What is the meaning of bapti..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So Colossians chapter 2, we are going to be reading from verse 8 until verse 15. Let us pay careful attention to the reading of God's word.

This is Colossians chapter 2 from verse 8 to verse 15. This is the word of the Lord. See it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition. according to the elemental spirits or elements of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and ye have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also ye were circumcised with a circumcision made with our hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Pay attention to verse 12. 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. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. My dear brother and sister, my dear friend, the Lord Jesus Christ has given to His Church two beautiful and very powerful ordinances. That is the ordinance of the Lord's table that we have here present before us, and also the ordinance of baptism.

And these two ordinances are supposed to be practiced by the Church until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. And every time that the local church has the opportunity to behold the participating or the partaking of the Lord's table or baptism, we get insight into a very important spiritual reality of the local church. And that spiritual reality is union with Christ. Every time, maybe your brother and sister, that you come to this table, and then you take those elements in your hands, and you return to your seat, and we all collectively participate of the Lord's table, we are proclaiming externally that there is a reality that has taken place inside of us, and that is union with Christ. Every time that a brother or sister, by God's grace, goes into the watery grave of baptism, and comes out of the water, that brother or that sister is proclaiming that he or she has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Union with Christ. Perhaps the greatest blessing of the Christian life. If someone was going to come and ask you, what is the greatest blessing of being a Christian? Then the answer to that should be that I am united with and to Jesus Christ. That I was separated from God.

That I was bearing my trespasses. That I was unrighteous. That I was walking away from Him yet. God the Father sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross, so that by dying upon the cross and then being resurrected, and completing everything that the Father gave him to accomplish, now I can be united with and to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every other blessing of the Christian life depends and comes from union with Christ.

Are you blessed because when you read the scriptures, then you read that we have been chosen before the foundation of the world? Then my dear brother and sister, know that this union with Christ that happened before the foundation of the world, it is in union with Christ, Ephesians chapter 1. Are we blessed because when we were walking away in our own sins, in our own unrighteousness, we have been called by God, and the gospel was effectively applied to our hearts, and we became Christians, we were saved? Then, my dear brother and sister, know that if a person has been called effectively by the Lord Jesus Christ, it is because of union with Christ. Are you blessed because you have been forgiven of your trespasses?

You have been forgiven of your sins, and the righteousness of Christ has been given to your soul? Then know, my dear brother and sister, that that happens because of our union with Christ. Romans chapter 5, verse 1. We have been justified through the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we blessed because He has started a work in us, and we know that He will bring it to completion?

that happens only because of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Apart from our union with the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no life. Are you blessed? Because you have a hope that there is going to be one day in which you are with the Lord Jesus Christ, and sin will be no more, and death will be no more, and the sufferings of this present age will be passed away?

They know, my dear brother, that that is only possible because the Christian has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the glory of the Gospel. That we who were sinners, that we who were rebellious to the Lord, now we have been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And every time that we come to this table, or every time that we witness a brother or sister being baptized, then we are witnessing with our physical senses, that which is a reality with our spiritual senses, namely our heart and faith, union with Christ. And of course, we cannot comprehend the beauty and the power of what it is to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ, if we first don't see the opposite of what it is to be united with Christ.

Because by nature, my dear brother and sister, each one of us has been born not only separated from God, but because of that separation from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ, now we are dead in our trespasses and we are enemies of God. Every single person that is not in Christ, He's not only separated from God, but he's also an enemy of God, and hence, a slave of sin and a slave of unrighteousness. And there's absolutely nothing that humans can do in and of themselves to breach or to close the gap that exists between us sinners and God. It does not matter how smart we are, it does not matter how powerful we are, it does not matter how much money we have, Humans cannot close the gap that separates us from God. It is that God Himself will send His only begotten Son to die upon the cross, not only to make a way for us to become the children of God, but more importantly, my dear brother and sister, to be united with God.

I don't know how to emphasize or what words should I speak in order to show you how incredible it is that a sinner like us, that people were unrighteous in our thoughts, in our minds, in our deeds, in the things that we say. Now we can not only be friends with God, we can not only be next to God, we can not only be part of the family of God, but that we will be one with Him. And that all of that happens by faith. Every time that we take the elements, the bread and the wine, and we take them into our sinful mouths, we are proclaiming that we have been united with Jesus Christ, who is not only God, but is perfect and is sinless. We who are sinners and are limited and are humans, now we can proclaim that we have been united with Him.

When a brother or sister goes into the water and comes out of the water, we are proclaiming that that brother or sister has been united to God, who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. That is a powerful truth of the Gospel, and only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can give us the glory of being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what is the most beautiful thing about being united to Jesus Christ, brethren? That once a person is united to Jesus Christ purely by grace through faith, nothing can separate that person from the communion and the union that they have with Jesus. There's nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus.

That is glorious, brethren. Once a person who has been by nature separated from God, walking away from God, once that person is recipient of the grace of the Gospel, and their heart responds in faith to this Lord of Ours, Jesus Christ, then that person enters into a relationship with God Himself, namely, union with God in Jesus Christ, such a relationship that not even God Himself could undo. You know, not even the mind of God could undo that relationship that we have with Him, because if God was going to separate us from Himself, He would be a liar. And He's not a liar. He's perfect, and He's good, and He's righteous.

And hence, the Christian can always rest and have peace and joy of knowing that we are going to be united to and with the Lord Jesus Christ, and forever and ever. This is the glorious of the Lord's table. And brethren, this is the glorious of baptism. And every time that we go through the New Testament, we will see that the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles always speak about our relationship with Christ like, in Him, or with Him, or through Him. Every time that we read through the New Testament, all of these statements of in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ, we are not over speaking about, we are only speaking about union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is, if you pay attention to verse 11 and 12, these are the statements that the Apostle Paul makes in these two verses. He says in verse 11, in him also You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting out the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 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. Every time, once again, that a brother or sister participates at the Lord's table, or every time that a brother or sister participates at the ordinance of baptism, we are proclaiming to ourselves, to the Church and to the world, that we are in Him. And the way that the Apostle is going to present that union that we have with Christ when it comes to Baptism is very interesting. Because he is going to tell us in verses 11 and 12 that first, the Christian is united with Christ in his death.

He says in verse 11, in him, that is in Christ, also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without ends. by putting up the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. This is simply that with Him you have been united in His death. He makes that clear in verse 12 when He says, having been buried with Him in baptism. In other words, every time that a brother or sister is baptized, this represents externally an internal reality that has taken place, and that is that that brother or sister has been united with Jesus Christ in his death.

Union with Christ in his death. Jesus Christ died upon the cross, then the believer, the true child of God, is united to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In order for me to be generally saved, I need to die first. In order for everyone to be saved and to become a child of God, then that person needs to die first. Once that person has partaken of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, then it happens the second.

That person can be resurrected with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he says in verse 12, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised, or resurrected with Him through faith in the powerful working of God. In order for a person to become a child of God, my dear soul, you need to die first. You need to be united to the death of the Lord. You need to be united to the cross. And just as Jesus Christ died upon the cross, and then by the power of God he was resurrected on the third day, so the Christian has to be united in his death.

and also in his life. And both the table and baptism represent that union that we have with Jesus Christ in his death and the union that we have with his life. Of course, these are very difficult terms, perhaps even to consider in our minds, how is a person united to someone else in his death? How can a person be... What is even the meaning of that?

To be united to someone else in His death. What does it mean? Or what is to be united with Christ in His resurrection? I want us to consider this, not only from these verses, but also from the parallel passage in Romans chapter 6. I want us to consider the beauty of baptism, my dear brother and sister, taken from this perspective that everyone who participates in the ordinance of baptism is united with Jesus Christ in his death, He is united with Jesus Christ in his life.

And all of that happens to us by faith as the Apostle says. So what is the meaning of being united to Jesus Christ in his death? The Apostle Paul is going to make this very clear in a parallel passage from Colossians chapter 2 that is found in Romans chapter 6. Those two verses that we have read, 11 and 12, are more explained by the Apostle in Romans chapter 6. What is the meaning of being united to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ?

What is the meaning of being united to the crucifixion of Christ? What is the meaning to be crucified like Christ? Or to be crucified with Him? What is the meaning of all of those terms that the Apostle Paul will use, not only in Romans and Colossians, but also in Galatians? If we come to Romans chapter 6, in this passage of the scriptures, the Apostle is going to explain to us in a very powerful and practical way, I hope that you can see that, what is the meaning of being united with Jesus Christ in His death.

If I was only going to give a word to what it means to be united with His death, I would give this word, freedom. The person who has been united with or to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is a person now that is free. The person, before being united to Jesus Christ, was a slave to something or someone. But when the person, by the grace of the Lord, is united to the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, now this person is going to experience freedom. Every time that we think about the concept of death, perhaps we think about something that is alive and comes to the end.

Something that dies is something that that's what they were supposed to do, and then it comes to the end and that's it. But for the Apostle, the death of the Christian that we experience when we are united by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not something that brings something to an end, but rather is something that brings something to a transformation. And the death that we refer to here is Freedom. Pay attention to this passage of the scripture in Romans chapter 6. You will see that the apostle is not only speaking about baptism, but is speaking about the glorious reality of what it is to become a Christian.

Romans chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in seeing that grace may abound? In verse 2 of chapter 6, Romans. By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it? Verse 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? There you have it. The person who is a genuine believer is united to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 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 may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with Christ in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this. Once again, the Apostle makes it clear. The genuine believer has been united to the death of Christ, and the genuine believer has been united to his resurrected life. Now pay attention to verse 6, because now he is going to equate to be death to be free.

To be dead in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be free. Verse 6, 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. In other words, that we will be free. Verse 7, he clarifies that when he says, For one who has died has been set free from sin. To be united with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, brother and sister and friend, is to be set free.

Freedom is equivalent to be a child of God. Because in order to become a child of God, a person has to be united to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that death of the Lord Jesus Christ is equivalent to freedom. So the person who was now enslaved here to sin, now is going to be a person that is free. Why?

Because they have died. The person who needs to be or wants to become a Christian is a person who dies and is united to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Freedom. And of course, the question that we ask ourselves is, free to what? What were we enslaved to?

Or what is that thing that kept us in bondage? And the Apostle is going to give us answers to this question through Romans chapter 6, 7 and 8. And this is what I want us to do. We were in bondage. We were in captivity.

We were under the hands of Pharaoh. Just as Pharaoh was a master to the people of Israel in Egypt, so were we before we came to the Lord Jesus Christ. We were not free. We would not have the opportunity to do righteous things, but rather we were under bondage. And the Apostle is going to tell us how now we are made free once we have died to self.

The first thing that we were enslaved to, the apostle has made it very clear there in verse 6, and that is that before we became a children of God, a child of God, we were enslaved to sin. Pay attention to verse 6. It says, We know that the 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. When we were separated from God, my dear brother and sister, By nature, we were born separated from God. We were not united to Him.

Because of our sin, we were separated. There was a chasm between humanity and between God. And that separation that existed between humanity and God made humans to be born in sin. And because of that, they are enslaved to sin. It is not only the presence of sin that is inside of every single person that is born, but it's also the power of sin that is present in that person.

There's absolutely nothing that that person can do in and of themselves to break the chains of sin that are enslaving them just by virtue of being a human. They are enslaved to sin, and because they're enslaved to sin, they deserve the wages of sin. And the wages of sin is death. Every single person who is born into this world is enslaved to sin, and there is absolutely nothing that they can do to break those chains of slavery. It does not matter that they come all together to design this program in which they are going to fix the morality of humanity.

It does not matter if they put all of their resources together in order to break the chains of sin. It does not matter what they do. Humans are not able, in and of themselves, to break the chains of slavery that sin has brought upon them. It is only the Lord Jesus Christ the one who can come and destroy the chains of slavery that sin has produced in humanity or that is present in reality in every single person who has been born under Adam. We were enslaved to sin and only the Lord Jesus Christ can come and remove that presence and remove the penalty of sin.

When a person puts his faith or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my dear brother and sister. That person now is set free from sin. Does that mean that that person is going to become perfect? Certainly not in this life. But at least we have the promise that sin will no longer have dominion upon them in verse 14 of chapter 6.

Sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but you are under grace. When the grace of the Lord has taken a person and has united them to Jesus Christ, when that person is in union with Christ, that union sets that person free from the power of sin. And now, the relationship that that person has to sin certainly is not one of perfection, but is one that is in light of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those sins that before were the master of that person, and those sins that were the desires of that person, and those passions that the person had that were attached and given to all of those things, no longer follow that path. But now the person, by virtue of the grace given to them, wants to please the Lord.

And even though this person might not walk in perfection, every time that a person sins, now they know that the only solution to the problem of sin is not to try to fix yourself in your own strength or in your own power, but rather to look to Christ. Because if we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation in the very first place, then putting our eyes in the Lord Jesus Christ for our daily lives is the way that the genuine child of God now deals with sin. And in that, there is freedom, brethren. Because when a person does not know Jesus, when a person does not know of the Gospel, then that person is always going to be in the jail of their unrighteousness, trying to fix themselves in their own strength, not understanding, or not even knowing, or not even desiring things that are righteous, but when the grace of the Lord is given to a sinner, and the eyes of that person are opened, then that person has been removed from the bandage of sin, and now taken into the freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now that person knows that it does not matter what sin has caused or has done, the only solution to that problem is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Freedom.

Freedom from the dominating power of sin. Every time that a brother goes into the water, or sister goes into the water, and comes out of the water, that brother and sister is proclaiming, I have been united to Jesus Christ. I was separated from Him. But I was united into His death. And when I was united into His death, I died to my old self.

And my old self was in bondage to sin. My old self was a slave to all of these passions. And even though I'm not perfect now, The Lord Jesus Christ has rescued me and set me free and has given me the promise that one day when I see Him, I'm going to be like Him. And on that day in which I'm with my Lord, I'm going to enjoy the fruits and the glories and the peace of what it is, the destruction, the entire and complete destruction of sin. What a glorious blessing that is.

If we understand what sin causes in this world and what sin causes in us, what a glorious hope the Christian has. That sin will have no dominion in us, brethren, and that there's going to be one day in which sin is going to be fully removed from this world by the Gospel and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second thing, not only we are set free from sin when we die or we are united in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're also set free from the law. Actually, this is the argument that the apostle makes in chapter 7. Did you know that before you were a Christian, pay attention to this, brother and sister.

Did you know that before you were a Christian, before your eyes were opened by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the commandments of the Lord for you even though they were intended to be good and holy and to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, that these commandments of the Lord operate for you as a master that kept you captive in your unrighteousness? And did you know that the commandments of the Lord, that even though they are good, and when he says you shall not lie or you shall not steal and when he says the things that we are supposed to do before you were a Christian and before the Lord Jesus Christ saved you those commandments not only took you or kept you captive in unrighteousness but also these commandments arouse within you the passions of your flesh That is what the apostle is going to tell us. That when the commandment says, you shall not steal, if you're not in Christ. When you hear, you shall not steal, or you shall not lie. When you hear those words, you're not only tempted to do self-righteousness, to try to define yourself as a good person, but also the commandment of God arouses within you the passions of your flesh, and that's why When people hear the commandment, you shall not do, within them they actually want to do that which the law says that they are not supposed to do.

Because from within the flesh is arousing its passions and all its affections that the law says you shall not do, and now they actually want to do. I don't know if you have seen the many studies of people that say that when a person is actually breaking the law, the amount of dopamine and chemicals that are released from the brain are so incredible. The satisfaction and the pleasure that a person receives when they are watching pornography or when they are doing things that they are not supposed to do. The law is now arising or arousing better the passions within them. This is what the Apostle says if you come to chapter 7 of Romans.

We have been set free from the captivity of the law and the law arising or arousing our passions within us. The Apostle says in Romans chapter 7 verse 1. Or do you not know, brothers? For I am speaking to those who know the law. Romans chapter 7.

Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person 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. Now pay attention to verse 4. Likewise, just as the woman is liberated from the law when the husband dies, likewise, My brothers and sisters, 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 that we are released or set free from the law, having died to that which held us captive, namely the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

That is, that when a person, by purely just receiving grace through faith, That person is united with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that union is a union that starts with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just as the Lord Jesus Christ died, we also died. And the first thing that we die to is sin. We are no longer slaves to that sin because we have died to sin.

And even though sin is still present within us, because of the life of Christ, we have that promise that there's going to be one day in which sin is not going to is going to be no more. But the Christian has not only been set free from the dominating power of sin, the genuine Christian has also been liberated from the captivity of the law. Before, the Christian, when the person was not in Jesus Christ, the law was an accuser that kept him captive, and he could not produce any righteousness even of themselves, because the only way that a Christian can be righteous is not through the written code of the commandment, but rather the spirit of the commandment, And for that I need to be united to the one who is the law giver, and not only to the law. I need to be united to the one who gives the commandments, and not only to the commandments. The person not united to Christ is unable to fulfill the commandments of the Lord.

And hence those commandments, the only thing that do is that kept them captive in their unrighteousness or self-righteousness, and arose the passions that are within them. What we need in order for the commandments to be sweet, is the law giver. What we need in order to obey the commandment is not the written code, is the spirit of the commandment. And that is found in Jesus Christ. That only happens when we are united to Him by faith.

So when we hear, you shall not lie, we're not only hearing the written commandment, but we're hearing the voice of the shepherd that says to us, you shall not lie. And obedience is not derived from what the letter says, but obedience is derived from the one who says. what we ought to do, because the power of the commandment is not found in the commandment itself, but is found in God himself who gives that commandment. So then the law takes its righteous place. And that is to be aligning the heart of the one who has been saved by grace through faith with the one who gave him or her life.

Apart from union with Christ, my dear brother and sister, the commandments of God are going to be burdensome. That's why 1 John chapter 5 verse 3 says that for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who love God, the commandments of the Lord are not burdensome. The yoke of the Lord is easy. His burden is light. Not because we are so strong that we can carry a burden, or not because we are so powerful that we can do things in our strength.

It is because now we have been united with Christ. And the Spirit of Christ in us is the one that empowers us to carry the burden of the commandments. And the commandments are not anymore burdensome, but they are sweet to our souls. Why? Because we want to honor the commandment giver, and we don't want to honor ourselves by just simply keeping the law.

The self-righteous person is the one that sees the commandment and wants to fill their ego just by simply obeying the written commandment. But the heart of the Christian that has been united to Jesus Christ is the one that hears the word of the Lord and the law of God, and they hear the voice of the Savior. And instead of just being moved by what the commandment says, they are moved by the presence of the one who loved them and gave himself for them. When a brother or sister goes into the water and comes out of the water, that brother and sister is proclaiming to us and to everyone that they have been united to Christ. And because they have been united to Christ, now they are liberated from the dominating power of sin and the presence of sin.

And they have also liberated from the captivating, or better, the power of the law that before that kept them captive to their own righteousness. But it's not only that, maybe a brother and sister. Also, we have been liberated from a fleshly mind. The apostle continues to make his argument, and if you come to Romans chapter 8, the apostle is going to tell us the difference between a mind of the flesh and a mind of the spirit. The person that is not united with Jesus Christ, with your brother and sister, has a mind of the flesh.

Because it's only the genuine believer, the one who can have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The genuine believer is the one who has the mind of Christ. And in order to be and have the mind of Christ, we need to be united to Jesus Christ. Remember that the only thing that I said in the beginning is that the greatest blessing that we have as Christians It's not all the things that we see and observe, that we are forgiven, that we are the children of God, that we are sanctified, that we are justified. All of those things are glorious, but the fountain of all of those blessings is that we are united to Jesus Christ, and that the life of Christ is given to you purely by faith.

And that union with Christ starts with our dead to self, and that dead is what sets us free. And something that sets us free from is the mind of the flesh. Those who are not in Christ Jesus, they have their own mind. They cannot have the mind of Jesus Christ. And because they cannot have the mind of Jesus Christ, their minds are going to be in confusion and in death.

Because the one who sets the mind on things of the flesh, cannot have life, but rather confusion and death. Only those who have the mind in the things of the Spirit, namely those who have the mind of Jesus Christ, are the ones who can have peace. And those who have set their minds on things of the flesh cannot hear the voice of God. And because they cannot hear the voice of God, they cannot submit to the things of God. They don't desire to submit to the things of the Lord.

When by grace through faith we become genuine believers, We are liberated. We are liberated from the dominating power of the mind of the flesh. This is what the puzzle says in Romans chapter 8. If you pay careful attention there to verse 5. Romans chapter 8 verse 5.

It says, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the things of the flesh is death. But to save the mind and things of the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile or is enemy to God.

For the mind that is set on the flesh does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot submit to God's law. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. When a person, brethren by grace, when the grace of the Lord visited you, remember the day of your salvation, whenever that was, when the grace of the Lord came upon you and your eyes were opened, You were translated from being an enemy of God into being not only a friend with God, but to be united with Him. And He gave you the freedom that you could have not accomplished by any other means.

Sin was your master, but God came and liberated you. The law was your accuser, but now the law is an instrument of righteousness for you because you have been liberated. Your mind was in the jail of the flesh. Now the mind of Christ has been given to you by the Spirit, and you can focus those thoughts of you in things that are righteous, brethren. Do you understand that this is impossible for those who are born separated from God?

That every time that you have a righteous thought, Every time that you want to feed the poor, every once that you want to help a brother and sister, every once that there's a righteous thought inside of you, that this was not initiated in your education. This was not initiated in the way that your parents raised you. This is initiated in your union with Jesus Christ. The mind of Christ given to sinners like us. And I don't know about you, but there's enough inside of this head.

to know that I do not deserve to have any thoughts that comes from above. What I deserve is to be enslaved to my ways, to my sins, to the things that I took pleasure in, to the things that I was given over. That is what I personally deserve. But if there's any fruit of righteousness in a person, whoever that person is, this is the glories of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when a person comes and takes these elements into their hands, bread and wine.

Brethren, this is not a religious thing that just people have been doing for 2,000 years and we repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated, because we're following the pattern of previous people. Brethren, we are proclaiming that we have been united with Jesus Christ. That His body that was broken, that His blood that was shed, now we are one with Him. And once again, there's enough in me not to be united to anyone. But I happen to be united to the creator of heaven on earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ is righteous and loving. Every time that a brother goes into the water and comes out of the water, that brother or sister is proclaiming, I have been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's no longer I who lives. that Jesus Christ who lives in me, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me, and the life that now I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." That's why, brethren, people have sang throughout the centuries, I have decided to follow Jesus, not turning back, not turning back.

Because the turning back is of the flesh, but when Jesus Christ has come and taken possession of a person... then the work is no longer of that person, brethren. That person has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not only that he's set free from sin, brethren. It's not only that he's set free from the captivity of the law.

It's not only that that person is set free from a fleshly mind. That person is set free from the corruption of this world. Paul says in Galatians chapter 6 that I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. Death to the world! This world that is passing away is crucified and is going to disappear.

Now the things of this world that move the passions of the Christians, all the things of this world, that which we were pursuing, now we know, brethren, that they are passing away. Now we know that our lives are fixed in Christ Jesus, and that independently how long we live, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100, or whatever it is, that our life transcends depression time. Because we have been united with Jesus Christ, and because we have been united with Him, we have the greatest blessing that any creature can have. Brethren, you understand that not even the angels that did not fall, have this great privilege of being united to God in the way that the Christian has. It took the Father to send the Son to die upon the cross, to live among us, to become like one of us, so that the type of communion and union that we have with God is partakers of the divine nature.

It says in 2 Peter 1, that we are one with Him, that we are one spirit with Him. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, Brethren, I hope that words were enough and sufficient for us to comprehend and understand the glories of what it is to be united with the Lord Jesus Christ and the glorious symbolism of what it is, one person going into the watery grave, going into death with Jesus Christ, baptizing to his death, coming in someone else's hands out of this water to be resurrected in the newness of life. Because union with Christ is not left only in our union to His death. The most precious thing of our union with Christ is that we are united in His victorious life. Death with Jesus Christ resurrected in years of life with his victorious life.

You know, the glorious thing about eternal life is not that eternal life gives us many days or that somehow some power comes upon us and that now our organs and our being is going to be operating in such a way that we are not going to face death. Eternal life is not only about eternal days. Eternal life is about having the life of Jesus Christ that was victorious. Jesus Christ died upon the cross, and he destroyed death, and he destroyed sin, and everything that comes from death and sin. And because of his victory over sin and death, now we have the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the reason why my life is eternal is because Jesus' life is eternal. Because for me to die will take that Jesus Christ will die. But Jesus Christ will not die because he has already faced death, and he was victorious over that death. So the Christian receives upon union with Jesus Christ, the life of the Son of God. You understand how much love the Father has for his Son?

When the life of the Son is given and bestowed to a sinner like us, we do not only have the victorious eternal life of the Son of God, but we also have the status of the Son. Why do you think that we're called sons and daughters of God? It is not because there is a legal document that was signed in the court of heaven that now adopts these people into becoming the children of God. Brethren, it is because the life of the Son is given to these sinners. They are united with Jesus Christ.

We are adopted into the family of God. Because the life of Jesus Christ is in each one of his sons and daughters. And now we are victorious with him. And not only we are going to have eternal life that is to come. But brethren, we are going to be enjoying the glories of what it is to be a child of God by virtue of this union with Christ.

In heaven, they ask us, do you see God in heaven? And the answer to that is, yes. Because He who has seen the Son, has seen the Father. And it took that for us to be able to see the God of this universe, that God the Son will come to this earth to be like one of us, so that He will remain in a human condition for the rest of eternity, so that we will be with God. And that is going to be the proclamation of our union with God.

Union with the Lord Jesus Christ every time that a brother or sister partakes of this table is externally proclaiming something that has taken place in their heart. And even though there are so many people around the world that try to build empires unto themselves, and try to do very important things so that their names are written in the books of history, Brethren, the simple brother or sister, it does not matter where they come from, it does not matter how brilliant they are or if they are not, when simply by grace through faith they are united to Christ. Their names are written not in the books of human history that are going to be burned and passed away, but their names are written in the book of the Lamb of God, and they will have eternal life, not to be just like a creature that is going to be next to God for the rest of eternity, but rather to be united to and with God. This is the perspective of this glorious Christian life that we have, my dear brother and sister. All of this by grace, through faith.

And you know, I don't think that we rejoice enough when a person is saved. But brethren, if a person has been saved, you know what this means? It does not mean that a religious movement nowadays is doing things in a particular way so that another name is added to the book of people that belong to that group, the religious group. But what happens is when a person has been generally saved, God himself through his spirit has come to push away the darkness of this world and the unrighteousness of this world. And this person that is generally saved now has been rescued from darkness and unrighteousness into the kingdom of God.

And this person that was united to unrighteousness and son of Satan and daughter of Satan now has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ, buried with him in the likeness of his death. resurrected to walk into the newness of life. And we get as a church to see with our eyes that a brother or a sister has been rescued from their ways by purely the grace of the Lord. And the glorious thing about this, and with this I finish, is that the same grace that saved us, the same grace that continues to save, is the same grace, my dear brother and sister, that will continue to save sinners until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. This is the promise that we have, that if our husband, our wife, our brother, our sister, our child, or our friend or co-worker is not in Christ, that we have in us what is required.

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the power of God unto salvation, that the Lord uses to bring sinners to repentance and faith. And when that happens, then the sinner is united to God, never ever to be separated. This is the glorious of Christ, brethren. This is the glorious of the Gospel. And as I said to you, the greatest blessing that we have as Christians is that we have been united with and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus.

And every time that we partake of this ordinance, or the ordinance that is going to take place outside, let us rejoice, because someone has been rescued, and they are now with their Savior, and they will not be let go anymore. They will be with them forever. Amen? Let us pray.