I sure am glad the blood reaches
deeper than the stain is gone. Praise the Lord for that. Ephesians
chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. Now, I've entitled
this message, The Church of Which I Must Be a Member. The church of which I must be
a member. Now Paul is giving this description
of the church. And he says, he had put verse
22. He had put all things under his feet and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
The completeness of him that filleth all in all. Now, what a description of the
church. More on what that means in a
moment, but what we're doing right now is a divinely appointed
supernatural thing. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
11 verse 18, when you come together in the church, and that's what
we're doing right now. We're coming together in the
church. The Lord said where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Do you know every time we meet
together, the Lord promises his presence. And if he promises
his presence, you know what? We have it. You know, coming
to church is coming to be in his presence. And when I don't
come, I'm not coming to a place where he is. This is a supernatural thing.
The church An organism, not an organization, not a building,
but an organism coming together to worship her head, her husband,
her Lord, her master, her savior, the Lord Jesus Christ coming
together to hear his word. Coming together to sing His praises. Understand, the singing of these
hymns is part of the worship of Christ. We're singing of Him.
Coming together to meet with His people. Coming together to
call upon His name. Coming to church is necessary,
isn't it? It's necessary. The church is no man-made institution. It's the church of the living
God. It's not something even that had a beginning. You know,
we read of the church in the wilderness before the New Testament
ever came around. And the Lord says to every member
of his church, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now, if he knew me, I was. I
don't understand that. But the church always has been
in the mind and purpose of God. It always has been. He says,
behold, I have loved you. Not I will love you when you're
existent, but I have loved you with an everlasting love, a love
that had no beginning. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. Now the Bible uses the word church
in two ways. First, there's the local church.
like this one, Todd's Road Grace Church. When those letters were
addressed to the seven churches in Asia, they were local churches. There's the church of Corinth,
there's the church of Colossa, there's the church at Ephesus,
there's the church at Danville, there's the church in Cherokee,
there's the church in Wheelersburg, there's the church in Ashland,
there's the church in Any local church, the church in Danville,
any local church that's a called out assembly, a local something
you can see. Thank God for the local church.
This is my family. It really is. Men and women who
believe the gospel. who preach the gospel, who are
saved by the gospel. You know, I don't believe somebody
that has no interest in being a part of a local church really
has any love for the Lord, because you can't love the Lord and not
love his body, can you? And the church is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. But you know, in every local
church, and you know this as well as I do, in every local
church, you have a mixture of believers and unbelievers. Lord
told us it'd be that way. sheep and goats, wheat and tares. And we're also commanded to not
try to tear out the tares. Lord says don't do that because
here's what'll happen. If I start trying to tear out the tares,
I know what I'll tear up. I'll tear up the sheep. I just know
it. We don't have enough sense to
be able to do that. We're not trying to have a pure
membership in that sense. The Lord knows them that are
His and we're satisfied with that. But we know that in every
local church there are wheat and tares, there are goats and
sheep, there are saved and lost. That's the way it's always going
to be. But the Bible also speaks of the church in this sense.
the universal church or the Catholic church. Now, understand this,
Catholic church, that has nothing to do with Roman Catholicism.
Catholic means universal. The universal church, the church
of God's elect, the church that Christ builds. I think of What
the Lord said to his disciples, he said, whom do men say that
I, the son of man, am? And they said, well, they put
you in some pretty illustrious company. Some say Elijah, some
say John the Baptist or one of the prophets. He said, but whom
say ye that I am? Peter answered, thou art the
Christ, God's anointed prophet, God's anointed priest, God's
anointed king. You know the grace of the spirit
that we're left with now abideth faith, hope, and charity. These
three, the greatest of these is charity. You remember that
passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians 13. That's the grace that's left
with us. That's what we all have if we're
believers, faith, hope, and charity. Faith corresponds with him being
the prophet. We believe his word. Hope corresponds
with him being the priest. And we really believe as our
great high priest, he represents us and saves us. We believe God
accepted his sacrifice. And love goes along with him
being the king. We love him being the king and
we need him to be the king. We need him to rule and reign
over us. We need him by his sovereign will to cause us to do his will.
We need that, don't we? We love him as prophet, priest,
and king. Thou, Peter said, art the Christ,
the son of the living God. And the Lord answered, blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood have not revealed
this to thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And thou
art Peter, and upon this rock, this confession of me, he says,
I will build my house. church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Now that's the church of which
I must be a member. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the same church that Paul
spoke of in Acts chapter 20 verse 28 when he said be the church
of God which he had purchased with his own blood. It's the
same church of which Paul said in Ephesians 5.25, Husbands,
love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. It's the same church that Paul
spoke of in 1 Timothy 3.15 when he says the church of the living
God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. It's the same church
the writer of the Hebrews spoke of when he spoke of the church
of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. Now that's
the church I must be a member of. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let me give you some things
God's word says about this church. Ephesians 1, that passage we
just read, the church is his body, the fullness, the completeness
of him that filleth all things. in all. Now, it's a hard thing
to get a hold of, but I believe it because the Bible says it.
The Lord wouldn't be complete without
me. That's hard to say, isn't it? But that's what he calls
the church. I don't understand that. I just
believe it because the Bible says it. The church is the fullness,
the completeness of Him that filleth all in all. Now, you
ever look at your life and you think, man, my life's so vain.
It's so meaningless. It's so useless. I just seem
like I'm spinning my wheels all the time. Listen to me. If you're
a believer, oh, what significance you have. You're a part of His
bride. You're a part of His body, a
part of Him that filleth all things in all, and He wouldn't
be complete without you. Now, do I understand that? No,
because it seems like He can do just fine without me. I understand
His thinking that way. But God's Word tells us that
the church is the fullness, the completeness of Him that filleth
all things in all. It's His body. It's His body. This is the body of Christ. Literally? Literally. The temple of the Holy Ghost. The habitation of God. That's
what the church is called. What significance? The church
is the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Ephesians chapter
five, since you're already there in Ephesians, look at this, this
passage. Husbands, verse 25, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church. and gave Himself for it, that
He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word, that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. Either loveth his wife, loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his flesh, but nourisheth
it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the church. For we
are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Do you
remember what he said to Saul? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou? me. Saul couldn't get to the
Lord, but when Saul persecuted any of his body, he was persecuting
the Lord himself. Verse 31, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and should be joined unto his
wife and they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Paul even calls
the church the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, how
in the world is the church the pillar and ground of the truth?
I mean, you look at the church, really, it seems like a feeble
bunch of people. Look at us. Look at us. We're weak. We're
sinful. I could go on and on about the
description of what we are, and yet Paul calls the church the
pillar and ground of the truth. Now, how is that? Through the
church. We see the very character and
nature and attributes of God. His goodness in saving a bunch
like us. Is God good? We see His mercy. We see His
sovereignty. He picked out His own bride.
We see His justice. He made a way to be just and
justify the ungodly. All of God's attributes are displayed
in the salvation of the church. That's why God saves sinners,
to glorify himself, to make known who he is, to display who he
is. The church is the pillar and the ground of the truth.
I love that song. Glorious things of thee are spoken.
Zion, city of our God. It's a blessed thing to be in
the church. According to Revelation 2 verse 1, Christ walks in the
midst of the churches. Now, where can I find the person
of Christ? Right here. In the midst of His people. Where His church gathers together
and that gives us some idea of the importance of what we're
doing. The Lord Jesus Christ is here, right now, in our midst,
walking with His people. Are you a true church member?
Do you belong to the true church? And I'm not asking you right
now about a local church. You can have your name on the
roll of the true local church and miss Christ altogether. And
you can never be a member of a true local church and be in
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the thief on
the cross wasn't a member of any local church, was he? But
he was in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, wasn't he? And
he was saved by the grace of God. Now, church means A called-out
assembly. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is made of everybody that God calls. All of God's elect. All for whom Christ died. All
that God the Holy Spirit calls effectually. Turn with me to
1 Corinthians 1. Verse 22, require a sign. The religious
fellows, they need something tangible that they can see that
proves that God's in it. And the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called. Both Jews and Greeks. Christ,
the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. Now this church,
it's the ones God has called. He doesn't call everybody like
this, does he? But to them which are called. This church is a
church of which all of the members have the same marks. They're all new creatures in
Christ Jesus, born of the spirit of God. They all have repentance
toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. They all love
Christ and they all hate sin. That's why they hate themselves
so bad. They all draw everything from one book, the Bible. And
they're at complete agreement. They don't look to men for anything.
They look to the word of God alone. They really believe, everybody
that's in this church, they really believe the scriptures alone
as our only rule of faith and practice. They really believe
that. They really believe Christ alone as the only grant of their
salvation and everything in their salvation. They really believe
grace alone. They really believe salvation
is what God does for them, not what they let God do. Not what
they ask God to do, it's what God does for them. Salvation
to the Lord from the beginning to the end, from election to
glorification and everything in between. Salvation is all
utterly by the grace of God. Every one of our members believe
that. I mean, there's complete agreement. Every one of them
believe God's glory is the only motive that's any good. Every
one of them believe that salvation comes through faith, not by doing. but by believing." They're in
complete agreement. They're truly one. They all believe
that Christ is all. Now, this is a church that depends
on no man. This church. It depends on no
man. Now, what do I mean by that?
I'm thankful for the Lord's undershepherds. I'm thankful for a God-called
pastor. Thankful for that. I was raised
up in a church with a God-called pastor. What a blessed privilege
that is. Very few people get to be raised
up like I was, hearing the gospel all my life. And I'm so thankful
for that. But a God-called pastor is still
just a week sinful, fallible man. You're looking at one. A
weak, sinful, fallible man. Now, a church, a local church,
thank God for a true under shepherd. Thank God for that. But you know
what? Generally speaking, the Lord
raises up a man. I can't say this all the time,
but generally speaking, the way the Lord works, He raises up
a man. And when He's called out of people, that church just kind
of disintegrates. It doesn't continue. It's rare
for a church to get past one pastor. Now, some have, but for
the most part, they don't. But in this church, it's not
dependent upon a man. It's not dependent upon a charismatic
personality. It needs no assistance from man. It needs no money. It needs no
buildings. It needs no pulpits. It needs
no act of favor from man in any way. This church is not dependent
upon any man. This church is completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the church of which
I must be a member, where Christ is the head. It's not dependent
upon any man. And this is the church of which
all the promised blessings of the Bible really are. This is
God's building. This is the body of Christ. This
is the family of God. This is the church of the firstborn. This is the temple of the Holy
Ghost. This is the one which is described
as a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. This is the habitation of God.
This is the light of the world. This is the salt of the earth. This is that church of which
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is the church
militant, as the old writers called it, who battered down
the gates of hell and captured God's people and bring them out.
This is the church triumphant. This is the only church that
possesses true unity. All of its members are at perfect
agreement. You see, they have the same Savior.
They have the same nature. They've been saved the same way.
They have the same teacher. They all believe the same thing
right down the line. There's no difference in what
they believe. You take them that have never met each other, and
you're going to find out they believe the same things. All
over the world, all the members of this true church, they all
have the same thoughts of God. They all have the same thoughts
of themselves. They all have the same thoughts of the Savior.
They're at perfect unity, not a thread of disagreement. Perfect agreement in this church. It's the church that is truly
Catholic, universal. made of men and women from every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. They're all one in Christ Jesus.
This is the only truly apostolic church. Now, the Lord gave the
apostles. You think of the apostles. We learn the gospel. The first
person I think of is the Apostle Paul. Remember, he said, I'm
a wise master builder. The Lord made him that way, and
he expounded the gospel for us. The Lord took him up into the
third heavens. He was taught the gospel. He
said, the gospel which was preached of me was not after man. For
I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but
by the revelation of the Lord. That's how he learned the gospel.
And we're so dependent on the apostles. But every church claims
to be an apostolic church. But this church is. It's truly
founded on the doctrine of the apostles and the fellowship of
the apostles. It does not acknowledge anything
else except apostolic doctrine. This is the church in which all
of its members endure to the end. Now, I got to thinking about
this. We've been at this for 27 years here. We started this
church in 1982. All the people that have come
and gone. I mean, there's people that were here quite a while,
but they left. Where are they now? I mean, there's
been so many people come and go. Bright like a comet. Everybody's impressed with them.
But where are they now? Come and go. Come and go. But
in this church, everybody endures all the way to the end. You may persecute them. You may
imprison them. You may beat them. You may behead
them. You may burn them at the stake. But they still endure
no matter how much Satan and the world have sought to extinguish
this church. It can't be done. This is an
anvil that breaks every hammer that knocks against it. The church
of the living God. It's the only church where no
member can perish. They're eternally secure. You
see, they were elected by the Father. When God the Father willed
their salvation, say they are, not they will be, but they are.
Oh, the will of God is so supreme when he wills it, it's done.
This is the church where Christ paid for all their sins. They
don't have any sins. Truly, the blood has gone deeper
than the stain. This is the church where all of its members are
holy. Holy, given a holy nature. Every member, not holy in word,
not holy by profession, but holy in actuality, a holy nation. Holy brethren, partakers of the
holy calling, all the members of this church are holy. They've
all been given this nature from the Holy Spirit. This is the
church which does the work of Christ upon the earth. You know, it may appear weak
and without a whole lot of influence, but it is through the church
that the living God acts. It's through her prayers that
He does what He does. It's through her preaching that
He calls out His people. The church is the light of the
world. It's what the Lord calls us. He said, you're the light
of the world. The church is that candle that's not set under a
bushel. It's the light of the world.
It's the city on a hill. It's the salt of the earth. It
spreads the gospel net. This is what gospel preaching
is. It's spreading the gospel net. Don Fortner told me this week
about he was hearing a preacher, and I thought this was so good.
He heard him somewhere in St. Louis, but he said gospel preaching
is like spreading the net. And this is true gospel preaching.
Now, spreading the net for fishing. There's two ways to fish. You
can cast a hook into the sea, And, but, you know, that's not
the way gospel preaching works because you've got to bait the
hook. It's deceitful. That's what bait is. You're trying to
trick the fish. That's what most religion is.
It's trying to trick people into something. But, but in, in true
gospel preaching, you're not trying to bait anything. You're
not trying to trick them into doing anything. You're just throwing
out the net and bringing them in. And that's the kingdom of
heaven is compared to a great net that brought in all these
fish. That's what the church does. We preach the gospel. We put out the net. We don't
try to deceive anybody. We don't try to trick anybody.
We don't try to bring the truth in the back door. We don't try
to give somebody else some bait first to get them in. No, we
preach the gospel. And we look to the Lord to take
care of the results. That is what the Lord does. He works
through the church. And this is the church that will
be truly glorious at the end. The bride adorned in the wedding
garment, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. Now all
these institutions that we see, the government, kingdoms, religion,
all the stuff we see, everything we're around, you know it's all
going to be gone. It's all going to be dissolved. But you know
what's going to be eternal? The church of the living God,
His body, His bride. Oh, truly, it's going to be a
glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's when the Lord parades
His church. Now, I love thinking about this. I am, a lot of things I am, you
too, but one of the things I am, I'm a trophy of His grace. When
I'm brought into heaven, When I'm brought into heaven,
there will be no doubt that this is the work of Christ alone. No credit to Todd at all. He was a gift. No, I'm a trophy
of grace. Every believer is a trophy of
grace and we're going to be seen as we really are without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing. That's what the bride of Christ
is. This is the church of which a
man must belong if he would be saved. Now, this is an invisible
church. Can't see it right now. It's
invisible. You can't go to a place and say,
this is where it's at. It's an invisible church. It's
made of all of God's elect, all of God's people from all ages.
Now, how can I know if I'm a member of this invisible church? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. If you're somebody who right
now, the only hope that you have is the righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ as your righteousness before God, If you're somebody
who the only hope you have is that Christ actually put away
your sins and He's all you'll plea. You won't plea anything
else but Him and Him alone. You look to Him as everything
in your salvation. You really believe that. You
really believe that He is the way. You really believe that
He is the truth. You really believe that He is
the life. He's your way to God. He's the truth of God. He's your
life. His life is your life. You don't
look anywhere else. Now, faith is the evidence of
things. not same. You find me anybody
who believes the gospel and I'll find you somebody that's in this
church, the church of the living God, the church of which I must
be a member. Let's pray.