Doctrine of the Present - Understanding the Church

The speaker discusses the book of Hebrews, specifically chapter 6, which focuses on the present work of Christ. The writer of Hebrews addresses Christians who are turning away from Christ and going back to Judaism. The author emphasizes the importance of growing and pressing on to maturity in faith. The problem is not immaturity but rather neglect and laziness in studying and understanding the Word of God. The author urges Christians to leave the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ and strive for perfection. The speaker also touches on the misconception of the church, explaining that it is not just a physical building but an assembly of believers. The church is called out of sin and sanctified through the truth of Jesus Christ. The present work of Jesus Christ is seen through the church, and understanding the purpose of the church is essential for growth and maturity in faith. Now, when I'm always saying things that are wrong, y'all know where I get it from. It's not my fault. If you have your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6, we've moved out of the, we've been looking at the doctrine of Christ from Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, and we've noticed that there's the work of Christ is in the past, the present, and the future. And we've already looked at the past, and now we are transitioning into the present. And I wanted to this morning to kind of help us remember the context of Hebrews. If you remember, the writer of Hebrews is writing to Christians that had heard the glorious gospel. They should be growing, they should be pressing on to maturity, but yet what they were doing was leaving the Word of Christ. They were turning their backs on Christ and wanting to go back to Judaism. And the great exhortation of Hebrews is to press on to full growth. In other words, God has a plan and a desire. And so many times we are not much far off from those Jewish Hebrew Christians here in Hebrews, but that we want to think that salvation is the end. We're saved, we're going to heaven, and so we can look forward to that eternity, and we just kind of stop right there. But yet, we need to understand God has more force than just salvation. He has a purpose and a plan for us. And as we look at this, the problem that they had was not really a problem of immaturity. It wasn't because they didn't know any better, but the author says that it was actually a problem of neglect. He says there in chapter 5 and verse 11 that they were dull of a hearing. In other words, and that dull of hearing is not that their ears were stopped up. It was just that they were lazy. They were slothful. They wasn't willing to put in the time. Unfortunately, we see this today being a rampant problem. We have so many people, I was telling my class Monday at seminary, that man, I didn't have the opportunities that they have today. When I was first surrendered to preach, I had two or three men that I trusted, that I relied upon, that mentored me, that discipled me, that would share notes with me, would share authors with me and books with me. And they kind of kept me in a certain idea and a certain principle. But today, the internet has blown this thing to where now everybody has the access to everything. And so many people are putting things on there that they haven't thought about. They haven't worked through and they're just doing it. And then we as Christians are lazy. And instead of digging and finding out what we believe, we just quote everybody else. And all of a sudden, we have all of this messed up churches and messed up people in our society today. And so the author of this, because of this laziness, because of this slothfulness, he says in chapter 6 and verse 1, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. For the last three weeks, we have been looking at this past work of Jesus Christ, this work of salvation and work of justification, repentance from dead works as opposed to living works. And we'll kind of explain a little bit more. And we'll see this full fruition when we get to the last section of the judgment seat of Christ and the resurrection. But he says we repent from dead works to have faith toward God. It's an active thing that is going on. And so it's an active movement of God. We saw last week that faith, as we move toward God, is based upon facts. The Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And when we have faith in those facts, then and only then does it produce the feelings. The feelings never come first and then the faith. It's always facts, faith, and then the feelings that happen that's there. And so listen very carefully, because this is what the author is telling us here. And if we are not grounded, if we are not credible in our understanding of salvation and justification, there is absolutely no way that we can be grounded in Christ's present work today. And so all of this is built upon a foundation. And that's what he talks about here. It's a foundation that you and I need to know. These are the very basic principles. These are the very basic stuff that you and I need to know in order for us to grow into full maturity in Jesus Christ. And so when we understand, when we come to the present work of Jesus Christ, today Jesus Christ works through the church. And so before we can get into baptisms and laying on the hands, I think we need to understand a little bit about what is the church and what is its purpose. Because we see a lot of misunderstanding today when it comes to the church. And when we look at this, let me lay some groundwork before we get into it. So today we're just going to take some time just to lay this groundwork. And next week we will get into the baptisms and then we'll get into the laying on hands. But it will make a lot more sense by going through and understanding what is the church today. And so when we think about the church, of course, some of you that's been around the Bible or been around preaching very much understand and have heard the word ekklesia that comes from the Greek word. And I'm not going to bore you with all of the Greek and all of the etymology of this word, but it really comes from the preposition ek, which means out. And then it's the other half of that is the klesia, which is from the root word telia, which means I call. And so therefore, if you really, literally take this Greek word and translate it, it means called out. But however, when you think about that term called out, here's where the misunderstanding happens in our society today. Because those that believe in a universal, invisible church, by this definition, they love this definition. They like to say, well, the word literally means called out. In other words, when we look at the Bible, though, let's go back to the past. Let's go back to the past. What are we repeating from? Dead works. What are we having faith toward? Toward God. And so what happened in our past is we were called out of our sin. When you think about this word called out, it always, every time you read it in the Bible, has reference to do with salvation and not the church. Salvation comes before the church. And so we need to understand this was the past work. This is where we are at. And it has to do with salvation. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 30, it says, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified. That call is not dealing with the church. That call is dealing with salvation. And you remember we said last week that what happens? The invitation is offered. Now, I also told you way back yonder that that repentance from dead works and faith toward God is just like a coin. It's two sides, but it's one coin. And I think sometimes we as Christians mess up because we try to slice that coin into about 30 different things that we don't need to be slicing into. I don't know when it happens, when there's repentance from dead works, when the faith is enacted and all of these things. I can't differentiate. All I can do is go by the Word of God. And he tells us here that the response of being called when Jesus Christ gives the invitation, behold, I stand at the door and knock, right? If any man will come and open up that door, what did he do? He answered the call. Again, in the New Testament, he says if there are any that are weary and heavy laden, come and I will give you rest. The call is gone out, the invitation. It's always for salvation and never for the church. And so with that being understood, you come back into Hebrews, back to the context of what we're talking about in Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2. And in 2, verse 11, it says, For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. This sanctify means to be set apart. And it says that both he that sanctifies it, that sets us apart, and they that are sanctified are all of one. Sanctification comes after salvation. Sanctification is an act in the present that we experience today. In chapter 10, on the other side of this passage, in verse 14, he says, For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. If you remember when Jesus Christ, right before His crucifixion, in John chapter 17, we have the actual prayer of Jesus Christ. And there he says, And for their sakes I sanctify myself, I set myself apart, that they also may be sanctified or set apart through the truth. And so Jesus Christ said, I sanctify myself. Why am I dying? Why did I come and leave the portals of heaven and come and die for your salvation? In order that I set myself apart from the Godhead in order for your salvation. Therefore, guess what? You are set apart for salvation and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so I want us to understand, and I'll show you this and give you some Scriptures behind it. The church is an assembly. It's always an assembly. When you look at the definition of the true New Testament church, in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 18, Paul writing to the church at Corinth says, For first of all, when you come together, where? In the church. I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it. When you see that word church, or also churches plural with an es on the end of it, if you go through your Bible and you search the New Testament, you will find that church or churches is used 114 times in the New Testament. In every single case, if you substituted the word assembly for church, it makes complete sense in context and you'll really see that this is the correct usage of the word. It is not when you come together in the building. It's when you come together in the assembly. And we see that the church met in all kinds of locations and various places. In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 2. And so I've done this in a lot of our Scriptures today. I've taken it and just put in brackets there in black the word assembly so you can see it as we use this word today. He says, Under the church, the assembly of God, which is where? At Corinth. And so a specific location, a specific place to them that are right. And here's that word sanctified again. Set apart wherein Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Salvation takes place first, then sanctification. We are in the sanctification. If you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, then that is in the past. Your salvation is taken care of. Your salvation is done. But however, you still have to be sanctified. You're set apart for Jesus Christ. And so when we look at this word church, this assembly, it always must be local. It has to be local. You cannot assemble all over the world and be together. There's no such thing as an invisible universal assembly. It cannot happen. If there's going to be a meeting, guess what? People have to be present. And the New Testament gives 20 references to churches in 14 different cities and towns. You have the church mentioned in Jerusalem. You have a church at Antioch. You have the church in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 2, we saw there the church, the assembly of God, which is at Corinth. You see regions and all the brethren are with me. And notice the plural of this. The churches at Galatia, because Galatia is not a city. Galatia is a region. And so within that region, guess what? There were churches. But Paul is writing to all that region. He's not writing to one particular church in mind. Colossians 4, verse 15, he says, Salute the brethren which are where? In Laodicea, a place. And in Memphis and the church, the assembly, which is where? In his house. And so this church here was also in Laodicea. But where were they meeting? They were assembling in a house. And so he brings it down and makes it specific for us. And tonight we're going to really expound upon this idea, but I want to mention it briefly this morning. I really encourage you to be back tonight or tune in on Facebook Live or listen to it next week, because tonight's message is really going to tie in what we're going to do next week. But in the New Testament, there's three metaphors that are given for the church. First of all, the church is referred to as a body. In other words, if your body has been blown up or disintegrated and scattered all over everywhere, then what begins to happen? You cease to exist with a body. Your body is no longer there. The other one is a building. Buildings are found in one place. They are not scattered all over every place. The third metaphor that he gives is a bride. When I married Lisa, go back to 30 something years ago, she was not everywhere. She was present there in Glen Rose Missionary Baptist Church. She stood by my side. We held hands together as we made vows, committing ourselves to one another and becoming one. She wasn't all over the place. She was right there with me. And so the church is not only local, but the church or the assembly has to be visible. It has to be visible. When you look at 1 Thessalonians 3.10, he says, Night and day, praying exceedingly, that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. A church cannot operate if its members are invisible. It's impossible. You cannot have an invisible body. You cannot have an invisible building and you cannot have an invisible bride. A church cannot operate in an invisible location. And so a church cannot function with invisible officers. We couldn't survive with invisible tithes, right? We have to take real money to pay in order to pay our bills. In Matthew 28, Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. An invisible thing, an invisible organization cannot evangelize, baptize, and instruct others. These are all three hands-on things that have to be done visibly and locally. And so with that understanding in Matthew 18 and verse 15, Jesus says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault. Between thee and him alone, if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. You remember that passage of Scripture? But look at the next verse that Jesus says, But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. But now look at what he says in verse 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. There's that word again. Tell it unto this universal, invisible organization. No, it's an assembly. Tell it to that assembled body. And if he neglect to hear the church, the assembly, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. An invisible church cannot administer discipline. They cannot administer discipline. And so again, when you think of the three metaphors that's used of the assembly, the church in the New Testament, number one, a body. If this body becomes invisible, then guess what? The Bible says to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. We are dead. And so we cease to exist. A body has to be invisible. Try to take an invisible body to the doctor and ask him to diagnose it and detect the vitals of an invisible body. He's going to look at you like you're nuts. What about the building? Brother Eric, have you ever sold an invisible house? When you get somebody that buys, I won't in on that gig, right? Because I've got some invisible property you can put them on. No, you go and you see a building, right? And then you purchase that building. He builds buildings. What about a bride? I don't want an invisible bride. I don't want a bride that I cannot see. Lisa didn't go to all the trouble of dressing up that day, fixing herself up with makeup to be invisible at our wedding. As a matter of fact, she did it because she was the center of the wedding, right? The doors opened up. She walked in and what happened? Nobody stood when I walked into the room. But guess what? When she walked in the room, everybody stood. Everybody turned their attention on her. She was visible. She was there. And she was presented before us. And so he says he makes that statement, Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What is he referring to here? He's talking about this idea of the gospel message. You and I as a church, as an assembly, have been told to what? Go into all the world and make disciples. Baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have committed you. And so the church, the assembly has to be local. It has to be visible. But the third thing is it has to be organized. It has to be organized. What do you mean? Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15. If I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the what? Church? I didn't put it there. But the assembly of the living God. The pillar and ground of truth. And so what Paul is writing to Timothy that guess what? An assembly can't just happen. If an assembly just comes together and we're not organized and we don't have a purpose and we don't have a function and you know what we're doing? We're just hanging out. And you know what? My dad used to tell me as a teenager when I told him I'm going over here to hang out. You don't need to hang out. Hanging out is when you get into trouble, right? Grandma used to say idle hands are the devil's workshop. You don't hang out. You've got to have a purpose. And so mom and dad would let me go. But I had to say, here's where we're meeting. Here's what we're doing. This thing is organized. It's not something that just a bunch of us teenagers are getting together on the riverbank because nothing is going to good that's going to happen there. And so he says, I'm telling you, I'm writing these things so that you will know how to behave in the building, in the house of God, in the place that God has built, which is the assembly of the living God that is there. Titus 1.5, again, a pastoral epistle. He says, For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I have appointed them. Again, our metaphors. A body must be organized. In other words, my body is made up of flesh, bones, tendons, cartilages, blood vessels, all of organs, all of this in my body has to be proper and organized in order for my body to be living. If anything gets out of messed up or out of kilter, what happens? My body begins to die. And so what about a building? A building has to be fitted together from lumber, bricks, nails, concrete, on and on. Everything has a purpose and everything has to be put in the right place in order for the building to stand and to be put together and to be utilized. And then the bride. God ordered marriage at the home. Marriage places a woman under the God-given rules and subjection to her husband. We saw that in Ephesians 5. Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord. There's a hierarchy there. There's an organization. There's an order that comes about. 2 Corinthians 11 says, For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. The church has to be local. It has to be visible. It has to be organized. And the third thing, it has to be constituted. And what do I mean by constituted? Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons. The church is made up of those that have, first of all, repented from dead works and had faith toward God. Then comes baptism. Then comes laying on of hands. Then comes resurrection. Then comes the judgment. That is the layout of the Christian life. That's what he's talking to. That is the basics. He tells us in Acts 2.41, Then they that gladly receive the Word of God. That is salvation. Justification that we've been looking at. And then he says, were baptized or immersed in the same day they were added unto them. That's church membership. Who are the them? The church that was gathered at Jerusalem. Remember, Jesus Christ said, go to Jerusalem and wait until you receive the Holy Spirit. And there was 3,000 that was added to that membership that day. You see the organization? They had a role. They had how many? You go back to that first church there in Jerusalem and it says they were gathered in the upper room, 120. And so then there was 3,000 added to that. So guess what? As of day one after the coming of the Holy Spirit, not at the forming of the church, because the church was formed on the seashores of Galilee when we did what? He assembled with His disciples. Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. And when they attached their selves to Him, the church began then. And the empowerment of the church happened when Christ was gone and the Holy Spirit came. And Titus 3, verse 10. He says, A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject. Reject. Again, organization. There's rules. There's things that are laid out in the church. 2 Thessalonians 3.6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. They are a brother. That means they're saved, right? They're saved, but however, they're not walking after Christ. They're not being sanctified. And so he tells the church at Thessalonica to withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he has received of us. In other words, that walks not after the Word of God. At that time, the Word of God was being written, but now it has been finished. We also find in 2 Thessalonians 3.14, and if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. So again, you come back to our metaphors of a body. All those you can take certain artificial devices in our day and time, and they may be fitted to take the place of certain organs. They are always alien. They are not a part of you. They are something that is different. And if you remove it, guess what? Your body dies. And so there still has to be an organization that is there. What about a building? A builder has to have proper materials placed in the proper place in order for that building to function. There has to be some organization. If you started building the trusses for a house before you did the foundation, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. You're going to waste a lot of money and a lot of time. And so there has to be an organization in a building. Guess what? There has to be a constitution in the bride. Not everyone can be a bride. A bride has to be a female. A bride can't be a male. No matter what our culture and our times say, a bride has to be a female. A bride has to be unmarried. We don't have polygamy. In order to be a spouse, you have to be unmarried. And a bride also has to be willing to do what? To attach herself to her husband. She has to consent. Me and Lisa, before we got married, I had to propose. And when I proposed to her, she had the option of saying yes or no. She said yes. She was a female. She said yes. And she was unmarried. And so guess what? We're married and now she is my wife. She is my bride. And so let's take it, not the literal definition, but now let's take what we understand about this assembly and let's formulate a definition of cynics about what is the New Testament church. A New Testament church is an assembly. We started there. Who is going to be assembled? Can anybody just assemble and call themselves a church? No, we have a lot today that are doing that. And that's what the author of Hebrews is addressing. It's all of these false ideas and stuff. He says we need to get back to the principle. Now I can't go and have a gathering at my house even and all of a sudden call it a church because it's not a church. A church is an assembly of baptized believers that are organized to carry out the Lord's work. In other words, we have decided as an assembly that we assemble Sunday mornings at 1045 for our worship service. We have determined that we assemble on Sunday nights at six o'clock, on Wednesday nights at 630. The purpose of these assemblies is not just to hang out, not just to go, but they are organized to carry out the Lord's work. That is the purpose. We are here on Sunday morning to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Sunday night we are to equip you, to teach you at each level just a little bit deeper and a little bit more for you to be able to fulfill the job that God has called you to do. And so there has to be an assembly of baptized believers organized to carry out the Lord's work. In our present day, this idea of a universal, invisible church is destroying the true church. And because it is destroying the true church, it is leading away a lot of lazy Christians who are not putting in the time as Paul told Timothy to study to show thyself approved unto God. A workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And because of that, there's a lot of damage because of the false teachings on the church. What are some of the damage that's being done? First of all, it destroys the loyalty to one's church and assembly. We can just go wherever we want to. I can go down to Sharon and I'm at church and I can go down to Holland's Chapel and be at church and I can go here and go there and be in church, then guess what? I have no loyalty to any one assembly. And so therefore, it's almost kind of like being a donor of your body. Just, well, my arms want to go over here this week. It's my legs going over there next week. And so there's no organization. There's no constitution to it. It destroys the loyalty. It also promotes church hopping. See, if I'm not accountable to people, which is what we are, we voted as a membership, as an assembly of Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church, that what? We will assemble at 1045 on Sunday morning. And so if I don't believe in the local New Testament church, well, it doesn't matter where I assemble. I can assemble on Facebook Live. I can assemble down here. I can assemble there. And so what happens? We have people that are bouncing around everywhere because we don't believe in a local, visible, organized, constituted assembly. It also promotes substitute organizations to do the work of the churches. We have more than ever organizations and ministries that are doing the work of the gospel outside of the church. The responsibility is ours. It's us as a church to meet the needs of our community in our area. This is even crept into our own work. Our own work. When we went to the state association a couple of months ago, we actually have churches that are putting men on the mission field to do mission work to other people and other organizations within their own community. It's not their ministry. It's the ministry of the church. It's our responsibility. These food pantries that people are doing. They're doing good things, but that's the responsibility of the church. We're to meet the needs of our people. And so, man, we've got all of these organizations and all of these ministries that are doing the work of what a church is supposed to do. That's why when we have a missionary, when we do anything, it is sponsored where? By the church. Because the church, as we're going to get into next week, is where the authority lies. It also promotes compromise. All this interdenominational groups which bring doctrinal compromises. If you are not doctrinally sound in salvation and justification, and repentance from dead works and faith toward God, you will be wrong when it comes to sanctification and the authority of the church. And what we are seeing is, as well, we're all trying to go to the same place. We're all trying to do the same thing, so we ought to be accepted. No, Paul said, if they preach another gospel, don't have anything to do with them, even in the present. And so, man, there's so many compromises today because we just all want to get along. But if we're universal and invisible, then guess what? We can do that. We can all get along. But unfortunately, we're not universal and invisible. And so therefore, we have to deal and not make compromises. It also erodes scriptural church discipline, as we've already mentioned. And I showed the authority and accountability of the New Testament church in our society today. And so it releases Christians from church related responsibilities. And I think the reason that we have a lot of church members that are not doing is because we've got this idea that the church is universal. It's invisible. And if it's universal and invisible, then my work and my hands and my needed within that congregation is not really that necessary. So loyalty and consistency are big losers. It releases us from these responsibilities. And folks, we need to embrace the teaching of the first oracles of the doctrine of Christ. His present work in that every true New Testament church is the body of Christ in that particular location with Christ as its head. If you remember back in Ephesians, there is one body, one spirit, even as you are called into one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace, the gift according to the measure of the gift of Christ in order to carry out the ministry. And so we are all put together in this process. And so how do we distinguish the church? How do we? Because when you read the Scriptures and stuff, yes, what about those that are saved that are not a part of the church? And if we're not very careful, we get into this, that your salvation and the church are the same. They're not. People can be saved and not be a member of the church. You remember the thief on the cross? Was he ever baptized? Was Jesus ever able to lay hands on him? No, but what did Jesus Christ say? Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. In other words, He was saved. He was going to be with God, but He was never a part of the church. And so when we look at this and we understand this real quickly in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, and we're going back and hopefully I'm pulling a lot of things that we went through Ephesians back together as we look at this doctrine in this study, because this middle section has to do with ecclesiology, which is a big fancy word for the study of the church. The first section, the past, has to do with soteriology, the study of salvation. But now it has to do with the church. And look at what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5. For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. He mentions there, who is Paul writing to in Ephesus? The church at Ephesus. That's why I went back and read chapter 1 this morning as our deal. He is writing to a church. But what does he say? He says there is no whoremonger, no unclean person, no covetous man, no idolater, who hath inheritance into the what? The kingdom of Christ and of God. And so when you think about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is the rule of God because in order to be a kingdom, you have to have a king, right? And so you have a king who is ruling in the hearts of the subject's believers. We talked about the kingdom of God. You remember when I went through Matthew, when Jesus' first sermon? We started with John the Baptist who came on the scene and what did he say? Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. They presented Jesus Christ as what? The king of kings. When he died, you remember what he told Pilate? Pilate said, are you really a king? And he said, you don't have to worry about your kingdom. Pilate said, you don't have to worry about me coming to your kingdom. I'm not a kingdom of this world. I'm a king in God's kingdom, in Christ's kingdom. And so when we think about that, the New Testament church is a visible, audible, tangible manifestation of the invisible, inaudible, intangible kingdom. In other words, here's the Scripture I want you to write down and look at this. Do you remember? All of us remember Peter, right? And he says, and I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now, what does keys represent? Authority, appointment, right? I have a key to my house. My wife has a key to the house. My son has it. These are the only ones that have the authority to go into my house, right? The keys have to do with authority. You can't get in if you don't have the keys. So he says, I give unto thee the keys of what? The kingdom of heaven. And so the authority of the church, the key of the church is to make decisions and matters concerning the kingdom of heaven and its subjects. In other words, what we're talking about, if you go on there in Matthew chapter 18, it says, and again, that verse that we read a while ago, if you neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. So this key is the gospel. When we look at the gospel, who has he entrusted the authority of the gospel? To the church. He's entrusted that. When Jesus Christ was here establishing the kingdom of God, who had the authority of the kingdom? Jesus Christ. But when Jesus Christ bodily resurrected to heaven, then guess what? He took that authority with him. There is no authority left here. But whose authority is it? We do have it because Jesus Christ gave it to Peter and to the church. And he said, I give you the authority and that authority is for the gospel message. You and I have the responsibility of sharing the gospel. You and I have the responsibility of issuing that call, that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And how shall they hear? Except what a preacher goes and tells him. God has entrusted you with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're going to look at that more in detail tonight, so I encourage you to tune in. But as the church, we have been appointed this authority of the gospel. And notice what he said. Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. In other words, every single New Testament church is unique. Every single New Testament church is divinely established and authorized as a recruiting agency for the kingdom of heaven. The church is the local, physical body of Jesus Christ in this area as we go. And so let me give you a couple of differences. The differences, and this is where this universal idea is because we have a misunderstanding of the kingdom of God and the church. The kingdom of God is universal. Anybody. What did John say? John says, Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Anybody that wanted to was able to get into the kingdom of God. But guess what? There's a whole other baptism and authority to get into the church. You can be. Anybody can be saved, but only those that have been baptized and had their hands laid on them can be in the church. We'll see that in the next two weeks. But I'm laying a foundation. The New Testament church is local. Kingdom of God is universal. The New Testament church is local. The kingdom of God is one. There's only one kingdom of God. There's only one kingdom of heaven. It's one. But guess what? How many New Testament churches are there? Many, many. They're spread all over the world. But every one of them is what? Visible. The kingdom of God is invisible. Remember the message, the Sermon on the Mount? Blessed are what? Not the rich. Not what we could see, but the spiritual aspect. The poor in spirit. The merciful. All of these things that deal with because it's invisible. You can't see the kingdom. Nobody has seen the kingdom of heaven. But what did Jesus Christ? Remember my favorite passage of Scripture for comfort in John 14. What did he say? In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be in the midst of me also. And Thomas said what? I believe you're a king and I believe you have a kingdom. But I've never seen. Where can I see this kingdom? How do I know about this kingdom? And Jesus Christ said what? If you see me, you've seen the Father. You've seen my kingdom. You've seen the kingdom of God. Because God, Jesus Christ worked under the authority of God, His entire ministry. The kingdom of God is entered through regeneration. In other words, it was a confession of their sins. The New Testament church is entered through baptism, immersion by water. The kingdom of God, all members are saved. In the New Testament church, some members are saved. Not everyone on our church role is saved. Jesus Christ gave the parable of the wheat and tares. You remember the wheat and tares? He's referring to the church. In the church, there's wheat, there's Christians, those that have been saved and are bringing fruit. But guess what? Also in the church, there's tares. There's people that haven't been saved. But he said it's not the church's responsibility to sort that out. You know what? The church's responsibility is we have authority over the gospel. All I can do when I baptize someone into the church, what do I say? By the authority invested in me by Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church upon what? Your profession on the faith. By the fact that you have heard the gospel and you say you have responded to the gospel, then that's all I can take and therefore, I'm going to baptize you. But guess what? Not everybody that I baptize is saved. God's going to sort that out later. And so everybody that's in the kingdom of God, though, guess what? Is saved. But not everyone in the church. Now, also another thing that's here. The kingdom of God membership is permanent. You cannot lose it. Our membership into a church is not permanent. You can move it. You can lose it because of discipline. And so it's not a permanent membership. We're not this unique club that anybody and everybody can come to. The New Testament church membership may be moved. The kingdom of God has absolutely no officers. When you look at the kingdom of God, who are the officers? Only Jesus Christ, the King. That's it. Now, in the New Testament church, though, guess what? There's two offices. There's the office of the pastor. There's the office of the deacons. The kingdom of God has no ordinances. Ordinances. There's no ordinances. Matter of fact, as before Jesus Christ ascended, turning over the responsibility to the church and the authority of the church. What did he say about the ordinance? He showed his disciples as the church. But what he says, I will not do it again until I do it with you in eternity. Because it's this transition that's taken place in the book of Acts. The New Testament church has two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. And so I encourage you to, in our discipleship stuff stuff that I put up this week, I encourage you to go and look at the present ministry of Jesus Christ. Tonight, what we're going to look at is we're going to have these three metaphors and we're going to see how do all of them relate to Jesus Christ? Being local, visible, organized, and constituted. And so we're going to see that and it's going to tie all together tonight. But here's the question. If Christ has given the church the authority for the keys of the gospel, he has entrusted us with the gospel, it is our responsibility. Where is Jesus Christ? He is seated at the right hand of the Father, right? Ever-living to make intercession on our behalf. What does he mean by intercession? When we come into problems, when we get stumped with carrying out the gospel of Jesus Christ about whether our lives, whether our knowledge, or whatever, guess what? I can go to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ will help me to be able to open up the doors to share the gospel. And so if God has given us the authority over the gospel, there's a lot of room for them today but it's the church actually fulfilling their authority with gospel. Or are they, as they're doing in the book of Hebrews, and arguing over everything and spin haters that the gospel of Jesus Christ is being neglected? And because it is being neglected, what does it say going to the very next verse in chapter 6? Because of their neglect, because of their laziness and their slothfulness, you are going to turn back to Judaism. And they were geeks. And once you've been saved and a part of Christ, you can't go back. You can't lose it. You can step out from the authority of the gospel. You can step out to where you're not a witness. And 1 John tells us that there is that scene from the death of that individual. And so let's bring it from the church to the individual. What are you doing for the gospel of Jesus Christ? There's absolutely nothing else that matters if we are a local body, if we are a local building, and we are a local bride, then what are people seeing and hearing about the gospel of Jesus Christ through us? See, it's not just me. It's all of us make up the body. All of us, we're going to look at that tonight. All of us are bricks in the building. We've been there for a lot of those times. We're being built up. All of us are in that bride that was buried. And so what are you doing for the gospel? At this point, I'm going to have a verse of invitation. See, you were saved. You repented from your dead works. You had faith toward God. And so now, what are you doing in the present for the gospel that has been given to you? And guess what? The last section that we're going to finish up on has to do with eschatology in the service end times. And you know what he says? You know, talk about the great white bronze judgment day. He talks about the judgment seat of Christ. You know, when you came before the judgment seat of Christ, you know, we've heard this over and over. We're going to be judged not according to our sins, but the lessons taken care of in our past. We've repented of our dead works and had faith toward God. Our sins are black and white and everything we've ever done before. So what am I going to judge for? He said, there's going to be good works that are going to go in full with gracious stones. There's going to be good works that are going to be good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good,