Applications: Church Life

Introduction: Thanks, Prayer Requests, and Sermon Context

0:00 There are several things that I have reflected upon, and I do want to say them on this occasion. First of all, to express my thanks again publicly to your elders for extending to me the privilege of coming and ministering in your midst in this particular conference. Second of all, to express my thanks again publicly to your elders for extending to me the privilege of coming and ministering in your midst in this particular conference. I'm thankful for the many, many expressions that different ones of you have given of how you have been helped by various individual and series of sermons that you've heard on those little mechanical preachers.

1:05 And most of you have never met me, and it's been such a delight to meet you and have you express how God has used his word. And it has done two things. It has increased my confidence in the Lord's promise. So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth.

1:26 It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I have sent it and prosper in the thing whereunto I have sent it. And that confidence has been deepened, and also it has caused me to be stirred up afresh, to be faithful and diligent in the language of 2 Timothy 2.15, the text, I sought to press on the consciences of the preachers the other day to continue to do my utmost to show myself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth. And then the second thing I want to say after expressing those words of thanks is to entreat you to pray for me personally, that I may grow in grace. And in likeness to Christ, and that I may grow in diligence in the application of myself to the work of the ministry. Another text we looked at in the minister's conference on Friday, Paul said to Timothy, give yourself wholly to these things that your progress may be manifested unto all. And there are several men, in addition to my own fellow elders, who love me enough to be honest with me,

2:52 and I periodically ask them if they see me improving in my preaching. I don't want to coast. I don't want to simply sit back and say I've paid my dues, I've been at it 40 years now, it's time to inwardly retire. I've asked God to kill me if I ever came to that place.

3:14 So if you wonder what you should pray for Pastor Martin, pray that I will grow in likeness to Christ, that I will grow in usefulness and in the diligence of stirring up whatever gifts God has given to minister His word, and then pray, if you will, for our assembly, that God will help us to be true to the stewardship of the many responsibilities that God has thrust upon us, and He has thrust many from the training of men for the ministry, the overseeing of the planting of churches at home and abroad, and we are thankful that these are ministries God has thrust upon us. We never originally planned them, and my comfort when at times I wonder how we'll ever do all that we must do is to say, Lord, this is Your doing, and You have only made Yourself indebted to Your grace, not to our paltry strength. So may Your grace prove sufficient for us. Now then, let us pray once again and ask God to bless us. As He has in our previous sessions, and grant us to know the word coming not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance.

4:32 Let us pray.

4:36 Our Father, we thank You for these blessed few days we have been privileged to spend together with one another in Your special presence, vouchsafed to Your gathered people. For surely we have known that as we...

4:54 we have met, You have been among us. We thank You that we have known the refreshment, the conviction, the enlightenment, the comfort of the Word of God. And we pray that in this, our final session, You would help us to gird up the loins of our minds. You know our frame. You remember that we are dust.

5:16 And we pray that looking upon us in pity, You will strengthen us, that we may be able with mental and spiritual... spiritual alertness to grasp that which the Spirit would say to us through the Word.

5:30 And, O Lord, we pray for those that are yet wedded to their sins, who see no loveliness in Christ, for whom the world is the only thing in which they see any beauty. And to the world they have given their heart, and their affections, and their energies, and their allegiance. O God, tonight, give them such a sight of Christ, that they will gladly divorce their allegiance to the world, and cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus, swearing allegiance to Him as their only Savior and hope of salvation, embracing Him as their only Sovereign and Lord. O God, do this, we pray.

6:15 Honor Your Son. Give Him the reward of His sufferings. Even in this place tonight, hear our cry. Bind the Powers of Darkness and may the Word run, and have free course, and be glorified, we ask, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

6:34 Amen.

Recap: The Christian's Role in a Wicked Generation

6:41 Now, as most of you have been with us, for any part of the conference, know, we come tonight to the last of our studies on the theme, The Christians' Role in a Wicked Generation. And the first, thing we did was to establish from the Scriptures that this generation indeed is a wicked generation. Then we sought to identify from the Scriptures what a real Christian is, for it is only a real Christian who has any significant role to perform in the will and purpose of God in ministering to this wicked generation. Then we looked at the essence of what that role is, negatively and positively, following the pattern of Scripture. Our role is to refuse in any area of our thinking or practice to be shaped by this world system. Romans 12.2, 1 Peter 1.13 and 14, Ephesians 4.

7:52 17-19, positively stated, our role is to seek to have all of our thinking and all of our practice brought into conformity to the standards of God. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove the will of God, the good, the acceptable, and the perfect. And then, this morning, we focused upon...

8:22 two critical areas in which this negative and positive spiritual discipline must of necessity be operative if we are to be light and salt in this present generation. If we are to fit the description of Philippians 2, shining as luminaries in the darkness of this perverse, this crooked, this twisted unto the breaking point generation, then surely it must be in the area of our sexual identity, roles, and purity. If, as the people of God, we are not rejecting the world's perspectives and being transformed by the renewing of our minds with reference to our sexual identity, roles, and sexual purity, we are simply blending into the darkness of this present day. And then, in the morning hour, we considered the whole subject of domestic godliness, with the breakdown of the family and with the role reversals and egalitarian marriages and social experimentation with the structure of the home. Surely, if we are to fulfill our role in this wicked generation,

The Central Place of the Church in God's Saving Purposes

9:44 we must have homes where there are wives who embrace their definitive role as given by God. Particularly in Ephesians 5, and husbands who embrace their role in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Now we come tonight to the third and final area, though as I said this morning, I wish I had the time to address another dozen crucial areas, but I've had to be selective and I could not leave with a good conscience did I not address this area. Our role in this wicked generation, is to be seen in terms of being carried out in conjunction with our commitment to and our involvement in the life and ministry of a biblical church. The Christian's role in a wicked generation must be carried out in conjunction with his commitment to and involvement in the life and ministry of a biblical church. Now as I attempt to prove this assertion, consider with me first of all

11:05 the central place of the church in the saving purposes of God. If this generation exists, and according to Peter, every generation that exists until the return of Christ, exists for a primary purpose. People mock and say, oh, everybody's been talking about the Lord's return since the fathers fell asleep. Everything continues as it did from the beginning.

11:33 Peter says they forget several things. They forget the great epical judgment of the flood, and they forget that this period of long suffering, to use the language of Peter, and account that it is the, long suffering of God that explains the extension of history. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That is committed to the salvation of the whole role of his elect.

12:07 All of human history unfolds and continues to march on until the Lord Jesus has the last fruit of his suffering upon the cross safely garnered in, until the Lord Jesus has the last fruit of his suffering upon the cross safely garnered in, until the Lord Jesus has the last fruit of his suffering upon the cross safely garnered in, until the Lord Jesus has the last fruit of his suffering upon the cross safely garnered in, and then there will be the shout and the voice of the archangel in the trump of God, and our blessed Lord will return to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. But, in this period, you and I must see that the Church of Christ is central in the saving purposes of God, and I want you to look at three lines of biblical evidence. Number one, the Church is the only institution, the Church is the only institution which Christ is committed to build in the conquests of his saving grace. The Church is the only institution which Christ is committed to build in the conquests of his saving grace. And you've already thought of the passage, many of you, Matthew chapter 16. In Matthew chapter 16, our Lord has elicited the confession from the disciples, as to the identity of his person, and Peter, speaking for the others, says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, Matthew 16, 17.

13:36 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee. You have not come to this conviction concerning my identity as God's anointed son, as the anointed Messiah, as the Son of the living God, that is, God the Son himself. You did not come to this by mathematical formulas and by logical deduction. It has come by divine revelation.

14:11 Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say unto you that you are Peter, and upon this rock, not upon you, our Lord could have easily said, you are Peter, and upon you, but he didn't say that. He said, you are Peter, and upon this rock, the rock of the identity of the person and mission and office of Christ. Now notice, I will build one thing, my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

14:51 In the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the book, in the building of my church, I will be attacking the very bastions of hell. And I will be a conqueror in that militant, aggressive assault upon the gates of hell. But there is but one institution which Christ is committed to build in that conquest of His saving grace. And that institution is His church.

15:24 I will build my church. I am its architect. I am its builder. I am its owner.

15:35 And blessed be God, He is also its tenant.

15:40 He conceives it. He brings it to pass. It belongs to Him. And He says, where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst.

15:50 He indwells it. But it is that, that institution and that institution alone which Christ is committed to build. I will build my ecclesia. And with this institution I will storm the gates of hell and conquer in My name and power and bring out of the grip of the devil those for whom I spill my blood.

The Church as Christ's Sole Investment and Priority

16:21 And He goes on in the next paragraph, to speak of the necessity of His death at Jerusalem and His subsequent resurrection. Now, by way of application, hear me carefully. I am not here to say that God has not, in His sovereignty, used other religious institutions. I am not here to say that all other institutions other than the church are of the devil.

16:47 Please don't go out and say, Pastor Martin said every other institution but the church is of the devil. No. That's breaking the ninth commandment. I didn't say that.

16:56 I didn't even think it. But what I did say, I will stand upon with my Bible open that the church is the only institution which Christ is committed to build in the conquest of His saving grace. I leave to others to justify the existence of other institutions. To His own mastery, I leave to others to justify their Lord if they pour their time and money and energy into other institutions to do, quote, Christian work.

17:37 I am not their judge. But please don't fault me for having my conscience bound to the word of my Lord. And with a conscience bound to the word of my Lord, I must say that the church is the only institution which Christ is committed to build in the conquest of His saving grace. And frankly, I want to know the institution where I put my marbles is going to do well in the stock market.

18:08 You get my point? I don't want any speculative investment of my time and energies, of my prayers and my endeavors. That's why I'm here. People would say, Pastor Martin, there ain't a bunch of little group of people stuck in the middle of some little place that most people don't even know exist on the map.

18:28 Couldn't you be preaching at some big hotshot conference somewhere? Yes, I could be. Turned down just such an invitation a couple of months ago. It would have thrown in a free week's vacation to see all of New Zealand with my wife at my side at their expense.

18:46 But I said, No, thank you. Because it had nothing to do with Christ's church. For her my tears shall fall. To her my toils and cares be given till toils and cares shall end.

The Church: The Only Permanent Institution Established by Apostles

19:03 The central place of the church in the saving purposes of God is established, first of all, by the fact that the church is the only institution which Christ is committed to build in the conquests of His saving grace. Second line of evidence. The church was the only permanent institution established by the labors of the apostles in the conquest of saving grace. The church was the only permanent institution established by the apostles in the conquests of saving grace. In a sense, the gospels bring us right to the threshold of the conquests of the gospel. Oh yes, there were some who were brought under the sway of our Lord Jesus, but everything He said, everything He said, everything He taught led the disciples to believe that the best was yet to come. He said it's necessary that I go away.

20:10 And when I go away the Spirit will come and when He comes then the action really begins. And you will go out starting in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth and you'll make disciples of all the nations, a world-encompassing mission. Well, as those disciples went out, it's very interesting. I challenge some of you to take a Strong's or a Young's Concordance and look up the word church in Young's Concordance, find the one, I think the only word translated church is ecclesia, and look up all the usages of ecclesia in the book of Acts to give a wonderful Sunday afternoon study for you to do this.

20:53 Take your Strong's Concordance, look up all the references to church and you will see beginning in Acts chapter 2 all the way to the end of the book of Acts that there was no permanent institution established by the apostles other than the church, not a one. In Acts chapter 2 you remember that marvelous incident of the descent of the Spirit bringing the church into her full-blown new covenant dynamics and realities of the indwelling of the ascended Christ, and what happens? No sooner are those three thousand smitten and brought to conviction and to open profession of faith but we read in verse 41 then they that received his word Acts 2.41 were baptized and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. It doesn't say that they professed their faith and went their way with a scroll under their arm to have their personal devotions and work out their own Christian life. They were incorporated into the church.

22:11 The church swelled from a hundred and twenty to three thousand one hundred and twenty in one day. And I tell you they stuck. Look at verse 42 writing thirty years after the fact Luke can say and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching. They were there Sunday morning.

22:29 Fellowship. They were there for fellowship opportunities however they were structured in the breaking of bread, the Lord's supper and in the stated seasons of prayer. All the converts were incorporated into the church and continued in the fellowship of the church. And that fellowship was so real that it touched their material possessions.

22:55 And we read in verse 46 they continued steadfastly with one accord in the temple breaking bread at home. They took their food with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all the people. Now notice and the Lord added to them some ancient manuscripts say to the church but obviously added to them day by day those that were being saved. You see in the book of Acts the work of God's grace in individuals is always measured in terms of the growth of the church.

23:30 Until they were found in the church they weren't considered the real thing. And the only exception I know is the Ethiopian eunuch. The story is incomplete about him but all the others this crass individualism. You get saved send your letter to this association that association get our follow up material that utterly bypasses the church.

23:54 What a grievous thing and how unapostolic. For the apostles established as their only permanent institution churches wherever the gospel brought its conquest of grace. This grows chapter 4 gives us a further account of it until we come in chapter 5 verse 11 after God exercises the first disciplinary action in the church. You have two hypocrites Ananias and Sapphira thought they'd outsmart God.

24:28 Agreed how they could have the appearance of spirituality without paying the price. And God found them out and God killed them. God was getting a lesson across. Don't fool around in my church.

24:42 I'm there. It's my holy temple. My eye sees all. And my holiness is offended when people lie to me.

24:50 Why has Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Peter says. The Holy Ghost who uniquely dwells in the church his living temple. And what happened?

25:00 Verse 11 Great fear came upon the whole church. And upon all that heard these things. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

25:14 But of the rest dared no man join himself to them. Church membership scared the liver out of them. Said join that bunch and you don't walk straight you're liable to be wound up in a sheet and taken out and buried. That's right.

25:30 The whole idea we're the friendly snuggly little church on the hill. Come up and join us. And we'll have a holy snuggle. Not there.

25:41 That's not the picture. Fear came. Nobody dared join them. But look.

25:49 How be it the people magnified them and believers were the more added to the Lord. Multitudes. Both of men and women. Luke uses the term added to the Lord interchangeably with added to the church.

26:04 They were added to the Lord in terms of his visible body. That's how he knew. Added to the Lord is an inward spiritual reality. But it became manifest when people declared their faith and were found in that one institution established by apostles.

26:25 The church. Just a couple of other samplings to whet your appetite to do what I've suggested some Sunday afternoon. Chapter 8. In verse 1.

26:35 Saul was consenting unto the death of Stephen. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the only institution where Christians were found. Against the church. It doesn't say against the church and this missionary society and that society and this organization to advance this Christian cause and that organization to advance another cause.

27:01 If you wanted to get to Christians there's only one place they were found. That's in the church. Only place. And a great persecution was raised against the church that was in Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad.

27:20 Chapter 9 in verse 31. Chapter 9 in verse 31. So the church throughout all Judean galley in Samaria had peace being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit was multiplied. That's after Saul is converted.

27:44 And you know it's an amazing thing. After he gives his testimony in Damascus and preaches a little bit he comes to Jerusalem. You know the first thing Paul did when he came to Jerusalem? He applied for church membership.

27:56 That's right. He'd been converted by direct revelation commissioned by a voice out of heaven. What's he need the church for? Man, if anybody could say I got divine credentials for my cause.

28:09 Where are your credentials? The risen Lord told me to be his messenger. He doesn't despise the church. Look at Acts chapter 9 in verse 26.

28:21 And when he was come to Jerusalem he assayed an old English word. He attempted to join himself to the disciples. And they were all afraid of him not believing he was a disciple. They said no way you're getting in our church.

28:36 You're a fifth columnist. We know about you. You want to get on the inside so you can put all our names on your little notebook and the next time you go headhunting you're coming after us. No way we're letting you in.

28:47 They refused him church membership. Can you imagine a church refusing the Apostle Paul church membership? What did he do? Did he say phooey on you I'll go across town and start my own church.

28:59 No, he didn't do that. Verse 27 says but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. Now notice and he was with them. That is the church going in and going out at Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

29:26 I tell you brethren this text makes me angry at these hot shot individualists who snubbed the church for their almighty ministries. If anyone could claim he had a noble ministry from Christ it was the Apostle Paul. He didn't despise the church. And when he made his first application he didn't run across town and start his own church or start his own Paul's evangelistic association.

29:55 He waited upon God till God brought this Son of Consolation alongside and said look Paul it'll be alright. These folks trust me. I know what God's done for you. Come on.

30:07 We'll go have another application. So he applied a second time brought Barnabas and they were convinced. And they brought him to church fellowship and in church fellowship he went in and out among them. Is that what your Bible says?

30:20 That's what mine does. And my friend you listen to me who despise church membership you put yourself above the Apostle Paul in your arrogance in your stinking rotten independence you put yourself above the Apostle Paul. You say I don't like that kind of language. I'm sorry.

30:40 You don't like it because it's pinching the raw nerve of your crass proud stinking rotten independence that despises the institution of the church of Christ. Now don't get mad at me. Get humble before God and get on your knees and ask God to forgive you. Repent!

30:59 The Apostles the Apostles established only one permanent institution and wherever the gospel effected conquest they founded churches. Just one or two other quick examples to whet your appetite. Further on we read in chapter 14 in verse 23 after they had preached in these cities and people were converted they came back through some time later to do what? Acts 14 21 let's start the reading and when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to Lystra.

31:44 And to Iconium and to Antioch confirming literally strengthening stabilizing the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. They hadn't yet discovered the health wealth and prosperity gospel. They said you folks are in the church and in the kingdom but we got news for you. Between now and the time you go home tribulations are going to be heaped upon you.

32:14 Not occasionally but through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God and when they had appointed for them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. Look at this beautiful conjunction. They commended them to the Lord that the Lord Jesus who was the object of their initial faith would keep them and strengthen them and protect them but they didn't leave them out there as a bunch of individuals. They left them as congregations with competent spiritual guides and overseers to shepherd and guide and govern and teach and warn and to direct them. It's not either the Lord or the church. It's the Lord working in and through which he himself said he would build and which his unique architects the apostles were careful to build and so I lay out the challenge for anyone to show me one permanent institution established by the apostles other than the church. They went to great pains to have a temporary benevolence association.

33:30 Remember? They went around the churches and had the churches vote and enter in to the choice of proven men to take this collection from the Gentile churches down to the poor saints in Judea but once they had done their job the committee was dismissed and abandoned. They didn't have a standing benevolence committee of the first century apostolic band with a president and a vice president and a secretary and a treasurer and no such nonsense. When there was a doctrinal problem in one church the church in Antioch and the people who were causing it said well we've come from Jerusalem in Judea and we have their approval.

34:11 They knew how to organize a committee of men to go up to Jerusalem and to consult with the apostles and the elders and the whole church and to deal with the issue but once it was dealt with there was no standing structure that they could appeal to any time they had a similar problem not a shred of evidence that they established any permanent institution other than churches. Now I say this underscores the central place of the church in the saving purposes of God. If Jesus Christ is building only one institution if the apostles established only one permanent institution then surely God's telling us something but my third line of evidence is this the church is the only institution recognized by Christ and addressed by Christ in connection with his risen life in heaven. The church is the only institution recognized by Christ and addressed by Christ in connection with his risen life in heaven. The church is the only institution recognized by Christ and addressed by Christ in connection with his risen life. Revelation chapter 1 John is in exile in the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of Christ and on a given Lord's day he hears a thundering voice behind him like a piercing trumpet and then out of that sound comes these words what you see

The Church: The Only Institution Addressed by the Risen Christ

35:40 write in a book and send it to the seven churches and then those seven churches of Asia Minor and then those seven churches of Asia Minor are named verse 12 of Revelation 1 and I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands apparently arranged in a circle and if you will take and put a dot on the map of those seven churches they approximate at least a rough kind of circle or an encirclement is probably a better way to put it and what did he see in the midst and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like unto a son of man and after he who had leaned on the bosom of Jesus in such close personal intimacy in the days of his flesh saw him now in his soul and in his soul and in his soul he was filled with joy and with the strength of the Holy Spirit and with his kindness he was filled with

37:10 joy and with the strength of the Holy Spirit and with his strength and then the beautiful tenderness of Jesus he laid his right hand upon me he didn't just speak to me the voice had already scared the liver out of him but he laid his hand upon him gently and said fear not I'm the first and the last and the living one I was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore write the things which you saw and the things which are and the things which are come to pass and then he says the mystery of the seven stars that you saw and the seven candlesticks the seven stars are messengers of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches John never forget wherever I am whatever I'm doing in my exalted glorified state never forget it John I am in the midst of the seven lamps with eyes as flame of fire feet like unto burnished brass voice as the sound of many waters and John I'm going to speak now and to whom does he speak to the seven churches no one else no one else he speaks to no other institution no other organization no other grouping

38:37 unto the church at Ephesus right unto the church at Smyrna unto the church at Pergamon unto the church of Thyatira Philadelphia Laodicea unto the church what is he saying he's saying what I pledged in my life I will build my church what I accomplished through my apostles and the building of my churches I want you to know I haven't changed my program I'm now in the midst of my churches observing commanding encouraging condemning rebuking exhorting commanding succoring now brethren if those three lines of evidence don't convince you or judgment of this fact that there is a central place given to the church in the saving purposes of god then three more arguments wouldn't carry your conscience i have to say your conscience is impervious to biblical argument Christ says is going to be menacing and in the end he returned to the church every step of the way going to build one permanent institution his church the apostles established only one standing

40:02 institution churches and the risen christ addresses only one institution the churches you see one of the tragedies of dispensational theology is that it gave two to three generations the notion by this arbitrary exegesis that the letters to the seven churches are a prophetic outline of church history and we're now in this the laodicean age where christ is spewing the church out of his mouth he's no longer working with the church and in the church it was the thing that caused the proliferation of parachurch movements dispensational theology popularized by the church condition the soil to despise the church if christ is going to spew it out why bother with it and if christ is no longer going to work through the church the laodicean age is upon us and he's just going to save a few people here and there then form your businessmen's organization and get them saved form your ladies aid group and get them saved have your independent evangelistic organizations get them saved who cares about the church christ has puked it out friends

41:23 that's a horrible horrible horrible twisting of the word of god there's not a shred of evidence as it good so seven churches are an outline a church history intelligent people could folks that nonsense ive never known they were strategic duties in the first century century and you know injury and the individual church can add any number of the characteristics of any one or more of those people units church And just like the epistle to the Ephesians and the Philippians was originally addressed to a specific church, but to the churches of all times and all places, so the seven letters to the seven churches are addressed to all churches in all places at all times.

The Glorious Function of the Church: Theater for God's Glory

42:11 Well, I must hurry on. Having sought to demonstrate the central place of the church and the saving purposes of God, now then, consider with me the glorious function of the church, in the saving purposes of God. I hope I've convinced you of its central place. But then you say, if it has such a central place, then it must have a marvelous destiny, and a marvelous purpose and function, and the purpose of God.

42:40 And oh, my friends, it does. And here I have to restrain myself and again only give you three aspects of the function, the glorious function of the church in the saving purposes of God. Number one, and thank God this one doesn't even focus on us. The church is the unique theater for the display of the glory of God in this present age.

43:07 The church is the unique theater for the display of the glory of God in this present age. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. And here I have to pray for holy restraint upon my own spirit, for the spirit of the prophets is subdued, and I don't claim to be a prophet, just a plain old ordinary preacher. But if a prophet can keep his spirit controlled, then a preacher, well, ought to do so as well.

43:38 But Paul is here unfolding the unique ministry God had given to him to be the instrument to make known a glorious mystery hidden for ages and generations. Now to make it clear, lucid, standing out in blinking neon lights for all the world. All to see. And it has to do with how God will incorporate into his church Jew and Gentile with no distinction of privilege.

44:08 Distinctions that had kept them separated for ages and generations. God says the middle wall of partitions removed in Christ. And now God is making one new man in Christ. And let us pick up the reading in verse 8 of Ephesians 3.

44:25 Unto me. Unto me who am less than the least of all saints was this grace given to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ to make men, all men, see what is the dispensation or the stewardship of the mystery which for ages has been hidden God who created all things to the intent. God had an intention in what he did in history. History is not junk.

44:55 History is not just chance events triggering other chance events. It is God Almighty ordering everything to the twitching of a grain of sand on a seashore that no one's ever buried his footprint in. Everything's under his control to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers and the heavenly places might be made known through God. To the church.

45:27 The manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. What an amazing concept. He says as I preach this glorious truth that now in Christ Gentiles who once were aliens strangers from the commonwealth of Israel cut off from the covenants of the promise they are now incorporated into those promises. They are now the Israel of God joined with every believing Jew they constitute reconstituted Israel the Israel of God this glorious marvelous thing called the church and he says now God's intention in accomplishing this now is that to principalities and powers in heavenly places there are spirit beings with intelligence with inquisitive minds.

46:35 Peter says which things angels desire to look into. Imagine angels saying oh God can we peek into that? And God says no, not yet. Oh God can we have just a little teeny eensy weensy glimpse?

46:52 Not yet. Which things angels desire to look into? And now God says I'm going to pull back the veil. Now I want you principalities and powers angels, archangels share of him share of him in all the unseen heavenly hosts I want you to see the full spectrum of my variegated wisdom.

47:18 I want you to see my wisdom unfolded. And where are you going to see it? Where's the theater in which God's displaying it? Look at the text.

47:27 Might be made. Made known through the church. The manifold wisdom of God. And this is no afterthought in the mind of God.

47:38 It's not as though the Lord Jesus came offering an earthly kingdom to Israel and because she rejected it God reached in his pocket and said oh let's pull out plan two. I say that borders on blasphemy. No, this was his own eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord. From eternity he purposed that a day would come when through the church angels and principalities and cherubim and seraphim and all holy intelligent spirit creatures would gasp with wonder as they see little gatherings of Jew and Gentile meeting in secret in some places in the Roman Empire for fear of persecution meeting as they did at Ephesus in the school of Tyre. meeting as they did at Ephesus in the school of Tyre. meeting as they did at Ephesus in the school of Tyre. meeting as they did at Ephesus in the school of Tyre.

48:29 meeting by a riverside as they did originally at Philippi meeting in the house of another and there they are, Jew and Gentile the one for centuries calling the other the filthy goyim, the outcast, the Gentile dogs. And the Gentiles looking at the Jews as a bunch of spiritual snobs. Now they sit and sing their hymns and psalms of praise to Christ and to the Lord. And the tears of joy run down their cheeks as all their worship terminates upon a crucified, exalted, risen Lord.

49:11 And angels and principalities go, amazing!

49:19 Through the church might be made known the manifold wisdom of God. How can we despise the theater chosen by God for the display of His glory? No wonder Paul concludes this chapter by saying in verse 21,

49:40 Unto Him be the glory, where? In the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. All the glory God will get to Himself in Christ, in connection with Christ. He will get it in connection with His church as well.

The Glorious Function of the Church: Upholding God's Truth

50:01 The church is in its glorious function. The unique theater for the display of God's glory. But secondly, its glorious function is this. The church is the unique structure for the upholding of the truth of God.

50:20 The unique theater to display His glory, but the unique structure to uphold His truth. And where is that taught? First Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy chapter 3.

50:33 Look at verse 14 and 15. Paul writing to Timothy, whom he had left behind at Ephesus. He says, These things I write unto you, hoping to come to you shortly. Paul had holy wishes.

50:50 Many times they weren't fulfilled. It's nothing wrong to wish things that don't come to pass. I meet some dear sensitive Christians and they feel that every wish they ever had does not ultimately prove to be a precursor of the will of God. They must have been sinful.

51:07 No, Paul said, to the Romans, I purpose many times to come to you. I packed my bags, bought my ticket, and then the boat was canceled. Oh, we didn't get good weather and we couldn't set sail. He said, well, so be it.

51:22 It's not God's time now. But he didn't sit back and give up. He said, I purpose many times to come, but I was hindered. So he tried again and was hindered.

51:30 He acted responsibly. Well, in this passage again, Paul says, I hope to come to you, Timothy, and I hope to come before long. But I have no direct revelation from God that I will come at all or when I'll come. So if I tarry long, this is my burden, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.

51:59 He's been writing about what many would call niggling legalistic details of church life. He's been writing about the place of women, the place of men, how women should and should not dress, who should take the lead in prayer, who should be the leaders, what their names should be, what their qualifications should be. You take those first three chapters of 1 Timothy seriously in our day and you're called an ecclesiastical legalist. And yet Paul says, I wrote these things because behavior in God's house is not a matter, they're left to our discretion.

52:41 You see the word ought? It's that little particle of necessity, the very one used that says that Christ must suffer. You who know a little Greek, the little particle of necessity, day. How men are under obligation to behave in God's house.

53:00 It's God's house He makes the house rules. You come to my house, you may be able in your house to walk in, stick your muddy feet, up on the couch. You don't do it in my house. I say, it's so nice to have you, get your muddy feet off the couch.

53:18 Smile again. In your house you may be allowed to do many things. If you come to my house, ultimately God owns it but I'm a steward and I must administer that house and all of its belongings in a way that I believe pleases God. The church is God's house.

53:37 It's not your religious club. Nine-tenths of evangelicalism, evangelical churches are just religious clubs run by the consensus of the club members. Remember when we were kids and we'd start a club? Boy, what a sense of power it gave you.

53:52 Four or five of you would get together in the block and say, we're going to start a club. Yeah, we'll be the club. You'll be the president? Yeah.

53:57 What are you? I'm the vice president? Good. What's the rules?

53:59 No girls. Good. All right, no girls. Next rule, no guys from the other block.

54:05 Good. Oh, what a sense of power. You had your own club, made your little clubhouse out of old pieces of wood, and boy, you had a sense of power. You could call the shots, and one of the guys from the next block would come and say, I come in.

54:16 No, you don't belong to our club. Gave you a real sense of power. You know, I'm afraid that's what most churches are. Group of people get together and say, let's form a Jesus club.

54:28 We'll put his name in it, but we'll call the shots. We'll make the rules. We'll set the terms, who gets in and who doesn't. What you have to do and become to stay in.

54:40 No, no. Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, though I've labored at Ephesus for over three years, and though you've labored there, and it's a sound, stable church, Timothy, I want the church to grow in its understanding of how its behavior ought to be conducted, because it's God's house. It is the church of the living God. It's not like the great temple of the Diana, God of the Ephesians.

55:07 That's an ornate temple of a dead God who has no existence. But the church at Ephesus is the church of the living God. He's alive. Alive in all the plenitude of his power and grace and majesty.

55:23 Now look. Now look at the text. This thing that is the house of God, church of the living God. Look at the last description.

55:32 The pillar and ground of the truth. Here the church is described as the pillar, the lolly columns. The pillar and ground of the truth. Here the church is described as the pillar, the lolly columns.

55:45 The pillar and ground of the truth. Here the church is described as the pillar, the lolly columns. Or the flying buttresses if you're thinking in terms of old gothic architecture. It is both the lolly columns, the support columns, the flying buttresses, and the foundation, the footing, the underpinning of the truth.

56:07 Now does this mean that the church creates the truth and then holds it up? Oh no. That's the fallacy of Rome. The church receives the truth as revealed by God through his apostles.

56:23 But then the church is constituted God's unique structure to uphold that truth in any given area so that the truth that will sanctify the saints, the truth that will save sinners, the truth that will mold lives, the truth that will impact society, as light and salt. It is the church which is the unique structure to be both its pillar and its foundation. And God has nowhere revealed, he has any other structure to be the pillar and ground of the truth. It's the church.

57:05 It's the church that is the pillar and the foundation or footings of the truth. The gospel is not to be preached in a vacuum. Oh dear people, hear me. If only we could grasp this concept.

57:19 It is the church in its organized life filled with the spirit as the new humanity that is the crucible in which gospel preaching is validated. How I bless God when I preach the gospel in our own assembly. I know already the life of our people has validated that gospel. And many times when people have been converted and later come for an interview, for membership, and they give their testimony, they say, when I came into the church and I saw everything from little kids to grown adults, heads bowed, Bibles opened, I realized these people are here for business.

58:02 There's nothing on the walls for them to look at. It's plain and simple. There aren't a lot of visual aids to precipitate worship, yet there was an intensity. And oh, when I heard them sing, I realized that they were singing from the heart.

58:20 There was reality. And when the men who prayed prayed, they weren't saying prayers, reading prayers. They were having dealings with God. And long before I stood to open my mouth, the life of the new humanity in the church was pummeling them with the truth.

58:40 So that when I stood up to preach, all I did was explain how all this happens. And I commend you, this is a great story. And let me tell you that the book of Acts is about to begin. And you told me about the Bible, and all the things that happened to us.

58:59 Why wouldn't you tell me about the world? Why wouldn't you tell me? Because I don't have the place to tell you. I don't have the evidence to tell you.

59:07 I don't have a plan to tell you. I don't have doesn't have the authority. I can tell you what happened to me. I told you that the United States was no where to go.

59:16 They didn't let me go. And I'm going to tell you about it. of the dead he's saying the church is the new humanity was validating the truth in its lifestyle so when the apostles preached the truth hearts were conquered oh dear people the church is the pillar and ground of the truth and that's why it's so vital you take seriously the biblical injunction grieve not the spirit don't allow bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking to grieve away the spirit because no matter how true or passionate and clear is the preaching from this pulpit if the church is not the embodiment of the truth it ceases to be what god intends it should be it's the church and its collective life that is the pillar and the ground of the truth and we who preach just have a unique and special function within that unique structure but we are not the soul you upholders of the truth it's the church in its corporate life and worship and witness an internal interaction that is pillar and ground of the truth then the church's glorious function is not only the unique theater for the display of the glory of god the unique structure for upholding the truth

The Glorious Function of the Church: Maturation of Saints

60:37 but thirdly and finally the church is the unique organism for the maturation of the saints the church is the unique organism for the maturation of the saints you see the church is many things it's a theater it's a building but it's also an organism and here i commend to you for your careful meditation a passage such as ephesians 4 1 to 16 we don't have time to expound it and unpack it but the gist of that passage is this that the maturation of the individual believer is never conceived of as taking place in isolation it's within the one body in subjection to the one lord embracing the one faith in the one god who is overall and above all and in us all and in the church in which god deposits no longer living apostles but apostolic doctrine in the scriptures no longer living prophets but the prophets who have spoken in whose word is embodied in scripture and he gives living pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service unto the building up of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of your faith to the knowledge of the son of god that we be no longer children tossed to and

62:01 fro by every wind of doctrine and the slight of men there is stability there is maturity we grow up into christ in all things speaking the truth in love this whole idea that all you need is your bible and your quiet time and the lord jesus and the truth in love and the truth in love and the listeners want to pray us will not be pressed into an trust with the death or the life of jesus certain things that the world may Al constitution be nothing but the

62:25 majority till the comfort and then spiritual maturity if Jesus and you can come to maturity is individualUM Rose

62:37 inness God never invisible spiritual materialization isolation from the organism called his church is is edified that would have enjoyed the idiot the Brian sound built by you shutü did it for Enoch Enoch couldn't stand going to heaven with this present earthly body so when it says he was not for God took him the indication is God took the hold of him body and spirit and therefore gave him a glorified body no big deal for God to give a glorified body the moment we die why does he let our loved ones rot in the grave Professor Murray makes this point God is so concerned to make it evident that he is committed to the salvation of his people not in individuality but in their corporate identity that he waits till the last saint dies and the last living saint is gathered in and then all at once we'll all get our glorified body the dead in Christ shall rise first we who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together what with them they'll get a head start but then we'll catch up if we're alive they get taken care of first but then it says we shall be caught up together and so shall we ever be with the Lord and what's God saying he's saying I'm committed to a salvation

64:06 that is not crassly individualistic yes every one of us must get into the kingdom individually you kids can't get in under mama's skirt you can't get in hanging on to daddy's belt you've got to face your sin and you've got to face the same sin and you've got to face the same sin and you must repent of your sin and you must believe on the Lord Jesus yes we come in one by one it's crassly individual at the entrance but no sooner are we in than it's crassly corporate and holistic we're part of the body and the church is the organism the unique organism for the maturation of the saints it's in the church that pastors and teachers are given God equipped rulers of his church the description of an elder in 1st Timothy 3.5 if a man rule not well his own house how shall he take care of the church of God God's given caretakers in his church discipline is entrusted to the body when you come together Paul says with my spirit and in the name of the Lord Jesus deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh the Lord's supper is a church ordinance when ye come together when ye gather together the togetherness in 1st Corinthians 11 is a dominant theme well I hope these three things

Personal Confession and Call to Commitment

65:35 have convinced you my friend that the church has a glorious function in the saving purposes of God and unless some of you think I'm just parroting the party line let me make a confession in public I grew up in a religious context where they didn't even seek to organize themselves according to the Bible as a church my background is Salvation Army I never heard of an elder or a deacon we had captains sergeant majors had no baptism no Lord's Supper then I got converted went to an ordinary evangelical church for a few months and then they kicked me out because I was talking to the deacons and elders kids who were a bunch of phonies like I was till God saved me and it was getting some of them upset then I went off to two interdenominational schools and I was in a church evangelical to the core mainline evangelical only thing I ever heard about the church was in one of my theology courses I had to read a little about the church and write a paper but because if they took a stand they would have lost support they took no stand on the doctrine of the church then I went into an itinerant ministry for five years where I was answerable to no one I look back at God's mercy I wasn't rejecting light I had no light the first ten years ten years of my life as a Christian were basically churchless

67:04 during that time the more I studied my Bible these are some of the things I began to see and say oh God forgive me I've despised your institution and over these years as I've been privileged to see God form a church from the embryo of 1962 into its full-blown present structure in 1992 having poured thirty years of my life into it I tell you I'd do it all over again and the only thing I'd do differently I'd give even more of my energy to Christ's church that's why I'm here because I believe there's some people serious about Christ's church in Vernonia that's why I'm here that's why I'm here God is witness that's why I'm here if I can encourage you that you will press on in the determination never to budge from your conviction of the central place of the church of the church in the saving purposes of God the glorious function of the church in the saving purposes of God well I must close and I'm going to close by giving you three little questions to tuck in your conscience and go home with them alright three questions number one do you view the church as institution and organism as God does

Three Concluding Questions for Self-Examination

68:32 make it personal do I view the church as God does do I view it as God does the only institution Christ promises to build the only permanent institution built by apostles the only institution addressed by the risen Christ do I view it as God does do I view it as that unique theater in which God displays his glory under principalities and powers do I view it as that unique structure pillar ground of the truth that unique organism his body within which I shall come by the blessing of God to maturity do I view the church as God does if I don't then I need see we're right back now what's the Christian's role in a wicked generation reject the thinking of the world be renewed in the spirit of your mind and say oh God the scriptures I've studied tonight help me to pour over them like the Bereans and pray them in until I view your church as you view it second question are you shaping your priorities so as to have a real commitment to and involvement in the life of a biblical church are you shaping your priorities so as to have a real commitment to and involvement

70:01 in the life of a biblical church if the church is this unique and important then I can't have it down number seven on the list of priorities next to the priority of providing for my family for if any man provide not for his own he's worse than an infidel he hath denied the truth is the priority of providing for myself and my family a biblical church I didn't say a perfect church I didn't even say a reformed Baptist church I chose my words carefully a biblical church a church where people have something more than the local religious club where they're this book calls the shots where the official leaders open up this book and seek to be honest with this book that's a biblical church are your priorities ordered so that you have a real commitment to and involvement in the life of a biblical church my third question is if there are unusual irregularities you're miles away from a biblical church you're locked in to a job the nature of which you don't believe can be transplanted somewhere else and there are irregularities and abnormalities that you're not able to be actively involved in a biblical church my question is

71:29 have you accepted that as the status quo or are you pleading with God to change the circumstances are you desperate that God would either raise up a biblical church in your area or sovereignly open a door for you to relocate where there is or have you just comfortably sat back and said oh wait what will be will be do you have a sense of holy restlessness pleading with God that he will either change your circumstances change your location that your life might reflect commitment to and involvement in the life of a biblical church well I've sought to deliver my soul you've been very patient I trust God will own his word and as I leave I must say to you who are not Christians boys girls men and women especially you young people brought up in biblical churches don't be like an Esau and despise your birthright God could have had you born in a wealthy home so everyone in the world would know your name because they knew your mom or your daddy's name you could have been born Princess Di or Princess Caroline but God would have

Exhortation to Unbelievers and Young People

72:57 gave you something far better cause you to be born in a home where you have a mother and a father who are concerned you'd be in a biblical church you've had preachers that have preached to your eyeballs and to your conscience and pleaded with you to repent and to believe the gospel some of you kids under 15 years of age have heard more pure gospel preaching than I heard by the time I was 40 don't despise your birthright don't treat it like junk I beg you kids don't treat it lightly don't treat it like junk but say oh God help me to know the God of my mother and my father help me to be a man a woman who reflects the privilege of sitting under the truth from my mother's womb I pray God some of you precious young men and women who've become dear to me even in these couple of days and I think if you'd admit it you kind of like me too I want to hear in days to come that you love my Savior and you're serving my Lord and I want to hear and you're following him with all your heart let's pray our Father how we thank you for your word we thank you for your church some of us are ashamed when we think of the years

74:26 when in our ignorance we despised the church but we thank you you've forgiven us and cleansed us and given us the privilege to feel and to taste and to see the realities of the special place you've given us and you've given us your church has and your purpose and you've privileged us to see it functioning not perfectly but really and truly according to your purposes oh Lord use our meditation tonight that we may love the church of Christ as we've never loved it before and that we will give ourselves to Christ in his church and to his service through his church thank you for everyone who is here tonight thank you for those who have been with us over these days we pray that the memories stored up and treasured will by your grace be converted into sanctifying influences through the rest of our earthly pilgrimage thank you for many of these dear children who have listened intently who've shown their love and affection we pray that they will know and love the Savior whom we've sought to proclaim and serve him all of their days dismiss us with your blessing we pray in Jesus name Amen