1. Jesus Christ and His Church | The One True Church

this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory we're beginning a study today of the one true church the one true church the subtitle for our study is a study of the Church of Christ in the New Testament a study of the Church of Christ in the New Testament lesson one is entitled Jesus Christ and His Church Jesus Christ in His Church my name is rod Reuther ffred and i will be your teacher in this study together the text of the Bible that we will be using is the New King James Version this is a very accurate translation of the scriptures and yet it's in modern English and we hope that you will have a copy of that to assist you in your study there will be many scripture references in these lessons you will find that the references sometimes will be read other times they will be quoted sometimes we will not mention them on-screen but you have them in your notes so that you can study them yourself as you have time and as you have opportunity now as we begin let us look at the religious world in which we live there are many different churches in the world today these churches all teach different doctrines they wear different names they worship in different ways and yet all these churches or denominations claim to be following Jesus Christ many sincere seekers after truth are confused because of the many different denominations I remember when we lived in Africa years ago that as I would go about teaching the Word of God the question that I was asked more often than any other was why are there so many different churches the African people would reason very correctly there is one god there's one Savior Jesus Christ there's one book the Bible then why are there so many different churches should there not also be simply one church and these people of course were reasoning correctly back in the 1970s a man by the name of David Barron completed a monumental work called the world Christian encyclopedia this book involves several years of research with hundreds of assistants in different parts of the world it is a most comprehensive study of the different denominations that has ever been done mr. Merritt for example found that in Africa there are more than 5,000 different denominations that are unique to the African continent that is they're only found in Africa they're not found in any other place in the world in my home country the United States of America mr. Barrett pointed out there were two thousand and fifty different denominations this was in the 1970s I'm sure the number is greater than that today now we ask the question are all these different denominations or these different churches right is it true that one church is as good as another it was very common when I was growing up to hear preachers and other religious people try to justify religious division by saying well really all churches lead to heaven one is just as good as another I remember a song that was popular when I was a boy that said you go to your church and I'll go to mine but let's walk along together Billy Graham the famous evangelist on one occasion was asked how does one choose a church how can one choose the church that is best for him to attend and mr. Graham replied well choosing a church is like choosing a hat the color that you like may not be the one that I like and the size that fits you may not fit me so you choose a hat that you like that fits you and I will choose one that I liked and it fits me and therefore choosing a church is just the same way you find the church that suits you best and I'll find the one that suits me best well that may sound very appealing to the ears of people but you know really that's not according to what the Bible has to say in 1st Corinthians 14 and ver 33 we read that God is not the author of confusion surely we can see with all these thousands of different churches today teaching different things that there is great confusion but God is not responsible for that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself on the very night that he was betrayed prayed that all believers in him would be united in John chapter 17 jesus said after he had prayed for his apostles I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe on me through their word that they may all be one as you Father are in me and I in you that they may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me notice Jesus prayed that all who believe in him would be one that is united not in different denominations but United in one church surely if our Lord prayed for it it is possible and notice our Lord said that they may believe that you sent me or that the world may believe it is essential for us to have unity in the faith in order to take the gospel to the whole world unity friends is possible if we base it upon the Word of God we must go to the Bible to find the ones returns and by going to the Word of God we can indeed find the Church of Christ we must test everything by the Word of God in the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah said to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 20 and gees are the Apostle Paul himself said in 1st Thessalonians 5:21 that we are to test all things and hold fast that which is good we must accept Jesus Christ as our authority our only authority in religion do you remember before Jesus ascended to Evon he told his apostles all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth Matthew 28 and verse 18 he said to the people of his day why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Luke chapter 6 and verse 46 in John verse our chapter 14 and verse 15 jesus said if you love me you will keep my Commandments in chapter 15 and verse 14 of John he said you are my friends if you do the things which I commends you in Acts chapter 2 and verse 36 Peter concluded his sermon on Pentecost by saying let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made Jesus this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ as Lord he has the right to demand obedience and we must obey in Colossians chapter 3 in verse 17 the Apostle Paul wrote whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God the Father through him and finally in Hebrews chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 we read concerning Christ that though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered and having been made perfect or having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him Jesus Christ is the authority the new testament is his word and it's - the new testament we must go in order to find a church of christ but as we approach our study of the New Testament we're going to learn that Christ and his church cannot be separated Christ and his church cannot be separated there are those today who want Christ but they do not want the church there are religious teachers today who will tell us that the church really doesn't matter as long as one believes in Christ and has Christ he doesn't need to worry about the church just accept Jesus says your personal Savior they say and then you can join the Church of your choice but friends that's not true according to the Bible Christ and His Church are bound together one cannot have the church without Christ nor can one have Christ without the church notice these statements from the Bible that indicate that first of all Christ is the head the church is his body Christ is the head the church is his body now you see me standing before you on the screen a human being just as you and I have as you do one head and one body now my body some have told me is big enough for two but it's still only one one head and one body if you were to cut my head off my body would die but so would my head the head cannot live apart from the body nor the body apart from the head well the Bible tells us that Christ is the head and the church is his body in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 22 and 23 the Apostle Paul is speaking of the things that God has done for Christ and he says he has put all things under his feet and given him to be head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all now notice that the church is his body Christ and his body the church cannot be separated secondly Christ is the king the church is his kingdom Christ is the king the church is his kingdom in Matthew chapter 16 verses 18 and 19 jesus promised to build his church and then in the very same breath he spoke of the kingdom of heaven he was using these two terms interchangeably if one is a citizen of a kingdom he has a king he whole owes allegiance to that king and not to any other the king and the kingdom go together and then the Bible teaches that Christ is the bridegroom and the church is his bride Christ is the bridegroom and the church is his bride this figures used often in the scriptures and second Corinthians 11:1 into revelation 19:7 in revelation 22:17 a man and his wife become one in marriage they become one they are united and you cannot separate them and the marriage remain intact and so Christ and his church his bride cannot be separated further the Bible presents Christ as the shepherd and the church is his flock Christ is the shepherd and the church is his flock in John chapter 10 and verse 11 Jesus says I am The Good Shepherd in 1st Peter chapter 5 the first five verses the Apostle Peter is speaking of the church and the responsibilities of elders and he tells the elders that they are to shepherd the flock of God and then a little bit later he says when the chief Shepherd shall appear and that chief Shepherd refers to Jesus Christ the Shepherd and his flock and go together unless one has a flock he cannot be a shepherd and a flock cannot exist without a shepherd to look after them then the Bible teaches that Christ is the owner and the church is his possession it was bought with his precious blood Christ is the owner the church is his possession Paul was speaking to the elders of Ephesus when he told them take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the Church of God notice which he purchased with his own blood the church was bought with the blood of Christ now when people tell us the church is not important they're saying that Christ shed his blood for something which was not important I do not believe that and I hope that you do not believe it either then the Bible says that Christ is the builder the church is his building we've already referred to Matthew 16 verse 18 where Jesus promised I will build my church in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 9 the Apostle Paul is discussing the role of Ministers or preachers in the work of God he said we are God's fellow workers and then he goes on to say you are God's field you are God's building Christ is the builder the church is his building friends the Bible clearly teaches that one cannot be in Christ without being in his church you see when you are saved when you obey the gospel by that very means the Lord adds you to the church some years ago when we lived in Australia a man wrote a letter to us he said I've studied the Bible and I know I need to be immersed for remission of sins and I understand that you people teach that and so I want you to come and baptize me but he said I want you to know from the beginning I do not intend to be a member of the Church of Christ or any other Church I just want to be baptized well we wrote back to this man and we tried to explain to him his misunderstanding and help him see where he was wrong we pointed out to him that on Pentecost day when Peter preached the gospel and men were cut to the heart and cried out what shall we do they were told to be baptized for the remission of sins and they that gladly received the word were baptized and then the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved you see when you obey the gospel when you're baptized scripturally you are thereby added by the Lord to the church it is impossible to be saved without being a part of the church which is the body of the saint furthermore we read in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ now notice all spiritual blessings are in Christ but we ask the question how does one get into cross and the answer is found in Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 and 27 for you all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ now notice all spiritual blessings are in Christ they're not any spiritual blessings to be found in Buddha or Muhammad or anyone else they're all in Christ but how do we get into Christ we are baptized into Christ but further notice in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13 for by one spirit were we all baptized into one body what is the one body well we've already learned the body is the church and so we're baptized into the church we're baptized into Christ were baptized into the church now friends are not two baptisms there's but one baptism according to Ephesians 4 and verse 5 but it means that the act of being baptized that puts us into Christ also puts us into his body the church if one is in Christ is in the church and if he's in the church he is in Christ and that is where all spiritual blessings are further the Bible teaches that Christ is the Saviour the church is the saved Christ is the savior the church is the saved I want us to notice in acts 2 and verse 47 concerning those who obeyed the gospel on Pentecost day and those who continued to be taught and to obey we read that those who were being saved were added to the church daily and so when you're saved you're added to the church in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 23 we read for the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ as a head of the church now notice this and he is the savior of the body Christ is the savior of the body but what is the body the body is the church what church are we talking about the only one mentioned in the New Testament the Church of Jesus Christ the one that he bought we his own blood in fact in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16 we read that we are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ in the body and of course that body is the church in Acts chapter 8 we have an interesting account of Philip preaching in Samaria Acts 8 and verse 5 tells us that Philip went down to Samaria and preached unto them Christ Philip preached Christ now if we want to know what it means to preach Christ we can read on in that account and we will learn what it means we find that from Philip each Christ he preached the kingdom which is the church and he preached the authority of Jesus Christ notice in acts 8 and verse 12 we read but when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ both men and women were baptized friends if you preach Christ you must preach the kingdom the kingdom is the church therefore to preach Christ involves preaching his church the Church of Christ it involves obviously preaching the plan of salvation because when Philip preached Christ these men and women knew that they needed to be baptized I had a teacher years ago when I was in college who apparently did not understand this fact and I remember he repeatedly emphasized to us the students in the classes who were preparing to preach now he said boys when you go out to preach don't preach the church that's churchianity you preach Christ we're to preach Christianity well I was ignorant I must admit in those days I shouldn't have been but I was and I accepted what the man had to say for time because I had a high respect for him but the more I studied the Scriptures the more I realized how wrong this man is when one preaches Christ and His Church he is truly preaching Christianity one cannot preach Christ otherwise friends we need to see to that the church is a part of God's eternal purpose the church is part of God's eternal purpose there are two very common but mistaken views concerning the church today two very common but mistaken views one view says that Jesus was not the Son of God he was a man he was a good man a great man a great teacher he was very much like Mohammad or Buddha or any of the great philosophers who lived his teaching was certainly worth considering and following and so after he was killed by the Romans his followers in order to see that his teaching continued simply organized the church they organized the church to perpetuate the teachings of Christ now that is simply not true these people completely discounting the Bible record there are others who say that Christ came the first time to establish his kingdom they don't understand that the church in the kingdom are the same they make a difference between them but these are people who are known as premillennialists they believe that Jesus is going to establish an earthly Kingdom and they say that when he came the first time he came for the purpose of establishing that Kingdom but because the Jews rejected him he was unsuccessful in doing so and so he had to return back to heaven and when he comes the next time he's going to establish his kingdom well friends if he failed before what is to keep him from failing again you know I don't believe our Lord is a failure and I don't believe that he came to the earth and couldn't do what he wanted to accomplish just because he was rejected by people in fact the Bible clearly teaches at the time that he came was the time that had been clearly set forth by the Old Testament prophets the Apostle Paul spoke of the first coming of Christ when he said but when the fullness of the times was come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law that he might redeem those that were under the law that we might receive the adoption as that's galatians chapter 4 verses 4 & 5 and so these two views concerning the church are just as wrong as wrong can be in fact the bible teaches that the church was a part of god's plan to save man from the very beginning in revelation 13 and verse 8 christ is referred to as the Lamb of God which was slain from the foundation of the world and in the book of Ephesians chapter 3 beginning in verse 8 the Apostle Paul emphasizes God's eternal purpose to save man and as he does he points out that the church was a part of God's eternal purpose notice to me Who am less than the least of all the saints this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all see what is the Fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ - the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God made might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord when Jesus came into the world and lived and died it was a part of the plan of God from the very foundation of the world it was a part of the eternal purpose of God and notice that is through the church that the wisdom of God is to be made known therefore the church is a part of the eternal purpose of God it's not an afterthought it is not something that the followers of Jesus decided they would put together after his death just to keep his teachings alive but it was a part of God's eternal purpose now let's notice another very important point and that is that Christ's Church the Church of Christ that we're talking about the church that we read about in the New Testament is not a denomination this is very for us to understand Christchurch is not a denomination the word Church in the New Testament is used in only two senses the word Church when it's referring to the saved in the New Testament is used in only two senses keep this very clearly in mind this is very important the two senses in which the word church is used are number one the universal sense and number two the local sense the universal sense and the local sense now by the universal sense we mean that when the church is spoken of in this way it refers to all the saved people all over the world it does not differentiate between those in a certain locality with those in a different one when Jesus said in Matthew 16 and verse 18 upon this rock I will build my church he was speaking of the body of the saved in all the world in Ephesians 1:22 and 23 when we read that he is a head over the church which is his body it's speaking of the universal Church the universal church is made up of all true Christians everywhere all the saved in all the world but when the church is used in the local sense it simply refers to a specific congregation or assembly of Christians in a geographic locality today I'm recording at world video Bible School in the state of Texas and the church that I attended yesterday the church with which these brethren are associated is the beauty Kyle Church of Christ there are a number of other congregations in this area Churches of Christ they're all a part of the universal Church but they refer they have a specific assembly in a specific locality to worship and work and serve the Lord in the New Testament the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and he addressed his letter in first Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 2 unto the Church of God which is at Corinth he's using the church there in the sense of the local church when Paul wrote the Thessalonians he addressed it to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that is he was not writing to the universal Church specifically but to a specific congregation now in only these two senses is the word Church in reference to the saved used in the New Testament in the universal sense and in the local sense and the context of a passage will help us clearly to see which is meant whether the church as a whole in all the world are one particular congregation of Ian now let's look at denominations we've pointed out that there are literally thousands of different denominations in the world teaching different doctrines wearing different names and worshiping in different ways and denomination is not the universal Church and they themselves members of denominations admit that their concept of the church is this they say the church is the vine and denominations are simply branches in the vine now when they say this they have reference to the book of John chapter 15 they're in chapter 15 verse 5 Christ said I am the vine you are the branches Christ is the vine all who are Christians are branches in Christ Christ was not talking about denominationalism we do not read of any kind of vine in the New Testament that is the church made up of many denominations as branches that is completely foreign completely unknown in the New Testament and so the denomination is not the universal Church but by their own claim they're only a part of the universal Church yet a denomination is not a local church because all denominations are made up of different local churches so denomination is smaller than the universal Church but it is larger than the local Church a denomination simply does not exist in the New Testament in the New Testament the word church in reference to the saved re is used in the universal sense and in the local sense Ana nomination is not the universal Church by their own admission nor are they merely a local church because they're made up of many local churches therefore friends the word church is never used in the New Testament in a denominational sense denominations exist without scriptural Authority denominations were originated by men you can go to the pages of history and you can learn when various denominations began the Roman Catholic Church was the first of all the denominations it grew out of the New Testament church when the New Testament church went into apostasy in the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century most denominations had their beginning or at least this was the beginning of a modern Protestant denomination ilysm the Lutheran Church was the first of these out of that Reformation and then we had the Presbyterian and Reformed churches and later the Baptist Church the Church of England the Methodist Church and many others since that time you can learn when they began in history but any church that began later than that church that Jesus established cannot be the Church of Christ there's but one church which is made up of all the saved in all the world the one through Church of Christ is not a denomination the one through Church of Christ is not a denomination it is wrong to refer to it as an anomaly here people say people who are members of the one true church they will say well in the Church of Christ and the other denominations that's implying the Lord's Church is a denomination that is wrong the Lord's Church is the universal Church composed of all the saved and all the world it's made up of many churches which meet in Vaes places around the world now today in our study we have begun our search for the one true church we've pointed out that there is a great deal of confusion in the religious world but God is not the author of this confusion the confusion is caused because men have not been content to follow the Bible but have followed their own ways and have originated literally thousands of different religious bodies which are known as denominations as a result of this people are confused and many people turn away from Christianity altogether this is very sad indeed it said especially in light of the fact that the Lord Himself prayed that all who believe in him would be one and we can be one if we follow the New Testament without deviation without addition or without subtraction can we find the one true church today yes indeed we can we can find it by going to the Word of God I grew up on a farm and I learned some lessons very early in life from living on a farm I learned of the laws of sowing and reaping laws that are stated in the Bible I learned a principle that is written in Genesis chapter 1 when God first created all things that is that each thing would bring forth after its kind I learned that if I planted potatoes if anything grew it would be potatoes it wouldn't be beans or it wouldn't be cucumbers or onions or something else each produces after its kind well you know there is a spiritual counterpart to this physical counterpart there is a spiritual law which is equal to the physical law just as in the physical realm each thing brings after it's cut forth after its kind potatoes produce potatoes and beans produce means and onions produce onions and so on the same is also true spiritually and if one wants to produce the New Testament church today he has simply to sow the seed what is the seed of the church it is the Word of God in Luke chapter 8 and verse 11 jesus said the parables this the seed is the word of God I remember reading some years ago in archaeology about a discovery that was made in ancient Egypt or made in Egypt as archaeologists were digging in the early part of this century trying to uncover the treasures of the great Egyptian civilization of the past they opened a tomb of one of the Pharaohs that was 3,000 years old this tomb had been sealed very tightly and no air had come in in any way and therefore nearly everything that was put in it was almost perfectly preserved but they found in that tomb of that Pharaoh a man who had lived 3,000 years before they found wheat the seed of wheat and it was in a perfect state of preservation William Jennings Bryan was a famous American Statesman the world traveler and he happened to be in Egypt at this time and he was given some of this wheat seed now Mr Bryan brought it with him back to the United States he lived in the state of Nebraska where a lot of wheat is grown he planted some of that wheat on his farm in Nebraska and it grew and produced a crop and the crop that it produced the harvest that came from it was exactly the same as the harvest that that same type of seed produced in ancient Egypt 3,000 years before now friends we have the New Testament the word of God the New Testament is nearly 2,000 years old but the New Testament is the seed of the kingdom we can take this same seed of the kingdom today and we can go anywhere in the world America Africa Asia Australia the islands of the sea wherever we go if we preach the simple truth of the New Testament that is if we plant the seed of the kingdom in good and honest hearts it will produce today what it produced in the very first century it will produce today what had produced in the time of the Apostles when they went out to preach the gospel and Men responded to their inspired preaching by believing in Jesus Christ and obeying his gospel and thereby being added by the Lord to his church it will produce simply the Church of Christ the one true church the only church that we read about in the Word of God today we have enjoyed this particular study with you this morning this is but the beginning of our search for the one true church we will continue our study in another lesson soon we hope that you will want to study this subject diligently because really there's no subject that is any more important that pertains more closely to our eternal salvation than the study of Christ and His Church this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory

Channel: World Video Bible School (WVBS)

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Keywords: WVBS, World Video Bible School, true church, biblical church, Jesus' church, Christ's church, Bible church, God's church, Bible denominations, why so many churches, choosing right church, finding true church

Id: NOJs7LLXjIU

Length: 38min 0sec (2280 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2019