Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our
website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now, here's our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. What is the church? Good question,
isn't it? What is the church? Paul, the apostle, said in First
Timothy, chapter three, beginning in verse 14, These things write
I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I carry
long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God." Now, he's not talking about a house made
of bricks and mortar and stone. That's not what he's talking
about at all. Remember this about the church.
It's people. that thou mayest know how thou
ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth."
So the church is the house of the living God. It's the pillar
and it's the ground of the truth. There is an intimate relationship
and connection with the church and the truth. And if that connection
is not there, whatever the organization is, It is not a church. It's an organization. It's not
a living organism as the church is. It's simply a man-made organization. The church of the living God,
the house of God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, the word church means a
called-out assembly. For instance, you're listening
to me on TV right now. That is not church. Church is
a called-out assembly. Now, I'm glad you're watching.
I hope you continue to do so. But what we want to see is men
and women who actually become members of the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, true believers, a part of His body. Just sitting
in your home watching a program is not church. It's not... it
can't go for church. A church is a called-out assembly. That's what the word means. God's
called them out of the world to gather together, to assemble
together to worship God and to hear His Word. That's what church is. It's a
called out assembly, called out by God to worship Him and to
hear His Word. It's not a club. It's not an
organization. Called out assembly. called by
God, assembled together to worship Him and to hear His Word. Now, when I preach in the church,
if I announce, well, I'm not going to use the scripture, everybody
would do well to walk out and leave. We're here to hear the
Word of God. And that's what church is. It's
a called-out assembly, called out by God, assembled together
to worship Him. done in a public way. Our Lord
said, where two or three are gathered together in my name.
Public worship. There am I in the midst of them. Every time the church assembles
together, Christ is there, making himself known, speaking through
his word. Now, the church is not made,
as I've already said, of wood, bricks, and mortar. It's a mistake
to call a building a church. Nor is the church what they call
the clergy. Well, he's in the church. That
doesn't have anything to do with what the church is. And I also
need to say this, just because a bunch of men and women get
together in a religious assembly, that doesn't make it a church
either. It may be some kind of religious organization, but if
the truth is not there, if it's not founded upon the truth, the
truth of the gospel, whatever else it is, it is not a church. There is an intimate relationship
between the church and the truth. Now, I want you to consider some
of the names the Word of God gives to the church and some
of the types it gives of the church. In our text, the church
is called the House of God. He's the architect, he's the
builder, and he lives in his house, literally called the habitation
of God through the Spirit. This is his abode. He's the head
of his home. Oh, he's the head of his home.
And he disciplines his family. Whosoever the Lord loveth, he
chastens, and he scourges every son that he receives. And what
a provider He is for His home. He's the leader. He chastens,
and oh, how He provides. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is maiden of wisdom. He provides wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. A believer has all those things
from their great provider. Remember, the Scripture says
if a man provide not for his own, especially they of his own
house, he's denied the faith. And he's worse than an infidel.
And what a provider the Lord God is He purchased the church
of God with his own blood, according to Acts 20, 28. The church is
called His body. The body of Christ. His body. The fullness of Him that filleth
all in all, Ephesians 1, 23. Now, how important is your body
to you? Well, it's very important. It's
appearance, how it feels, how it's taken care of. Well, how
important to Christ is His body? which is the church. He said, inasmuch as you've done
it to the least of these my brethren, you've done it to me. Because
however I treat a true church member, a true believer, a part
of his body, is how I treat Christ himself. And he said, inasmuch
as you did it not to the least of these my brethren, you did
it not to me. The church is called a holy temple. and her members living stones,
a habitation of God through the Spirit. The church is called
the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb's Wife, the Lamb's Bride. Let me read you this passage
of Scripture from Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse 25. It
says, 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 the water by the
word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But then it should
be holy and without blemish. Now that's what the Lord did
for His people. He made them without spot, wrinkle,
or any such thing. Holy and without blemish. That's
what His blood accomplished. He has a perfect bride. He has
a bride of perfect beauty. Let's go on reading. Verse 28,
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." The two become one. Christ is one with His church. Now, Paul says in verse 32, this
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Institution of marriage is given to picture the relationship between
Christ and the church. The two become one, united to
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to be
the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, to have Him as my husband. Read what He says to her and
what she says to Him in the Song of Solomon. This is the language
between Christ and His bride. He says to His bride, thou art
all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. He sees His bride as perfectly
beautiful, without blemish, without spot, without sin, because they
are. That's what He has made them.
When He died on Calvary Street, He made His bride to be without
sin, without blemish. perfectly lovely to him. And
the bride says to her groom, thou art altogether lovely. I am my beloved's and he is mine. The church is called the city
of God and is compared in scriptures to a mother, a mother who takes
care of her children, and an army battering down the gates
of hell and rescuing God's people from hell. The Lord said to Peter,
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this confession of me,
I'll build my church. He said, I'll do it. I'll build
my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The gospel will be the battering ram that breaks down the gates
of hell and rescues God's people from Satan's clutches. Oh, the
church is an army. The church is a called out assembly,
called out by the living God. And what a privilege that is.
He doesn't call everybody. unto them which are called."
Not everybody's called. "...unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God." You see, if I'm in the church, I'm not a citizen of
this world. We're simply passing through
on our way to Emmanuel's land. The Lord said, My kingdom is
not of this world. Oh, the glory of the church having
the bride, or the groom, the Lord Jesus Christ, what glory
we have in Him. Now notice it says, if I tarry
long that thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church, not the churches, plural, but
the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of
the truth. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church, not the churches, But the church,
feed the church of God, Paul said to the Ephesian elders,
feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. We read it in Hebrews chapter
12 of the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose
names are written in heaven, the church. Now, the church is
made up of every believer. Now, there are local churches.
I'm going to talk about that in a moment. But the church is,
first of all, the church universal. It's made up of every single
believer, all of God's elect, all that Christ died for, all
that God the Holy Spirit has given life to. That is the church. This is the church that I must
be a member of. This is the Lamb's wife. This
is every single believer, Old Testament, New Testament. This
is God's church. Every believer. It's neither
more nor less than that group. The elect of God. Those that
Christ died for. those that God the Holy Spirit
has given a new nature to. That is the church. And in this
church, there are no divisions, there are no denominations. Did
you know that denominations are purely man-made? You won't find
even a hint of something like that in the Scripture. There's
not Methodists, and Baptists, and Catholics, and Presbyterians,
and Episcopalians, and Church of Christ, and all these different denominations
are purely man-made. Paul said, is Christ divided?
No. No. They're not divisions within
the body of Christ. They're all the same. They have
the same teacher. The Lord taught them. They have the same Savior.
They're saved the same way. They believe the same thing.
There's not divisions and denominations in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, there are local churches,
and local churches always have a mixed membership. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, there's no such thing as a local church that has a perfectly
pure, holy membership where everybody's a believer. No such thing. As a matter of fact, local churches
never continue. They always go bad at some point.
They keep going through the machinery and the motions, but the Spirit
of God has left them. He's departed, and the religious
organization is still going on without God being there. Every
local church will go bad. If the Lord doesn't come back,
the church that I pastor will at some time go bad. Error will
creep in. The gospel will leave. The Lord
will leave. But a local church is a mixed
bag. Now, in every church, you have
four different types of people. First, you have unbelievers who
look like unbelievers. No doubt about it. Second, you
have unbelievers who look like believers. and perhaps fool people
that they are believers. And then you also have believers
who look like unbelievers. The way they act, you know, Paul
said to the church of Corinth, you're carnal, you act like men,
babes in Christ. You have believers who look like
unbelievers. And then you have believers who
look like believers. You have all four of those in
a local assembly. And there will always be tares
among the wheat. Our Lord taught us that, and
it's wrong to try to get rid of the tares. You see, the Lord
told us that He'd do that at the end when He'd gather up the
tares into, I mean, the wheat into His garner and the tares
and the chaff would be burned with unquenchable fire. But in
the meantime, we can't rip up the tares because we don't have
enough sense to know who the tares and who the wheat are.
If I try to rip up the tares, I'd end up ripping up the wheat.
Lord said, don't do that. Let them both grow together into
the end time. Now the church assembles together
to worship him and to hear his word. That's what this local
assembly is. And the church is our life. You know, many people
try to fit church into life's busy schedule. The believer fits
life's busy schedule into the church. The church is everything. And I'm not talking about an
organization. I'm talking about the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ being identified with Him, being identified
with His people, gathering together with His people to worship Him
and to hear His Word. God's people were meant to be
in flocks. A sheep that's by itself is either
a lost sheep or a sick sheep. God's sheep, God's people, were
meant to be in flocks with a pastor. Now, he talked about the church
of the living God, which is the pillar and the ground of the
truth. Now, this gives us the importance
and the significance of the church. The church is the pillar and
the ground of the truth. And notice the definite article,
the truth. There are many things that we
could call the truth. If I say I ate a bowl of cereal
for breakfast this morning, I'm telling the truth. But that's
not the truth Paul's talking about when he talks about the
truth, the definite article, the truth. I think of that scripture
in John chapter one where John said the law was given by Moses. but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Now, God gave Moses the law,
and everything in the law is true. There's no error in the
law. It's a reflection of God's holy
character. I love the Ten Commandments.
It's a reflection of God's holy character and God's holy requirements. Now, the law is true, but the
law is not the truth. You know why the law is not the
truth? Because the law doesn't give the whole picture. You see,
the law doesn't tell how God forgives sins. The law doesn't
tell us what grace is. The law doesn't tell us what
mercy is. The law doesn't give us the full picture of the character
of God, but the gospel does. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth. The law was given by Moses, but
there's no grace in the law. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Now, this gives us the whole
picture. Now, in telling the truth, we want the truth, the
whole truth, not just part of it, but the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. And if I don't have that, I don't
have the truth. If I have 90% of the truth, I
have 100% lie. To have the truth, you have to
have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And
that's what the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the
truth. Now, the truth is a person. It's not just a document. This
is what we believe. This is the truth. The truth
is a person. And what we believe is determined
by who we believe. The Lord said in John chapter
14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. And do you remember when He said
to His disciples, whom do men say that I am? They said, well,
some say some good things about you. Some say you're Elijah or
one of the prophets, Jeremiah. They say good things about you.
They put you in high cotton. He said, but whom say ye that
I am? And Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And the Lord said, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto
thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this confession
of me, of who I am, I'll build my church. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the truth. The truth is a person. You shall
know the truth. and the truth shall make you
free. It's not your knowledge of the truth that will liberate
you, it's the truth himself. The truth is a person. The Lord
said of himself in John 18, 37, I came to bear witness to the
truth. Pilate replied, what is truth? What did he mean by that? Did
he mean, is there such a thing? Did he mean, well, if there is,
can we know it? Or did He mean truth? Is it worth
this? Is it worth dying for? Well,
the answer to those three questions is yes, there is truth. Absolute
truth. Yes, we can know the truth. And
yes, it's worth dying for. The Lord did die to bear witness
to the truth. You see, the cross is the truth. You want to know the truth? The
cross is the truth. The truth of you and me. If God
left us to ourselves, we would be murderers of the Son of God. Now that's the truth. Don't look
inside to find out how sinful you are. Look at the cross. That
tells you how sinful you are. The cross tells the truth regarding
the character of God. If you want to know who God is,
you'll only really know through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of His attributes are on display with that one hanging
on the tree. I see God's justice. He will
not let sin go unpunished, even if it's on His Son. I see God's
holiness. He can't accept sin. But I see
God's mercy and love and grace, how that He gave His Son as a
substitute for sinners, how He loved sinners so much that He
would give His only begotten and well-beloved Son to die in
their place. I see the wisdom of God. He's
so wise, He made a way to be just, and yet justifies somebody
like me when I'm unjust. Oh, this is the truth of God. All of God's character is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I see the truth regarding
salvation. Now listen to me real carefully.
When Jesus Christ said, it is finished. He didn't simply mean
that my earthly part is done. He meant the salvation of God's
elect has been completed, fulfilled, signed, sealed, and delivered. That's what He meant. I see all
of salvation. He saved us on the cross. The truth is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, who we believe determines
what we believe. Let me give you an example. Most
people preach that Jesus Christ died to save everybody, and He
paid for everybody's sins, and He wants to save everybody. Now,
if you believe that, that means you believe that those people
in hell, His blood wasn't sufficient. I don't believe any such thing.
You see, Jesus Christ is such, because He's God, that if He
died for somebody, they must be saved. I don't believe for
a second that He would die for somebody and they wind up in
hell anyway. That's degrading His precious blood. If He died
for you, you must be saved. Every believer knows that He's
the Lord. Even the thief understood that.
The thief saw that one hanging on a cross, seemingly so helpless
and in pain, and everybody forsaken him, and he heard him say, my
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he said, you're the Lord.
You're going to come back as a ruling, reigning king. You're
not going to stay here. You're going to come back as
a king, ruling and reigning. Oh, Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom. The truth is everything in this
book. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant
Word of God. It's God's revelation of Himself.
If we don't have that, we don't have anything. The truth is what
is found in this book. This is the Word of Truth. The
Lord said, is truth. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for
reproof, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now in John chapter
17, I want to read a couple of verses regarding the truth. Remember
there's an intimate connection between the church and the truth.
Any church that's not founded on the truth, it may call itself
a church, but it's not a church. Now, the Lord said in John chapter
17, verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And he said in verse 19, and
for their sakes, the church, every believer, I sanctify myself
that they also might be sanctified through the truth." Now, the
truth has something to do with sanctification. Now, sanctification
is the word that most clearly describes God's salvation. Sanctification. It means to take something common
and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. God's people
were set apart by God in eternal election to be holy. According
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. God's people
were sanctified by the blood of Christ. By the witch will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. The blood of Christ actually
accomplished our sanctification. Now God says regarding every
one of His people, they're holy. This is the truth the church
stands for. We're sanctified by the Spirit.
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says, We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. And there's no sanctification
of the Spirit apart from belief of the truth. And that's what
the church stands for. This is the pillar and the ground
of the truth. The church is the pillar and
the ground of the truth. The ground means the foundation. A church
is grounded on the truth. If the truth isn't the foundation,
it's not a church. The church is the pillar of the
truth. We don't need creeds and boards and so on to make sure
things stay true. The church itself, believing
the gospel, is the light of the world in the sense the Lord said,
you are the light of the world. They're the light that upholds
the truth of how God saves sinners. by His grace. Now, how can I
know if what I'm hearing is the truth? I want to read a passage
of scripture from John chapter 7, and you can know whether what
you're hearing is the truth. John chapter 7, beginning in
verse 16, the Lord said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent
Me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself. If you're
willing to do God's will, you'll know. He that speaketh of himself
seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent
him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Does
God get all the glory? If God gets all the glory and
none goes to man, you're hearing the truth. May God bless this
to your heart, for Christ's sake and my heart. you