Now, turn with me to First Timothy,
chapter three. First Timothy, chapter three.
Let's ask the Lord's blessings on the message. Dear Lord, we come before your
holy, sovereign presence as sinners in need of your mercy and grace,
needing to hear the gospel of Christ, his person and his Word,
our hope, our hope of salvation. Lord, we come as beggars before
the great King. They come as dogs seeking some
crumbs from the master's table. We ask that you would break forth
the bread of life, even if it be just a few crumbs here and
there. Open our hearts, open our minds,
our understanding, and give us the truth. Instill the truth within us. May we be stayed upon the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ, the gospel. In his name we pray,
amen. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Read a couple of verses with
me, verses 14 and 15. Paul says, These things write
I unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly. But if I tarry long,
he says, I'm writing these things that you may know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, as you know, we have been
going through first Timothy. And what I have decided to do
is to continue these studies in the morning Bible study on
Sunday morning. And next Sunday morning we'll
deal with the previous few verses there on Deacons. Did not feel
particularly led to deal with that tonight, this Wednesday
night crowd, but rather deal with it Sunday morning. But in
reading down through here, my eyes lit upon verse fifteen,
and I stayed right there, read a few messages by different men
on this, and was greatly blessed in contemplating these things.
So, verse fifteen is our text, and he says here in verse fifteen,
he says, I'm writing that you may know how you ought to behave
yourself in the house of God. Now, as I've said before, my
reasoning for taking up the book of Timothy, or many manifold. But Timothy, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy,
these epistles of Paul, an old faithful minister of the gospel
to a young man such as myself, is full of the gospel. We saw
that in chapter 1. And it is full of doctrinal and
practical instructions. And we've clearly seen how it
is a guidebook for the church. how the church should govern,
be governed, form and all. It's a guidebook for the church
to follow. He told young Timothy as a bishop,
we saw that last week, he said as a bishop how you ought to
behave yourself. And he talks to the women here
in chapter 2 how they ought to behave themselves and dress even
and in deacons. He deals with everyone. And his
instruction to the church and now he calls this church this
body of believers in verse fifteen the house of God. The living
God. The church of the living God
which is the pillar and ground or stay of the truth. And there's a lot here and I
hope you follow along with me as we look at each part of this
description of the church here we're going to look at each.
Little short phrase in this description, the house of God. All right,
look at that first phrase there. He says that. You ought to know
how to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church. The church. Now, a building is
not a church. I wish that I could get that
out of my way of thinking and my vocabulary we're all guilty
of it when we ride down the street we'll see a building there is
a sort of church is that. That's not the church hopefully
the church meets in that building but the building is not the church
the scripture says in Isaiah sixty six and it's twice quoted
in acts that God dwelleth not in buildings made with hand.
God doesn't dwell in buildings, OK? He said, where is the house
that you build me? He says, the heavens cannot contain
me. What are you going to build God that he will dwell in? He
can't. He doesn't dwell in a house.
You don't go down the street and say, well, there's St. Peter's
Church, there's St. Mary, there's First Baptist Church.
No. Look over at Ephesians chapter
two with me. Ephesians chapter two. The church
is not a building. or at least a physical or material
structure, but the church is a people. Church is a group of
people. They meet in a building, generally,
but the church is the people. The church is the people. Look
at Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 22. Ephesians 2, verses 19 through
22. Now, therefore, you're no more strangers and foreigners. but fellow citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, or the same foundation
they were built on, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
the foundation of our faith, in whom Christ, all the building,
or the people, are fitly framed together, growing up groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." God's
house. It's a people. He doesn't dwell
in buildings made with hands. He dwells in hearts. That's a
mystery. That's a mystery. And just I'll
illustrate this. This building is not the church.
This is where the church meets. This is the church house. church
have to be a better way to refer to these buildings provided that
the church meets in that particular house but just as that house
over on five eighteen Avon Street is not my hands. And that's not
my hands as the man has right now this central Baptist building
is not the church but the church is inside of it OK. All right,
now look at the next statement here. He says it's a house of
God. It's a people. The church is a body or a group
of believers. He said that the church is the
house of God, the church of the living God. The church is a body
of believers. Now, there are local assemblies.
There are local groups like ours. There's one meeting In Danville
Kentucky right now Ashland Kentucky Pikeville Kentucky is one meeting
in Crossville Tennessee and in other parts of Tennessee there's
one meeting there's several meeting in North Carolina just go on
and on and on Texas. And so for local assemblies but
they're all members of one body they have different location
but they're all members of this one big family. One big family,
like our flesh and blood members live in various places, yet we're
still one family, OK? The universal church. We strongly
believe in that. And then there's a church in
heaven and a church on earth, but they're still the same family. The church is a body of believers
now. This is important. The world
has got this so confused, so ignorant, and the remainder of
the message will confirm this. The church is not a social club,
the church is not a mere organization, the church is not a fellowship
hall, the church is not a gymnasium. The reason I'm very much against
things like that is because that's what we equate the church with,
fun and fellowship and excitement and recreation. That's not what
the church is all about. The church is not a gathering
of people of different faiths and denominations. No, it's not. No such thing as different denominations
in the church. The church is a regular, regular
assembly of persons who are called by God's grace. Every one of
them are called by God. He chose them, called them by
his grace, by his gospel. They were gathered by God's Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit went out and
gathered them up. They are worshipers, they are
believers, they are lovers, they are disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ who saved them with his blood. And they all have the
same mind. They think the same way. They
have the mind of Christ. They all have the same faith.
There are different faiths. There's one Lord, one faith.
There's one hope of their calling, and that one hope is the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every member of the church,
I'm being just as dogmatic as I can possibly be, Every member
of the church believes exactly the same thing. Exactly the same thing, the same
way about the same gospel. Now there's some degrees of understanding,
but they all believe basically the same truth. Truth is truth. They believe who God is, what
man is, how man is saved. All right now, our Lord said
that in John chapter six, he said, they shall all be taught
of God. They shall all be taught of God. So the church is a body or assembly
of believers, uh, disciples, worshipers, followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as somebody said, uh, in
a clever statement, they said, you don't go to church. You are
the church. All right. Now he says, it's
the church. Look at it very carefully. It's the house of God, which
is the church. Of the living God, it's the church,
that's the name of it, this body of believers, and it's the church
of God, it's his church. It's his church. You don't join
the church. A man just doesn't up and decide
he's going to be a member of the church. God joins people
to his church. God is the one that decides.
God joins us to his church. And it's called, I believe, a
couple of reasons why it's called God's church is, first of all,
God is the architect of it. God is the architect of it, just
as it was with the tabernacle of old. You remember the tabernacle
in the wilderness? God Almighty planned every part
of that, didn't He? planned and purposed every socket,
every pillar, every fabric, every instrument, every square inch
of that, every cubit of that tabernacle. So it is with the
church. God predetermines, God predestinated
everything and everyone concerning his church, everything. He predestinated
the size of it. He predestinated every member
that's going to be in it. It's his family. It's God's family. They're called God's people,
God's family. And he is the one that decides who is in his family.
We don't open to adopt ourselves, do we? That's absurd. That's
what the world is believing, that you open, decide to join
God's family. You can't do that. You can't
do that. God must join you to his family.
And predestination is nothing more than Planned Parenthood.
You want to know what predestination is? It's nothing more than God
being the only one who truly can practice Planned Parenthood.
He decides who is going to be in his family, how many, what
they're all going to look like. They're going to look like Christ. They want to predestinate to
be conformed to his image. Now, God is the architect, and
number two, it's God's church because God is the builder of
it. God purposed it, and God's going to build it. He didn't
draw up the plans and then let man have a say in on it. What
do you think about this? Is this good enough with you?
That's why he was asking Job that question. Well, where were
you, Job? I hear you talking this bit. Who is this that darkeneth
counsel by words without knowledge? I hear some fellows doing some
talking here. Gird up your loins. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
Where were you when I made this whole thing? God didn't dream
up or draw up plans and then let man have his say. And he
didn't lay the foundation of this church and then leave it
up to us to finish it. That's what the world would have
us to believe, wouldn't it? God laid the foundation, now it's
all up to you. He did all He can do. He laid
the groundwork, now you've got to build it. And you've got to
resort to whatever means you think. No, God does the whole
work Himself, from start to finish. And He gave it to Christ and
the Spirit of Christ to finish this work. I've quoted so many
times, George Whitefield said, God thought it, the Son bought
it, and the Holy Spirit will has brought it. God planned it. The Son purchased it. The Holy
Spirit applies it. So it's God's church, and God
doesn't leave it up to man's schemes. Listen to this. God
doesn't leave it up to man's schemes, inventions, and gimmicks
to build his church. That gives me comfort. That gives
me some help. God doesn't leave it up to our
abilities, our powers, our zeal, our enthusiasm, our schemes,
our inventions, our gimmicks to build the church. He builds
his church. He adds daily, such as should
be said, the scriptures say. Christ said to Peter, he said
to Peter, he asked him a question, Peter, well, he asked all the
disciples, he said, who do men say that I am? And one said,
well, some say you this, some say you that. And Christ said,
But who do you say that I am? And Peter spoke up. Peter said,
Oh, you're the Christ. You're the Messiah. You're the
Redeemer. You're the son of the living
God. You're Lord over all. You're the son of God come down.
You're God in human flesh. You're the son over his own house.
That's what the scripture says about Christ being a son over
his own house. You're the son over your own house. You're in
charge here. Christ said, Peter, flesh and blessed are you, Simon
Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. See, the world out there thinks that they're going
to build a church. The world out there thinks that, Peter, you're
going to be the one that the church is built upon. Don't they? No, Peter, he said, upon this
rock-solid truth, Peter, on this rock-solid truth, upon this foundation,
the foundation of your faith, and the only foundation that
can be laid, which God hath laid Jesus Christ himself, being the
chief cornerstone, upon this rock I will build my church." Not you, Peter. And I said to
one of the men the other day, you know, the Roman church, there
I go, the Roman Catholicism claims that Peter is that rock upon
which the church was built. If that be so, it had a mighty
shaky beginning, didn't it? If the Lord was talking about
Peter there, upon this rock shall I build my church, well, a few
days later, the whole thing failed, didn't it? Didn't it? Because Peter terribly
denied his Lord, didn't he? Well, now he's okay. When you're
converted, Peter, strengthened, okay, now I'm going to build
a church on Peter. Paul came along one day, and
Peter was sitting eating with the Gentiles, and some bunch
of Jews came along, and he separated himself from the Gentiles and
went over and sat with the Jews. Denied the gospel. And Paul confronted
him to the face and said, Peter, you've denied the gospel. Oh,
it fell again, didn't it, the church? That's not the rock upon
which the church is built. Jesus Christ himself. Compare
scriptures with scripture. Compare that what Christ said
about this rock that he'll build his church upon with all the
other scriptures that talk about Christ being the chief cornerstone.
A stumbling stone. That's what they stumble at,
isn't it? That's what they're stumbling at. I'm going to lay
a rock. A rock in a hard place. And men
and women are going to be between a rock and a hard place. And
they're going to stumble at this stone. Not God's people. Not
God's people. They'll build upon that rock.
Upon this rock. And he says, I'll build my church.
I'll do it. It's God's church. And through Christ, his person
and work, he builds it. Now, God uses means. God uses
the means of preaching the gospel, and he applies it sovereignly
through the work of the Holy Spirit. And he applies it to the hearts
of every one of his elect, and he brings them all to Christ
by faith. That's the means that he uses. Nothing more, nothing
less. The means that God uses to build
his church, to bring his people in, to call his sheep, to make
them members of his church, is the preaching of the gospel.
Nothing more, nothing less. And any man-made means or contrivances
or gimmicks to get a group in, to get an assembly together,
that's not the church. Call it what you will, call it
a social club, call it a little fellowship meeting, but it's
not the church. Not the church. Now he says, here's the church
of God, it's the church of the living God. The church of the
living God. Our Lord had to correct those
Pharisees, didn't he? Talking about God's not the God
of the dead, but of the living. And we need a little correction
here. God, we don't worship doctrine. We don't worship dead, dry doctrine. I'm not saying God's truth is
dead and dry. I'm going to preach doctrine
in a moment. But we don't worship doctrine,
we worship the Christ to whom the doctrine speaks of. We don't
worship doctrine, we worship a deity. And if all we know is
doctrine, we're dead. And we've got a dead God. Salvation
is to know the true and living God. We don't worship a doctrine
but a deity. And I say this, you can't know
him without knowing his doctrine, but we don't worship a dead Christ
either, we worship the living Lord. And you can say this too,
that God's people are no longer dead in trespasses and sins,
but they're alive unto God, who is alive, who gives them new
life. All right? Now look at the text again, and
look at what it says here in the last part of it. The church
is the house of God. church of the living God and
he calls it the pillar and ground of the truth. Pillar and the ground of the
truth now pillar and ground describe. Or really are adverbs I believe
to talk about true adjectives to talk about the truth I've
got that right but anyway you have to. You have to know what
the truth is before you know what this is talking about, the
pillar and the ground of it. All right? What is the truth? What is the truth? Now, there are many true things,
and there are many truths, but they're not God's truth. Truth. People, men, can preach true
things, can preach good things, preach truths, but not preach
the truth. The scripture says that. Now,
it's important you know what the truth is, but listen to these
scriptures. Peter said, seeing that you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth, the truth You have purified your souls
through obeying the truth through the Holy Spirit. Paul said in
II Thessalonians 2.13, we're bound to thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because he had chosen you from the beginning
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The truth. Christ said it. He said, you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free. He talked about the truth seven
times in John chapter eight, right there. Seven times. In
the Gospel of John, it's mentioned 27 times. In the whole of the
Scriptures, it's talked of 235 times. The truth. Sound important? Do we minimize the truth? He
said, now you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. You
are elect of God, chosen of God through sanctification of spirit
and belief of the truth. What is the truth? It's imperative
that we know the truth, isn't it? It must be understood. It must be believed in order
to be saved, in order to be in the church. We're talking about
the church, aren't we? We're talking about a saved group
of believers, of people. All right? Now listen to this.
Listen to these scriptures. The scripture says God is true. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. I already quoted John 17, 3,
where Christ said, This is eternal life, that they might know thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
And then Christ said, in John 14, didn't he, I am the truth. I am the truth. All right now
let's let's cover this little bit. You see all that God says
and all that God is is the truth. I asked this question one time
what must a man believe in order to be saved. And the question
the debate goes on and on what must a man believe to be said
everything God says. Right. Everything got this true
it's true in a man not believe any of it may say no the truth. Believe the truth all God says
makes up the truth. All the truth all the doctrines
of God's word come together to make up the truth. All right. And you must believe it all in
order to believe the truth. You know we have. Under the nickname Calvinism,
we have systematically or orderly put a system of doctrines which
make up the truth of who God is and how he saves people. You must believe, if you're going
to believe one, you've got to believe them all. They stand
or fall together, don't they? As with all of God's Word. They
go together. You believe one doctrine, you
must believe them all. They all make up the truth. OK,
you say, what is the truth? What is the truth? Sum it up
for us, all right? I'll give you three things if you take
a note. I don't see any pens moving, but three things anyway. Note this in your head. Three
things. basically make up the truth,
and every time the gospel is preached, these three things
will be mentioned. All right? The truth. The truth
is that which honors and glorifies God Almighty. The truth is that which honors
and glorifies God Almighty, God as God. A man may be saying many supposedly
good things, but unless he is exalting God as God, unless he
is saying that God is absolute, God reigns, rules, he's a creator,
he's a sovereign monarch, he is the potter, and people are
the clay, then he's not preaching the truth. Right? If he makes
God in any way, shape, form, or fashion dependent upon are
looking to or in the hands of the creature is not breaking the truth. So the truth is that
which honors and glorifies God. Number two, the truth, the truth
is that which humbles man. This couldn't be any simpler.
You don't need to really take notes to remember these things.
You know them. You know them. I would say like
Paul, you need not that I write these things again under you,
you know. But I remind you, the truth is that which humbles man. If man is not being preached
as fallen, dead, depraved, helpless, hopeless, without God, without
Filthy, vile, hell-deserving, bound for hell, on his way to
hell, hopeless creature, fallen, depraved, dead creature. That's
not the truth. It's not the truth. If men or
even women are saying that man has one ounce of good in him,
it's not the truth, is it? It's a lie. If men are saying that man can
help God out one little bit in his saying of salvation, it's
not the truth. Not the truth. If they're saying that man can
improve himself or help himself out one little bit, it's not
the truth. The truth humbles man in the
dust and makes him as just a dead dog, sinner, to be very blunt. Like that child in Ezekiel, dead,
lying in his own pollution, until the Lord of life, the Lord of
glory, comes by and says, live. Like Lazarus in the tomb, and
the Lord of life has to come by and say, Get out of the grave.
Come on. Come to me. He has to speak.
He said, I am come that they might have life. All right, number
three. The truth is that which makes Christ the only Savior. The truth is that which makes
Christ the only Savior. Unless a doctrine, unless a preacher
is preaching doctrine that magnifies and exalts the Lord Jesus Christ,
that magnifies the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless
it says that the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is all that saves us, it is not the truth. It is not the gospel
truth. People say, that's the gospel
truth. It's not if it's not the atonement of Christ. It's not.
Right? That's just a nearby word with you. Anything that makes
Christ a failure is a lie. It's not the truth. Anything
that makes Christ a mere man and not the sovereign God is
a lie. It's not the truth. Anything that says the blood
is not successful to cleanse us from all our sins is a lie. It's not the truth. But that
gospel that says we are saved, and I mean in the real meaning
of the word, saved, eternally saved once and for all. That
gospel that says we are saved by the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's the truth. That's the
truth. However simply it may be put,
if that's the gist of it, if that's the theme of what he's
saying, you're saved through the person and the work of Christ
alone, that's the truth. And you must believe that gospel
to be saved, to be the church, to be a member, to be saved. All right real quick summary
of that what is the gospel. What is the gospel. Christ is
the gospel. The gospel is Christ. Christ
is the gospel the gospel is Christ. Christ is the truth and as John
said this is the true God and eternal life. He is the truth
and he's true God. He's God who is true. Christ
is the gospel and God That's true anything less or
anything more is not true. All right now he says the church
look at it two more words here and we'll quit. He says the church
the house of God the church of the living God is the pillar
and the ground of the truth the pillar of the truth. Now pillar is something that
if some of you have porches on your home, you have post out
there, pillars. It's what holds up, holds the
roof aloft there. Now, there's a sense, a sense in which the truth is
what supports the church. It There's a sense in which truth
is the pillars for the church is the ground is the foundation
of the church is. There's a sense in which. The pillar and ground
of the truth of God. Is God himself he's the one that
upholds and supports his own truth he don't he doesn't need
the church to uphold his truth as long as God's alive it's the
truth in order to blot out the truth you don't have to have
the church God is true. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven." But the sense here is that the church is the
pillar of truth, or that is, it upholds it, it exalts it,
it magnifies it. The church preaches and proclaims
it. The church preaches, upholds,
magnifies, and proclaims the truth. Now, you're searching,
somebody says, I'm searching for a church. I hope you're searching
for the church, I hope, the church. All right, you go looking, and
you go in this place, you go in that place, you go in a so-called
church. If you go in there, and those
three things I was talking about, if that gospel is being clearly
proclaimed in no uncertain terms, who God is, what man is, who
Christ is, I mean sovereign, successful, not trying anything,
doing. Not attempting, but atoning.
If they're preaching that, that one, if that preacher is setting
forth, like Christ said, if I be lifted up, exalted, set forth,
exalted, the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, if that
preacher is preaching the Lord Jesus Christ as he is in all
his glory, as our only hope, that's the church. Sit down there
and rest. You've found it. So that's the
sense in which churches pillar say they're holding up Christ. They're holding magnifying Christ
a lot. All right. He says now we're
the ground of the truth and I'll quit on it. Hadn't been long,
hadn't even been 30 minutes yet. The ground of the truth. The
church is where a man or a woman comes to hear the truth. The
church is where you're not going to hear the truth anywhere else.
you're going to hear it in the church. That's where you're going
to hear it, from a faithful gospel preacher in the church. And the
church is where a man or a woman comes to hear the truth, and
you become then grounded and settled in the truth. You become
grounded. You see, the church, like I've
already said, the church is built on that firm foundation that
no other can lay, but that which is already laid by God, Jesus
Christ the Lord, the foundation of the gospel, the foundation
of salvation. Jesus Christ, and you come in
and you hear that gospel, and the Holy Spirit pricks your heart,
convinces you of your sin, shows you who God is, a holy God, and
that you're a corrupt sinner, shows you your desperate need
of Christ, and you lay hold on Christ. And you become grounded
and settled right there. That's the gospel that saves
you. That's the gospel that keeps you safe. That's the gospel that
keeps you coming back to hear the gospel that saves you, that
keeps you safe, that keeps you coming back. You're grounded. I'm right here. You quit flying
high, you know, flying around, looking here, flowing here and
there, and you quit being tossed around with every wind of doctrine.
You can become grounded. Clip our wings, you know, and
we become grounded. We don't think we're, you know,
soaring eagles anymore. We've become worms. We've become
grounded down to earth, you know, where we really ought to be,
at the feet of Christ and hear that gospel. Now, this is an
interesting note, and I'll leave you with this. Do you have a
marginal reference there beside the word ground, ground of the
truth? What does it say in your margin
over your sight? Church of the living God, the pillar and ground
of the truth. You have a Cambridge Bible. It
says stay. Stay. Now, I looked up the word
stay and the verb stay means to rest. To rest. Like daddy's come home to stay. To rest. To rest. Well, to the
you who are troubled, rest with us. Stay right here. We've got
good news for you. It means also to depend, depend
upon. You can stay upon him. You can
depend on Christ, can't you? It means to rely. It means to
stand upon. That's the verb. The noun means,
any of you ever pitched a tent? You have a tent? What do you
use to tie the ropes off of? I'll tell
you what they're called anyway. They're called stays. Stays. That's the noun. That means it's
a fixed anchorage for a vessel that used to be moving. A fixed
anchorage for a vessel. Well, our anchor holds in a solid
rock, the song says. We become, we stay right there.
You come, you're looking for that pearl of great price and
you find it and you stay there. You're looking for that island,
that paradise? You find it in Christ. You stay
right there. You don't want to move anymore. Your ship has come
in. Come in to shore, hasn't it?
It's come in to shore. And as I already quoted, you
that are troubled, rest with us on Christ the solid rock.
And may God help us, may God help us to be stayed upon Jehovah. We're going to sing that song.
Would you come up there, Jeanette? May God help us to be stayed
upon Jehovah. Hearts are fully resting in him. And let this church, may God
enable this church to stay right here. Stay right here. And stay right here in the midst
of this community as a lighthouse in a dark place. And stay here
as a pillar and ground of God's truth. All right, let's sing this one.
What number is that? 287. Stand with me, let's sing
a couple of verses, 287. Here we go. First and last verses. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect feed, over all Victoria in its pride and greed. Perfect yet it flows Fuller every
day. Perfect yet it groweth. Deeper all the way. State upon Jehovah. Hearts are fully blessed. Finding, as he promised, perfect
peace and rest. Third verse. Every joy or trial,
all is from above. traced upon our dial by the Son
of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to do, they who trust Him wholly. State upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed. Thine in every promise, earth
in peace and grace.