Church Membership Part Two "The One Another's"

Part of a four-part series on church membership. And this morning's preaching will be from 2 Timothy chapter three. So if you have your Bibles, you can flip there. 2 Timothy chapter three. We're gonna be looking at verses 16 and 17.

I think for the sake of context, we'll start back and read just a few other verses. Yeah, you can go to just chapter three of 2 Timothy for today's talk, today's preaching. 2 Timothy chapter three. And this is church membership part two, the one and others.

2 Timothy chapter three, I'll start reading in verse one and then we'll highlight really verses 16 and 17. It says, difficult times will come. And so as Paul is at the end of his life, he's writing to his ministry partner, his really son in the faith, brother in Christ, young pastor, probably around 30 of the church in Ephesus.

And this is what Paul writes right before he is martyred. He says, but know this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness but having denied its power.

Keep away from such men as these, for among them are those who enter into households and take captive weak women, weighed down with sins, being led on by various desires, always learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

Just as Janice and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth. Men of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith, but they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, just as theirs was also.

But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions and suffering such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Verse 16, all scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The word of our Lord. What a powerful passage from Paul, very practical. This is real life, Timothy was going through it and he had folks in the congregation that were stirring up the Kool-Aid and there was false teachers everywhere.

He needed to hear these encouraging words and we need to hear them this morning for ourselves. We're looking at a specific topic, church membership. And last week we looked at what is the church? We answered those questions and we're sort of using a resource as just guiding us on a path.

Ultimately the Bible and the scriptures are the authority that we're gonna teach from, but there's a helpful resource, it's called the Why, the What and the How of Church Membership by Wayne Mack. 60 year veteran pastor, this book is actually a free resource we have in our fellowship hall, we have some copies back there, so if anyone would like to take one home and read it, you're more than welcome to.

And Mack starts his book by asking some questions about church membership and we brought these before you last week. I think I'll just make a brief comment, we'll just get it over with, there's sort of an elephant in the room.

Last week I preached a long sermon. I'm waiting for amen somewhere. So no, we are not gonna cut any worship songs and no, I am not gonna be preaching that long every Sunday. You may have, yeah, I knew it.

You may have noticed I was limping after the fellowship because I shot myself in the foot. One of the illustrations I said was that it's unbiblical to leave a church if the pastor's sermons are too long and then I preached for almost an hour and 25 minutes or it was, I think, that length.

So my apologies for going a little long last week, that will not be the normal habit. I do wanna honor our time of worship and your guys' schedules. But praise God, we need to hear this. This is important, it's an important subject, church membership.

The Biblical Questions Behind Church Membership

So today is the one and others. So Mack asks these questions, we heard them last week, he says, should I join a church or not join a church? Is church membership an essential or optional matter for Christians?

Is it the main option for Christian growth, Christian growth and service or just one of many options? Is church membership important or unimportant? Is it a matter of obedience to the Lord or a matter of choice, personal preference for the individual Christian?

And Mack says this, how would you answer these questions and why would you answer them the way you do? And if you have an answer to these questions, what is your authority for answering as you do? Is it your own opinion?

Is it the opinion of others or is it the scripture? Is it the authority of the Word of God? And so we looked last week at really two sections in the Gospel of Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles. The biblical writers clearly define the universal and local church so that you can begin to see the biblical basis of church membership.

Matthew 16, eight says, and I also say to you, this is the word of Christ, that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. And that rock is the proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God, he is the Christ.

The universal or invisible church is made up of all believers worldwide. In Acts chapter two, really verses 41 and 47, we see this. So then those who had received his word, referring to Peter's preaching, they were baptized and that day there were added about 3 ,000 souls praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

The local or visible church is made up of believers in a specific geographical location. So that's important to define what the church is, the universal and local church. Wayne Mack makes this point. He says many Christians believe the only thing that really matters is membership in the invisible or the universal church.

The worldwide body of believers. The membership in a local church, on the other hand, is of little importance to them. However, when we consider what the Bible has to say about the church, it is important to distinguish when the word church is used to indicate the local church and when it is used to indicate the universal or that is the invisible church.

This is an interesting stat that he gives us. He says the word church is used 110 times in the New Testament. And it is instructive to note that 93 of those are clear references to the local church. But more than that, in only the 17 out of 110 times in which the word church appears to signify the universal rather than the local church, it is apparent from the context that the idea of the local church cannot be eliminated from the meaning of some of those references.

So the point is is the majority of the passages where you see the word church is talking about a specific congregation, the local church. He says we may conclude from this large number of references that the Bible has quite a lot to say about the importance of the local church.

Scripture speaks very clearly to the fact that identification with God's people in a formal public way was considered essential in both Old Testament and New Testament times. A careful study of the New Testament doesn't reveal even a hint of any believer who was truly saved yet was not part of a local church.

And that's an accurate statement. And he gives two reasons. We're gonna look at 10 reasons from the Bible why church membership is important, why it's biblical. And this morning we'll look at the first two reasons that Wayne Mack points out for formal church membership.

And this is really our first slide this morning. These are the first two reasons, the one anothering commands of Scripture and also the implications of the one another commands. And so that's what we'll be talking about this morning.

The Bible as the Highest Authority for the Church

I wanna preach from this amazing letter to Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul makes three helpful points about the Bible. He makes three helpful points about the Bible so that you can strengthen your faith and you can use it to guide your commitment to the body of Christ.

The Bible is the highest authority. The Bible is practical. And the Bible's teaching prepares us to practice the one another's. And so we can just start with Timothy. Who is Timothy? Well, Timothy was from Lystra.

It's a Roman province in the city of Galatia. He was raised by his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois who were both devout Jews who became believers in the Lord Jesus. Timothy was taught the Old Testament Scriptures by his mother and grandmother from the time of his childhood so he would have been really well acquainted with the Old Testament.

His father was Greek but had most likely died before Timothy had met Paul. Timothy more than likely became a believer during Paul's first missionary trip to Lystra. The Apostle essentially led Timothy to the Lord.

He's the one that discipled him and then Timothy was converted because of God's grace. During Paul's second ministry trip to Lystra, he chose Timothy to accompany him in his ministry. Timothy was Paul's disciple, his friend, ministry partner for the rest of the Apostle's life.

And it's kind of interesting here, Timothy's name means one who honors God. Pretty cool, Timothy, one who honors God. So we'll just look at the brief backgrounds of these really two letters, skipped one.

So this is the first letter to Timothy, some important information for you guys. After Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment, he revisited several cities in which he had ministered including Ephesus.

He left Timothy behind there to minister, to pastor and deal with issues in the church such as false teaching, false doctrine. It was while Paul had traveled on to Macedonia that he wrote the first letter to Timothy to encourage the young preacher who was likely around 30 years old.

And then as we look at this letter, some more information, some different dates in the place written. In AD 64, the Roman Emperor Nero started an empire-wide persecution of Christians. And Paul was swept up in that persecution and he was put in jail, he was imprisoned.

Unlike his first Roman imprisonment where we get Philippians, Ephesians and the other prison epistles where he was in house arrest, no, this was different than that. He wasn't on house arrest anymore.

His second imprisonment was in a cold Roman cell, in chains and with no hope of earthly deliverance. It was at this point that Paul wrote his second letter and encouraged his friend and brother in the faith to hold on to sound doctrine, to stay the course no matter what was going on in the local congregation at Ephesus.

He told Timothy, stay the course for the true Christian faith. And of course we know from the facts of history that Paul was never released and he was martyred under Nero's reign. Paul's charge to Timothy, considering Paul's eminent death, was to persevere in the faith, to pattern his life after a man of God and to preach the gospel of Christ.

He illustrated patterns of a man of God by giving allusions to a soldier, to an athlete, to a farmer. The ultimate pattern to follow as a man of God is the God-man, Jesus. He pointed out that Jesus cannot deny himself and remains faithful despite our lack of faith.

Paul predicted that there would be a great apostasy and that many would grow cold in love. They would oppose the truth of the word and their minds would be lent over to depravity and they would be rejected regarding their lack of belief.

Paul told Timothy that defeating apostasy is an act of God through Christ, who is the word, and that all scripture is profitable for instruction in sound doctrine and godly living. Paul explained to Timothy that the need for preaching of the doctrine was great because the time would come when men rejected the sound teachings, the teachings of Jesus.

They would prop up for themselves false teachers who would only tell people what they want to hear. Paul charged Timothy with providing sound teaching and preaching the church the truth and also to model his life, to model godliness in his life.

He says, be an example. Second Timothy was written by Paul to appeal to Timothy to persevere in the ministry of the gospel after Paul had gone to be with the Lord. By refuting false teaching, exhorting and teaching with sound doctrine and preaching the gospel of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, Timothy would fulfill this charge.

The apostle Paul makes three helpful points about the Bible so that you can strengthen your faith and your commitment to the body of Christ. Number one, the Bible is the highest authority. Number two, the Bible is practical.

And number three, the Bible's teaching prepares us to practice the one another's. And we can look at this passage. I'll read it out loud. All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All scripture is inspired by God. Three helpful truths about the Bible to believe and to live by. Number one, the Bible is the highest authority because the Bible is the living word of God, the living word of God.

And we see a parallel passage in the epistle to the Hebrews. Hebrews chapter four verse 12, it says the word of God is living and active. It's alive, it's living and active. It cuts, it says it's as piercing as between the soul and the spirit and flesh and blood.

It penetrates the heart. Hebrews 4 .12 says that it can judge the thoughts and intentions of the human heart. The word of God is living and active. Paul says all scripture, all scripture pertaining to totality with focus on its individual components, each, every, any, all scripture, the sacred scripture in the New Testament exclusively and an individual scripture passage and scripture in its entirety in all of the Old Testament writings.

Paul says all scripture is inspired by God. This is revelation. This is inspiration from the divine being of God. And the apostle Peter said the same, but in a different way. This is what Peter wrote.

He says, for we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of his majesty, to be eyewitnesses of the majesty. He says, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. But listen to what he says. And we have as more sure the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

Know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes by one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. That's the inspiration of scripture.

What an amazing fact. He says, the utterance made by God the Father from heaven, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. He says, we have as more, more than that the prophetic word, the word of God, the Bible.

What an amazing claim. The Bible is the highest authority because it was spoken into existence by God. And the first part of verse 16 makes it clear, the Bible is God-breathed.

It's God-breathed.

Read it and use its teaching to guide your conduct. The one another commands in front of you are just that. They're commands. So if we understand this first point, we can understand that practicing the one another's is not optional.

The Bible is breathed out and inspired by God. Not a portion of it, but all. Therefore, the commands of practicing the one another's are not optional because they are also breathed out by God. So reason number one for formal membership in the local church, the one another in commands of the scripture, the one another in commands of the scripture.

Wayne Mack points this out. He says, every Christian ought to be a member of a local church because the breadth and depth of our biblical responsibilities to other Christians requires it. We cannot rightly fulfill our biblical responsibilities to other believers without being a part of a local church.

Many of our responsibilities to other believers are spelled out in terms of the one another commands found throughout scripture. There are 58 one another commands in the word of God and realistically understood.

It's impossible to understand how these commands may be truly fulfilled toward other believers without commitment, without a committed involvement in a local church. That's a very helpful observation.

All scripture is profitable. It's profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Three helpful truths about the Bible to believe and to live by. To believe and to live by.

The Bible Is Practical for Daily Christian Living

Number two is the Bible is practical. The Bible is practical. The Bible is the source of true and valuable instruction. In Psalm 119, the psalmist asks a rhetorical question and then he gives the answer.

He says, how can a young man keep his way pure? How can a believer, how can a follower of Christ keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word. With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me stray from your commandments.

Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Because the Bible is the source of true and valuable instruction. Paul uses a word here that literally means useful, beneficial or advantageous.

Profitable.

The Bible is profitable. The Bible is practical. The idea of being profitable is something that is particularly helpful in living. What is particularly helpful in living? And then Paul breaks it down into four categories.

Teaching, reproof, correction and training. The act of teaching or instruction. And this is not high theology or complex spiritual teachings that are out of reach. This is detailed information telling how something should be done.

This is divine teaching that informs us in the art of living. The Greek word for reproof and correction are each only used once in all the New Testament and they're both here in this passage. Reproof is an expression of strong disapproval.

Think about discipline or punishment. The testing of an accused person through trial by ordeal. And the discipline is paired with correction. The Greek word Paul uses here conveys restoration. Correction is restoration and improvement.

It's not discipline without restoration.

It's both.

Training is the act of providing guidance for responsible living. Think of upbringing, training, also instruction. In our literal understanding, this is chiefly as it is attained by discipline and correction.

Training achieved by discipline and correction all underneath the teaching of Jesus. All four terms are related to one another and fall under the first point. All scripture is inspired by God. The Bible is practical in the quality or characteristic of upright behavior.

Think uprightness. This is righteousness. The second part of verse 16 makes it clear. The Bible is practical in instruction, discipline, restoration, and guidance in daily living, in daily pursuit of godliness.

God wants to show you what is true and equip you to live out that truth, to equip you to live for him and for others. How much time do you spend in God's word every day? Is it a part of your normal daily routine?

Read it regularly to discover God's truth and to become confident in your life and faith and how you're living with other believers. Develop a plan for reading the Bible and not just familiar passages.

That's a trap we can fall into. We have all of these favorite passages. Instead of, okay, I read my Bible today, you just reread that one verse 100 times. Search out the whole counsel of God. Develop a plan for reading the whole Bible, not just a familiar passage.

Make a genuine commitment to practice the one another's. You can't practice the one another's by yourself, can you? No, we have to be in fellowship with one another. If we just look at the simple meaning of the words teaching, reproof, correction, and training, we can see that either the identical words are used in several of the one another's.

I've only highlighted three from each of those four words. Or the synonymous meaning of the words are used really in many, many more of the one another's. This is an important observation because God gives us the foundation for living out our lives with fellow believers.

It is his word. It's the word of God. The word of God has very important implications in how we are to live in fellowship with one another, especially in the setting of a local church. And that's really reason number two, implications of the one another commands.

The Implications of the One Another Commands

Reason number two for formal church membership in the local church, the implications of the one another commands. Wayne Mack makes this comment here. He says, first, we must consider the fact that the 58 one another's in scripture are not suggestions, they're commands.

That's an important observation. He says, since sin is a transgression of any command of God, then not fulfilling any one of these one another commands.

Is a sin.

Have you thought about that?

You're not doing the one another's. Then you are in violation of scripture and you are a transgressor. What an amazing, that's very convicting. He says it's disobedient to God's law and contrary to his will for our lives.

He says, second, we must consider the fact that all of these commands are in the present tense. This means that we're to be constantly doing these things. This isn't a list that you check one off and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna bear up with you.

I'm bearing up with you, bear up with one another. Okay, I've done that. And then next week when you irritate me, I don't have to bear up anymore, I already did. No, this is constantly doing these things.

He says the lives of every believer should be characterized by the fulfillment of these commands toward other believers. We're to be constantly devoted to one another, praying for one another, honoring one another, greeting one another, and motivating one another to love and good works.

He says if this is true, and it is, then it follows that we must be physically present with other people in order to do these things. A Christian who is not committed to a local church and rarely meets with the same group of believers cannot fulfill these commands.

Not only that, but our contact with other people must be so regular that we're able to know their needs, their struggles, their joys, and their burdens. These one another commands require intimate, rather than casual, interpersonal relationships.

Third, we must consider the fact that most of these commands are contained in epistles that were written to local churches. In all of Paul's one anothering passages, he was instructing the members of a specific local church to act in these ways toward one another.

Obviously, for this reason, it's impossible for any believer to fulfill these biblical responsibilities to other believers without some kind of formal, regular, continuous relationship. That kind of relationship is provided by church membership.

By formally identifying with a specific group of people, we're able to commit our time and resources to developing close relationships with those people. We're able to meet with those people on a regular basis and depend on their continued involvement in our lives.

That's what the one anothers are about, that we're involved in each other's lives. And I'm not talking about having to miss church attendance because there's legitimate reasons. No, I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about somebody that's probably an unbeliever that says, oh, I don't need to go to church. I have my own relationship with God. I don't like being around church people. They're so judgmental.

I just do my own thing. I don't need that to have a relationship with God. It's almost, you're at a level of unbelief. It's not what the scripture teaches. So that's what I'm talking about. All scripture equips the man or woman of God to be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Three helpful truths about the Bible to believe and live by. The third is that the Bible's teaching prepares us to practice the one anothers. It's the foundation for practicing the one anothers. The point of learning from God's word is to live it out.

The point of learning from God's word is to live it out and apply it in our lives. Instruction from scripture is to prepare every believer for his or her own ministry. If you're a believer in Christ, you have a ministry of practicing the one anothers with fellow believers.

The epistle of James helps us here. The half brother of Jesus gives us two insightful observations really in our relationship to the Bible and how we live. In James chapter one, he gives this encouragement in the form of a command when he says to receive the word.

James one, verse 21, he says, "'Laying aside all filthiness "'and all that remains of wickedness, "'in gentleness receive the implanted word, "'which is able to save your souls.'". And that's the first observation and in the immediate context he says this, "'Know this, my beloved brothers, "'but everyone must be quick to hear, "'slow to speak and slow to anger, "'for the anger of man does not achieve "'the righteousness of God.

"'Therefore, laying aside all filthiness "'and all that remains of wickedness, "'in gentleness receive the implanted word, "'which is able to save your souls, "'but become doers of the word "'and not merely hearers who delude themselves.'".

What a great point he makes, but think about it. Receiving the implanted word in the context is about how we are with each other. Be quick to hear and slow to speak, be slow to anger. This is helpful because the Bible qualifies itself in that there is a command to live out the teaching.

Another helpful observation in our relationship to the Bible and how we live it out is from the same section later in chapter one, verse 27, James writes, "'Pure and undefiled religion "'before our God and Father is this, "'to visit orphans and widows in their affliction "'and to keep oneself unsustained by the world.'".

James gives an explanation that true religion is not head knowledge or theological acumen. True religion is action in living out our faith. Paul says the Bible equips pertaining to being well-fitted for some function.

Equips pertaining to being well-fitted for some function. Because the teaching, reproof, correction, and training is from God, it beneficially makes us capable and ready for service. The word of God does this.

Paul says the Bible makes us well-fitted for the function of good deeds as human beings, exhibiting a consistent moral character. The building up of the body of believers in the local church is the work of the ministry.

This is what every believer has been called to do. As James says, our doing of the word correlates to our treatment of others, to assist believers in sharpening their giftedness and practicing the one another's.

For the glory of Christ and his church, the goal is to sharpen one another in our understanding and application of the word of God. This is in a believer's everyday life in relationship to discipling or counseling another believer.

This passage affirms the foundation for biblical counsel and practicing the one another's is exclusively on the word of God. The Bible's teaching prepares us to minister to others. The apostle Paul makes three helpful points about the Bible so that you can strengthen your faith and your commitment to the body of Christ.

We should study the Bible so that we will know how to do Christ's work in the world. Our knowledge of God's word is not useful unless it strengthens our faith and it leads us to do good, to practice the one another's with fellow believers.

Realizing that we are not perfect and we will fail in some of these areas really just brings us back to the cross. If you're not regularly practicing the one another's and you're feeling convicted, I wanna point you to a help, a support.

It's Jesus Christ, the mercy of the gospel. We need to go back to the cross. We need to be at the feet of our glorious savior, Jesus Christ, knowing that his power and God's grace allows us to have faith and remember the sweet mercies of Christ's gospel.

Although all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, although all have sinned and deserve the rightful penalty of God's wrath, although all have sinned and are incapable of saving themselves, yet while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

When we trust Christ and turn away from sin and return to him, we are a new creation. He will make us new and he will enable us to practice the one another's. Thinking about the reformers, given that we are in the month of October and October 31st isn't Happy Halloween, it's Happy Reformation Day.

October 31st is when Martin Luther nailed his theses, his challenge of a debate on the door of Wittenberg Castle so many years ago. Martin Luther, the great German reformer, was a monk when he got saved.

Think about that. This guy's a monk in a monastery. He's already, he's a monk in a monastery and that's when God saved him. In the article, Martin Luther and the Gates of Paradise from Creation Today, we find this note on Luther.

It says, like so many others in his day, Luther had been immersed in the earn your own salvation movement. Earn your own salvation. On August 17th in 1505, he had entered the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt and he quoted that the reason he entered the monastery was to save his soul, to save his soul.

He was a model monk. He was a model monk. He devoted himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimages, frequent confession. Sometimes he confessed for hours at a time. You imagine, hours at a time.

Just a confession party. Eventually his confessor famously told him not to come back until he had committed a sin worth confessing. He confessed so much. Subjecting his body to physical punishment caused Luther actually to permanently injure his health all to attain righteousness in heaven.

He was doing everything he could. He went without food for days, stayed awake all night to say his prayers, performed acts of penance for hours. And I'm not talking about he prayed before bed. I mean, he didn't go to sleep.

He stayed up all night praying and he thought he could earn God's grace. There's even a kind of an anecdote. He even laid out naked in the cold snow of Germany as an act of trying to find forgiveness and peace with God, all to no avail.

So he's just punishing himself, desperately. Luther even committed the act of whipping himself. So he would get the whip and whip his back and parts of his body. He whipped himself until blood literally flowed from his body.

He's whipping himself until the blood flowed down his body. Yet nothing brought peace or forgiveness to his troubled soul. He would later remark in a letter to the Duke of Saxony, so this is his actual writing, Martin Luther said, if ever a monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I would certainly have been entitled to it.

One, really of this, all the friars who have known me can testify, if it had continued much longer, I should have carried my mortification even unto death. He said, if it kept going, I probably would be dead.

Yet, the doors of paradise still seemed closed to him. He had no peace with God, no forgiveness of sins, no justification, so we think, well, what was it that changed his life and sparked a reformation which ultimately changed the course of Christian, what was it?

It was sole fide, faith alone, just faith. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

While contemplating this passage, Luther felt as if a bolt of lightning struck his heart. His soul, long imprisoned in a dark dungeon, was suddenly released into beautiful daylight where he could inhale the fresh, invigorating, exhilarating air, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, now filled his heart and mind.

Martin Luther said this, here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.

That's the gospel.

We must start there at the feet of Jesus. Does that describe you this morning? No peace, no forgiveness of sins, no justification, trying to earn your salvation and just in a dark dungeon. I would encourage you to look at the face of Christ and see the light, that you would believe in the gospel, that just like Martin Luther, you would listen to these words.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Believe in Jesus, and you too will see this paradise, that the gates of heaven are open to you.

That's the promise of the gospel. Without the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, there is no life. Without Jesus, there's no word of God, there's no Bible. Without the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, there is no practicing the one another's.

Without the Bible's teaching, there are no one another's. This is an important truth that we must really put before us here. Three helpful truths about the Bible to believe and live by. The Bible is the highest authority.

The Bible is the living word of God. The Bible is practical. The Bible is the source of true and valuable instruction. The Bible's teaching prepares us to practice the one another's. The point of learning from God's word is to live it out, to apply it in our lives.

Agreement in the word of God is essential. Agreement on the teaching of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the foundation is what the church is built on. Practicing the one another's in the local church is a gift from God, enabled by God as a gift for sinners, saved by grace.

He has called us into the universal church and then he providentially places us in a local church, in his body, the body of Christ. Formal membership in a local congregation is both a mercy and a gift from God.