GRASPING OUR UNION WITH CHRIST
MF Blume
September 4, 2016
Revelation 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet
as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not;
I am the first and the last: (18) I am he that liveth, and
was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys
of hell and of death.
• Jesus let John know he is the SAME ONE John knew who walked with them for three years and taught them.
• But he’s now in a glorified state.
• He’s the one they tried to kill, but He resurrected and has keys of death and hell.
• THE SAME JESUS JOHN KNEW!!!!
And he’s there for John.
• He used that familiar comforting phrase that always made John feel safe and protected.
• FEAR NOT!
Luke 5:10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee,
which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not;
from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Luke 8:50 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
Luke 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
But the specific experience Jesus associated the reason for John not to
fear in Revelation 1 was beyond anything else he ever gave for a reason
before.
• He died and resurrected.
And the reason this is so comforting to any Christian is because that
death and resurrection to forevermore live set us free from satan, sin
and the hellfire and judgment that all of us deserved and were doomed
to experience.
And he is standing in the midst of candlesticks that are shaped like branches of a tree.
• Hinting to us that his power of death and
resurrection is linked to us, as he is the vine and we are the branches.
The last time a picture of this was seen was in Moses’ day.
Exodus 3:1-6 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father
in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of
the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
(2) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of
fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush
burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (3) And
Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burnt. (4) And when the LORD saw that he turned
aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and
said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. (5) And he
said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. (6)
Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was
afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:11-12 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I
should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of
Israel out of Egypt? (12) And he said, Certainly I will be
with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee:
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve
God upon this mountain.
God was with Moses.
Moses tried forty years earlier to deliver Israel and failed and fled.
• 40 years later he’s still in the same desert and turnaround day arrived.
Totally emptied of SELF, with no worries of Moses ever again so much as
thinking he can do something great on his own for God, he had to be
reeducated.
He burned out before.
• But now he will work with the direction and
power of God, and not his own power, and God’s miracles and
wonders will be involved this time.
Exodus 3:20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt
with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after
that he will let you go.
There were no miracles and wonders to shake the throne of Egypt when Moses killed an Egyptian to free the Hebrews.
Moses would cooperate with God’s leading this time, and God would
be the fire in Moses like a branch, just like the candlesticks in
Revelation were on fire in shapes of branches with JESUS IN THE MIDST.
Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks
one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold,
the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
The fire in the candlesticks was never meant to burn out because God
was trying to show us the fire of His power in us that never goes out
when our strength burns out.
This one who died and resurrected is one with us, making his death and resurrection ours!
• Now, this really makes us not fear.
• When we realize what this SAP LIFE in us,
called the Holy Ghost and the death and resurrection of Jesus gives us
the power and victory that Jesus experienced when He arose, what can
defeat us?
Jesus said He’d never leave us nor forsake us.
• And he said that after his resurrection.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
(20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world. Amen.
But he implied more to that than you may have ever thought!
• When He said he was always going to be with us
and never leave us, He was hinting that he would be IN US and HIS death
, burial and resurrection would be ours, so we’d have the same
power over SIN and SATAN that HE HAS!
We need to learn to be COMFORTED by the fact that his death and
resurrection are OURS and what that means for us in any circumstance of
life we might go through.
When those words SINK into your spirit, they will give the energy and power you need!
Ezekiel 1:28-2:2 As the appearance of the bow that is in
the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness
round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of
the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice
of one that spake. (2:1) And he said unto me, Son of man,
stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. (2) And
the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my
feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
Romans 5 teaches that Christ’s obedience made us righteous, not our obedience.
• That empties you of self.
• It’s not salvation by works.
• And then Romans 6 says you need to get
baptized into his death in order to get that righteousness of his
obedience, because it was his death that was his obedience that makes
us righteous.
• And when you make that death YOUR death,
you’ve made his works of righteousness YOUR WORKS, and you are
saved.
Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that
know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he
liveth?
Notice that law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Then we read we are not under law.
• How can law have dominion over us as long as we live, and yet Paul said we are not UNDER LAW?
• Notice 7:1 gave the key.
• AS LONG AS YOU LIVE…. Law has dominion over you.
• WHAT IF YOU DIE?
Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God.
We become DEAD to the law by the body of Christ.
• He DIED in his body, and we become DEAD by HIS
BODY THAT DIED, when we get baptized into HIS DEATH, which is baptism
in to HIS BODY.
1 Corinthians 12:13 (13) For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be
bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Thank God we could get AMALGAMATED to His death and resurrection by baptism.
Jesus IS the resurrection!
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and
the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live:
If you believe IN HIM, it is he that believeth and is baptized who shall be saved.
• Notice He said HE IS resurrection and life,
followed by telling us to believe in him and though we die we shall
live?
• You believe when you get baptized into his death.
• And since HE is the resurrection and you get baptized into HIM, you get resurrection life.
That sap flowing through the branch of the believer in the vine of Christ is RESURRECTION LIFE.
It lifts you from death, and death is the last enemy we shall ever face, and it already whipped death.
• So what is anything else to us if we have that kind of life flowing in us?
But we also have more than that from that resurrection.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Not that you will be healed.
• YOU WERE HEALED.
• Before you were sick, you were healed.
• Before you were BORN you were healed!
• CONSIDER IT DONE!
And there is still more!
1 John 4:1-4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone
out into the world. (2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God: (3) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now
already is it in the world. (4) Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world.
YOU HAVE ALREADY OVERCOME THE WORLD AND ANY ANTICHRIST!
• Met any antichrists yet?
• You overcame them!
• The one who came in the flesh mentioned in
verses 2 and 3, IS IN YOU, and GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU than he in
the world.
• So YOU OVERCAME THEM!
• Why?
• Because the one who overcame the world is in
you and is so united to you that you can say you overcame the world
when he did!
We have to get this concept of UNION in our hearts.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me
ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Why should we not be discouraged if we go through a world of tribulations for the reason that Jesus overcame the world?
• One answer: WE ARE IN UNION WITH HIM AND HIS OVERCOMING POWER IS OURS!
• SO WE OVERCAME THROUGH HIM.
• SAY “THROUGH HIM.”
Revelation 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet
as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not;
I am the first and the last: (18) I am he that liveth, and
was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys
of hell and of death.
Why should we not fear because Jesus died and resurrected?
• Because THROUGH HIM we died and arose.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
THROUGH HIM!
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death.
We overcome BY HIS TESTIMONY, because HIS TESTIMONY IS OURS.