The Church 2

Christian Church is ecclesiology, and our concern is for what God's

Word reveals to us regarding ecclesiology, the doctrine of the Church of Jesus

Christ.

This may not be a subject that commands our immediate interest or focused attention,

but it is a very important matter, and I really want to underscore that.

Many of the great problems in church history can be attributed to an unbiblical conception and practice

of ecclesiology.

And some of you have related to me your past experiences in churches and some of the problems that you've had to encounter.

And if you assess those rightly, those problems could be traced perhaps to

unbiblical conceptions of the Church and its polity or government,

in other words, ecclesiology.

And so this is very important, it's very practical.

And I would venture to say that some of the things that we'll be affirming and asserting that we believe are

biblical is not going to be understood or accepted or believed by all of us.

But that's okay.

I pray that you would consider carefully attempting to understand what we're saying,

and then in the light of the Holy Scriptures, determine whether what we're saying is true or not.

But I think that we can lay forth a case for all of the assertions we make.

And when there is less certainty about matters, I try and acknowledge that up front.

But these are important matters, and so may the Lord give us grace to see the importance and the truth of this subject.

It has implications for us.

We began our study last week distinguishing between the Universal Church and the Local Church, which is

commonly referred to as the Invisible and the Visible Church.

The Invisible because you can't tell or you can't see new life in somebody except the evidence in the way they

live.

And the Visible Church would be the Local Church.

The Universal Church is comprised of all people redeemed through Jesus Christ.

That itself is not a commonly believed statement.

The Universal Church is not, as many teach, comprised only of those redeemed through Jesus Christ since the day of

Pentecost.

Many people think that's what the Universal Church is.

All people saved from the day of Pentecost until the Second Coming of Christ.

But this is not what the Scriptures teach.

Rather, all of the redeemed of all of history, all who have ever had saving faith,

all who were redeemed by Jesus Christ are a part of the Universal Church.

It includes all those who were redeemed, including Old Testament believers in addition to all New Testament

believers.

But in addition to the Universal Church, the New Testament Scriptures speak of Local Churches.

And whereas the Universal Church of Jesus Christ encompasses all of the redeemed, the institution of

the Local Church occurred, of course, in the early days of the New Testament.

Era.

But it's this subject of the Local Church that we now direct our study.

I want to read Acts 2, or a portion of Acts 2, of the Lord giving great increase to the Local Church at

Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

And this is from the New King James Version of the Bible, Peter's preaching.

And therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having

received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I

make your enemies your footstool.

And therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you

crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,

what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus

Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for

the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will

call.

With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.

And those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls

were added to them.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and

in prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions

and goods, and divided them among all as any one had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and

simplicity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

So we see this great work of God in bringing many people to salvation and causing the

local church here in Jerusalem.

Granted in its infant stages it wasn't fully organized as churches would be later, but

it existed.

There were 120 disciples meeting, but now there were about 3 ,120 at the end of

the day.

A great work of God's grace in bringing salvation to these people.

And so on the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out by

the risen, enthroned Lord Jesus.

The Holy Spirit was indwelling them, and they became a transformed people.

Those who believed the gospel, who had embraced Jesus Christ as the crucified risen Son of David, whom God

the Father had enthroned in heaven, experienced an infusion of spiritual

life and vitality.

Their hearts were knit together in love, and they formed a bond with one another in a local

church in which their common life in Christ was experienced and enjoyed by them.

And so here we see the Lord's blessing upon the first local church described in the scriptures, the church

at Jerusalem.

Now let's consider this matter of the local church.

What does the Bible teach?

What does the New Testament teach?

First let's consider the word, really the Greek word that's translated by the English word

church in the New Testament.

The New Testament, of course, was originally written in Greek.

And when we consider the Greek word that we translate into English as church, it helps us to better define what a church

is before God.

And so probably most of us know or understand that the Greek word for church is the word.

Ecclesia.

The word is a combination of two words.

But you have a preposition joined to the word at the beginning, ecc,

meaning out of.

And it's connected to, not the noun, but rather verb kaleo, an infinitive actually for

you grammarians.

There's always one or two lurking somewhere.

It's not a noun, it's an infinitive.

To call, which means call, it's a verb, an infinitive, call, a verbal noun.

The word for church, therefore, denotes an assembly of called out people.

In the Greek of the New Testament era, the word was commonly used to describe a group of people called to a

public meeting.

And similarly, Christians are ones whom God has called out of the fallen world in order that they would gather together

as his people.

This is what a church is, a called out group of people.

Now, we use the word church in the English language to describe a number of ideas that are not in accordance with the Holy

Scriptures.

We call this building a church.

There's no place in the New Testament where a building is referred to as a church.

We use the word church to describe a denomination.

The Methodist church, the Lutheran church.

We speak of national churches, the American church, maybe the church in China, the African church.

This is also an unbiblical usage of the word church.

We speak of the church as all -professing Christians everywhere.

I do not believe the Bible uses the term in this way either.

Only when we use the term to describe either the universal church or a local assembly of disciples of

Jesus Christ do we use the word church in the biblical sense.

And this is important.

The word ekklesia is a common word.

It occurs 115 times in the Greek New Testament.

And actually, the only place where it's debated is in the passage we read in Acts 2.

In Acts 2 .47, the modern critical Greek text says, to the

church was not original with Luke's original writing.

The context clearly indicates it's a church, even if it may not have been in the original text.

But if we include that in our number, there's 115 occasions where the Greek word ekklesia is found in the New

Testament.

Three of these 115 refer to citizens in a town meeting.

And all of these, by the way, are in Acts 19.

I believe in Ephesus, where the citizens were called out.

An ekklesia, called to a meeting, a city meeting as it were.

On one occasion, the word is used to describe Israel in the wilderness.

The church in the wilderness, as the King James says, it's rightly translated as assembly, maybe, in

the New King James or the ESV.

A reference to Israel.

Israel was called out of Egypt by God in order to be gathered and meet with God in the

wilderness.

Consistent with the word ekklesia.

That leaves 111 occasions.

And if we consider these, they refer to the New Testament

church, we can actually identify three categories, or

three different entities, which the word church, in 111 uses, sets

forth.

You have a local church, frequently set forth.

Secondly, you have the local church as an institution.

In Matthew 18, when the Lord Jesus spoke about difficulties you're having with your brother, tell it to the

church.

He's talking about a local church as an institution.

He's not saying go out and announce it to every Christian that you encounter.

He's not talking about telling it to the universal church.

That's not possible.

Church as an institution.

Or, you'll find thirdly, you'll have the universal church, referred to by ekklesia.

And this church is being gathered presently, and it won't be gathered fully or completely until the end of the age, when

Christ returns.

And actually, the universal church is not addressed directly in a lot of places in the New Testament.

Most of these are in Ephesians, probably Colossians.

We dealt with one of them in Hebrews 12 last week.

Of the 112, or 111 places, therefore, where ekklesia is used for the word

church to describe a gathering of Christian believers, the vast number of these, 92 of these

out of 111, clearly refer to a local church, or local churches.

And so, the word ekklesia identifies local churches principally,

although on occasion, it speaks or identifies the universal church as well.

One said that in its ordinary use in the New Testament, the word designates a specific local assembly of Christians

organized for the maintenance of the worship, doctrines, ordinances, discipline of the gospel, united under

special covenant with Christ and one another, as the church at Jerusalem, the

church's plural of Galatia.

And the word occurs in this local sense in 92 instances.

This is the predominant use.

The local church is the only ordained institution in the New Testament to carry out the work of Jesus Christ in

the world.

That's not to delegitimize, you know, parachurch organizations and other ministries and missions.

Those are good.

But the local church is what Jesus Christ ordained, created,

sustained to carry on his work in the world principally.

The first century Christians would not have understood our use of the term church when we use it to describe our buildings, our

denominations, or our national churches.

A church that could not gather together would have not been a church in the biblical sense.

And so we see the Greek word for church, ekklesia, assists us in better understanding the church, for it excludes

many uses of the word church that we use in our English vocabulary today.

And so biblically speaking, there's no such thing as a denomination that's called a church, like the Presbyterian Church,

or the Methodist Church, or the Roman Catholic Church, or any of them.

Church of England.

The Bible never uses the word church in that way.

And by the way, we commonly talk about, you know, the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church.

But no one ever refers to the Baptist Church, but rather Baptist Churches, plural,

because we have an understanding of the importance of the local church.

There's no biblical example of a national church like the Church of England or the Church of Scotland.

And there's no use of the word church to describe all Christians, say, in a geographic, or within

a national border, such as a church in America or the church in Asia, and yet we all use the

word church in this way.

It's really not biblical to speak of the Evangelical Church, or even, say, the Church of New England.

The Bible doesn't use the word church in that way.

Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to use these expressions, but if and when we do, we are no

longer using the word church as it's used in the Bible, and I think it's important that we recognize that.

And so I'm not saying that we should stop calling this building a church, or stop referring to a denomination as a

church, but we should be aware that when we do so, that we're careful not to

import biblical ideas of the church to those entities.

You understand what I'm saying?

Because this is where problems result.

Many people commonly do, however, and this results, I believe, in a depreciation of the nature

and importance of the New Testament local church, and it gives undue credibility to institutions that are

not churches according to the Holy Scriptures.

There are a lot of people who have high regard for a church as a denomination,

or a church within a certain region, and they don't have a high regard for a local church.

But in the Scriptures, there is no church apart from the local church, and apart

from the universal church, that is comprised not just of Christians living today, but all believers of all of

history.

And so if we're going to use the word church, let's use it biblically, at least keep in our minds what

the definition of the church is biblically.

Here's a couple definitions of a New Testament local church.

This would, of course, be our Baptist understanding of what the New Testament teaches.

A church is a congregation of Christ -baptized disciples, acknowledging him as their head, relying

on his atoning sacrifice for justification before God, and depending on the Holy Spirit for sanctification,

united in the belief of the gospel, agreeing to maintain its ordinances and obey its precepts,

meeting together for worship, and cooperating for the extension of Christ's kingdom in the world.

That's a good definition.

And by the way, that was put forward by a Southern Baptist back in the middle of the

19th century, a guy named Pendleton.

Here's another good definition, however.

A Christian church, according to the point of view traditionally held by Baptists, is a company of regenerate persons,

that is, those who are born again, baptized on profession of faith in Christ, united in covenant for

worship, instruction, the observance of Christian ordinances, that would be baptism, Lord's Supper,

and for such service as the gospel requires, recognizing and accepting Christ as their supreme

Lord and lawgiver, and taking the New Testament as a divinely inspired record, and therefore a

trustworthy, authoritative, and all -sufficient rule of faith and practice.

That's not a denial that the Old Testament doesn't have authority, too, but if you want to find direct instruction for local

churches, you're going to need to look to the New Testament principally.

Now let's consider, therefore, in the light of what we said, its implications.

What about the membership of New Testament local churches?

This is a very important question that we must always ask.

Who may become a member of a New Testament local church according to the word of God?

Depending on how you answer that question is going to have far -reaching effects and implications

on church life.

We read in Acts 2 .41 and also verse 47 that the Lord added to His church.

Who were the ones that the Lord added to the church?

They were ones who believed and obeyed the preaching of Peter when he proclaimed to them the message of Jesus Christ.

They were added to the church.

The apostle Peter declared to them that though they had rejected and crucified Jesus, having refused to submit to

Him as the promised King of the Jews, God had vindicated His Son when He raised Him from the dead.

God had enthroned His Son in heaven as the promised Son of David who is

now ruling over the kingdom of God.

That was Peter's declaration.

And Peter's sermon brought a great sense of conviction upon the people who heard him.

They were convinced that they had committed a great travesty of justice against the Son of God.

And so they asked Peter what they should do.

And Peter commanded them, Repent and return from your sin, and let every one of you be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our

God will call.

And so the ones who gladly received his word were baptized.

It was through their repentance and faith, shown in their obedience, being baptized as they were commanded, that the Lord added to

the church on this day about 3 ,000 souls.

We read that all who believed were together.

We read that their fellowship with one another continued from that day forward.

They were breaking bread from house to house.

They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people.

And so the only ones added to the church were ones who were converted, who gave

evidence that they had experienced new life in Jesus Christ.

They were disciples of Jesus Christ.

Our Baptist Confession of Faith in 1689 has two statements that describe the members of local churches,

and I think these are biblical.

All persons throughout the world professing the faith of the gospel and obedience unto God by Christ according

unto it, not destroying their own profession by any errors averting the foundation.

In other words, they are not hypocrites or heretics.

Or unholiness of conversation, and here conversation isn't speaking about speech but the way one lives,

that's an old English word, are and may be called visible saints, and of such ought all particular

congregations to be constituted.

That's a statement that says basically only Christians ought to be members of local churches.

Now that is a profound statement, and not everybody believes that as we're going to show.

But this is what Baptists believe the New Testament teaches, and we would argue that Acts 2 underscores this.

Only those that repented and believed the gospel and were baptized, who joined themselves

to the disciples of Jesus, they were added to the church.

They and only they.

And then there's a second statement.

The members of these churches are saints by calling, visibly manifesting

and evidencing in their profession and walking, their obedience unto that call of Christ,

and do willingly consent to walk together according to the appointment of Christ, giving up

themselves to the Lord and to one another by the will of God, and profess objection to the

ordinances of the gospel.

Again, Christians only are to be admitted as members of the church.

So only born -again Christians, we would argue, are to be admitted as members of a New Testament local church.

Unless one has become a devout and committed disciple of Jesus Christ, he is not qualified

to become a member of a New Testament church.

Only the one who has repented of sin, purposed to believe and submit to Jesus Christ as Lord,

and submitted to believer's baptism as the Lord Jesus commanded of all his disciples, only the one who can

join in fellowship with the Lord's people, only he is qualified to become a member of a local

New Testament church.

And of course, only those whom the Lord causes to be born -again or regenerated

would become transformed by the grace of God, and repent, and believe the gospel, and desire to live

with Christ's people.

And so the New Testament teaches that local churches should be comprised of a regenerate church

membership.

And I put that in bold and italic, because this is what has historically distinguished

Baptist churches.

This is what we understand the New Testament to teach.

Only those whom God has caused to be born -again by the Holy Spirit are to be admitted to formal church

membership.

We would argue that the relationship between members of a local church make it absolutely necessary that all members

experience spiritual life in Jesus Christ.

In order for true fellowship to be enjoyed, this must be so.

We read in Acts 2 .47 of those members of the church at Jerusalem, they continued steadfastly in the apostles'

doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.

Fellowship should characterize a local church.

And what we're saying is, only members that are born -again can experience fellowship.

This might seem to be rather simple, straightforward, and who would even object to it?

We'll show you that many do.

How could they have fellowship with one another unless they believed the same things, loved the same things, desired the same things?

They couldn't.

Paul wrote to the church of Philippi, speaking of their common life together,.

Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, any

affection and mercy, how can I fully fulfill my joy by being like -minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of

one mind?

How can that be true in a church unless you have a body of people who are disciples of Christ,

born of the Holy Spirit?

It's not possible.

The Word of God teaches us that there is no common ground, there is no agreement, there is no basis of fellowship

between true Christians and those who are not.

And so we read of this in 2 Corinthians 6.

Paul was reasoning with the church of Corinth.

It was a messed -up church.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

That's commonly applied to Christian marrying a non -Christian.

That certainly would be an application.

But he's really talking about extending fellowship to people.

And he's arguing here, what basis is there of fellowship between a believer and an unbeliever?

He's arguing there is none.

Don't be unequally yoked to them.

For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?

What communion has light with darkness?

See, they can't.

There is none.

What accordance or accord has Christ with Belial, with the devil?

For what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said, I will dwell in them, walk among them.

I will be their God.

They should be my people.

And therefore come out from among them.

He's talking about unregenerate people, unconverted people.

And be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean.

I will receive you.

I will be a father to you.

You should be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

And so he's telling this church at Corinth that they needed, as far as the local church is concerned, they needed to

join with one another who know the Lord.

And so a local church that is patterned after the churches in the New Testament will attempt to admit into its membership only

those who give evidence that they've experienced new life in Jesus Christ.

Only true Christians may experience together the spiritual life that the Lord has imparted to them.

They have the same love for God and for His Son.

They have the same desire for the glory of God to be advanced through them.

They love righteousness and they desire righteousness to be evident in their own lives.

They have the same hatred for sin and for injustice.

They have the same longing to have others, their family, friends, even strangers, experience the same life in Jesus Christ

that has been so freely granted to them by their God.

And again, we would argue that Baptist churches have historically held this understanding of the local church.

This understanding of those who should be admitted as members of a local church is so clear in the New Testament,

it's hard, at least for me to understand, how there are those churches that do not believe this doctrine

and who refuse or fail to advocate a regenerate church membership.

And yet there are many churches that do just that.

They do not believe the local church as we have described it thus far.

And so let's consider some churches and denominations that do not adhere to a

regenerate church membership.

And I'm not trying to be offensive here, I'm trying to be clear and distinct.

We might assume that this teaching of church membership is understood and practiced by all, or at least by most churches,

but actually this is not the case.

And here are some examples of those denominations who fail to adhere to this teaching.

First, there are those churches that teach, wrongly, of course, we'll show, that people are born again

through the rite of baptism.

The church, when they baptize, that causes people to experience the new birth.

They're transformed, they're given new life, they're made a member of the church, they're made a citizen of

the kingdom of God by baptism.

Even baptism administered to babies, and this is commonly referred to as paedo -baptism, paedo being a Greek

word for infant or child, they baptize babies.

These baptized infants then grow up as members of the church and as citizens of the kingdom.

They're taught that they are Christians, that they are citizens of the kingdom of God, because they were

baptized as babies.

But we would argue that baptism of a baby, or baptism of an adult for that matter, does not result in

salvation or in a transformed life.

And yet these churches are filled every Sunday with church attendees who have an outward form of godliness, but

who deny the power of the gospel to transform the life of everyone who truly knows the Lord.

The word of God commands us not to have fellowship with people or churches that promote that kind of Christianity.

Paul wrote to Timothy, but know this in the last days, and he's talking about from the day

he wrote this epistle in the first century all the way through this last 2 ,000 years church age,

in these last days perilous times will come.

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,

disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers,

without self -control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of

pleasure rather than lovers of God.

And he's talking about people in the church here, not just out there in the world.

Having a form of godliness but denying its power is how Paul described these men to Timothy.

From such people turn away.

Those who present a form of Christianity without any vital

transformation of a life, who advocate a form of

godliness, a veneer as though they're Christian, and yet it's not manifest in their

life, Paul tells Timothy, turn away from them.

Don't run with them.

For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led away

by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And so Paul was warning Timothy of conditions throughout this church age.

There would be those who claim to be Christian, have a form of godliness,

and they promise themselves and others that they have salvation.

But their lives fail to manifest the power of God to enable them to live as true Christians.

They go to church, they think they're right with God, they would claim to be Christian, but their Christianity is in

word only.

Paul told Timothy to turn away from these people, they do not know the Lord.

And again, you know, I'm going to be direct here, and I'm supposed to do that.

I'm trying to be faithful here, so please don't get offended.

But I want to be clear, and if you don't agree, that's fine.

Prove me wrong from the scriptures or from history.

Those who teach that people become Christians through the rite of baptism include the Roman Catholic Church, the

Church of England, 39 articles declares it, the American Episcopalian

Church, and even the Methodist and Lutheran churches, which is amazing to me, because that

is so contradictory to their advocacy of justification through faith.

These churches and denominations teach that babies become born again through baptism, that they become Christians and

members of the Church.

And of course we would argue that no such power is infused in the rite of baptism.

We're not saying there are not true Christians in these denominations, we wouldn't say that.

But those that are true Christians are not because they embrace the teaching to which they've been exposed.

Anybody thinks that they have salvation because their church baptized them when a baby, you're in trouble.

If there are true Christians in these denominations, and there are, and some of them, a great many of them,

particularly say a Lutheran church, the Missouri Synod, is very biblical in many respects, and there are

Methodist churches that preach the gospel, but they cling to this understanding of infant baptism, which is, in my

understanding, in direct conflict with the heart of the gospel.

But these Christians are only Christians because of the mercy and grace of God revealed to them that their

salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not through what their church claims to bestow upon them.

Well, the only way that a church can determine if someone is regenerate or born again is by the evidence shown forth in

his life.

Baptism in itself changes no one.

Baptism is a public confession of one's faith in the Lord Jesus.

It's a declaration before others.

He's turned from his former way of living without Christ, and he's now committed to live for Jesus Christ among other

people who believe and are committed to the same kind of life.

Babies have no such knowledge, nor are they able to make such a commitment.

Only one who believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, who has repented of former sin, and

purposes to live for Jesus Christ among the Lord's people, only then should the church treat

as valid his claim to be a Christian.

Only this person is to be admitted to church membership.

However, there are other churches that teach wrongly, in my opinion, that the children of

believing parents are to be baptized because of the virtue of their parents' faith.

They don't teach that baptism causes the new birth.

But rather, these children of believing parents are believed to be covenant children, and this is how they're

described.

Even though they understand they were not born again in baptism, nevertheless, because their parents are believers,

they're regarded as covenant children.

We'll get into this in some detail next week, Lord willing.

And so they are said to become members of the church through baptism, even while the church knows

that some, if not many of these children, are not born again.

And this is the belief and practice of Presbyterian churches.

And some of my closest friends in the ministry are Presbyterian.

We love the Lord, we're solid in their doctrine, but we differ in our understanding of the church.

And they would be forthright in telling me they differ with me and I with them if the issue ever comes up.

But this can be clearly seen in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

And the Westminster Confession of Faith is a great confession, one of the best.

Here's a definition of the membership of a local church.

The visible church, which is also Catholic, and Catholic is lowercase c,

means universal, which is also Catholic or universal under the gospel, not confined to one nation

as before under the law, consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, amen, we say

amen to that, but here it is, and their children.

In other words, their children who don't profess the true religion.

But the visible church is made up of them.

And then notice, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Children of believing parents are citizens of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, is what they're

saying.

The house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

And so take note that the visible church, that is the local church, has as its members those who profess faith in Christ, but

in addition, their children are also members of the church and are also in the kingdom of God.

But the Bible does not teach this regarding the membership of local churches.

And again, some of my dearest friends believe and practice infant

baptism in this way.

They would be the ones who would declare most the error of teaching, saying that

baptism brings about the new birth.

They repudiate that.

They argue, of course, that we should baptize infants of believing parents,

just as infant boys were circumcised who were children of

Abraham.

And we'll get into that next week probably in some detail.

And some of the most tremendous servants of Christ through history have believed

this and practiced this.

And I listed some here.

R .C. Sproul, one of my heroes.

The late James Montgomery Boyce, who was a wonderful man.

John Murray, J .I. Packer.

And then the who's who of history.

John Calvin, George Whitefield, John Owen, Jonathan Edward, Charles Hodge, D. Martin Lloyd

-Jones.

I mean, how could anybody question these folks?

But in this matter, we must side with the scriptures, not with a wrong interpretation of the scriptures that these

good men embraced.

And again, we'll say more about this and explain why their understanding is not

biblical.

But thirdly, there are Baptists, and there's nothing holy about that name, and so Baptistic as an

adjective, Baptistic churches.

And there are a lot of Bible churches or independent churches that are Baptistic in really their order.

And they teach that only those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, who purpose to turn from

sin and live for righteousness along with others of like faith, only they are admitted to formal church membership.

And we believe this is what the Bible teaches.

And although we acknowledge that children of believing parents have a measure of God's mercy and blessing attending them, they

are not to be regarded as members of Christ's church until they show forth saving faith in their own profession

and in their own life.

Now, there's a whole other group that we don't have time to get into here, but

I'm learning about some of this myself as I'm looking through their documents.

Aside from these three views as to who should be admitted as members of local churches, Reformed Congregational

Churches, and there are many in New England, there are not too many

outside of New England, and there are some in Old England too.

D. Martyn Lloyd -Jones was Reformed Congregational.

Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, Thomas Goodwin.

I mean, great, great, great people.

They have a different understanding.

I'm reading in their documents that they advocate that only true Christians should be members of the church, yet they

continue to practice infant baptism, which I think is in conflict.

That's going to get you into problems, and I don't know if we're going to take some time to go into

that, but I've been reading their own documents, the Savoy Declaration, which is

almost identical to or much like our 1689 Baptist Confession.

It was drafted in 1658 in London, and I'm comparing that

with another document that was put together by Reformed Congregational Churches in Cambridge, here in

Massachusetts, ten years earlier, the Cambridge Platform, and I'm reading the

language, and they are conflicting with one another about their understanding of the local church.

Very fascinating.

And so I would argue that they're inconsistent, really, among Reformed Congregationalists, and there's some problems there,

because I believe that baptism by immersion of a disciple of Jesus Christ is what the Lord has

placed in the New Testament as a guarantor, not a guarantee,

but as a guarantor of regenerate church membership.

In other words, in the first century, if you stepped forward to be baptized, it was going to cost you something.

You were repudiating a former way of life, and many times you lost your family, you lost your job, you were kicked out of

the synagogue, you forfeited everything.

And so to step forward and be baptized, that was a profession of faith, and there

would be a tendency that only those who have new life in Christ would move forward to do that.

And so the very act of baptism of disciples by immersion of

people who believed and repented assured that most of the time, true

Christians would join local churches.

Today, however, of course, to be baptized doesn't bring about great sacrifice

or difficulty, and oftentimes, sadly, even Baptist churches will confer

baptism on people who give very little evidence that they have new life in Christ.

And so even many Baptist churches across our land have filled their

buildings with nominal Christians who are clueless about new life in Christ.

And so Baptist churches have their problems, too.

But what we are arguing, what we're saying is that if we affirm these basic teachings of

the New Testament church set forth before us, that in order to have true fellowship in a

church, we've got to have common life in Christ.

And if we don't have common life, there is no common ground whatsoever.

We don't believe the same things.

We don't feel the same things.

We don't desire the same things.

We need to maintain, as God enables us to the best of our ability, according to His grace, by His grace,

a regenerate church membership.

May the Lord help us do that.

Let's pray.

Thank you, our Father, for your word.

And we understand, Lord, in many ways, your people stumble and fall.

And churches are defective and deficient in many ways.

And that there is really no perfect church.

But we pray that you would help us to be right in these matters.

We pray that you would help confirm and affirm us, our God, in our understanding of a local church

set forth in the New Testament.

For we want to be in a place and a position in which we can receive your greatest blessing.

And that we can receive the greatest measure of spiritual protection that you afford your people when they are

bound together according to the faith of Jesus Christ.

In whose name we do pray.

Amen.