Thank you so much for being here this evening.
You know, I've got a great privilege in front of me to speak about the Church of Christ.
I want us to take a look at the Church of Christ.
The Bible speaks about it of course where the body of Christ, the family of God, the kingdom of God is referenced as the church of Christ as His bride.
And it goes to the love that Christ has for His church.
And we read about that of course in Ephesians chapter 5 starting with verse 23, husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it.
And he says,
the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the church be, the wives be, to their own husbands and everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it to himself, and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church."
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish." So here the Lord likens the Church of Christ to the Bride of Christ showing His love for
us, His sacrificial love for us, gave Himself for it.
It one thing for a man to love his wife, it is another thing for him to die for her.
That is what Jesus did for His Bride the Church.
So when we talk about the Church of Christ it is a great privilege to talk about something that the Lord loves so much that He gave Himself to bring it into its existence.
And in our talk just now, I'd like to bring out a couple of points.
One has to do with the nature of the church being unique.
When you survey the religious landscape, for example, if you Google something, we talked about what an inaccurate process that might be, but let's say you Google how many churches
are there.
You'll come back with a number that'll knock you out of your socks.
There'll be 45,000 different churches in our world.
Many different names, creeds, practices, purposes, all sorts of things.
calling themselves a church.
But when we come to the New Testament we find out the exclusive nature of the church.
It being the bride of Christ, Jesus has one bride.
Our denominational friends have missed this and they have Christ being one of the greatest adulterers ever lived beyond Solomon with wives.
Forty-five thousand different churches all claiming to be associated with Christ.
Christ has one bride to church, one church, one body.
This is one
22 and 23, the church which is His body.
Jesus said out in His personal ministry to get everybody conditioned to the idea that it's not just any way you're going to do.
You're going to have to please God and do what He wants walking His way.
In Matthew chapter 7 in the great sermon on the mount, Jesus said,
And narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." It won't be the broad way, it will be the straight and narrow way.
Straight meaning difficult.
We hear about straight of hormones lately.
Ever heard anything about that?
Is it narrow enough?
So narrow they can defend it, would it be begun over there right now.
Straight of hormones, straight, narrow.
Narrow is the way that leads to life.
Also in the personal ministry of Jesus, His enemies set out to criticize Him, the Pharisees.
they joined forces with the Herodians on the occasion I have in mind from Matthew chapter 22 and verse 16.
And they trying to tempt Jesus and tangle Him up in His words.
And so they sent the Herodians out to Him and they said to Him, Master.
Now here is what they knew about Jesus.
This is His reputation.
And this coming from His enemies.
Master we know that thou art true.
Jesus claims to be true the way truth in the life John 14 says.
We know that thou art true.
They're not going to say something initially with which he would object, so we know that you're true.
You're claiming to be true.
And teaches the way of God in truth.
The way of God in truth.
Neither carest thou for any man, nor regardest the persons of men.
And then they ask him the difficult questions.
Is it lawful to give honor to Caesar or not?
They knew that Jesus was true, and they knew that he taught the way of truth exclusively.
That's what he was known for doing.
They're not two ways.
certainly not many ways.
Also when you take a look at this way we find Jesus calling attention to it in John chapter 14 where He talks about if somebody tries to come up another way the same as a
thief and a robber, only one way.
Verily, verily I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way the same as the thief and the robber.
The door, there is one door.
Somebody try to make another door, come in another way, set aside a little bit the teaching that we've got here.
and let's all make it to heaven the same as a thief and a robber.
Jesus confronted this during His personal ministry.
He let people know, as I suggested a minute ago in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Each of those points are singular in nature, the way.
There is only one way to heaven and that way is Christ.
There is only one truth that will get us there, and that is the truth that Christ is the Son of God, the Bible is His Word.
There is only one life that can be lived that will be pleasing in the sight of God.
You can't just go your own way.
Isaiah 53, 6, we've all gone our own way.
And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
What's He saying?
You go your own way, it's sin.
That sin is going to fall right back on you.
We've all gone our own way.
But yet Jesus comes along and says there is one way.
I am the way.
Interested in eternal life, we look exclusively to Jesus Christ and the way.
turn to the book of Acts the methodology and teaching of Christ consists of the way and is referred to as the way.
He said, the way.
A way is of course a path to get one to a destination.
It is also a method of doing something.
Jesus is the way.
He is both the path and the method of getting there.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 2 and verse 21 that Jesus said as an example that we should follow in
steps.
He is the way.
And people understood and realized that in the historical book of Acts, in Acts chapter 9.
As discussion begins in Acts chapter 9, while Saul is yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, he went to the high priest.
Here's what he desired, that if there are any of them of this way, I want letters from the high priest, I want to go to Damascus.
I want to there persecute those who are following this way, whether they men or women, that they might be bound and brought to Jerusalem." He knew His prey.
He knew that they follow a certain way.
They are going to do certain things, certain ways because He had observed that on the part of these Christians.
For example, they are going be doing just like you and me are doing today, meeting on the first day of the week to take the Lord's Supper, Acts 20 verse 7.
they're gonna be saying like brother glenn's been leading us in saying feces five nineteen you can enter a meeting they might have a meeting a lot of people meet some made on the
first day of the week but it might be a lot of the meeting they're taking up money to buy children some glasses or something he wouldn't go into a meeting like that they're not
saying he wouldn't see them preaching christ he would know the characteristics of the way it could be identified to the extent that he could go in and persecute them
And with a letter of approval, he's got the indictment in his hand.
All he needs to do is find somebody that qualifies to be in this way and he can bring them captive back to Jerusalem.
And you know the punishment that they were undergoing there as Acts chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 readily describe.
Also you'll remember as you move through the book of Acts in Acts 16 verse 17, Paul and Silas are here at Philippi.
And as they enter into the city there is a young girl possessed with a spirit of divination.
She knew things.
things.
She had a demon.
And when she sees Paul and Silas she gives a true statement.
She says, �These men are servants of the Most High God,� well that was true, �who show unto us the way of salvation.� Now may be surprised that demons would know that, but the
Bible tells us James 1 and 19 the devils also believe in temple.
They knew that Paul and Silas were those who taught the way of salvation even as they did.
There's an interesting reading also in Acts chapter 18 about a man who's mighty in the Scriptures, Apollos.
You know you learn and you study and you can always learn.
And Apollos described as mighty in the Scriptures had a lesson he needed to learn.
And he ran into Priscilla and Aquila and they drew him aside.
All he knew about was the baptism of John.
Now the baptism of John was unto repentance.
It was acknowledging that yes Christ is coming.
And he was teaching the baptism of repentance.
It was for the remission of sins, Mark 1-4.
Some people don't realize that, but it was.
And even our Lord Jesus Christ was baptizing with that baptism which was for the remission of sins, John 4-2, and He made and baptized more disciples than John.
Jesus was baptizing.
John was baptizing.
Apollos was influenced by the teaching.
The Church had been established now for many years, and yet what is happening?
Apollos continued to teach the baptism of repentance for the remission sins.
not the baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Matthew chapter 28, 19 and 20, in order to be saved, Mark 16, 16.
But he was teaching the baptism of repentance.
Ananias and Priscilla got him off to the side.
And you know what they did?
Acts 18, 26, they expounded unto him the way of God.
there's a certain way to believe something about baptism.
You've got to have the right way associated with that.
And so they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more perfectly.
So there again you see this way.
It's Jesus' statement, am the way that is echoing through the book of Acts to let us know there's a methodology associated with this.
There's a path connected with this that will get us to heaven if we'll follow it.
That's what they're doing in the book of Acts.
Also in Acts chapter 19 down in verse 9,
Remember those twelve men who didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit who were baptized properly.
And then you will find that they received miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But when divers were hardened, and believe not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated himself, disputing daily in the school of
one Tyrantus.
So there were people when they saw somebody being properly baptized as those twelve men were.
began to create havoc and to be hardened and not to believe.
They spoke evil against that way.
I'm telling you the way is identifiable.
Also, we find in Acts chapter 9 down in verse 23, and the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
Now we're at Ephesus.
At Ephesus they had one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
That was a temple to the goddess Diana.
And there were people who would come there from all over the world to worship that goddess, the goddess of fertility.
I'll just be nice and put it that way.
I think you know what I'm talking about.
They made little statues to her, the silversmiths did.
They earned much money from this temple being there and from the economy built around it.
That is why when Paul is standing up and teaching there are no gods but the Lord God.
And he was teaching that Jesus Christ is the Savior and you must believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
He died, buried and rose again for our salvation.
that went against everything that they knew they were meeting in a big assembly you can see the meeting place in the emphasis to this day of course it's in ruins but it was a
large amphitheater and even today it seats about twenty five thousand people out of the mid-south coliseum it only seat ten thousand when they built the pyramid downtown it only
seat eighteen thousand i don't know what the FedEx forum holds i know out at the liberty bowl you can seat fifty thousand or more out there about half the size of liberty
of these people that are worshippers of Diana.
And Paul wants to go in there and communicate with them and preach the Gospel.
His bread said they would tear you to pieces, we're not letting you go in there.
And so they just by the hardest kept Paul from going into that arena to preach Christ even though it would cost him his life.
There was no small stir about that way.
You know what those people did?
They chanted by the space of two hours.
Great is Diana of the Ephesians for two hours.
I don't know if you could interrupt an NBA basketball game or an NFL football game for two hours.
Somebody chant, we love our team.
That's what they did.
That's how dedicated they were to their false god.
There was no small stir about that way.
Now they didn't want it, and it's shown in the negative, but it underscores the fact that, yes, there was a way.
In Hebrews 10 and verse 25 we learn about this way and again our writer is Paul I think and as he writes here in chapter 10 he tells us something important about it.
says, verse 22, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Gotta have a true heart about what?
Look at verse 20, by a new
and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil that is to say His flesh.
Because there is this new and living way we must have a true heart in full assurance of faith about the way.
When we stand divided today and think that they are saved people in all the denominations in religion no matter what their stripe, no matter what their creed, their system of
belief, their practices in life, this is not drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, it shows the essentiality of baptism into Christ.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that is promised.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." You have in this passage of Scripture not forsaking the assembling of ourselves to gather as the manner of
some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see today approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remain of no more sacrifice.
for sins, but is certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sore punishment suppose ye?
Shall we be thought worthy who have trod and underfoot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith it was sanctified an unholy thing?
For we know him that saith, Vengeance is mine.
I will recompense, I will repay.
It is a fearful thing.
the hands of living God.
The way.
There is one way to heaven that is any planning at all.
Most people, if you want to the truth about it, they think that Christ intended to set up a kingdom here on earth.
And when He was denied that privilege, heaven was embarrassed.
Heaven was without a plan because the kingdom was the plan.
And they had to come up with an auxiliary plan.
And as an afterthought emergency measure they had to come up with the church.
And the Church is in the mind of most people, and I'm not misrepresenting anybody here.
In the mind of most people they believe the Church is simply and only a placeholder until Christ comes back and sets up an earthly kingdom.
95 % of people in the religious world today professing Christianity believe in premillennialism, that the Church is a placeholder until God can set up His kingdom when
Christ comes back.
95 % of the religious world.
And so they don't think the Church is necessary.
They don't think it followed a plan.
They think it was just something heaven very craftily came up with speedily to fill in the gap until we could get Jesus here on earth to be a king.
There are a number of things about that I'd like to talk about, but it extend beyond the limits of our time in this lesson.
You see the Church was planned in Ephesians 3, Under me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, Paul writes.
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath
been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.
To the intent that now, into the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, watch this now, according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
is false idea.
It stands against what the Bible teaches and it stands against the Church of Christ.
The Church of Christ was not an afterthought, it wasn't a byproduct, it wasn't a Plan B.
This passage of Scripture we just read together tells us it was in the mind of God deep in eternity past and brought out in the days of the New Testament that we read about.
So the Church was planned.
The second point to know about the Church is the Church was prophesied.
There are a number of prophecies that we could take a look at that would show that.
But I'll just give a summary statement from Peter in Acts chapter 3 verse 24.
Notice what he says.
He's not going to get them all, but he'll get most of them.
This is Acts chapter 3 verse 24.
He says, "'Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.'" What days are these?
The Church is established in Acts 2.
Jesus is adding the saved to His Church, Acts 2 and verse 47.
He says all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after.
tell you more than that.
Moses himself is a prophet.
Moses says in Deuteronomy 18, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up of your brethren like unto me, him shall ye hearken unto in all that he shall say unto you.
And it will come to pass that whosoever will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.
He's talking about Jesus' cause.
Peter quotes him right here in Acts chapter 3.
And he says all the prophets have foretold of these days.
The church was prophesied.
The Church was being spoken of deep in the recesses of the Old Testament as we said.
And it's important to know that about the Church.
We're talking about the Church of Christ.
We have a beginning date of Acts chapter 2, AD 33.
But the Church is in the mind of God and eternity past is being prophesied by all of the prophets.
You don't understand any of the prophets.
If you don't understand, they're talking about the coming of the Church of Christ.
They foretold of these days.
that you and I now are blessed to see in third place, the Church was promised.
Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18 when He took His disciples up to Caesarea Philippi, He's in the coast of Caesarea Philippi.
That doesn't mean He's along the shore, it means He's up in that region.
And He has His disciples off, like you might go off to a retreat sometime to just sit down and study the Bible, or maybe go to the Church someplace, we'll have a weekend of Bible
study and prayer, to just deliberate over what we know the Bible teaches.
Jesus is doing that with his disciples and he asks them a question, a provocative question.
Whom do men say that I the son of man am?
You've been hearing them, you've been hearing what they have to say about me, they have all kinds of ideas.
Who do men say that I the son of man am?
He's wanting to show them the contrast between who men say he is and between who he actually is.
They say, well some say that thou art John the Baptist, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.
He turns his attention to them, to those men.
whose eyes had seen him, whose ears had heard him, whose bellies had been filled with the food that he made of the loaves and the fishes, who'd marveled at his miracles, who did
you say that I am?
That's an important answer fiction to come about because you and I have faith based on what these men saw and heard.
They answer, Peter answers, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus says to him, blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter.
And upon this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of hell, or Hades, shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Jesus promised to build His church.
You notice the serious thing.
the gates of Hades.
He's talking about death.
Death won't stop it.
That's the fundamental part of man's salvation, the death burial and resurrection of Christ.
I'm going to build my church, Jesus is saying, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
He promised to build it.
When God raised him up from the dead the third day, and he became the first begotten from the dead, Acts chapter 13, verse 33,
Jesus Christ set out to build His Church and the means were available.
And we will be saved if we keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He
was buried and He was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 3.
Jesus promised to build His Church.
This morning we discussed some about how that would take place with Christ returning to heaven, sending the Holy Spirit to the Apostles to guide them into all truth.
We saw just for a minute how Peter stood on the first Pentecost after the resurrection with the 11th and declared unto them the resurrection of Jesus Christ in harmony with Old
Testament prophecy.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, he hath shed forth this which you now see and hear.
For David is not ascended into the Hadean realm, David is not ascended rather into heaven.
But the Lord saith himself, The Lord said to my Lord, thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore, that all the house of Israel know assuredly, That God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified, Both Lord and Christ.
When they heard this, they were pricked, Or cut in their hearts, And cried out, And said, Men and brethren, What shall we do?
They are told what to do by Peter, Repent and be baptized for remission of sins.
They gladly received his word, And Jesus adds them to the church before we leave the chapter.
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Jesus promised to build His church at the preaching of the gospel the first public time.
He added 3,000 people to His church.
He built His church.
He promised it.
He can fulfill His promises.
He established it, Acts chapter 2, AD 33.
So the church is promised by our Lord.
And then also, it's important for us to see that in the early years the church was preached.
In Acts chapter 22, this is an interesting reading in Acts 22 because you remember this is that time where Paul had been arrested.
They thought he was trofim of the Egyptian who led a group out into the wilderness, about thousand men.
They thought they'd captured the insurrectionists and Paul makes a statement to his captor, could I speak to these people?
And he's surprised that he's speaking Greek.
He thought he was going be speaking Egyptian.
And Paul is allowed to turn and speak to the nation of Israel.
And the Bible tells us in Acts 22 verse 1 that he speaks to them in the Hebrew tongue.
When they heard that he spoke Hebrew they kept them more silent.
And then he begins to tell who he is and to tell about his conversion to Christ.
You know I think this is probably one of the high points in Paul's life.
I know from Romans chapter 9 he said he would give himself if Israel could be saved.
I love everybody.
But I've studied what the Bible says about hell.
And I don't want to lose my opportunity to go to heaven for anybody.
Paul was willing to give his life, trade his soul if his people could be saved.
There's the real heart of a leader, ladies and gentlemen.
That's why all of you elders, all you deacons, all you preachers, all the faithful members are striving to do better, to rise to meet the challenge of leaving God's people because
it is a serious challenge that is personally demanding.
And Paul showed that when he said, I would give myself.
physical abuse.
and now he has the chance to speak to the people and preach the gospel to them.
What does he say in Acts 22 and verse 4?
He says, persecuted this way unto the dead, binding and delivering unto prison both men and women.
The way is what he's talking to them about.
You people need to be following this way.
I persecuted this way, even unto the dead.
I put people to death for following this way, for worshiping on the first day of week, for singing without instrumental music accompanying them, for taking the Lord's Supper.
preaching and listening to gospel preaching, forgiving of their means, for praying.
I persecuted this way to death he's saying.
He knew what he was talking about.
The gospel, the Church of Christ was preached.
Also you can see just by flipping over to the next chapter in chapter 24 verse 14 and verse 24 when Paul is on trial.
All of this results in his trial as you know.
And in Acts chapter 24 verse 14 he says, But I confess unto thee, he's before Felix.
after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, and believe all things written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, as they
themselves allow that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust." Paul makes the statement here, "'I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers.' They may call it heresy, but there is a way to worship God, and if all the world calls it heresy it doesn't alter or change that way.
I'm going to walk in it."
no matter what the cost.
Also then in verse 24 of the chapter it says, certain days when Felix with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jew, sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
That's what he listening to about, the faith that is in Christ.
The way and the faith are equated, one and the same.
So the way, the Church of Christ was preached.
Paul certainly preached about it in Romans 16, 16 when he finishes that great treatise.
Wonderful discussion telling about all men need the gospel in the opening chapters of the book, all of sin that comes short of the glory of God.
Talking about justification by faith in chapter 4.
Telling them in chapter 6 how to obey the form of doctrine delivered to them and being then made free from sin that became servants of righteousness.
Following that discussion all the way through the book, coming to chapter 16 and verse 16, he closes it out by saying, the churches of Christ salute.
The Church of Christ was preached in the first century.
Also the Church was purchased.
In Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 Paul tells the Ephesian elders as he meets with them on the shores of Miletus, he says, therefore in discussing with them their responsibility and
their need to be preaching and teaching.
Acts chapter 20 and verse 28.
I don't hear anybody snoring so I'm going keep on.
Take heed therefore to yourselves and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God, watch this, which he hath purchased with his own
blood.
Did you know the Church of Christ is purchased?
It's bought and paid for.
Do know the price of the blood of Christ?
Identify and relate to what Marshall Keeble said.
Had anybody else said it, would have just as valuable.
But I think it's even more valuable for a man who established 350 congregations through the south and fitted all of them with gospel preachers, baptized 45,000 people and made
this observation.
The Church of Christ is bought and paid for.
It's the only one paid for.
All these other churches, the mortgage is out on them.
And one day the Lord is going to come back and He's going to foreclose on all those mortgages.
Only the Church of Christ bought and paid for with the blood of Christ.
So the Church is purchased.
And then finally,
the church is populated.
The church is populated with the saved.
We already saw that in Acts chapter 2 verse 47.
Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
With whom is the church populated?
The saved.
No one is saved outside the church.
It answers the question, is the church essential?
Yes.
Is the church of Christ essential?
Yes.
Why?
Because all of the saved are in it.
You certainly can't demonstrate from the Scripture that there is a single saved person outside the Church of Christ, but you have no trouble doing as I've just done to show that
all the saved are in the Church of Christ.
Why not be in the Church of Christ?
A reviewing of the list for your edification then.
The Church of Christ was planned, it was prophesied, it was promised, it was preached, it was purchased, and it is still being populated today with the saved.
What does that mean?
Jesus said, unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and hard and you shall find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
The gospel invitation is for all.
We've seen a couple of times today in Mark 16, 15, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth in his baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
the Church of the Bible.
I heard Franklin Camp say one time on a tape that there's not a denominational preacher anywhere who wouldn't give his right arm if he could find the name of his church in the
Bible.
You've got the name of the Church of Christ in the Bible, Romans 16, 16.
We are privileged to know that we're doing what the Bible teaches and we have the privilege of proclaiming what the Bible proclaims to a lost and dying
Some of us have been members of the Church of Christ for many decades and proudly so.
Some of us are not even obeying the Gospel yet, but the opportunity is yours.
Today is the day of salvation.
We learn that in 2 Corinthians 6 in verse 2.
In order for us to be saved, to be added to the Church, we need to hear what Jesus had to say.
Jesus said, if you believe not that I am He, you will die in your sins.
John 8, 24.
Jesus said, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 13, 3.
Jesus said, whosoever shall confess me before men, will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Whosoever denies me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
And Jesus said, he that believeth in his baptism shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
That's what Jesus said about it.
I think what Jesus said in each of those cases is fair.
I think he is being fair.
he's letting you know you can believe or not believe that's with you but if you don't believe here's what's going to happen you're going to be lost you can repent of your sins
or not you can continue conveniently and enjoyably in all of your sins if you want to but if you do you're going to be lost you're going to perish no mistaken about it no uncertain
terms connected with you can choose not to confess me and i'll be happy to deny you before the father that's fair
Why should he confess us before God?
And we don't have what it takes in this old world to confess Him.
Jesus said that those who are ashamed of Him in this sinful and adulterous generation, of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with His
mighty angels, Mark 8 and verse 38.
If I'm ashamed of Him now and don't have the courage that it takes for me to confess Christ, He's going be ashamed of me there.
And Jesus said, ìHe that believeth in is baptized, shall be saved.î Heís telling you what to do to be saved.
Somebody says, ìI donít believe that.
I never believe that.
I donít believe you have to be baptized to be saved.î He said, ìHe that believeth not shall be damned.î Iím telling you, itís fair.
You know right where you stand with the Lord.
If youíre not being baptized into Christ, I hope youíre not content to stand away from Him.
He purchased the Church with His blood and He places all the saved in it.
And guess what?
Itís the Church Heís going to take home to glory after a while.
The Church of Christ will be saved.
All those who remain faithful in the Lord's Body will be saved.
What a wonderful thought it is that if I continue faithfully unto death, I'll have the crown of life.
Ladies and gentlemen, you surprised me this afternoon.
I thought surely I'd see people back there in the back in the drop zone, see somebody nodding or somebody scooting over behind somebody kind of hiding because they're sleeping.
Everybody's just listening.
I appreciate it so much.
You've done well.
You get an A-plus as a listening audience.
I hope I've done pretty fair in communicating the Gospel of Christ to you about the Church of Christ.
It's a privilege to get to talk about this.
I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
It's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1 and 16.
If you're not ashamed of the Gospel and you haven't been baptized into Christ, why don't you do that now?
If you're a member of the Church and maybe you've not been acting like it,
Maybe you've been hiding from folks, not wanting them to know you're a member of the church because you know right from wrong, you know what's moral, you know what's immoral,
and you've just been quiet about letting it circle around your life.
And you need to do as Peter suggested to Simon, repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of that heart may be forgiven thee.
Acts chapter 8 verse 22.
If you will do that and confess that wrong, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He will cleanse us.
all unrighteousness when we as Christians repent and return to Him.
This is Heaven's invitation coming from Christ, Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 to 30.
If you want to be subject to it and answer it today, never a better time than now.
Let me tell you something, you don't know that you got tomorrow.
I could stand here before you and for the next 15 or 20 minutes tell you about people who thought they had tomorrow and they didn't have tonight.
Won't you come while we stand as we sing.