Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Revelation, chapter 1. In your bulletin, the message
is listed as, What is a True Church? That's the title. And
you might see Revelation 2 through Revelation 3. I'm not going to
go verse by verse through chapters 2 and 3 in one message, so don't
be worried about that. Actually, the text of this, I
am going to give an overview, some things in common, because
that's where the Apostle John, after having given this revelation
from Christ, he sends this letter, the whole letter, revelation,
to the seven churches that are located in Asia Minor, which
would be modern day Turkey. It's a circular letter. They
were all to read all seven letters. The church at Ephesus was to
read their letter, but they were also to read the letters that
were written to the other six churches. And so, I thought the
best thing to do for an understanding of this, actually the text would
be verses 19 and 20 of chapter 1. concerning what is a true church.
And then I do want to give just a little overview of some things
that all seven letters have in common. But if you look at verse
19 of Revelation 1, the Lord told John, write the things which
thou hast seen, the things which are, The things which shall be
hereafter. Now, that is the whole time period
between the first advent, coming of Christ, up until his second
coming. Things that are going on now,
John says, in their lives. And then things that are going
to go on throughout the church age, the gospel millennium, which
leads up to his second coming. And he says in verse 20, the
mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars, he said, I'm
gonna reveal to you, I'm gonna tell you what this is. That's
the mystery, it's a mystery in the Bible, something that God
has to reveal to us. We don't know it by, it's not
like a mystery book or a mystery program where you gotta put together
clues or anything like that and figure it out. It means it's
something that's hidden until God shows it. And so he says,
the seven stars are the angels, and that word angels is messengers. He's not talking about angelic
beings, he's talking about men who have the message of the gospel,
the messengers, of the seven churches, that's the candlesticks.
Churches, plural. And the seven candlesticks which
thou sawest are the seven churches. So you have the ministers and
the churches. And I'll get into that in just
a moment. But think about the context of
this whole thing. The book of Revelation, I put
it in the bulletin last week and I hope you'll keep that because
it kind of gives you an overview of all of it. Seven visions and
the first vision has already started. It actually started
in verse 12 of chapter 1 and it goes all the way to the end
of chapter 3. With the letters to the seven churches. And here
we've seen Jesus Christ in the glory of his person. The power
of his finished work. He's the savior of the church. He's the builder, the Lord of
his church. Brother Jim just read it. Christ
told the disciples, upon this rock, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against us. And that
rock was not Peter. Some people say, well, that rock,
he used two different words for rock there. One of them was the
small rock, the little rock, the petros, that's Peter. That's
why, actually, Peter's given name was Simon. Simon bar Jonah
Simon son of Jonah, but God Christ gave him the the name of Peter
because he says you're a little stone But upon this rock, that's
a different word That's the big like the rock of Gibraltar The
big rock the foundation rock. I'll build my church and what
is that rocket Christ Jesus in the glory of his person and the
power of his finished work the church is not built upon any
man and If it were, it would fail. But it's built upon Christ. And that's
why the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So understand
that. And here in chapter 1, he stands
in the midst of his church. Christ is the foundation of the
church. Christ is the head of the church.
Christ is the heart and life of the church. and he walks among
the seven lampstands, the seven churches, the church in general,
the true churches, that's what we want to talk about, and he
holds the seven stars in his hand, and that's his ministers,
his witnesses. Remember, he's the alpha and
the omega, the beginning, the end, and everything in between,
the first and the last. He is alive forevermore. He holds
in His hands the keys of death and hell. Remember over there
what Brother Jim read? He said, I give you the keys
of the kingdom, the keys of death and hell. What is that? That's
the gospel. The gospel that reveals Him in
the glory of His person and the power of His finished work. We
have the keys if we preach the gospel. Now if you don't preach
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed, you don't have the keys. We were talking
about this last week about the issue of repentance. God has
commanded all men everywhere to repent because he's appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he has raised him from the dead. There's
the key. The righteousness of Christ. If I stand up here and
preach the righteousness of man, you don't have the keys to death
and hell. The key of salvation. If I preach
the works of man, the decisions of man as being salvation, that's
not the key. That won't open the door. But if I preach Christ, the God-man,
the Alpha and the Omega, one who is likened to the Son of
Man, the Messiah, who went to the cross and died for his sheep
and secured their salvation through his blood. Forgiveness of sins,
established righteousness by which God is just to justify
them. If I preach him, that's the key. That's what he gave his disciples.
Jesus Christ is our great high priest who has freed us from
our sins through the shedding of his own blood. He made us
a kingdom of priests, kings and priests to serve God our Father. And so when he talks about church,
churches, when you see that in the Bible, what does it mean?
What is the church? Well, the old theologians had
some terms for it. Some people don't like these
terms, but I don't see anything wrong with it. They would speak
of the universal church. Now what is the universal church?
Well, it's the whole company of the elect of God, chosen before
the foundation of the world and given to Christ. He was made
their surety. They're justified in Him. That
means they're forgiven of all their sins. They're declared
righteous before God based upon what Christ accomplished in the
merits of His obedience unto death as their surety, as their
substitute, by His cross death, and He redeemed them. They're
the redeemed of the Lord out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation all over this world, throughout every age. He called
them His sheep, Christ's sheep. He said, the Good Shepherd gives
His life for the sheep. and the sheep are made up of
the elect of God. That's what the Bible teaches.
I know people don't like to hear that today, but I'm gonna tell
you something. It's a glorious truth that brings
comfort and peace and assurance to the people of God who are
looking to Christ as your whole salvation. They're the called
of God. He calls them out. You know,
the word church, literally means called out. Called out. I'll get to that in a minute.
But there's several names for this, what we call the universal
church, which is made up again of all who are brought to faith
in Christ all over this world throughout every age. They're
called the body of Christ. He's the head, we're the body. Colossians 118 says he's the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence."
A true church is where Christ has the preeminence, not man. As I said, the root meaning of
church is not of a building. This building is not a church.
It's a place where the church, the people of God, meet. Ephesians chapter one speaks
of that. God placed all things under his
feet and appointed him, Christ, to be head over everything for
the church, which is his body. The fullness of him who fills
everything in every way. God's elect, God's building.
God's building in which Christ is the chief cornerstone. Remember
how Peter calls him the chief cornerstone. And you know what
that means? That means everything in the
church is to be measured, valued, as it pertains to the glory of
his person and the power of his finished work. We're to be measured
by Christ. We're not here to compare ourselves
with ourselves. If you compare yourself to me,
you might come out looking pretty good. But the problem is, is
I'm not the standard. I'm not the cornerstone. Christ
is. So if you've got it in your mind
to brag about your love and your obedience, compare it to Christ's
love. Compare it to his obedience.
And I'm gonna tell you something, whether you see it or not, you
fall way short. So do I. I must have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's justice. And the only way I can
have it is through Christ, God charging it to me, imputing it
to me, giving it to me. That's the only way. Christ calls
out His people. He said the gates of hell will
not prevail against His church. Why? Because He's the victor.
We are victors, but only because He's the victor. He told His
disciples, in the world you'll have tribulation, trouble, but
be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. They're called
the church, the true church is called the redeemed of the Lord.
In the book of Acts, when Paul was talking to the Ephesian elders,
In Acts chapter 20, here's what he said in verse 28. Take heed
therefore 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. For whom
did Christ die? He died for his church. He died
for his sheep. They're called his bride. You
remember when Paul was talking about the marriage of a man and
woman in Ephesians chapter five? When he said, husbands, love
your wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, be subject to
your husbands as unto the Lord. At the end of that passage, here's
what he says in Ephesians 5.32. Listen to this. He says, this
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church. He's the husband, the church
is his bride. I think about what Paul wrote
in 2 Corinthians 11.2 when he told The Corinthian believers,
he said, I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy because I've
espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. The church is not married to
the pastor. The pastor's part of the church, the bride of Christ,
we're married to Christ. Think about that. The church
is called the heavenly Jerusalem, did you know that? Look, you
don't have to turn there, but let me just read this to you.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22, talking about believers. He says,
you're not coming to Mount Sinai, the law, and you are not come
to Mount Sinai, the law, but you're come to Mount Sion. That's
a word that typifies and pictures the true church. and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, a spiritual Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, the firstborn being Christ, referring
to his resurrection from the dead, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, even those saints that have gone on to be with
the Lord, that's his church. The question that one might ask
is this, am I part of that body? Am I a member of this church?
I'm not talking about this local church now. We join local churches,
but am I a member of that great body that Christ redeemed, the
elect of God, the sheepfold, a member of Christ's church?
Well, the Bible teaches us that the evidence of one who is a
member of this body is God-given faith in Christ as, now listen
to this, don't let this go by you, as he is identified and
distinguished in this book. Many people serve a Christ whom
they think he is, but their thoughts of him are not according to the
scripture. not according to the truth. Now, as I said before,
the word church, it's a translation of a Greek word, ecclesia, which
is defined as an assembly or called out ones. They've been
called out. Well, how have they been called?
They've been called out by the preaching of the gospel and the
power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote this in Ephesians
four and verse four, there's one body, Not many, not many
denominations. One body, one spirit, even as
you are called in one hope of your calling. You know what people
see as denominationalism has to do with different ways, different
truths, opposing truths. That's not the true church. In
fact, I'll show you in just a moment, that's Satan's tears. who call
themselves Christian but are so in name only. But listen to
what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2. This is verse 13. He said,
we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit, setting apart
by the spirit, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called
you, how? By our gospel. to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." That's the church universal. Sinners chosen of God, justified
in Christ, redeemed by the blood, called out by the Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel. The good news of how God saves
sinners. Turn to Acts chapter 2 with me. John was told to send this letter
to seven different congregations in Asia Minor. And that's what we might look
at this way, the visible church here on earth or the churches,
local congregations. What is a true church? Which
local congregation should I attend? That's important, isn't it? That's
a consideration. You go around this city and you'll
see churches on every street corner and in between. They call
themselves churches. Are they true churches? Now,
you might just say, well, they're all preaching the truth. Are
they? The only way you can know that is if you enter into every
one of them and hear what's preached and judge it according to the
scripture. What are they preaching? Well, a true church is where
people are gathered together in the truth of God's grace in
Christ, the gospel. Look at Acts chapter two and
look at verse 42, or verse 41 rather. This is after Peter had
preached that message of the gospel at Pentecost. And it says
in verse 41, then they that gladly received his word, were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls. Boy, wouldn't you like to see
that? That was the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a special
way for that to begin to inaugurate the gospel millennium. And it
says in verse 42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship. What is the apostles' doctrine?
Well, that's what the New Testament tells us. You know, the first letter that
you find in the New Testament was not the first letter that
was written in time. It's the book of Romans, the
first letter, the first epistle to the churches. But that letter
encapsulates the whole doctrine of Christ in all of its 16 chapters. And it starts out by talking
about the gospel of God which lies in the person of Christ,
who is made of the seed of David according to the flesh, that's
His sinless humanity. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one Savior, the one mediator between God and sinners, is every
bit human without sin. made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, his humanity came through the royal line of Judah,
of which both Joseph and Mary were part. But he didn't come
through Joseph, he came through Mary. He was conceived in the
womb of the Virgin by the Spirit, in Mary's womb. That's his sinless
humanity. And it said he was declared to
be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the
dead. That's his deity. That's the doctrine of His person.
Who is Jesus Christ? God, manifest in the flesh. When Paul wrote to Timothy in
that passage that we read in the opening, the church which
is the pillar and the ground of truth, he started out great
as the mystery of godliness. God, manifest in the flesh. That's who Christ is. Any local
assembly who denies either the deity of Christ or the sinless
humanity of Christ is not a true church. And then Paul goes on over and
he says in verse 16 and 17 of Romans 1, he says, For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation, the gospel of Christ, the power of God unto salvation,
unto everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek
or the Gentile. In other words, these racial,
national barriers have nothing to do with salvation. It's any
person who God has brought to faith in Christ. Verse 17 says,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just or the justified shall live
by faith. Now whatever the gospel is, it
is the gospel of Christ, and it's the revelation of the righteousness
of God. Now it would do you well, and
it'd do me well, to get into this Bible and find out exactly
what the righteousness of God is. What is that? And the Bible's very clear what
it is. I wrote a book about it. What
is the righteousness of God? And it's full of scripture. But
that's the righteousness that you and I must have if we're
to be saved, if we're to be part of the true church. And that
righteousness is the entire merit, value, worth of what Jesus Christ,
God manifest in the flesh, accomplished for His people by His obedience
unto death on the cross. And so that passage when we talk
about that God's going to judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead, that's
the righteousness of Christ. That's what you and I must have
in order to be saved. How do I have that righteousness? The Bible says we have it by
the work of imputation. Well, what is that kind of work?
Turn to Romans chapter four with me. Talking about Abraham's justification. Do you know what it is to be
justified before God? Well, it's to be forgiven of
all my sins on a just ground. That's what it is. It's not just
to be forgiven now. It's to be forgiven on a ground
that makes it right in the eyes of a holy and just God who cannot
merely pass over or deny sin. He must deal with it. He must
punish sin where it's found. So to be forgiven is to be forgiven
of all my sins on a just ground. Well, what is the one just ground
upon which God forgives the sins of his church? Well, we read
it in Acts chapter 20. The church of God which he purchased
with what? His own blood. The death of Christ
is the only just ground upon which God forgives my sins. But
to be justified is more than forgiveness, it's also to be
declared righteous in the sight of God who knows my every thought,
my every motive, my every goal. Think about that. Think about
somebody being able to know every thought you think. every motive you have, every
goal you think about. And ask yourself, could I be
declared righteous in God's sight based upon that? Well, you'd
be ashamed, wouldn't you? If I drop a screen down here
and flash your thoughts, my thoughts on that screen for everybody
to see, every thought now, you would probably sink down in the
pew, wouldn't you? Now be honest. I'd sink down
behind the pulpit and hope you all would leave quietly. Well then how can a holy God
who sees those thoughts, knows those thoughts, how could He
declare me righteous? Well look at Romans chapter 4
and look at verse 6, quoting from the Old Testament here,
He says, even as David also describeth the blessedness unto the man,
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. What does it mean to impute?
It means to lay to the account of, to charge it. When you go
out and spend money and give them a credit card, they impute
that charge to your account. You gotta pay it. where the charges
of God's church were imputed to Christ before the foundation
of the world. He was made our surety. That's
what a surety does. He becomes responsible for the
debt of another. And in order to pay our debt,
he had to become incarnate. The word had to be made flesh
and dwell among us and die on the cross and establish a perfect
righteousness which God accounts, charges, Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without worth. Now how do I know
if I have that righteousness imputed to me? How do I know
that his blood was shed for me? Well, what is the meaning of
church? Called out ones. Called out how? By the gospel wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed. That's it. That's the true church. And when it comes to churches,
the visible church here on earth, where do I go? I go where that
truth is preached. And if that truth isn't preached,
I don't go there. I don't care how many of them
are there. I don't care how emotional they get or whatever. If they
don't preach that gospel, I don't go there. Now that's just the
fact of it. These seven churches back here
in Revelation. Seven visible assemblies of people,
churches founded upon the truth, but as we'll see they were not
perfect as assemblies here on earth. There's no church here
on earth that's perfect. Now there are churches that preach
the gospel, but the problem is they're full of sinners saved
by grace and sinners who are just mere professors. Recall how the number seven represents
completeness and perfection. The letters to the seven churches
means these letters and these situations described here are
representative of the whole church throughout the gospel age here
on earth. The universal church is made
up only of God's true sheep. But while we're here on earth,
In the true church, even where the gospel is preached, you'll
have believers and unbelievers. Christ dealt with that in the
kingdom parables in Matthew 13. You remember he said you'll have
different kinds of hearers. You'll have the stony ground
here, the wayside here, the thorny ground here, and then you'll
have the good hearer. That's the one whom God has made
good by his grace. Throughout these visions, John
uses language and symbols serves as pictures of a cosmic struggle
between Christ and Satan, but the battle's already won. Christ
has already won the battle. And the Lord goes throughout
this age planting His churches throughout, and while on earth
made up of sinners saved by grace, true believers, and false professors,
in the end at judgment He'll separate the sheep from the goats. What are the marks of a true
church? Number one, truth. Preaching the gospel and the
scriptures. Administering the ordinances, and when I finish,
we're gonna take the Lord's Supper. Baptism, believer's baptism,
and serving the Lord's Supper. This supper is only for believers,
you know that, don't you? If you're an unbeliever, you're
not to take this supper. Now I don't police that, we don't
police it, it's up to you. It's between you and the Lord.
The Bible says, so let a man examine himself, and so let he
me. So you examine yourself according to this truth, this standard.
It's also discipline. We exercise discipline, not by
committee, not by law, but by love. And that discipline comes
mainly through the preaching of the scriptures. Three things that are common
in all seven of these churches. Christ begins each letter to
each church, He says, unto the angel of the church. That's the
messenger, the preacher, the ministers. It's not just one
person, they may have pastors, they'll have elders. But we're all witnesses for Christ. He says, I know thy works. Works
don't save us, you know that. But they reveal things about
us. They can reveal the fruitfulness of God's grace and power within
us. They can reveal that we're weak and sinful even though saved
by grace. They can reveal that our faith
is either mere outward profession. not genuine or true genuine faith. The good works of true believers
are the work of Christ within. They're the preordination of
God. Remember in Ephesians chapter
two, verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, not because of, but unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. They're the fruit
and the of His power and grace. The sins of believers reveal
our struggles with the flesh and that we have no righteousness
in ourselves, but our righteousness is in another, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The evil deeds of false professors
are the works of the flesh. They deny or they compromise
the truth of God's power and grace. The question here is are
we true believers or false professors? Christ knows the truth about
us. And then he says this, and I'll conclude with this. In each
one, he says this. He said, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Why
does he have to say that? Well, it's because we by nature,
as we are naturally born, are spiritually dead. and have no
desire or ability to hear the truth of God unto faith. Christ dealt with that in Matthew
13 when the disciples asked him the question, why do you speak
in parables? He said, because they seeing see not and hearing
they hear not, they shut their ears lest they be converted.
It's kind of like me before I was converted. I told my mother,
I said, if what that preacher said today is true, I'm lost.
And I didn't want to hear that. But then the Lord gave me ears
to hear, gave me eyes to see. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, they are of the Lord, Proverbs tells us. You must be born again
or you cannot see or cannot hear or cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. Isn't that right? So what is
a true church? It's where the truth is preached
from the Word of God. Not man's opinions, not changing
with the times, whatever God says, let God be true and every
man a liar. Okay, we'll finish there.