and verse 18, Matthew chapter 16. Doug, if you wouldn't care to go ahead and click the lights, hopefully you can see your Bibles, but hopefully also you can see this a little more clearly, as we're going to have a lot of visuals, we're going to have a lot of different interesting stuff. Unfortunately, this is probably This is fact night here tonight. We're gonna be looking at a lot of Greek words tonight. We're gonna look at a lot of things that may not seem very interesting to you initially. You may come out and say, well, I wanted to hear about the history of the church, and I wanna hear about all the things that were happening in the church regarding timelines such as the chart. We will get to those things, but tonight, we have to do a very important work. Tonight, we are going to find out what a church is. The Lord himself established a church, and we need to understand what that church is. Okay, so I need a helper, and I think I have two very fit young men. Yeah, he's tapping him on the shoulder here. If you guys wouldn't care, come on up here, Evan and Caleb. I have a study guide here on the right, if one of you will pass out that, and on the left, we have copies of the Trail of Blood. We don't have very many study guides. I think I've only got like 22 or 23 of them, so if we could just one per couple, and then each person should have enough for each person to get a book. hold off just one second so that they can pass these out. I would go ahead and start reading the next quote that I have but it's pretty small to read from this screen. Let me give you a couple disclaimers while they're passing out the information tonight. I want to first of all say I am not a church historian. I think you guys probably know that about me. You know my upbringing, you know my history, and I'm no church historian. I don't have a doctorate in church history. So what authority do I have to speak on, let's see, 2,000 years of church history? I have what the Bible teaches in regards to a promise given by the Lord Jesus Christ, and I can look over the annals of history in different books and different research and you can see a very, very bloody history regarding those that stood for the same things that this church stands for to this very day. The same things that Brother Hollis stands for and teaches in his Taze Valley Baptist College. I'm no church historian, I don't have all the answers, but hopefully there are some things that I can share with you and we can look at tonight and throughout this week in which you will be drawn closer to the Lord, you will have more of an appreciation for his church, and you would have more of a desire to be a part, and not only a part, but an active member of one of his churches. So that's the desire. No expert, but God can still show his children his church, and that's why we're here tonight, is it not? Okay, so our text is Matthew chapter 16. I want to read one verse and simply one verse, and that's verse 18 tonight. It says, I say also unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I got a quote I'd like to read, and in your hands, you actually have a little handout. If you turn to the first page, you can read along with me. I also have it up here, but I'm sure it's kind of hard for you to see up here. But it says this. This is Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a great preacher from the 1800s. He's often called the Prince of Preachers, and he was a Baptist. And this is what he said concerning the Baptist faith. He says, we believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation. We were Reformers before Luther or Calvin were born. We never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it. but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherence. persecuted alike by Romanists and Protestants of almost every sect, yet there has never existed a government holding Baptist principles which persecuted others. Nor, I believe, any body of Baptists ever held it to be the right to put the conscience of others under the control of man. We have been ever ready to suffer, as our martologies will prove. But we are not ready to accept any help from the state to prostitute the purity of the bride of Christ to any alliance with the government. And we will never make the church, although the queen, the despot over the consciousness of men." What do you think about that quote? Trail of Blood we're going to be well I handed out the Trail of Blood please take that home read it look over it we're going to be mentioning some things in the Trail of Blood we have a chart up here we have a chart over here so hopefully you can see those at our break times to be feel free to come up and take a closer look in your book also your little handout there is a chart a colored chart of the trail of blood that you can look at the one in the book is not that good but I like this binding of the book better than any trail of blood copies I've ever had so I like the book the best but the chart in the book is very weak so I provided it along in your handout now I say unto thee also, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Before we begin on this, I want to just give a little bit more information about The Trail of Blood that's in your hands. This is a good, concise book that talks about the Baptist faith throughout the ages. But I want you to understand it's not the only book. that talks about the Baptist faith throughout the ages. A lot of people will hang their hat on the trail of blood as if that's the only thing ever written to say that we were along for all the centuries. But There are some errors in the Trail of Blood, I'm just going to tell you up front. There are some quotes in there, in the introduction, that are not the full quotes. And the person that wrote those quotes, they were not trying to do any harm, they were not trying to mislead or hurt anyone, they were actually trying to make things more more concise, and to be honest, they were quoting from another book. And when you do that, it's very dangerous when you quote from a quote, okay? So there are some quotes in there, and the only reason I'm even telling you this is because when you tell other people that you believe these things, that's the first thing they want to jump at. And so, you have also in the pamphlet the verify quotes. I went and found the actual quotes that were pulled, and they're in there as well. They say basically the same things. so it's not a reach. They also try to hurt the testimony of the Trail of Blood because of a couple things on this chart. One of the most specific errors that they try to point out is the division between the Greek and the Roman Catholic Church. They say that that schism happened in 1050. when, on the chart, he has it happen at 869, and we'll talk about that on Wednesday night, that there was actually a lot of things in the works that were happening back here that started that process. So he's not wrong with his dates here. So a lot of people will try to nitpick and find things out, and they'll try to use those little things to try to discredit the whole work. And I want to tell you, he's not the only person that dug in to these different people that had the same beliefs as we had, okay? So, there's a lot of information on church history, there's a lot of, we're gonna be, that's actually why I entitled this series, A Study of the Lord's Church, Baptist History, okay? And we're gonna be looking at a lot of quotes, we're gonna be looking at the chart, we're gonna be looking at a lot of notes, we're gonna be pulling from all different areas, all different things to try to get a good look at the Lord's Church. So tonight, the Lord's church. I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The first thing I need you to understand is this is the very first mention of the word church in the Bible. Okay? The first time the word church is ever used is right here in your Bibles in the Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18. This is the first mention of Christ's church. And it's a promise, isn't it? I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Jesus promises us this. So what we're gonna do tonight, first off, we're going to examine this promise. And the first point I want you to notice is this. Upon this rock, I will build my church. I want you to understand that Jesus is the builder of the church. He is the builder of the church. He says, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church. So the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that built this church. He is the builder. Number two, second very important piece of this promise is not only is he the builder, but he is the owner of the church. I will build whose church? My church. I'm the builder and it's mine. I will build my church. Okay? Now, the next important piece of the puzzle is this. He is the builder, he is the owner, and he's also the foundation. I will build my church, but he says, on what? What will he build his church on? Upon this rock. Now, what is the rock? He's going to build his church upon a rock. What is this rock that he's going to build his church on? Well, if you ask a Roman Catholic, they will say that the rock that Jesus built his church on is what? Peter. Thou art Peter, and Peter, I'm gonna build my church on you. And you know what? If this is the only verse we had, and it was only in English, you could understand where people would get that from. It's, I send you that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I'll build my church. But that's not what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here. In fact, to really understand what Jesus is saying here, you have to look at the Greek words that are used in this verse. And I'm no Greek scholar either. Boy, I'm not a historian and I'm not a Greek scholar. I got two strikes against me. What am I up here talking for? But there are certain things that we can look at here. And first and foremost, there is a wordplay in the Greek that you don't see in your English translations. And that is that the Lord actually says, I say unto thee that thou art Petras, and upon this, the Petra, I will build my church. Okay? So he says, "'Thou art Petros, "'and upon this, the Petra, I will build my--" those are two different words. You understand that, right? So what do those two different words mean? Well, the word, Petros, the word, Petros, means a pebble. It means a stone, and the definition of it is a small rock that is found along the pathway. So you could be walking along the path, And you could stumble, and you could see there would be a small pebble in your way. Maybe it would get in their sandal or their shoe, and they would take that small pebble out, and they would toss it away. That was a petros. It was a small rock. It was a pebble. It was a little stone. But the petra, that's a different type of rock. In fact, the word petra actually means a mass of connected rock. Basically, when you drive down the road and you see some of those rocks that stick out right over the highway, that are implanted into the earth, a cliff, so to speak, that's what a petra is. So here, he says, Peter, you are a small stone, but upon this great earth rock, I will build my church. So they're not the same. Jesus is saying, Peter, you're a small piece in the church. Peter, you're important. Peter, you're vital to the early church ministry and the apostles and the acts of the apostles. You're vital to this story. In fact, what kind of story of Christianity would we have without the apostle Peter and the great things that he had done? So Peter was vital in his work, but he was just a small stone compared to what the Lord was going to build his church on. He was going to build his church on a giant rock. Peter, you're a small stone, but you are not the foundation of my church. Upon this giant rock is what I'm going to build my church. So what is this giant rock? What is this foundation? Well, there's two schools of thought on this. Well, there's three. People believe that Peter is, but there's two schools of thought. One of them is the confession that is given. And you have to look at the text here. In Matthew 16, it's a beautiful text of Scripture, but you have Jesus talking to his disciples, and he says, "'Who do men say that I am?' You remember that? Do you remember what they tell him? They say, some say you're a prophet, some say you're a great teacher. And then Jesus says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus says, blessed are thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And then guess what he says next. I say unto thee, thou art Petra's. And upon this, the Petra, I will build my church. So there are a lot of people that say that the foundation in which Jesus was going to build his church is the confession that Jesus is the Christ. Okay, and that's a beautiful thought, isn't it? But I believe more likely that what Jesus is actually saying is he's speaking, referring to himself. He says, thou art a small rock, but upon me, the rock of the earth, the rock of ages, upon myself, I'll build my church. Peter, you're a small piece of the puzzle. You're a small rock. You're important, but you're small. But upon myself, the Son of God Himself, the Rock of Ages, that's who my church will be built upon. That is the foundation of my church. Matthew Henry thought this, the great Puritan author. He says, nothing can be more wrong than to suppose that Christ meant the person of Peter was the rock. Without doubt, Christ himself is the rock, the tried foundation of the church, and woe to him that attempts to lay any other. Jesus is the foundation. Here's some scripture references to Jesus being referred to as a rock. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 4. And they all did drink of that spiritual rock, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was what? Christ. And look here. Rock was Petra. Rock was Petra. So right there, that same Greek word that he uses in Matthew 16, 18 is attributed to who? Christ. He's the rock. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And we are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets. Now, notice this next part. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He's the foundation. Okay? So he is the foundation. Now, we've examined this promise. We've said that he is the builder of the church. I say unto you, thou art Peter. Upon this rock, I will build my church. He's the builder. He's the owner. I will build my church. He's the owner, right? He is also the foundation. Upon this rock, upon myself, I will build my church. But this verse also has another beautiful piece to it, that he is also the sustainer of the church. Notice this phrase, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, what does this mean? Well, here we go again with another one of those Greek words. Let's go ahead and look at it. Hades is a word that was used to describe the grave. Not a place of torment, but the grave. In fact, that word Hades actually means an unseen place. And those have defined the word Hades, the invisible realm which the dead reside. So what Jesus is actually promising is this. Peter, upon myself, I will build my church. And the invisible realm, the unseen place, will not prevail against it. What he's saying here is His church will never go out of existence. Jesus will sustain His church throughout every day of every year, of every decade, of every century until He comes again. And that is an important key to what we're trying to learn this week. When we start looking tomorrow night at the different persecutions of the church and throughout the week we'll see the different times when people try to rise up and stamp out the Lord's church and try to make them completely non-existent anymore, we can look back at this promise and say, you know what? They can try their hardest, but there will always be at least one that will stand for His truth. He is the builder of the church. He is the owner of the church. He is the foundation of the church, and He is the sustainer of the church, and there will never be a point in time where one of His churches is not existing on this earth. The main point of this whole series is this, that Jesus will always have one of his churches in existence as long as this world is turning. Now, I want to take a few moments and look at another portion of this, this great promise. Jesus says that he will build his church. I will build it. So at this point in time, when Jesus is speaking here, the church has not been built yet. He will build it, it's a future project. Now, I wanna keep this in mind, I want you to think about this because it does seem like this is the case. I read in one of Brother Ed Overby's books about this, and he has the idea and comes to the conclusion that that could also be translated that he is building his church, meaning it's in process, it is continuing to be in process. And the reason he says that is because there were certain things that he hadn't addressed to his church yet to be completely built. We'll talk about those here in a second. But whether that is the case, or if he was going to do it in the future, we have no problem either way, because the Lord did establish his church, didn't he? Now, if you say, well, when did he establish his church? Well, I can't tell you exactly the day that he did it. But I do believe that there is some time in between when the events of Matthew chapter 16 were spoken, and when the events of Matthew chapter 18 were spoken, I believe that the church was established. You say, well, what makes you think that? Well, I want you to notice what he tells his disciples in Matthew chapter 18. He says, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go tell him thy fault between him and thee alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained a brother. If he will not hear thee, take one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, what's the next step? Tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be as a heathen, man, and a publican. So here in Matthew chapter 16, he says, I will build my church, and then in Matthew chapter 18, he's telling them, if you have a problem with someone, take it to the church. On a side note, which we will talk about this very extensively here in the next few moments, It's kind of hard to take a problem that you have with your brother and sister in Christ to a universal, invisible assembly, isn't it? You see here, even this is teaching that a church is a local group of people. You take it to your church so that things can be sorted out. And if they don't hear them, and you go to them prayerfully and lovingly, and they still won't listen to them, you have to do something within your church. Will you kick them out of an invisible, universal church? No. You have to discipline them in your local church. So the church was established in the ministry of Jesus. And you say, well, wait a minute, I thought the church, I thought the church was established at the day of Pentecost. You've heard that, right? A lot of people believe that the church began at the day of Pentecost. Well, I don't think that's the case because the Lord, I'm going to give you a couple of logical reasons why I don't think that's the case, and then we're going to look at a verse of Scripture about it. Number one, the Lord's Supper was instituted in Matthew chapter 26. And they partook of the Lord's Supper. And he tells them, and you see this later in Scripture in the book of 1 Corinthians where he says that the Lord administered that. It was a church ordinance even then. Well, if the church wasn't in existence till Pentecost, then the Lord's Supper, which was administered in Matthew chapter 26. It wasn't an ordinance of the church at that time. You see, the first church was Jesus and his disciples. And they partook of the Lord's Supper in the upper room, a church ordinance. Let's think about this logically, too. In the book of Hebrews, at that same event, at that same event, the Lord's Supper, when he partook of the bread, and partook of the wine, and they spoke to one another, and they ate with one another, and he instituted this great ordinance of the Lord's Supper. It then says in the Gospels that they sang a hymn, and they went into the Mount of Olives. That's the only record, the only record that you see of Jesus singing. is that he sang a hymn and departed into the Mount of Olives. The only scripture reference of Jesus singing is, of course, that, they sang a hymn. And in Hebrews 2, and you know what it says in Hebrews 2? It says, talking about Jesus, it says, I will sing in my what? Church. I will sing in my church. So, how did Jesus sing within his church if the church wasn't established until Pentecost when he was already arisen and up into heaven and ascended to his father? Seems like an impossibility, doesn't it? Lastly, people that say the church started at Pentecost, They also have no problem in a separate sermon or a separate topic going and telling you the commission of the church. And where do they find the commission of the church? Matthew chapter 28, when Jesus is still alive, talking to his disciples. He had been crucified and he had risen again and he was meeting with his disciples and he told them the commission for the church. So he told them about a commission before the church was ever even started? No, he told them, go ye therefore, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe all things. Is that not the mission of a New Testament church? Well, that's what the Lord established, and he told his church that, and that happened before the day of Pentecost. Now, let's look at a couple verses that happened during the day of Pentecost, okay? Acts chapter two and verse one, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all accord in one place. Who's they? Well, I'll give you this one. Granted, I'll give you this. This could just mean the apostles, okay? But with this next verse, I think this next verse defines very clearly who the they were talking about right here. The next verse is Acts chapter 2 and verse 41 and 42. And they that gladly received his word, this is after Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. They that gladly received his words were what? Baptized and the same day were added unto who? Them, they, them. That's the same people, folks. They were added unto them. Added unto who? They were added unto the church. They were added unto them, how many? About 3,000 souls. The church went from a select few. There was 11, and there were some others, but the church went from those select few people, and on the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches, and boom! The Holy Spirit's special presence is there. The Holy Spirit's special presence is there. And 3,000 people were saved, they were baptized, and they were added unto them. Who's them? The church. And they, talking about the church, continued steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking in bread and in prayers. Folks, the church was established before Pentecost in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Why Pentecost then? What happened on the day of Pentecost that was so special? I believe that that is the day in which the Lord accredited his church. He put his stamp of approval on his church. In Matthew chapter 16 he says, I'm going to build my church. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And sometime in those Gospels, he did establish that church, and then on the day of Pentecost, he puts his stamp of approval and says, this is it. This is what you're to be a part of now. The temple was God's house, but no more. This is it. You see, when you study in the Old Testament, there was There was some miraculous things that happened. When the temple, or when the tabernacle was first built, the glory of God came in. And you know what happened? I'm gonna go ahead and say it. His glory baptized that temple. It was filled and surrounded, and that temple was immersed in the glory of God. And you know what that told all those Jewish people that spent so much time working and building and crafting that exactly the way that God wanted? Do you know what that told all those Jewish people? This is it. He's pleased with what we have built and he has blessed it. He's accredited what we've done. When the temple was built, guess what happened? Same thing. God accredited that temple and he showed them all, this is my house, because could you imagine the people that were like, well, yeah, we built a fixed place now, we built a fixed temple, but I like the tabernacle better. And God said, nope, we're not doing the tabernacle anymore, it's the temple now. But now these Jewish people, think about this, these Jewish people, from that period of time in the Old Testament, all throughout to the time of Jesus, had been taught, lived, and thought, and rightfully so, that it was the temple in which God was to be worshipped. God set it up. God established it. God put his stamp of approval on it. This is God's house. Even during the destruction of the temple, they rebuilt the temple. This is God's house. And could you imagine what a person would say if they said, yeah, that's God's house, but not anymore. He wants us to go in a church. What would all those Jewish people say? You're crazy. But one thing they couldn't argue with was the Lord's miraculous, miraculous, the Holy Spirit coming down and immersing that church. And when that happened, 3,000 souls were saved. Nobody could look at that great event of the Holy Spirit and say, this isn't of God. So God put a stamp of approval on it. That's what Pentecost was for. Now, how are we doing on time? Where are we at? What is the church? That's the next part of our study. What is the church? Well, let's look at one last Greek word. Is that okay? I say unto thou, our Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Well, that's great, Jeremy, but no one has any idea what that word church actually means. Well, the Greek word of that in this particular text is ekklesia, that's the ending of it, but it comes from the word ekklesia. So what does the word ekklesia mean, Jeremy? Well, Hollis is gonna stop me. Just bear with me here, I gotta finish this thought out. It comes from two Greek words that's compounded together, okay? It comes from word ek, E-K. I say E-K, but it's epsilon kappa. It is ek. It means out. It means out, okay? And then, there is another word, kalia, and that word means called. So what you can do is you can put those two words together, and you can say that the word church means called, And so what those that believe in a universal invisible church love to do is they say even if you look in the New Testament and you see that word ekklesia, all that simply means is the called out. And what the Lord has done is by His grace and His mercy He has called us from a life of sin, from a life of servitude to Satan and from a life of disobedience and a life of idolatry and He has called us out of that into His glorious grace. So the church is all of those who are called by his grace out of that darkness into marvelous light. That is the entire church. Which, if we were just going simply by what a Greek word, the words broken up meant, then okay. But you have to understand, we do this thing every single day. We talk in the human language, don't we? We talk in an English language together. And what we need to find out is not what these root words are founded in, but we need to find out when people were using this word back in that day, what did that word mean back then? That's what's important, isn't it? When Jesus would say, I will build my ekklesia, we need to find out what the common term at the time was, ekklesia, because you have to understand, he didn't just bring a ballpark new, flat-out new word into existence here. He didn't make up some new words because if he would have made up some brand-new word, then he would have spent some time in Scripture saying, now, this is what I mean by this brand-new word. But he didn't. He used a word. I need you all to understand this very clearly. He used a word that people were very familiar with back then. And that word was ekklesia. People were familiar with an ekklesia. They were very familiar with it. But what they were not familiar with was his ekklesia. His ekklesia is different. Peter, John, you know what an ekklesia is, and I'm going to build my ekklesia. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It'll never go out of existence. So what did they, when they taught, when they said Ecclesia back then, what was the term? What was the common term that was used? Well, back in Jesus's day, when people used the term Ecclesia, here's what it was for. There would possibly be a meeting that officials needed to gather at, that maybe a town hall was needed to be held in the town and they had to come to a decision on something important within the town structure. And what would happen is, The people would call out all the people, and they would gather into a forum, where they would hash out whatever idea was being brought to the table. Something was going on, they would call out a public forum, bring them all into one place, and they would have a town hall. That's what an ekklesia was back then. It was a gathering together of people. You know what else you could say it was? The definition of it is? It was a congregation of people. It was an assembly gathered together. So Jesus says, you're used to the town halls, you're used to these people crying out and coming together in a town hall, you're used to those ekklesias, but I'm gonna build my local assembly. I'm gonna build my congregation. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna build mine. The word ekklesia I gotta make sure I'm doing this in the right order. Yeah, yeah, I got it in the right order. The word ekklesia. Did you know in the Bibles, I don't know what Bible you're holding, but I can pretty much tell you this, unless you're holding a Bible from before 1600 AD. The Bible you're holding has translated in your hands today, it has translated the word ekklesia, assembly. Did you know that? Translates it three times, assembly. in your Bible. We're going to look at them here tonight. You can turn in your Bible if you want. It's in Acts chapter 19, but I'm going to put it up on here as well. I want you to notice some of these words that are used here. I kind of popped them out here for you. I hope you can see them. Acts chapter 19, let's start at verse 29 first. It says, and the whole city Okay? The whole city was filled with confusion. Let me give you a little background. Paul is preaching, and he's teaching, and the people of the city, the leaders, they don't like it. So guess what they do? The whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonians, Paul's companions in travel, they, who's they? The whole city. The whole city, they rushed with one accord where? Into the theater. They went into this building, okay? And when Paul would have entered, where would he have entered? In unto the people. Where? In the theater. In unto these people. The disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chiefs of Asia, which were his friends, sent to him, desiring him that they would not aventure himself where?" Don't go into the theater where the whole city is gathered. "'Some, therefore, cried one thing and some for another.'" Who are the some here? The whole city that went into the theater, Some cried for one thing and some cried for another. They were having a town hall here. And guess what happened? For the assembly, ecclesia, was confused. And for the more part, for more part knew not wherefore they were come together. This word ecclesia is translated assembly in your New Testament when it talks about these people gathering into the theater to discuss town matters. You see it again in the same context, verses 39 through 41. But if you inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger of being called into question for this day, this uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And when they had thus spoken, they dismissed what? The assembly. And guess where they left? They left that theater where they were gathered in. Three times your Bible translates the word ecclesia, assembly. And every other time that it's used, guess what it's translated as? Church. Why? Why? Well, let me give you a couple reasons. First of all, it's translated assembly here because it doesn't refer to the Lord's church. Secondly, because of other people's religious views. I'll give you the example here. King James translation rules. Did you know when the King James Bible was translated that King James himself gave the translators certain rules that they had to follow? Rule number three, guess what it was? The old ecclesiastical words must be kept via the word church is not to be translated congregation. So when these men were tasked, and these were great scholars, these were great men, these people had a tremendous undertaking to do, and when they translated the New Testament, or the Bible, which many of you are holding in your hands today, the King James Version, when they translated that, they were bound by the king himself, not to translate that word, ekklesia, congregation. They had to translate it, what? Church. Why? Why? Well, let's think about this for a second. King James was king of England. And England's state church, after they reformed out of Roman Catholicism, their state church was the Church of England, the Anglican Church. And it was a state church. So if you tell me that the state doesn't have any more control because the church is local assemblies and not part of the state, then I lose some authority there, don't I? See how dangerous we're getting? You mean to tell me that they were bound not to translate that congregation because King James didn't want there to be any kind of upheaval or uproar to his sovereign authority over England? That's exactly what I'm telling you. That's exactly what I'm telling you. Because I'll tell you something, folks, the people that translated the Bible before that, yes, there were Bibles before the King James Version. The people that translated the Bible before this, they translated that word something different. Now, I have to mention this. Wycliffe, John Wycliffe, the morning star of the Reformation. In his New Testament translation, he did translate Matthew's chapter 16, 18, church. But I believe the reason he did that is because he did not use the Greek to translate his New Testament. He used the Latin. the Latin, the language of the Catholic Church is what he used in order to translate his first English Bible. So when he came to those Latin words, he did translate it church, because that's the word they used to talk about their buildings everywhere. But when the Greek New Testament was in the hands of faithful men, William Tyndale, guess what he translates Matthew 16, 18? Upon this rock I will build my congregation. You can read it here, 1526 A.D. 1526, he translates the word ecclesia, he translates it congregation in Matthew chapter 16, 18. In 1537, after the death of Tyndale, another Bible was published. The Old Testament was completed. And this Bible, the Matthews Bible, was put out and in circulation. And guess what it used when it says Matthew chapter 16, 18, which it was Tyndale's as well. But guess what it uses? Congregation. The Bishop's Bible, the Great Bible, they used the words congregation. And it wasn't until 1560. And here I'm holding 1599, but it wasn't until the Geneva Bible was published that they started translated Matthew 1618 church. Why was that? Well, John Calvin had a tremendous to do with the Geneva Bible. Same type of situation here. Then King James in 1611. 1611, he gives them the command to use that word church. And listen to me, folks. Ever since, ever since the Geneva Bible was published and ever since the King James was published, ever since then, every Bible translation, unless someone does it independently, every Bible translation that's picked up by major distributors, every one of them, they use that word church in every instance of the word Ecclesia, except for those three in Acts 19. So what makes more sense? Well, we're gonna look at this word, ekklesia, and we're almost gonna take a break. We're not almost done, but we're almost gonna take a break. Are you guys okay? I hope so, because we got a lot to cover. I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my congregation, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That word, ekklesia. A little bit more about this word. It is in the Greek New Testament 115 times that word, ekklesia, is used. 115 times. Now, of those 115 times, it is translated church 112 times, and it is translated assembly in your Bibles three times. Where at? Acts 19. We just looked at them. Every other place, it is translated church. 112 times, that word ekklesia is translated church. Jesus used the word himself 22 times. First in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church. Next in Matthew chapter 18, tell it to the church, and if the church doesn't hear them, And then the majority of the times that he uses it is found in the book of Revelation when he is addressing his churches. Every time that the Lord uses the word church, every time, it's very clear he means a local assembly. Unto the church at Ephesus I write these things. Thou hast left your first love. Unto the church of Philadelphia, unto the church of Sardis, unto the church of Laodicea, all the churches in Revelation chapters two and three, all those churches are what? Local churches. It's very clear because he gives the location of those churches. Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. He gives the location of them. It's a local church. Matthew chapter 18, tell it unto the church. How can you tell it to a universal place? You have to tell it unto a local group. There's only one time that it's questionable whether he means a local church or a universal church of all the believers. There's only one time that's questionable. Guess where it is? Now, I'm just going to be real with you here tonight. Okay, Jesus is going to say this, listen guys, huddle up here, disciples, I want to tell you something. I'm going to build my church. Now, it's not like the ecclesias that you think of, these local assemblies, but I'm going to build my church. And then after I tell you this, I'm going to talk to you about local churches every other time I mention it. But the first time I tell you about this, it's gonna be some universal church that I'm not gonna define or tell you anything else about. Does that make any sense? Does it make any sense for him to tell the church this great promise, to tell his disciples this great promise that he's gonna build a church that will never go out of existence, and every time after that contradict what he meant? Every time after Matthew 16, 18, it's clear he's talking about local assembly. Why in the world, then, is the first time he uses it, he doesn't say anything different? You would think there would be in our Bible something like, listen guys, when I say church here, I mean a universal assembly of all the believers. I mean all the believers. But now listen, every time after this that you're gonna hear me talk about it, I'm gonna be talking about local assemblies. But this specific time, no, it doesn't make sense, folks. It doesn't make sense. In fact, of these 112 times, 22 of them is Jesus, 21 of them are so clearly local, it's ridiculous, and of these 112 times that it's used in the rest of the New Testament, subtract the 22, it's pretty clear in most all cases he's talking about a local assembly of believers. To the church of Ephesus, I write these things. To the church of Philippi, I write these things. It's talking about a local congregation. Here's what this verse, this great promise says to us. And after this, we'll take our break. I say unto thee that thou art a small stone, Peter, but upon this massive rock, the Son of God, I will build my local assembly, my congregation, and death, or being unseen, or the state of unexistence shall never prevail against it. That's the great promise that we have as a church. Elizabeth Baptist Church, you are promised that if you would fold up and close the doors tomorrow, that there is still in existence one of the Lord's churches, because He oversees His church. Now, there's plenty more to talk about tonight. We're going to take about a 10 to 15 minute break, and then we're going to get into talking