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Please turn with me in your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 12. We're actually going to be looking
at three places this morning. We're going to be looking at
Hebrews 12, 18 through 24, Psalm 87, as well as Ephesians 1, 22 and 23. And as
we turn to Hebrews 12, 18 through 24, let's remember what Moses
said regarding God's word, that this is no empty word for you. But it is your very life. Hebrews
chapter 12, starting in verse 18, hear the word of the Lord. For you have not come to what
may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a
tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made
the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For
they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast
touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying
was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion
and to the city of the living God. the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the
assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to
God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and
to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood
of Abel. Let's next turn to Psalm chapter
87. Psalm chapter 87. On the holy mount stands the
city he founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of you, O city of God, Selah. Among those who know me,
I mention Rahab and Babylon. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with
Cush. This one was born there, they
say. And of Zion it shall be said,
This one and that one were born in her. For the Most High Himself
will establish her. The Lord records as He registers
the peoples, this one was born there. Singers and dancers alike
say, all my springs are in you. And then lastly, we turn to Ephesians
chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23. And He
put all things under his feet, and gave him
as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
fulness of him who fills all in all." Thus ends the reading
of God's Word. Let's pray. Father, I ask, oh God, for the sake of
your people, for the sake of the glory of your son, that you
would give us a proper view of your church. God, we can think
so lowly of it. Certainly our culture thinks
and says such minimizing things about your son's bride. And God, may we not be guilty
of the same thing in our hearts or in our actions or in our thoughts. Lord, refresh us this morning.
Lord, your word says that we have come to the city of the
living God. As your word is preached this
morning, God, may you visit us. May you be pleased to come and
visit the gates of Zion with your people. We ask these things
in Christ's holy name. Amen. All right, please be seated. title to the message this morning
is The Meaning and the Marks of the Church. The Meaning and
Marks of the Church. As I said in our announcements,
this year marks the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant
Reformation. 500 years ago, Martin Luther
nailed the 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, sparking
the greatest revival of Christendom since the apostles. This is a
huge year. One of the major conflicts between
Rome and Protestants that existed then and still exists down to
this day is the definition of the church. What is the church? How would you answer that question? That's right. What is the church? Why does the church exist? Who
are the leaders of the church? What does it mean to be a member
of the church? We need to be able to answer
those questions. If we don't know who we are or why we exist,
then we will abandon the calling to which we've been called. Proverbs
28, 19 says, where there is no prophetic vision, the people
cast off restraint. Therefore, God willing, this
is where I hope to be taking us over the next five or so weeks. So today, today's message is
the meaning and the marks of the church. Next week, I hope
to look at the mission of the church. Then we're gonna look
at the ministers of the church, part one and part two. And then
lastly, we're gonna look at the members of the church. Now let's
set the stage for this message. Let's listen to Dutch theologian
named Wilhemus L. Brackel. I want him to give us
a reality check as we begin to look at what the church is. This
is what he says, quote, consider first of all that there are but
two kings in this world, each having a kingdom. The kingdom
of Christ and the kingdom of the devil, which are mortal enemies
to each other. A third kingdom cannot exist. Every person is either a subject
of King Jesus or a subject of the devil, the prince of darkness.
No matter who you are individually, you are truly a subject of one
of these two kingdoms. You are neither neutral, nor
are you a subject of both kingdoms simultaneously. Therefore, to
which kingdom do you presently belong? The world tells us to pick whatever
truth that we want to pick. Every religion is basically the
same. All roads lead to Rome. That's false. There are only
two kingdoms. Jesus over and over again in
the Gospels, He says, whoever is not with Me is against Me,
and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. And then He always
is pitting the one kingdom against the other kingdom in nearly every
single sermon He preaches. He says, you are either wheat
or you are a tare. Matthew 13. You are either a
sheep or you are a goat, Matthew 24. You are either a child of
God or you are of your father the devil, John 8. You are either
a branch that bears fruit or you're one that's cut off and
thrown into the fire, John 15. You either belong to the church
or you belong to the synagogue of Satan, Revelation 2, 9. And
on that great and final day of judgment, King Jesus will finally
and forever separate those two kingdoms, bringing the one into
His everlasting and ever-increasing glory, and sending the other
one into unending destruction in the lake of fire. That's ultimate
reality. There is no other. And if you're
not living with those two kingdoms in mind, you belong to the kingdom
of Satan. That's what it means to have
the wool pulled over your eyes and not know what it means to
belong to Christ. If you don't belong to the church,
meaning if you have not been united to Christ by faith, by
a lively faith, then you just do belong to the kingdom of darkness.
There's no middle ground. Brothers and sisters, the church
is why God created the world. God created the world so that
He could create the church. If you remember from our Gospel
Changes Everything series, I actually said that Christ is the reason
that God created the world. I said that Christ came into
the world to display God's glory. And I quoted Colossians 1.16.
It says, "...for by Him..." That's Christ. "...for by Him all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all
things were created through Him, for Him. Meaning, the world was
created so that Christ might be on display. So how can I now
say that the world was created for the church? Because, brothers and sisters,
the Church is the fullness of Christ. This is one of the most
delightful things that I discovered this week. Please turn to Ephesians
1, that last place that we looked at, verses 22 and 23. Listen
to what the Apostle Paul says. And he, that's the Father, and
he put all things under his feet, that's Christ's feet, and gave
Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body,
the fullness of Him, who fills all in all." Now, question, what
does the fullness of Him refer to in this verse? The church. The church, Christ considers
Himself in some mysterious way, incomplete, until He's united
to the church, which is His body. The church is, that's what this
verse says, the church is the fullness of Christ. This is a
simply unbelievable verse. Listen to what John Calvin says
on this point. He says, this is the highest honor of the church,
that until Christ is united to us, The Son of God reckons Himself
in some measure imperfect. What consolation is it for us
to learn that not until we are along with Him does He possess
all of His parts or wish to be regarded as complete." Now if
I were just to read Calvin without reading Ephesians 1, 22 and 23,
I simply would not believe what he said. But this is Paul's argument. Look again at it. Look at the
verse. The church, which is His body, is the fullness of Him. How could a head be complete
without His body? Likewise, Jesus Christ, the mediator,
wouldn't be complete if He didn't come into the full possession
of His church, of His bride. Listen to how Jonathan Edwards
puts it. The church is said to be the
fullness of Christ. As if Christ were not complete
without the church. Man is incomplete without the
woman. That's what God said in the beginning.
So Christ is not complete without His spouse. Dear congregation,
the church is why God made the world. You exist. The world exists so
that God could make you and bring you to Jesus Christ. That's why
the stars and the planets and giraffes and insects and little
children exist to bring you into His possession. Does that not
shock you? God created the world, yes, we
would affirm, God created the world ultimately for His glory
and He achieves this by selecting a bride and securing a bride
and dying for a bride. This is why Paul can say such
stunning things to the Corinthians. He says things like this, For
I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to
one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Therefore, dear congregation,
let us abandon any low view that we have of the church. Yes, she
is imperfect now. And yes, she will disappoint
us in this life. But do you know what the culmination
of all history is? when the bride gets ushered into
heaven and she sits down at the great wedding feast of the Lamb. That's the culmination of history,
a wedding feast. Let us rejoice and exult and
give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and the
bride has made herself ready. Here's our big idea. This is
where we're going. The world was created so that
the Son of God might have a spouse. That is the church. It's a quote by Jonathan Edwards. It
was so good, I didn't think I needed to change it, but this is our
big idea. The world was created so that the Son of God might
have a spouse. That is the church. And here's
where we're gonna go in this first sermon in this series. We're going to look at two things.
We're going to look at the meaning of the church and we're going
to look at the marks of the church. What is the meaning of the church
and what are the marks of the church? So first of all, the
meaning of the church. Here's my first premise is that
the church exists from Genesis to Revelation. We must see that
the church did not begin in the New Testament. It did not begin
there. It began in Genesis. That view
that the church began in the New Testament was, it is a popular
view. It was developed in the 19th
century under a theology known as dispensationalism. And amongst
many of the teachings of dispensationalists, one of them is that there's a
radical divorce between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament
Church. God has two distinct people in
their view with two distinct plans for them. Now, we admit
that there are differences between the Old and the New Covenant,
certainly. Gerardus Vos says this, quote,
the church under the old covenant was more than a church. It was
equally a state. It was also essentially a national
church. That is, it was limited to one
nation. And so Israel, the church in
the Old Testament looked radically different. In order to become
part of the Old Testament people of God, you had to convert to
Judaism if you weren't born into that nation. And so there are
differences in form and manifestation, but what I'm claiming is that
the essence of the church remains the same throughout the entire
Bible. Now our dispensational friends may object and say, well,
the church in the New Testament is always defined as the body
of Christ. That's entirely a New Testament
reference. But the church in the Old Testament,
if you want to call it that, was labeled as Israel, or Jerusalem,
or Zion. And so those aren't equivalent
terms. Thus we see in our passage from Psalm 87 this morning, it
says, on the holy mount stands the city he founded. The Lord
loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places
of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. So notice in that verse, the
Old Testament people of God were called Zion. They were called
the city of God. But did you hear how the author
of Hebrews calls us this morning? From Hebrews 12, it says, you,
in verse 22, you, New Testament people, you have come to Mount
Zion. You have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem. The New Testament takes terms
from the Old Testament and applies it to the New Testament people
of God. And the New Testament stresses
this point by continually calling the church by very decidedly
Old Testament terms. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3.16,
he calls the people of God the temple of God. Old Testament
term. In Galatians 4.26, he calls the
church the Jerusalem above. In Galatians 3.29, he calls the
church Abraham's offspring. In Philippians 3.3, he calls
the church the circumcision. In Galatians 4.26, he calls the
church the true Israel. And likewise, in the New Testament,
the authors continually recognize the Old Testament saints as belonging
to Christ. It's shocking. In Galatians 3.8,
it says the gospel was preached to Abraham. In Hebrews 11.26,
it says that Moses considered the reproaches of Christ greater
than the wealth of Egypt. In Acts 2.31 it says that David,
King David, foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ.
Therefore, although we admit that under the New Covenant the
form and manifestation look different than that of the old, yet the
essence of the Church has always remained the same. So what is
the essence of the Church? Well, the New Testament uses
the word ekklesia. Ekklesia. Whenever you see the
word church in the New Testament, it's the Greek word ekklesia.
And it's a compound of two root words. Ekk, which means out of,
and kleo, which means call. So ekklesia means to call out. The Bible uses that word ekklesia
to point to an assembly of people who have been called out of the
mass of fallen humanity by the preaching of the gospel to form
a society of believers. That's what ekklesia means. Called
out of them into this by the preaching of the gospel to form
the body of Christ. Now we can see the New Testament
using that word ekklesia in at least four different ways in
the New Testament. The first usage of ekklesia points
to a group of believers who are in a particular location even
if they are not gathered for worship. So, the first usage
of ekklesia points to a group of believers who are gathered
even if they're not gathered for worship. In Acts 5, verse
11, you may remember Ananias and Sapphira had just been struck
dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. And that news spread quickly
abroad. And Luke writes in Acts 5.11,
And great fear came upon the whole ekklesia, the whole church,
and upon all who heard these things. That church wasn't necessarily
gathered for worship, but it spoke about them because they
were in that place. The second usage of the word ekklesia can
also point to a group of believers that met in homes for worship.
Second usage of ekklesia is to point to a group of believers
that met in home for worship. 1 Corinthians 16, 19. Aquila and Prissa, together with
the ekklesia, the church, in their house, send you hearty
greetings in the Lord. The third usage of ekklesia points
to the entire body of professing believers throughout the world.
who gather for worship under appointed officers. Third usage
again, Ecclesia points to the entire body of professing believers
throughout the world who gather for worship under appointed officers. 1 Corinthians 12, 27 and 28. Now you are the body of Christ
and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the
Ecclesia first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, etc.
And then lastly, the fourth usage of Ekklesia points to the complete
body of the elect. Those in heaven, those on earth
who are. or will be united to Christ as
their Savior. So the complete body of God's
elect. Ephesians 5.25, husbands love
your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her. Paul wasn't talking about just
the church in Ephesians, he was talking about the church from
Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. One of the most fundamental misunderstandings
of the word church in our time is to reduce the word church
to a building. I know all of us do this. I do
this all the time. Church is where you go to worship.
It's spiritual slaying of sorts, I suppose. But the problem is
when we use the word like that, it begins to gut the glory out
of the word. to truly belong to the church
means that you belong to the body of Jesus Christ. Meaning
not only have you been united to Christ by faith, but you have
been united to the whole body and all of its members. You're connected to Abraham. You're connected to King David.
You're connected to our Chinese and North Korean and Ethiopian
and Egyptian and South African brothers and sisters whom you've
never seen. You have a relationship with
them that's more special than any relationship in the universe. To truly belong to the body of
Christ means that when we gather together here on Lord's Day,
This constitutes the very dwelling place of God on earth. We suffer from unbelief, but
that's what this represents. This is the dwelling place of
God. Hebrews chapter 12, 22, the passage
we read this morning says that we are the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem
represented that city that God dwelt, where He manifested Himself
in between the cherubim in order to commune with His people. That's
who we are. When Christ is preached here
in the gathering of His saints, the living God dwells amongst
us. To truly belong to the church
means that we constitute the very pillar and ground of truth. First Timothy 3.15 says that
the church is the pillar and the buttress of truth. That's
what the church is, the pillar and the buttress of truth, meaning
as Louis Burkhoff says, the church is the guardian of the truth,
the citadel of the truth, the defender of the truth over against
all the enemies of the kingdom of God. No, dear congregation,
when we go to church, we're not going to a building. We're going
to the center of the universe. I would like to think that I'm
using hyperbole. This is not hyperbole. When Christ is preached
truly, when the people gather to pray, when the people gather
to commune with Him, when the sacraments are received, God
is there. God is there, God is with us
when we're preaching right now, when we're receiving from Him.
We constitute the city of the living God and there's cities
all over this city and there's cities all over this world where
God is meeting with His people. But there's another urgent distinction
that we must consider when thinking about the church. There is a
visible, and an invisible aspect of the church, a visible and
invisible aspect to the church. In Romans 9, Paul is struggling
with the fact that many of his fellow Israelites had rejected
God's purposes. Many who belonged to the ekklesia
under the old covenant had been cut off from Christ. And now
Paul, he's like venting these affections out loud in verse
2. He says, he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his
heart over them. But we have to ask the question,
well, how could the Old Testament people of God be cut off from
Christ? Paul answers in verse 6, he says,
it's not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who
are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Paul is saying that
belonging to the state church or simply being natural children
of Abraham did not mean that you truly belonged to God. And the same thing is true today,
dear congregation. A person can merely belong to
the visible church. What's the visible church? Well,
the visible church consists of all who profess Jesus Christ
to be Savior along with their children. That's the definition
of the visible church. This is the visible church. People who
come in to hear Christ, that's what the visible church is. But
just like Israel, Many under the new covenant can perform
all the outward signs of being a Christian. They can give lip
service to Christ. They can be a faithful attender. They can partake of baptism.
They can take the Lord's Supper. They can do good works. And yet
they cannot be united to Christ. Going through the external motions
of church does not mean you've been united to Him in a lively
faith. We must belong to the invisible
church that is God's elect, meaning you must be genuinely converted. Solomon Stoddard, who was Jonathan
Edwards' grandfather, he said that the greatest change that
men undergo in this world is conversion. Conversion is the greatest change
that any person can undergo in this world. Those who have truly
been united to Christ are new creatures. If you've been converted,
you know what's happened to you. Your heart of stone has been
taken away. All things have become new. The old has passed away.
You see, what happens to true believers is they hate the sin
they once loved. Now, this doesn't mean that we
don't sin anymore. We do. But it grieves us because we
know that our sin dishonors Jesus. True believers desire to please
Christ, to be near to Him, to commune with Him. Is that you,
friend? Have you truly closed with Jesus
Christ? The Son of God put on flesh so
that He could win His beloved Bride through His death and resurrection. Have you put your faith in that?
Have you repented of your sins and turned to Jesus as your only
hope? There is no other name given
under heaven by which a man must be saved. Have you called upon Christ for
mercy? So that's the meaning of the church.
Let's look at the marks of the church. How do you know if you're in
a true church? And you know you're not being duped. Are there marks or signs of a
true church? What does the scripture tell
us? The one indispensable mark of
the true church is the Word of God sincerely preached. the Word of God sincerely preached. And this is what the Scripture
says. If this is lost, if the Word of God is not preached,
the church is lost. John 8, 31, Jesus tells His disciples
who are following Him, some of which have a spurious faith,
He says, if you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples. Meaning, if the church doesn't
abide in God's Word, it's not a church. When Paul said his farewell to
the Ephesians in Acts chapter 20, he declared to the Ephesians
that he had fulfilled his whole duty to them and that he was
innocent of the blood of all of them. And why did he say that?
He says in verse 27, because I did not shrink from declaring
to you the whole counsel of God. Why was Paul innocent? Because
he didn't fail in preaching the Word of God to them. In the pastoral
letters, When Paul was instructing Timothy how to take care of the
local church, the very first charge that he gives Timothy
is he says, remain at Ephesus so that you can charge certain
persons not to teach any different doctrine. And then just in case
Timothy forgot that, it's also the very last charge that Paul
gives Timothy. In chapter 4, he says, I charge
you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge
of the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom,
preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with
complete patience and teaching. Preaching the truth of God's
Word is the one indispensable mark of the church, such that
if it doesn't exist, neither does the church." It's why Jesus spoke to Peter
the way He did at the end of John, when He said, Peter, feed
My lambs, tend My sheep. Feed my sheep. Now, this doesn't mean that the
preaching has to be perfect in order for a church to be considered
a true church. Thank God for that, because none
of us would ever find a true church. that were the standard,
there would be no church. Churches will be more or less
pure in their doctrine and more or less pure in their practice
and can still be considered true churches. It's when a church
denies the fundamental doctrines of the faith, such as the Trinity,
or that Jesus Christ is fully God, or that justification is
by faith alone. When those fundamentals of the
faith are denied, that's when a church ceases to be a church. Are there other marks? Are there
other marks of a true church? Well, the Reformed tradition
often adds two other marks. For instance, in the Belgic Confession,
it says that the three marks of a true church are the pure
preaching of the gospel, which we agree with, the pure administration
of the sacraments and church discipline. So it adds three
marks. I would just say this, I think
it's important on this point to distinguish those elements
which are necessary for a church's being and those elements which
are necessary for a church's well-being. There's a difference
between a true church and a healthy church. And that distinction is made
within the Westminster Confession itself. To paraphrase what the
Westminster Confession says, it says that the profession of
the true religion is the only indispensable thing, while the
practices and discipline and worship will render particular
churches more or less pure. You see, what the Puritans wrestled
with is that they didn't think it was biblical to unchurch their
Baptist or Quaker friends because they had a different view of
the sacraments than they. And regarding church discipline,
church discipline is vital to the health of a church. But you
can't say biblically that a church ceases to be a church if it fails
in church discipline. Look at the Corinthian church. The Corinthian church was almost
entirely corrupt. Read it. They had divisions.
They had lawsuits. They had incest. They had abuse
of the gifts. They had abuse of the Lord's
table. They had a failure to love each other. And what does
Paul do? Does he abandon them? No. He calls them the church of God.
And he calls them saints. And then he seeks to correct
them. But he doesn't abandon them.
And why? Why? Why didn't Paul cease to
abandon the church? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ
still held sway with the Corinthians. They were still willing to receive
the Word of God and repent when they heard it. You can see that
throughout the letter. Dear congregation, this is what
it means to be a reformed church ultimately. Being a reformed church doesn't
mean that we're lining up on teams and throwing rocks at each
other. You're in that camp and I'm in
this camp. That's not what reformed means.
There's only one church. There's only one church. There's only one body, one spirit,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is over
all and through all and in all. Being reformed means that we
are constantly reforming the church according to the principles
of God's holy word. It's not a football team. How do we apply the meaning and
marks of the church to our lives? First of all, our doctrine. Our doctrine is that there is
no salvation outside of the church. No salvation outside of the church. And there's a very wrong way
to understand that sentence. Historically, Rome has applied
that sentence to mean that outside of Rome's visible boundaries,
outside of Rome's physical rituals, outside of the Pope as the distributor
of all blessings, there's no salvation. We know that's wrong.
And so we don't mean that unless you're baptized, or unless you're
accepted as a member, Or unless you partake in the Lord's Supper,
you cannot be saved. We don't mean that. Neither do
we mean that a person can't be saved outside of a church building. Remember, ecclesia is never defined
like that in scripture. Physical location is not the
issue. What I mean by that there's no salvation outside the church
is that just as there was no physical salvation for Noah and
his family outside of the ark, so there's no spiritual salvation
outside of the church. How can there be? The church
is Christ's own body. To be outside of union with Christ
is to be naked. To be outside of the union of
Christ is to stand condemned under the weight of your own
sin before a holy God. If you don't belong to the church,
that is if you're not united to Jesus Christ, you can't be
saved. Remember how I defined it. Don't
put in modern conceptions of what that word means. Turn with
me again to Psalm 87. Let's look at how the psalmist
speaks belonging to the church. Let's start in verses 4-6. So
God is speaking, Christ is speaking here. Among those who know me,
I mention Rahab and Babylon. Philistia and Tyre with Cush. This one was born there, they
say." What's happening here is Christ is pointing forward to
the opening of the kingdom to all the Gentiles. Notice what
He says about them. Those who know Me are those who
are born there. Born where? The city of God. The church. That's the context
of verse 3. And remember what Hebrews 12.22
says about us. You have come to Mount Zion,
to the city of the living God. So if we've come to Christ, we
belong to Zion, the city of the living God. Now look at verse
5. And of Zion it shall be said,
This one and that one were born in her. for the Most High Himself
will establish her. The Lord records as He registers
the peoples, this one was born there." Three times the psalmist
says, this one was born there. Where? In the church, in the
city of God. We're born into, we're born again,
when we're born again, we're born into the invisible church. Which is why Galatians 4.26 says
that Jerusalem above is our mother. What a weird verse. God is your
Father, the church is your mother. You've been born into her. It's
why Louis Burckhoff says the church is the mother of believers,
a means of salvation, the agency for the conversion of sinners
and the perfection of the saints. I think this probably hits some
of us like, man, that's weird. It's because we have a low concept
of the church. Brothers and sisters, how do
unbelievers get saved? Unbelievers are saved when the
church arms itself with the Word of God and proclaims to them
the gospel. As Paul says, how are they to
believe in Him of whom they've never heard? And how are they
to hear without someone preaching? Unbelievers are saved because
the church goes out militant and proclaims to them the gospel.
Without that, there's no salvation. It's the means. It's the means. So that's our doctrine. There's
no salvation outside of the church. Therefore, our duty is to love
the church like God loves the church. Amongst evangelicals, and especially
American evangelicals, we have a very low view of the church. And what I mean by church at
this point, I mean the local visible church that gathers to
worship. One author has said, Christianity
is often reduced to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
How often have you heard, well, I don't need to go to church
to be saved. What I mean by that is I'm not going to church. And as a result of that type
of radical individualism, church is seen as something that you
can take or leave. How tragic, how dangerous. The Apostle John says in 1 John
2.18, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For
if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out that it might become plain that they are not
all of us. People who abandon the visible
church wholesale, it's because they don't belong to God. That's what that verse means.
It doesn't mean if people leave this or that local assembly,
they're not part of the body of Christ. It means people who
abandon the church wholesale, it's because they don't belong
to God. Now perhaps there's seasons of
life where a person is checked out of church for a while, and
it's, I'm not pronouncing judgment, God is the one who judges. But
that's what that verse means. If you don't belong to a visible
church on some level, if you've abandoned a wholesale, it's because
you don't belong to the invisible church. Dear congregation, if you've
been united to Christ, you are His property. That's what that
word church means. Church is translated as church
in the English, it's Kirk in the Dutch, and it's Kirche in
Germany. And that word doesn't come from
the word ecclesia. It comes from the word karyakos,
which means belonging to the Lord. The church belongs to God. If you've come into relationship
with Jesus Christ, if you've been born again, you are His
property. It's just like in a marriage.
When a wife marries her husband, what does she do? She takes on
His name. She gives up her personal rights
and she submits and belongs in a loving relationship to her
husband. She gives up her rights for him.
And that's how we are, beloved. We belong to Christ. We don't
belong to ourselves. Oh, how Christ loves His church. Look again at verses 1 through
3 in Psalm 87. On the holy mount stands the
city He founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob." Do you see? Do you
see what he's saying? God loves certain events more
than other events. God loves certain dwelling places
more than other dwelling places. To translate for us, that means
that God loves the gathering of His people on the Lord's day
more than any other event in the universe. That's what it
means. When the bride gathers for her
husband, father is passionate for his son. Joel Beeky on this
point says that God comes to us in a special way when his
people meet together, even more than in private or family devotions. End quote. Dear congregation,
is that your view of church? Not the building? Do you hunger and thirst for
the nourishment that God provides you through his bride? Do you
have an expectation to meet with God at the gates of Zion? And you should wake up on Sunday
morning and say, I'm going to meet with God today. I get to
meet with God. I'm going to be with his saints
today. I'm going to be in the communion and hear prayers and
be with God's people. The most special place on the
planet. Is that your view of the church? So that's our duty. To love the
church like God loves the church. Therefore, our delight is to
see that the church is the glory of Christ. The church is the
glory of Christ. Recall our big idea. The world
was created so that the Son of God might have a spouse that
is the church. Have you ever just stopped to
consider what accounts for the existence of the church. The
church is the most attacked institution on the planet. Dictators have
tried to destroy it, armies have tried to defeat it, legislators
have tried to ban it, families have cast out its members for
joining it, and yet the church remains. Why? Because the church was why the
world was created. The Son of God wanted a bride
And His bride, the church, is His glory on planet earth. Listen to what Brackel says again
on this point. The church is the glory of Christ.
It is there that Christ is confessed. It is there that Christ is proclaimed
throughout the world, being held forth as a banner upon a hill,
around which one must gather himself. This is the city upon
a hill, and a light shining in the darkness. The church is the
means whereby the truth is made known and preserved, and is the
means unto the conversion of souls. Beloved, the church is the gospel's
masterpiece. The church shows the world that
Jesus Christ still forgives sinners through His bloody cross. The
church shows that Jesus can transform the vilest of men and women,
men like you, and women like you, and men like me, into saints
that He loves and adores. That's what the church proclaims
to the world. The church is Christ's megaphone
to the nations, offering pardon to all who trust in Him alone
plus nothing. Yes. The church is the glory
of Christ on planet earth. The church is the gospel's masterpiece. Listen to how Paul says it. Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her. that He might sanctify
her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,
so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be
holy and without blemish. That's what's happening here.
We're being prepared to be joined with our Husband. And that's
the glory of Christ on the earth. Let's pray. O great God, God, I confess that I struggle
with unbelief even in this message, Lord, that You would create the
stars and the galaxies and the measureless cosmos in order to secure a bride for
Your Son. That's simply unbelievable. That
You created the world in order to find a bride for your son,
Christ. God, and I ask, Lord, that you
would speak to our hearts right now. God, for those of us who
have a low view of what your church is, for those of you who
say demeaning things or think demeaning things about it, God,
help us, cause us, bring us to repentance to see that the world
exists so that Christ could secure a bride. And Lord, for those of us in
here who don't know You, who are simply sitting in our seats,
part of the visible church, part of the tares among the wheat,
God, that You would convict of sin. Help us to see the truth
of that quote from the beginning of this message, Lord, that there
are two kingdoms, Christ and the devils, and there is no other
kingdom. Lord, You can bring new birth. Lord, in your word
it says that the Lord added to the church daily those that were
being saved. And if any are going to be added
here today, it must come from your great hand. And so God,
we commit now this time to you. Lord, let us see that you have
come down and visited your people now. Let us lift our voices to
you, our great God. We bless you, oh God. In Christ's
holy name, Amen.
The Meaning and Marks of the Church
Series The Church
| Sermon ID | 11717110013546 |
| Duration | 54:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 87 |
| Language | English |
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