All right, if you have your Bibles, I'd like you to turn with me this morning to the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And as you're turning to that selection, I want you to have a piece of paper handy and a pencil or a pen to write down one word that I want to give you this morning. One word. We're going to have a course in Greek grammar today. And this is true with any language. It means what it says and it says what it means. You'll understand your Bible better when you do realize that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. And I want you to write this word down because we're going to be saying it many different times this morning. This is a Greek word. I want you to spell it with capital letters. Got your pen ready? Got your paper ready. Ekklesia. Ekklesia. It is spelt E-K-K-L-E-S-I-A. L-E-S-I-A, Ekklesia. And above the S, put a mark to indicate that's where the emphasis is on pronunciation. Not Ecclesia, but Ekklesia. Ekklesia. It is a Greek word which means in our Bible, the church. The church. Have you ever thought what a nightmare it would be if there were no churches? I honestly believe there's some folks it would not make any difference one way or the other. But suppose there were no churches in Tyler. Suppose there were no churches in Texas. Suppose there were no churches anywhere in the United States. that churches were no longer existent. How much would that affect you? What kind of a bother would that be? What kind of a concern would it be? The church is much like the home. The home has changed so much during the last 75 years You can't even compare what we have today as the home and the home that used to be, the home that many of you were raised in. It's altogether different. The family's different. The government's different. The church has become different. And there've been so many different changes, my dear friends, that it's hard to look out today and find the church that even barely resembles what Christ started on this earth 2000 years ago. and it was called an Ekklesia, an Ekklesia. Notice the reading of the scripture. In Matthew chapter number 16, verses 13 through 20, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? He was asking for public opinion. Who do men say that I am? They said, the talk is or some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some say you are Elijah and others think you might be Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am, asking again for their personal opinion. Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, translated it would be Simon son of John or Simon Johnson would have been his name. For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." That's God's revelation of who Jesus is. Who do men say that he is? First one will say his statement or make a statement. Others talk about, well, I think he's this, I think he's that. But whom say ye? God's revealed revelation here indicates what Simon said was a revelation from the Lord. Thou art the Christ. the Son of the living God. And 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Now, there are some translators and commentators that say this really refers, Jesus is giving the keys to Simon Peter. that Peter's made this declaration, thou art the Christ. And so Jesus gives the keys to Peter and the Roman Catholic Church claims that the Pope is God's representative on this earth and the Pope has the authority to bless or to curse. He has the keys to the kingdom. We do not have time to run the reference, it's only two pages over. But in verses eight, chapter 18, verse 18, it's clear that Jesus said this to all of the apostles, not just to one man by the name of Peter. He said it to all the apostles, which were the nucleus of the first church. He gave it to his church. I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom. Then charge thee his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ." We try to teach a lot in this pulpit and from this pulpit. We try to preach from this pulpit. There's a difference in teaching and preaching. But there is a tremendous need today that people need to know what God says because God's Word is the final truth and final statement on any subject that you read therein. Eschatology is the subject or the doctrine of future events. What's going to happen out yonder in the future? Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation. It deals with how God saves sinners. Demonology is the study of demons. Angelology is the study of angels. Theology, theos, the Greek word for God, is the study of God. Pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. Anthropology is the study of man. But ecclesiology is the study of the church. Now, these words that Christ spoke in our text, Matthew 16, 18, they're very, very important. Every time Jesus Christ spoke, the words were very, very important. When he said, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called. He said that. They'll be called the children of God. That's a very important statement. When he said, don't fear those who can destroy the body, but fear those who can destroy body and soul in hell. Christ Jesus said that. That's a very important statement. And it is equally important when he said, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will build my church. This implies that there was no church prior to this time. I'm going to build it. It hasn't been built yet, but I'm going to build it. There was no church prior to this time. There is and was no church in the Old Testament. You can read from the first book to the last book of the Old Testament, and you won't find the activity of the church. It did not exist. in the Old Testament. It is to be found only in the New Testament. And it is also clear that it is the church that he is building. Upon this rock I will build my church. And the Greek word that he used is ekklesia. Ekklesia. And he uses it the first time in the Bible right here. The rule of first mention, that you can find out what the first meaning of a word is in your Bible, and it will give you a good idea of how that word is going to be used in other places of the Bible. So it is the Ekklesia, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm gonna make some tough statements here, tough because I know human sentiment and human condition. And I do know that we have some people, I hope not in this church, but we have some people today, they just think you're wonderful if you'll tell them what they believe and not tell them what the scripture says. They want somebody to agree with them, they're as wrong as they can be. but they want somebody to agree with them. And if you disagree with them, you've got a mortal enemy on your hand. The church is not Kingdom Hall. The Jehovah's Witnesses built that. Now, if I'm in error on this, see me after church. It is not the tabernacle he's building. Moses built that. It is not a temple that he's building. Solomon built that. It is not the Salvation Army. William Booth built that. It is not the promise keepers. Those who cannot keep a promise built that. It is not the Gideons. The Gideons built that. It is not a fellowship. Incidentally, the Greek word for fellowship is koinonia. Koinonia. But church is ecclesia. The church is different from fellowship. You can have fellowship in the church, but the church is a different thing altogether. He did not build a synagogue. The Jews built that. Greek word is sunagogi, sunagogi. He didn't build a synagogue. The Jews built that. It is not a denomination. The Reformation did that. It is not a convention. The Southern Baptist Convention, Bible Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Association, Baptists, I started saying messing around. BMA, all right? And all the rest were started by man. You understand what I'm saying? He didn't build a chapel. He did not build the kingdom of God. When he said, I will build my church, he wasn't talking about the kingdom of God. There's a vast difference between God's kingdom and God's church. The Greek word for kingdom is basilea. The Greek word for church is ekklesia, two different institutions. Christ said, verily, verily, I say unto you, and he was speaking to Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God consists of every saved person on earth at a given time. All over this world, wherever you find Christians, you find the kingdom of God, God ruling in the hearts of men. There's more to that. We'll not get into their scatological approach of it this morning. However, we don't have time, but I sure do like to when I do. The kingdom of God consists of every saved person on earth at a given time. One enters the kingdom by regeneration. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again or you can't enter into the kingdom of God. One enters the kingdom by regeneration, one enters the church by baptism. No one is unsaved in the kingdom. Some are unsaved, however, in the church. It is not the family of God. In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 15, Paul said, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. The family of God consists of all believers in heaven and on earth, and yet those who have not yet been born elect of God. It includes the Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, the unborn elect, whether they be living or dead, belong to the family of God. He didn't say he's going to start or build the family of God. He said, we'll build the ecclesia, the church. What our Lord said is, I will build my church. Historically, there are three major views of the church. First of all, you have the Roman Catholic view. What is that view? The view states that the church is the universal and visible assembly that Christ started. The universal Those two words, universal and visible assembly. This system allows for worldwide universal organization with headquarters in Rome where the Pope rules over this universal and visible assembly. Second of all, there's the Protestant view. This view states that the church is a universal and invisible assembly. Notice there's a variation there and there's a change there. And it is referred to as the body of Christ. Protestants were forced to either accept Catholic baptism as valid, or admit they made a mistake in leaving the Catholic system. So, they agreed the church was universal, but could not continue with Rome being the visible head. Therefore, they invented the term, invisible church. There was no invisible church until after the Reformation, ladies and gentlemen. They started it. The Protestant Reformation began it to make a difference between Protestants and the Catholics. Now the biblical view, just in case you might be interested, The biblical view teaches that the church is a local and visible assembly. Baptist scholars have supported this view down through the ages with conviction. B.H. Carroll started Southwestern Theological Seminary many, many years ago and in his book on Ephesians, page 166, Dr. Carroll said this, the whole of the modern Baptist idea of a now universal invisible church was borrowed from the pedo-baptist confessions of faith in Reformation times. And the pedo-baptists devised it to offset the equally erroneous idea of the Romanist universal and visible church. Arthur Pink, in his studies in the scripture, December issue 1927, made this statement. Now the kind of church which is emphasized in the New Testament, listen to his statement. Now, the kind of church which is emphasized in the New Testament is neither invisible nor universal. But instead, it is visible and local. The Greek word for church is ekklesia, and those who know anything of that language are agreed that the word signifies an assembly. Now, an assembly is a company of people who actually assemble. Isn't that marvelous? If they never assemble, then it is a misuse of language to call them an assembly if they don't assemble. Therefore, as all of God's people never yet have assembled together, there is today no universal church. Gotta have an assembly, that's what the word means, ecclesia, assembly. Jesse Thomas, in his book, The Church and the Kingdom, page 275, says that the church universal, composed of a disintegrated, unorganized, strong of members of all the churches, is from the functional point of the view, inconceivable. How could an indistinguishable, unrecognizable company of God's elect, the invisible church, serve either the one purpose of the church or the other? If it doesn't assemble, it's not a church. J.R. Graves, in his treatment of why be a Baptist, page 47, The two essential ideas in the word ecclesia are assembly and organization. That's what it meant. Every illustration of a church in the New Testament makes the various nonsense if it is not assembled and organized. Thomas Armitage, a history, a Baptist history man from days gone by. In his history of Baptist, pages 188 to 120. In the apostolic age, the church was a local body. And each church was independent of every other church. There came a time when the church of Jerusalem tried to pull rank on Paul, and you know that turned out to be a fiasco. A local church fully expresses the meaning of the word Ekklesia wherever it is found in Holy Writ. Now, the meaning of the word church. Jesus Christ said, I will build my church. Now, don't ho-hum this message unless you're tired of churches. If you don't care anything about churches, you can ho-hum it. Matter of fact, you just go to sleep. Matter of fact, some of you already are. When Jesus said, I will build my church, what kind of church was he referring to? Would it be invisible or would it be visible? Would it be universal or would it be local? It cannot be both. It must be one or the other. He did not build two kinds of churches, both the ones you can see and the ones you can't see. If it'd be local, it cannot be invisible. It must be one or the other. Consider the etymology. The meaning of words. The word church, it's used the first time in our context, in our text of Matthew here. It's a rule of first mention. The Greek word ekklesia is made up of two Greek words. Eke, ek, meaning out of, and klesis, meaning calling. A calling. The called out ones. But how did the Greeks use it? How did the Greeks use that word, ekklesia? The meaning of a word is not determined by its etymology. It is rather how it is used that determines what the meaning of it is, you see. The Greeks used it to describe an assembly or a congregation. Thus, ecclesia means an assembly of called out ones, or ones called out for the purpose of assembly. If it does not assemble, it is not a church. If it does not assemble, it is not a church. There were three ecclesias in the New Testament. Now, this is where you come in. There were three ekklesias in the New Testament. One was the Assembly in the Wilderness, the book of Acts chapter 7, verse number 38. Acts chapter 7, verse 38, called the Assembly in the Wilderness. This is He that was in the church, ekklesia, The church in the wilderness, there was no church in the wilderness, there was an ecclesia, there was an assembly in the Old Testament, but it wasn't a church. Church is ecclesia. A church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mountain Sinai, which is Sinai, with our fathers who received the lively oracles given unto us. Stephen is reviewing the history of Israel. He calls them the church in the wilderness. He used the word the ecclesia, the assembly in the wilderness. It simply means that Israel was a congregation, and they were. It was an assembly, and they were, and they were in the wilderness. It was not a universal, invisible group of people, but rather they were quite local and quite visible, and they sure enough were assembled. So ekklesia is quite timely there. It is used second of all as the assembly of townspeople at Ephesus. Acts chapter number 19, verse number 32. Acts 19, verse number 32. Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly, ecclesia, was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. Look at verse 39, but if you inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. Ecclesia. Verse 41, and when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. You see, when Paul preached in Ephesus, it caused a riot. All you have to do is read it from the book of Acts. That verifies it. The town council was called out to deal with the matter. What are they going to do with this wild-eyed preacher called Paul? What are they going to do? He's causing problems in town. They called out the council, and that council was called an ecclesia, an assembly. They were not quite universal, were they? And they sure were not universal and invisible. They were quite local and quite visible. They were called out once for the purpose of assembly. That's what the church is which Jesus started. It is an assembly of people who've been called out to assemble. And thirdly, it is used as the Lord's assembly. Upon this rock, I will build my ecclesia, not my synagogue, not my town council, not my wilderness of Israelites. In the Old Testament, I'm going to build my particular church, my assembly, and his assembly is going to take precedence over all the other assemblies. It would not be like the assembly in the wilderness. His would be different. I will build my church. It'll be unique and different, whatever he did. It'll be unique and different, ladies and gentlemen. The definition of the word church. It would be erroneous to say that the church is all the elect of God from all ages. I said, it would be erroneous to say that the church which Jesus started contained membership by the people in the Old Testament. This would put Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a church that wasn't even existent in their day. They're Old Testament, okay? It would also be erroneous to say the church is made up of all denominations since Pentecost. Whenever, wherever would this worldwide assembly church come together? A body that is disassembled is not a body. Let me give you a working definition of the church. A church is an assembly of voluntary baptized believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have assembled for the purpose of carrying out the commands of Christ. That's what a New Testament church is. Look at the key words. It is an assembly. It rules out universal and invisible. They are believers. It rules out the unregenerate. They are baptized. It rules out the unbaptized and those sprinkled or poured. It emphasizes the word voluntary. It rules out small children and babies who have not exercised a willingness. And it is a assembly in and of the Lord Jesus Christ that rules out salvation in any other. Today we have all kinds of movements today, a different God, a different Messiah, and everyone of them say, we're a church. You're not a church. That's crazy. And we have assembled for what? The purpose of carrying out the commands. How the church is presented in the New Testament. How the church is presented in the New Testament. Now, if some of you are thinking about going to graduate school, forget it. You're going to have to show more interest and more enthusiasm in historical facts. And that requires too much trouble for this generation in which we live today. We live in a generation of doorknobs. I won't be entertained. Where's the band? Now, we're not going to entertain you, we're going to teach you. What are you going to teach, Brother Cozart? The Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. How is the church presented in the New Testament? It is used in an institutional sense. You can use the word generic, would be the equivalent of the same thing. It's used in an institution, the church as an institution. In Matthew 16, 18 is a classic example of this where Christ said, upon this rock I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Now, he's not talking about the church at Jerusalem. That was the first church that was built. And the Lord added unto the church daily, such as were being saved. But Christ did not mean that when he said, upon this rock I'll build my church. Why is that so? Because the church at Jerusalem doesn't exist today. And he said, the church I'm building, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It's used as an institution, the institution of the church. It is spoken of that way in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 and 21. In verse 10, to the intent and noun to the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, the church as an institution. Also in verse number 21, unto him be glory in the church. Which church is he talking about? The church as an institution by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen. The church is sometimes used generically and institutionally as the home and the school. Now, if I were to say unto you, the home is in trouble today, you might say, well, which one's he talking about? I would say to you all of them are, the home as an institution. If I were to say to you today, the school is not what it used to be, you say, well, what school is he talking about? I'm talking about the school as an institution, all of it. When the Bible sometimes talks about the church in an institutional sense, upon this rock I'll build my church, the church as an institution. And the institution of the church is still with us today. It hasn't gone out of business. Amen? Second of all, it is used as a particular local and visible assembly. It is used as a particular local and visible assembly. Take a look over in Revelation chapter 1 verse 4. Revelation chapter 1 verse 4. John is writing this to the seven churches, did you get that? Which are in Asia. He goes a bit further and specifies what those churches are in verse 11, chapter 1 of Revelation, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia. under Ephesus, under Smyrna, under Pergamos, under Thyatira, under Sardis, under Philadelphia, and under Laodicea. Every one of these churches had an address. Are you listening? Would somebody please tell me what is the address of the Universal Invisible Church? Now, you're talking about driving the post office workers crazy. You just take a letter in there and just put a name on it and say, be sure they get it. I don't know where they are. It's kind of invisible-like. It's somewhere out there in the world. And that's exactly the premise of which many people operate on today, that the church is universal and invisible. No, it had a post office. So did the church at Thessalonica. So did the church at Jerusalem. So did the church at Ephesus. So did the churches of Galatia. They could be seen and they were local. I kind of like the ones that you can see and are local. Once in a while, somebody said, Brother Cozart, I won't be in church Sunday, but I'll send my spirit. Don't you dare. I don't want a bunch of ghosts in here. I want to see some people. Do you see what I mean? It is also... Now, this is where you better tighten your seatbelts. It is used in a prospective sense. Now, you've got to listen to this. I didn't say agree with it, but listen to it. It's used ecclesia in a prospective sense. You find that in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 25 through 27. Ephesians chapter number 5, verses 25 through 27. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also 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. That will occur when Christ and his church prospective are married, and that marriage has never been taken, has not taken, been taken place yet. There has been no marriage between Christ and His church. There will be a marriage between Christ and His church at the marriage supper table of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 19. And the bride will be presented to the groom, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is a different church up there than the one we have down here on this earth. It is a prospective glorified church. So how do you know it's going to be there? He says it'll be without spot and without blemish. Won't that be the day when we have a church on this earth that's without spot and without blemish? I sure hope I can pastor it for at least five minutes. I would like to see that. Wouldn't you? The marriage between Christ and His church has not yet happened. It is the prospective church. It is that same word, ecclesia, but it's still assembly. It hasn't assembled yet. And if you think it has, tell me where it is, I'd like to go. I'd like to attend it. I won't see where it is. But if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and have been saved, you will see it assembled and you'll be a part of that assembly. And that's the church that he died for, the church in glory, the church prospective. The exclusive use of Ekklesia in the New Testament is local and visible. The exclusive use of that word, Ekklesia, in the New Testament is local and visible, local and visible. Ekklesia is used 118 times in the King James Version of the Bible. Three times it is rendered assembly. Now keep in mind, where was it rendered assembly? Over there in Ephesians, you remember the town council? It was a neklesia. Three times it's rendered assembly, but 115 times it's rendered church. Church. One time it speaks of an Israelite congregation, which we just talked about, the wilderness, in the Ecclesia, in the wilderness. Four times it speaks of the prospective church in glory, what will be when the marriage takes place. But 14 times it speaks of the church institutionally. Grab hold of your seat. 96 times it's used without question of a local visible assembly. That's what a church is, a local visible assembly. Christ Jesus used this word, ecclesia, He used it 21 times. He used it in Matthew 16, 18, which is our text, "'Upon this rock I will build my ecclesia.'" He used it there. In Matthew 18, verse 17 and 18, pardon me, Matthew 18, verse 17, he used it twice there. And in Revelation, he used it 18 times. And with the exception of our text, every case speaks of a local and visible church. Paul wrote letters to local and visible churches. Surely that ought to make sense to you. But even if it doesn't, it's clearly set forth in the Bible. He wrote a letter to the church at Rome. He wrote a letter to the church at Corinth. He wrote a letter to the church at Galatia. He wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus. He wrote a letter to the church at Thessalonica. It'd be a mailman's nightmare, my dear friends, if it was universal and invisible. They couldn't deliver it. Huh? It's going to be all right. The historical churches in Acts were local and visible. Allow me to run through this quickly. The historical churches in the book of Acts were local and visible. Acts 2.47, the Lord added to the church daily. How in the world could you add something and you can't even see it? Acts 5.11, fear came upon all the church. Acts 8-1, the church which was at Jerusalem. Acts 12-1, Herod sought the exsertion of the church. Acts 14-23, he ordained them elders in every church. Acts 15, 4, they were received of the church. Acts 16, 5, so were the churches established. Acts 18, 22, they saluted the church. And in Acts 20, verse 17, called the elders of the church. Try to work all that out if the church is universal and invisible. Please do. Let me know how you come along with that. I will bring this to a close. I hope that it will give you enough interest that you'll study these things and come back next Sunday because we want to talk about the origin of the church. This is the nature of the church today. Next Sunday, the origin. When did it start? At what point in time did it begin? There are a few things in the Bible of which it is said that Christ built. There are a few things in the Bible of which it is said Christ built, and none were invisible. He built the heavens and the earth in Genesis, but they were not invisible. He is building the new Jerusalem that John saw come down from God out of heaven. He started the church 2,000 years ago and it too is local and visible. Never fall for the universal invisible trap. Several times in my ministry this has occurred. Probably the last time it occurred, it happened here in Tyler, and I'll not go any further to describe the conditions of where it was. But I asked this man, I said, where do you go to church, sir? He said, oh, I belong to the Universal Invisible Church. I said, you do? He said, yes, I do. I said, where is it located? He said, well, it's invisible. I said, who's your pastor? Is he invisible? What about the deacons? You've got invisible deacons. What about the people? Are they invisible too? I belong to... You'd be surprised how many people in Tyler, Texas, they never attend a local church and they excuse themselves by belonging to THE church. There never has been but one. And it's local, and it is visible, and it is an institution. God deliver us from an invisible universal church. Let's stand please for prayer.