1 Corinthians chapter 15. And let's look down at verse
9. Now, this is one of those verses,
let me just kind of preface this before we get into it. This is
one of the verses that whenever I began to believe the things
that I'm teaching here, This was one of the verses that,
you know, people would use to argue that how Paul was going
to Damascus, which wasn't Jerusalem, to persecute the church. But let's go ahead and read it
and then I'll get into what it says here. It says, verse nine,
it says, for I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet
to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God."
And they say, there you go, that's talking about a universal body
because Paul was going about from town to town, from house
to house, and was even on his way to Damascus before he was
converted to get Christians down there. And so he was persecuting
the Christians, also known as the church of God. So it's talking
about a universal, invisible body. But if we go back to Acts
and we find where Paul was on his way to Damascus, where it
talks about him going from house to house and dragging people
out and all this kind of stuff, you'll find out that that took
place after the dispersion. Remember? There was the Church
of Jerusalem, which we knew. Remember when we talked about
that back in Acts? That local church was comprised
of, well, there was 2,000 on the day of Pentecost that was
added to the church. And then it wasn't long after
that, there was another few thousand that was added to the church.
So there was upwards of close to 5,000 in that church in Jerusalem. And whenever the threatenings
of Paul began to get as they were, The Bible says that they
all were scattered or dispersed and they went out and preaching
the gospel and they went out into all the world, surrounding
area, and that's where they took out and only the apostles were
left in Jerusalem. Okay? Now, Paul, remember, this is
all within that time period, that timeframe. And we're not
talking about long years down the road. We're talking about
this is all happening at the same time. Paul begins to breathe
out threats against the church. Well, what church? Well, at that
time, there was only one church that was gathered, and that was the church
of Jerusalem. And that church dispersed or
was scattered out. As a matter of fact, I got this
plant in the study whenever we go through it, but whenever we
look at that word, dispersed, that Greek word, it means to
be scattered as seed. Now, if you're a farmer and you're
going out to plant crops and you're scattering seed, you're
determining where you want that seed to go, right? I'm not gonna
go out there and just take seeds for watermelons and throw them
out and seeds for cucumbers out and just, you know, just throw
them out wherever I want. What am I going to do? I'm going
to scatter that seed. Here's all my cucumbers. Here's
all my watermelons. Here's all my squash. Here's
all my lettuce. Here's all, you know, I've got,
even though I'm scattering that seed, I'm scattering that seed
in a uniform way. Okay. Plus I'm the one determining
where that seed goes, right? I'm not just, closing my eyes
and throwing the seeds up in the air. What am I doing? I'm
reaching into my seed pouch or whatever, you know, and I'm throwing
that seed out. I mean, even today, whenever
I do seed or whatever at my house with my little thing that I roll
around the yard, you know, yeah, that's just scattering seed out,
but what am I doing? I'm going, I'm scattering this
down this road right here. So to have the seed scatter and
disperse, was also a thing that, to me, was a governed thing,
because they were sent out preaching the gospel whenever they were
dispersed. And I believe they probably,
and I'm not gonna hold hard to this or anything like this, but
it's my thought, opinion at least, that that church, before they
dispersed, that they all discussed, you know, The pressure from Paul
is getting bad, so let's disperse. We apostles will stay here and
continue to preach and teach here, but the rest of you, let's
spread out. Even Jesus said that we would
be witnesses in all Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, then to the uttermost
parts of the world. So I think they probably said,
we need some people to go over here, over to here, over to here,
over to here, and they began to spread out. And then we also
know that that to be true because whenever Paul was converted and
he began to go preaching to these Gentile nations, the Bible says
that when he went there, that there were believing Jews and
he was finding there and he went and those believing Jews were
found in the synagogues. They were finding places and
temples where they were gathering to minister together and to worship
together. So whenever the Bible says here
that Paul persecuted the church of God, well, there was only
one church that was in existence whenever Paul was persecuting,
and that was the church of Jerusalem. And that church was scattered,
and so everywhere that those people were scattered, Paul was
going out to get them, but they were all members of that first
church in Jerusalem. And so to think that this has
to mean a universal, invisible thing, There's just as much evidence
to prove that it's a local thing, especially in the context of
what we've seen up to here, that nowhere has the word been used
in any kind of universal manner. And especially since it was the
church at Jerusalem, and Paul, or the Holy Spirit even writes
that in Acts, that he persecuted the church at Jerusalem. That's what the scriptures say.
And so if you look at here, for the cohesion between scriptures,
then we would have to say that this is talking about the church
of Jerusalem. It's not talking about a universal
body. All right, look at chapter 16,
verse one. It says, now concerning the collection
for the saints, As I've given order to the churches of Galatia,
even so do ye. Now he's talking and writing
to the church at Corinth. But he's saying here that I've
already given orders to the churches in Galatia. And what I give for
them to do, I'm giving to you too, okay? Now, again, if there
was any place that Paul could use the universal term, it would
have been right here. As I've also given order to the
church in Galatia, if he's talking about individuals, okay? But
no, the collection for the saints was a direction that he give
to the churches, individual congregations. There were many congregations
in Galatia, not just one, there was many. And so he used the
plural, churches. Why? Because he recognized that
church is a, body of believers that's a gathered congregation
and that there were multiple congregations, not a universal
body. Not a universal invisible, not
a universal visible. They were individual localized
visible bodies. So you use the term in the plural.
That's in verse one. Look at verse 19. It says, the churches of Asia
salute you. Okay, again, the plural, different
congregate. So specific congregations of
Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you
much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. So again, we see that the term
church is referring to a local congregation, to the church that
is in their house. Again, last week we talked about
it, I believe it was last week or the week before last, where
we talked about, you know, we don't look down on anybody that
meets in the houses, okay? Just because somebody meets in
the house doesn't mean they're not a church. And just the opposite,
just because they meet in a house doesn't make them a better church
because they're following the Old Testament or New Testament
pattern, okay? The churches of Asia salute you,
plural meaning multiple congregations, and the church in a plural considers
home, that also. So ekklesia in both those instances
is referring to a local gathered congregation in one place. All right, look in 2 Corinthians.
Paul writes to the Corinthians again after some time has gone
by, after his correction and reproof, his harshness, They
had to write to them the first time, and it seems that the Corinthians
repented of those things, and so Paul wrote to them again.
And in 2 Corinthians, look at verse one, it says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timothy, our
brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all
the saints which are in all Achaia. So here again, he's speaking
to the church in Corinth and all the saints which are in all
of Achaia. So he's talking about a congregation,
a local congregation there. Look now at chapter eight, 2
Corinthians chapter eight, in verse one. Moreover, brethren, We do you
to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Again, he uses the plurals. He
didn't say the church of Macedonia and just consider that all the
elect of God. No, he meant congregations. Moreover, brother, we do you
to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches, plural, of Macedonia. So again, he's speaking of individual
congregations and not a universal, invisible monstrosity. Look at verse 18. It says, and
we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel
throughout all the churches. All right, so here he's speaking
about Titus. and he's talking about how everywhere
that Titus has went to minister, in the churches, that he's been
given praise. Again, plural, congregations,
not a universal body, okay? If it's talking about a universal
body, it would be singular, but it isn't. He recognizes that
Ecclesia is a local, visible congregation, And here he's talking
about multiple congregations. Look at verse 19. And not that
only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with
us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory
of the same Lord in declaration of your ready mind. So there's
a couple things I want you to notice here, though. One of them,
I don't want to get off too on a tangent. We'll deal with that
when we get into specific things of the church but he says here
churches again plural congregations not a universal invisible body
but also notice that Titus was chosen of the churches to travel
within so again we see that it's through the local church that
one is recognized to have the gift and the call of of God. That doesn't mean that the Holy
Spirit doesn't work individually in that individual. I want to
reiterate that. And the reason I want to reiterate
that, I know that you guys don't really have an issue with that,
and you know what I'm talking about. But there's a lot of people
that listen and watch who make arguments, that might make arguments,
because I've heard this over and over again in chat rooms
and personally, even with just recently people that's been here
before. Whenever we talk about that men are to serve or to go
through the local church, and that that ministry, that it's
the local church that sends men to preach, and it's the local
church that sends men for ministry and everything. And they say
that we are saying that it isn't the Holy Spirit, that we're a
hierarchy and we choose who's a preacher and who's not a preacher,
and if you're not a preacher, unless we tell you you're a preacher.
That's not what we mean by that, okay? What we're talking about
is there is a working of the Holy Spirit and the person who
has been gifted by that same Holy Spirit and the work of the
Holy Spirit within that congregation. Again, remember, we got to get
our mentality out of this modern day church where everybody is
so individualized. Everything is so scattered out.
We talked about last week. young people over here, middle-aged
people over here, older people over here, non-married people
over here, married people over here, were so scattered out and
so uninvolved with each other, but yet in the church, they were
so unified and together with everything that as they ministered
among each other and with each other, they recognized this man
seems to have the call of God in his life. See, for those who
deny these things, what they're doing is denying the work of
the Holy Spirit within the congregation. We affirm the work of the Holy
Spirit. We look and trust and have faith in the work of the
Holy Spirit within the Church of Jesus Christ to administer
the gifts, to work the gifts, to recognize the gifts, to confirm
those gifts, and to enable in those gifts. I mean, we confirm
that. And so God will always let the
man know, but he'll also make that evident to the congregation
so that both the man and the congregation realize that gift
that God has called him to minister the word of God. And that at
that point, then that man confides with the church and they pray
and they seek the Lord's work. They seek the Lord's face and
they just, you know, him and his prayer time, the church praying
to the Lord. See, that's the reason, that's
the problem, is today churches really don't pray anymore about
the ministry of the church. They pray for the food, they
pray for getting them to feel better, but they don't pray,
Lord, bring us ministers, bring us people to serve. And they're
not praying in that fact. What about this man? What do
they say in Acts? Whenever they said, choose among
you, what do they do? They prayed and they fasted.
Who should we choose? They didn't just say, well, man,
that guy is a professor over in college, he would make a great
teacher. That person has a psychology degree, he ought to be a counselor
in a church. That's not how it works. And
so there's a unity in not only the church, in their relationship
with each other, but there's a unity of the Spirit in their
seeing and their understanding of how things are to be done
and seeking God's face. There's a unity in seeking the
Lord in all the aspects of the ministry of the church. And so
often, we just say, well, that's between that man and the Lord.
He just needs to get to praying for the Lord. If he wants to
go somewhere, then go somewhere. But you don't see that anywhere
in scripture. You don't see any admirant preacher just decide,
hey, I'm just gonna go do it here. It's always through the
ministry of the local church. They seek for the local church
and the guidance of the local church. They seek for the sending
of the local church to be ordained of the church. That doesn't mean
that we go out and say, well, I'll tell you what, we're gonna
make this guy a preacher and we lay hands on him and now he's
a preacher because we laid hands on him. No, the Bible says that
we aren't to lay any, hands on anybody too quick. We're to examine
them. We're to check and see, what
are we examining for? We're examining to see, is the
call of God on his life, or is he just trying to follow the
whim of his grandpa, grandma, his, you know, Christians before
him who have been in this ministry of some aspect, you know. So,
whenever we look at this, we see that Titus was chosen of
the churches to travel along with him. So all those churches
where Titus had been a ministry to and a service to, those churches
identified, hey, that's a man who is called of God to do that,
and yes, we want him to be a man sent from us, okay? Now, do we see that anywhere
evident today? Absolutely, absolutely. Whenever you look and see, Paul,
And I always use them because their name comes to the top of
my head most of the time. But Paul and Susan Brown, you
know, they're sent from the church there in Grenada. But who else
has identified and said that they've been a ministry to our
church, and we too are going to support their ministry from
that church? Well, who knows, Choctaw, you
know, Coweta, Mena, Benton County. I mean, all these places where
all these churches are, they may identify that and see that
same thing. Yes, God has called that man.
And we too wanna send and support the ministry of that person.
And so what do they do? They also confirm them to be
workers of the ministry from that local church where they're
sent. So that's why you see in our reports, they'll have all
the different churches that have sent support. or has helped them
out, or is integral in their ministry. Okay, so all that's
biblical. We see that that's biblical.
But at the heart of all of it, we're not saying that Jesus isn't
the sinner. Jesus is, it's his church, right?
But if you'll notice, where is the administration of the kingdom
taking place? From the local church. And isn't
that what the term Ecclesia meant? called out to conduct the business
of the kingdom. The administration of God's kingdom
is the ecclesia. And here we see that. The administration
of that was by the church who chose these men to represent
them in the ministry of the gospel away from the local gathered
congregation. Look down at verse 23. Whether
any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper
concerning you, or our brethren be inquired of, they are the
messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Whoa, wait
a minute. Now, they're messengers of what? God,
wrong thing. They're messengers of Jesus Christ,
not messengers of the church. You're putting too much emphasis
on the church, Mike. And now you're putting the preacher
up on a pedestal by saying that he is the glory of Christ. Well, what does the Bible say
right there? The Bible says that these men are messengers of the
churches. When someone is sent out from
a church to present the gospel in the service of that local
church, they are a messenger of the church. As I mentioned
earlier, whenever I go preach at Choctaw or whenever I go preach
wherever, Coedah, Mississippi, Georgia, wherever I go, I'm a
messenger of the church of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Joplin.
I'm a messenger of that church under Christ, administering through
this local church, in submission to this local church. And so
again, the Bible says what it says, that we are messengers
of the churches, through the churches, to the churches. That's
how we work. That's how we function. And whenever
we do that, We are the glory of Christ. We're the glory of
Christ. Why? Because we are speaking
on his behalf. His body, the church, has sent
us to minister the word to somebody else. And so we are the glory
of Christ. Now, again, that doesn't mean
that you are to put preachers on a pedestal. Again, that doesn't
mean that we're better than anybody else. but the office that they
hold and the ministry that they are conducting is to be worthy
of that glory and that honor because it is the work of Christ
through his church to minister the word of God. It's just as
much importance as all the gifts that we're talking about in here,
that's just as important to the body of Christ here. So let's not go into extremes. Let's not run to one extreme
and make popes out of people. But let's not go to the other
extreme and say that there isn't some sort of a, I don't know
the best word to use, but some kind of honor to be given to
the ministry and the office, not just the man, the office,
of preacher, teacher, pastor. And we'll get into that whenever
we get into the roles within the church. Look at verse 24. Well, again, you notice that
he used the term in the plural congregations. Wherefore, show
ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of
our boasting on your behalf. So again, he's instructing the
church in Corinth to present the proof of their love for the
brethren and the ministers and the messengers of Christ in front
of the other congregations. But notice, if you'll see there,
it's plural, congregations. not a universal body there. All right, look at chapter 11,
if you would. Chapter 11, how you doing over
here, Beth? I'd have to go taste it. Okay. If you've still got some time,
I'll press on further after we get through 2 Corinthians, Beth.
If you're about done, I'll pause at the end of Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter 11,
if you would, look at verse, down to verse eight. Matter of
fact, let's back up, because I want you to see the context
that we're at. Verse five, it says, for I suppose
I was not a wit behind the very cheapest apostles, But though
I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been
thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed
an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted because
I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other
churches, taking wages of them to do you service." Okay? I won't go into what all this
is talking about, but notice he robbed other churches. He
didn't say, I robbed the church, a universal body, meaning I've
taken from all the elect of God or a great group of the elect
of God. He said, I robbed other churches,
taking wages of them to do you service. So he's talking about
individual congregations there. So the word ecclesia, Doesn't
mean a universal invisible or universal visible, but it is
individual congregations. Look, if you would, down in verse
28. It says, beside those things that
are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all
the churches. Now, here is another great place
that Paul could have used an expression of the universal invisible. Especially with Paul, since he
was going to many churches and ministering, he could have easily
said that, beside those things that are without, that's what's
cometh upon me daily, the care of all the church. But he didn't
say that, why? Because he was a minister as
an apostle to many churches. And so he recognized that church,
again, is local congregations, not a universal body. Okay? Look at chapter 12, verse 13.
It says, for what is it wherein
ye were inferior to other churches except it being that I myself
was not burdensome to you. Forgive me this wrong. Okay,
so the term ekklesi here uses the plural, meaning congregations
for what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches. He's
comparing them to other congregations in other places, okay. So again,
the term isn't used by the church. a universal invisible anything.
How you doing over there? Was you alright? Still need some
more time? Okay. Alright, let's look at Galatians
then. Look at Galatians. So we made it through 1st and
2nd Corinthians and we found that there wasn't any place that
universal invisible church is talked about, used, recognized,
hinted at, So I'm beginning to see a pattern
here. See if the pattern holds up.
Galatians chapter one, look if you will to verse one, Paul an
apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father. See, there was never a place
to ordain an apostle by the church, right? No one was ever made an
apostle, matter of fact, When Matthias was made apostle to
take over for Judas, what happened? He said, they sought after the
Lord and then they cast lots and the lot fell upon Matthias. Okay, they voted and the congregation
voted that Matthias was the one that should take that place,
but it was God who knew the hearts of all men. That's what they
said right before they cast the lot. You who know the hearts
of all men, and they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias. Okay, so nobody makes anybody
an apostle, but Christ did. It says, who raised him from
the dead, and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches
of Galatia. So here again, we see plural,
there were several congregations in Galatia, and Paul identifies
it that way. He didn't say to the church,
universal, He doesn't know of any such thing. He's never said
anything such as that. And so he used the term plural
because there are several congregations because a church isn't one universal
invisible or universal visible body, but it is localized individual
congregations. Look at verse 13. For ye have
heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion, how
that beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it. Again, this just like the passage
there in Corinthians that we just talked about. If we go by
context, if we look at what was said, not only in Acts, but also
in Corinth, we find that there is no way that we can go to a
universal thing, but this is talking about the church of Jerusalem. It was an individual, localized,
congregation that had been spread out over the area, and Paul was
going out to round up that church that was at Jerusalem that had
dispersed. And so we don't need to think
of any kind of universal. There's no grounds or warrant,
seeing what we've seen up till now, to look at a universal invisible
church in the context of this either. Look at verse 22. Verse 21, afterwards, I came
into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face
unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. Okay, so again,
he sees plural churches of Judea. So in Judea, like Galatia, there
were several congregations. And so he recognized them as
individual congregations, not as a universal body. Invisible
body or universal visible body, but as individual congregations
visible All right over to Ephesians Chapter 1 Believe it or not not the first
few verses Ephesians chapter 1 look at verse
22 And he hath put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." Okay, so again, Paul goes back
to using the term church here. And as we've seen in times past,
Paul, in all of his letters, has already used the term church
in a local fashion. He's never used it in the universal
and visible fashion. And he's used a metaphor for
that back in the Corinthian letter, the first Corinthian letter.
He used a metaphor about the body. And if you remember, the
context of using that metaphor wasn't to emphasize one universal
body, but it was to emphasize unity of working together, knowing
each other, serving with each other, loving each other, using
our gifts to edify each other, you know, the service of the
church together in its unity, not having any schisms, preferring
one another over yourselves, working together, serving together,
praying together, rejoicing together. All these things was a metaphor
to reemphasize the fact that a local congregation works and
is unified and works together, okay? And so if we apply his
metaphor here, if we continue in the context of how Paul has
always used the word church, and he's speaking again to the
church at Ephesus, or the people of Ephesus, he makes mention
that he has put all things over under Christ's feet and gave
him to be the head over all things to the church. Christ is the
head of the church, okay? The pastor isn't the head of
the church, but Christ is, which is his body, the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. Okay, that's not saying anything
different than what's said in Corinthians. So no reason or
warrant to think of a universal invisible church whenever we
talk about that. He's not used that up till then,
He's using the same metaphor he did in Corinthians, but he
was speaking, and ye, Corinthian church, are the body of Christ.
So to place that metaphor and say, oh, we'll see there, he's
talking about the body, that's talking about all the elect of
God. Well, it wasn't talking about all the elect of God in
Corinthians. It's a metaphor, guys, let's
not let the metaphors run away from us. Ephesians chapter three,
look with me if you would, verse 21. It says, unto him be glory in
the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end,
amen. Again, do we have any warrant
to think that he's thinking about anything different than a local
congregation? He's used the word ekklesia. Unto him be glory in
the ekklesia, which means a called out, gathered, lawful assembly,
doing the business of the kingdom, okay? He's speaking to those about
the things of the church, the work of the church, the unity
of the church. Actually, we're gonna see that
a little bit better here in just a minute. Look at chapter five, verse 23. Again, this is one that we don't
have to get wound up on. This is one used to support the
universal church, but we shouldn't have to think about that. And
I'll hopefully exegete these scriptures and you'll see what
I'm talking about. It says, matter of fact, let's start in verse
one, because I want to read this down because the context is very
important here. It says, but ye therefore followers
of God as dear children, be ye therefore followers of God as
dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and have
given himself for us for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling savor. But fornication and all uncleanness
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become
a saint. neither filthiness, nor foolish
talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving
of thanks. But this ye know, that no poor
monger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater,
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Why is he telling that to them?
Well, if you'll remember, it was the church that Christ gave
the keys to the kingdom. as judging over the kingdom.
See, even now, we're the judges over the kingdom. You know, the
dispensationalists, premillennials, they like to think that there's
gonna be a thousand year reign where there's gonna be people
sitting on thrones and judging over kingdoms. No, let's talk
about now. We're talking about now, okay? We're judging the nations now. We're judging the kingdom now. Let no man deceive you with vain
words, For because of these things come with the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience, but be not therefore partakers
with them, for you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light,
and the Lord walk as children of light. For the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving
what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For
it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret, but all things that are reproved are made manifest
by the light, For whatsoever doth make manifest his light.
Wherefore, he saith, Awake thou that sleepeth, and arise from
the dead, Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. Now, where's that taking place
at? It's taking place in the church, right? That's what we're
called to do within the church. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns. So that tells me that it's talking
to a congregation of people, not an individual. Speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Again, this goes back to what
Paul was teaching the Corinthian church, which he also said is
to be done in all the churches, you know. Submitting yourselves one to
another. Talking about conduct within
the local church. He said, wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband, he's
gonna give us another metaphor here to kind of give us an understanding
or idea of how things work. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as, so he's making a similarity here,
okay? even as Christ is the head of
the church. So there's the word church, ecclesia,
and he is the savior of the body. Okay, so again, just because
you remember we talked up here a few weeks ago or a couple weeks
ago, just because we say that Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it doesn't mean that's denying that all these outside
the New Testament church that he didn't love and die for, but
that how in the beginning it was understood that whenever
you became a believer, you gathered into a church. That was the norm. That was the understanding. That
was what was to be understood as whenever I am converted and
I become a disciple of Jesus Christ, I'm baptized and then
I'm added to the church and it's there where I minister and learn.
and I'm discipled, okay? So there isn't any life known
outside of that. And so whenever Paul, at that
time where this is the norm, not this, scattered people out
there just doing their own thing, this was what was instructed
to them. See, we don't hardly even see that anymore, do we?
How many people do you ever see instructing others whenever they
talk about Christ and maybe lead them to the Lord. Say, now, you
need to go to church. You need to come back to church. As the Bible says, you need to
come back to the church and be baptized. Now, what do we do? We say, well, now you need to
find the church of your choice. You don't see that anywhere in
Scripture, not one place. Go find the church of your choice. No, they were baptized, they
were brought back in, and they were taught. And so that's the
understanding. So with that being the understanding,
and he says this, that Christ is the head of the church and
is the savior of the body, to say that about this doesn't change
anything, even though that's true about this too, okay? Yeah,
it's true about those who are not in a New Testament church.
But it's also true of this if the church is made up of the
elect of God, right? Who have been given to believe
and to be quickened. There is no difference in the terminology
there. Look at verse 34. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything. Now, let me try to make some
clarity. Well, let me keep going. Verse
25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself,
For no man ever yet hateth his own flesh, but nourisheth and
cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. Okay, now let me
just stop right there, okay? If the church is a universal,
invisible body, okay? And not a local and specific
body, okay? If it is a local body, then that means it's one, right?
It's one body. But if it is universal, okay,
if it's a universal church, then that's made up of many. And Christ here is talking about
a husband and a wife. Am I to love, all the wives that's out there no god has given me one life
to love she's not universal invisible
or universal visible she is one life that's given for me to love
and raise up so what's christ talking about here well i believe
he's talking in the generic or the institutional way. Christ
loves his kind of church. He gave himself for that kind
of church and those that would make up those churches. And that
his purpose as the head of that church, kind of church, and each
church that represents in that capacity, that he sanctifies
it and cleans it with the washing of the water by the word. That
is why he has put a pastor teacher in those churches to teach and
to minister the word of God. And that has placed honor there. That's why he said that there
is, that they are the messengers of the church and the glory of
Christ, okay? Verse 27, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church. Why are we preaching? Why am
I preaching this message today? Why do I preach any message today
or throughout the years? Well, the reason that we preach
the message, why am I here today? I'm here to instruct and to edify,
to tell you what the Bible says, to teach you what the Bible says,
to explain what the Bible says, And as we learn the Bible, what
do we do? If, okay, if we come in, say
we came in believing that the Lord's supper is with grape juice
and with whatever kind of bread you wanna eat, with letting anybody
who wants to take the bread and drink the wine. Okay, we come
into the message, or come into the church, and that's what we
believe. But through the preaching and
the teaching of God's word, what does he do? He sets us apart.
and he pulls us out of that mentality and thinking, and what does he
do? He cleanses us, because that's not how the Bible teaches the
Lord's Supper to be done. And so we learn from that, and
we change our ways. So we're being cleansed now,
and now we are performing the Lord's Supper the way that he
has instructed it to do. So now we have been cleansed
from our erroneous way of serving him, and now are serving him
properly, and now, What do we do? We continue year after year.
We preach these things, we teach these things, and we abide by
these things. And then that is how we are being
found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He can't be
talking about individuals as a universal body because every
one of us are found with spot and wrinkle. But yet a church can be obedient
to the word of God in the gospel that they preach, in the practice
of the church, in the way that they do things, in following
the New Testament pattern of how church is to function, with
the offices, with the ministry, with everything that has to do
that Christ has governed that first church to do. And so that
is how, matter of fact, in Revelation, the Bible talks about that whenever
we come before the Lord, that we, it talks about how there
is a righteousnesses of the saints. Now we know that there is none
that's righteous, no not one, right? So inherently there's
no righteousness in us, but what's he talking about the righteousnesses,
plural, of the saints? And I can, you know, I'm open
for correction on this, but the only thing that I can think of
is because righteousness is imputed to us. The only righteousness
that we have is imputed when it comes to spiritual things.
When it comes to legal things, it's imputed to us by Christ.
But then there is the working of Christ within the church that
we obey those commands. Now, that doesn't have anything
to do with our salvation. It doesn't have anything to do
with us becoming more holy in and of ourselves, but it is us
keeping the things that Christ has commanded us to do. And so
those righteousnesses, those temporal righteousnesses of preaching
the gospel, of administering the Lord's Supper, of administrating
proper baptism, of teaching the things that Christ has taught,
that are to be taught by all things whatsoever Christ has
commanded, those things that whenever we keep those things,
that those is what that is talking about. because it says that the
Bible, the Bible says that she presented herself having the righteousnesses of
the saints. So it can't be speaking of that righteousness, which
is imputed of Christ. So it's talking about something
else. And I believe that those are those churches that has remained
faithful throughout all the years in keeping the doctrine of Christ
and his commands. Now, again, Held to correction
on that, if anybody sees something different than that, or what
that means, but. Anyway, so we see in all of this
here, he's not using a universal invisible, but he's talking about
the kind of church, Christ church. Look at verse 29, or excuse me,
verse 30. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined to do his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself
and the wife see that she reverences her husband." So there's a great
mystery speaking, being spoken of here concerning Christ and
the church, that the two shall be one. And that is the fact of every
congregation. Christ is the head of that congregation,
that that's his church. He's promised that his presence
will be there, that his spirit will lead and guide and will
enable in that, that it will direct in that, it will persevere
in that. And so there is this relationship
of Christ to each one of his congregations that identify as
his ecclesia, okay? And so that kind of church that
Jesus built, he has a special love and relationship with, okay? That's his place of ministry.
Again, I'll go back to the Old Testament pattern. We see that
out of all of Israel, God called the Levites to minister to the
rest of the Israelites. They were the only ones that
was called for the service of God. And so they were special
unto God. They were a priest unto God,
okay? And being a priest unto God,
they was also a priest unto Israel. And so whenever God calls the
church out to serve, he calls the church out to serve to the
people of God. That's what we're here for. All right. Think you're about
ready now? I hope so. You hope so? We'll
go ahead and stop there. We're moving into Philippians,
so we'll hang our hat there today and call it good. Any questions
or comments or anything that's weighing on you about what's
being said, about anything? All right. So let's have a prayer and we'll
be dismissed this morning. Gracious Heavenly Father, we