Eighteen. Eighteen. We found out this morning that
Chris Cunningham got real sick, I guess last night, and they
had to cancel services this morning at College Grove. Cottage? College. College. I
keep wanting to say cottage. College Grove. So we want to. Pray Lord. Give him a quick recovery. I
want to thank you all again for last weekend. Feel like we're
still recovering from that. We still have guests here, which
we're very thankful for. Fred and Billy, you guys are
leaving this week to go back home and Sandy goes to Chris's
church and Paul tends to church at Lexington. and they'll be
leaving today. So it was just a wonderful one. I think it was the best meeting
we've ever had. I really, that's the way I feel about it. And
I felt like every service, every hymn, every message was just
blessed of God to our church. And I'm so very thankful for
him and thankful for you and the work that you put into it. All right, Tom, we're going to
sing number 18 in the Spiral Hymnal. Let's stand together,
number 18. God gave his holy inspired word
for only one great end. The prophets and apostles, too,
revealed the sinner's friend. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophecies of old record
God's wondrous mighty deeds Those deeds of power and of grace Set
forth the woman's seed The Bible is a book of Christ, it only
speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophets all reveal our Lord
as prophet, priest, and king. The types the great redemption
show, that grace now bring. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Behold the Lamb, the Baptist
said, the sin-atoning One. As it was promised long before,
God's Son as man has come. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Our substitute obeyed the law,
then died and rose again. And in His word our Savior said,
Rejoice, I come again. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Please be seated. Our call to worship scripture
will be turning to Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4. It is my heart's desire more
than anything because I know he has, he'll continue all the
way to He Calls Me Home to increase my faith and help my unbelief.
I hope as we read this that the Lord would do that. Verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, But the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have
sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest. the seventh day from all his
works. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing, seeing, seeing, therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again,
he limiteth a certain day saying in David, today, After so long
a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. Now skip to verse 14. Seeing, oh Lord, make me to see
then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the
heavens Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Our blessed Lord and Savior,
Thankful, Lord, that you have gathered us again into your presence
where you promised that you would meet with us. Lord, you're so
faithful. We're thankful the Lord Jesus
Christ is the head and we are his body and we bow to you, Lord. We're thankful for the proclamation
of your gospel. that you have entrusted to your
gospel preachers, fateful to exalt thy dear son. How we ask
that you would do that once again this hour. Lord, increase our faith. We
know that day is approaching where we shall behold your face. But in the meantime, Lord, oh,
help our unbelief. calls our hearts to believe you,
to bow to you, to worship you. Lord, we're thankful for the
men you have raised up to preach your gospel, the truth of Christ,
and we ask that this morning that you would be with Chris
as he recovers, Lord, from the illness you've sent him. Strengthen
him, Lord. Draw near to him. Pray that you
would provide the physicians the proper diagnosis that he
would be healed and return, Lord, to once again proclaim your truth
up in College Grove. Bless our time now, Lord. Forgive
us of our sins. Cause us now, Lord, to just be
able to see you, to hear you, and to believe you this hour. For we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Christ bears the name of all
his saints deep on his heart and grave. Attentive to the state and wants
of all, his love has saved. In Him a holiness complete, light
and perfection shine, and wisdom, grace, and glory meet a Savior
all-divine. The blood which as a priest he
bears for sinners is his own. The incense of his prayers and
tears perfumes the holy throne. In him my weary soul has rest,
though I am weak and vile. I lay my name upon his breast
and see the Father smile. Please be seated. Adam and Caleb
are going to bring special music. Father, keep me in thy Son There
a precious fountain Free to all the healing stream Flows from
Calvary's mountain In the Christ of the cross be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning
star sheds its beams around me. The Christ of the cross be my
glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God. Praise it seems before me. What with me from day to day. With His shadow crowned me. be my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait. trusting ever till I reach the
golden strand just beyond the river in the be my glory ever, till my raptured
soul shall find rest beyond the river. Thank you, ma'am. I love the. Way you change the words in that
song. There's no. No power in a wooden cross. Sometimes
people say, why don't you all have a cross? We don't wear crosses. We don't put crosses on our.
Churches. We're looking. To that tree of
life. And the scripture says in Revelation
chapter 22, it is on both sides of the river. When John saw the
Lord Jesus Christ represented as a tree of life, he saw him
on both sides of the river. And one day we're going to cross
that river. We're going to see him more fully than we do now. But
he's on this side too. And it's the Christ of the cross
that we worship. And it's the Christ of the cross
that we depend upon. And he can only be seen. By eyes
of faith, we're commanded of God not to make any graven images
of things in heaven upon the earth. So we don't do that. Thank you. That was a blessing. I want to try to bring a message
this morning. About the church. Lots said about
the church in the word of God. She's called the bride of Christ. She's called the body of Christ. She's called the brethren of
Christ. She's called children of the
kingdom and the children of God. She's called the church of God,
the family of God, the daughter of the king, friends of God,
the habitation of God. What glowing terms the Holy spirit
uses all throughout the word. to define his church, his church. He doesn't use these kind of
words to describe anything else in this world. And we're a needy
people. Just speaking of humanity at
large, we come into this world ignorant and we are in need of
educators. And we have lots of educators to give us some some
information about the world and about life. We're a needy people
when it comes to our physical needs, and we have a wonderful
medical profession to help tend to those needs. We are in need
of being governed. We couldn't We couldn't get along
together if we didn't have government and politicians and laws and
things to kind of keep us on the same path. And all those
institutions have a place. But none of those things or anything
else that you can mention speaks to the real need that we all
have. The one and only need that we
all have. I love what, what was it? Was it Chris that preached
on blind Bartimaeus? And he mentioned a Naaman. He said, Naaman the leper had
a lot of needs until he became a leper, and then he had one
need. He had one need. And that's the way you are, and
that's the way I am. God didn't send a politician.
He didn't send an educator. He didn't send a physician. He
sent a savior. Because our need is to be forgiven
of our sin. And the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only body, I don't want to call it an institution,
it's the only organism in this entire world that has the message
of salvation to meet men's greatest and truly only real need, the
church. The presence of the church is
the only reason that God has not brought an end to this world. She is the object of satanic
attacks. She is strong, yet fragile. She is permanent, yet transient. She's exalted, yet lowly. She's in need of being prayed
for, and preached to and protected at all costs. At all costs. The true church. As I said, well,
what about the gospel? Well, that that's what distinguishes
the church from everything else. Is the gospel and she's to be
protected at all costs because she's the only hope that men
have. She's the only one that has the
message. Of hope. That man. The Lord speaks very highly of
the church. I want to speak to you quickly
about the nature of the church, the message of the church, and
the members of the church. Three simple points. What is
the nature of the true church? And there's only one church.
There's one church, there's one faith, one Lord, one baptism,
one church, one God and Father of us all. All these divisions
in religion are not, they're not churches. They're religious
meeting houses designed to help people get through another day
in this world and they have no message of salvation. They have
no message of salvation. Only the true church of the Lord
Jesus Christ that's been given entrusted with the gospel is
the church. There's this preacher, you say
we're the only, no, I didn't say that at all. There's a lot
of local assemblies. I'm talking about the church
at large. She's called the bride of Christ. In Revelation chapter 21, verse
nine, the angel says to John, come hither. Come hither and
I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife." Oh, nobody in this
world more precious to me, nobody I'll protect, nobody I'll do
more for than that woman right there. Nobody. She's my bride,
she's my wife. And if I being evil feel that
way about my wife, how does the Lord Jesus Christ being holy
and perfect feel about his bride? He loves her. He laid down his
life for her. He opened his hand for her. He's
the perfect husband. No man ever hated his own body,
but nourishes it and cares for it. The Lord Jesus Christ. provides for his wife everything
she needs. He provided for her eternal life. He did like Hosea. He went to the slave market and
he found him a wife who was a harlot who had destroyed her life in
the life of harlotry and he bought her. He purchased her to himself
and he brought her home and made her his wife. That's us, we're
just a bunch of gomers. But he says, I've made you beautiful
with my comeliness. He's put his, you read the Song
of Solomon and look at the way the Lord Jesus Christ speaks
of his bride. He says, one glance from your
eye ravishes my heart. That means when the bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ just turns quickly in prayer to him and
looks to him in faith, his heart is smitten. He loves his wife,
his bride, and that's the church. What? He doesn't speak of anything
else in this world like that. He's jealous for her. The church of the Lord. We're
talking about the nature of the church. This is the nature that
God has given to his church. She's called the body of Christ. The Father hath put all things
under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the
church. He's the head of the body and
the and the church is called the body of Christ and she's
represented in the scriptures as having different members and
no one member can say that I don't need you. The eye doesn't say
to the ear, I don't need you. The hand doesn't say to the foot,
I don't need you. How ridiculous would that be
for any part of your body to say to another part of your body,
I don't need you. You've never done that in your
whole life. You're not going to do that. Why? Because every
part of your body is precious to your head. Is that not true? Your head, one little digit on
your body, one little toe, one little finger gets in trouble
and your whole body gives attention to it, doesn't it? The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is she the bride of Christ,
but she is the body of Christ. And just as Eve was taken from
the rib of Adam, so, and Adam looked at her and what did Adam
say? This is now bone of my bone and
flesh of my flesh. The man shall leave his father
and his mother and cleave unto his wife and the two shall become
one flesh. One flesh. And that's what God
has done in Christ for his church. His church was taken from his
bone, the bone nearest to his heart and she was fashioned into
his bride and he says, this is now bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh. That's what Ephesians chapter
5 says and the scripture and that whole chapter you know ends
with, but I speak of a great mystery concerning Christ and
his church. What glowing terms the Lord uses
to speak to us about his church. No one ever hated his own body
but nourishes it and cherishes it even as the Lord has done
his church. He nourishes it, he cherishes
it, he protects it, he provides for it. Why? Because it's his
body. It's his body. Hebrews 3, verse
11, not only is the church called the bride of Christ and the body
of Christ, but it's also referred to in the scriptures as the brethren
of Christ. Holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our
profession, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ calls us
his brethren. I will declare thy name. Psalm
22 unto my brethren in the midst of the church. Well, I sing praises
unto thee. Oh, that's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking of his church. I will declare the Lord Jesus
Christ says I'm going to declare who God is. And how it is that
man is going to have his sins taken away. Unto my brethren. The church. And then he goes
on to say he that sanctify it. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is the word sanctify means? It means to be made holy. He
that sanctified and they that are sanctified, that's his church. are all as one. There's the one body. Union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have acceptance with the Father
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have all our righteousness
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the rest of that verse says,
wherefore he is not ashamed to call them his brethren. That
God Almighty would refer to us as his brothers and sisters in
Christ. That's his church. That's his
church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the brethren
of Christ, children of the kingdom. Remember the parable, the Lord
told about the man who had a field and, and, and, uh, and when it
was harvest time, that was, it was tears growing up among the
wheat. And, uh, and, and, and, uh, he said, don't take out the
tears. In the harvest, the tares will
be separated from the wheat. You can't tell who the tare is,
who the wheat are, not until harvest time. And the disciples
asked the Lord privately, said, Lord, explain to us that parable.
And the Lord said, the field is the word. And the wheat, the
wheat is the kingdom of God. And the tares were scattered
by the evil one. But he calls the wheat the kingdom
of God. He calls them the children of
the kingdom. You remember when the Pharisees
said to the Lord, he said, Abraham is our father. We're the children
of Abraham. And the Lord said, if you were
the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.
For Abraham believed God. and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. And here I am, God Almighty,
speaking to you, and you don't believe me. Your father is the
devil. Now mark it down. This sounds
harsh. It may strike some people as
being difficult to understand, but every single person in this
world is either under either has God as their father or they've
got the devil as their father. That's it. Blessed are the peacemakers.
What are peacemakers? We have peace with God through
the, the church is the peacemaker. The church is the one declaring
the message of peace. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no peace with God outside
of Christ, no peace with God apart from his redeeming work
of salvation on Calvary's cross. There's no peace with God without
having him as our advocate before the Father. He is our peace. And he said, blessed are the
peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. There we are. The bride of Christ, the body
of Christ, the brethren of Christ, the children of the kingdom,
he shall gather unto one all the children of God. The spirit
bear witness with our spirit. The Spirit of God beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. You know, I
was thinking about this thing about wife and children and family.
You all do the same thing I do. When your phone rings, you look
at it. And even if it's a good friend, you might be busy doing
something and you say, you know what, I'll call him back in a
few minutes. And I do that, you do that. But my children call
me or my wife calls me. My granddaughter, I stop what
I'm doing. And I answer the phone. I don't know what they might
need. It may be something trivial, but I'm going to answer the phone.
Why? I don't put them off. The Lord
calls us his children. We're his wife, we're his family,
we're his brethren. And I promise you, you will not,
and I don't want to diminish prayer as a call, but you will
not call upon him without him answer. You call upon me and
I will answer you. He doesn't put off his children,
does he? The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ in its nature is referred to in scripture as the church
of God. The church of God. It's his church.
It's not your church or my church. It's his church. He said, And
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not be able
to prevail against it. It's called the church of God
unto the church of God, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus called saints with all. And in every place of those who
call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, everyone that calls
upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ is part of the church
of God. This word church, I've told you
this before, you look at a Spanish church, we've got plenty of them
around here, and they're iglesia. Iglesia is the Spanish word for
church. That is a transliteration of
the Greek word in your Bible, ekklesia. And it means to be
called out to an assembly. People who want to, you know,
be part of a church and they don't They don't assemble themselves
together. They forsake the assembling of themselves together. I've
had many people say, well, I have no need to go to a meeting house
and meet with people. I can just meet with God out
in the woods, all by myself. Now, I know there's some believers
that are part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that, because
of their circumstances, cannot gather themselves together. But
for one to forsake themselves to gather together, They don't
even understand the name church, ecclesia, called out to an assembly. It's when the herald goes out
into the town and calls all the people together, and they assemble
together for a message. That's what the word church literally
means, and that's exactly what we're doing, isn't it? Turn with me to Acts chapter
20. Paul goes to Ephesus and he gathers
together the elders. It was a large city. and they
would have been house churches all over that town. They didn't
have transportation like we have, so if you lived, you know, a
few miles away, it'd be difficult to get to a church. So the church
met in homes, the house churches all over the city of Ephesus.
And each one had an elder over that church. And Paul went to
Ephesus and got the word out. All the elders come together,
met them together, and he gave him his last admonition. And
in verses 27 and 28, Paul says in verse 27, for I
have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. God has made me a steward of
his word and it is required of a steward that he be found faithful. taking parts of God's word out.
We're declaring every part of God's, the word counsel there
is not, you know, I need the Lord to be my counselor. It's
God's word. That's his counsel. His counsel,
he's given us, you know, we don't go, you know, looking for some
sign or something else to get counsel from God. We go to his
word. And Paul said, I have not shunned to declare unto you the
whole counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves. Here's God's admonition to those
elders, and it's God's admonition to me and you. Take heed to yourselves. You can't control what anybody
else does, but you can control what you do. This church is precious
in the sight of God. Take heed unto yourselves and
to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own
blood." A purchased redemption. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
was shed in order to purchase the church of God. It's his church. He purchased it to himself. It
belongs to him. and it is precious to him. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. He adds to his church those that,
and it came to pass, all that he ordained in the covenant of
grace will come. The church, turn with me to Psalm
45, Psalm 45. Verse 10, hearken, O daughter,
and consider, and incline thine ear, and forget also thine own
people and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty, for he is thy lord, and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall
be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor." He's talking about the church, that
men will come and see her beauty and desire what she has. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought, and they shall enter into the
king's palace. Now the Lord is talking about
his church. Is there anything in your life more important In
Christ and his church. Nothing more important to him.
Nothing more important to him. God gives us the mind of Christ.
What's precious to him will be precious to us. We will love
what he loves and hate what he hates. The Lord, when he made
his triumphal entry quoted from that Psalm when he said, fear
not, O daughter of Zion, for thy king cometh. Don't be afraid. Church is called the family of
God. Paul said in Ephesians chapter three, verse 15, I bow my knees
unto the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in earth and heaven is named. the bride of Christ, the wife
of Christ, the daughter of Christ, the children of God, the family
of God, the sons of God. That's how the Lord describes
his church. Is there anybody in this world
more precious to you than your wife or your husband, your children,
your grandchildren, anybody? And the Lord refers to his church
as the friends of God. Abraham believed God and it was
accounted to him for righteousness for he was called the friend
of God. No longer do I call you my servants
for a servant has no, doesn't know what his master doeth, but
I call you my friends for everything that I've received in my father,
I've given it unto you. We're not just the body of Christ,
and he's calling his church his friends. Greater love hath no
man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. If you weren't in here the first
hour, we were looking at Christ laying down his life on the cross
and how he opened his hands with goodness. We were talking during the break.
If I was being crucified, it'd take five men to get my hand
open, because every time they pull one finger open, it'd go
back. You'd have to hold all the Lord. They didn't have to
pry his hands open. He opened his hands. He said,
there you go, right there. Right there, put it in. They
were under his control. He wasn't the victim. Greater
love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends. The scripture says there is a
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Your brother may forsake
you, but your friend will, not Christ. What are these wounds in thy
hands? The Lord was asked in Zechariah chapter 13. Those are
the wounds that I suffered in the house of my friends. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
his life for his friends and he suffered those wounds in his
hands in order to put away the works of our hands. And he said,
I suffered those in the house of my friends. We shall look upon him whom we
have pierced and mourn after him as one mourneth for his only
son. That's when the spirit of grace
and supplication is poured out on the house of Israel and on
the children of God. They look to Christ and they
realize that was my sin that put him there. Ephesians chapter two, turn with
me there, please. Ephesians chapter two. This is,
this is the nature of the church. This is what God says the church
is to him. Whatever the church is to you
and me doesn't really matter because what matters is what
it is to him. That's what matters. You know, we may have a take
it or leave it attitude. We may, you know, we may do things
and say things to injure members of the body. This is not our,
this is his church, his church. Look at Ephesians chapter two,
verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. You're part of the household
of God. This is his house. Remember this is, Peter said
that this building was built on the foundation stone of the
Lord Jesus Christ and every member of the church is a living stone
built on that stone. And you are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. What is the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets? What did the apostles and prophets
do? They preached Christ. They preached the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so the message of the gospel. himself being the
chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly joined together
groweth into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are
built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. How quickly we lose sight and
thought of the fact that the Lord is here among us. He's here
right now. And we sing songs, we're singing
to him. He said, I inhabit the praise of my people. He said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of them. You say, well, I thought God
was omnipresent. He is, but he doesn't manifest
his grace or his glory anywhere except in his church. When he
said, there I am in the midst of them, there I manifest myself,
there I declare myself, there I make myself known, there I
bless my people. Nowhere else. This is the habitation
of God. It's his house. He walks among the candlesticks,
doesn't he? And he spoke to those seven churches
in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3. He said, and unto the church
at Ephesus, and unto the church, and unto the church. And he said,
I know your words. I'm there. I'm watching everything.
This is my church. Well, that's the nature of God's
church. And if we value anything in this
world, If we value anything in this world, we need to value
what God values. And he values his church more than anything
else. But the only thing that makes
a church a church, you know, we, you read about, we're going
to study the book of Acts and I kind of got this message as
a jumping off place from Acts chapter one, verse eight, when
the Lord said to the disciples before his ascension, so you
will be my witnesses, my witnesses in Jerusalem and Samaria and,
and, and and to the outermost parts of the world. And he ascended
into glory, and the Spirit of God came, and they became his
witnesses. And we think of that New Testament church, how glorious
the coming of the Spirit of God was, and 3,000 people being saved. And you know, the truth is, if
this church is not exactly like that church, then we're not a
church. So what distinguishes this church
from other religious organizations? What makes one church to be like
that church? The message. The message. The message that we bear witness
to. You shall be my witnesses. And that's what the church is.
The church witnesses to the world. The message that we have can't
be found anywhere else. We declare unto men the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners. We say unto men, behold thy God. We declare the sovereignty of
God. And if He's not sovereign in
salvation, He's not sovereign. If He's not sovereign, He's not
God. If God didn't sovereignly, according to His own will and
purpose, elect a particular people, then He's not God. And we declare
unto the world that salvation is of the Lord. God chose. We're dependent upon Him. We
declare the sovereign work of God in redemption. we say unto
men, the Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood and finished
the work of redemption once and for all, putting away all the
sins of all of his people of every generation once and for
all. We don't preach a God who wants
men to be saved. We don't preach a God who's trying
to get men saved. We don't preach a God who's making
an offer of salvation. We preach a sovereign Christ
who went to the cross doing business with his Father, laying down
his life for his sheep, and making a sacrifice to God that was acceptable
to the Father in the salvation of all of God's people. Now you
don't hear that message anywhere else in this world. Now I'm going
to hear it anywhere else. We preach a message
of salvation that declares God to be sovereign in calling his
people out. We say, if God doesn't open your
eyes, you're not going to see. If God doesn't unstop your ears,
you're not going to hear. If God doesn't give you faith, faith
doesn't Faith is not something we give to God to save us. Faith
is something God gives to us when he saves us. And if God
doesn't give us faith, we're not gonna believe. We're not
gonna believe, we can't. We make it clear to men that
you are dependent upon the Lord. And you know what God, you say,
some people will hear that and they'll get angry. Say, well,
what about my free will? You don't have one. Not when
it comes to being saved. You may have a free will on making
a choice in an hour or 30 minutes about what you're going to eat
for lunch. But not when it comes to the salvation of your soul.
You do not have a free will. Your will is dead. You are at
enmity with God. And until God takes out that
heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh, you're not going to
come. You're not going to believe. And some people will get mad
when they hear that, thinking that, well, you're robbing me
of my rights. You don't have any rights with God. You don't
have any rights with him. You don't have any claim on God.
You're dependent upon God. He's got to do it for you, doesn't
he? And then other people will become
fatalist about it. They'll just say, well, you know
what? Nothing I can do about it. How can God blame me? That's what Paul said in Romans.
He said, well, if salvation is all of God, then how can God
hold me accountable? Who are you, oh man, to accuse
God of wrong? You see, the truth is that if
we don't believe, it's all on us. And if we do believe, it's
all on God. You say, well, that doesn't make
sense to me. The Lord's going to have to show
you that. It makes perfect sense. It's
the truth. It's the truth. And then others, there's three
groups of people. Some get mad, some become fatalist
and just say, well, you know, I'll just have to wait for an
experience. I'll just have to wait for God to give me a feeling.
You know, maybe it'll come one day. And others will say, oh
Lord, have mercy upon my soul. Son of David, have mercy on me,
the sinner. And they'll begin to cry for
mercy. And no one has ever cried for mercy that God hasn't answered.
He hears the cries of his children. Salvations of the Lord. It is
of the Lord. You know that there are some. There are some Calvinist that
would hear what we've said so far and say Amen. And they will say. You know it's
the it's the law of God that takes you to Christ. But. Once you come to Christ, Christ
takes you back to the law, and law becomes your rule of Christian
living. Christ is our life. He's the one we follow after.
He's our sanctification. We don't take men back to the
law in order to learn how to live. We look to Christ. I was telling a man one day,
this man sat under the preacher of the gospel for a long time,
and he said, you keep talking about coming to Christ. I'm looking,
I don't see it. I mean, I had to get out of there
as quick as I could. I thought, that's just, you know, blasphemy. No, you're not going to look
and see. He's going to have to open the eyes of your understanding.
He's got to reveal himself. But we do look, don't we? Eyes
of faith are. The message is what distinguishes
the church. 1 Peter 3, verse 15, the church
of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to
the Father but by me. What does a pillar do? It upholds.
What does the ground do? It supports. That's what the
church does. The only purpose of the church
That's what the Lord, when the Lord asked the disciples, he
said, whom do men say that I am? And Peter said, well, some say
that thou art Elijah or Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Some think
you're John the Baptist raised from the dead. And then he said,
whom do you say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the anointed one, the Messiah, the savior of sinners, the successful
accomplished savior of sinners. That's what Peter was saying.
the son of God, the sovereign one. And what'd the Lord say
to Peter? Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. Peter, you didn't come to that on your own. You
didn't go into your study and figure that out. No, I say unto
you, thou art Peter, a little rock. And upon this rock, The
declaration that you just made about who I am, I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
It's my church, I'm gonna build it, and I'm gonna build it on
that foundation. And listen to the next verse.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now you let that guy over there
in Rome wear a golden key around his neck and pretend to be able
to unlock the secrets of heaven and hold men out. It's blasphemy. You know that.
What was the Lord saying? I'm going to give you the keys
of heaven. I'm going to give you the message of the gospel.
And those that hear what you say and believe are going to
be delivered in heaven. And those who don't are going
to be condemned. That's all the Lord is saying. The church is
the only place on the face of the earth where the gospel of
God's free grace in the glorious person and accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is declared without compromise and is the
only message that will save sinners. In that regard, We are just like
the New Testament Church. We are the New Testament Church.
God's given us the gospel. He's given us the keys. He's
revealed to us. Who Christ is. We say unto men. You are unworthy. You are unable
and you are unrighteous. And apart from the sovereign
grace of God. You have no hope. and God's elect cry out for mercy. Oh Lord, save me, save me. Well, who are the members of
the church? The Lord adds to the church daily
such as should be said. and they which were ordained
to eternal life believed. I'm so thankful for our children.
I love your children, you know that. I'm glad they're here listening
to the gospel, but they're not members of this church. We don't
christen our children and call them covenant members of the
family of God. No, no, the Lord said there will
come a day when you will no longer have to say to your, you see
the Old Testament church, the majority of the Old Testament
church were unbelievers. And the believers were having
to say to the unbelievers, you need to know the Lord. But in
the New Testament church, the Lord said, I will make a new
covenant with my people. And no longer will one man have
to say to another, know the Lord, know the Lord, for they will
all know me from the least of them even unto the greatest.
We baptize believers. Believers. And that's how you
get into the church. God makes you to be a believer.
You profess Christ and become part of the family of God. And you become part and parcel,
you know, with, I said that this message, the weird to be witnesses
of him. And I know a lot of believers
are intimidated by that. I think, well, you know, I don't
know how to be a witness. And sometimes I, you know, I thought
about this. I I've, I've, I've talked to a
lot of people one-on-one about the gospel. I can't ever remember
anyone in conversation coming to Christ ever. Does that mean we don't talk
to people? No, we talk to people. Encourage them to come. If they
come, they hear the gospel preached. God's going to shut a man's mouth,
open his ears to the gospel, the preaching of the gospel,
men believe. So yes, and you know, for some believers, you
may have to say what that blind man said when he was being interrogated
by the Pharisees. He said, you know, I can't answer
all your theological questions. All I know is that once I was
blind and now I see. But here's the thing about it.
A witness, you can't go into a court of
law and be a witness and give hearsay information, can you?
You can't do that. You've got to have seen it and
heard it for yourself in order to be a viable witness. Otherwise,
the cross-examination is going to get you right off there. But
if you've seen and you've heard, I would say I've never been a
witness in a court of law, but I would say that being a witness.
Would be nerve wracking not knowing what the other side is going
to cross examine you with. You know they're going to try
to tear your testimony apart, aren't they? Not the way it works.
Child of God. You give your witness. And you
walk out of the courtroom when someone starts trying to cross
examine you. Just get up and walk out. You
do not have to be subject to cross-examination, because that's
what most objections to the gospel are. They're cross-examinations.
You shake the dust from off your feet and walk out of that courtroom.
Now, if a person has a genuine interest in the gospel, you'll
be able to tell the difference. And they're asking you questions
sincerely about their own souls and their own need for salvation,
God will give you what to say. But they start cross-examining
you, you just get up and walk out. You don't have to answer
their questions. They shall be my witnesses. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's blood-bought children, bride, body, habitation, house
of God, friends and family members. have a message of salvation for
the world. The message is the glory goes
all to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my justification before God. He's all my salvation. He's all
my all in all. Closing, turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. You know, the other thing about
cross-examination is if you've told nothing but the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth, then you don't have to
worry about cross-examination too much, do you? You just keep
telling the same thing over and over again. You know, they want
to examine you and say, well, this is what I said before, I'll
say it again. You just keep telling the same thing over and over,
right? Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse 22. But you are come
unto Mount Zion. And he's likening Mount Zion
to the mountain of the law. So you're not coming to the mountain
that's being shaken with the law, with fear and trembling
and judgment. You've come to Mount Zion and
unto the city of the living God. Here's another description of
the church. The heavenly Jerusalem. One day we're going to see the
new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. and to an innumerable
company of angels. See, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is in glory right now in the person of their substitute. Why? Because we're bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh. We're one with him. To the general
assembly. This is the called out ones,
this is the assembly and church of the firstborn. Who's the firstborn? The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the firstborn among many brethren. And that's not a reference to
his incarnation, it's a reference to his resurrection. He's the
one that came forth from the grave first. And because he's
risen, we're gonna be risen. which are written in heaven." There we are. Oh, child of God,
no disciples came back from preaching the gospel, and they were rejoicing
that the devils were subject unto them. And what did the Lord
say? Rejoice not that the devils are
subject unto you, but rejoice rather that your names are written
in heaven. and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect. I don't know if I'm part of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I'm looking to him in faith
for all my justification. As we heard last weekend, justification
is not as if we were justified, we're without sin. I am sinless
before God in the person of Christ. And in Christ, I'm perfect. Now here's the mystery of the
gospel, but I'll summarize it like this. We are nothing but
sin and we have no sin. Go and learn what that means.
Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful for your word. We pray you bless
it to our hearts. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. Number 300, let's stand together. More secure is no one ever than
the loved ones of the Savior, not young star on high abiding,
nor the bird in home nest hiding. God his own doth tend and nourish,
in his holy courts they flourish, like a father kind he spares
them, in his loving arms he bears them. Neither life nor death
can ever From the Lord his children sever, For his love and deep
compassion Comforts them in tribulation. Little flock, to joy then yield
thee, Jacob's God will ever shield thee, Rest secure with this defender,
At his will all foes surrender. What he takes or what he gives
us shows the Father's love so precious. We may trust his purpose
wholly, tis his children's welfare solely.