually increasing your debt. They're not accomplishing something.

They are fruitless. If you are not sanctified, if you do not have that quality of having been set apart for holy use, how can you worship

God as you ought? How can you do the things that God has called you as you ought? You are not set aside for holy use at all, so you can't do anything holy.

What about redemption? Well, there will always be the fear of death that pervades your life, that keeps you from being able to pursue those things which

God has called you pursue, because there wouldn't be a promise of life that would free you up to take the great risks that he calls you to take.

These are things that you would not have. And then if you were not wise, if you didn't have the status of being wise, then all of your work should be dismissed out of hand anyway.

Proverbs 14, seven says, leave the presence of a fool, for there you will not meet with words of knowledge.

God wouldn't even tolerate your presence if you had the status of a fool. Now this is, once again,

I'm not even talking about having actually grown in wisdom, but without having had the quality of Christ's perfect wisdom imputed to you,

God would dismiss you out of hand. He would dismiss all your works out of hand. He would dismiss you out of hand. You would not be permitted into his presence.

Ecclesiastes 5, one says, to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

The sacrifice of fools is an evil thing. Unless you are counted as someone who is wise, and the only way you can be counted as perfectly wise is in Jesus Christ, all your sacrifices are worthless before God.

They can only be counted as something if you have the status of a wise man, and you have the status of a wise man in Christ Jesus.

And so all of this is accomplished not on the basis of anything that we have done, not on the basis of something that has been done in us, but on the basis of God's election.

It says that in Ephesians 1, 4, that in him, that he chose us in him, that in him language is the language of legal union.

In him, before the foundation of the world, that's the beginning of our legal union. And then, like you see in this passage, when it says through his body, when it says through his body, it's talking about the need for the incarnation, right?

It was only through becoming man that he is joined to humanity. And then afterward, through his death, burial, and resurrection, that he accomplishes these things, and we are united to him in them, that those matters can be credited to us.

His death, taking away our sin because it's paying the penalty for sin. Him being raised from the dead so that we would have his status of righteousness imputed to us.

Him ascending on high so that we would have the status of being kings with him.

All those things, all those things are happening, yeah, are happening through Jesus Christ.

It says in Romans 4, 25, he was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

All of these things that are accomplished are accomplished not because of anything done in us, that's something that he has done, and they are imputed to us not on the basis of anything wrought in us, not even on the basis of faith, but faith is the means by which we receive and recognize the status that we have.

Now, what does this imply for you in pursuing good works?

First of all, you need to identify, you need to identify as being in Christ.

Because the thing that will inhibit you from pursuing good works is not recognizing that legal status.

If faith is the means by which you recognize this legal status, then the degree to which you recognize that legal status is the degree to which you will be able to operate and act in it.

So the first way that someone should identify as being in Jesus Christ is simply through baptism.

Many people delay baptism unnecessarily. There's all kinds of reasons that people do this.

They don't think it's important. They have fears about the kind of oppression that they'll receive, the kind of persecution.

But this is the primary way that we are called to formally identify with him. Previous chapter,

Romans 6, three says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So baptism is the primary ceremony by which you identify with Christ as being united with him in his death, burial, and resurrection.

This is the first way that you identify with him. And there's also by membership into his body. A lot of people are baptized apart from membership.

I believe the biblical model is to be baptized in a way that includes you into membership, but many people are baptized without any kind of notion of membership.

You should join with his body. How can you say that you are part of the body of Christ globally when you're not part of his body locally, that institution that he has created?

This is another way that you are called to identify with him. You are to reject any kind of sinful identity.

Okay, a lot of people have these sinful identities that they label themselves with. 1

Corinthians 6, nine through 11 talks about different things that people once were. That passage

I just quoted, these things you once were, but you have been washed, you have been sanctified. So if you count yourself as having some kind of sinful status, these things are at odds with pursuing an identity in Christ.

I'll read that passage. 1 Corinthians 6, nine says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkard, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, it's very interesting because this doesn't come out completely in the ESV because it groups a couple of these together, but this is a tenfold list.

It's very interesting that he's talking about the law being condemning. The law is a means of life being condemning with this tenfold list and given that God has given a tenfold law.

None of these will inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. This is an identity that is no longer, this is an identity that has passed.

There are a lot of people who embrace sinful identities. There's a lot of people who will say things like, I'm a homosexual

Christian, right? This thing that it started off with, talking about nor men who practice homosexuality, et cetera.

A lot of people will identify as, I'm a homosexual Christian. I'm not even talking about those who would be practicing it. There's this theology known as side

B theology. If you've never heard of that, that's the idea that identifying as homosexuality is not a problem, that that is right to do.

It's only practicing homosexuality that's a problem. And so it's okay to identify as a homosexual and even to bring some of the diversity that that has to offer into the kingdom with you.

But as long as you are not practicing it, it's just the practice of it that's sinful. No, you should not embrace any sinful identity.

Side B theology is terrible. It goes directly against the identity that we're supposed to have in Christ.

It goes directly against 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11 and Romans 7, 4 and many other passages.

A lot of people do this too with labels like, I'm an alcoholic, right? What is an alcoholic?

It's someone who is dependent on alcohol as a substance, right? It's someone who is characterized by a sinful pattern.

This is not something that Christians should say. And this is what's taught in a lot of recovery groups, right? Is that you are an alcoholic.

This is what you are supposed to identify as and it's important that you embrace it, otherwise you would be in denial. And this is just the most fundamental truth that you have to embrace, that you are an alcoholic.

And what does that lead to? That leads to a mindset of despair where you see yourself as unable to handle situations and so you will not handle situations, right?

If you see yourself as unable to handle those situations, right, you will say, I cannot handle temptation.

If I were to ever have a drink, then there would be no way for me to resist having all the drinks, right?

And so the only solution I have is to avoid temptation altogether because any kind of temptation

I will immediately succumb to, right? And so people embrace this sinful identity of I'm an alcoholic and not their status in Jesus Christ.

And so that furthers them continuing in sin and not bearing good fruit.

There are less obvious ways that people do this too. A lot of times with the language of trauma. Now, it's not clear that trauma would be like a sinful identity, but a lot of people use the notion of trauma as an excuse for not bearing good fruit or for engaging in sinful behaviors, right?

And what's going on there is there's an analogy, right? People are taking a physical thing, right, trauma, like if you suffer trauma to the head, you know, that means that you got bludgeoned or something.

But then trauma is implying, well, there's something wrong with the wiring in my brain, et cetera, right?

When really these are activities of the soul in dealing with temptation and things like that are activities of the soul.

And so someone who would use trauma as some kind of excuse for their identity, right, that they would not identify as one who is capable of bearing good fruit, depending on what it is.

Maybe this is a situation where I can't join with the church gathering, even though I'm called to do that, because I've had too much trauma from my previous church experiences.

Have you ever heard that before? Right, a lot of people will say that. I've had too much trauma from my previous church experiences. Therefore, I'm free from this command to gather together with other

Christians. Now, I could multiply examples of that, but that's the way that this language ends up getting used to legitimize a sinful identity, right?

So be careful with that language that would identify as someone who is unable to bear good fruit.

You need to identify as one who is in Christ, who has his titles, his statuses, in order that you are one who can bear good fruit, because you are free to bear good fruit.

And you should learn to despise your sin for all these things. A lot of the language being used here is the language of freedom and slavery.

Now, it's slavery to one versus slavery to another, being a slave of Christ. But it's also spoken of as freedom.

There is a certain kind of shame that comes with being a slave to a harsh master, to a master that you cannot satisfy, right?

There's a lot of shame that comes from that. People engage in sin shamelessly, but they should recognize that every activity of sin is some hint of another identity that is not supposed to be our identity in Christ, right?

Those things, you should despise sin, recognizing that it signals a different kind of identity than the identity that you actually have in Jesus Christ as one who is righteous.

So this should give you an added reason to despise sin, to hate sin, and your own sin even. Another way that you should be thinking about this, how to identify as in Christ and to recognize that legal union, is to recognize that when you hear

Christ preach, every time you hear Christ preach, you should be thinking about what this implies for your status in Him.

And let me tell you about a way that I think that, some preaching that I think is somewhat misguided.

Okay, so there's a lot of preaching that's moralistic, right, where it just talks about the commands of Scripture, doesn't speak about Jesus Christ, doesn't speak about various motivations.

And I'm not saying, and I think I've said this before, I'm not saying that every sermon, don't hear me in any of this saying that every sermon needs to connect all the dots for you.

That's not really the point, it has to do with the wholeness of the teaching. But, okay, so there are some preachers who will be moralistic, right, and they will just give commands without the promises, without the gospel.

There are some preachers who will be what's known as Christ -centered, and that is where the primary thing that they are offering you is

Jesus Christ so that you can rest in Him. And they're telling you more about Jesus Christ, et cetera. Now, that's good.

There is a problem if it just stops there. Because if it just stops there, what resting in Jesus Christ is, is a code for idleness.

Okay, it shouldn't lead to idleness, it should lead to competence. Okay, it should lead to security that gives you boldness.

What resting in Christ ought to be is to recognize the statuses that you have in Him, not just of being cleared from guilt so that you can live with Him one day, but that you can be cleared from guilt in order to serve

Him now, in order to bear fruit for Him now. So, for example, there's, if you hear a sermon about David, most sermons about David and Goliath go something like this.

You know, who's the Goliath in your life? You should, you know, you should be bold against that Goliath.

God will give you boldness, et cetera. More mature preaching understands there's a need to show that this is pointing to Jesus Christ.

David, that king of Judah, that first king of Judah, he is pointing to Jesus Christ. Every other king is, too, by the way. Every other priest, every other prophet, et cetera, are all pointing to Jesus Christ.

There's importance to say Jesus is defending His people against this

Philistine, this giant who has scale armor, scales being something snakes have, by the way, defeating the serpent.

This is something that is being accomplished in Jesus Christ. There's this famous sermon from Matt Chandler.

You may have seen the clip where he yells, "'You're not David,' to explain that, you know, "'This is not about you fighting your

Goliath. "'This is about Jesus fighting your Goliath.'" Okay, but then, but then if it just stops there, if it just stops there and Christ has done everything for you and so now you can rest, you know, quote, unquote, be idle, that has not completed the trajectory.

It is not enough for Christ to have done these things. He has done these things and then united you to Himself so that in Him you might have these statuses in order that you can bear fruit, like it says here in Romans 7, 4, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

If this verse had just stopped there and not said, in order to bear fruit for God, maybe we could be excused from saying, okay, well now we sit back and enjoy the status that we have in Jesus Christ.

Yes, you should enjoy it. Yes, you should feel secure in it, but it is there in order to enable you to pursue the good things that God has given you.

He has given you so much more than security that would stand on its own without any kind of purpose.

He has given you this purpose and enabled you by granting you His statuses, His titles,

His qualities, in order that you can bear fruit. And so this is the full trajectory that needs to happen.

Once again, I'm not saying every sermon needs to connect all the dots for you. I think sermons can be faithful without connecting all the dots, but you, what

I'm telling you, is you as you're hearing the sermon, you're hearing Christ preached, you ought to be thinking in your head, what are the further implications for me as I am one who is in Christ?

How does this help me pursue good works? How does this help me bear fruit?

And that is the fullness of resting in Christ. It's not only your security in salvation, but your security in serving

Him. Now, that security should give you a boldness.

It should give you a great boldness. Let me give you three kinds of ways that should give you boldness. One is you should have no fear of illegitimacy.

People call this imposter syndrome. When people evangelize, a lot of times they feel like, well,

I'm not really qualified to explain this. I don't understand this that well. You may not understand the

Bible that well. And I'm not saying be arrogant about your level of understanding, but there should be a confidence that I have a status as a messenger of God, as Jesus Christ is a messenger of God, and I am in Him.

I am a messenger of God who is supposed to declare this message, supposed to declare it authoritatively. I don't sit there and go, well, something you may want to consider, or I think, et cetera.

You know, and I use these phrases, too, a lot of times, but every time I do, almost every time

I do, I'm thinking, man, I wish I had said that more authoritatively so I'm not expressing a false kind of humility.

Right, there's a humility that, yes, I don't have all the answers, I don't understand everything, but, or sorry, a good humility that understands that, but there's a false humility that says, well,

I'm not even really a fit messenger. No, in Christ, you are the messenger. You need to speak authoritatively.

You have that status, and you ought to speak in that status. Same thing with praying to God.

A lot of people think they pray boldly, but they don't really. They don't ask for a lot. They should go knowing that they have the status of a son, a son, that same sonship that Christ has, he has shared with you in communion with you, in order that you may be a son, you could go boldly to him, just as a son would go to, no one else approaches the king that way, but a son can approach the king and ask for all kinds of things.

You know, my son, my littlest son busts into my room all the time when I'm in important meetings and whatever.

He doesn't care, right? He complains for or asks for whatever he wants. This is the kind of boldness that you can go to God with.

You can go boldly before him, knowing that you are a son. You can ask for great things, for many things. You can worship boldly.

You don't have to sing timidly, wondering whether or not your singing is contributing sufficiently.

You are one who is in Christ. Your worship is accepted by God, and so you can engage in worship wholeheartedly because you have a status as a priest.

You have a status as one who is wise, and therefore your worship is acceptable. And then, what did

I mention before? No fear of, yeah, no fear of illegitimacy, right? No fear of loss either, right?

If you are a son of God, you don't have to worry about losing his love. A lot of people are afraid of doing difficult things because they might mess up.

You know, what if I stumble, et cetera? And they fear that they may not serve him the way that they ought, and so because of that fear, it binds them, it keeps them from pursuing good works.

But if you have a status as a son, then you know that you will always have his love. That love will not be stripped away from you.

If you have a status as a son, you have an inheritance. You don't have to worry about losing any kind of possessions in this world.

You don't have to be captive to the fear of man and the things that he may be able to strip away from you, whether they be physical things, whether they be other things, relationships, positions.

If you have that inheritance, you can pursue good works with confidence, knowing that there will be no loss.

And if you have his status of being redeemed so that you will be resurrected on that last day, then you can not fear the loss of your life either.

You can pursue whatever difficult things he calls you to, not just trying to engage in self -preservation at all costs, but rather the kingdom at all costs and all these other things will be added to you.

Okay, so not just fear of illegitimacy, fear of loss, but even a fear of failure, right?

Many people wonder, will I do this well enough? You won't, like that's the answer.

You won't do anything well enough. God's standard is perfection, you won't do it well enough. Your hope of pleasing him is not founded in your perfection in this lifetime, it is found in the perfect status you have to be able to serve him.

Now there are other aspects of this that we're going to get to in subsequent weeks, but just having this status allows you to confidently serve

God without any kind of fear of failure, any kind of fear of not measuring up to the law's standards because Christ has already fulfilled the law, the reason that you obey the law is not to fulfill it in order for life, it is rather to serve your master.

And so you are capable of fruitful living, of bearing fruit because you are not sinking a bunch of works into this pit of debt that's growing faster and faster and faster, right?

But you are rather accomplishing things for the sake of the kingdom, that debt already having been taken care of by Jesus Christ, your status in him enabling you for all of this.

You have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God, amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you today for this union that we have with Jesus Christ, pray that you would help us to appreciate it more fully, pray that we would embrace this as a gift and that we would operate in that status that we have in Jesus Christ, the titles, the qualities of his that are imputed to us through communion with him.

We thank you for all these things and we pray that it would embolden us in our service to you, in Jesus' name, amen.