Would you turn back to Acts chapter
20? In the last fourth of verse 28,
we read these words, the church of God. I've entitled this message, The
Doctrine of the Church. Now, by doctrine, I do not mean
the doctrine the church stands for, because the church stands
for every word of God. That is the doctrine of God,
everything that comes from His mouth, everything in His Word. And it can be summarized by this
statement. We preach Christ crucified. That's
the doctrine of the church. But that's not what I'm wanting
us to consider. Well, it better be what I consider
every time I preach. I don't wanna say, well, let's
go on from something else, but I wanna see what the Bible teaches
concerning the church. Now, this is Paul's message to
the Ephesian elders the pastors of the churches in Ephesus, and
he says unto them, take heed therefore unto yourselves. Now that's the first admonition,
and that's so important. We're gonna consider that more
next week as to what that means. Take heed to yourselves. I think of what Paul said to
Timothy. Take heed to yourself and to
the doctrine. Continue in them. In doing this,
thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee. So this
is such an important admonition. Take heed to yourselves and to
all the flock. The church is compared to a flock
of sheep and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers. Now, if I'm a true pastor, God
made me one, over which the Holy Ghost has
made you overseers. This is not anything less than
a God called thing. He says to these elders, God
the Holy Spirit, made you the overseers, and that word means
one who's on the watch. The Old Testament word is watchman,
watchman. And here's what these elders
are called on to do, to feed the church of God, which he had
purchased with his own blood. Now the first thing that I would
notice is the church needs to eat. You know why? It's living. It's not an institution. It's
living. The living church of God. They which have spiritual life. And then he makes this amazing
statement. The church of God is the one
that God purchased with his own blood. What a statement. The blood of God. The blood of
Jesus Christ is the blood of God. And I say that with fear.
I say that with trembling. Such a glorious thing to speak
of. And he purchased, he paid for
the sins of the church. They're gone. He's gonna have
what he purchased, didn't he? You think there's any way the
Lord would purchase something and not get what he paid for? No, not him, not him. Feed the
church of God which he purchased. This is another, just my way
of, I'm not gonna say a lot about it, but this talks about the
deity of Jesus Christ. He is God who purchased the church
with his own blood. Now, let me give you some things
the Bible says about church, church, we've come to church. What is the church? Well, in Ephesians chapter one,
verse 23, the church is called his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. Now, what all can I say about
that? Read it, repeat it, be awed by what it says. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is said to be His body. He said in Ephesians 4, you are
the body of Christ and members in particular. Every individual
believer is a member of the mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is called the temple
of God. That's the place where God dwells. The church is the place where
God dwells. The church is called his brethren. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one for
the which cause he's not ashamed to call them, every member of
the church, brethren. He's not ashamed to call me,
he's my brother. He's my brother. In the midst of the church, will
I sing praise to thee. Who's singing in the midst of
the church? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. The church is all of those who
are united to him. You know, when we're told to
pray, our father, which art in heaven. You know, that's the
way the Lord tells us to pray, isn't it? Not my father, but
our father, who art in heaven. That hour encompasses the whole
church of God, every one of the elect. We actually pray as the
church when we pray privately. Our Father, who art in heaven. Somebody says, well, I don't
generally pray that way. Well, start doing it then. Because
this is the way the Lord said to pray. Our Father, which art
in heaven. The church is said to be his
bride. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, 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 blame before him. In the Psalm of Solomon, Christ
said regarding his church, I am ravished. That's the words of
the Lord. I am ravished by one of your
eyes. When the Lord looks at every
individual member of the church, it's like he's looking at the
only one. And he says, I'm ravished by you. What an incredible thought,
isn't it? He walks in the midst of the
golden candlesticks. Now will you turn with me to
Romans, I mean, Revelation chapter one, last verse of Revelation
chapter one. Verse 20, the mystery of the
seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches, and that's talking about the pastor of the
church, the pastors of the seven churches, that's who the angels
are. Someone was trying to argue with me for plurality of elders. Every church ought to have a
bunch of different elders. And I said, well, they didn't
in Revelation. I said, the angels were just to the angel of the
church, to the angel of the church. He said, well, those are talking
about real angels. I thought, well, no point in
going on in this conversation. It's the pastor of the church,
but look what he says. And the candlesticks which thou
saw'st are the seven churches, unto the angel of the church
at Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks. You know what that means? That
means Jesus Christ himself is walking in our midst right now. is here. He said where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst
of them. It is only in the midst of the
church that we'll hear this song in the midst of the church while
I sing praise unto thy name. Now, just on the side, the Lord's
here. Somebody says, I don't feel him.
So, he's still here. And I'm not saying that facetiously,
he's still here. He's promised to always be in
the gathering of his people. Why is church attendance important? Here's the only reason I got
to give. He's here. He's here. No other reason is
needed. I've heard people say, well,
I don't want to become legalistic about church attendance. Well,
I don't want to become legalistic about anything. But what if I
called Lynn Monday or Tuesday and said, well, I don't want
to be legalistic about coming home tonight. I don't think I'm coming home.
Or what if your kids came up to you and said, quit being so
legalistic about me going to school. Okay, you don't have
to go today. Nobody would do that. The importance
of church attendance is he is here. Now by definition, church
means a called out assembly. That's what the word means, a
called out assembly. assembly. And several times we
read in the New Testament, when you gather together, that's what's
going on right now. When you gather together, that's
what church is. It's gathering together in his
name. Now sheep were meant to be in
flocks. Notice how he called the church,
the flock of God. And in our text, sheep are fed
in the flock. Now this is how sheep eat, through
the preaching of the gospel. That is how the sheep are fed,
they're fed in the flock. Now if the gospel is being preached,
and I'm not being fed, I'm sick. Something's wrong with me. If
the gospel is being preached, that's if the gospel is not being
preached. No, but if the gospel is being preached and I'm not
being fed, something's wrong with me. I'm sick. I've lost
my appetite. Something is wrong. Now, the first mention of the
church is found in Matthew 16. If you'll turn with me there. Verse 18, and I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Now, I hope I don't have to prove
to you that he's not talking about Peter. The church ain't
built on Peter. Peter was a weak, sinful, fallible
man, impetuous, just all kinds of problems with Peter, like
me. Like the church isn't built on a man in that sense. He's
not saying, upon Peter I'm building my church. Thou art Peter and
upon this rock I will build my church. This confession of me. Now this is what the church is
built on. This confession of Jesus Christ. Everything is predicated on who
he is. Everything. Let me repeat that
and double that. Everything. is predicated on
who he is. Whom do men say that I am? Well,
the disciples said, they put you in high cotton. Some say
you're Jeremiah, some say you're Elijah, one of the prophets.
Now, notice these things are all contradictory, and they're
wrong, but they still gave him some high commendation as being
with those people. But he said, whom do you say
that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He's God's Christ. That means
he's the Word of God, he's God's prophet. This is the divine authority
of the Son of God. When God speaks, Christ is what
he speaks and who he speaks. the very Word of God. He's God's priest. He's not like
these man-made priests that come, people supposedly confess their
sins to Him and all that kind of stuff, and they can't do anything
for anybody. If He represents you before the Father, you must
be saved. Oh, I love that scripture. Peter,
I have prayed for you. Oh, if he prays for you, if he
represents you, you must be saved. He's God's king, the eternal
king of glory, the one whose will is always done. He's the
son of God. This is the that Christ builds
his church on. And he's the one who does the
building. You know, when somebody says, I'm involved in church
planning, you know, something about that just irritates me.
Christ builds his church. Now, the Lord may impress someone
to go somewhere and start preaching
the gospel and some other church will be behind it, I believe
that. But when somebody just says, well, I'm a planner church.
Oh, okay, you know that. Here's our philosophy of church
planting. Christ said, I will build the
church. I will build the church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Our philosophy on church growth
is the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. That's our philosophy of church
growth. The Lord added to the church. Daily, such as should
be saved. Now this word church, the Lord
says upon this rock I'll build my church. This word church is
used in two senses in the New Testament, both of which are
very important. There is the universal church
and there is the local church. Now this is an important distinction.
The scripture teaches both. You'll remember when those seven
letters are sent to the seven churches of Asia, those were
local churches. Todd's Road Grace Church is a
local church. It's a God-ordained thing, this
thing of church. But the first sense that the
church is seen is in the universal sense. You know, the church has
always been around. Somebody says, well, the church
started in the New Testament. No, it didn't. No, it didn't.
Acts talked about the church in the wilderness, didn't he?
I mean, Stephen spoke of the church of the wilderness in the
book of Acts, Acts chapter seven. He spoke of it. So no, the church
is not a New Testament thing. The church is eternal. The church,
the church is all of the elect from every generation. Everybody
that Jesus Christ died for, everybody that he has saved. This is the church that Christ
builds. This is the church which he purchased
with his own blood. This is the church Christ loved
and gave himself for, the elect of God. Now turn with me for
a moment to Hebrews chapter 12. This is a very important passage
of scripture with regard to the universal church. Verse 22, but you are come. He'd been talking about the law,
the thundering and lightning. And if anybody came close to
that, they would be thrust through with a spear, put to death. He
said, you haven't come to that place. He said, you are coming
to Mount Zion. And this is the description of
God's church, Mount Zion. the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to an
innumerable company of angels. You know, not only is the Lord
Jesus Christ here, I don't have any doubt that there's angels
here. Right now, every time the gospel is preached, angels desire
to look into that. Now, they're not interested in
a whole lot of things going on in this life, but they are always
interested in the preaching of the gospel. I love it when Elisha's
servant was scared to death when the Syrians came. He said, we're
in trouble, what are we gonna do? And Elisha said, well, there's
more for us than them. How do you say that? He said,
open his eyes, Lord, that he may see. And he opened his eyes
and their chariots filled with fire of the angels of the Lord
round about them. And that's always so. Angels
are the ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who
are the heirs of salvation. The Lord's here. Angels are here. I want to be here. Now let's
go on reading. Verse 23, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. Now the universal church is called
the general assembly and church of the firstborn. whose names are written in heaven.
Now here is the church membership role I'm interested in being
in. You know, I think it's ridiculous
that, I know a lot of people disagree with this, I don't care,
I believe this. I think a church role, a local
church role is silly. It's just silly. And it, I think, let's clean up the roll. Every church has a roll, and
then every now and then they'll have to clean it up and get rid
of the bad people and get rid of the ones that don't come anymore.
And where in the Bible do you have anything about a church
roll except this church roll? It's not there. Somebody that
believes the gospel, they're members of the church. Somebody
that doesn't believe the gospel, they're not members of the church. The church is the general assembly
and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.
That's talking about the Lamb's book of life. That's talking about the
names of God's elect. And let me tell you something
about this church. It never grows. It never diminishes. All the
names that are in that role have always been in that role. According
as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
and none of those names will be struck out. The universal church, the only
church role that God recognizes, the elect of God, and look how
they're described. Verse 23, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, that judge who always does right,
And to the spirits, here's the individual church members, the
spirits of just men, justified by God. Don't ever lose the awe
and wonder of this. God justified you. That means
you don't have any sin. That means you stand before God
without guilt. That means you stand before God
utterly and completely God justified you. And in heaven, they're the
spirits of just men made perfect. They've dropped that sinful body
they have. I was thinking of that song Jonathan's
singing and it just hit me, till all the ransomed church of God
be saved to what? Sin no more. That's what we're
waiting on, isn't it? To be saved to sin no more. Now that is the universal church. the church of God's elect, the
church that Christ died for, the church that is his bride.
And there are also local churches. That's what this church is. It's
a local church. What's it take for a church to
be a local church? Well, first of all, it takes
the gospel. If the gospel's not preached, it's not a church.
It's some kind of religious institution or religious organization, but
whatever it is, it's not a church. First, the gospel's gotta be
preached. It's gotta be in locale. This one's on Todd's Road, Todd's
Road Grace Church. And there's gotta be somebody
there that believes. How many? Well, one's enough. But as long
as somebody believes, you've got a church. The gospel's being
preached. There's a place that's being
preached. And this is where God's people gather together. You know, every gospel church
is a local church established by God himself. And you think
of the epistles, the epistle to The churches of Galatia, the
epistle to the Ephesians, the epistle to the Colossians, Philippians,
the Corinthians, these were all local churches. Now let me tell
you something about local churches. Unlike the universal church of
God's elect, they have a mixed membership, always, always. They're made of wheat. The Lord gave us a parable with
regard to that. Wheat and tares. And I love what the Lord said
about the wheat and tares. You reckon we ought to get rid
of these tares so we have a pure membership? Lord said, you don't
have enough sense to know the difference. You'd be trying to
rip up the tares and who you'd rip up is the wheat. Leave them
alone. It'll all be shown at the end. Now, remember that. That is so
important. This is not about ripping out
people. Well, we don't like what they're
doing. We don't get rid of them. You don't know the difference. But in every local church, their
wheat and their tares and no local church will continue. There
hadn't been one yet. Where are any of the churches
written of in the New Testament? Are they still here? No. And
if the Lord doesn't come back first, at one time this place
is gonna be an empty shell and the gospel won't be preached.
That happens in every local assembly at some time. The candlestick
is taken away. The Lord warns us of that with
these churches. These churches have a mixed membership
and they will not continue You see, a local church is a company
of sinners. Somebody says, well, there's
too much sin in the church you attend to. Too much sin. You know, I agree with that,
don't you? I agree with that 100%. There is too much sin. But if that would keep somebody
from identifying with the church, you hypocrite. That's all that
can be said. You hypocrite. Nothing more. I can't identify with that bunch
of people. They're too bad. They're too sinful. That is pure
hypocrisy. You see, the church is made of
people described like this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And there will always
be problems in every local church because people like me and you
are members. That creates problems, doesn't it? That creates problems. The only reason to leave a local
assembly, there's only one reason, the gospel's not preached. That's
the only reason. Any other reason is not valid,
to leave a local church. Now, I want you to look at 1
Timothy 3 for a moment. Feed the church of God. which
he purchased with his own blood. Verse 15. 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of God. There's another name for
the church, the house of God. which is the church of God, and
look, the church of the living God, and look at this definition
of the church of the living God. May the people like me and you.
The pillar and the ground of the truth. Now what a statement. The church is the pillar and
the ground of the truth. Now, that's true in both senses.
In the universal church, there's the pillar and ground of the
truth. You can't really understand the gospel apart from Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. You can't understand
the gospel apart from that. And the local church is the pillar
and ground of the truth. You know, I do not believe in
any of these parachurch organizations. I don't believe in seminaries.
You know, somebody says, well, I'm gonna go to seminary and
learn how to preach. The only place you really learn is through
the church. That is the pillar and the ground
of the truth, not these parachurch organizations. The church is
the pillar and the ground of the truth. And I hear people
say, oh, the church is in such bad shape. So much worldliness
in the church, so much, church is just fine. It's in good shape. It's his church. It's his church,
it's in good shape. A lot of things men would call
churches that aren't churches, well, they're not in good shape,
but the church is just fine. They're in good shape, they're
in good hands. They're in the hands of the Lord, and they will
be fine in that sense. You see, the scripture says that
the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the church. That's how you have the manifold
wisdom of God made known to you, in the church. Somebody says,
well, you're making salvation church membership. I'm not. It's ridiculous. Christ is my savior. And you
learn that in church, don't you? That's where you learn that.
Now, in closing, I had some more things I want to say, but I want
to limit it to this. Turn to the book of Revelation
chapter two. Now in Revelation chapter two
and chapter three, the Lord writes seven letters to the churches
in Asia, seven different letters. The church at Ephesus, the church
at Pergamos, the church at Thyatira, the church at Sardis, the church
in Philadelphia, the church in Laodicea, the church in Pergamos,
seven different churches. And he commends those churches
for some things. He commends them highly for some
things. And that would merit a sermon,
just look at those commendations. But what I wanna leave you with
is the warnings he gives for this reason. These churches aren't
around anymore. and they would be around if they
had heeded these warnings. Now the Lord said some great
things to the church at Ephesus. Verse two, I know your works,
your labor, your patience. Revelation 2.2, you can't bear
them which are evil and you've tried them which say they're
apostles and are not. You found them liars, you've
borne, you've had patience and for my name's sake you've labored
and it's not fainted. Now those are good things, aren't
they? But look what he says in verse four. Nevertheless, I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend, for this thy dying sorrow, thy
pity without end. Oh, make me thine forever, and
should I fainting be, oh, let me never, never outlive my love
to thee. He said, You've left your first
love. Now, obviously, there's so much
that can be said about that. But I believe that's where things
started going downhill. Everything else came out of leaving
your first love. And then look what he says to
the church at Pergamos, he says, I know your works, verse 13,
where you dwell, where Satan's seat is, you hold fast my name.
You've not denied my faith. Even those days when Antipas
was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwells,
but I have a few things against thee because thou hast them there
that hold the doctrine of Balaam. who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling
block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed
unto idols and to commit fornication. So has thou also them there that
hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Now, real
simply, what is the doctrine of Balaam? You read Numbers chapter
22 through 24, and you won't find one single thing you disagree
with. Everything he said was good.
There is really no error in anything the man said. Read it, you'll
rejoice in it. And yet he is presented by Christ
as the arch false prophet. It's what he didn't say. It's what he left out. The doctrine of Balaam is the
doctrine of compromise. And you go on reading what he
did. He taught the children of Israel to marry the Moabites. And he knew what would take place
out of that. He didn't teach them false doctrine. He said, just
go marry the Moabites. And their influence with the
Moabites would cause them to end up committing idolatry with
the Moabite women. The doctrine of compromise. Now, what is the doctrine? And
this, what happened in this doctrine of Balaam, he taught the children
of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication.
We're gonna get more into that when I get just in a few minutes
with the church of Thyatira, because the same thing was going
on there. But let me say this, it doesn't mean they had preachers
getting up and saying, well, here's what y'all need to do.
You need to commit sexual sin and you need to eat food sacrificed
to idols. That's, the point is, here's
what you, they were, through their compromise, they were giving
encouragement to commit spiritual adultery by looking somewhere
other than Christ. And to eat things sacrificed
to idols. Paul said there's nothing wrong
to eat things sacrificed to idols. What they were talking about
was the principle of eating false religion and trying to get nourishment
from something that's contrary to the gospel of grace. Now,
that's what was going on, and that's what he warns them about.
You have them there that practice this doctrine, and then he talked
about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And there's nothing in history
that would tell you who the Nicolaitans were. Somebody says, well, they
were, my point is, you don't go outside of the Bible to find
out anything. Somebody says, well, the Nicolaitans
were a group of heretics that lived so-and-so. You don't know that. The word
means above the people. This is the doctrine of clergy
laity, a pernicious doctrine that Jesus Christ hates. All of God's people are God's
clergy. There's no such thing as clergy
and laity in the church, in the kingdom of God. And then we read
with regard to the church of Thyatira, verse 19. I know thy works, thy charity,
service, faith, thy patience, and thy works, and the last to
be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest, you allow that
woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach. Now what
he's rebuking them for is what they tolerate, what they let
take place. You let that woman teach, and
here's what she does. She seduces my servants to commit
fornication, eating, sacrifice, and idols, which is the same
thing. She's doing the same thing. He says, you're allowing that
to go on. And then chapter three. unto the angel of the church
in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that
you have a name, that you live and are dead. Now what he's saying
to this church is you're living in the past. Faith is always
in the present, isn't it? And if I'm looking to the past,
past experience, past things I've learned, something in the
past to try to make me think that I have life, that's not
looking to Christ. That's eating old manna. What happened when you ate old
manna? It would breed worms and it would
stink. Faith is always in the present,
looking to Christ right now. I love what one, I heard a preacher
say this once, he said, the only tenses that I know about this
thing of saving faith and being in Christ is before time began
and right now. I like that. Before time began,
my salvation is eternal. and right now, who you look into
right now as all you have to make you accepted before God.
And then there's a church at Laodicea, in closing. Verse 15, I know thy works, that
thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot, You know, both of those feelings
are not good. In my house, I'm always hot. Lynn is always cold. And there
is always conflict about the thermostat. Always. It's an ongoing problem. Lynn,
you need to take care of that now. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
But the point is, being hot Being zealous for the glory of Christ,
there's something uncomfortable about that, isn't there? Being
cold, being unfeeling, feeling like you're nothing but a block
of ice and that you hear the truth and it's nothing to you.
What a miserable feeling. Hot and cold, they're both uncomfortable. But what does the Lord say to
the church at Laodicea? Because thou art lukewarm. and neither cold nor hot. I'll vomit you out of my mouth."
That is a strong statement. Because thou sayest, I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. I have
need of nothing. Everything's great. Things couldn't
be any better for me. I'm in good shape. And you don't
know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Now, I want to be hot. Don't you? I want to be white, hot, and
zeal for him and his glory and his gospel. I want to be a fanatic.
I don't want to be cold. Oh, what a miserable feeling
cold is. But I sure don't want to be lukewarm. indifferent one
way or the other, everything's great. I'm fine, I'm okay, don't
worry about me. The Lord says concerning that
attitude, I'll spew you out of my mouth. So, take heed to yourselves. First, speaking to the elder,
the pastor who's supposed to be feeding the flock, what a
responsibility, pray for me. Pray for me that I won't go off
on tangents. Pray for me that my heart will
stay soft. Pray for me that I will be enabled
to preach his truth and not my take on things. And pray for
yourself. I'm praying for myself, too,
that we don't lose my first love. I don't want to be taken over
with the doctrine of Balaam and compromise, the doctrine of the
Nicolaitans, the doctrine of Jezebel. I don't want to live
in the past. Lord, make me truly to be a man
or a woman after thine own heart, where what is important to you
is what is important to me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
church. Lord, we're amazed that we would
be called your body, your temple, your bride, your house, your
fullness. Lord, we are amazed. Lord, bless
our gathering together for Christ's sake. We pray for
this church, each individual. That we might not leave our first
love. That we would be delivered from
compromise that comes from a lack of love to you. That we would
be delivered from the Nicolaitans, a high view of hierarchy
in the kingdom of heaven. We pray that we might be delivered
from the toleration of Jezebel. not preaching the gospel. Lord,
deliver us from lukewarmness, because that is the way we'll
be, except you keep us from it. Pour your blessing out upon us
for Christ's sake. And Lord, what we're asking for
this local church, we ask for all your local churches. Lord,
we're all in this together. Give us grace to love you more,
love one another more, and unite our hearts together to fear thy
name. In Christ's blessed name we pray, amen.