Do you understand the significance of this?
Tozer said “At the heart of the Christian Bible message is “God Himself” waiting for you to push hard and forward and into being fully aware the He is really there.”
AW Tozer said “I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion… I want all that God has or I don’t want any. Nothing in or of this world measures up to the simple pleasure of experiencing the presence of God.”
"He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." 1st Cor 6:17
In the Newer Testament we find literally hundreds of references to the believer’s union with Christ. To cite merely a few examples, believers are created in Christ (Eph. 2:10), crucified with him (Gal. 2:20), buried with him (Col. 2:12), baptized into Christ and his death (Rom. 6:3), united with him in his resurrection (Rom. 6:5), and seated with him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6); Christ is formed in believers (Gal. 4:19) and dwells in our hearts (Eph. 3:17); the church is the body of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15; 12:27); Christ is in us (2 Cor. 13:5) and we are in him (1 Cor. 1:30); the church is one flesh with Christ (Eph. 5:31–32); believers gain Christ and are found in him (Phil. 3:8–9).
Furthermore, in Christ we are justified (Rom. 8:1), glorified (8:30), sanctified (1 Cor. 1:2), called (1:9); made alive (Eph. 2:5), created anew (2 Cor. 5:17), adopted (Gal. 3:26), and elected (Eph. 1:4–5). Suffice it to say, union with Christ is an absolutely fundamental gospel declared truth. So why is there little to no discussion on this? Why no teaching on this? Why not 2 guys or women at lunch talking about this? Is there any subject better?
In Christ is found over ninety times in the New Testament.
Scripture uses metaphors that further support the reality of our union with Christ: Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5). Jesus is the Head, and we are His body (Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the Cornerstone, and we are the living stones built upon Him (1 Peter 2:4–7). He is the Bridegroom, and we are His bride (Ephesians 5:31–32; Revelation 19:7–9). We are crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and baptized into Him (Romans 6:3).
A.W Tozer said: “ The Spirit of God has impelled me to preach and write much about the believer's conscious union with Christ-a union that must be felt and experienced. I will never be through talking about the union of the soul with the Savior, the conscious union of the believer's heart with Jesus. Remember, I am not talking about a "theological union" only. I am speaking also of a conscious union, a union that is felt and experienced. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. I want the presence of God Himself, or I don't want anything at all to do with religion... I want all that God has or I don't want any.”
Pastor and theologian John Piper defines union with Christ this way: “The reality of all the ways that the Bible pictures our human connectedness to Christ, in which He is indispensable for every good that we enjoy”
Union with Christ is the essence of what it means to be a Christian. When considering our salvation, our mystical union with the Lord should be given “the highest degree of importance” and communicated, fellowshipped over, sang about, preached on and shouted from rooftops.
So let’s just look at “some” of the many scriptures on this. Some will be repeated. Maybe God wanted it that way to make a dramatic point with you.
Being “in” Christ
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them
Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God
John 15:1-27 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you
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
Romans 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6 And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 1:7-10 In him (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Christ) we might become the righteousness of God
Ephesians 1:3-6 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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Galatians 3:14 So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Romans 6:3-6 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. 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. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Romans 8:1-39 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
Christ “in you” scriptures
Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Colossians 1:27-28 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory
Galatians 4:19 My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you
John 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you
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,
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Colossians 2:10 And you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
“Union with Christ”
Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is no joy in this world like union with Christ. The more we can feel it, the happier we are.”
1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him
1st Cor 1:5-8 For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things, including all speech and all knowledge. The message about Christ has become so firmly established in you that you have not failed to receive a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 17:21 That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
All of this is just a sample.
But it is enough for my soul.
Pastor
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