Welcome to Westminster Baptist Church. On behalf of all those people who worship here, we'd like to extend a very warm welcome to you to this special service, this great milestone in this church's history, its 200th anniversary. We're delighted that many old friends and supporters of this fellowship have been able to gather here together this afternoon, and we trust that we'll have a very profitable time. There will be refreshments served afterwards downstairs, and you're all very welcome to come and partake of those. But we want to look back over the past 200 years and express our gratitude to Almighty God for his goodness and his faithfulness. And we trust that this afternoon will be all about the Lord himself receiving the glory and the preeminence. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to God and for his grace for the many years of blessing which this church has enjoyed. We think it's a marvellous verses about the sovereignty of God in the scriptures, like it's the Lord's doing and marvellous in our eyes. Except the Lord as should build the house, they labour in vain that's build it. And if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, You see, this cause here in Westminster stands as a monument to the grace and goodness of God during the past 200 years, and we want to give him all the praise and all the honour. So to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and honour, power and majesty both now and forevermore. I'd like to thank all those people who've arranged the flowers and those who've helped with the preparation of the food. And we'd like to send a special note of thanks to our speaker today, Chris Banks, who joins us from Dawes Heath Evangelical Church down in Raleigh, which is near Southend in Essex. And we trust that we'll be richly blessed through his ministry a little later on. Now, shall we come to the throne of grace? Shall we come before the Lord in prayer? Our gracious God, our loving Heavenly Father, we do rejoice at this glorious opportunity which we have this afternoon to celebrate this important milestone in this church's history. We thank you, Lord, that a cause for Christ was founded in this place 200 years ago. And we thank you, Lord, that despite all the ups and downs and various trials and afflictions, this work has continued to this present hour. We do thank you, Lord, for your grace and your goodness and your faithfulness. We do thank you, dear Father, that this place is still preaching the gospel. We thank you, Lord, that this is a place where prayer is still want to be made, a place where these scriptures are expounded, and a place where many passers-by can come along to hear the good news of the gospel and find out what they must do to be saved. We do thank you Lord for your grace and for your mercy over so many years and we do want to express our gratitude this afternoon and trust dear Lord that all that takes place will be pleasing in thy sight. We do thank you, Father, for this neighbourhood. We know it's one part of Great Britain that most people have heard about. And we thank you, Lord, for its central location. And we do praise thee for all the faithful believers who've laboured from these premises over the years. We thank you, dear Father, for all the precious souls who've been wonderfully and eternally saved by the grace of God. and we do thank you father for those who have stood for truth and for righteousness and for those who've been faithful to the glorious biblical doctrines which we find in thy words and we do pray that we who are engaged in this work at the present time may seek to be faithful in our generation as many of our forebears have in theirs. We do pray, Father, that you would bless our speaker here this afternoon. We pray that you would bless his word to our hearts, that we might be inspired and encouraged by what we hear. We ask, dear Lord, that we might look back when this day has come to a close with praise and thanksgiving to thee. for your grace and for your goodness. And we ask, dear Lord, that you would continue to bless this cause in the days to come. We do pray for all those people who live and work roundabouts. We pray that many may enter the doors of these premises and come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would encourage us that we would not grow weary in well-doing, but we pray that we might be faithful to the doctrines of grace, and that we might love to impart the glorious tidings of the gospel to those who are yet in their sins. Father, do oversee all that takes place, we pray, and grant, dear Lord, that we might ascribe unto Thee, and unto Thee alone, all the praise, all the honour, and all the glory. For we do ask all these mercies with praise and thanksgiving in the precious and worthy name of Jesus. Amen. Well we're gratefully indebted to our brother Jonathan Arnold for gathering lots of information together regarding the history of the church and also some memorabilia which is contained on the table at the back of the church which people are welcome to see afterwards. Well, there's a verse in the Psalms that says, thou art good and doest good. And as we review briefly the last 200 years of gospel witnessed in Westminster, we'd like to praise Almighty God for preserving this work over many years, through many ups and downs, many trials and many afflictions. Westminster Baptist Church is the oldest free church in Westminster. It was founded in 1807 when services were originally held in Grafton Street in Soho. Believers decided to come together to worship and to serve the Lord, to read and to study the scriptures, to pray for the surrounding neighbourhoods, and to be a witness to all those people who live roundabouts. In those early years the church was often short of finances and had to change location on a few occasions and also didn't have the same speaker for very long at all. It would be several years after it started before it would acquire more permanent premises. The believers were joined together in love and unity, but at times the numbers were very small and they were very concerned about whether they would be able to continue and to function as a church. The public recognition of the building took place in 1815, and after much prayer and the singing of psalms, the members' presence resolved in their hearts, with God's help, to persevere as a fellowship and to seek to reach others with the gospel. In 1828 a permanent premises was found and on the 12th of March 1828 Romney Street Baptist Church was opened. Romney Street is situated about a five minute walk away from here just up the roads behind the Magistrates Court. The church was temporarily closed in 1865, but it was reopened the following year by C. H. Spurgeon, the notable preacher from the Metropolitan Tabernacle at the Elephant. And he proposed to take over the church for a period of a year in order to ensure that the Word of God would continue to be preached in Westminster. Many of the members and the deacons were so inspired and so thankful for the help which was provided that they decided to continue with the work and a new minister was appointed shortly afterwards. But after many years of gospel witness, eventually the Romney Street Church was demolished and for a time services were held at a local hall and after a while they were moved again to Stockwell Baptist Church in South Lambeth Road And even for a time, the church met in the open air and assembled together for prayer meetings and the study of God's words in Old Pie Street, which is about a 10-minute walk away from the premises here. In fact, the believers of this church became quite famous for their open-air services. It was often a talking point amongst many of the local people. Well, the presence building here in Horsberry Road was opened on the 27th of March 1935. Prior to the purchase of this building, an attempt was made to buy some premises from a local Methodist church a few doors away from here, but at the last moment the owners of those premises decided to sell up to the Catholic church instead, and the Catholic church erected a building of their own which stands on the site to the present day. But in the providence of God it all worked out very well, for this building was left unscathed by the aerial bombardments during the Blitz of World War II, whereas the building up the road was subjected to considerable damage. But in 1956 the church was pleased to introduce Pastor W. H. Thomas, And he commenced his ministry here, a very long ministry, it would last for a period of about 42 years. And I'm sure many people assembled here this afternoon have very fond memories of that man of God and his faithful ministry and faithful service to the Lord throughout this time. At the beginning of May 1957, the church here celebrated its 150th anniversary. And a weekend of thanksgiving was held and many former pastors and local ministers and members came along to express their gratitude to Almighty God for this milestone. Even Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones from Westminster Chapel was also present and he was very supportive and very prayerful about the work and the witness of Westminster Baptist Church. The services were led at the time by Principal E.F. Kevin, who was the notable writer of Christian books. And the local press even included an article about the anniversary service, which commenced with the words, the days when prayer meetings were held on the pavement were recalled at Westminster Baptist Church. And if that was the spirit of Westminster then, then they had no fears concerning the future. Well, Pastor Thomas was by far this church's longest-serving minister. He thought he was just coming to London originally for a short period of time, maybe a few years, but he ended up giving the most part of his life to the work and to the witness of this fellowship. He was used by God to lead many precious souls to the Lord Jesus Christ and to preach faithfully the Reformed faith of the Scriptures. He retired in 1999 as a result of advancing years and failing health. And last July this dear servant of God was called home to glory. And last September we had a thanksgiving service on these premises to give God thanks for his life, his ministry and his service. But we praise God that the Lord has kept the church going throughout this long period of time, even during times when numbers were very small and finances were very tight. Now this church over the years has sought to be faithful to the teachings of the scriptures and to contend earnestly for the faith. And today we trust that we preach and teach those faithful doctrines which are found in God's words, which our forebears cherished. We teach in this church that the Bible is the infallible word of God. We believe in creation. We believe in the fall of man. We believe in the depravity of man. We believe in the sovereignty and the supremacy of God in salvation. We believe in the virgin birth, the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ, his atoning death on Calvary's cross, his bodily resurrection from the grave. We believe in his second coming, And we believe in judgment to come and heaven and hell, but above all, the biblical gospel has been preached from this place, from this pulpit, for many, many years. The narrow way of salvation through the person and work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This church preaches justification by faith alone, by grace alone, through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. This is a church which stands for the preaching of the cross. This is a church which preaches the precious blood of the Lamb of God, which alone can make the foulest sinner clean and acceptable in the sight of a holy God. And these precious truths, which are contained in the Word of God, have been preached from this place for a period of 200 years. And we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to Almighty God for that. You see, this church, like many other churches, has had many enemies to overcome throughout the years. In the 19th century you had the coming of evolution, which was put forward as a theory but often taught as being fact. Then there's been liberalism, or the coming of the charismatic movement, or the ecumenical movement, where many churches are put under pressure today to join up and be good friends. Don't worry about doctrinal differences. Does it really matter if a person's seeking salvation by works, or ceremony, or sacraments, or baptism? But we believe in this church that these issues are of great importance. We believe that The embracing of the gospel is the difference between somebody being eternally saved and eternally damned. And the Apostle Paul said, Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel, and if somebody else should preach another gospel, let him be accursed. And I hope that these premises will always be used to preach faithfully the biblical way of salvation and preach that justification is only by the grace of God through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, in our generation today, there's been a great departure from God's words. Oh, there's lots of music, lots of entertainment today, but good, sound, searching, biblical ministry is often looked upon as being not very popular and not very palatable. But in 1967, Pastor Thomas and the membership of this church, they withdrew from the Baptist Union because they wanted to make a stand for the truth of God's word and to be faithful to the evangelical protestant principles of this church and the gospel of salvation through God's grace by faith alone. And this cost Pastor Thomas quite a lot. He had to forgo a pension which he would otherwise have received. And he was even willing to resign his position here because he felt that the issue of the gospel was of utmost importance. Well, in the secular realm, we've had all the affluence in society today, the mass media, all the entertainments and the amusements, and the great spiritual decline which we've seen round about us, where we see the constant erosion of biblical standards and values and morals. Is there any wonder in such an environment today that any church can keep going at all? If it wasn't for God's grace, These premises would have long since closed and maybe been turned into flats or to a warehouse. With the sky-high property prices in an area such as Westminster, there are no shortage of property developers who would love to convert a building such as this one into some type of secular use. But we praise God that the gospel is still being preached from these premises, and we look to God for grace in the future to be faithful to him as people have been faithful in the past. So we look back with a sense of gratitude and joy as we see the mighty hand of God at work and we look forward with joyful anticipation for grace in the future to continue with this work and to be faithful to God in our generation as many believers have been faithful in theirs. And we trust that this will always be a place where the gospel is preached and many precious souls will come to an understanding of the biblical way of salvation and pass from darkness to light and be trusted in the old rugged cross and the precious blood of the Lamb of God in order to make them acceptable in the sight of the Holy God. How good is the God we adore, our faithful, unchangeable friend, whose love is as great as his power, and knows neither measure nor end. Tis Jesus, the first and the last, his spirit will guide us safe home, will praise him for all that is past, and trust him for all that's to come. Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. where we give God thanks for his blessing and his goodness. If you have a Bible with you this afternoon, will you turn with me please to the New Testament Scriptures and we shall read together from Matthew's Gospel and the Chapter 16. Reading all of Matthew and Chapter 16. Let's hear the word of God then, as it's recorded in Matthew, the 16th chapter, and commencing at the first verse. The Pharisees also, with the Sadducees, came, and tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember, the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he made them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And 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 Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also 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, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charge thee his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.' Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Amen. And we know that God will bless to our hearts that reading from his own infallible word. May I say first of all, before we turn back to the word of God, what a very great privilege I feel it is to be able to come today and bring God's word to you on this very special 200th church anniversary occasion. It's my first visit to this church but I have known of it for a number of years because I know a number of the dear men of God who've come along here from time to time to minister the Word of God. And it's also been my great privilege over the past, I don't know how many years, quite a few years now, to know your dear pastor here quite well. We've had many lovely times of fellowship together, sharing in the work of God, being fellow labourers in the cause of Christ and of the Gospel. And it always does my heart good cause if my heart rejoiced to be with those who love the same glorious truth of the Word of God. You know we have a degree of fellowship with all those who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, with all those who have been brought to repentance and faith in Him, We perhaps have even more fellowship with those who have been brought to see some of the deeper things in the Word of God concerning God's sovereignty and those great doctrines of free and sovereign grace. You know, in these dark days in which we live, we have even more fellowship with those not only who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ and who believe on Him, and not only do they believe those great doctrines of God's free and sovereign grace, but they also seek to walk in the old path as I know you do here and we seek to do in our own church fellowship at Dawes Heath back in Essex. And as the days get darker I think we will appreciate the fellowship of like-minded believers more and more. So it is a great privilege to be here today to bring God's word to you and I'm sure the church members of my own church fellowship and the congregation who meet there week by week would wish me to convey their Christian greetings to you even this afternoon. Well, as I've thought very much about this service this afternoon and been looking forward to coming, I believe that the Lord has directed my thoughts to a very well-known verse in this chapter that we've read together, Matthew chapter 16. And by the Lord's help, I would seek to direct your attention to the 18th verse. The words that I would bring before you this afternoon are these. We'll read the whole verse through together. These words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say also 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. In particular, the last part of that verse is what I would like us to ponder for a short while this afternoon. The Lord Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Well, not only is a church anniversary occasion such as this a good opportunity to meet together for fellowship one with another and with those of like mind, but it's also a wonderful opportunity for us to stop and to do two things. First of all, we can look back to the past. We can't live in the past, but it is good to remind ourselves from time to time of all that God has done. And we've been reminded this afternoon of something of the history of this church and I've been very encouraged to hear of some of the things that our dear brother has brought before us. And in fact many of the things that he said in his short talk about the history of the church here fit in very much with what I believe the Lord would have me share with you this afternoon. And we can look back over the past 200 years in the light of the words that we're thinking of this afternoon. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And can't we see that God has been very faithful to this promise that he has made. The Lord has over the past 200 years in this place in Westminster built his church and the gates of hell have not prevailed against it. There may have been times, and we've been reminded of some of those times, when the going was tough and hard. There were times when the numbers were few. There were times when finances were low. And there were all sorts of difficulties that came in the pathway of the believers who met here. but the Lord has built his church. The work has continued and he has been faithful. There may have been many, many times over the years when the devil, the evil one, has tried to hinder the work or maybe he has tried to bring the work to a halt completely and yet it continues. The Lord Jesus Christ has been faithful to his promise and to his word. He has continued to build his church and the gates of hell have not prevailed against it. There is still an open door here this afternoon for the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the word of God and our very presence here this afternoon bears testimony to the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ to this promise which he has made. So we can look back to the past with gratitude for all that the Lord has done and for all his great faithfulness. But we can also do something else on this church anniversary occasion. For an anniversary is not only an occasion upon which we look back, it's also an occasion in which we look forward. And we can look forward to the future with confidence. We can look forward to the future with confidence. Or you might say, but these are very dark days in which we live today, in which God has called us to serve him here. I agree with you, they are very dark days indeed. And maybe since before the time of the Reformation, we have not known such dark days in our land. But we can be confident as we look forward to the future this afternoon because the Lord Jesus Christ has made this promise and many other wonderful promises as well that are found in the Word of God. He has said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And he will continue building his church until that day when he comes again. I pray and trust that this gospel witness here will be maintained until the day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. And we can look forward to the future not only with confidence but with expectation. Sometimes we lose that note of expectation, don't we, in our church lives. We live in dark days. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. against it. And we should expect to see God at work. We should expect to see the Lord Jesus Christ building his church in the days that lie ahead. Our future is as bright as the promises of God. And we have this wonderful promise as we stand on the threshold of one more year in the life and in the history and in the experience of this local church. And the God who has been faithful down through the past 200 years will continue to be faithful until the day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. So turning then to this particular verse, there are seven things that I would like to share with you this afternoon, but some of them are fairly brief. I'm conscious that this is a very familiar verse to you, but it is one that I trust can be of much help and much encouragement to us on this particular occasion. First of all, I'd just like to draw out two or three things concerning this promise itself, the promise itself. We look just briefly at the background of it, for whenever we come to a verse in the scriptures, it's always very good to consider the background and the context. of the verse. We find that the Lord Jesus Christ has come into Caesarea Philippi with his disciples and he asks them a question. Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And the disciples give answers to that question. Some said that the Lord Jesus was John the Baptist, some said he was Elias, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. You know there's an even more important question than that. Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And that even more important question is this, and it's found in verse 15. He's saying unto them, but whom say ye that I am? What we think ourselves of the Lord Jesus Christ is the all-important question. In one respect, it doesn't matter what other people might think of Christ. It's what we think. But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter is enabled to give this true answer to this all-important question. He answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he was able to give that true and wonderful and accurate answer to the question, not because flesh and blood had revealed these things unto him, but because God himself had revealed these things to Simon Peter. And if we can say this afternoon concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. is because God has revealed these things to us by His Spirit. No man can say that Jesus is Lord apart from the Spirit of God. And then we have these wonderful words of the Saviour to Peter, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. As many of you may be aware, there's a little play on words, as it were, that our Lord Jesus Christ uses here. Peter, in Greek, is petros, which means a small stone. The word rock, in Greek, is petra, which means a great rock mass. So the question that we need to consider this afternoon is this. What is the rock upon which Christ will build his church? He says, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Some people will tell us that that rock was Peter himself. But I don't believe that to be the case. Peter was but a small stone. Would the Lord Jesus Christ really build his church upon Peter, that erring, unstable, impetuous man? I don't think so. Surely that rock upon which Christ would build his church was something greater, something greater. I believe that great rock upon which Christ will build and has built and will continue to build his church is surely nothing less than the great truth of Peter's confession. Remember Peter's words, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That, I believe, is the rock upon which Christ will build his church. Christ himself is the foundation of the church. Take away that wonderful truth, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the foundation of the church. collapses. We read in 1 Corinthians 3 in verse 11, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Christ himself is the foundation of the church. Ephesians 2 and 20 tells us, And we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. We've been reminded this afternoon of something of the ministry of C. H. Spurgeon, and this is what he said on this particular verse. Peter had, by the revelation of the Father, come to know the Son. Christ is the rock, and Peter has become one with him. And upon this rock that is Christ is the church founded. The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the rock upon which the church is built. But then, briefly, as we come to this promise, thinking about the promise itself, we have to consider the one who made it. You know, much depends upon the person who makes a promise, doesn't it? There are some people who will promise us things and we know they're not very reliable, we know we can't really trust them. But there are other people that we come across in life, and if they make a promise to us, We know that they will keep that promise as much as lies in them. We need to remember that this promise this afternoon is a divine promise. It has been made by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It has been made by the Son of the Living God. Because he is divine, surely his I wills must come to pass. This is a promise then that must be fulfilled because of the one who made it. And the other thing that I would bring to our attention this afternoon concerning this promise itself is that this building of which Christ speaks, is not a literal building of bricks and mortar. That may be a very obvious thing to say to many of you here this afternoon, but I do think it's something that we need to remember. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke here of the church that he would build, he was not speaking of the buildings in which his people would meet together for worship, such as the one that we are in this afternoon. The church buildings in which we meet are really only for our convenience. The church is always the people. The church is always the people. And the church is spoken of in scripture in a number of places as a building, but it is a spiritual building. It's a spiritual building. We have it, don't we, in 1 Peter 2 and verse 5. Ye also, as lively or living stones, are built up a spiritual house. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a building, but it is a spiritual one that consists of people who have been born again of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. It consists of people who have been saved by the sovereign grace of God. It comprises people who can say with the old hymn writer, I am trusting thee, Lord Jesus, trusting only thee. Those who are trusting only in the shed blood and the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a spiritual building which is not confined to a particular location. We sometimes speak, don't we, at the Church of England or the Church of Scotland, but the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not confined to a particular location. Throughout the world this afternoon we can find dear believers who are part and parcel of this great spiritual building, all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. Neither is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ confined to a particular denomination. It's made up of all true believers, all the elect of God. So that's just one or two things then concerning the promise itself. But then, as we come again to this text, the second thing that I would bring to your attention this afternoon is the plan instigated. If you wanted to build a literal physical building this afternoon, one of the first things that you would have to do is draw up some plans. I don't know very much about building, in fact hardly anything at all, but I do know you would have to have some plans drawn up. And when we think of this great building, this Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he has said he will build, it is being built according to plans that have been drawn up. We need to remember that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was planned in the mind of God, planned in the eternal mind before the world began. And each person that would be a stone in this spiritual house, this spiritual building, was chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ before the world began. In Ephesians 1 and verse 4, the Apostle Paul tells us that Christ has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. It was all planned that the Lord Jesus Christ would come into this world and be the only Redeemer, the only Saviour of God's elect. And all whom he would save were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, again in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9, Paul tells us that grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ was no afterthought in the mind of God because some other plan had failed. You know sometimes in our lives we plan things, don't we, and they go wrong, they don't work out as we would have liked and we have to rethink our plans, we have to go back to the drawing board perhaps. That can be so, even if we're drawing up plans for a literal physical building to be built, sometimes people draw up plans and they're not passed by the authorities and they have to go away again and devise some other plans. That's not the case with this great church of the Lord Jesus Christ, all fixed in his mind before the world began. And every living stone was given by the Father to the Son. that he might redeem them and do all that was necessary for their salvation. And as we come into time, as we come from eternity into time, we see that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is being built according to plan, according to plan. The word church here is ecclesia, meaning called out. And in time we find that God has been calling out those elect ones, calling them by grace, bringing them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the great things that God has been doing in Westminster throughout the past 200 years, calling out a people from the world side to be on the Lord's side, calling them out from darkness into his marvellous light, calling the spiritually dead to new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. God knows who his elect people are and he knows where they are. Throughout the ages of history, throughout the centuries, he has been calling them out, bringing them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 8, doesn't he? Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. If you are one of the Lord's people here this afternoon, you can look back to a time in your life when you were called by the grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is still very much carrying on this great work today. He is still calling out a people, calling them by grace, calling them through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Gospel is preached. And he's elect, or even today, obtaining that salvation which is in Christ Jesus. And everyone that he has predestinated unto life eternal shall indeed be called. It is all being worked out according to the plan of God. And because this is a divine plan, because this is God's plan, it will not and it cannot fail. Christ shall not fail nor be discouraged. We often fail, we are often discouraged, but the Lord Jesus Christ never. He has power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him. what an encouragement it is for us in the work of the gospel in these dark days to know that Christ is building his church and he will build it according to that plan fixed in the eternal mind before the world began. So we see then the plan that has been instigated. Thirdly, I would draw to your attention the progress involved here. Building something is a progressive thing, isn't it? It's a thing that grows, it's a progressive thing. Just about a mile or so away from my house, where I live, my grandparents lived for many years, for most of their lives. They both passed on now, they're both with the Lord. And the house in which they lived for most of their lives was recently torn down. and another house is being built there in its place. I don't know whether you like looking at buildings being built, but I've been very interested in this house for obvious reasons, and I've gone to the road where they lived a number of times to see how the building is progressing, to see how it's going on. It's been very encouraging and I've been very interested to see this work taking place and I'll be very interested to see what the finished article looks like eventually. But building is a progressive thing. As you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is building his church. It's a building that grows and progresses. And for the past two hundred years, the past two centuries, the building of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been going on, the work has been progressing here. Sometimes the work goes on fast and much progress is made. Sometimes the work seems to be slow and there seems, as we can judge the situation, to be very little progress. But whether the progress is fast or slow, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is still going on. And we have it, don't we, in the Acts of the Apostles. We've been going through the Acts of the Apostles in our Bible studies in the church in which I minister for the past few months. And one of the things that I've said to our folk on a number of occasions is this, that when we turn to the Acts of the Apostles, we really see in that book the beginning of the fulfilment of this wonderful promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're looking at this afternoon. We see as we turn the pages of the Acts of the Apostles that the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ is building his church and the gates of hell did not prevail against him. And as we look at the Acts of the Apostles, we see that sometimes the church is being built very fast, sometimes the focus is on thousands of people who have been saved and added to the church. There's other passages that we can read in the Acts of the Apostles and our attention is just drawn perhaps to the conversion of one person and we just see perhaps one person brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But whether our attention is being drawn to thousands or whether our attention is being drawn just to one or two, nevertheless Christ is building his church as sinners are saved and added to the church. And as we look at church history, we find that there have been times of great awakening and times of revival, times of great blessing and refreshing from the presence of the Lord. And yes, sometimes thousands have been added to the church in a year perhaps, but there may have been other years when perhaps just one or two souls have been added. Some years perhaps we've not seen any conversions. and the work is seen to be slow, we must remember that God is always at work and he is always adding to his church such as shall be saved. He is building his church. There's one or two things that I think we need to remember as we think of the progress involved in Christ building his church. And the first is this, that the Lord must do the building. The Lord must do the building. We have it in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, don't we, that the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. We live in dark days for the cause of Christ in our land at this present time. We don't see many souls coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can be tempted in a time, a day such as this, to turn aside from the word of God to all kinds of gimmicks that we think will attract people into our services. We can do all sorts of things that may encourage people to make very shallow confessions of faith. Some of those people may make a confession of faith, but then fall away. and we wonder whether they were ever saved in the first place. We need to remember in these days that the Lord must add to the church. He must build the church for he is the great builder of it. He must say, salvation is of the Lord. Only he can bring a conviction of sin. Only he can give those gifts of repentance and faith. Only He can change the heart of a man or woman or boy or girl. The Lord must do the work and we must look to Him and our confidence is alone in Him and in His Word and in the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it's through His Word, through the preaching of this glorious Gospel that the Lord is pleased to save souls and add them to the Church. But we need to remember too, and I bring this to you really for your encouragement this afternoon, that the church never loses a member. The church is a building which grows, it never decreases. Now I bring that to your attention for your encouragement because it's something that we can easily overlook or we can easily forget. Because as we look at the situation from the merely human point of view, it doesn't always seem to be the case. We see churches declining. You could perhaps think of many churches this afternoon where the numbers of people who gather is but a fraction of perhaps what it was 10 or 20 or 30 or 50 or 60 years ago. And you can say, well, the church doesn't seem to be growing to me. There's few conversions, as we've already said. We need to remember this. But even death does not mean that the church loses a member. Death only promotes members of the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, from earth to glory. We've been reminded of our dear servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, who ministered here faithfully for many, many years, within the past twelve months has been taken from time into eternity. We've not, in that ultimate sense, lost him as a member of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's only gone on before. No, the church never loses a member. But then you might say to me, what of those who once professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Maybe they were baptised even. Maybe they were even admitted into church membership. But they're not here now. They've gone. They've gone back into the world. You might say to me, well, surely we have lost them. Well there's two things we can say in that case. If they are truly the Lords and they were truly brought to faith and repentance and they are now in a state of being black slidden, we know that the Lord will restore such a one. The Lord will restore such a one. Or it may be that their profession of faith was not real, it was not genuine, they never were Christ's, they never were part of the church in the first place. No, the church never loses a member. The church which Christ builds can only grow, it can only increase the progress that is involved. But then, fourthly, this afternoon, as we turn again to these words, we see the possession that is included here, the possession that is included here. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build my church. My church. He speaks to us here, doesn't he, of the church as being his possession. And we need to remember in these days that the church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a truth that we need to remember because it's something that we can easily forget. We often associate local churches, don't we, with the people that we know who worship in them. I know dear Kevin here quite well this afternoon. I don't know many of the other people who worship here. I know one or two of you, but not many. And because I know Kevin perhaps more than anybody else here, It will be very easy for me to think of Westminster Baptist Church as being Kevin's church. There's some churches, local churches, that I've been associated with for many years for one reason or another and the people who worship in them are very well known to me. And it's very easy to think of those churches as being so-and-so's church because we know the person or the people who worship there so very well. We need to remember that the church doesn't belong to a Mr. So-and-so. The church doesn't even belong to the dear pastor, it belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his possession. He can say, this is my church, and he paid a very great price for the church. He paid a very great price, even the shedding of his own precious blood, in order that he might purchase the church, in order that it might be his own private possession. and for his use, as it were, and for his glory. The Apostle Paul reminded the elders of the Ephesian church in Acts chapter 20 that the church of God had been purchased with his own blood, with the blood of the Son of God. What a high price was paid for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I will build my church I will call by grace those whom I have redeemed by my own precious blood. There is a period known to God when every sheep redeemed by blood shall leave the hateful ways of sin, turn to the fold and enter in. I will build my church. Because the Lord Jesus Christ has paid such a high price for his church, he will care for it, he will cherish it. If you were to have a house built for yourself, that you had paid a very high price for, you would care for it, you would cherish it, because it had cost you very dearly. And the Church costs the Lord Jesus Christ very dear. He will care for it, He will cherish it. And one of the ways in which God cares for and cherishes His Church is by providing for it pastors and elders and teachers to feed. the flock of God. And the Lord has been very gracious to you here to provide for you a dear man of God, wheat by wheat, to feed your souls with the finest of the wheat from the precious Word of God. But even our dear brother has to remember that the church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and it's his great charge and responsibility to feed the flock of God. which has been purchased with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the pastor or the elders are not to lord it over God's heritage. I think it was Matthew Henry made the comment that possibly when Peter wrote those words in 1 Peter chapter 5, he remembered these words of the Lord Jesus Christ, upon this rock will I build my church. The pastor or the elders can't lord it over God's heritage. because the church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's an application of this truth to all of us here this afternoon, if we're the Lord's people, whether or not we're a pastor or an elder. If the church is precious to the Lord Jesus Christ, then it should be very precious to us too. The people who make up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ should be very precious to us. Are God's people precious to you? You know, sometimes in church life, we have to be honest, we come across awkward people, don't we? Sometimes we come across Christians who rub us up the wrong way. Christians who we perhaps don't find it that easy to get on with. But there's something that can help us when we have those awkward people to deal with. We have to remember that they are precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are part of His church. He has redeemed them with his own precious blood. And I think remembering that can help us sometimes in those circumstances that we find difficult and if we are not careful, can so easily lead to disputes and contentions and divisions within the local church. We need to remember also this afternoon, because the church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, that we can't do as we like. We can't conduct our affairs, our witness, our worship as we like, in the way that is pleasing to us. Because the church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it, it's his. He is the head. And all of our church life must be regulated according to his word. Our worship, our witness, and every aspect of the life of the church must be subject to the will of the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we must come constantly to the scriptures, to the word of God, and we must constantly be subject to Christ and to his word. The possession included here, I will build, says Christ, my church. But then fifthly, there are perils implied here. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, surely the Lord Jesus Christ implies there that there will be those who will be opposed to the church, but they cannot prevail. They cannot finally overcome it. But there are perils that the church has to face, and our dear brother has reminded us this afternoon of some of the opposition that the church has to face. What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean by the gates of hell? Well, surely when he speaks of hell, he speaks of the very kingdom of Satan, and the gates surely speaks of the councils, or the plans, or the purposes of the kingdom of Satan. Satan cannot overcome, he cannot prevail against the Church, but he will attack it, he will attack it. That's why, or one of the reasons why we sang that hymn this afternoon, onward Christian soldiers marching us to war, to remind ourselves that we are constantly involved in a warfare, because we have a very active enemy. Our enemy cannot prevail against us, but he will try to attack us. Again referring to the book of Acts, yes we see Christ building his church, we see the work going on sometimes in most wonderful and most remarkable ways. You read carefully the pages of the Acts of the Apostles and you will see in all kinds of different ways Satan is at work behind the scenes to try to disrupt the furtherance of the Gospel. to try and stop people hearing the gospel and being saved. It may be in the form of persecution. He may try and shut them out, the preachers of the gospel. There was one occasion, or two occasions at least, I think, when they tried to kill the Apostle Paul, God's chosen vessel to bring the gospel before so many. Yes, the devil will try to attack the church. In so many ways, there are many perils implied for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan will use many different tactics today to attack the church, the church in general, and even this local church here in Westminster. I know we don't face open persecution as such today, but it may not be long before that is our lot. in this land, it does seem to me that it's getting harder to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been reminded, I think even this afternoon, over the past 200 years, of various errors that the Church has had to contend with, and Satan will try to bring in error and false doctrine. Sometimes he will try to hinder the work just by our own apathy. We've been reminded this afternoon of the materialism that abounds and the worldliness that abounds on every hand. Sometimes he will try to divide the people of God. Sometimes he will try to discourage us so that we have no desire to go on preaching the Gospel. We need to beware of his devices. we can be encouraged this afternoon that we are on the victory side. The work of Christ will go on. It must go on until this building is complete. For Christ says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But sixthly, I will bring to your attention this afternoon the perfection that is in sight, the completed building. One day, this building, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, will be complete, it will be finished, it will be entire. We live in a world where there is much change. We live in a world, don't we, where not many things remain constant. But there is one thing that will remain in this world until the day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and takes his people home to glory. And that one thing is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ will always have a church. He will always have a people. There may be times when the true church will be but a remnant, but a handful. But God will have a church nevertheless. Could we not sing in that hymn earlier this afternoon, crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus, constant, will remain. Until the day when Jesus comes, he will have a church, he will have a people that have remained faithful to him and to this glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that you preach here. And doesn't the very preservation of the Church, even down to this present day, bear testimony to the fact that it must be of God. It must be of God. If the Church of Jesus Christ wasn't of God, it would have come to nothing centuries ago. Surely if this work here was not of God, it would have come to nothing years ago. But all I believe is of God, and the work has continued down to the present day. and we trust the work here will continue until the day when Christ comes again. And one day the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be complete, that last lively stone will be in place, that last elect one will be called by grace and the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. But he has said, has he not, that all that the Father giveth me shall come to me? He has said, that of all that the Father hath given me I will lose none, but will raise them up at the last day. Isaac watches in one of his hymns, then all the chosen seed shall meet around the throne, shall bless the conduct of his grace, and make his glories known. Yet all of his people will be brought safely home to glory, not one lost, not one missing, he says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against him. That effectual calling of all those for whom Christ died will be a lex of God. You know, sometimes the accusation is made that those of us who believe these things are hindered in our evangelism by believing such things. But I don't believe this is a hindrance to our evangelism. I believe it is a great help. It spurs us on because we know that Christ will build his church. We know that he has a people that he will send. And surely the very fact that time continues and that the Lord Jesus Christ hasn't yet come is an indication that there are yet those that he will save and draw to himself. So knowing these truths, we go on preaching that glorious gospel, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord, because Christ will build his church. When the church is complete, it will be presented glorious and spotless, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Or we feel so often, don't we, that we're so far from being glorious. We feel that we are so often defiled by sin in and of ourselves. When the church is complete, it will be glorious. Well the seventh thing that I'd like to bring to your attention this afternoon is just three things by way of application as we draw this anniversary service to a close. Three things, three questions that I would like to ask you this afternoon. And the first question is this, and it's surely a very important question, is are you a member of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't say are you a member of this church in particular, although that is an important thing that you should be a church member if you are in this locality and this is the place where you worship. But I'm not concerned with that primarily at this point. I'm concerned with this. Are you part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been saved and added to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you one of those living stones? If not, you need this afternoon to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to seek him with all your heart and with all your soul and we are told if we do that we shall find him. You need to turn to him in repentance and faith. You need to cast yourself upon his mercy to sinners in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you taking an active part in the building up of the local church? You might say to me, well you've been telling us this afternoon that Christ has said, I will build my church. Yes, he did say that and he is the great builder of the church. But we also find, as we look into the scriptures, as we look into the word of God, that God uses his people. for the furtherance of the Gospel. How was it that the work went forward in the days of the Acts of the Apostles? Yes, it was God's work, it was Christ's work, he was building his Church, but he used his people, he used the Apostles to preach the Gospel, he used his people to be his witnesses wherever they went. And if we are part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, this afternoon, we have a part to play, for we are labourers together with Him. If there's some service that you can take up for Him, even in the local church here, something for the Lord Jesus Christ, the least that we do for Him will be precious in His sight. We need to play our part in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever the doors are open, if we can, We need to be here to worship. We need to participate in the witness of the Church. And we need to have that fellowship with one another, with those of like minds. And we are reminded too that all we do is to be to the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great builder of the Church. I would say to you here that you are very favoured to have a place where you can come where the Word of God is loved and honoured and faithfully preached. If you have a place to go to where that is the case, it's no small thing in these days in which we live. And if there is a faithful ministry here or wherever you may live, then surely you should be there to support that faithful ministry in whatever way you possibly can. But the final question I would leave with you this afternoon is this. Are you encouraged and expectant? As I said at the beginning, we can so easily lose that note of expectation in our church life. We do live in a day of small things and we can become discouraged and we can not really expect much to happen. We have a great God. We have a great Saviour who has said, I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against him. Very often in church history God has broken in when the days have been very dark, when people have almost thought that all is lost, the cause of Christ is lost. Then he has arisen and had mercy upon his people. I pray that in these dark days God will yet break in, God will yet arise and have mercy upon his people. He will yet build His Church. He will grant to us days yet again a great blessing when we shall see both here and wherever the Word of God is loved and faithfully preached, great numbers of people coming to know the Saviour, being saved and added to the Church. And whether or not that is the case, of course, we must be faithful and we must seek to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. we can rest in this wonderful promise this afternoon. For after all is said and done, this is God's work. The church belongs to Him and He will build it. He will do it in His way and in His time. And may all the praise and all the glory and all the honour be to Him. He has said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against Him. May it be so, for his name's sake, even in this place and elsewhere, in every church represented here, up and down our land and indeed throughout the world, where God's people are faithful to him. May it be so, for his name's sake. Amen.