I've entitled the message for
this evening, Why Come to Church? Why take the effort? There's other things you could
be doing. Why come to church? Now, Paul makes an incredible
statement regarding the church. When he says the church is his
body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. What a statement. What a defining
word regarding the church. In this epistle to the Ephesians,
he made some other amazing statements. Look in chapter three, verse
10. To the intent that now under
the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be
known by the church. the manifold wisdom of God. Who is it that knows the manifold
wisdom of God? The church. The fullness of him
that filleth all in all. Look in verse 21 of chapter three. Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Look in verse 4 of chapter 4,
there is one body. That's speaking of the church.
There is one body. Look in verses 11 and 12 of this
chapter. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying, for the building up of the body of Christ. And then we know that a lot of
time is devoted in Ephesians chapter five toward marriage.
And he tells us that this is a picture. He says, I'm not really
speaking of the marriage between a man and woman. I speak concerning
Christ and the church. For this cause will a man leave
his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and the two shall
be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now the word church
means a called out assembly. There's something public about
it. You're leaving home and joining
together and meeting with the saints, a called out assembly. Now it's become vogue in our
day to watch church services through live stream. And I realize
some people must do that. That's all they have, I understand
that. And if somebody simply stays home and watches a service
live stream, no, it's coming out, coming together. I think
listening to a sermon on audio is so different than listening
to a sermon live. Somebody said it's like kissing
a picture of your wife when you Listen to a message rather than
being there live. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of Son is, but exhort one another
daily. We read in 1 Corinthians 11,
18, when you come together as a church. Now that's what church
is. It's a coming together. It's
a public assembly of the saints. It's taking the effort to get
ready and leave whatever you're doing and come to hear the gospel
preached. The Lord said where two or three
are gathered together in my name. That's public, isn't it? where
two or three are gathered together in my name. There am I in the
midst of them." I can remember some years ago when Henry Mahan
preached a message he entitled, public worship is more important
than private worship. Now, why did he say that? Because
the Lord only promises his presence where two or three are gathered
together in his name. And somebody says, well, I can
worship privately. I don't need public worship.
Well, you say that, but I don't believe you worship privately.
Don't believe it for a second. And as far as that goes, the
most intimate private worship comes through hearing the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The times that the Lord speaks
to me most powerfully, when I know I am His and He is mine, and
I know that He's done something for me, is when I'm hearing the
gospel preached. To hear the gospel and the power
of the Holy Spirit is better than anything this world has
to offer. I find that in my own experience. Why come to church? There's effort
involved, there's self-denial involved, there's giving involved.
I'm giving to promote the cause of Christ. And if I'm giving
with the right motive and attitude, that's what comes first before
anything else. Giving. There's so much effort involved. Why come to church? Now, let
me make this statement. I want you to listen to it. If
coming to church, assembling myself with the people of God,
hearing the gospel, if that's not the greatest aspect of my
life, the most important aspect of my life, I'm either sick, spiritually
sick, or I'm dead, one of the two. if assembling with God's
people to hear the gospel. I'm talking about to hear the
gospel. I'm not talking about playing religious games and I'm not talking
about just getting together for some kind of, but I'm talking
about assembling with God's people to hear the gospel preached in
the power of the Holy Spirit. If that is not my number one
priority, the most important aspect of my life, I'm either
sick, spiritually sick, or I'm lost, dead in sins. And that's just so. That's just
so. People were meant to be, believers
were meant to be in flocks, hearing the gospel. Now in the New Testament,
the church is understood in two senses. The universal church
and the local church. And we need to have an understanding
of both of these, the universal church and the local church. The universal church is called
in Hebrews 12, 23, the general assembly and church of the firstborn
whose names are written in heaven. In Acts chapter 20, verse 28,
we read, feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own
blood. You see, the universal church
is all the elect. It's everybody for whom Christ
died. It's everybody that has a new nature, a holy nature given
to them in the new birth. It's everybody who worships the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's every Christian. Now, I
don't read anywhere in the New Testament that a local church
has to have a church role. We don't have one. Somebody says,
do you have a church role? No, no. If you're a believer,
you're a member. It really is that simple. If
you're a believer, you're a member. If you believe the gospel, you're
a member. But I don't read anything about
a church role for a local assembly. I wouldn't want one of those
things. I'll tell you one role that I want to be in. The General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven. The Lamb's Book of Life. with every church member's name
written. Ephesians 5.25 says, Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. All who believe are in this
glorious church of which Paul says it's the fullness of him
that filleth it. All in all, do you see how special
it is to be a part of the Church of the Living God? God's done
something for you. There's a group of Baptists called
the Landmark Baptists who deny this. They say there's no universal
church, every church is just local. Well, you're gonna have
a hard time proving that from the scriptures. Those scriptures
I read speak of the universal church. And generally they say,
well, if you're just part of the universal church and you're
not a local church, how are you gonna be disciplined? They're
always thinking about discipline. I think that's weird. Why do
people want to be so consumed? How do y'all discipline people?
With weed eater on the back of the legs. And I said, that'll
take care of it. But I mean, it's just the whole
idea, I think, is weird. Somebody came up to me some years
ago, and I had preached the gospel, and I was feeling so good, and
I thought the Lord had blessed it. I just had great service. A guy comes up to me, he says,
how do y'all discipline? And it's like a cold ice water
dumped all over me. I said, why are you asking that?
It just, it irritated me. And it irritates me now, that
kind of thinking. The Lord disciplines his people
through the preaching of the gospel. Every time we meet together,
the Lord disciplines his people through the preaching and the
hearing of the gospel all the time. Why do people, well, what
do y'all do about discipline? You've got problems, if that's
your attitude. I mean, that's just completely, It's not a big issue in the scripture.
I mean, there's issues, I realize, where Paul dealt with some things,
but just for the most part, well, I don't, there I went. The only church role I see in
the New Testament is the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven, the Lamb's Book of Life. That's
the church role. I want to have my name in. The
church is called in the scriptures, the body of Christ, the brethren
of Christ, the bride of Christ, the lamb's wife, children of the kingdom, Christians,
the church of God. the church of Christ, daughter
of the king, the family of God, the flock of God, the fold of
Christ, the glory of God, the habitation of God, the heritage
of God, the Israel of God, the lot of God's inheritance, members
of Christ, a peculiar people, the purchased possession the
temple of God, the treasure of God, vessels of mercy, the vineyard
of God. I love the way the Lord says,
I'm the vine and you are the branches. Every time I think
about that, I'm just astounded by it. The same stem that goes
through the vine goes through the branches, and they can't
be separated. This talks about the nearness
of union, the church's oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how near, so near to God, near I cannot be. In the person of
His dear Son, I'm as near to God as He. Dear, so dear to God,
dear I cannot be. In the person of his dear son,
I'm as dear to God as he. Oh, the amazing, Lord, why me? Why me? To be a part of his body,
to be a part of the fullness of him that filleth all in all,
where he would think that heaven would not be heaven if I wasn't
there. We wouldn't dare even think anything like that unless
the Bible taught it, would we? The church is the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. It's the church of which Christ
said, upon this rock will I build my church. What rock? Peter's confession of him, whom
say men that I, the son of man am, Well, they say good things. Some say you're John the Baptist,
some Elijah, some one of the prophets. They put you in high
cot and they put you in good company. Whom say ye that I am? And Peter said, and I want you
to think about whether you can say the same thing from the very
depths of your heart. Peter said, thou art the Christ. The Son of the Living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which
is in heaven. Now, if you believe that Jesus
is the Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king, and
you need him as such, you need him to bring you the word of
God, you need him to represent you to God, you need him to rule
and reign everything, and you need him as a king to cause you
to believe, to do his will, you need him in that office. If you
believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, Now, let me remind
you, faith has absolutely nothing to do with what you believe about
yourself. Nothing. Doesn't mean, well,
I believe I'm a Christian. I believe I'm saved. I believe
I'm elect. I believe I'm born again. I believe I'm redeemed. I believe Christ died for me.
That ain't faith. Doesn't have anything to do with
faith. Faith has to do with what you believe concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if you believe that he's
the Christ, the son of the living God, you're a member of the universal
church, the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven,
the spirit of just men made perfect. Now, there are people who are
not members of a local assembly. They don't have a church, and
they're not members of a local assembly, but they're members
of this church, the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of
the elect. And the word church not only
is used in the universal sense, the universal church, the church
of God's elect, The Lamb's Book of Life. Those people whose names
are written there. The church is also used in the
local sense. You remember in Revelation 2
and 3 when the Lord Jesus wrote letters to the local churches,
seven local churches. Paul's epistles, he wrote 13
epistles in the New Testament, and nine of them were to local
churches. Now, what in the world's a local
church? Well, a local church in some ways is different from
the universal church. And here's the main difference.
The local church is made of wheat and tares. That's very important. Don't expect it to be anything
but that. The local church is made of wheat
and tares. And the Lord told us that. He's
talked about the wheat being sown and the wicked, the devil
sowing the tares and they grew up with the wheat. The worker
said, do you want us to get rid of the tares? He said, no, let
them grow together alone. Because if, when you start trying
to tear out the tares, what you'll end up doing is rooting up the
wheat. You and I don't have the sense or the understanding or
the discernment to know who needs to be ripped out. He said, let them grow both together. And at the end time, the Lord
will come and make that distinction. Now Codds Road Grace
Church is a local church. You got believers, you got unbelievers. And let me tell you something
about the believers in a local church. It's very important.
They're still sinners. Every one of them. They're still
sinners. Turn with me for a moment to
First Thessalonians chapter five. Verse 14, now we exhort your brethren,
this is talking about what goes on in the church. We exhort your
brethren, warn them that are unruly, insubordinate. You're gonna have folks like
that. You're gonna have folks like that. Warn them. Comfort the feeble-minded. the depressed, comfort them. Support the weak. Oh, there's so many weak. I wonder
if there's anybody here who doesn't think they're weak. Do you not
realize how weak you are? How weak I am? Support the weak. Be patient
toward all. People that are driving you crazy,
be patient. Be patient. See that none, verse
15, see that none render evil for evil unto any. Now in the
church, you're gonna have people do you wrong. You're gonna have
people that render evil to you. Make sure you don't try to pay
them back. Don't render evil for evil. The Lord's in control
of all that. Now that's the kind of people
you have in the church. Sinners saved by grace. I've known people who have left
the church because of the sinfulness of some of the members. Well,
they got such sinful people in their congregation doing things
they're terrible. Now, there's never excuse for
sin. And it's never a good thing to
sin. It's a good thing to be a sinner.
but it's not a good thing to sin under any circumstances. And we're not making any excuses,
but my, you look at somebody and think they need to be put
out because of their sinfulness? What do you think about yourself?
Have you become so desensitized and hardened that you don't see
the beams in your own eyes? There's never, let me give you
one reason to leave a local assembly. The gospel's not preached. That's
the only reason. And someone who leaves because,
oh, the people there are too sinful, you're worse. Let me assure you of that. You're
worse. You're blind to yourself or you
wouldn't do something that silly. Now if I want to leave because
of the sinfulness of the members, I'm a hypocrite or I've just
become so desensitized and hardened toward my own sin that I can't
even see it. Now this local assembly made
of sinners, amen, the local assembly is made of sinners saved by the
grace of God They meet together in the church, in the local assembly,
to eat, to be fed, to hear the gospel. Now, how important is
eating to you? It's a big issue with me. It's
a big issue. I've heard people talk about
why I forgot to eat. Ain't ever happened to me once. I've never
forgotten to eat. It's always very important to
me to eat. Local assembly is where God's
people, God gives a local assembly a pastor, and he feeds the flock
with the Word of God. That's what the purpose of the
pastor is. He's to feed the flock with the Word of God. What did
Paul say to the Ephesian elders? Feed the church of God, which
he purchased with his own blood. Remember what Peter said to the
elders. He said, feed the church of God.
That's what your purpose is. It's to bring the gospel to them,
to preach the gospel. Now, every time I preach, I better
preach the gospel. If I don't, I'm not feeding,
I'm poisoning the church. The only thing that is good food
for the church is the preaching of the gospel. Now, this thing
of being a pastor, a local church has a pastor, someone God has
placed in that position. Now, you can look at the pastor
and you know what? He's just as sinful as you are.
How sinful are you? That's how sinful he is. And
he is someone that if you want to find fault with him, hey,
you can tear him apart. Easy. Easy. That's what you're
wanting to do. If you're wanting to be critical,
you can find plenty of reasons to criticize him. He's a man. He has all kinds of things about
him you can criticize. You say, we ought not be that
way. I agree, but he is. He is. He's just a man. But he's
a man that God has placed there to preach the gospel. And I know this. Clay, you know
this. You are to give your heart and
soul to every message you preach. We're never to go into the pulpit
unprepared. We've sought the Lord. We've
prayed. We've asked the Lord's help. We've studied hard. We've
done everything we can to prepare a good which is the gospel. Somebody says, well, I didn't
find the meal very good. Pastor's off. Maybe he is. Maybe you are. Maybe you are. I know that every sermon should
be a good sermon. Every sermon should be a great
sermon, shouldn't it? Every sermon should be full of the Lord Jesus
Christ, full of the gospel, a message that gives me comfort, a message
that makes me know that Christ is all and I can rest in him,
a message that leaves me not thinking about how much I lack,
but how I'm complete in Christ. and there's nothing else needed
through the gospel. I'm fed. Now, pray for me. I request your prayers. Pray
for me that God would keep me, preserve me, and enable me to
preach Christ crucified and cause me to always give my all in this
thing. I love what I do. I'm thankful
the Lord has made it to where you're all out working and I'm
in my study reading the Bible. And I'm thankful for that privilege
and that blessing. You're all out being beat up
with the world. I don't even have to deal with
that kind of stuff. Thankful, thankful. Wouldn't trade places
with you, and I'm thankful for your encouragement of me. But
this thing, a local church, sinners saved by the grace of God, believers,
they assemble together, they meet together publicly, and the
Lord promises his presence and his blessing in the preaching
of the gospel. Now, I'd like you to turn with
me to Revelation chapter one. You know, Paul even called the
church in 1 Timothy chapter three, listen to this. He called the
church, this ragtag group right here with the ragtag pastor,
he calls the church the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now that's how significant the
church is. The pillar and the ground of
the truth. Now turn to Revelation one, beginning
in verse 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying,
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest,
write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are
in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, unto Thyatira,
unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks, and these words we're going to see means
the church, in the midst of these seven local Churches, the seven
candlesticks, in their midst, was one like unto the Son of
Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the
paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame
of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a
furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters, and he
had in his right hand seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun that shineth in
his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels, or the angels, the pastor. the messenger of the seven churches
and the seven churches and the seven candlesticks, which I saw
started the seven churches under the angel. Now notice he doesn't
say the angels, the angel. There's one pastor. There's one
pastor in a local church. There's one pastor. There's not
a bunch of them. There's one, but look what he says under the
angel of the church of Ephesus, right? These things say if he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Now, why come to
church? That's easy to answer that. He's
there. Any other reasons? Need any other reasons? No. He's there. He's promised his
presence. This is where we read in Hebrews
2, in the midst of the church, will I sing praise to thy name. This is where Christ sings in
the midst of the church. It's called the habitation of
God. Now it's where he promises his
presence. Now I want to close by looking
at Luke chapter 10. Will I come to church? Verse 38, Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house. Now this was somebody
that the Lord loved. Remember in John chapter 11,
now Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, their brother. He
loved him. What a thing to be loved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing better. Nothing better. I love the way John calls himself
that disciple that Jesus loved. Now I want, I want to be one of those people
that he loves, don't you? That's more important to me than anything
else, to be loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. If He loves me,
man, everything's fine. Everything's great. You know,
I hear those people that talk about God loves everybody the
same, and Christ loves everybody the same, and I get nothing out
of that. If He can love somebody, and
they go to hell, I know where I'm going, I'm going to hell.
If He can love somebody, and them wind up not being saved,
that's what's gonna happen to me. Listen to me. There's no gospel in that message.
I want to be somebody loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
Martha was loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. And she had a sister called Mary. Mary was loved by the Lord Jesus
Christ too. And what was Mary doing? Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. They were both saved. They were
both loved by Christ. They were both actually very
special women. What was Mary doing? She was
hearing the gospel. Now, don't ever forget this. God has manifested his word through
preaching, what we're doing right now. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. And that's what public
worship is all about. It's about the reading of God's
word. It's about the preaching of the gospel. It's God's saints
assembling together It's public, God's saints assembling together
to worship Him in the preaching of the gospel. You know, when
I hear the gospel, you know, sometimes when I hear the gospel,
I don't get as much out of it as I'd like to, and I always
say, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with them? That's
generally what I think. What's wrong with them? If I don't hear the gospel, I'm
thinking, why didn't they bring a better message than that? Hearing the gospel when the Lord
speaks to me to where I know that I'm saved. I don't think
there's anything better than that in all the earth. I don't
think the world has anything to offer. The feeling you get
from hearing the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. Well,
that's what Mary was doing. She sat at his feet and heard
his word. But Martha was cumbered about. much serving. She was cumbered about. She was
taken up with much serving. She had a lot to do. Now you
ladies, if the Lord Jesus Christ was going to come into your house,
what would you be doing? I bet it'd be the cleanest your
house has ever been. I bet the meal would be the greatest
meal you'd ever cooked. You were going to do everything
you could to make everything just perfect. Anybody criticize Martha for
being cumbered about with much serving? I'm knocking at some
folks that I know you'd be the same way and I'm not criticizing
you for it. I know Lynn would. She'd be knocking
me out of the way and get out of here and let me get this place
ready. But look what happened. She came
to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath
left me to serve alone, sitting there just listening? That's all she's doing. That's
all she's doing. She's just sitting there listening. Bid her therefore that she help
me. Now that's one thing, don't do
that. Don't you dare tell the Lord
what to do. He's the Lord. You've got no business telling
him what to do. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha. Thou art careful, anxious, and
troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. What is that one thing? Sitting
at his feet and hearing his word. That's the one thing that's needful. And look what he says with regard
to Mary. And Mary hath chosen that good
part. And it shall not be taken away
from her. Now, once again, I wouldn't dare
be critical of Martha, would you? What she's doing is good. And we commend her for it. But
there's something that was better. Mary hath chosen that good part. Why come to church? Because Christ is there. And
his gospel is being preached. And no other reason is needed. Now, wherever he is, That's where
I want to be. And to be indifferent. If you
love somebody, you know what? You love being in their presence.
You love being around them. And that's what public worship
is. It is being in the presence of
Christ, hearing his gospel. And so I'm just given one reason
why I come to church. Because he's there. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
promise of your presence. Lord, we believe you're here. And Lord, as we prepare to take
that table, enable us truly to do it in remembrance of thee. In Christ's name we pray, amen.