Good morning everyone. Good to see you here on this Sunday after Thanksgiving and also the Sunday of Advent. So good to see you here in the Lord's house. Today we're going to be looking as we continue our look at the church, the marks of a true church. That is, what is a true church? What are the marks of a church? And now I want to make, before I go any farther, also make mention, there is no such thing as a perfect or completely pure church. Because when you hear that word, marks of a true church, it means if you don't perfectly follow all, these are six points, then you're not a true church. No, that's not what I'm saying. It's kind of like our Christian lives. Are you a perfect Christian? No. We got a lot of work. And the church is made up of Christians. And so there's imperfections even in the Lord's church. And the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith states it well that we should remember this when we talk about the church. It states, the purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error. Even the purest. So if you're looking for the perfect church, you're not going to find it. Because I've known people who, for years, say, I can't find the right church. They go years and years. They're sitting at home. Or they go all over the place. You're looking for something that don't exist. And you've got to be aware of that. But there are some marks of a church that we should be looking at. And let me read you, beginning in Ephesians 5. verses 25 to 27 where the Apostle Paul wrote, husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Notice that Christ gave himself for the church. He purchased the church. That's talking about the church universal here on the cross. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, by the word of God. That's how we're cleansed. That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now eventually When we come to know, when we are on that marriage supper of the Lamb, or when we leave this earth, there's going to come a day when there will be a perfect church in heaven. That's after we receive our glorification. But on this earth, there's imperfections. But hey, remember that song, He's Still Working on Me? That's what's going on right now. He's still working on us as individuals and as a local church. And it's important to remember there's no such thing as a perfect church, though we should strive For that mark of perfection. We know because of our sinfulness We will come short in so many ways, but before we go any further. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh Lord God Help us as your local body here today to be a faithful church to follow you to follow our Lord Jesus Christ and And Lord, help us to understand this through your word. This I ask in the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Today, I'm looking at six marks of a church. I don't know if I'm gonna get through all six of these. So if I don't, we'll get the rest in another lesson, because there is a lot to cover here. But number one, mark of a church. Regenerate church membership. That is that the church should be made up of saved people. Go to Romans chapter 1 with me. Romans chapter 1 and verse 7. And I want you to notice how the Apostle Paul, this is verses 7 and 8, how he addresses the church of Rome. Paul states, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, call to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Now, notice how Paul addresses the church in Rome. How does he address them? They're beloved of God. Call to be saints. That is, they are saints. And in verse 8, he says, your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. In other words, he's speaking to regenerate people, people who are saved. The church is made up, a local church, made up of saved people here. Go to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2, and notice how he addresses the church of Corinth. And you will note that many of Paul's letters, we often just make them applicable to us, but really these books like Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and many others are written actually to local churches and have to be interpreted that way. Notice verse 2 of 1st Corinthians chapter 1. unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, call to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." He calls them the sanctified. That is set apart is what sanctified means. We should all be in a state of sanctification. He sets us apart. to be made in the image of Christ, God does. We're called to be saints. That word saint is very much tied in with the word sanctified. It means set apart. And notice he even includes other Christians with all, every place who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord. So it's clear in both Romans and 1 Corinthians in addressing a church that Paul regards those who are members of the church are those who are truly saved. Now, this is a Baptist trademark, you might say, or a Baptist really distinguishes Baptist from our Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican and Lutheran friends, not to bash them, but they would tell us that because they baptize infants. And Baptists, and I know there's churches that don't call themselves Baptists, non-denominationalists. You ever heard that joke about, what's a non-denominational church? just a Baptist church with a cool website. They're just trying to get a cool name. There's some truth to that. But Baptists have that, you know, it's really a hallmark of the Baptists. Not to say that, you know, I know that also those groups, the Paido Baptists, those who baptize infants, also baptize believers also. We as Baptists believe that as Scripture, we believe, teaches, when we see Scripture, He's addressing those who are converted, those who are saved, here Paul does. One of the earliest Baptist confessions of faith, the 1611 Baptist confession, this is actually from the first Baptist church that ever existed in Amsterdam, and I think this is like their third confession that they put together, but in that confession it states that the Church of Christ is a company of faithful people separated from the world by the Word and the Spirit of God being knitting, you have to excuse some of this older English, I believe I put it in a little modern English, being knit to the Lord one and to one another by baptism upon their confession of faith and confession of their sins. Now, again, he speaks of a believer's church. And I think the word Baptist itself means a baptized believer's church. You know, it's people that the only ones who should be baptized are those who believe. uh. .. and so we believe that the scripture teaches a regenerate church membership that only those who profess christ is savior and have been baptized upon that profession of faith uh... and we reject the infant baptism now there can still be people in our midst who are unregenerate let's make that clear uh... uh... look at Look at Jesus and the 12 apostles. They had one unregenerate person among them, Judas. So again, the purest churches under heaven, as the 1689 London states, there's still a little, there can be some error in there. And so there are people, look, only God knows. Yes, there can be, we can have a whole bunch of people on our membership roll, who come to church who don't know christ but we believe that the church is made up of regenerate church membership uh... now we should avoid being like some churches do who have a bloated church membership have five hundred people who are members and only sixty of them come to church that's something wrong there that's something wrong that's not a regenerate church membership even if they call themselves baptist uh... but we should strive in our evangelism and bringing people in the church, that those people know Christ as Lord and Savior. So a Regenerate Church membership is something that distinguishes us as a Baptist church, and I believe it's a mark of a church. Number two mark can be overlooked, but it's very important, and that is that love should be supreme in a church. This is where we might really miss out a lot sometimes, churches can. When you see church split after church split going on, that's not right. We tell the world to love one another, trust Christ, he'll make you better, and then we act like a bunch of unregenerate people sometimes in churches. That's wrong. Go to 1 Corinthians 13, and I know you know this scripture, I want to look at verses 1 through 7, one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible, where the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Corinth. He states, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, that old English word charity is love, you know, a giving love. I am become a sounding bryce or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, And have not charity, it profith me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and it is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity voneth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. And then go to verse 13, where Paul states, and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity or love. When people come into this, especially, I'm speaking primarily as a visitor, you ever visited a church you're not familiar with? That can be awkward. That's just, and we need to put ourselves, when we see visitors here, it's a little awkward for them. It's awkward for me, even today, if I go to a church, if I'm on vacation that I'm not a member of, don't know nobody. We should be a loving people to anyone who comes, because it can be awkward coming to a new church. And we should show the love of Christ to others. Notice what John states in 1 John 3. Verses 14 through 18. He states, We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God. because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whosoever hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." Love must be supreme in the church. as it states in 1 Corinthians 13 and here in 1 John, that we love our neighbor, but we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ, because we are brothers and sisters in Christ if you're a Christian. And if there's one thing that I hope that people outside of this church think of us as, is a people who love one another, and love others. Because that goes away, because let me say this, you can be as doctrinally sound as can be, but what did Paul say? If you don't have love, it don't mean anything. A good example is found in Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. In Jesus' words to the church of Ephesus, It states, unto the angel, or I believe this word angel is referring to the messenger or elder or pastor of the Church of Ephesus at Rite. These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." He states, first of all, in verse 2, man, y'all are faithful to the truth of God. You're faithful doctrinally. You reject error. And then verse 3, and has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. Y'all been active, y'all labored for me, but then verse four, nevertheless I have something against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. That's a big one. Who is the first love? It's Jesus. We can get so busy at a church doing stuff, We forget what we're here for and who we're here for. Jesus said, what's the greatest commandment of all? To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind, and to love thy neighbor as thyself. And those two things go together. If we don't have that, were laboring in vain. Notice what he states in verse 5, Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. It says, I'll remove thy candlestick out of his place. It means you'll not be a church anymore. This was serious because they had not love. They lacked love of Christ. Yes, they were doctrinally pure, And yes, they were laboring, but he says, you forgot me. You forgot your first love. We've got to be aware of that. We've got to be aware of that old term, we've become the frozen chosen. You know, that we stand up for the truth. We believe the truth. And we can preach hard and teach hard. against those outside the church, but my friends, we don't have the love for God and love for one another and love for the lost. We're just a clanging cymbal. It's so important that love be supreme in a church and that we not forget that. It's not a secondary thing. A third mark is faithfulness to the gospel. Faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first, well, one of the first Protestant confessions of faith, I don't know if it's the oldest, but it's the Augsburg Confession of Faith, 1530, a Lutheran confession. that stated, a church is the congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly administered. Now I want to focus on that part where Augsburg says the church is the congregation of the saints where the gospel is rightly taught. Faithfulness to the gospel is of vital importance. As a church, We're not, you know, some, just a charity organization. Some people look at that, you know, we're a self-improvement organization. No, at the core of our message is the gospel. Notice, going back to Romans again, I know we were in Romans 1 earlier, but go to Romans chapter 1. In verse 1, again in his introduction, notice what Paul states to the church of Rome. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. He said, I'm separated under the gospel of God. This is my message that I have. And that's the message that we have, is the gospel. It's not self-improvement. It's not self-help. It's the gospel, my friends. It's what the world needs today, is the gospel, to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. And yet so often when I hear people talk about the church, even Christianity, well it's just me trying to get myself ready, me getting myself ready to get to heaven and trying to do my best, but that's not the gospel. And I think the world sometimes that we're not as faithful sometimes, churches haven't been, to making this very clear what the gospel is. Notice Galatians chapter 1 verses 6 through 8. Now, you know the church of Galatians had a lot of problems. When we talk about pure church, marks of a true church, one thing you'll notice in the New Testament that a lot of these churches were messed up. First, you know, the Church of Corinth, man, they had all types of crazy stuff going on in there. Church of Colossae, the worship of angels and all this going, and some other stuff, and Church of Galatians, they were mixing law and gospel and works and the gospel. So when we talk, and one thing Paul didn't say, y'all need to leave those churches. No, he was trying to correct them. I'm just trying to show you When people say, boy, if we lived back in the first century, we wouldn't have these problems in our churches. Yes, you would. They had a lot of problems. These churches did. They're not that much different than we are today. But know what Paul rebukes the church of Galatia here in verses 6 through 8. or the churches of Galatia, this was more than one church, it was several in Galatia, this would have been in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. He states, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." They had mixed the law and gospel. They had mixed works. They were bringing back some Old Testament stuff that had been fulfilled in Christ. Legalism. And he rebukes them for why they had left the gospel. They were leaving the, he says, why would you pervert the gospel of Christ? So the gospel message is important. It's vitally important for a local church that we be clear in that gospel. Now, what is the core of the gospel? Look, we could spend, go through a whole lot of scriptures, more time than we have, but I'm going to take you to 1 Corinthians 15. verses three and four, which I believe is kind of the core gospel message. Now, we can go a lot deeper, justification by faith alone and Christ alone and some other, but I want to simplify it as much because we don't have the time to go much farther into that, but note what Paul states here. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." That's the gospel in a nutshell. That's the good news. Remember the word gospel is good news. And the gospel, who's the center of the gospel? It's Jesus Christ. He's the center of the gospel. If you memorize these two verses of scripture, don't ever say, if you memorize these two verses, don't say, I don't know how to witness somebody. You can't. Because it tells you what Christ did what? He died for our sins according to the scriptures. Christ died on the cross for sinners. That's good news. Because sinners can't get to heaven without that. That's good news, my friends. But Jesus didn't stay there, and that He was buried. And we often omit that part, by the way. That's important. That reminds us that Jesus was not only God, but 100% man. He was buried just like we will be buried someday. And what? He rose again. the third day according to the scriptures. He rose. He is risen. He's not dead. That's a message people need to hear today. Jesus is risen. He died for sinners on the cross. He was buried and He is risen. And all who trust in Him have eternal life. That is good news. It's the best news in the world. And people need to hear that. And this message should be central to what we're preaching and teaching, my friends. You know, I pray that if somebody comes here and we're preaching in Esther, that they get to hear this message. Now, look, you've already heard some of this already. Not just from me. These hymns we sing. See, it's not just, that's why the gospel should be central, not just in whoever's here in the pulpit, but also that it be somewhere in our midst, people hear the good news of Christ. And, you know, it's something I gotta work on, make sure, make Christ central, and because If I fail in that, I'm failing the Lord. And I believe that we must make the gospel central in our church life, in our preaching, in our teaching. And it's so important. And so when we preach, you know, people need to hear When they come to this church, the gospel, whether it's Sunday school, whether it's in our worship service that comes up next, the gospel needs to be brought forth. And we should be a people who are faithful to that gospel each and every day. And we're going to look at that. We're not going to get, like I said, we're not going to get to finish this because it's almost 1030. But these first three that we're looking at, I got three more that I'll have to save for the next time. Regenerate church membership, that the church should strive to be made up of saved people. Number two, that love must be supreme in our church. And thirdly, and this is by the way, I'm not saying which one of these is more important, I'm just stating these are marks. Faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we look at it next, we're going to look at the other three are, fourthly, the right practice of the sacraments or ordinances. Fifthly, faithfulness to the Great Commission. And sixthly, the right practice of church discipline. Those other three we'll have to look at later. But I want you to remember these three that we've looked at today. Now, I'm going to stop us right now, and we're going to have any discussion questions in the next few minutes that you'd like to have.