Christ Loved the Church

Our subject today, Christ Loved
the Church. And our text is Ephesians 5,
verse 25 through 27. Will you follow along as I read
God's word? Christ loved the church. Now,
while you're finding the scripture, Ephesians 5, 25, I'm going to
announce that this message is available, if you'd like to have
it, on cassette tape. That's the small tape recording.
And if you want this message on tape, you write to me. The
tape will have this message, Christ Loved the Church, and
on the back, it'll have a message entitled, The Bold Challenge
of God's Elect, which I preached last week from Romans chapter
8, verse 33 and 34. But this morning, Ephesians 5,
verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with a 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. Question, do I belong to that
church which Jesus Christ loves? Am I a part of that church? for
which he gave himself. Do I belong to that glorified,
sanctified, cleansed church which he shall present to himself,
holy and without blemish? Now let me remind you that this
church of which I'm speaking and of which Paul is writing,
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might
cleanse it and sanctify it with the washing of the word and present
it to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, holy and without blemish. This church is not a
material building. Oh, the error, what error, what
misunderstanding has gripped the hearts of men and women in
this day in regard to this matter right here. We call buildings
churches. We point to a building down on
the corner of a certain street and we say, that's the church.
That, my friend, is not the church. That's not a church at all. That's
a building. That's nothing more than a building.
That's all in the world it is. These buildings on the corners
are nothing in the world but houses in which the church meets. That's not the church. God doesn't
dwell in temples made out of brick and stone and wood and
mortar and marble. God dwells in the hearts of his
people. You know that. You know that
as well as I do. But oh, what mistakes we make
in this regard. The church is a building, all
right, but a building of living stones. Not bricks and stones
and marbles, but living stones. Our Lord said to Peter, whom
do you say that I am? And Peter said, well, you are
the Christ, the Son of the living God. He said, blessed are you,
Simon. Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father
which is in heaven. And I say unto you that on this
rock, on this testimony, on this confession of faith, I'll build
my church. You don't build churches. God
builds churches. Well, you can go out here and
buy you 10,000 bricks and some sticks and stones and mortar
and build you a house, but you can't build a church. God builds
the church. He said, I'll build my church.
So the church is not a material building. Then secondly, the
church which Christ loves and which Christ cleanses is called
a glorious church. This church is not a local organization. Now, you have only to read the
epistles of Paul. epistles to the Corinthians,
and the epistles to the Ephesians and the Galatians, and you'll
find that these local churches were inhabited by people that
didn't know the Lord. You know, Paul said all Israel
is not Israel. Everybody that's called an Israelite
is not of Israel. And everybody that's called a
church member is not a member of the church. Not this church. Many members of the churches
are just names on the roll, that's all. Go to your church roll.
You take it, ask the clerk to let you have the church roll,
and look it over. And you'll find as much dead
wood there as you'll find down by the seashore. No, people are
not members of Christ's church just because they're a member
of an organization on this earth that calls itself a church. And
then this church, which Christ loved, this church, which he
bought with his own blood, This church is not a denominational
party. Listen to men talk. They say
the Church of England. England doesn't have a church.
The Lord's got a church. But England doesn't have a church.
England has a parliament. England has a king. And England
has a colony. But England doesn't have a church.
God's got a church. And then they say the Church
of Scotland. Scotland doesn't have a church. And I hear people
say the Methodist church. or the Baptist church, or the
Episcopalian church. The Baptists don't have a church.
The Methodists don't have a church. God has a church. Christ said,
I'll build my church. I hear them say the Catholic
church. The Catholics don't have a church. They better not have
a church. God has a church. The church is the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He called it my church. I will
build my church. And this is the church I'm talking
about here. It's his church. I want to belong to that church
which Christ loves. I want to be a part of that church
for which he gave himself. I want to be a member of that
church which he cleanses with his blood, and cleanses and sanctifies
it so perfectly that it doesn't have a wrinkle or a spot or any
such thing. And one of these days he's going
to present that church, not that building down on the corner,
and not that local group to which you belong. and not that denominational
party, he's not going to present them, but that church which he
loved, he's going to present it to himself in that great day.
In that day of resurrection, in that day of his second coming,
in that day of his great redemption, he's going to present that church
to himself, and it's going to be holy and glorious and without
blemish. What is this church? this church
which Christ loved. Well, let's listen to the scripture.
First of all, that church is made up of all true believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All true believers. There are
no false professors in that church. There are no rebels. There are
no unregenerate people. There are no unbelievers. There
are no hypocrites. There are no secret disciples
in that church. Or they may live in different
countries. And they may speak different languages. And they
may be old or young, rich or poor, educated or illiterate,
but every member of this church, personally, individually, believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every member of this church,
wherever that person is found, he can say with the Apostle Peter,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And we believe
and are sure that God sent you. Yes, sir. The Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. We believe that. We believe that. All right, secondly,
that church, which he loves, is made up of all true believers,
only true believers. There are no hypocrites and no
false professors in that church. True believers, wherever they're
found, in whatever country, in whatever dispensation, wherever
they're found. Secondly, that church is made
up of God's elect. from every dispensation, those
who were given him by the Father in eternity past, those who were
redeemed by him when he came to this earth, and obeyed the
law in their place instead, and went to the cross, and died under
God's wrath for their sins, and was buried and rose again in
the sin, and those for whom he prays right now, and those who
are quickened and called by his Holy Spirit, for he calls them
my He uses that possessive pronoun, my sheep. He calls them my brethren. He's not ashamed to call them
his brethren. He calls them his jewels. You
know, you ladies have a jewelry box, and whether you have expensive
jewels or ten-cent store jewels, they're still your jewels. And
you've got it there on your dresser, and you open up your jewelry
box and there are your jewels. They belong to you, you bought
them. They're valuable to you. There's some your grandmother
left you, your mother left you, a ring that your mother wore,
your jewels, they belong to you. And our Lord said he's going
to make up his jewels. They belong to him. They're his.
And then he calls them my body. Oh yes, Abraham, Isaac, David,
Peter, James, and John, Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, Bunyan, Whitefield,
Huss, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, And all who love him today make
up that church, the elect of God, out of every dispensation. And then now you listen to me
carefully. Let's get right down. I used to know an old preacher
years ago named A.D. Mews. He preached down in Louisville,
Kentucky. Had a tabernacle right down on
old North Market Street, 505 North Market, called Hart's Harbor.
And old Dr. Mews used to run a kitchen there
and a preaching place. And he'd bring people in off
the streets and preach to them. And God saved lots of them. And
he used to have this expression. He said, now, I'm going to do
some cornbread, tater-roll preaching. I'm going to get down there just
plain as I can so that you can understand me. So there won't
be any misunderstanding of what I'm saying. Now you listen. That's
what I'm going to try to do right now. What is this church? Thirdly, it is made up. of all
who have had a personal, true experience of grace in salvation
with the living God. Now you're not a member of this
church because you were sprinkled as an infant and made a member
of a congregation, whether communicant or non-communicant, whether catechized
or non-catechized. A preacher doesn't sprinkle some
water on your head and make you a member of this church. And
then you're not a member of this church just because you've been
voted into the membership. I always get amused at these
churches that vote people in. The scripture says God added
to the church daily such as should be saved. And here we are raising
our hands deciding whether we are going to vote a person in
to God's church. The only one who has the keys
to the church is the Lord Jesus Christ. The only one who can
open the door and no man can shut it, or shut it and no man
can open it, is the Lord of Glory. And you don't become a member
of God's Church because a group of people decided that they're
going to let you be a member of their congregation. And I'm
telling you this, they're not members of Christ's Church just
because they have a head knowledge of theology, and just because
they have a head knowledge of orthodoxy. or just because their
mother and father were members of the church, and consequently
they started going to the same place because their parents went,
and not because they'd been recruited into the church by zealous soul
winners. That doesn't make you a member
of his church. The people who are members of this church, now
listen to me, are those who have been quickened by the Holy Spirit.
Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is the family
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is the body
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the only person who can enter
that kingdom is that person who has been quickened and awakened
and given life by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.
That person who has been convicted of sin and brought to mourn over
sin and to grieve over sin and to cry for mercy. That person
who has been brought to see Christ as his Lord and Savior, crucified,
risen, coming again, reigning, interceding, the advocate, the
mediator, he's seen Christ. He that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, hath everlasting life. How do you see the Son? With
these eyes? No, sir. See him with the eyes of faith.
You see him as your Lord, as your Savior, as your Prophet,
as your Priest, as your King, as your Substitute, as your Representative,
as your Righteousness, as your Sanctification, as all things.
You see Christ. You understand that this is what
he is to you and this is who he is to you. Those have been
born again, made new creatures in Christ Jesus who walk with
the King. Those who count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord, that they may win Christ
and be found in him, not having their own righteousness, which
is of the law, but the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Christ Jesus. Oh, that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection. You know the pastor, do you know
the Lord? You know the board of deacons, do you know the Lord?
You know the choir director, do you know the Lord? You know
the catechism, but do you know the Lord? You know the history
of the church, fine, do you know the Lord? You can know all these
other things and not be a member of his church. Those who are
members of his church are those who are his people, his sheep,
his body, his bride, his family. Oh, my friend, this is the object,
this is the goal of my life, is to be a member of this church.
The church which Christ loved, the church for which he gave
himself. The church of which he said, the gates of hell cannot
prevail against him. Oh, you watch the old time churches
down in Egypt and other places, and Corinth and all those places,
they're gone now. Where'd they go? They were local
churches, they were evangelistic churches, they were expectant
churches, they were, they're gone now. They're gone now. But his church is not gone. His
church is not gone. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Let me tell you what he said
about this church. First of all, he said he loved this church.
He loved it. And I'll tell you this, he's
always loved it. Always. Read in your Bible, Jeremiah
31, verse 3. Read this scripture. He said
in Jeremiah 31, verse 3, The Lord hath appeared of old, saying
unto me, I have loved you with an everlasting love. How long
has God loved his church? Always and always. I've drawn
you, I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
I've drawn you. You know why I've drawn you to
myself? Because I loved you. You know why I wooed you and
quickened you and redeemed you? Because I loved you. Jesus Christ
didn't come into this world to get God in the notion of loving
men. For God so loved the world that he gave his Son. He's the
gift of God's love. He came into this world to redeem
us because he loved us. Not because we loved him, because
he loved us. John 13, verse 1 says, Having
loved his own, he loved them to the end. Having loved, already
loved them. They were already his. Why, he
said in Romans, chapter 9, verse 10 through 13, Rebekah conceived
by our father Isaac. And the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said to her, The elder shall serve
the younger. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated." That's in the Bible twice, Malachi chapter
1 and Romans chapter 9. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Christ loved the church. He loved
it with an everlasting love. And then you watch this. He loved
his church when there was nothing in her to merit his love. Nothing. We didn't love God.
He loved us. There was nothing lovely about
us. Well, listen to Paul talking about us in Ephesians 2. He said
we had our conversation, our citizenship, our behavior in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and
of our mind, and we were by nature Children of wrath, just like
everybody else, but God, who is rich in his mercy toward us
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. He loved
us with an everlasting love, and he loved us when there was
nothing about us to love. When we were enemies, Christ
died for us. You know, men by nature love that which is beautiful.
God loves that which is unlovely. Men by nature love that which
attracts them. God loves those who are against
him, who hate him. Men love those that love them.
God loves us even when we despise him. Men start out loving, and
due to some circumstances they change. God never changes. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The gifts and
calling of God are without change. His love is an everlasting love
and His love is an infinite love, love so vast that naught can
bond. Love too deep for thought to
understand. Love which made the Lord of all
drink the wormwood and the gall. Love which led him to the cross,
bearing there such awful loss. Love which brought him to the
gloom, yes, the cold darkness of a tomb. Love which would not
let him rest till his chosen all are blessed, till they all
for whom he died live rejoicing at his side. Christ loved that
church. But more than that, he not only
loved it, but he gave himself for it. Now, you need to hear
this. By nature, we're not fit company
for Christ. That's right. By nature, we can't
walk with him. Two can't walk together except
they be agreed. By nature, we cannot fellowship
with him because we're sinners. By law, we're guilty. We've come
short of his glory, we're under condemnation. By justice, we're
condemned to die. And the judge of the earth must
do right. But Christ loved this church, and he purposed to have
this church. He purposed to fellowship with
this church. He has set his love upon this
church, and he'll have this church. How? Only one way. He bought it. And he bought it
with his own blood. You know, Paul said, you're bought
with a price. You're not your own. You belong
to him. He bought you. He died that he
might be Lord of the dead and the living. What the law could
not do because of the weakness of our flesh, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned, broke the power
of the law when he paid the penalty of sin. And God in the fullness
of time sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were born under the law. And he gave himself.
That's how he bought this church. That's how he ransomed this church.
That's how he redeemed this church. The just died for the unjust.
The sinless was made sinful. That sinful might be sinless. And he sanctified this church.
How? Through the word. Did you ever read that hymn of
Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages, which says, Be of sin the double
cure, save me from wrath and from its power. He saves us from
the wrath of sin by his blood, from the power of sin. by his
word. That's how we're sanctified.
Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Christ loved the church. I want
to be a member of it. Christ gave himself for the church.
I want to be a part of it. And Christ thirdly and last will
present that church to himself, a glorious church. Now, my friends,
we read of the great churches of the past in the New Testament. There's the church at Colossae,
to which Paul wrote that blessed letter, and the church at Galatia.
And these sent out missionaries all over the world. They were
generous, gracious, wonderful churches, but not glorious churches.
They had their spots, and they had their wrinkles, and they
had their such things. They were not perfect. And then
we read about the old churches, you know, back 100, 200 years
ago. I read the other day about the
Moravians. What a great people. Do you know some of those Moravian
preachers actually sold themselves into slavery so they could preach
to the slaves? That's right. They put themselves
on the block and sold themselves so that they could preach to
them. Did you know some of them even entered leper colonies and
became lepers so they could preach to the lepers? Great people,
but not a glorious church. They had their era, too. They
had their spots. And then Spurgeon's great church,
with its orphanage, thousands of boys and girls, with its preacher
school, hundreds of ministerial students, with its cold-portage
libraries and paper and everything. Well, it's gone today. It wasn't
a glorious church. It had its spots. It had its
error. And our churches today, some of them, some of the congregations,
are making every effort to preach God's Word. They hadn't gone
into the entertainment business. They're preaching God's Word.
They're trying to be true to this book. But try as they may,
They're not glorious churches. What is this glorious church?
Well, first of all, here it is. The whole of the redeemed of
all ages gathered as one in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ,
with the brightness of his glory, and they'll ever be, ever one,
be just like him. Can you imagine that? To be just
like the Lord. He said that he's going to present
this church to himself in his presence. They're going to stand
in his presence, justified, glorified. They're going to be just like
him, every member of this church, not one missing. Oh, there's
plenty of room in heaven, but there's no vacancies. Every name
place, there's somebody seated at the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And every one of them are going to be just like the Lord.
And you know what he said about them? He said they're going to
be without spot. Not one spot, nor one stain, nor one thought. No one motive, no one imagination,
no one slip, no one fall without spot. And they're going to be
without wrinkles. You know what wrinkles mean?
Some of us do. Wrinkles mean two things, old age and weakness.
But this church is ever new and eternally strong. And then he
adds, and they shall be without any such thing. Whatever you
want to mention, this church is going to be perfect. Can you
imagine it? You know, as a little girl, was
blind from an accident at birth. And she grew to be about ten,
nine, ten years old, and a specialist came to town. Her mother took
her to this specialist, and the man told her there was a possibility
that her daughter could be operated on and her sight restored. And
the mother said, well, we'll do anything or pay anything or
go anywhere. And he said, well, he gave her
the place to go and the things to do and all, so they took the
little girl and she was operated on. And they bandaged up her
eyes and wrapped bandages around her head. She stayed in the hospital
a few days and then she went home. The time came to take the
bandages off. They didn't know whether the
operation was a success or whether it wasn't. The doctor came to
the house and he was going to take the bandage off. And the
mother said, let's take her out in the yard. It was in the afternoon
and the grass was green, the roses were blooming. birds were
singing, and the sky was blue, and the white clouds floating
overhead, and the sun was shining. They sat her down in a chair,
and Mother and Daddy put on the nicest clothes they had, you
know, and they stood there in front of the rose garden, and
the doctor stood behind the little girl, and he clipped the bandages,
and they fell away. And she began to blink her little
eyes, and finally she opened them, and she looked all around,
and tears came down her cheeks, and she said, Why didn't you
tell me it was so pretty? Why didn't you tell me? And the
mother said, well, honey, I tried to tell you, but you were blind
and you couldn't see. And my friend, I tried to tell
you. His church, that glorious church, that glorious day, when
we're going to be like Christ, oh, why didn't you tell me? Well,
somebody tried to, and you just wouldn't listen. Will you say,
Lord, speak, thy servant hearing? Teach me, Lord. Show mercy to
my heart. I hope you'll join us next week for the program.
If you want this tape, write to me. Three dollars is the cost
for two messages on one cassette tape. Till next week at the same
time, I bid you a very pleasant good day.

Christ Loved the Church

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Christ Loved the Church

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