How to Recognize a Real Church, Part 1 (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur

it was a couple of weeks ago that we did some question-and-answer sessions I did with Austin Duncan and we talked about the church and we've had a lot of discussions about the church what the church is in the life of the church through the years here at Grace Church fact we we go back to the very very beginning the first sermon I ever preached her in February 9th 1969 my first Sunday was addressed that who really belongs in the church who is really and genuinely and truly a part of the church that's that's where we started and it has always been a very important part of the emphasis of all of our ministry and our teaching here to make sure that we understand the nature of the church and the function of the church what the church is which is to say that the church is not a building the church is not an institution or an association when we talk about the church we're going to use that word that we talked about a few weeks ago at Colette oh the the called out one's a church is a gathering of those who have been called by God to salvation to redemption to adoption to conversion to justification and ultimately to glorification so when I talk about the church I'm talking about the people who make up the church not the building not the institution of the church not a denomination not a particular theology not a particularly thing people who are the church how are we to understand the church and how is the church to function so I think that we've been looking so much into the Old Testament at the person of Christ and now in the Gospel of John that we have covered so much of that and you could never exhaust that subject but I think it's maybe time to turn the corner a little bit and over the next weeks I want to talk to you about how you need to understand the church the Church of Jesus Christ I was listening to a radio program years ago Christian radio station and somebody called in it was one of those talk programs and said what do I look for in a church what do I look for in a church and I turned up the volume because I wanted to hear the answer and the answer was and I wrote it down you look for fellowship caring and sharing that's most important fellowship caring and sharing that's most important you might find that in a bar you you might find that in a club you might find that in a thousand sociological associations and events that's not the right answer how do you choose a church some people would be pretty superficial about it there was a study done a number of years ago that said the most important thing that a church does to attract people is to provide parking parking was number one number two was nursery and I kept reading looking for pastor but he didn't appear until number six or so there were all these things that people assumed were the important aspects style comfort music air-conditioning friendliness what are you looking for in a church and what should a church be well that is a question that has very clear biblical answers but just to give you sort of a basic answer and this would be ecclesiology 101 there's really only one issue how do those people who gather together handle scripture that's the issue how do they handle the Word of God what do they believe about the Bible what do they believe the Bible teaches how does the Bible inform their living and their preaching and their teaching I suppose it could be summed up by the psalmist in psalm 119 161 who said my heart stands in awe of your word my heart stands in awe of your word the the purest demonstration of the true church is that it is this assembly of people who are in awe of the Word of God in the language of Isaiah 66 they tremble at his word among those who are the architects of stylistic ministry today it's very popular to say that the traditional church has failed that's a very common thing to hear one of my friends recently wrote a little article on that sort of pointing it out that the church is indicted repeatedly today as a failure the church has failed and they say the church has failed look at the world that's evidence of the church's failure look at America and its moral decline and it's abandoning of Scripture and there's very little question that we're we're on a path and it kind of goes like this eliminate the Bible that's step one eliminate the Bible out of the public discourse out of everything step two then is reverse morality do what Isaiah 5 says turn bitter into sweet-sweet into bitter light into dark dark into light good into bad bad into good and now the crime is not to affirm homosexuality not to affirm immorality flip morality on its head the third step is demand tolerance demand tolerance the fourth step is intolerance of those who are not tolerant in the fifth step is persecution and we're fast moving toward that last step of persecution you look at the world around you and people are saying look this is where we are the church is about to be persecuted that's how far we've gone and that's an evidence of the church's failure church has failed look at the state of the nations look at the state of the planet the church has failed and so the church has to change its strategies we're told but the truth is this the church can only fail in one way it can only fail in one way if it has failed it has failed in one way it has failed to be biblical that is the only way the church can fail if the church is faithful to the Word of God it cannot fail it cannot fail if the church lives and proclaims the Word of God it does not fail it cannot fail because God accomplishes his purpose through his word he saves through his word he sanctifies through his word he provides grace through his word there's only one way the church can fail and that's to fail to be biblical it isn't a question of failing in its strategies it isn't a question of failing to connect with the culture it's not failing in its marketing if the church has failed it has failed in one way it has failed to be biblical and frankly there are many so-called churches who have really failed to be biblical there's only one way to do ministry right and that's to do it biblically years ago I read a book and shared this many years ago a book by Alexander Calandra this is a book on mathematics you know preachers are desperate enough to even read a book on mathematics because there are some good illustrations there he's he was a professor at the University of our Washington University actually in st. Louis Missouri a very fine university taught math and Alexander Calandra wrote a book on some of his experiences as a math teacher he wrote about a fellow professor who had a class an upper division class in math and he gave an exam and the the exam only had one question just one this was the question show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the use of a barometer did you get it show how it is possible to tell the height of a tall building with the use of a barometer students spent the hour writing their answer and one answer stood out to this student who gave this answer he gave us zero here was his answer take the barometer to the top of the building tie it to a long rope lower the barometer all the way to the ground measure the length of the rope and you have the height of the building with the use of a barometer since that demonstrated no competency in physics and you wouldn't want to put a student like that out with the illusion that he knew what he was doing he gave him a zero the student asked if he could have a second opportunity and so the professor reluctantly said you can have a second opportunity you have 6 minutes after 5 minutes the student had written nothing the professor looked at him and said you give up he said no I just have many answers I'm trying to figure out which would be the one you would like the best he quickly wrote take the barometer to the roof leaning over the edge dropped the barometer time it's fall with a stopwatch using s equals one-half at the power of two and calculate the height this just infuriated the professor even more he said you have others oh yes he said go out on a sunny day measure the shadow of the barometer measure the shadow of the building by simple proportional calculation you can determine the height of the building because you know the height of the barometer but professor here's one you'd like even better go in the building at the ground floor take a barometer put it on the wall go up the stairs mark off a pencil mark go all the way to the top come back down can every mark and you have the height of the building in barometer units but he said sir here is the best answer the best answer go to the basement knock on the door of the building superintendent say to him if you tell me how tall this building is I will give you this beautiful barometer and sometimes when I look at the life of the church I see people doing that you say what is the answer what is the answer the answer has to do with the difference in air pressure there is a right answer there is a scientific answer to the use of the barometer and there's a lot of similar foolishness going on demonstrating incompetency as to the nature of the church and the life of the church following a biblical pattern there's a right way for the church to function there's one right way for the church to function and that right way has been revealed to us through the laws and principles of holy scripture everything in the life of the church must conform to sound theology sound doctrine and biblical truth New Testament truth frames the church as it does every other area of theology it eliminates these identity crises it eliminates all these novel substitute answers that demonstrate no real competency and no real bowing to Authority that student by the way was a rebel he was tampering with the authority of his professor and there are many who do similar things tampering with the authority of the Lord of the church himself coming up with their own schemes rather than doing what God has ordained the church is the kingdom of heaven the church is the spiritual realm ruled by King Jesus the the church is the fellowship the communion of all the souls to whom the Holy Spirit has given eternal life the church belongs to Christ the life of the church is under the rule of King Jesus he is the head of the church we'll talk about that maybe next week a little bit or the week after so as a pastor I am compelled and confined by the theology of the church by what the Bible says about the church the Bible exercises all controls over the life of the church the Bible has all authority over all ministry all preaching all discipleship all evangelism all mission efforts and to be honest with you I am completely indifferent to cultural expectations I am totally indifferent I am disinterested in cultural expectations I am indifferent to pragmatic strategies I have no interest in surveys polls I'm not curious about the desires of unregenerate people as to what they would like the church to be and nor am I particularly interested in the whims of the carnal and the immature who would want to define the church in a way that entertains them there's really only one reality that compels me and compels any faithful leader in the church and that is what does the king command me as his slave to do on his behalf in his kingdom because this is his kingdom Paul says it is required of stewards and this is a stewardship that a man be found faithful faithful faithful assumes simply being compliant submissive and obedient to what I have been given from God to do being a pastor or being an elder leader in the church places me immediately under Christ who is the great Shepherd as Peter calls him and I'm simply an under shepherd carrying out his orders as revealed in Scripture I love the church my life is the church there are other things that I do they're secondary to shepherding the flock of God to being a part of the church I can never leave the church I could never do something else other than this when I have been asked to do something else to step out of being a pastor and and go do some other ministry as some kind of ministry executive or ministry leader or itinerant teacher or preacher the answer is always immediate and complete and absolute and it is know I cannot leave the church the church is the only institution that our Lord ever built and promised to bless the church is his and that's all that is his all the people of God in the world today are a part of the church this is his body the function of the kingdom the functions of the kingdom all take place in the life of the church everything that God has ordained for his people takes place in the communion of the church in the Fellowship of the church through the gifts and ministries of the people of God who make up the church the church is the only way to Shepherd God's people it is the flock of God it can write books I can do conferences I can go here and go there and speak here and speak there I can be on the radio I can be on television all those things are are sort of alongside the church to help believers in in other places but those other resources come alongside to help strengthen the church but anyone who is called into ministry is called to the church anyone who is called the Shepherd is called Shepard the church the flock of God to watch for their souls as one who must give an account Hebrews 13 says we have to feed and lead and prepare to feed and prepare to lead and were accountable for that and all the rewards in a real sense all the genuine rewards the the the great riches of ministry are basically enjoyed in the church in the church it is in the church that we see the power of the word at work over the long period of time it is in the church that we see people sanctified I can write a book I can preach on the radio and I can meet somebody who tells me what that meant to them but I I only know the lives of the people I live with in the church and I can see the sanctifying work and I can taste the fruit of the Ministry of the word and the work of the Spirit in their lives I'm both afraid not to be faithful to my king to my lord to the head of the church and at the same time I am delighted and glad to be faithful I'm afraid not to be faithful and I'm joyful to be faithful I want to avoid his displeasure for sure but I also want to enjoy his favor and that's that's the course for the church the whole goal of leadership in the church is to conform the people of God to the Word of God and the greatest model of that is Christ himself so to be used by God to be an agent by which the word is brought to bear on the people of God to form them into the image of Christ that's what the ministry is about and this ministry in the church is driven by the supremacy of preaching and teaching that's the heart of it all preach the word teach the word you have given to the church evangelists teaching pastors in either case they are proclaiming the truth they are teaching the gospel the truth teachers preachers feed the flock of God feed them the Word of God preach the word in season out of season you know all of those injunctions so when we think about the church and I'm just giving you sort of a broad look at it when we think about the church this is what we're talking about what we're talking about that assembly of people who live under the authority of the word of God who live under a clear understanding of the word of God brought to them by faithful leaders and teachers who proclaim these truths and who support their claims and their proclamation by the way they live I could never be content outside the church I could never be fulfilled outside the church the church is my life the church is where I live and move and have my being as does every believer that's why we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together that's why as we read in Hebrews 10 we come together to stimulate one another to love and good works and all the more as we see the day the day of our Lord's return approaching now if we want to get a biblical definition to start with let me take you to Matthew 16 because this is the first place in the New Testament where church is mentioned and in verse 18 you have this statement by our Lord I will build my church I will build my church that's the first time in the New Testament we come to the word church I will build my church he's not talking about buildings he's not talking about organizations institutions programs strategies he's talking about people people I will build my church I will build my church the possessive pronoun my church is a reminder that church does not belong to us it is His Church it belongs to him in acts 20 we are reminded that God purchased the church with his own blood we have been redeemed Peter says not with corruptible things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ the lamb without blemish and without spot so at immense cost the Lord has paid the price for his church and he is building his church the only question that I ever asked is what does the Lord of the church ask of me to serve him in the building of his church now with that introduction of the church in Matthew 16 we we draw ourselves into this little section of scripture and I want to show you some wonderful foundational truths that are here I think it was about 6 or 7 years ago that I went through it was 2007 or 2006 that I went through this passage with the the men who are at the Shepherd's conference and it is it is that definitive passage to help you understand what constitutes a true church there are a number of things and I'll give you a handful of them probably not all of them tonight we'll just kind of keep this going over to next Sunday night as well here are the essentials that define a church number one a church is a collection of redeemed people who make a great confession just put down a great confession a great confession let's pick it up at verse 13 Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi and he was asking his disciples who do people say that the Son of Man is and they said some say John the Baptist and others Elijah still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets but he said to them who do you say that I am that is the question that the church the true Church answers correctly okay the church is first and foremost defined by its Christology by its Christology who do you say that I am Peter answers and he answered not only for himself but the rest of those believing disciples you're the Christ the Messiah the Son of the Living God that's who you are now we know from Scripture that Jesus also is presented as the corner boom Paul says that first Corinthians 3 Jesus is the foundation Peter says he's the cornerstone the church is built on him he is the foundation 1st Corinthians 3 no one can build on any other foundation again Ephesians 2 Christ is the foundation stone the cornerstone so the first and essential and definitive characteristic of the true church is that it has a biblical view of Jesus Christ it has the right view of Jesus Christ it is not a superficial view it is not a sentimental view of Jesus it is not a view of Jesus that he is some prophet and nothing more such as the Liberals have it is the true view of Christ if anybody preaches another Christ let him be anathema let him be cursed if anybody preaches another gospel let him be cursed it's this is Paul if anybody comes to you with anything other than than the true Christ second John don't even listen to him he is in grave error everything starts at Christology now let me back up a little bit in verse 13 says areia Philippi is a town on the north border of the Lebanese border of the Land of Israel it originally was known as Panay as' it was changed to Caesarea Philippi to honor Caesar Pinilla swooz its original name from the Greek god Pan you've heard a pan flutes the the little God who plays the flute was the god Pan it was a center actually of Greek and an Roman life it was a center of idolatry there were idols all over the place from the Greek era and with the arrival of Caesar there was a temple built there to the God Augustus Caesar and the town was renamed in honor of Caesar it was the place in Israel where the cultures of the non-jewish religions of the world had come to meet there were Jews there but it was on the northern border and so it had orbed all the paganism of past generations it was the right place to clarify the nature of salvation the nature of the church and the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ it is in that environment an environment of idolatry that our Lord asks the question who do people say the Son of Man is and to that there are answers John the Baptist Elijah Jeremiah one of the prophets that would be coming from the Jewish people who do you say that I am and they affirm in verse 16 that he is the Messiah the Son of the Living God The Anointed One the promised Redeemer that he is deity that he is humanity this is the confession that establishes the true church if that confession is not made then you don't have a true Church you don't have true believing people the church is not a group of people who need emotion motivational talk it is not a group of unbelievers who like the music it is not a collection of unsaved people who need help for their addictions it is not people who want to feel spirituality who want to experience spirituality it is not a collection of people who want to go through mindless rituals and traditions it is it is an assembly of those who make this great confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to spread it a little bit Romans 10 who believed in him who believed God raised him from the dead and who confess Jesus as Lord it is that assembly of people who believe in his name John 20:31 and therefore have eternal life and early him that was obviously sung in the church gives us insight into this if you'll look with me into Paul's epistles I'll take you to his letter to Timothy and in first Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15 and we read this about the church the church is the household of God it's the family of God it is a family in the sense that we've all been born into it we've all been regenerated it is the Church of the Living God it is the pillar and support of the truth so those are all wonderful instructive references to the church as the family of God by regeneration as the Church of the Living God that is possessing the very life of God as the pillar and support of the truth those who have come to the truth believed the truth embraced the truth hear the truth proclaimed the truth but verse 16 then adds this this collection of people who make up the household of God who possess the very life of God who possess the truth of God have a common confession they have a common confession homology - without disagreement without disagreement they all say the same thing leguminous Leggero to say hum o the same they all say the same thing all believers all who make up the true church have a common confession and what is that common confession but that Jesus is God in the flesh he is Lord he is Redeemer he is king that is u n-- animus and that confession comes into him in verse 16 6 third-person singular Erised verbs in the original Greek it is laid out as as a poem with rhythm and parallels and the subject is Christ he who that is Christ he who was revealed in the flesh that's the Incarnation the manifestation of the Colonel son of God in human flesh was vindicated in the spirit that vindication is des cailloux which is the word righteous who was righteous or was justified in the spirit you remember that he had yielded himself up to the power of the Holy Spirit through whom his righteousness was demonstrated and made manifest he was observed by angels at his birth at his temptation at his resurrection proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world taken up to glory his ascension this is the common confession we believe in Christ as God revealed in human flesh as demonstrably righteous through the Holy Spirit as attended by angels throughout his life from his birth to his resurrection as the one proclaimed in the gospel among the nations and for salvation believed on in the world the one taken up to glory this is our confession his deity his incarnation his virgin birth his holiness the affirmation and approval of God is attested by angels preached by the Apostles preached by the prophets believed on by sinners taken to glory to be placed at the Father's right hand this is not a sentimental view of Jesus this is not the Jesus of the sentimentalists this is not the Jesus of the prosperity preachers this is not the Jesus of the the mystics this is not the Jesus of those who say Jesus is your genie and you can call on him to create your world any way you want it this is the Jesus of Scripture the church is a gathering of people who believe in him and say with Peter you are the Christ and with Thomas my Lord and my god and again with Peter to whom shall we go you and you alone the words of eternal life a church is a gathering of people then who make this common confession about Christ from the Incarnation to the glorification of Christ and everything in between we are known by the accuracy and the faithfulness of our Christology of our belief in Christ and I would say that's probably pretty obvious to all of you that if there's anything that defines Grace Community Church it is our preoccupation with Christ is that not true we never get very far from exalting him we sing about him we pray and again the worship him we preach about him whether it's the Gospels of the Old Testament wherever it is or the epistles of the New Testament we are always Christ focused and our view of Christ is completely informed by and confined by the revelation of holy scripture so foundational to the life of the church putting the church on a solid footing the church is an assembly of people who make this great confession that's a church a gathering of unbelievers sprinkled with Christians is a gathering of unbelievers sprinkled with Christians it's not an assembly of the church there are people today who do everything we can to gather unbelievers and they call it a church somebody said to me one of those kinds of places is called a Grace Church does it bother you that they call it grace I said no it bothers me that they call it Church it's not a church I'm not against having an outreach to unbelievers I'm certainly for that but that's not the church you need to be part of the church that's where you live your life that's where you find your accountability your strength that's where you minister on our minister to that's where you grow that's where you serve that's where you find comfort that's where you share joy now secondly and there's another foundation here in this passage back to Matthew 16 there's another foundational reality here let's call it the great communication the great communication there is the great confession which defines the church and there is the great communication I'm trying to do a little alliteration so you kind of have something to hang on to verse 17 jesus said to him Peter after his confession on behalf of all the other believing disciples he said you're the Christ the Son of the Living God jesus said to him blessed are you simon barjona I mean son of John or son of Jonas his father's name because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven what is the great communication that defines the church we go back to kind of where we started the church has communication from God and what is that communication it is none other than Holy Scripture none other than Holy Scripture Peters confession came because God had revealed the truth in fact that's exactly what it says here flesh and blood did not Apocalypto disclose uncover make known reveal this to you this you know we don't get our orders from man the true church isn't led by the Pope the true church isn't led by Cardinals a College of Cardinals the true church isn't led by any kind of Magisterial group of men the true church isn't led by one man where the true church is not led by Joseph Smith true church is not led by judge Rutherford a true church is not led by a woman Mary Baker Eddy such as the Christian Science movement is true church is not led by any human it's not flesh and blood are ours is a revelation from our Father who is in heaven the church requires the word to come down from heaven the Blessed Word of God this is the great communication it's all we have that's all we need it's all we want I suppose you can come on a Sunday and I could figure out a way to read the phone book and make it interesting wouldn't be life-changing I suppose I could read a very insightful book on human psychology nobody would be transformed by it although there would be some level of curiosity it would be sort of like imitating Oprah we don't do that we don't do that we open the one divine source of Revelation the Bible and we hear from God the divine communicator verse 18 says I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it this is a very familiar statement that has long been a staple in the Roman Catholic system they say this is where the Lord made Peter the first pope of course that's not at all what it says you are Peter and there's a kind of a tone of you're not really very important you're just Peter you're not holy father Peter you're just Peter you're just Peter but upon this rock I will build my church you are Peter stone but upon this rock bed different word I will build my church well what is the rock bed upon which he will build his church I believe it is the affirmation of Peter that you are the Christ the Son of the Living God the church is not built on the supremacy of Peter it is not built on her it is built on the revelation from God which Peter believed okay it is built on the revelation from God which Peter believed the church is the gathering of people who are subject to the power and authority of the revelation of God we are the people who are subject to the power and authority of the revelation of God the Lord builds his church on the authority of His divine revelation and there is so much authority in that revelation verse 19 says that I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven now just exactly what is that saying I'll give you the keys to the kingdom what do keys do they open well what is the Ministry of the church what is the mandate of the church the mandate of the church is to open the door to the kingdom and invite sinners in I'm going to give you the key to open the door to the kingdom what is the key the key is the scripture the scripture gives all necessary truth about entrance into the kingdom I'm going to give you the truth that opens the door of the kingdom and you then can go out and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven now does that give does that give some kind of some kind of independent authority to us to pastors did it to Peter no no he's saying this whenever you function with the Word of God you function in harmony with heaven that's the point whenever you say to someone and this is rabbinic language you're bound in your sins because they have rejected the gospel heaven agrees when you say to someone you're loosed from your sins because they've received the gospel heaven agrees as long as you are faithful to the Word of God you operate with the full authority of heaven if a person comes up and says to me I don't believe your message I don't believe the gospel you preach I can say to that person with full authority you are bound in your sin and you will perish if someone comes to me and says I believe with all my heart I've turned from my sin and fully embraced Christ I don't know the divine transaction I can't read minds but on the basis of that testimony and evidence of a transformed life such as we heard in Baptism I can say to that person you are loosed from your sins I have the right to affirm the authority of Scripture this is our great communication this is all we have this is all we need and this is all we want this is why you come this is why you listen because you love the truth when anybody departs from the great communication the divine revelation he's in trouble verse 23 Peter suggested that this was a bad plan Jesus dying no no Lord this isn't going to happen to you that's a departure from Scripture he turned and said to Peter get behind me what Satan when you deviate from Scripture you have just landed in Satan's domain you've just taken up his cause when anybody departs from the revelation which is the will of God he takes the side of the enemy of God the side of Satan but the church making a great confession and the church coming under the authority of the great communication the revelation of God is in vincible go back verse 18 I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it death itself can't stop it nothing can stop it and so I say what I said at the very beginning if the church fails it can only fail in one way the only way the church can fail is to fail to submit to the word word of god if the church is faithful to the great confession and the great revelation of Holy Scripture then the Lord will build his church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it the church that is faithful to the great confession and to Holy Scripture is invincible and authoritative this is a declaration that stretches from Peter through the Apostles to whom the the Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and bring everything to their remembrance and he promised them that they would be inspired writers and their associates of holy scripture there is a third element and maybe we have time to talk about this a little bit briefly a church is characterized as a collection of people who are subject to their king who are redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ who have a proper view of him and a proper view of Scripture they come under his authority and they come under the authority of Holy Scripture it is their joy to do so in both cases a great confession a great communication thirdly there's a great contrast there's a great contrast in verse 20 then he warned the disciples they should tell no one that he was the Christ this is so strange he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Messiah having acknowledged the great confession and the great revelation that he is Lord and God and that God has spoken in his word you would think that he would say now go tell everybody this is counterintuitive they are warned the word warned is their serious prohibition tell nobody is this anti evangelism is this sort of is a sort of a momentary kind of instruction that is overruled by the Great Commission what is this here's the problem if they had gone out to tell everyone that Jesus was the Messiah this would have been terribly confusing why because their definition of Messiah was wrong was wrong their definition of Messiah that is the Jewish people was not accurate they had their messianic expectations he would be a man he would be a political leader he would be a military leader he would be powerful he would be a mighty ruler he would gather an army he would destroy their enemies he would liberate them from Roman oppression they did not believe that they needed spiritual salvation they didn't need a savior they didn't need a savior they just needed a deliverer they just needed a great king a great soldier a great general a great provider who could bring a kingdom of peace and tranquility and prosperity and if they the disciples had run out and said well Jesus is the Messiah it would have literally fed into their expectations and so they would have viewed him wrongly in John 18 he says my kingdom is not of this world we can't talk to this people about me being Messiah because their view is wrong Jesus then is saying do not give any impression that I am here to alter human life on this planet politically sociologically militarily economically I'm not my kingdom has no connection to earthly kingdoms it is irrelevant to the kingdom of salvation what happens politically militarily economically nationally the church has no direct role in rearranging sinners into more acceptable life patterns into better economics better social structures that is not what the true church does we have no interest in that we accept and this is important to understand we accept a what the old generations used to call a hybrid composite society we reject a sacral society we reject that we see a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men and that was not always the case not always the case even leading up to the establishment of America every society was a sacral society the way Islam is today every every Society of Islam is one society subject to the rule of Islam and there is no separation Christianity has never been in that respect a part of social experiments and social structure we make a contribution to life by righteous conduct and behavior and love and good deeds and good works and all of that we reject a national religion we reject a sacral Society we understand that we are a part of a hybrid composite society that we are a society within a society you know the Jews actually did understand that that is why so much persecution broke out against them there's a very interesting little book written by PO tourettes called while Jews are liberal and in that book he shows that Europe for years and years and years and years rejected the Jews rejected the Jews anti-semitism flourished long before Nazi Germany long before the explosion of massacres under Stalin and Hitler and the reason the Jews were always rejected was because they never mixed they were always so conformed and confined by their adherence to their traditions and Old Testament patterns and laws that they became a society within a society and that threatened people and eventually it reached the proportions it did under Hitler they understood that historically because God had literally prescribed life for them in such a way that they were unable to to co-mingle well he made every effort to do it now in the reality not in some temporal form not by dietary laws and other prescriptions but on a spiritual level the church is a society within a society and when the society overturns its morality and substitutes immorality for morality when when the society changes the rules we don't go along then when the society cries for tolerance we don't give tolerance we become intolerant and eventually then we become the target of persecution we will always be a society within a society it amazes me on the basis that how much time and money professing Christians and so-called churches have spent trying to manipulate the kingdom of darkness into a more acceptable form we have no connection with the kingdoms of this world a true church is an isolated island we influence the world one person at a time we influence the world by the preaching the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ there are times when we speak against the things the world does we speak against a criminal behavior we speak against abortion we speak against homosexuality against sexual immorality we speak against the parental abuse we speak against the delinquency of children we speak against all those things that the Bible defines a sin we will always do that but we understand that the solution to all those things is not to change the social structure the solution to all those things is to proclaim the gospel individually and through the the pulpits and the means that are given to so a true church then lives with a great confession under the authority of a great communication and in great contrast to the society around it and I think your happen happening to live in a time in our own country when that contrast is more stark than it's ever been in the past it's ever been it's it's definitively more stark how different the true church is then the kingdom of this world in which we find ourselves today there are churches that are trying their best to slide across that chasm and be as much like the world as they can possibly be and they violate this principle they violate this principle and they sellout well that's that's enough for tonight so how do you tell a church it's a gathering of people who confess Christ a gathering of people who submit to the authority of Scripture a gathering of people who understand that they are a holy nation a people for God's own possession as Peter calls them a kingdom within a kingdom a nation within a nation of people within a people who belong to a different King who come under different laws who serve different purposes and only insofar as we can influence our nation for the gospel can we fulfill our mandate in the world now there's more and I'll wait till next time to give that to you father thank you again as we always say for your word it is a reminder every time we look at it of what grace has been bestowed on us manifests to us by giving us scripture giving us the Bible there are no words even to to say to communicate to Express the overwhelming gratitude that we have in our hearts for this word it is true it doesn't need to be defended it is its own defense its clarity its precision its consistency its accuracy is on display every time it is opened we thank you for it thank you for this gathering of people this church the Church of Jesus Christ purchased with his own blood in this place in this little part of the world who make the great confession who come under the great revelation and who live as lights in the world dispelling the darkness a peculiar people a holy nation a people of God's own possession set apart from all those around them living in contrast to the world but confronting that world with the light and with the truth enable us to do that and we'll give you praise and glory amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 483,393

Rating: 4.7852216 out of 5

Keywords: Sin, Christ, Lord, Jesus, Bible, God, Truth, Grace to You, John MacArthur, Gospel, Salvation, Word, Study, Preaching, Pastor, Believe, Prophecy, Ministry, Ministries, Revival, Holy Spirit, Father, Cross, Prophet, Messiah, Christian, Church, Scripture, Faith, Obedience, Denomination, Theology, Function, Preacher, Regenerate, Kingdom, Peter, Build, Confession, Institution, Acts, Redeemed, Lamb, Household, Reveal, Roman Catholicism, Authority, Communication, Contrast, Society, Salvation (Christianity)

Id: HblDVFgkrsw

Length: 56min 52sec (3412 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 04 2013