Would you turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter 3? I've entitled this message, Behavior
in the House of God. Now it's going to take two or
three messages to bring this message. Behavior in the house
of God. Paul said to Timothy, 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 the living
God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now there is a
certain behavior that you expect in your house, in your own home. The church is called the house
of God, and there is a behavior that God expects and demands
in His house, which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and the ground of the truth. But before we can consider what
that behavior is, we must first have some understanding as to
what the church is. the church of the living God,
which is the pillar and ground of the truth and what the church's
relationship is to the truth. Now, I believe this to be a very,
very important message. And I believe every message I
preach is a very, very important message because it's from the
word of God. But this is something that I feel strongly impressed
with. The word church means a called
out assembly. Very simple, a called out assembly. Not everyone is called out, only
those who are called by God. They're called out of the world
and they assemble together to worship God and to hear his word
preached. Now, what if I said, I'm not
using scripture tonight. You'd get up and walk out, wouldn't
you? I mean, you don't want to hear me. You want to hear the
Word of God. That's why we're here, called
out by God to hear His Word. Church is men and women called
by God out of the world, gathered together to worship Him and to
hear His Word. Now, church is not made of wood,
bricks, and mortar. It's a serious mistake to call
a building a church, isn't it? Nor is the church made up of
the clergy. Well, they're part of the church,
and then there's the laity. There's no such thing as secular
and sacred. With a believer, everything is
sacred. The church is equally, though
it's not just a building, Just because a bunch of people gather
together in the name of religion and meet together, that does
not make it a church. You see, the church is intimately
acquainted with the truth. Did you notice how he says, the
church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground of the
truth. And if the truth is not there,
even if it is a religious gathering, it's not a church. the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now
I want us to consider some of the names and figures given to
the church in scripture. What we're doing right now is
a supernatural thing. It's something that Christ has
called us to do. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Public
worship. Public worship, that's the gathering
of God's church. It's a called out assembly, assembled
together, the gathering of God's church. Public worship is just
as important as private worship. Now, how can you say that? Well,
I know this, someone that's not interested in public worship
isn't interested in private worship either. They may say that, but
public worship, our Lord said, where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Now that's
special, isn't it? He's here. Now, in our text,
the church is called the house of God. He's the architect, and
he is the builder, and he lives in his house. This is his abode,
the church. He's the head of his home, and
he disciplines his family, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and he scourges every son that he receives. Now, I don't want
to be chastened, but let me tell you something I much more don't
want. I don't want to not be chastened. Because the scripture
says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every
son that he receives. If you're without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, the writer of the Hebrews said, then
are you bastards and not sons. I don't, I'm not looking to be
chastened, but I sure don't want to not be chastened. I want the
head of the home to have his hand upon me." And what a provider
he is for his family. I love that scripture in 1 Corinthians
1.30, of him are you in Christ Jesus. Here's his provision,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. What provision? He gives, If a man provide not for his
own, the scripture says, especially they of his own house, he is
worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. Well, the Lord
provides for his own, doesn't he? You think of the way the
Lord has provided for you. Feed the church of God, which
he purchased with his own blood. Now listen to this from Ephesians
chapter one, verse 23. The church is called his body. The fullness
of him that filleth all in all the body of Christ. Now, how
important is your body to you? Your body is very important to
you, isn't it? How it feels, you want to be
healthy, how it appears. Everyone is very concerned about
their body and the Lord is concerned of his body. The church is his
body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. So much so
that he said, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these
my brethren, how you treat me, if I'm in his church, is how
you treat the Lord himself. Inasmuch as you did it not to
the least of these my brethren, you did it not to me, and how
I treat you, if you're in the church, If you're in this call-out
assembly, that's how I treat the Lord Himself. He said to
Saul, when he was persecuting him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes
thou me? Now, wait a minute, he was seated
at the right hand of the Father. But yet, when one of his people
was persecuted, he said, you're persecuting me. The church is
called a holy temple. The members being living stones,
a habitation of God through the Spirit. That's what this is.
It's a habitation of God through the Spirit. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 5. Here's what the church is called. Ephesians chapter 5, beginning
in verse 25. Husbands, 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. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And when Christ loves the church,
he's loving himself. Go on reading. Verse 29, for
no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it, cherish
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
the two shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Oh, the love
that exists. between the bridegroom and his
bride. The church is the bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How special is that? What a blessed
privilege and honor it is to be part of his church. That means
I'm his bride. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. And with his blood he bought
her and gave his life. I'm not quoting it, but it's
a good hymn. As a matter of fact, we ought
to sing that one at the end. I love reading in the Psalm of
Solomon what the bridegroom says to the bride. He says to the
bride, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. When the Lord Jesus Christ looks
at his bride, he looks at one who's without blemish and without
spot, altogether fair, beautiful, and lovely. That's how real union
with the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's what he's done for us.
He's made us his holy bride. And we say, I am my beloved's,
and he is mine. He's the fairest of 10,000. He's
altogether lovely. That's what we say of our bridegroom. The church is called the city
of God. It's compared in scriptures to
a mother, and a mother feeds her children. It's compared as
an army, battering down the gates of hell and rescuing the elect
from Satan's clutches. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I'll build my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Now the church is a called out assembly. Called out by the living God
and what a privilege it is to be called of God. We're not citizens
of this world. We're simply passing through
on our way to Emmanuel's land. Now notice In our text, back
to 1 Timothy chapter 3, he speaks of the church of the living God. Not the churches, but the church
of the living God. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church. Singular. Now, I believe in local
churches. Thank God for local churches.
But the Scripture uses the word in two ways. The church, which
is all of God's elect, all of God's people, the bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and there are local churches. We're a local
church right now. But he speaks of the church, the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. Feed the
church of God which He purchased with His own blood. Not the churches,
but the church. Now, the church is made up of
all those people that God elected, that Christ died for, and God
the Holy Spirit calls by His grace. Neither more than that
number, nor less than that number. It's sometimes called the universal
church. They are not divisions. Now listen
to this real carefully. They're not, there's the church.
They're not divisions, they're not denominations in the body
of Christ. Think of all these Methodists
and Catholics and Baptists and Episcopalians and whatever denomination
you want to talk about, it's man-made. It's man-made. There
are no divisions, there are no denominations in the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't support any denomination
from the scripture. Church, just one church, the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are different local
churches with mixed memberships, and I've said this a few weeks
ago, and I think this is so true. You think about it. All local
assemblies, what we have right here, have four types of people.
They have unbelievers who look like unbelievers. They have unbelievers
who look like believers. There are believers who look
like unbelievers. And there are believers who look
like believers. Now that's in every assembly
there is. That is a public gathering. There
will always be tares among the wheat. The Lord gave us a parable
about that, didn't he? And what did he say to do? He
said, don't try to pull off the tares, because what you'll do,
you'll end up pulling out the wheat. Now, if I took it upon
myself to pull out the tares and make this a pure membership,
you know what I'd do? I'd rip up the wheat. That's what I'd
do. And I'd leave the tares there. I know I don't have enough sense
to know. I really don't, nor does any other man. The Lord
said, let them both grow together. And at the end, when the Lord
returns, He will gather the wheat into his garner and the chaff
shall be burned with unquenchable fire. Now, the church assembles
together to worship him and to hear his word. Now, church, God's
people, the body of Christ, the Lord himself, the church is our
life because Christ is our life. That's why the church is our
life, because it's the body of Christ. We don't try to fit church
into life's busy schedule. No, life's busy schedule is subservient
to this, the called out assembly, the church of the living God.
Now, notice he says regarding the church, remember the church,
this is not a man-made institution, it's not a human denomination,
it's not, there's not, I love what Paul said, are there, is
Christ divided? No, Christ is not divided. They're
not divisions within the body of Christ. All believers believe
the same thing. Did you know that? All believers
believe the same thing. They look to the same Lord. They
believe the same gospel. They have the same teacher. And
they're taught the same things. Every one of them are. The church
of the living God, this called out assembly. But notice what
it says in our text in verse 15. And this is so important.
But if I tarry long, thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Now there is an intimate
connection between the church and the truth. Notice the definite article,
the truth. which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The truth. Now, there
are a lot of things that we could say are the truth that is not
what Paul meant when he wrote this passage of scripture. For
instance, it's the truth that I ate cereal this morning. That's
what I had for breakfast. That's the truth. That's not
a lie. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. But that obviously
has nothing to do with what Paul's talking about when he talks about
the truth. The church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. The truth. We read in John 1, 17, the law
was given by Moses and the law is true. The law is the truth,
but he doesn't say it's the truth. I mean, I wouldn't, everything
Moses wrote, it's true. God wrote it. The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth. came by Jesus Christ. You see,
the law doesn't give the whole story. The law doesn't tell us
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. The law doesn't
tell us about how God can save sinners for Christ's sake. The
law tells us how to live and what will happen if we don't.
It's true and we love God's law. We really do. I love all the
commandments of God, but the law is not the truth. The gospel
is the truth because the gospel tells us who God is in all of
his fullness. It tells us how he can be just
and justify sinners like you and I. It tells us of his grace
and his mercy. Now remember this about the truth.
The truth is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And a half a truth is a whole
lie. And 99% of the truth is a whole
lie. The church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. Now, the truth is a person. It's not a formula. It's not
a creed. It's not a dogma. The truth is
a person. Our Lord said in John chapter
14, verse six, I am the way, the truth, the life. He is the truth. He said, you
shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you
free. And beloved, it's not mine and your knowledge of the truth
that makes us free. It's the truth himself who makes us free. If the son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. The truth is a person. The Lord said, whom do men say
that I the son of man am? And they said, well, they put
you in some high cot and some say you're alive. Some say John
the Baptist, others one of the prophets. He said, but whom say
ye that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And the Lord replied, blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto
thee, thou art Peter. And upon this rock, this confession
of me, who I am, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. The truth is a person. What we believe is totally determined. by who we believe. That's the
issue. It's not what, it's who. You
see, if you believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son, you can't
possibly believe that he could die for somebody and fail in
his intentions. You can't possibly believe he
could die for somebody and that person end up lost. Not if you
believe him. See, what we believe is determined
by who we believe. If you believe Him, you know
He's the Lord. That means you know He has all control. You
know He controls everything. The thief knew this. The thief
knew this. You want to talk about a guy
that had the bare bones minimum understanding? The thief. Let's
turn over there to Luke chapter 23 for a moment. Luke chapter 23. I've heard people use the thief
as a reason why you don't. You don't have to believe so
much. Well, let's see what this says. Verse 39. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, dost thou not fear God? I don't have any question that
that thief knew this was God nailed to that cross. Don't you fear God? Seeing thou
art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, he believed in the absolute
justice of God in his own damnation. He believed that. He didn't have
any question about that. We indeed justly, we're getting
exactly what we have coming. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. He knew that the Lord Jesus Christ
was sinless. He knew he was without sin, the
perfect Savior. Verse 42, and he said unto Jesus, Calvin called this the greatest
instance of faith in all the Word of God. He saw that one
nailed to a cross with a thorn of crowns pressed on His head.
You couldn't even recognize His face. Everybody making fun of
Him. Everybody that was anybody had nothing to do with Him. His
own disciples had forsaken Him. He heard Him say, My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He saw this one seemingly so
alone and so isolated, and He said, Lord, You're the Lord. I don't have
any doubt that there were people laughing at him. Can you believe
he called him Lord? Look at him. But he knew he was the Lord.
Lord, remember me. When you come, you're not gonna
stay dead. You're gonna come back as a ruling,
reigning king in a kingdom. Lord, remember me. All you gotta do is remember
my worthless name and I'll be saved. Now, he knew he was the
Lord, didn't he? And everything he believed was
because he knew who he was. The truth is a person. And what we believe is determined
by who we believe. The church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. The truth is everything in this
book. I want to repeat that. The truth
is everything in this book. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished, and all good works. Turn with me to 2
Peter chapter 1 for a moment. I repeat, the truth is everything
in this book. And let me say this. You and
I don't have enough understanding to sit in judgment on this book
and pick out what we think is more important than another part.
It's all important because it's the word of God. Something may
seem to me to be more important, but the reason it seems is because
I don't really understand the other part too well. That's what
it is. This is all God's word, all important. And I don't sit
in judgment on this book and try to figure out, well, this
part's important and that part's not. You see, we, We don't use this
book to prove what we believe. We come to this book to find
out what to believe. We bow before what this book
says. This is the book of God. Timothy
preached the Word. That's why the church meets,
to hear the Word of God preached. That's all we care about. If
I quit preaching the Word of God, get out of here. You don't
want to have anything to do with anything like that. We want to
hear the Word preached. Look in 2 Peter 1. beginning in verse 16. For we
have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
that excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount."
Can you imagine being in on that? Peter and James and John brought
up into the mount of transfiguration and the Lord being transfigured
before them, they saw his deity burst through his humanity and
they experienced all this. But look what he says next in
verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. This is more sure than that.
The written word is more sure than that experience. Wherein
do you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place, and to the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation." Somebody says, that's your interpretation.
No, it's not. It's what God's Word says. It's not up to my
interpretation or your interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, I believe sovereign grace. And there's two reasons why I
believe sovereign grace, two. The first one is what the Bible
teaches. The Bible teaches that God is
absolutely sovereign, that men are dead in sins and unable to
save themselves. The Bible teaches that God elected
a people, that Christ died for the elect, that the grace of
the Holy Spirit is irresistible, invincible, and that all, every
one of those people persevere. The Bible teaches that. You can't
be honest with the Bible and deny that. That's what the Bible
teaches. But here's the second reason
I believe this. I find it true by experience. I am depraved. You believe that
about yourself? What you are in and of yourself?
Totally. And I need God to elect me. I need Christ to die for
me. I need God the Holy Spirit's
grace to be invincible and irresistible toward me. I need to be enabled
to persevere. What I preach is what I need.
It's what I believe the Bible teaches and what I need. Turn to John chapter 17 for a
moment. Verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now look at verse 19. And for
their sakes I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. The truth of how God saves. The truth of this word. Thy word
is truth. I sanctify them myself that they
might be sanctified through the truth. Now, sanctification is
the word that most completely describes God's salvation. If
you want to understand God's salvation, understand the word
sanctification. is to take something common and
ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. God sanctified
His people. God the Father sanctified His
people in eternal election when He set them apart to be holy.
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be I was sanctified, all of God's
elect were sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the witch will. We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. When he
offered up himself, God said regarding all of his people,
they're holy, they're holy. And we're sanctified by the spirit
of God. We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren
and beloved of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. There's two things that can never
be separated. Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Now, what the church stands for
is this. the truth regarding how God saves. Trinitarian salvation, the work
of the Father in salvation, the work of the Son in salvation,
and the work of the Spirit in salvation. This is what the church
stands for, the pillar and the ground of the truth. The Lord
said, I came to bear witness to the truth. Everyone that's
of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said, what is truth? That's a question everyone has
asked at one time or the other. What is truth? He could have meant, is there
such a thing? He could have meant, well, if
there is, can we know it? Or I believe this is what he
meant. Truth, is it worth this? Is it worth you? Dying on a cross
for it, is it worth this? Well, the answer to those three
questions, yes, there is such a thing as truth. Yes, you can know the truth.
And yes, it's worth this. He said, I came to bear witness
to the truth. And on the cross, he bore witness
to the truth concerning the true character of man. You wanna know
what you are? You look to the cross and you'll
find out how bad you really are. You won't find by looking in
here. You'll find by looking to the cross. The one time men
were allowed to do what they wanted to do, they put God to
death. That's how bad you and I are.
But here's the truth regarding the true character of God. All
of His character is displayed in the glorious cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His holiness is displayed, His
sovereignty, His justice, His wisdom, His grace, His mercy,
all the truth of the cross. The cross is the truth of God. He said, I came to bear witness,
and he did. He bore witness to the truth
by his own death concerning salvation. He said, by that I am salvation. Now, this is the truth the church
stands for. It's not just a religious gathering.
The pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, the ground, the
foundation. A church where its foundation
is not the truth is not a church. It's a man-made religious organization.
The truth must be the foundation of any true church. But the pillar
is what's seen. What does the church seen for?
The truth. The truth of how God saves sinners. The church is the church of the
living God. The church. The church, you know,
it's interesting. Men have tried to make other
things the pillars and grounds of the truth. Well, here's what
we'll do. We'll make a creek. We'll make a creed, and we'll
have church laws, and we'll have it all in there, and that'll
keep this church protected from error. No, it won't. No, it won't. Well, here's what we'll do. We'll
have some trustees, and if the pastor gets off in a wrong way,
we'll fire him and get rid of him, and that way we'll protect
the truth. No, you won't. No, you won't. The church. Believers, those who believe
and love the truth of God, the church is the ground, the church
is the pillar of the truth. What a glorious thing the church
is through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed thing to be part
of this called out assembly. Called of God, not everybody
is. What a great mercy, what a great blessing to be part of
the church of the living God. Now, how do I behave myself in
the church? Now that we understand what the
church is, that's what we're going to consider next week.
He said that you might know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God. The Lord expects a certain behavior,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground
of the truth. Let's pray together.