If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter
1. We'll be looking at verses 2
through 9 this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses
2 through 9. The title of the message this
morning is, The True Church of God. The True Church of God. Get that from verse 2 where the
apostle says, "...unto the church of God which is at Corinth."
Now, in our day, the word church is used very, very loosely. Very loosely. So when someone
comes to you and they say, hey, what church do you go to? What
they're asking is, where is the building that you supposedly
worship your God at. Or they may even ask, what denomination
is the church that you attend? To most people, the church is
nothing more than a building. It's nothing more than a building.
It's nothing more than the furniture in the building. But friends,
the church is much, much more than just a building. that we
meet in. Friends, it doesn't matter if
we meet in a nice building like this or we meet in a one-room
shack. It does not matter. That does not determine the worth
or the value of that church. It does not determine that. Most people don't care about
what is being taught in these buildings so long as they can
call it church. You see, that makes it Worthwhile. That makes it good. It makes
it a valid place if they just call it church. But that's not
true. It does not matter the building
and where it's located, the type of building. It does not matter
the denomination. It does not matter the creed
that that church supposedly follows. The church might have a great
structure, it may have a large group of people, it may be very
popular and have many programs, but unless it is the church of
God, it is of no value, it is worthless, it is a waste of time,
energy, effort, resources and money. How then can we know that we
are of the church of God. Don't you think that's important?
It's very important. Because if you're in any other
church, it doesn't matter. You're worthless. Your church
is worthless if it is not indeed the church of God. This place here, Redeemer Baptist
Church, if this is not the church of God, it is of no value in
this world. No value. And that goes for every
other place that is called church, if it is not the church of God.
Well, the Scriptures, when they use the word church, it's used
in three different sense. It's used in three different
ways. When the Bible speaks of a church, it's talking about,
first of all, a universal church. There's a sense in which the
Scripture speaks about a mystical body of believers. That means
that all believers of all time, those that have passed, those
that are present, and those that are yet to come, that's the church
made up of believers in Christ. Second of all, it's looked at
as a local assembly, just like this church is here. Look at
our text. It says, under the church of God, which is at Corinth. It's speaking of a local assembly,
a local body of believers in Christ. And so it is also true
that when the gospel speaks of the church, it speaks of any
local assembly at any given time or place. Look at that in following. It says, under the church of
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Jesus Christ, called to be
saints, with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus. You see, the church is local,
but yet it may be in a sense to where you're talking about
a number of local bodies. You know, if I say Danville Baptist
Church, Grace Baptist Church, you know that Don Fortin is a
pastor there. You know that's a church of God. It's a local
assembly, just like this church is. So, it's spoken of as assemblies
in any given time or place. Now, but how do we know? I mean,
that doesn't answer the question. That's just how it's used. How
do we know that we are the church of God? That you belong to the
church of God? How do we know that this letter,
with all of its rights and privileges, is ours? I'll tell you what,
if you're not part of the church of God, this letter is not yours.
These promises are not yours. How may we have assurance that
this letter is ours? Well, Paul gives us several proofs,
several proofs as to who is of the church of God. When I say church of God, let
me first ask you this, to whom does this church belong? It is
indeed the church of God, of God. If our church is true, If
we do belong to the true church, it is indeed God's church. If our church is a true church,
it must belong to God. Do we belong to the Baptists?
No. Do we belong to some denomination?
Are we bound by the creeds and catechisms of men? Do we receive
our doctrine and commandments from traditions of men? Do we
compromise what we believe so that we might attract this world?
If we do any of those things, it is of certain that we are
not the church of God. Why? Because God's church belongs
to Him, and they preach His Word only. Only His Word. We belong to God. If this church
belongs to God, it must be according to the Word of God. Now, what
according to the Word of God in this chapter does the Apostle
Paul give as proofs? I have five proofs this morning
as to know if we are a member of the church of God. Now, I'll
tell you this, listen to me. If you are a member of Redeemer
Baptist Church, That does not necessitate that
you are a member of the church of God. Although, if we prove
that this is the church of God, that does not mean you are a
part of it. You can put your name on as many rolls as you
want to. But if you do not meet these qualifications as stipulated
in the Word of God, then you are not a member of the church
of God and none of these are yours. First of all, I'll give
you these real quickly, five points, five proofs. The church
of God is sanctified by grace. Second of all, the church of
God is given a testimony. Third, the church of God is blameless. Fourth, they're waiting for Christ.
And fifth, the church of God has fellowship with Christ. All
of these things are here for us, right here in this chapter.
So when you read this chapter, the next time you read it, I
hope that these things will jump out at you, because they should.
First of all, the church of God is sanctified by grace. Look at that in verse 2. Under
the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified. Sanctified. This church of God
must, of necessity, be sanctified by
the grace of God. Friends, sanctification is just
as important as redemption, justification, righteousness, imputed righteousness,
imparted righteousness. Sanctification is necessary for
salvation. If you are not sanctified, you
are not part of the church of God. Sanctification. This letter was written to the
church of God who had been sanctified by grace. So then what does that
mean? I mean, that's a big word. And
I know many times we are conflicted as to what these words mean.
I want to break this down and make this as plain as possible
to us. What is sanctification? If it's
necessary, you ought to know what it is. You ought to know
what it is. Well, there are three errors
as regards to sanctification that are in the world today.
The Pentecostal view of sanctification is in error. This is the Pentecostal
view of sanctification. It is the second quickening of
the Spirit. They think that a person can
believe in Christ, be saved, but there's a second anointing
of the Spirit that sanctifies them and makes them sinless in
their total being. They believe that they are sinless,
without sin at all in the body. This is an error because we know
the Scripture says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. We know the truth is not in them,
they're not sanctified because they believe they have no sin.
Scripture says they make God a liar. Well, that's a serious
offense. But that's their view of sanctification,
that a person becomes absolutely sinless in the complete person. Now, the second of all is the
self-righteous view of sanctification. They believe that if they separate
themselves from things and places and people, if they just live
a moral life, they will sanctify themselves to God. This is a
self-righteous view. Paul said, touch not, taste not,
hand not. These are aspects of what he
calls will-worship. If you see a moral person who's
trying to sanctify themselves, that appears with our eyes to
be good, doesn't it? It appears to be good. Paul said,
these things having a show of wisdom, they only appear to be
wise. But friends, they're not. They
only have a show. And the third error is evangelical
reformed and orthodox view of sanctification. That is, these
people believe that they are sanctified by outward obedience
to the moral law. This is the difference, a major
difference, between us and what you would call reformed theology. The Reformed theology believe
that they can sanctify themselves by obedience to the law of God. They're saved not by the law,
but they say they can become progressively more holy or more
sanctified by their obedience. I copied this down. It was good
sanctification. They believe sanctification is
progressive righteousness, which of course means incomplete righteousness. If righteousness is progressive,
then it's incomplete. Isn't that right? Either you're
righteous or you're not. You're either holy or you're
not. But what does God say about sanctification? I think that's
the most important thing. I mean, you can know all about
what they believe about sanctification, but the important thing is, what
does God tell us sanctification is? First of all, sanctify means
to set apart. To set apart. You remember in
the beginning when God set apart the seventh day. That's the first
time the word sanctify is used. God set apart the seventh day
for Himself. Let me ask you, when God set
apart the seventh day, did He make the seventh day any different
from the other days? Was it any longer or any shorter?
Did it have more rain or more sun on the seventh day than any
of the other days? No. What made it different? God did. God says, I'm going
to take that and make it for Myself. That's all God did. He set it apart for His worship
and glory. The same thing with the firstborn.
You remember the law of the firstborn. They were to separate that firstborn
unto God. Now, was He any different from
His brothers? No. What made Him different? God
set Him apart. God made Him. separated Him,
sanctified Him. Even so with God's church. God's
church is a set-apart church. And it was set-apart before the
world began. God set His church apart before
the world began. In Jude it says, Jude the servant
of God, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them
that are sanctified by God the Father. God in grace, before the world
began, set apart for Himself some of Adam's race. He, for His own glory and according
to His own sovereign purpose, chose them to be men that would
worship Him. In Ephesians, when we read about
predestination, what was the reason Paul gave for predestination?
He says, according to the glory of his grace. That's why he did
it for himself. God set apart and elect people
for himself, for himself. And this is the root of all salvation,
that God has set his church apart from all others. God took that
which was common and made it useful for His service. Those
He chose, were they any different than anybody else? Were they
any better than anybody else? Were they any smarter than anybody
else? Were they any more religious
than anybody else? No! God just set them apart for
Himself because He would. Not because of anything in them.
God set His church apart, willing to show mercy and grace, He set
them apart in sovereign election. We read of Jacob and Esau, how
that God, before they were born, not having done good or evil,
God says that according to election, for Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Is there then unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. You see, God willing to show
the election of His sovereign grace is by sovereign grace alone,
He testified about these men. Friends, people get upset about
that verse, and I can't tell you how angry people get about
that. But they have the wrong idea of that verse. You see,
both men were unworthy of love. Both men were sinners. There
was no difference in Jacob. There was no difference in him
and his brother Esau. The only one that made the difference
was God. God showing mercy to one and
not to the other. Now I'll tell you, if Esau had
something worthy of merit, then God would be unjust, wouldn't
He? To love one and not the other. But they were both worthless.
They were both of no value. And yet God in grace chose one.
He set apart His church unto Himself. So then God is said here to have
sanctified His church in election. Set them apart. Number two, the
word sanctify means to declare someone or something righteous. You remember in the model prayer
when the Lord Jesus Christ said, pray like this, Our Father which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That word hallowed is another
word for sanctify. Now, when we hallow the name
of God, do we make God more holy? By our declaring God to be holy,
are we ascribing any more holiness to God? Of course not. We are
only declaring what is true of God. When I say that God is holy,
holy, holy, I'm only declaring what's true. I'm not adding anything
to God. So when I sanctify God, I am
saying only that which is true of Him. Believe and sow the sanctification
of God's church. All whom the Father chose, He
in grace gave to the Son of God to be their surety." To be their
Redeemer and Savior. Jesus agreed in that eternal
covenant of grace. He agreed to be the Redeemer
of His people. And we know that He has now come. He has now obtained a righteousness
for them by His life. He has by His death accomplished
their justification. He has made them holy by His
blood. That's what Jesus Christ was
sent to do and that's what He has done. Go to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
10. Scripture says, "...by the witch
will." And that's talking about the covenant of grace that I
just mentioned. The covenant that God made with
the Son before eternity. The witch will. We are sanctified. We are declared righteous through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And in verse
14 it says, for by one offering He hath perfected forever, who? Them that are sanctified. You see, by the blood of Christ,
God has sanctified His people and declared them to be righteous. He has declared them all to be
holy. Every one of them. To be holy
before Him. In the courts of God's justice, All of God's church is without
sin and stands in a state of perfect holiness. Now friends,
I am telling you that God's church is sanctified by the blood of
Christ and they are declared by God Himself to be holy and
righteous before Him. God not willing to impute our
sins to us, He imputed them to His Son. And by His Son taking
our sins and God pouring out the wrath that was due you and
me on Christ when He did that, He sanctified us so that He could
declare us to be without sin before Him. Oh, the grace of God that purposed
salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. He sanctified us and His people
are declared holy. Number three, the third way sanctification
is used is not only to be declared holy, but to be made holy. Friends, before I came to know
Christ, this gospel existed. That declaration was made, wasn't
it? All of God's children are redeemed
by the blood of Christ. They're set free and I declare
them holy and righteous before God. But when I was born into
this world, that's not my experience from birth, was it? No. My experience from birth was
sin. My experience from birth was
nothing but unrighteousness. How then do I know that that
election and that redemption is mine? How do I know that I'm
sanctified in election and sanctified by the blood of Christ? The only
way to know is when the Holy Spirit of God comes in power
and redeems us and makes us holy, applies that blood to our hearts. He applies that blood that was
redeemed us by Christ. He applies that to our hearts
and gives us life and faith to believe it. So then the Holy
Spirit sanctifies us by creating in us a new nature that wasn't
there before. And this nature is not only declared
holy, friend, this nature is holy. It is. How this differs from that Pentecostal
view I told you about is that we believe that there are two
natures. The Scriptures teach that there are two natures in
us now. One that is completely full of sin and cannot do anything
but sin, and one that is holy and cannot do anything but holiness.
That's the nature that God has sanctified in each and every
one of us who are His children. At the appointed time of grace,
God sanctified us Through the Spirit and belief of the truth. Friends, there is no other way
to know that you are a member of this church but if the Holy
Spirit sanctify you in your heart and give you life and faith in
Christ. Do you have life and faith in Christ? Do you know
Christ? Have you been redeemed by His
blood, sanctified by God the Father in election? If so, then
you have been sanctified by the Spirit of God in giving you a
new nature that is holy and righteous before God. As God's preacher, I declare
unto you that Jesus has accomplished salvation. Believe on Jesus Christ. and all who believe are sanctified."
By who? Themselves? No, by God. Did I
mention anything about us in any of all those aspects of sanctification? Were we involved in any of those
things? Absolutely not. Sanctification is just as much
the work of God as justification and redemption. We have nothing
to do with our sanctification. It is not progressive. It is
instant. When the Spirit of God came into
you that believe, you are instantly holy in the eyes of God. Because He created something
that was not there before. A new man. A new nature. Are you sanctified? Are you sanctified? If you are,
you're a part of the church of God. Number two, I need to hurry
on these. God's church has a testimony
in themselves. Look at verse 5. That in everything
you are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge,
even the testimony of Christ which is confirmed in you." This
matter of sanctification is not just an academic understanding. Now friends, you can know every
academic aspect of sanctification, but if you have not experienced
sanctification in your heart, you are not of the church of
God. This is a testimony. God gives
each sanctified believer a testimony in their own heart. In their
own heart. Paul says in Romans 8, 16, "...the
Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God." Friends, I'm a child of God. I'm a child of
God, not because the preacher told me so. I'm not a child of
God because I'm in the right church or I'm under the right
ministry. I'm not a child of God because
of the creeds or traditions of men. I am a child of God because God
effectually worked in my heart and I know by experience that
I am a child of God, that I have been sanctified. And how do I
know that? His Spirit testifies to my spirit. His Spirit testifies within me
that I know, that I know, that I know Christ is all my hope
and salvation. And I don't care what I see.
I don't care what people say. I don't care if a man comes back
from the grave and stands in front of me and tells me it's
all a lie. I'll call him a liar because
I know in my own heart that Christ is all my hope. Paul said, though
I or an angel from heaven preach to you another gospel, let him
go to hell. That's pretty strong language,
but that's true. We should not let what we see
or what we hear interfere with anything that this Word of God
speaking to our heart says. Nothing. God puts a testimony in the heart
of every believer, and thank God He does. What a miserable
existence this would be if we did not have that assurance of
the testimony in our hearts. Oh, what a miserable existence. Praise God for that assurance
that He gives His church. Number three, the church of God
is waiting for Christ. Look at that in verse 7. So then
that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The redeemed church of God is
a church that sets her affections on the coming of Christ. The Church of God is only living
to die. We're living to die, waiting
to die, or waiting for Him to come while we're still alive.
Either way, it doesn't matter to us. We're waiting, waiting
for Him to come. Our life is to be spent with
our affections set on heaven itself. We are to be strangers
and pilgrims in this land. Don't be rooted in the things
of this world. Don't be so entangled by the
money and success and fame and family of this life. Set our
affections on Christ and Christ alone. That's what the church
of God does. Why? Because our life is not
here. It's with Christ. Friends, this
is not life. This is not life. Life is in
Christ. Life is being in the presence
of the living God, worshiping Him as we were created to do. That's life. And we should spend
all of our existence living for that day. Number four, the church
of God is blameless. Oh, I love this one. Look at
our verse 8. It says, Who shall also confirm
you to the end? Blameless. Not to be blameless. I don't
like that. That's not it. He will confirm what the Spirit
of God has confirmed by His Word in our hearts now. Then it'll
be fully manifest. But friends, you are blameless
now. We're not waiting to be blameless.
We are blameless in the eyes of God. I didn't say nothing
about your eyes. I'm not talking about how you
feel about yourself. I'm talking to you as how God
sees you. How God sees you in Christ. How God sees His church that
He purchased with His own blood. How does He see us? Song of Solomon
chapter 4. I want you to turn there because
I want you to mark it. Song of Solomon chapter 4. I think we
marked this on Wednesday. If you haven't done it, mark
it now. Psalm Solomon chapter 4, look
at verse 1. This is Christ speaking to His church. Christ speaking
to those who are sanctified. Look what He says to us who are
sanctified. Behold, thou art fair, My love. Thou art fair. Just in case you
missed it the first time, I'll say it again. Thou art fair. I love you. Thou art fair. Verse
7, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. There is no spot in thee. There is no spot of sin in any
one of God's children in His sight. He has taken our sins
and cast them as far as the east is from the west. So far hath
He removed our sins from us. So much so that God cannot find
them. God cannot find them. Hold fast to that. If you're
sanctified by the Spirit, you need to hold fast to that because
you're going to see a lot of sin in your life. I do. But it doesn't matter what I
see. It only matters what God sees. And God says, I see nothing
but blameless, sinless perfection in every one of my children. Every one. My church is blameless. And lastly, the church of God
has fellowship with Christ. Look at that in our text, in
verse 9. He says, God is faithful by whom
you are called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. We who have been separated by
the Holy Spirit, sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, we have
been called into fellowship with Christ. We once were separated
from Christ. We once had no desire to fellowship
with Him. We had only desire to fellowship
with our sins. If you're lost, I know your only
desire is fellowship with sin. None of this makes any sense,
nor do you care. I was there. I was there once. But now I'm called. called by
the Spirit of God to fellowship with the Son of Glory. Paul says,
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate. Be
ye separate. The church of God is not separated
by its dress. It's not separated by how you
fix your hair. It's not separated by how much
makeup you wear or don't wear. If you wear shorts or you don't
wear shorts. God's church is not separated that way. We are
separated unto fellowship with Christ. Do you have fellowship
with Him? Is that the desire of your heart?
To have His presence near you at all times? Is it your desire to have Him
in all of His glory and being at all times near your heart?
Is it your desire to speak to Him, to worship Him, to come
and hear His gospel and how what great work He has done for us?
Is that your desire? It is mine. It's my desire to
fellowship with the Son of God. Why? I was called to it. I was
called to it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a friend
that's sticking closer than a brother. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And you know what? He hasn't.
Not His church. Are you a part of His church? Are you a member of the church
of God? Have you been sanctified in election? Sanctified by the
blood of Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of God in calling
to life and faith in Christ? Have you been sanctified? If
you are, you are part of His church. Do you have a testimony
within your heart? Is the testimony the Spirit dwelling
in you? Do you know that you know that
you know that Jesus Christ is all your hope and life? that you're saved by His grace,
are you still looking at the word of some man or creed? Are you waiting for Christ and
setting your affections on Christ? Are you pilgrims and strangers
or are you rooting down in this world? God's people don't root. We have our affections set on
Christ and we hold everything loosely here. Are you blameless
in the eyes of God? Has Christ redeemed you from
all your sins? Have you been given a holy nature
by the Spirit of God? Or are you still trying to please
God by your works and religion? God's church doesn't try to please
God. We have pleased God in Christ. And we rejoice in Him. Are you in fellowship with Christ,
separated from the world, and rejoice at His presence, or do
you still despise the worship of Christ, the study of Christ,
and the prayer offered to Christ? God's people love His presence,
love His Word, and love to fellowship with Him. Are you a member of
the church of God or not? Friends, if you are not, if these
things are not yours, I tell you, believe Christ now. Come and join us. Join us who
are a part of the church of the living God. I'm not talking about
just this building or this place. I'm talking about believing on
Christ. In that, you belong to God. You are His church. And praise
God that he has a church. And thank God I'm part of it.
Praise God for it. I pray that God will bless this
to your hearts. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.