The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is without question the most significant event ever to occur in human history. Because of this act of divine intervention, sinners who were once doomed to an eternal hell because of their sin are now by that same God offered the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. This redemptive act of God is implemented by bringing undeserving sinners into a vital union with Christ. This union with Christ is at the very core of our redemption. From our union with Christ flows every spiritual blessing and produces within us the life of grace which God requires.

By nature we are in a state of spiritual bankruptcy with no ability to change our status or our condition before God. Because of the sin which we have inherited from Adam, we stand guilty before the God who sees the secrets of our hearts. Though we acknowledge that we are not perfect, we like to believe that we are good enough in the eyes of God. But because His character is blazingly holy, God cannot accept anything from us other than perfect righteousness. God's justice will not allow Him to excuse sin; neither will His holiness allow Him to receive a sinner into His presence. Because of this, those who die in this state of spiritual bankruptcy will be justly condemned as enemies of God.

Is there no hope for one to be saved from this horrifying diagnosis? There is in Christ and in Christ alone! God has acted on our behalf and has done that which we could not do. God Himself became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, lived the perfect life that by nature we could not live, died the death and bore the judgement that we deserved, and rose from the dead never to die again. In this sacrificial and substitutionary work, Jesus fully accomplished the believer's salvation from sin and condemnation. In Christ are found the riches of redemption necessary for one to be made acceptable to God.

The source from which all aspects of this wondrous redemption flow is the believer's union with Christ. Without this vital union with Christ, there is nothing upon which to base these great blessings of redemption which we have received. When we are brought into union with Christ, however, all of these blessings are applied to us in full. Since it is in Christ alone that redemption from sin is extended to sinners, our redemption from sin hinges upon our vital union with Him.

Since union with Christ is so central to our redemption, it is important to understand the nature of this union in which we stand. Union with Christ means that we share in the blessings of Christ by virtue of having been given to Him by the Father. With Christ as our representative head, His status of being the righteous Son of God is shared with us by means of our justification and adoption, and His condition of being raised to life and sanctified is shared with us by means of our regeneration and sanctification. It should be noted, however, that even though we do share in the blessings of Christ, we do not share in the essense of Christ. This is a union enjoyed by the Members of the Trinity alone, but it is not the nature of our union with Christ. However, the fact that our union with Christ extends to us every aspect of redemption is indeed a deep and wonderful mystery. This is the nature of our union with Christ which results in the provision of every spiritual blessing.

The first result of our union with Christ is what the Bible calls justification. Justification is the act by which God the Father declares sinners to be not guilty. This declaration, however, is not without its roots; it is based on the completed redemptive work of Christ in His life, death and resurrection. As a result of our justification, every one of our sins has been placed onto Christ and all of His righteous acts have been credited to us. He endured the divine condemnation that we deserved and we received the perfect record that He earned. How great is the kindness of our God! In addition to our justification being accomplished, it is also unconditional. For the one who has been brought into union with Christ, there is absolutely no sin that he can commit that will nullify his justification before God. All of his sins are totally paid for, even grossly heinous sins. Regardless of whether he commits ten sins a day or ten million, they are all covered by the blood of Christ. If this makes us feel uneasy, it is only because we do not understand the liberty that we have in Christ. Our justification is the glorious result of this union with Christ.

The second result of our union with Christ is what the apostle Paul refers to as our adoption as the children of God. This God whom we have offended has chosen out of His sheer love for us to make us His own children. Charles Swindoll explained it this way: we have murdered God's only Son with our sins, but He has forgiven us completely; He has brought us into fellowship with Himself and has even adopted us as His own beloved children. What an unbelievable truth! Not only this, but God loves each of His adopted children even as much as He loves Jesus Himself. How amazing! This adoption of ours is rooted in Christ having been received afresh as the Son of God after He had fully endured the judgement of God on our behalf. As with justification, our adoption as the children of God is the amazing result of our union with Christ.

The third result of our union with Christ is what the Scriptures call regeneration. Regeneration is the instantaneous act whereby the Spirit of God actually recreates the very core of a man, woman or child. When the Spirit regenerates us, we become new creatures in Christ. Having once been dead in our sins and having had no true knowledge of the things of God, we have now been made alive to God and have been given hearts of flesh which have replaced our hearts of stone. This is all due to the regeneration of our hearts by the Spirit of Christ. Unlike justification and adoption, regeneration is something that is actually done to us rather than a declaration that is made conserning us. With the former two, our status is changed before God; with the latter, however, our very condition is changed by the work of the Holy Spirit. As with the other aspects of redemption, our regeneration is the awesome result of our union with Christ.

The fourth result of our union with Christ is what the Word of God calls sanctification. Sanctification is the process whereby the Spirit of God purifies us from our sins and produces within us the practical righteousness which is consistent with our status of righteousness given by justification. When the Spirit sanctifies us, He works in our hearts in such a way that we are made aware of the various sins that remain in us and are led to forsake those sins in pursuit of a life that is honoring to God. Like regeneration, sanctification is a change in condition rather than a change in status. The Spirit is actually working to produce the character of Christ within us. Unlike regeneration, however, sanctification is a life-long process rather than an instantaneous act. Sanctification produces in man a holy condition without which no man will see God. This divine work of sanctification is the inevitable result of our union with Christ.

Not only are Christians sovereignly brought into union with Christ, but we are also brought into a life of grace which God requires us to live. In light of the spiritual blessings we have received in our union with Christ, we are to work out this salvation that has so generously been worked into us. Our responsibility in the working out of our salvation deals specifically with sanctification. We are to submit ourselves to the working of the Spirit who dwells within us, while guarding ourselves against the quenching of that same Spirit.

Some have objected to this call for sanctification, claiming that the requirement of obedience is a stumbling block to our free justification that is in Christ. But the reality of sanctification does not put conditions upon our justification; our justification is indeed unconditional. Instead, sanctification is the inevitable result of our union with Christ by the working of His Spirit. When we are in union with Christ, we receive all of the benefits of redemption. These include justification, adoption, regeneration, and yes, even sanctification. It is not the case that failing to show the signs of sanctification causes us to forfeit our justification; again, in our union with Christ, justification is unconditional. But if we do fail to bear the fruits of sanctification, we expose ourselves as having never been in union with Christ to begin with. This is the arguement the apostle Paul uses with the Roman saints and is vital in light of the fact that without this sanctification which the Spirit produces within us, we shall not see the Lord. Sanctification is an inevitable result of our union with Christ and is necessary in living the life of grace which we have been called to live.

While responding to God's call to live a life of grace, we must remember that it is indeed a life of grace, not of works. To do otherwise is to deny our justification in Christ. Just as it was by grace that we were saved, so it is by grace that we live. Having been brought into union with Christ by grace, will we now live in that union by works? Of course not! Our union with Christ is by grace now just as it was in the beginning. So when we set out to live the life that God requires, we must first acknowledge that we have already failed and are not able to accomplish the task. In and of ourselves, we remain spiritually bankrupt as before. But thanks be to God, we are now no longer in and of ourselves. We are in union with Christ! We stand on His success and depend upon His ability within us through His Spirit to accomplish the task. Having acknowledged this, we must look to Him and to Him alone for the power to live this life of righteousness. With His strength working mightily within us, we have the resources necessary to live this life of grace.

The motivation for living the life of grace is two-fold. First, the love of God compels us to pour our lives out as living sacrifices, even as our Lord came and poured His life out as a sacrifice on our behalf. The apostle John says that we love because He first loved us. Knowing the great love by which God has loved us, how could we do anything less than live a life of total devotion to Him and of unqualified compassion for our neighbors? Second, the anticipation of the inevitable return of our Lord spurs us on to purify ourselves. We have the sure hope of being made like Christ when He appears, for we shall see Him as He is. The apostle John says that everyone who has this hope within him purifies himself, just as He is pure. The hope of being made pure as Christ is pure and the knowledge of the kind of love which the Father has lavished upon us are powerful motivations for living the life of grace.

One of the primary means that the Spirit of God uses to sanctify us is His written Word. Through the Word of God, the Spirit exposes false beliefs and crooked ways within us and replaces them with His truth and with His direction. Through contemplation of the Word, we often come to realize that our ways of thinking or our ways of living are not fitting for a new creation in Christ. As we remind ourselves of our new identity in Christ, we continue to put off the deeds of the old man (who we were but are no longer) and to put on the deeds of the new man (who we have become in our union with Christ). Through this instrument of the Word, the Spirit of Christ produces within us the life of grace which is consistent with our union with Him.

By the merits of Christ and by the working of His Spirit, God has overcome the spiritual bankruptcy of all those who would plead for the blood of Christ to have their sins washed away. Only when we acknowledge that we are not even close to being good enough in the sight of God, only then are we fit to be brought into union with Christ and to live the life of grace. This is our redemption; this is the work of God our Savior. To Him be glory forever!

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