Union with Christ

union with Christ. We have over the last 15 or more weeks, we've talked about the order of salvation beginning with our election or predestination all the way through these many other steps all the way through to the point of glorification our future resurrection bodies. Now, we're going to just take one week today and talk about this topic that really applies to all those previous topics. And that is to give this picture that you have in the New Testament that it isn't as if God is a million miles away kind of and Christ and the Holy Spirit a million miles away just kind of giving us these gifts of regeneration and justification and adoption and sanctification and perseverance and glorification. But that there is a repeated emphasis in the New Testament that all of this happens in Christ, in Christ. I did a quick computer search and the phrase in Christ occurs 89 times in the New Testament. And then there are a lot of other verses that say in Him or in the Lord, things like that. So, and you almost read over those phrases, you know, think you kind of rewrite past them and get to the rest of the verse. But the question is what is this in Christ mean? So, I'll just give you a few examples. Romans 3.24, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 6.11, you must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Did you ever think about that? It's just, you know, we say, okay, wages of sin is death, free gift of God is eternal life, or about the rest of the words in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is that? Or verse that Jamie read this morning and talked about, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8.1. What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? In. The next verse, the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8.39, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the law of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Or here, Romans 9.1, I'm speaking the truth in Christ. Romans 12.5. We, though many, are one body in Christ. Isn't that interesting? Again and again and again. I just read the ones or the beginning of the list in Romans there. It's all over the New Testament. So what does it mean? And here's my attempt at trying to summarize a whole set of relationships with Christ that we put under this category of union with Christ. Union with Christ is a phrase used to summarize several different relationships between believer and Christ through which Christians receive every benefit of salvation. So the first one, the one that I just was talking about a lot, is the fact that we are in Christ. But then there's another one kind of related to that. That's Christ is in us. And then there's another one. We are like Christ and then there's another one. We are with Christ. So we'll try to look at those four kind of areas of relationship today. And the goal of this, the point of this study, is I hope to deepen our sense of personal walk with Christ, personal relationship with Christ, that that's a really essential part of the Christian life. We'll just do that by looking at a bunch of verses. Well, first we are in Christ. It can go back all the way to God's eternal plan. Look at Ephesians 1, 4. Even as he chose us in him, he here is God the Father from the context. He chose us in him in him is in in the sun. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Long time ago when God decided, looked forward to decide that he would make you his child. He did this not kind of in isolation, but he thought of you in Christ, somehow connected to Christ or United to Christ even then. Second Timothy 1, 8 and 9, Paul talks about saving us because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. So somehow God thought of us even before the foundation of the world. He thought of us as being united with Christ or joined to him in some way. And then while Christ was on earth, you and I hadn't been born yet, we didn't exist yet. God knew we would exist. We didn't exist, but he could observe the life of his son Jesus Christ on earth, being obedient to him in every way, and think of us as being somehow in Christ at that time. So throughout Christ's entire life on earth, God thought of us as being in Christ. That is, whatever Christ did as our representative, God counted it as being something we did too. This includes Jesus' obedience. So by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. His death on the cross, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, as our sin was given to him. And also, his death for us, I have been crucified with Christ. That's a with, not an in, but it's a similar idea. And burial and resurrection, God raised us up with Christ and seeed us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. It's when Jesus lived, God thought of us as obeying. When Jesus died, God thought of us as dying. When Jesus was raised from the dead, God also thought of us as being raised from the dead. Not that it happened to us yet, but that it would happen. And God said, all right, Jesus is doing that on behalf of Carol and Dave, and John, and Kathy and Jerry, that there's a benefit that came to us at that time. And so the Bible can talk about dying and rising with Christ. And that, let's see where am I? This should be point three, during our lives now. It's not just during Christ's life while he was on earth, but during our lives now, things happen. So here Paul talks about baptism and faith, which is in our life now, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. So baptism is going under the water coming up out of the water as we do here in Scottsdale Bible Church, baptism by immersion. That's a picture of dying, going into the water, going into the ground, dying and being buried, and then coming up out of the water, a picture of being raised. And it's not by ourselves, but it's baptism picture of with Christ. We go under the waters of death. He's there with us. With Christ, we're raised up from the waters of death to live a new life. So we're raised with him through faith. Or Roman six talks about this. We were buried there for with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too, we might walk in newness of life. You must consider yourself dead to sit in and alive to God in Christ Jesus, because we're united to him. So we're baptized, we're raised, there's a sense that Christ is with us in all that. We're united to him in all of that. And then there's a new life even today, this morning, June 22nd, 2008. We should think of ourselves as being united and having a new life in him. First John 5-11, this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son. So there's a union with Christ in the new life we have. Ephesians 1-3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place. Do you have spiritual joy in your heart? It didn't just happen. That's in Christ that we have that. You have the ability to pray and God hear you. That's in Christ that we have that. You have a sense of forgiveness and a clean conscience. That's in Christ that we have that. You have a sense of fellowship with believers. That's in Christ that we have that. Christ is central to everything. And so every spiritual blessing that you can think of in the heavenly places, you enjoy coming before God in worship and seeing His praise. That's in Christ. Every stage of the application of redemption is given to us because we are in Christ. In Christ we are called, 1 Corinthians 7-22. I didn't, I don't have the full text of all these verses on the slide here, but 1 Corinthians 7-22, he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. So called in Christ. Regenerated Ephesians 1-3 or 2-10, we were created in Christ Jesus for good works or Ephesians 1-3 has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We're justified in Christ. Romans 8-1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So we're in him and God sees him as being righteous and free from sin and justified. And then he thinks, all right, you are in Christ. So he thinks of you as being justified in him. In Christ we die, 1 Thessalonians 4-16. The dead in Christ will rise first. Interesting, even people who have died still remain in Christ as they're waiting for their resurrection. In him our bodies will be raised up. 1 Corinthians 15-22 as an atom all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. So these passages suggest that our lives are inseparably, because our lives are inseparably connected to Christ himself, the Holy Spirit gives us all these blessings that Christ has earned. Now what are you thinking as I'm talking about it? What are you feeling? What's your thoughts? Is there any benefit to all this? I was agreeing, because I know that prior to accepting Christ, my life was one way, but every single day there's testimony now to Christ in my life. That's a joy and it's a celebration that I know my non-believing friends do not share. And so it is a most wondrous gift and I really understand it. Anything else? Tell me what's going on as I'm talking. What's going on in your heart as I'm saying this? Is there anything? Yeah, John.

Three years when I sign letters at the end I'll say in him, meaning that you're writing to a Christian, who you share the same relationship that you're in him. Okay, good. Anything else? I don't know your name. There are. What reminds me of the study in Hebrews and doing now, particularly chapter two, where Jesus is our brother. He's our Lord, but he's also our brother. In him, he is always with us as you were talking earlier when you were saying with Christ. He is with me. He is with you. He's with all of us who believe as we go through as our weaknesses are being tempted. He's there with us then. Good. So because of that he opened the place for us to go to be confidently in front of our Father. Good. So you don't feel so alone? No. Yeah. That's good. Good. Thanks, Joe. Okay. Yeah. Dave here in the front row. Oh, and then we've got somebody else over here. Okay. One here and then there. I'm not sure I have my mind completely around this yet, but help me. Does this have to do with our adoption? Is that how we're in him? That's, I mean, I'm trying to say it has to do with everything, but adoption. I don't know if I had any verse that said we're adopted in Christ, but I'll bet there are some. When I went in the house, I'm trying to think of other uses of the word in. Yeah. That's kind of the puzzle. I mean, the Greek word N, which is for here in, it's really close in meaning to our word in. So there's no secret meaning of it within inside that kind of thing. So it's a question of, you look at all these verses, say, what does it mean? There's some kind of close connection so that we're almost surrounded by him living in a place where he

is connected to all that we're doing is, yes, with us, but even it's closer than with. It's inside of almost. The other thing that came to my mind is as I was sticking back even farther in what are we really, but we're the, we're the gift that some day will be presented to God. Yeah. You know, is that how we're in him? Is, is that what this means? I'm probably going to say, yes, that's another part of it. Thank you. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm solving the problem. What's over here? This may have been... Dross, you're back. Not to mention my front. This probably has been addressed in an earlier session that we didn't attend. It says, inseparably connected to God himself. After we die in a buried, obviously we're not part of the space-time continuum as we know it. What are we doing from the time we're buried to the time we're resurrection? Okay, that was just a few weeks ago, but I know you and Joan have been away. Our souls go to heaven. We're in the presence of God for sure, but our bodies are on the earth until the day Jesus comes back. I mean, he raises our bodies and we're put back together again. So good. I need to say, I bumped into Joan at the pharmacy about three days ago and the doctors discovered two troublesome spots on both right, one on the right log and one on the left lung in Friday, Joan, Porter in the back row here. Joan's going to have surgery to remove the spot at the top of her right lung, which is in a very difficult place to reach surgically. So Joan, who is a nurse and has actually owned hospitals herself, now is going to be a patient in the hospital and would really appreciate your prayers. So good. Thanks. Yeah, Margaret? Oh, Margaret's telling me to pray for Joan now. Okay, let's do that. Lord, we bring Joan to you and ask for your help and your protection and your intervention. And if, Lord, it is, as the doctors suspect, if it is a malignancy there, that you would contain it and that it would all be removed and cause no further problem. Care for her, Lord. Be near her. Let her be in you and know the fellowship with you. That you promise and that you give us through all of this time. Amen.

Okay, one more Clyde here. I mean, how is this related to when Christ prayed that we are one, as he is one, as we are one with him and his one with God? Well, I'm probably going to say the same thing I said to Dave that there's, that's another part of it, that if we're all in him, well, Paul can say in 1 Corinthians, or Romans 12, that you are one body in Christ. So if we're united to Christ, then we're united to each other. And there is a fellowship with each other that comes because of that. Is that what you're getting at? No. I like it there. I guess I'm constrain more on the one in Christ as he is one with God. Is that so we are one with God as well as one with Christ? Okay, good. Boy, that's, yeah, okay. I'm going to come back to that the tail end of the morning, but yeah, there's a unity there also with God, the Father and with the Holy Spirit that I'm going to come back to. But it never destroys our individual personhood. We still remain distinct as persons. And so I don't know what more to say about that. Okay, I'm going to go on. So we have a new life in Christ. God gave us eternal life and this life is in his son. We have new life in him. Oh, we've, okay, we've done all that page. All right. See, all our actions can be done in Christ. I didn't list all the verses here, but this is really interesting. John's saying I signed letters in him or in Christ. Well, he's writing a letter in Christ. And I've done that myself sometimes. But look, to become a Christian is to enter the newness of the age to come and the experience of some degree, the new powers of the kingdom of God affecting every part of our lives. To be in Christ is to be in that new realm that Christ controls. It's almost like there's a, there's a new area of existence, a new realm, a spiritual realm that all our activities can be done in that. So Paul speaks the truth in Christ. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying, Romans 9.1. He's proud of his work in Christ. Romans 15, 17. In Christ, he can command and besiege and exhort other Christians. In the Lord believers are to be strong. Ephesians 6, 10 be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. That means conscious of your living and dwelling in an atmosphere or in a realm of influence where Christ himself is their present. Be encouraged in the Lord. If there's any encouragement in Christ, Philippians 2, 1. Rejoice in the Lord, Philippians 4, 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Agree. I've besieged you, Odea and Sympiche to agree in the Lord. Philippians 4, 2. Stand firm in the Lord. First Thessalonians 3, 8. Live a godly life in the Lord. Work hard in the Lord. It's amazing, isn't it? All these activities we can think of as not just like, again, as I said, not that Jesus is a million miles away, but he's near us and not just that he's near us, but we're in an atmosphere in which he is the dominant presence. We're living in sort of within his spiritual presence with us. I'm not sure that I... John said, what does that mean? David's saying, what does that mean? I'm not sure I know any more than just to say, look at all these verses and it's got to say something in the realm of, in the sphere of, okay, let's see what else. All Christians together are one body in Christ. First Corinthians 12, 12 and 26. We are one body, so it is with Christ, or actually it was a Romans verse that I read earlier. You are one body in Christ. I'm going to go a little bit quickly here. John 17, 21, that they may all be one, just as you Father are in me and I and you, they also may be in us. That's in the Father and in the Son. So there's a unity there. And then, okay, so that's where in Christ. That's the point A on the outline. So the large section and there are many more verses. B, there's another thing having to do with union with Christ, and that is maybe more familiar to us. Christ is in us. I won't spend much time on these verses, but Galatians 2, 20, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live that Christ who lives in me. So we're not, it's not just that we are existing in the sphere, or atmosphere or realm or power or dominion of Christ, but also he is in us. Christ who lives in me, no longer I who live. Christ who lives in me. Colossians 1, 27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1 John 3 24, whoever keeps his commandments abides in him. And he in them, both are said here. And by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. And Romans 8, 9 to 10, if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. So we're, so now that's point B. That was quick. But we know about that. We've talked about that. That's Christ spiritually dwelling within us. So we're in him and he is in us. Then there's something else. We are like Christ. That's a little bit of a different sland. But there is a whole collection of verses that talk about imitating him. So be imitators of me as I am of Christ, 1 Corinthians 111. Romans 157, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Why should we welcome one another? Because Christ has welcomed you. Colossians 3 13, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. We imitate him. And then we become like him. Second Corinthians 3 18, we're being transformed into the same image, image of the Lord, from one degree of glory to another. So, so we're becoming like him. Okay, those, that was quick. Too quick. All right, David. Open here. Just wait. We'll get you a microphone. One concept that has tied what you've saying said about being in Christ to me and working in an Islamic context where we've seen from a handful Muslim background Christians to now 600,000 has been the concept like in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 6 where it says you receive the Lord in much affliction. And in Christ, if you're talking about the Philippian context, the first Thessalonian context, the Roman context, that this encouragement of being in Christ was in the context of facing affliction. And that's what tied it together for me. So, if I go back, all our actions can be done in Christ. Isn't it interesting that I somehow didn't choose the verses that talked about suffering in Christ, being afflicted in Christ? I don't know why. I mean, this outline was made up a long time ago. I can't remember why. But you're in a context of dealing with people where that's a very clear reality. Thank you, David. Okay, so we are in Christ. Christ is in us. We are like Christ. And then point D, we are with Christ. So that's another little difference on the way to look at our relationship with Christ. We are with Christ. And so the whole of the Christian life can also be thought of, can be thought of as being in Christ. It can be thought of as Christ in us. It can be thought of being Christ. But now there's something else. There's a fellowship with Christ. Matthew 28, 20, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Or 1 Corinthians 1, 9, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And let me tell you, that is such a huge part of the Christian life. When I'm thinking about friends who are not believers, they don't have that. They may have kind of a vague belief in God that there is a God or that he exists or that Jesus was a good man. Maybe even they think that somehow Jesus rose from the dead. But until they've come to personal faith in Christ, they do not have this moment by moment fellowship with Christ, that we can talk with him, that we know that he is there to encourage us to stand beside us, to be with us in trials and suffering. Here are prayers, here are prayers, we are with him. Oh my goodness, we could talk for weeks about this, of a personal walk with him. And sometimes it just is amazing to me. I'm at home, I'm having time to read my Bible, I'm praying before the day starts, I'm thinking, Lord, you created the universe, you rule over the stars and the heavens and you listen to me and you listen to me. It's incredible. It's remarkable that we can be with him and he's with us always and cares for us and strengthens us and here's our prayers. It's just amazing. It's a tremendous, tremendous blessing, the God of the universe listening to you or to me. But now I want before I go on to the last point, which is kind of saying something else, I just want to see if you want to talk about these four points, A, B, C, D, we are in Christ, Christ is in us, we are like Christ and we are with Christ. Anything else we've got a few minutes for just interaction or feedback in that regard. Brian. Good morning, Dr. Grudem. Most people call me Wayne. Wayne. Seminar students call me Dr. Grudem, but that's fine. I'm still learning. Hopefully this is in the context of what we're talking about, but you had brought up several the verses about being transformed into the image of Christ and there was several in regard to the image of Christ and so forth. And I'm trying to show, I'm trying to see, I should say, where in some cases, in some verses, certainly in Genesis and elsewhere, how it talks about how everybody seems to be made in the image of God. And I'm trying to see, I don't know why, but I'm trying to see the distinction between somebody who's made in the image of God versus somebody who's being transformed into the image of God. Adam and Eve, if you kind of think of 100% here, they were fully in God's image, and then they fell. They sinned. And so they lost the moral purity. It was part of God's image. They lost the belief in the truth, as opposed to falsehood. It was part of God's image. They lost the glorifying God in all their actions and words and deeds that was part of God's image. So you'd think, oh, are they still in the image of God because they, because their sin marred it, but they didn't lose it completely and go down to zero percent. They still retained it because Genesis 9.6 says, whoever sheds man's blood, that's after sin. Whoever sheds man's blood by man, shall his blood be shed for in the image of God, he made man. So they're still in the image. And James can say with the mouth we bless and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God. So sinners are still in the image of God by status, but they've lost some of it by reality. And so the Christian life is being restored more and more to get more and more of that image. And there are a couple of verses that would talk about that. I think Colossians, just let me look here for a minute. Colossians 3, don't lie to one another. Colossians 3, 9, do not lie to one another, seeing that you've put off the old self with its practices. And I've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Our new self is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. As we grow to understand this idea of being in Christ, we gain a little more knowledge of what the Bible is teaching, but God already knew that. So we're kind of going a notch up to be more like thinking God's thoughts. Does that make sense? And if we don't lie to one another, we tell the truth, and we learn more truth in our brains, and we're becoming more like God in our truth that we believe. And the whole of the Christian life can be thought of that way. And second Corinthians 3 at the end, Colossians, we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. The image of God or the image of Christ, we're becoming more and more like Him. So we're retaining it. And when Christ returns, we have perfect resurrection bodies, and we're free from sin completely, then we're 100% back in the image of God. Is that all right? Did that address what you... Okay, we're getting there. Since this gentleman has asked... What's your name? Mary Jane. Mary Jane. How does this... In Jamie's sermon this morning, he talked about we have the passions of incurring all of these things, and we are in Christ, we're with Christ. How does this get worked out? We call it sanctification. What has to happen? Is this in our soul? Is this in our heart? Is this in our mind? What's the process? I look into my life, and I don't see or recognize, I know these are facts. This is God's truth. How do I work out in our life? Gradually, in all different areas, over time. I'm not sure I'm answering what you're saying, what you're asking. Help me again.

Before I'm a believer, before I have a body, soul, and spirit. When I become a believer, I now have the new spirit, the Holy Spirit in me, and I have a war going on. Jamie talked about that a couple weeks ago. The huge war. Well, what's being transformed? All of you. Right. How? Well, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, influence the Word of God, influence of other Christians, influence of discipline in our lives, strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord, and it says in Hebrews. So just all sorts of ways, every way in which we grow in obedience to God, in trust in Him, grow in love, grow in the fruit of the Spirit, all those ways we're being just gradually, gradually transformed. Well, I've been a believer for many, many years, and it doesn't look very good on the outside. The manifestations of the fruits of the Spirit aren't very noticeable. I don't know you, but if I knew you, I would say, oh, yes, they are. I don't know. What's that? My depravity shows up big. Well, I don't know you, so I can't talk about your life, but I can talk about other people here who might know. And in general, I think the Christian life is such that people here would say, yes, my life has changed. It is a significant change at the beginning, and there's gradual change through life, and honestly, I think you are more like Christ than you were five years ago, or ten years ago. You may not notice it. Jerry, you're going like this. Yeah. But if you look back, think of, I don't know how long you've been a believer, think of twenty years ago, think of ten years ago. Wasn't it different? It should be different. If there isn't growth, if there isn't growth, we talked about this maybe two months ago in the area of perseverance. If there isn't growth, then it's time to get together with another Christian that you trust, and another believer that you trust, or remember the pastoral staff, or someone, and say, look, what's going on? I'm not changing in my Christian life. And help me. Pray with me. Let's talk about this because there should be growth. There should be growth in the Christian life. Okay. Here, I'm forgetting your name. There are four of us here that do know, very Jane and Bill, and we can say they are not depraved. Yeah. And I thought so. And their lives reflect their growth. Yeah. They are. Yeah. Good. Good. That's what I suspected. Yeah. Okay. And then Dean. I can give you a striking example of change. When Mike became a Christian, right, before he turned 50, overnight his language changed. It wasn't even overnight. It was within a matter of hours. He stopped swearing drastically. I mean, all those other nasty words he said it was gone. Like sitting here smiling. It was gone. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks Mike for smiling. David. David. The image of Christ and the cost of discipleship in Luke chapter 1426, Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and his wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Who whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Radical words for radical times. Okay. So apply it, David. What do you think? First of all, it's a comparison, not that we should hate our relatives. No, I understand. But that in the context that he should be first, and we want to have the image of Christ in our lives, that we should place him first, God first before all things. And then there will be times to bear the cross of Christ and thus become more like him. I've seen that living in the context of other people who are suffering. And suffering, not just suffering because of poverty, suffering for Jesus Christ. And they want to hold forth God's image in the context of, say, an Islamic context. Okay. But I'm going to apply that more broadly. Please, oftentimes significant growth in our life happens in times of hardship. Yes. Whether it's a financial crisis, or a family crisis, or a health crisis, or something else, in times of hardship, they do draw us close to Christ. And we know that union with him and the fellowship with him, and he does transform us at those times, though they're hard. Yes. Okay. Good. Good. Good. Anything else on this? We are in Christ. Christ is in us. We are light Christ. We are with Christ. Anything else? Okay. Is that good? Is that clear? What's happened to me as I've gone through the lesson now for this last 45 minutes is something's happening in my heart. There's a deeper joy. There's a deeper joy just in talking about these things because I'm being forced to more clearly remember that this is true, that as I'm standing here teaching, but then this afternoon and tomorrow, I'm in Christ. And I think I can be more or less aware of that. But as I'm aware of that, as I'm aware that I'm in him, he's in me, he's with me, and I'm becoming like him. Wow. There's a sense of fellowship with him that's very strong. And I'm excited about that. Okay. Ready for another whole idea. And this is just quickly, but there is similar teaching, probably related to the fact that we're in Christ. These benefits come to us. There's similar teaching about being united with the Father and with the Holy Spirit in other verses. That's why I said, cried, wait, we're coming back. Because we're in union with Christ, we're also brought into union with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. Look, we're in the Father and in the Spirit. So first, Thessalonians 1, 1 to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There's in the Father. Romans 8 and 9, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Okay, you're in the Spirit. And then the Father is in us and the Spirit is in us. Very interesting. It's not just Christ in us, but sometimes the Bible can talk about the Father dwelling within us. John 14, 23, 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. We meaning the Father and the Son will come and make their home within us. And then Romans 8 and 9, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. So the Father is in us and the Spirit is in us as well as Christ. Isn't that interesting? Interesting. And then we're like the Father and like the Spirit. So as God and Christ forgave you, you were to forgive one another. There's imitation of the Father. And then we imitate the Spirit in His characteristics because Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. There were coming like the Holy Spirit. And then we have fellowship, not only with the Son, but we have fellowship with the Father and fellowship with the Spirit. Verse 1, 3, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Or 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. So it isn't as strong an emphasis as this in Christ emphasis, but it's there. And wow, a lot of blessing and a lot of relationships. And I think we should then ask this question of course, is there any difference in how we relate to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Yes, I believe there is. I think at least in a very beginning way, I can tell in my prayer life when I'm praying to the Father who cares for me, who is sovereign and ordains all history and ordains the affairs of my life and wants to give me good things and bless me as Jesus taught, ready to end the Father and relating to the Son who understands my temptations, who has been tempted in every way as we are yet without sin, who has died for my sins and who represents me before the Father. There's a little difference in how I relate to one and to the other. And then, in how I relate to the Holy Spirit, who empowers and equips us, gives us gifts from ministry, guides us and leads us. I think there is some difference. We relate to the Father and his distinct role as our Heavenly Father, to the Son and his distinct role as our Savior and Lord, and to the Holy Spirit and his distinct role as the Spirit who empowers us and continually applies to us all the benefits of salvation. Now, I think I'm just a little tiny bit along the way of understanding those differences in the Christian life, just telling you honestly, where I am, but I think there's a difference there. I have a sense of a difference.

Oh, we want to talk about that for a minute. Yep, Darryl again. Colossians 3, verses 3 and 4, for we are hidden with Christ and God. Okay. And Christ who is our life when He appears, we will reappear with Him in glory. I think that speaks to exactly what you're saying for the whole time. There is a distinction we are hidden with Christ in God, and I have to rely on dependent upon the Holy Spirit continually on a second to second basis. Yeah, okay. Anything else? The challenge here is making these kind of, I don't know, kind of abstract ideas in Christ and making them kind of have reality in our life, and I'm not sure I have a good handle on it. I'm kind of trying to get at it as we work at it. John again, just a second.

I think that sometimes I experience when I see a site or experience something that a word can explain, a picture can't explain, is almost like this relationship in Him, what we struggle with is being able to convey what we're talking about. Yes. Because it's inside you. Yes, yes. We feel and sense things that we have trouble explaining in words. There, you just put in words what I was thinking but couldn't remember what I was thinking. Yes, there is something, there's a joy, there's an excitement, there's a peace, there's a happiness, and it's hard to really give words to it, but we know it has to do with our union with Christ in some ways. Good, good, that's helpful. Okay, Julie, right behind you. You know, we speak a lot about the distinctives of the Christian faith and we talk about the resurrection as being completely unique to the Christian faith, but I think this doctrine is probably one of the most unique and most powerful doctrines in Scripture. If we can grasp it even in its most minute form, this is the essence of who we are. We have been changed at the DNA, the molecular level. We're not just in Christ. He's not just the air that we breathe. He is the essence of who we are and the real me is not the flawed me that you see on the surface. The real me is this core, this kernel of my union with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Son which makes me completely different. And as I live that out, I can experience all the promises that God has for me. When I think, when I reach for those promises and I go, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This is why. That's not an ethereal truth. It's a far far away something to believe, but not to be experienced in me. It's something that's the battery we run on the fuel that we gain our strength from, our newness in life, our new hope, our new strength, our new power, our new life, our new everything is tied to this doctrine. There's nothing apart that we don't have anything if we don't have this, really. Thank you, Julie. Good, good, good, good. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, got somebody over here. Oh, wait a minute. Okay. My name is Bill and one of the things that you said, just a few minutes ago, he said, well, I've just talked for 45 minutes. And I have a joy in my heart because of I have been speaking about the Lord and about the Word. And I have found that I can have, I can spend time with people and I can have conversations with them. And you go away from those conversations and you really don't feel much of anything other than you wonder why you took all that time to have that conversation. Yeah. Yeah. But there are times, I don't know if this is a, it's really fulfilling, say we're supposed to speak to each other in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Or if what we're really experiencing as in your case is the spirit itself is bearing witness to your spirit to the child of God. But it seems to me that it's so important that we have spiritual conversations with each other. Yeah. I mean, it's one thing to listen. But I think there's so much that the Holy Spirit has put inside of us and given life to that we don't verbalize, we don't bring it out. And and encourage each other in the Word. And I think to the extent we do do that, we're blessed and measurably. Good. Tell me your name again. My name is Bill Waddell. Bill Waddell. Okay. I have a sense that you've been around here a long time because of other people knowing you. Well, I have been gone for quite a few years but I'm just back. Thank you for that. Thank you. Look, I'm going to pause before I talk to you. And we all say something. Right at the beginning what Julie said about this is such a great privilege and unique and you can eat us about the Christian faith. If you think of Buddhism, it's melt into nothingness, melt into the universe, become one with the all you lose who you are. I don't want that. And if you think of just self-sufficient worldliness, that just do it all on your own and be yourself. And there's no union with God. We've got both. We have we retain our individual identity. I still am weighing, Margaret is still Margaret, Debbie is still Debbie. Rick is still Rick. Wanda and Joyce are still Wanda and Joyce. But we have this deep unity with God at the same time. That's amazing that the Christian faith tells us that. I don't think you get it in Islam that do you get that kind of person? I will, you know, David, I shouldn't ask you behind here. But that kind of personal fellowship with God. Islam is post-Christian in time, it's pre-Christian in thought, it's Judaism in thought. Just like we had the old Beatles song, All You Need is Love. Well, they have the idea, All You Need is Law. Law. And so they have the idea of the one true God, giving laws. And Islam understands you can know God through his will, who da an inspiration while he. But in Christianity, we have the idea you can know God through inspirational and revelational incarnation. You understand God through Jesus Christ as a person. Yeah, not just law. And that's the difference. And we have this close fellowship with God through Christ. And that's makes all the difference. That's significantly different from Islam and teaching. Because you, yeah, Islam believes that you can know about God through his law. We believe you can know God through Jesus. Yeah, good, good, excellent. Okay, I think we've got time for about two more. I've got David in the front and then Anne here. And then, oh, okay, Eve has the microphone. What can I say? No, you've got the microphone. Go ahead.

I just wanted to ask you, Wayne, since you say that we should relate differently to each person of the Trinity based on their role. What about the issue of prayer? I've heard that discussed and I've heard people give many different opinions. When you pray, for instance, do you think about what you want to pray about in terms of which one of these persons in the Trinity? I don't spend any real time reflecting on it. My default prayer, usually I'm praying to God the Father. God the Father just like Jesus did. Yes, yes. But, but time from time to time, I pray to Jesus because I don't know because it's a situation that he's gone through or I know that he's been, you know, in a hardship or a temptation or a challenge like I was and he's able to help us when we're tempted. He's a great high priest and so I do pray to him from time, and oftentimes I pray to Jesus too. You know, I don't really think too much about it. And then it's sort of more of a conscious act to pray to the Holy Spirit at a time where it seems like there's a Holy Spirit's ministry involved that I don't as often do that. Because I know sometimes when I've kind of, before I go to pray, I've kind of made a mental list of the, when I know I'm going to be in prayer for a long time, I make a mental list so I don't forget about all the things I want to pray about. So I'm thinking also I think I start out praying to the Father, but I may end up actually including by name each one of the persons of the Holy of the Trinity. I wouldn't worry about that. I don't worry about it. You said we should relate differently to each one, so I know they don't care, so I don't need her. But yeah, I'm kind of at the point of I think this is right and I don't quite know what to do about it. That's where I am in this area. So okay, David. I'm still back on my first question sitting here. Thinking about all these things and I was listening to Dr. Steve Lawson this week and he was telling a story about his first day in seminary in class and the professor came out and said to the class, what can a dead man do? And as I'm sitting here thinking, well, what's the opposite of all of these things up in Christ? And the opposite of that is I was dead. And so what do I have? What can I when I was dead do? And it nothing. And it seems like a little switch went on in my head as I understood the opposite of what you're saying. That's good. And if we didn't have been Christ, we'd be apart from him. We'd be cut off from him. We'd be separate. That would be awful. And you get the last comment here. Well, I just have a little humorous story for you is you know in some of our friends, no, I've worked for 17 years at a Jewish synagogue. And you know, I've said to John many times, I have felt that God put me there to try and be a light. I never tried to proselytize. But on occasion, I used to have some discussions with Rabbi Siegel who was there. And I went into his office one day and he said something, well, that's a very nice dress you have on. And I said, and I had financial difficulties in my life. And I said to him, oh, well, I just got a super deal on this Rabbi. I said, God always goes shopping with me and helps me find a bargain. And he said, and and you don't really think that the God of the universe goes shopping with you. And I said to him, well, Rabbi, I believe that's why we have the Holy Spirit. He goes with me everywhere. Wow. Wow. Thank you, Anne. He was a little speechless. Thank you. And it's good to have you and John back after being away too. Good. Okay. Well, I just got, we prayed for Joan. I've got running through my mind. Just remember Carol Barmore. Carol had this back surgery. It was supposed to take four hours. It took seven hours. She's still in extreme pain after, well, it was the end of me that she had the surgery. And I see that EG and Carol are not here today. They are going through a really difficult time. So pray for them. Anyway, you can reach out to them and help them. Please do that. EG has some surgery that he needs coming up to, but he's taken care of Carol. So it's hard. See you next week.