Transformed Identity: Our Union with Christ

"Friends, do you know why so many Christians are short on joy, shy in prayer, and so ensnared by their sin? It's because they think they have only a minor problem requiring a little salvation. And so, they think, 'Well, my problem is I've done a few bad things, and so maybe if I do some good things that will cancel them out, or, God can just forgive me. After all, there's not that much to forgive. That'll be an easy one.' In reality, our problem is so radical, it requires a solution so breathtaking, it has the power to liberate the enslaved, to strengthen the weak, and to bring both comfort and joy." [00:00:27]

"It is because of the sin of Adam that we sin and die. I confess, at that point I can hear the sirens of the thought police come wailing up the street, because this is outrageous. Because am I not the master of my fate, the captain of my soul? Do I not determine my own destiny? I think it's hard for us to hear this in a culture that is so soused in Hollywood goo, but no. We have been born into a problem that goes back before we even existed, before we had done anything." [00:02:38]

"All other humans are but seed in one of those two fruits. Adam is the fruit of death; Christ is the fruit of life. All Adam's seed in him die; all in Christ are made alive. This is the big picture of humanity for Paul. It's not that humanity is this vast throng of disconnected individuals; Adam and Christ are the two men. They are the heads, the firstfruits of the old and the new human race. And each one of us is merely a seed in one of those fruits, a member of one of their bodies." [00:08:36]

"Our fate is determined by the head of the humanity or body to which we belong. If I belong to Adam, I share his guilt. Death is my destiny, whatever I do. If I belong to Christ, all His righteousness and His life are mine. And so, all Christians, no matter how weak, can boldly say with Charles Wesley, 'No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown through Christ my own.'" [00:20:09]

"You know, you'll be up on Sunday because you've been to church, prayed, been good; down on Monday, because you've done the opposite, and feel 'He loves me; He loves me not; He loves me; He loves me not,' according to how you feel. No, we can know an assurance anchored in firm ground outside ourselves, in Christ. Christians are people who have given up all claims to both their badness and their goodness. And instead, we've gotten Christ." [00:22:31]

"This union with Christ, oh, the assurance it gives. But it also, union with Christ, it transforms. Because to speak of our oneness with Christ is another way of speaking of Christ's marriage to His people. The bride and the bridegroom have become one. We are now together. Christ and His bride, the church, together, for better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. Till death, when we meet." [00:24:36]

"The greatest benefit of union with Christ is Christ. This marriage is made so that we may know and enjoy Him. Union is the foundation, the solid foundation, allowing us to enjoy communion with Him. And take the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul when he's writing to the Philippians of Philippians 1, you remember he doesn't say, 'My desire is to depart and be in heaven.' He says, 'My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,' because for Paul, heaven would not be heaven. Salvation would not be salvation without Christ." [00:26:04]

"And the more you know yourself to be a child of God in Christ, the more you look to Him, the One who is your life, the deader you will find yourself to be to your sin. Sin will still allure. Always, but, you will find living in Christ, keeping in step with the Spirit, the Spirit will make old sinful desires wither, and new holy desires will start sprouting up, so that you will find yourself longing, yearning to be free of the sins that once you cherished, you'd never want to let go of, because you have a new heart that longs differently." [00:33:09]

"Our joy, our prayers, our mission, our holiness, our suffering, our hope; all are a sharing in the life of the Son. We're not simply given some thing called eternal life by God and sent out to get on with it. No. Nor are we forerunners with final responsibility. Jesus Christ is the firstborn, and we live in His slipstream, the body following the head. Do you see it? It means our union with Christ not only gives us such assurance; it is the living room of the Christian life." [00:36:39]

"And when you think that, you think, 'So, I am not primarily a Son of God in Christ, but I am successful or unsuccessful, popular or unpopular, depending on how the day is going.' And when you are not defined by Christ, you will be as fragile as a puffed-up balloon. If you begin to define yourself by success or popularity, they will matter too much to you. And if you get them, your ego will go through the roof. And if you don't get them, you will implode." [00:38:10]

"Friends, life, righteousness, redemption are found in Jesus, and are found by those and only by those who look to Him. And to be clear, it's not that we look and think, 'Okay, that's what He's like. Let me go away now and try to be like that.' No, we are changed by the very contemplating of Him. For now, 'beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another,' 2 Corinthians 3:18." [00:42:24]

"John writes, 'We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him.' You see, right now we become more like Him by faith, as we contemplate Him by faith. But that full unveiled sight of Him in his glory will be so majestically affecting, my very body will transform. The sight of Him now by the Spirit makes us spiritually more like Him. The sight of Him then face-to-face, will make us finally, body and soul, like Him, as He is. That is the heart of living in this life in Christ." [00:43:21]