The Church and Infant Baptism, Part 4

Prayer and Introduction to the Sermon Series

0:00 This adult Sunday school class was held on February 5, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let's once again pray for the blessing of God as we study his holy word together.

0:21 Our Father, we pray that as we come to study the scriptures again this morning, that we may know your graciousness, that we may know your nearness, that we may know your blessing. We pray, our God, that as we enter into areas of polemics, that our spirits may be kept in that frame of mind which would honor you, that there may be fairness, honesty in dealing with positions that differ from our own, and that there may be accuracy and honesty in dealing with your holy word. We pray that you would grant us grace, that with a charitable spirit and a love to trust in your holy word,

1:02 that we may pursue these studies this morning for your honor and glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we're in the midst of taking up the fourth major unit of thought or topic that relates to the whole discussion or issue of baptism and who ought to be the proper subjects of the ordinance of baptism, with special reference to the long-standing error of infant baptism, which has long plagued the Church of Jesus Christ.

Recap: Church Membership and the Unregenerate

1:40 And what I have done in attempting to organize this material under this heading is to make the assertion that infant inclusion in the Church of Jesus Christ is incompatible with the biblical description of three major things. And firstly, it's incompatible with the biblical description of church growth. Secondly, incompatible with the biblical description of church growth. Thirdly, incompatible with the biblical description of church membership.

2:07 And thirdly, incompatible with the biblical description of church experience. Now we're in the midst of considering this morning the second Roman numeral, that infant inclusion in the Church of Christ is incompatible with the biblical description of church membership. And after going through the biblical data two weeks ago, looking at the biblical description, and looking at the biblical description of church members, as those who have been saved, as disciples, those who have believed, they're called brethren, those that call on his name, those of the way, those that turn to the Lord, Christians, we saw that their distinguishing trait is in every instance recorded

2:52 that they have experienced the application of redemption. And then we began to look last week at some of the objections which would be or could be raised to the approach, that has been taken to this matter. We saw, first of all, that people could object to drawing inferences from statements in the Word of God, and I attempted to deal with those. And then secondly, we saw that it has been commonly objected to this whole line of reasoning, that the Bible teaches that there can be unregenerate people in the Church of Christ.

3:27 And I attempted to deal with that as we closed yesterday, that Hodge and Bannerman and others of the great lights of the Paedo-Baptists, Camp, have made a distinction between the visible and invisible Church and have attempted to use this distinction to justify the presence of the unconverted, the presence of the unregenerate, in the Church of Jesus Christ. We saw that there were various routes that could be used to attempt to get around the problem and that this one is commonly employed. Now before I go on this morning and come to the third basic objection that is raised to, ah,

Addressing Questions: The Church De Facto vs. De Jure

4:06 what has been taught. I would like to throw the matter open for questions because we were just at the end of our time last week, and I know that often questions arise about this matter of the unregenerate in the Church of Christ, about this tension that I put up on the board about the Church de facto and the Church du jour. And if there are any questions about that matter, I'll leave opportunity for you to ask them now. And if there are none, then I'll simply go on with what I

4:46 plan to bring to you this morning. So is anyone unclear about the matters that we looked at last week concerning the so-called presence of unregenerate people in the Church of Christ? Yes, Jim. If, as I was saying, there are people that are unregenerate in the presence of the Church of Christ, the question is are they really members of the Church of Christ? Okay. Are they really members of the Church of Christ?

5:26 Well, the answer to that question would be yes and no. And I don't know how you can answer that question without making this distinction. In fact, yes, they are. In right or in propriety, no. Yes,

5:53 they are members of the Church, and no, they ought not to be, and they have no right to be members of the Church. So that would be the way that I would answer that question. Yes and no. See, that's it.

6:09 The distinction is whether the Church consists of only true believers or whether it consists of true believers plus hypocrites, etc. And what I said is, well, the question is twofold. First of all, what ought the Church to be? And the Church ought to consist of none but true believers, people who are truly saved. But what may the Church in fact be? Well, it can include true

6:39 believers, and sometimes hypocrites get in there, and in paedo-baptist churches, infants get in there. But the infants don't belong in there any more than the hypocrites belong in there. But you can't deny the reality that they're there. The only other approach then is to say that the paedo-baptist Church is not a true Church, and there are people that take that approach as well, and we need to avoid that. That's not right either. It's not right to say that the only true churches are

7:07 Baptist churches. No, that's...

Indwelling Sin and the Corporate Church

7:11 We laugh, but landmarkism is just as real a danger and an error as paedo-baptism with regard to this issue. It's a very real danger, and we must beware of going to that opposite extreme. And though the terminology may appear a little strange to you, whatever terminology you want to use to describe this, this is the terminology I picked up. But this distinction is vital to thinking your way through this whole matter. There's what you could call an ethical or a moral problem.

7:46 And by the way... This ethical or moral problem exists on two levels. First of all, it exists on an individual level, and then on a

7:54 corporate level. It exists on an individual level. As long as we remain in this age, as long as we remain in this world, we are not yet what we ought to be. In one sense, we are what we ought to be. A definitive, ethical, moral

8:16 renewal and change has taken place. A once-for-all change. And so that catchphrase at the conclusion of the sponge earlier was unanimous duty, which we just don't want to be, or whose daily care. And yet in one sense, we are what we ought to be. And yet in another sense,

8:23 we are not yet what we ought to be. There's still sin, which indwells every one of us individually and which will continue to indwell us as long as we live in this life, in this age. Sin will be present in our hearts. And we have a similar problem that's found on the individual level, the same tension of indwelling sin that's found in us individuals. This tension is found on the corporate level,

8:50 and it fuels propulsion. That's the answer here, that's why we call this dressed-up turbo- bounced out, sizi-a- It touches, or it can touch, every aspect of our corporate life as a church. It can touch discipline, it can touch worship, evangelism and membership, benevolence, oversight, every aspect of the church. All of its tasks and its very membership can be effected corporately by the reality of indwelling sin.

9:27 And even as we are affected or infected individually by indwelling sin, so also corporately the church on earth is infected by indwelling sin. You don't need to read too far in the epistles before you come away with the conviction that that is true.

9:49 And yet, the church is in one sense described in the epistles as being what it ought to be, and yet Jesus says, I have this against you. You did this, this, and this, well done, but I have this against you. You did this, very good, but this I have against you. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.

10:09 So remaining sin is found, and it touches upon the exercise of church discipline, 1 Corinthians 5. It touches upon the exercise of worship, 1 Corinthians 14. The matters of evangelism, many passages in the scripture. The matter of church membership, that's what we're talking about now.

10:26 The exercise of benevolence, 2 Corinthians 8. And 9, the exercise of government, 3 John 9 and 10. There's diatrophies throwing people out of the church. Now, if the church only consisted of true believers, how did diatrophies throw those people out of the church?

10:44 That would be impossible. If we entertain the idealistic definition of the church, which divorces the church from the real community that exists on earth, how in the world did diatrophies throw those people out of the church? You can't throw anybody out of the invisible. You can't throw anybody out of the invisible.

11:01 You can't throw anybody out of the church. How did he do that? Well, John's speaking very realistically about the real church with its blots, blemishes, warts, unconverted leaders named diatrophies, who was a wicked man who loved to have preeminence among the brethren and who threw true Christians out of the church. Now, it's not that that's impossible.

11:27 That's very possible. That really happened, and it still happens sometimes, doesn't it?

11:33 And the reason it happened... The reason it happens is because the church is not always, in fact, what it ought to be.

11:40 Now, that man had no right to throw those godly people out of the church, but he did it.

11:47 And when people do things that they don't have a right to do, that's called sin. That's a moral or ethical problem. And that happens with regard to the church as well. You must not think that the church is exempt or free from sin.

12:00 It isn't. Not in this life. Not in this age. Not in this age.

12:04 And it won't be free from sin until Jesus Christ comes again, and sin touches every aspect of the life of the church, including its membership. And that's what we're dealing with, and that's the problem.

Transition to the 'Ekklesia' Argument

12:17 Now, other... Does that help to answer the thing, Jim, and put it in perspective?

12:21 Good. Other questions relative to this, because I know this always comes up in the academy. That's why I stopped to discuss it. We normally take at least an hour or so to go over this in the academy, and just to try to drive it in, because it seems to take a while for some reason or other.

12:37 So other questions about this matter, or other points you feel need to be clarified on this issue, because it's a really very important issue.

12:47 Okay? Is it clear to you?

12:51 Then we can move on.

The Usage of 'Ekklesia' in Acts 7 and Acts 19

13:07 Then the next objection, if you may put it that way, or argument that's used and that I wish to address this morning, is the matter of the usage of the word ekklesia, to describe the congregation of Israel. Turn with me, please, to Acts chapter 7.

13:50 And it's speaking about Moses.

13:55 And it says in verse 36, This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall come. God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the living oracles to give to us,

14:39 to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him back from them, and turned back, and their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods, etc. And then he goes on to describe what they did.

14:56 And when he says that he was in the church in the wilderness,

15:05 the word ekklesia, the same word that's used for the church of Jesus Christ, is used here in Acts 7.38, and here it describes the congregation of Israel. Now the argument presupposes, and it proceeds as follows from the usage of ekklesia. They say that this text demonstrates that the church in the Old Testament is the same as the church in the New Testament, because the word church is used to describe the congregation of Israel.

15:42 Now, a couple of things, and then of course they reason from that, that since infants were included in Israel in the Old, therefore infants are still included, unless you can find some passage which explicitly says, infants are no longer included. That's the argument. Now, there are some things which basically are weaknesses of this argument, and yet there's a certain element of truth in it. Now the element of truth is this, that the text emphasizes that there is some continuity.

16:17 If the same word is used, there's generally some kind of continuity implied, because that's why the word is used. So the text, it indicates that there's some real element of continuity between a group of people in the Old Testament and the group of people identified as the church of Jesus Christ. That much the text clearly tells us. But does the text tell us much more than that?

16:44 Well, that's very, very questionable, because if you turn over to Acts chapter 19, something becomes patent with respect to the usage of this word ekklesia. Acts chapter 19, beginning in verse 30.

17:17 And when Paul was minded to enter into the people, the disciples did not suffer him. And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was in concert, confusion, and the more part did not know why they were come together. Now the word there that's translated assembly is the very same Greek word ekklesia, or church.

17:54 And you could just as well translate it for the church was in confusion. And again, it's used at the end of the passage, verse 39, but if you seek anything in the other, matters it shall be settled in the regular assembly. Ekklesia is used again. For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause for it.

18:26 And as touching it, we shall not be able to give account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the church. He dismissed the...

18:40 The assembly. Now, the 1901 American Standard from which I am reading does not use the word church there. It uses the word assembly. And certainly it's right to say that there's an element of continuity between this group that met at Ephesus and the church of Jesus Christ because the word ekklesia is used to describe both groups.

19:09 Now you would be very encouraged, hard-pressed to try to prove who ought to be the members of the church of Jesus Christ from a passage like this because just the fact that the word church is used in the passage does not mean that you have warrant to come to this passage and to use a passage like that as the basis for describing who ought to be the members of the church of Jesus Christ. It does not necessarily follow at all. You see the point?

19:40 So what the text really tells us, is that the word ekklesia, the word translated church, has a special usage in the scripture and it has a general or what's commonly called a non-technical use in the scripture. In a very special sense, in its predominant use in the New Testament, it refers to the church or the assembly of Jesus, Jesus Christ. Other passages, at least there's only one other passage

20:23 and this is the only other passage where it has any general use. It's used over 110 times in the New Testament and I think it's a hundred and I don't know, don't quote me on this, I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head but it's overwhelming and it doesn't really matter. There's only three places where it's used in a general sense and I think there's either 109 or 110 or maybe four or five but there's 109 or 110 places where it's used this way and only two or three where it's used the way that it's used in Acts 19 and Acts 19 is really the only passage. So that the overwhelming weight is for the technical use and not the non-technical or general use.

21:06 It's used for any group. In this case, it probably consisted of the citizens of Ephesus who were a group of men who gathered together at times, to discuss the problems at Ephesus. Sometimes they were called lawfully and sometimes unlawfully, sometimes purposefully, and sometimes they didn't know what they were gathered for, as in this instance, there was the makings of a riot. The men of Ephesus came together.

21:37 They didn't know why they were there, and they were there stirring up trouble. And that gathering was called a church.

21:45 But it didn't have any peculiar technical sense or relation to the church of Christ. It was just a group assembled, a group probably consisting of the citizens of Ephesus. So from just the fact that the word is used, it doesn't really prove anything. However, there's more to be said than that.

The Hebrew 'Kahal' and its Technical/General Senses

22:08 And there is obviously no necessary continuity between this group at Ephesus and the church of Jesus Christ. However, there is a greater degree, and there is. There is some profound continuity between the congregation in the wilderness and the church of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, you find a very similar situation with respect to the usage of the word ecclesia.

22:44 Now, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is commonly referred to, called the Septuagint or the LXX, the name LXX, comes from the fact that it's a Roman numeral for 70, comes from the quote, I shouldn't say the fact, I should say the legend, that there were 70 men who translated this Septuagint version. And what they did is they translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. And when they did that, there were certain places that they used the word ecclesia. And as a matter of fact, there was only one Hebrew word which they ever translated, ecclesia, throughout the entire translation.

23:26 And that was the Hebrew word kahal and its various cognate forms. So when it's speaking about when the word ecclesia is used to refer back to the Old Testament, it translates this word kahal. Now, it's very interesting that just like the word ecclesia in the New Testament, so also the word kahal in the Old Testament has a technical sense and a general sense. And in its technical sense, it refers to a group of people called the assembly of Jehovah.

24:08 And in its non-technical sense, like ecclesia can refer to the group at Ephesus, so it can refer also to other groups of people without any necessary religious connection. So the point is this. It is true that this word kahal refers to a group of people defined as the assembly of Jehovah and the word ecclesia is the word jehovah. It is used.

24:34 Now the question is this. Is there continuity between the assembly of Jehovah and the church of Jesus Christ? Yes, there is. But the question is what is that continuity and how has the assembly of Jehovah developed into the church of Jesus Christ and when it's used in its special technical sense to what does the assembly of Jehovah refer?

Defining the 'Assembly of Jehovah' in the Old Testament

24:59 So we can get into the whole matter of studying the assembly of Jehovah, and what does the assembly of Jehovah refer to? As it's used in the Old Testament, if we wish. And I submit to you that if we do study the assembly of Jehovah, that the material is very enlightening and very interesting. And though I do not intend to lay out before you all of the data this morning, I think that would not suit our purpose because I want to finish this stuff this morning.

25:26 I'm thinking of my promise that I made that I will try to get through this material in two months. Unfortunately, unfortunately, the men in the Academy have no such promise. And the material on the assembly of Jehovah will be given to them, I'm sure, in some detail. But just to give you an overview of this material, and just to tell you what the three basic lines are, the assembly of Jehovah is found in three centers in the life of the people of God in the Old Testament.

26:00 First of all, it does refer to the wilderness period. Secondly, it's used in the time of David, in the time of David and Solomon. And thirdly, in the time of the return from captivity. And these are the three basic centers of usage with regard to this terminology.

26:30 It's also very interesting that in the New Testament, you have references to the assembly of Jehovah. You have a reference in Hebrews chapter 2. It says, in the midst of the assembly, I will sing thy praise. The word ekklesia is found.

26:46 This comes from the time of David in the Psalms. And then you find the reference in the book of Acts, which refers to the assembly or the kahal of Jehovah, which was found in the wilderness using the word ekklesia. Now, the question is this. Who constituted the assembly of Jehovah?

27:05 Who made up the assembly of Jehovah? What were they made to do? What was their purpose, their identity, etc.?

27:14 Did the assembly of Jehovah in this technical sense refer to the entire group or nation of Israel? Well, I assert to you that it did not. It did not consist of the entire nation of Israel. The assembly of Jehovah was numbered, and the assembly of Jehovah did not consist of the entire nation, but those who were numbered out of the nation.

27:41 It was numbered twice. And it's interesting that it was numbered in the wilderness, it was numbered at the time of David and Solomon, and it was numbered again after their return from captivity. And the functions of the assembly of Jehovah were twofold. The assembly of Jehovah was gathered for the purpose of worshiping God, and the assembly of Jehovah was gathered for the purpose of fighting the battles of God.

Exegesis of Numbers: Who Constituted the Assembly?

28:05 And those were the two purposes for which the assembly of Jehovah was gathered. Now, certainly, there is continuity between this number, the assembly of Jehovah, and also the church of Jesus Christ, because the assembly of Jehovah happened to be gathered at the very day of Pentecost in Israel, because it was gathered three times out of the year. The assembly of Jehovah gathered to worship the Lord at the set feast, and it happened to be gathered at the day of Pentecost, and from that assembly many were saved and entered into the assembly of Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost. Now, the question is then,

28:48 what is the assembly of Jehovah? Well, I'm just going to center on this text for the sake of time, and we'll see how far we can go in finishing this matter up this morning. All right, let's look at some of the passages where the word is used in the book of Numbers. It's used in Numbers chapter 10.

29:07 He was with the assembly, or the congregation, in the wilderness. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Make two trumpets of silver of beaten work you shall make them, and you shall use them for the calling of the congregation. Now, it's translated two ways, assembly and congregation. It's the same Hebrew word for the calling of the congregation and for the journeying of the camps.

29:49 And when they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves unto you at the door of the tent of meeting. All right? Verse 7, And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. So the entire congregation was to be gathered together at the tent of meeting.

30:14 And then also verse 9. Oh, it's not used in verse 9. I must have written down the wrong verse. Well, all right.

30:33 There's enough of them that we don't need to worry about that. So it's not used in verse 9. I have verse 9 written down here, 10-9, not used in 10-9. All right.

30:42 Now, again, that this assembly, whoever's being spoken about here, is defined in Numbers chapter 1 and following. Numbers chapter 1. And Jehovah spoke, verse 1, unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. Jehovah spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month and the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt.

31:24 Take the sum of all the ecclesia, of all the congregation, of the kahal, in the Hebrew, of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male by their poles from 20 years old and upward, that are able to go forth to war in Israel, and you and Aaron, and Aaron shall number them by their hosts. Who were numbered? First of all, it was only the males. Secondly, it was only the males 20 years old and upward.

32:07 And I submit to you that this text indicates that the entire congregation, the entire assembly of Israel, is to be numbered. Take the sum of all the assembly, all of those who constitute the assembly, are to be numbered. Who was to be numbered? The males 20 years old and upward.

32:33 That this assembly of Jehovah constituted a very special or select group of people, in the technical sense of the word, within the nation of Israel. It constituted all of the adult males. The males who were 20 years old and upward. It did not include the infants.

32:58 It did not include the women. It did not include the little children. Yes, they were all part of the nation of Israel. No argument.

33:05 But when it comes to numbering the assembly of Jehovah, when it comes to taking the sum of the entire congregation of Jehovah, those who are numbered are only the adult males. None other than these. None other than these. And then, throughout the entire first chapter, in Numbers 118, Numbers 120, Numbers 122, Numbers 124, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, it's mentioned again and again and again and again.

33:41 And I'm not going to read all those passages. Just mentioning them was enough. And the summary statement is made in verse 45. So all those that were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers' houses from 20 years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, even all that were numbered were 600,000 and 3,550.

34:15 So that the congregation or assembly, the ones who were able to go forth to war, these were the ones who were numbered. This was the camp of Israel, which was to march. Now, in Numbers chapter 11 and verse 1, when these words are used, this is the group to whom these words refer. Numbers chapter 11, verse 1 and following.

34:46 And the people were murmurers. And the people were murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of Jehovah. And when Jehovah heard it, his anger was kindled. And the fire of Jehovah burnt among them and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp.

35:05 And this group of people that were murmurers, this group of people who are being spoken of, consists of the assembly of Jehovah. In Numbers chapter 14, we find the same thing. Numbers 14 and verse 1. And all the congregation, all the assembly, lifted up their voice and cried.

35:40 And the people wept. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in Egypt! Now, who's speaking these things?

35:56 The whole congregation, the whole assembly. These are the ones who are murmurers. Notice verse 3. And wherefore does Jehovah bring us into this land to fall by the sword?

36:09 Our wives and our little ones will be a prey. Were it not better for us to return to Egypt. Those who constituted the congregation spoke of their wives and their little ones. Their wives and their little ones.

36:29 This is the congregation. This is the assembly speaking. This is the voice of the men of war. This is the voice of those who were numbered.

36:38 Those who had wives and little ones. This is the voice of the adult males of Israel. These are the ones who were so speaking. Now, verse 20.

36:54 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word, but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah, because all those men that have seen my glory and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swear to their fathers, neither shall any of them that despise me see it.

37:33 None of them are going to enter into that land. And now, in 1427, 28, and all the way down through 30, he speaks again of the identity of those who were judged in the wilderness, the wilderness generation. Of whom did it consist? The entire congregation, of whom did it consist?

38:04 Now, here you're going to find out, verse 26, And Jehovah spake to Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil assembly, with this evil congregation, with this evil church, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me. Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. Your dead body shall fall in the wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number

38:46 from twenty years old and upward that have murmured against me, surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swear that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Joshua. But, your little ones, the little ones, that you set should be a prey. Them will I bring, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead body shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall be wanderers

39:28 in the wilderness forty years. Now, when it speaks, in Acts chapter 7, of the assembly in the wilderness, of whom is it speaking? Well, I submit to you from the exegesis of these texts, from reading the usage of the word, and I've tried to be selective. I've hoped that I've been able to bring out the sense of the ideas that are found here, because it's used so extensively that I had to be very selective.

39:58 It's used in Numbers 16, verses 3 and 4, the same thing. Numbers 16, 21, 24, 26, 16, 41, 19, 20, Numbers 22 and 4 and 6 and 10, and in all of these contexts, if you go through and study the use of the word, it's clear that it's referring to a very special group in the nation of Israel. The assembly of Jehovah consists of all of the adult males. It consists of those males that are 20 years old and upward.

40:34 They are the ones that were numbered. They are the ones that constituted the assembly in the wilderness. They are the ones that were judged. They are the ones that died in the wilderness.

40:44 They spoke of their wives. They spoke of their little ones. It consists of the adult men. And I submit to you that this group of Israel was recognized as a distinct group within the nation even prior to the time that they were numbered.

41:08 That this group existed right from the very beginning at Mount Sinai is a very interesting statement. In Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 35, verses 39 and 40, Deuteronomy 2, 14, 15, and 16, the assembly of God is spoken of again. And there you find a distinction made again between the congregation and their little ones. But the point that I wish to make is that he's reflecting upon the day of assembly in the book of Deuteronomy.

41:47 He speaks of the day of the assembly. And what was the day of the assembly when the assembly was gathered? Now, I'm not going to read these things for the time's sake. But in those passages that I've quoted, the emphasis is upon the day of assembly.

Exodus 19 and the Sanctification of the Assembly

42:01 And it's referring back to the events that occurred on Mount Sinai. Now, it's very interesting that in that day of assembly there was once again this very special group of people, the very same group that was assembled. And there's just one little hint of it, but it's still a hint. Exodus chapter 19 and verse 15.

42:30 And here you have the sanctifying of the people, the sanctifying of the congregation in the day of assembly to meet with God at Mount Sinai. All right? And Moses went down from the mount unto the people and sanctified the people and washed their garments. And he said to the people, be ready against the third day.

42:57 Do not come near a woman. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, do not come near a woman. Do not come near a woman.

43:14 Who was he sanctifying? When it's speaking about the people, to whom does it refer? It refers to the same group of people that were later numbered. It refers to the adult males of Israel.

43:26 That's why it says, do not come near a woman. The men were being sanctified. They were being set apart for their peculiar role of meeting with God. And in preparation for this role, he says, don't come near a woman.

43:45 Now, that may be a subtle little statement, but that statement indicates the identity of the group of people involved. And from these two focal points, the meeting on Mount Sinai and the numbering at Mount Sinai, later on, before they took their journey, you find the two great functions of the assembly of Jehovah revealed. The first assembly, the first function of the assembly of Jehovah is that it is the assembly of Jehovah, that meets with God, that meets with God for worship. That's why three times a year

44:27 shall all thy males appear before me. Three times a year shall all thy males appear before me. They come to that place. God said he would appoint the place.

44:41 What place did he appoint? Jerusalem. Where? The temple.

44:46 That's where he was. And three times a year, the time of the Passover, the time of Pentecost, the time of Tabernacles, three times a year, all of the adult males were responsible to leave their homes and to come and to appear before God. And the entire group, the very group that was numbered, that entire group was to meet for worship. And there were other times when that entire group needed to be called together to war.

45:12 We needed to be called together for some other special purpose. And I submit to you, that the very same thing, the numbering which took place at the initial formation of the nation in the wilderness, that very same numbering occurred when they returned from captivity. And you have the record of that numbering in Ezra chapter 2 and you have it also recorded in Nehemiah. And you have the assembly when it's used in a technical sense consisting of this group of people, the adult males of the nation of Israel.

Restrictions and Continuity: Old Testament Assembly to New Testament Church

45:44 And there were certain people who were not to enter into the assembly of Jehovah, the assembly of Jehovah. A eunuch was not to enter into the assembly. And an Egyptian, he was allowed, and an Edomite, he could enter in after the third generation. But a Moabite, an Ammonite, he could not enter to the tenth generation in the assembly of Jehovah.

46:05 And you find those things in Deuteronomy chapter 23 where there are restrictions placed upon the assembly. So I submit to you that when we are told that the assembly of Jehovah is that the word ekklesia is used to describe something in the Old Testament, that it is superficial to take a text like Acts chapter 7 and then to conclude from that that it's warranted because of the continuity between in the Old and New Testament to include infants in the church of Jesus Christ. Infants were not even included in the assembly of Jehovah in the Old Testament let alone in the New. And it was the assembly of Jehovah

46:49 which had two special functions laid upon it, the conduct of worship and the conduct of war. War and worship were the peculiar functions of the assembly. And isn't it very interesting that in the very first passage in the New Testament in which the word ekklesia is used of the church of Jesus Christ, it's pictured in terms of one of these functions. Matthew chapter 16.

47:20 Also I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What's the assembly doing in that passage? It's warring, isn't it? It's besieging the enemies of God.

47:42 It's besieging the city of hell. And it's saying that hell's gates will not be able to prevail against the assembly of Jesus Christ. The enemies of God shall not be able to prevail before God's army, before God's host, before God's assembly. And that assembly is none other than the assembly of Jesus Christ.

48:07 So there is real continuity between the assembly of Jehovah in the Old Testament and the church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And to that assembly to that army and worshipping body of the Lord has been added those women who believe the gospel from the nation of Israel and has been added all of the men and the women who believe from among the Gentiles. And certain of those other restrictions which once were there, restrictions due to race, restrictions due to being a eunuch, those things evidently have been removed. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized and men from every nation race and tribe

48:50 have been included now in the assembly of Jehovah which has become the church of Jesus Christ. No longer is it fighting any earthly enemies with swords. It is now fighting against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. So that that's our identity.

49:12 And those things are the things which are rooted in the use of that word in the Old Testament. The use of the word ekklesia to translate kahal. It should tell us something about the very heart of our functions as a church. Now the glory of the church or the assembly of Jesus Christ is that rather than simply gathering in the temple for worship, we are the temple.

49:36 Not only that that assembly met in the temple, we both are assembly and temple. So that the idea of assembly does not exhaust the nature of the church or the function of the church. We are both the assembly and the temple. What a glorious identity.

Pastoral Application: The Church's Functions of War and Worship

49:53 But it should tell us that as a group that our great functions are first of all to fight the Lord's enemies and secondly to conduct the Lord's worship. And without getting into polemics we can learn those things from the use of the term, can't we? That those things ought to be the things which as the assembly of Jehovah now become the church of Jesus Christ. The assembly of Jesus Christ that these ought to be the things that are greatly upon our hearts.

50:23 That it is our great privilege, it is our function, our God-given task to be that group of people on earth who fight the battles of the Lord against the enemies of the Lord and to conduct the worship of the Lord. And may the Lord give us grace to give ourselves as one of those tasks that's about to come upon us of conducting the worship of God. May God give us grace as we gather to know the joy and the solemnity of meeting with God, of being gathered before him on his day that we might bring to him that worship which it is our privilege and our peculiar function to bring as the assembly of Jesus Christ. Now let's pray.

51:05 Our Father as we come into your presence this morning we bless you for the great privilege that is ours as the assembly of your beloved Son to conduct the worship of the living God. And we pray oh God that as your people gather as the various assemblies of your people gather throughout the face of the earth today to conduct the worship of the living God Lord that you would be pleased to meet with us that you would be pleased to give us hearts full of love and gratitude that not in some typical form

51:49 that shadowed the real thing but that a great shout may go up from over all the earth today of praise and blessing and glory to you from people whose hearts love you and who have been made glad through your work. We pray Lord that as we come to take part in that worship that a shout of joy and adoration may go up from this place that you would receive in the next hour acceptable and true worship for we ask it through Jesus Christ your beloved Son. Amen.