Sermon Summary
Today I’m going to tell you about a mysterious marriage. Chapter 5 of Ephesians closes with these words: “A man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” Paul says here that marriage illustrates a deep mystery; Christ is united to believers even more profoundly than husband and wife are united in marriage. Marriage is the most profound human relationship which exists, and yet even it is only a shadow of Christ’s relationship with his redeemed people.

Like marriage, Christ’s union with his redeemed people joins two previously unrelated families. “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” Is 53:6 God compares all human beings against his own infinite righteousness. When he does that, we all end up in the same boat. And, we couldn’t be more different from Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says: Everyone dies because we all “belong to Adam”…but everyone who “belongs to Christ” will be given new life.

The Bible presents Adam and Christ as the heads of two households. Adam is the head of the fallen human race; Christ is the head of the redeemed human race— the household of God. Everyone starts out belonging
only to Adam’s fallen human family. And, unfortunately, most people stay there. But those who believe that only Christ can save them—they find life. They move out of Adam’s family, and enter Christ’s family. This is like
marriage.

But unlike marriage, we were not given to Christ, we were liberated for him: “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives…” (Eph 4:8) who had been “held captive by the devil to do his will.” (2 Tim 2:26)
We are one with Christ, and we have won with Christ. Let’s look at those truths one at a time.

First, we’ll look at our “oneness”, our “union”, with Christ. It is a great mystery. When you get married, your assets and liabilities become shared. ecause Christ has married us, we gain all his assets. For Paul, salvation
is about being “in Christ”. This is a profound mystery. The Bible teaches that we are in Christ, and that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. (Eph 1)

We not only are ONE with Christ, we’ve also WON with him.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Eph 1) Furthermore, “God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Our union with Christ makes us more than conquerors. (Rom 8:37-39) All of God’s spiritual riches come through our being connected to Jesus, our being “in” him. The Holy Spirit empowers us to take it at face value and believe it to be true. Believers are in union with Christ now, and throughout eternity.

Christ has won the ultimate, cosmic victory, and we belong to Christ. We are his, and remember—when someone marries you, all their assets become yours! Christ has defeated the devil. Christ has defeated death.
Christ has broken the back of sin in our lives. Live every moment drawing upon the limitless resources of Christ.