FBC Adult Bible Study

All right, we're talking about holiness. And by the way, let me mention, I hope it feels a little brighter in here today.

Maybe you didn't even notice that, but it is. So there's a notice in the bulletin about how we've been able to replace all of the light bulbs in here, these globe bulbs.

And that's really significant because each of those bulbs is seven watts.

And the ones that we took out were 60. So each fixture used to require 300 watts of usage, and now they're 35.

And Eric figured it up the other day. So how many, what did you say? 50 ,000 kilowatts that we're saving?

50 kilowatts, 50 kilowatts a week that we're saving with that change.

So we're so thankful for the donation that made that possible, and for their work in changing all those out.

That's quite helpful. I wanna read just, before we get into our lesson itself,

I came across this past week, I think it was, well, July 4th. On July 4th, there was a devotional that's sent out daily by Truth for Life.

And they basically take the morning or evening thing from Spurgeon and share that.

They've kind of modified a little bit with the language. But on July 4th, the devotional was

The Tool of Sanctification. And the verse that's the basis for that devotional is

John 17, 17, which says, "'Sanctify them in thy truth, thy word is truth.'"

And here's the devotional. It says, "'Sanctification begins in regeneration.'" And we've emphasized that, right?

"'The Spirit of God implants in man "'that new living principle by which he becomes "'a new creation in Christ Jesus.

"'This work, which begins in the new birth, "'is carried on in two ways. "'Mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh "'are subdued and kept under, and vivification, "'by which the life that God has put within us "'is made to be a well of water "'springing up into eternal life or everlasting life.

"'This is carried on every day "'in what is called perseverance, "'by which the

Christian is preserved "'and continued in a gracious state "'and is made to abound in good works "'under the praise and glory of God, "'and it culminates or comes to perfection in glory "'when the soul, being thoroughly purged, "'is caught up to dwell with holy beings "'at the right hand of the majesty on high.

"'But while the Spirit of God "'is thus the author of sanctification, "'yet there is a visible agency employed "'that must not be forgotten.

"'Sanctify them,' said Jesus, "'in the truth, your word is truth.'" The passages of scripture that prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the word of God are numerous.

The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do

God's good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification.

We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Do not say of any error, it is a mere matter of opinion. No man indulges an error of judgment without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice.

Hold fast the truth, for by doing so, you shall be sanctified by the Spirit of God.

So as we're continuing in this study in sanctification, or holiness, the pursuit of holiness, the focus is the word.

How does the word, what is the word doing to shape us? And what do we learn in the word that helps to grow us in sanctification?

Now last week, I did part one of two parts study on our union with Christ, and we emphasized last week that that union with Christ is the motivation, it should serve to motivate us in the pursuit of holiness.

Now, just as a reminder, why this matter of our union with Christ is so important.

A lot of us believers, we love God, we love his word, but we face times of difficulty, crisis, hardship, or whatever, and we kind of lose it, we just kind of fall apart.

And we go through those times as if we're all alone.

I'm not talking about the initial shock of something, I'm talking about how we handle the thing on a, after the initial shock wears off, on a day -to -day or an hour -by -hour basis.

And a lot of times we live as if we're all alone in this thing.

And many times, godly Christians, they really wanna serve the

Lord, they do, and they're faithful in doing so, but they do so with a sort of, kind of like a morose spirit about them.

They're not, they don't serve with joy, they serve with a sense of, a sense of almost depression, that's too strong of a word, because they know that their best service is marred by sin, marred by inadequacy, and that just becomes a downer.

It's like, oh, you know, what? And then, a lot of us feel like we've got to do whatever we can do to earn

God's favor. And so, we try and we try and we try, and we're trying what we're doing in order that God might be pleased with us, and that God might, as a reward for our efforts,

He might bestow His favor upon us. We have to earn that favor.

That's kind of the way we, a lot of times, will think. And what that does is just create a sense of almost hopelessness sometimes, because we know we don't measure up, and we're never sure if we have earned that favor, if we've done enough to gain that favor.

And all of that is, all of that's really important to understand the problem, those problems are important to understand because they relate directly to this matter of our union with Christ.

Again, I remind you of what Michael Barrett writes in the book we're using as a basis for this study.

He says, what we do personally cannot increase or decrease God's acceptance of us.

What we do as believers is pleasing and acceptable to God because He always sees us together with His Son, His dearly beloved.

Now, there's also the warning that we need to issue with that statement, and the warning is, we can't allow that truth to serve as an excuse to sin.

Like, oh, well, if that's true, then I can do what I want to do. I can live the way I want to live. That's really not the way a converted person thinks anyway, that I can just,

I can sin against God and it doesn't matter. No, that's not the way we should think. This truth is not a license to sin, and it doesn't give us an out when it comes to the pursuit of holiness either.

As Barrett emphasizes, progressing in holiness is not in order to somehow gain favor or acceptance with God.

We say that again, progressing in holiness is not in order to somehow gain favor or acceptance with God.

Instead, it is in view of and because of the acceptance that is fixed in Christ to whom we are united.

In other words, our union with Christ serves as a motivation in the pursuit of holiness.

Now, we mentioned there are five different ways that scripture speaks of us being united with Christ.

We looked at two of those last week. We are united with Christ representatively. He is our representative head.

We're united with Christ mystically. Now, if you missed that, you can go back on the website.

Last week's Sunday School lesson is on the website, and you can pick that up. But thirdly, we are united with Christ vitally, vitally.

And what that means is that everything that we need to exist and to continue is found in Christ, and we need him for that.

We need him to live. We need him in order to continue on in the

Christian life. Barrett puts it this way. He says, everything that's necessary to generate life and to sustain life flows freely from the

Savior. Now, there are at least three analogies in the Bible that speak of this vital union that we have with Christ.

I wanna look at each one of those. So let's turn, first of all, to the Gospel of John, chapter six,

John chapter six. And in John six, we have the food and life analogy, the food and life analogy.

Jesus speaks of himself as food, and as food that is necessary for us to consume in order to live and to be sustained in life.

So John six, verse 48, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. And in verses 53 and following, he says this.

He says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

My flesh, for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

So this food and life analogy speaks of the need of eating

Christ. Now, what happens when we eat? What, why do we eat?

We eat, we consume, we take in that which is necessary for life.

We, you can fast for a while and not eat, but only for so long.

Eventually, that lack of nourishment is going to cause a disintegration of your health, and eventually, it will lead to death.

So we understand that. We understand eating food as being necessary for the sustaining of life.

What does it mean, then, to eat Christ? Christ says, you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood.

He's not talking literally here, of course, obviously, and we understand that.

Every time we partake of the Lord's table, because we eat these physical elements that Jesus says are symbolic of his body and of his blood, and so we eat a piece of bread, and we do that as a symbolic gesture of partaking of Christ.

We drink that juice as a symbolic gesture of drinking his blood.

But what are we really talking about? What we're really talking about is a spiritual act of faith, of trusting him for eternal life, and trusting him wholly and exclusively for that eternal life.

Now, notice in verses 60 and 61, and then we'll skip verse 62 and look at verse 63.

He says, therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it?

Now, I want you to notice here the emphasis on spirit -given life and the necessity of belief or faith.

So he said, how can we understand this? And when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you?

Then verse 63, he says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

Now, see how that dovetails with what he had earlier said? Eat of my flesh. But then he says, the flesh profits nothing.

And he says, it's the spirit who gives life. But he earlier had said in verse 57, he who feeds on me will live because of me.

So he's obviously talking about spiritual truth, spiritual reality, the work of the spirit that is necessary for life as he gives faith, belief, and trust in Christ.

And verse 64, he says, but there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him.

So he knew that there were some who were in unbelief and therefore did not eat and drink of him.

So the eating of Christ is involved in this analogy another way of speaking of it is consuming

Christ, consuming Christ. Now look at verse 53, and I want to see two of the results of consuming

Christ, believing him and believing his gospel. One of them is we receive life. He says, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, drink his blood, you have no life in you.

So this spiritual act of faith, of trusting Christ for eternal life, yields life.

It yields life, we receive life. And then in verse 56, we also, and this is, here's where the whole idea of the union comes in.

Verse 56, he says, he who eats my flesh, drinks my blood, abides in me, lives in me, and I live in him.

So the consuming of Christ results in entering into a mutual bond with him, union with Christ.

So one of the analogies is that of food and life. A second analogy in Ephesians chapter four is the analogy of the head and body.

The head and body. Of course, as we looked at this passage not long ago when we were doing the series on the church, and this passage is talking about the

Christ being the head of the body, which is the church, but the individual believer who is truly converted is a part of the body of Christ.

So we have this analogy of the head and the body. Chapter four, verses 15 and 16.

He says, but speaking the truth in love that we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

All right, so you have the head and the body. The head, of course, just like in our physical body, is the command center for all of the operations in life.

I mean, again, this is a simply understood analogy. Yet you dismember an individual, you take the head, you remove the head, and nothing else can happen in the body under command.

I mean, I know that if you cut off a chicken's head, it'll run around for a while.

I get that, and there's that, you know, I don't know. Eric would probably give us more insight into this than we would wanna know, but if you did the same thing to a human body, you know,

I don't know what the result would be initially. But what we do know is that the head, disconnected from the body, is no longer sending any signals.

It's no longer sending any commands for the body to function. And that's the function, the role of the head.

The head sends impulses and instructions for the body to function. And the body, on the other hand, it does not and cannot exist without the head.

It can't. All right, so because of the union of the head and the body, we have, in Christ, all that we need for spiritual life and function.

Christ provides, as the head, all that we need for spiritual life and function.

But there's another effect of this union between the head and the body. And that is, we enjoy an unshakable security in this union.

How so? Well, Barrett explains it this way. He says the security, or security, is based in the fact that God sees the body only through the head, and deals with the body only in terms of the head.

So this union of Christ and the Christian, the head and the body, gives us a sense of security.

It gives us real security, because as Christ looks at the body, he looks at the body through the head.

And all of the, that takes place in terms of the body, takes place through the head.

So this is a real sense of security, because Christ does not, or God does not deal with the body apart from the head.

What's Christ, what's God gonna do to you? What's he gonna do, so think of this in terms of the doctrine of eternal security, the perseverance of the saints, we call it.

One of the reasons we can have a sense of security as genuine believers in Christ, those who have consumed

Christ, those who are united with Christ, is that God is not gonna cast out the head.

He's not going to cast out the head. If he's not gonna cast out the head, he's not gonna cast out the body, you see.

So we got the head and the body. And then the third analogy, we turn back to the Gospel of John, this time chapter 15.

And we have the analogy of the vine and the branches. And this is probably the most familiar analogy in our understanding or experience, the vine and the branches,

John chapter 15. And here, the primary point is that, is that of the life connection that exists between the vine and the branches.

The branches are a natural outgrowth of the vine, and they don't have independent existence.

And you say that with, well, we have in our garden, we have a couple of melon plants.

No, no, we have a bunch of melon vines. You know how it is, you plant a bunch of seeds, and then you're supposed to weed them out, which whatever ones.

I think we have, watch out, wait till October. I think we have like six watermelon plants, and six, they're kind of like, not cantaloupe, but something in that family, plants.

You know how long those vines get? All right, you cut off the branch from the vine, and what happens to the branch?

I've done that, I've done that, because the vines have grown outside of the, you know, the branches have grown outside of the parameters of the garden, and they get in the way of the lawn, mowing the lawn.

So what do I do? Vroom, you know, lawnmower right over that branch, and it doesn't continue to exist, all right?

So we understand this. The branches don't have independent existence. They don't grow up on their own.

There is a connection to the vine. Now, when we think of this union with Christ, in the vine and branches analogy, it's explained here in terms of communion and dependence.

So notice, first of all, the occurrence in verses four through nine of the words abide.

Jesus says, abide in me, and I in you. Unless, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

Nine times in those few verses, he uses the word abide. And the significance of the word abide means to remain, to continue in, and to take up residence.

I think a good way to understand this is that it expresses an intimacy of relationship, the word does, to abide in Christ, expresses a relationship, an intimate relationship.

For example, if I invite you, if we invite you to our house for a meal, you're coming as a guest, and you enjoy the meal, and you go home, and there's a certain level of relationship and intimacy of relationship around the table, right, in those few hours together.

But there's a whole nother level of intimacy if you come and live in my house.

I don't know where you'd sleep, but if you did, you'd come, there'd be a whole, I mean, you get up in the morning, and you go to the coffee pot just like I do, and you have that familiarity, that comfort, you can, you would have the, there would be such an intimacy of relationship that you could feel free when you wanted to, if you're living there, going to the refrigerator and pulling out whatever you want, whenever you want, you know, what you need.

And there would just be a whole different level of intimacy in the relationship between a guest and a resident.

Abiding in Christ means you're dwelling, you're dwelling in him, you're taking up residence in him.

That's a level of communion in this relationship. This union also implies dependence.

So in verse four, he says, as the branch can't bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

And verse six, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.

The branch cannot survive and can't function apart from being united with and connected to the vine.

Jesus says in verse five, without me, you can do nothing. And this is why

Paul was able to say in Philippians four, I can do all things through Christ.

I can do anything that Christ wants me to do, who strengthens me. By the way,

I saw a wonderful little meme about that verse. Because have you heard that verse taken out of context in terrible ways?

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. So I've heard it,

I think I've shared this before. I've heard it, the verse used as a devotional challenge to a basketball team before they're gonna go out on the basketball court.

You can go out there and win that game because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Just believe it, you'll go out there and the buckets will drop and you'll win the game.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do it. I can do it. And he lost by 20 points.

How do you explain that? That verse doesn't have anything to do with that kind of thing. What it has to do with is

I can do anything that Christ gives me to do, that God calls me to do through him who strengthens me.

But the meme I saw about this was kind of interesting. It said, I can do all things through a verse taken out of context.

Yeah, so Paul was able to say that because of this union, this union with Christ.

It's a vine and the branches. I am a branch connected to the vine, abiding in the vine.

He gives me the nourishment. He gives me the job of fruit production or the life of fruit production and therefore

I can produce the fruit through him who strengthens me. So on the one hand,

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. On the other hand, I can do nothing without him.

I can do nothing spiritually productive, effective without him. So this union implies dependence.

Now there are two ways in which this union with Christ is evidenced in the vine and branches analogy.

Basically they are essential proofs of abiding in Christ. One of them is fruit production.

As in verse five, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

Fruit production. Now notice, the fruit production does not procure the union.

What I mean by that is you don't say, I've got to do all this stuff so that I might be united to Christ.

That's getting the cart before the horse, right? No, the fruit production is an evidence of the union with Christ.

Evidence of being a part of the vine. What is that fruit, by the way?

What is that fruit? I've heard this verse, maybe you have too, especially applied to things like, in the subject of evangelism, that if you're abiding in Christ, you will produce fruit, which means you will win souls to Christ.

Souls will be won to Christ through you. I don't want to in any way, shape, or form take away from the importance of personal evangelism and being a witness and all that, but that's not what this is talking about.

Because, remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians, I think it is, where he said,

I planted seed. I didn't produce any fruit. I planted seed. Apollos watered, but it's

God who gave the increase. When it comes to evangelism, I'm not producing fruit.

You say, well, the fruit is being produced through you, but that's a totally different analogy than what's going on here.

What this is talking about, what Christ is talking about in this fruit that comes forth from the vine is the fruit of the spirit.

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long -suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

And Paul brings that out in Galatians chapter. This is the fruit of the Christian life. This is the fruit of abiding in Christ.

As you abide in Christ, the fruit of the Christian life, spirit -produced fruit, will come on the vine.

It'll come on the vine. So fruit production. The other evidence of abiding in Christ is father care, verses one and two.

Jesus says, I'm the true vine. My father is the vine dresser. My father is the one who cares for the vine and the fruit and the branches.

Every branch in me, he says, that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

So this second verse is an interesting verse because there are differences of opinion about what it means.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. What does that mean?

Probably most of us would default to thinking that that means if there's a branch that's not producing fruit anymore,

God just cuts it off, kills that person, takes him away. But there's another understanding of the verse, and I think this is a better understanding of it.

The word translated takes away here in our English translation. I think probably everybody has that translated this way in your translation.

Is better translated, more literally translated, lifts up. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he lifts up.

And to follow through in the analogy, the idea would be that the father lifts up the branch that's not bearing fruit so that the branch, the leaves on that branch are better exposed to the sunlight.

Barrett puts it, the light of grace, that it may grow and therefore produce fruit.

So let me read what he wrote there. He says, some branches the father lifts up. He carefully raises the branch that has fallen, drooped, to expose it more advantageously to the light of grace that it might grow.

In other words, this is emphasizing the care, the interest that the father has in the individual branch.

That okay, here's someone who's downcast, they're discouraged, they're not demonstrating the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering and so forth.

And so the father will lift them up, he'll change their focus or their exposure to the light of grace in some way so that that light of grace will produce the effect of a fruit in the life.

Now that's in contrast to like verse six. In verse six, he says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered.

They gather them, throw them into the fire and they are burned. What's he talking about here? He's talking about the

Judas -like disciples, right? Judas seemed to be connected to the vine.

I mean, he was hanging around in the garden with the vine. It seemed like he was in the vine and all the rest of this stuff for quite some time.

But then as time developed, he demonstrated, he proved that no, he's not.

He's not really in the vine. He's not abiding in the vine. And what happens to a

Judas -like disciple? He's cast out. So for example, look at chapter 17, verses 11 and 12.

Jesus says, I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. He's praying to the Father. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. So I've kept them, abiding in the vine. Those whom you gave me,

I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.

So there is the exception of those who are in the vine. And this is one who seems to be, professes to be, yeah,

I'm in the vine, I'm a Christian. But he's not really connected.

He will be cast out, cut off and cast out. It's different from the one who's just not, who's just not bearing much fruit while he's abiding in the vine.

Well, there are some benefits to being united with Christ in the vine. And let me just mention these four benefits.

One of them in verse six is escaping from that destruction. One who does not abide, he's cast out as a branch.

Another benefit, verse seven, is answers to prayer. If you abide in me, my words abide in you.

You will ask what you desire. It shall be done for you. A third benefit is being an object of God's love in verses nine and 10.

His father loved me. I also have loved you. Abide in my love. And then in verse 11, fourth benefit is joy.

These things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

All right, so we're united with Christ vitally. A fourth aspect in which we're united with Christ is intimately.

And this, of course, refers to the marriage analogy. And Paul says in 1

Corinthians 6, 17, that believers have been joined to Christ. And he says that in the context talking about arguing for sexual purity, not being joined to prostitutes.

You've been joined to Christ. And then in 2 Corinthians 11, 12, he says,

Paul says that believers, speaking to the Corinthian church, he says you believers have been espoused to one husband.

But of course, the most clear expression of this analogy of this union with Christ in the marriage analogy is in Ephesians chapter five.

So let's look at that passage for just a moment. Ephesians chapter five and verses 25 through 30 is the passage, of course, that talks about that where Christ, talking about Christ and the bride, which is the church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, gave himself for it. He might sanctify, cleanse her, the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having sprawled a wrinkle or any such thing.

And he goes on to say, this is a great mystery, verse 32, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

So in this passage, it talks about husband -wife relationships. He's speaking of Christ and the church.

Christ is the bridegroom, the church is the bride. But look at verse 30. Paul says, we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

And this is a clear allusion to Adam's statement regarding Eve.

She is now, Adam said, she is a flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones.

This is the union that the believer has with Christ.

We are united to him intimately, as a husband and wife are united intimately.

And then lastly, we are united to Christ eternally. Eternally. One of the hymns in our hymnal, number 128, is the hymn,

I am his and he is mine. Third stanza says, his forever only his, who the

Lord and me shall part. Ah, with what a rest of bliss can Christ can fill the loving heart.

Heaven and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light and gloom decline. But while God and I shall be,

I am his and he is mine. His forever only his, who the

Lord and me shall part. Indeed, we are united with Christ eternally.

We are his, and that union is not just an everlasting union.

An everlasting union would be a union from here on out, forever and ever. But it is an eternal union.

This union has no temporal ending. It also had no temporal beginning.

How so? Well, because you're in the Ephesians, right? Look back at chapter one and verse four.

And Paul expresses the idea that we are united in Christ, united to Christ, before time began.

Says, just as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Now, this is a mystery that you and I can't comprehend. We don't get it. We can't wrap our head around this.

But it is nevertheless what the scripture teaches us, that before the world was ever created, before time actually began, we are united with Christ, before time.

And notice what is the stated purpose of that union. The last part of verse four, that we should be holy and without blame before him.

We're united, we're united to Christ before time, and we're united to Christ after time, after time.

In Revelation 22, verses three through five, let's read this passage and make a comment on it, and we'll finish.

Says, there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.

They shall see his face. His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there.

They shall need no lamp nor light of sun, for the Lord gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Forever, forever engraved their names are in his forehead.

Again, this is just a figure of speech, obviously. But it's expressing the eternality of our union with Christ.

So Barrett says in closing, a time is coming when time as we know it will cease to exist.

The end of time, however, will not mark the end of the believer's union with Christ. Rather, it will magnify it by finally making it not a matter of faith, but a matter of sight.

And so, the spirit and the bride say come. Even so, come,

Lord Jesus. Usher in that time after time ceases to exist.

Our Father and our God, I pray that you would, you would instill within our hearts such a sense of gratitude and awe over our union with Christ.

A union that is so vital, but intimate and eternal.

And may that awareness of and appreciation of our union with Christ, may it motivate us in the pursuit of holiness, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, I'll have a few minutes until the morning service begins.