Biblical Membership

Providence Baptist Church

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Hey man, about a year ago in February of 2022, a

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San Francisco man used pancakes to make friends.

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It was one of those viral stories that happened last year. It took off because, you know, in California, government shutdowns and all that stuff, they cause people to be less social.

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And so basically this guy's wife encouraged him to make friends because he didn't have any.

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And so he decided, well, here's what I'm going to do. I'll give away free pancakes at my house.

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And it turns out a lot of people like pancakes. And so like over a hundred people showed up.

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And so if you're out there this morning and you need to make friends, well, there's perhaps one way.

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But we sort of look down on the idea of buying friends, don't we?

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Right, like what if I told you, you know, you look like a kind of a lonely guy. Let me buy you some friends.

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Here's a hundred bucks. Go buy you a friend. That would be weird, wouldn't it? Like we would look down on that.

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We wouldn't like that because that's not how it works.

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But think of this with me, if you will. What if I told you that Jesus bought you some friends?

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Or actually, more specifically, what if I said that Jesus bought you a family?

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Because in one sense, this is a reality for the Christian.

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Jesus purchased a family. Would you turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 6?

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We have paused our Ephesians series. We're going through Ephesians. We will pick Ephesians back up.

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But right now, we are in our 10 distinctives of Perryville Second Baptist Church series.

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And this morning, we are discussing the distinctive of biblical church membership.

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Biblical church membership. Jesus did not merely purchase a big family that we never see until we get to heaven.

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Rather, He has ordained in the Scriptures that His people unite formally in local churches and live life together as a family.

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So this is what we want to explore today. And I'm going to read to you, it's in your bulletin insert.

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Oh, this part isn't, but I'm going to read to you the preamble, and later I'll read to you what's in your insert.

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But the preamble to our distinctives is this. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, truly

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God and truly man, risen from the dead and now seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty as King of all, is worthy of a healthy church in Perryville, Arkansas.

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We believe taking these 10 distinctives together sets us apart as a local church in the location where God has planted us.

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These distinctives do not exhaust all of our beliefs as a body, but they are a non -negotiable part of who we are as a local church.

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We hold these truths according to the Bible for the purpose of the good of one another and our community and ultimately for Christ's honor and glory.

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Galatians chapter 6. Would you stand with me? And we'll read verse 1 through 10. We honor the reading of God's word by standing.

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So Galatians chapter 6, verse 1. Brothers and brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

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For each will have to bear his own load. One who has taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

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Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that also will he reap.

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For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

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Let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

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So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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Let's pray. Father, would you help us to understand your text this morning? Would you help us to understand the theme of this morning's sermon, biblical church membership?

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Help us to understand what it means in your idea of the church. We want

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Christ's vision of the church. All other visions will ultimately fail and perish, but we want that vision that is eternal and pleasing to our great and holy

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God, the vision of Christ for his people. So help us to understand the local church this morning.

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Help us to understand its membership. Lord, there are some here who need to repent of a bad view of the local church.

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There are some here who need to be encouraged by this message on the local church. There are some here who are not born again.

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They need to repent of their sins and believe the gospel and trust Christ and join the church by believer's baptism.

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We pray, Lord, that you would work in this message. The Spirit would be present to bless.

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Oh, Spirit, we pray to you that you would be present and bless, convict and to challenge.

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May Christ receive the glory. We pray in his name. Amen. You may be seated. This morning, a typical routine

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I have on Sunday mornings, I wake up and I go through the sermon again.

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And so as I was going through the sermon again this morning, I just had this thought. And the thought that I had is, what are we doing here?

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What are we doing? What is going on at this church?

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I believe that God is doing a work in our midst. I believe that God has done things here that are beautiful and glorious.

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But as we preach this series, these distinctives, what is it that we're doing?

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Well, I thought of some things that I added this morning. I just want to make clear and plain to us this morning.

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First of all, our goal in this is not to point out the faults of other churches.

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So you hear me say, Christ is worthy of having a healthy church in Perryville, Arkansas.

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Our goal in saying that is, I don't know the inner operations of other churches.

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I know other pastors. I know things going on. But our goal is not to go around other churches and show everybody why they're doing wrong.

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No, no, no. Our goal is to look inward, not outward, to look inward and say, Look at the

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Bible and how can we as a church pursue healthy ecclesiology, healthy doctrine of the church here?

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Secondly, what we're not doing, this is not gimmicks. By the way, if this was gimmicks, it would be like the dumbest gimmick ever, right?

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You can read no church growth book that would say, in order to grow the church, just get more and more and more and more biblical, right?

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No church growth book is going to say that. Well, this is not a gimmick. We're not just saying, all right, you know what we're going to do?

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Well, we're just going to try to continue to reform in the church and continue to be the healthiest church we can be.

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And then next year we'll do something else. No, it's not a gimmick. And last thing I want to say is, this is not a phase that we're going through.

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Well, it's just, you know, Quatro's on this right now. It's just a phase we're going through. Next week we may be on a different phase.

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No, what we are trying to do in this series is to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is

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King. He's King of the nations. And what we want here is to bring the

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Lord Jesus glory and honor. And we want to show the world. We want to show our friends and family members in Perry County and beyond that we love the

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Lord Jesus and that he's worthy. He is worthy of our lives. He is worthy here of a healthy church right here in this backwoods, out -of -the -way place that we call home,

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Perry County, Arkansas. Christ is worthy, friends, of a healthy church here.

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Now, I want to start out with some statistics. The local church has fallen on hard times in America today.

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In 2010, less than 38 % of Southern Baptists were in church on Sundays.

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So 13 years ago, if you take a typical Southern Baptist church, of their membership, over 62 % of their membership would not be in church.

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In 2019, it was less than 36%.

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In 2021, it was less than 26%.

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In other words, by the time we get to the year of our Lord 2021, 75 % of people who say they are

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Southern Baptists do not show up to church. Like one of the most basic levels, we sing that song,

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Trust and Obey, like one of the most basic levels of obedience for the Christian is to go to church.

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And yet 75 % of people in Southern Baptist church roles don't even do that. The pandemic that has ravished the

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SBC wasn't COVID, friends. It was the disease of unbiblical ecclesiology.

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We do not understand the church. It is my endeavor here, not only personally to understand the church, but that we here as a

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Baptist church would understand what it means, what the church is. The reality is if people keep preaching in our area, you don't have to go to church to be a

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Christian. The people are going to believe it, even though it's not biblical. I mentioned last week

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Acts 2028. Let me read Acts 2028 again. We're going to get to our text in just a moment, but we have some things to get through.

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Acts 2028 says to the elders at Ephesus, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Remember last week, overseers, elders, pastors, bishops, all one, all the same office, the office of pastor.

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But pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God.

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Now, listen, here's where I want to talk about for just a moment, which he obtained with his own blood.

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He obtained the flock of God with his own blood. Now, let me say that certainly we don't understand

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Acts 2028 to be referring to the ceiling or to the walls or to the physical building.

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Rather, it's a people. But let me also say this. The word for church in the New Testament.

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So listen very carefully. The word for church in the New Testament is used over a hundred times.

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The Greek word, ekklesia, it's used in 106 verses. It means assembly or called out.

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So of the 106 Bible verses in the New Testament, the ekklesia is used.

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At least 75 of those usages, 75 of those times can be given an address.

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In other words, 75 percent of the time ekklesia is used in scripture. It refers to a specific locality.

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It refers to a place that you can punch into Google Maps. It refers to a local church.

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But but but wait, there's more. Of the 27 books, you should think through this.

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Of the 27 books in the New Testament, nine of those books are addressed specifically to local churches by name.

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Three more of those books commonly referred to as the pastoral epistles, 1st Timothy, 2nd

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Timothy, Titus. They are instructions for life and leadership where? In the local church.

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The book of Acts is the story of the spread of the gospel, which is intrinsically connected to local churches because what happens in Acts is this crazy thing.

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People go out and they're preaching the gospel. And guess what happens when the gospel is proclaimed? Local churches spring up because it shows that where the gospel takes root, local churches are established.

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It's easily deducible that Peter's first epistle was written to local churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.

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That's what the book says. It's similar to the intention of James, the book of James. He specifically mentions the local church in James 5, 14.

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John's second epistle, if you read that, have you ever read 2nd John? And it says to the elect lady as his recipient.

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And you think to yourself, well, who's he writing to? Just some matriarch somewhere?

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No, no, it's actually written to the church. The elect lady refers to a local church. Jude writes his letter to those who are called.

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That's the Greek word klektois, which is derived from the same root word as ekklesia. Moreover, in the book of Jude, the letter warns believers of false teachers who creep into local churches.

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The book of Revelation contains, you think about Revelation, immediately what comes to your mind is the end times or whatever.

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But in the book of Revelation, there are seven letters to local churches. Okay, what am

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I saying? Like, what do we get in all this? What we get is we learn, when we understand the

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New Testament, we learn that the New Testament is saturated with the local church.

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Like, saturated might not be strong enough. Like some of you are in here today, maybe some of you teenagers, maybe some of you kids, maybe some of you adults, you're in here today and you don't really have any connection in your brain between salvation in the

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Lord and the local church. But the New Testament does not separate those two things.

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The New Testament puts those things together. In fact, so much so that trying to understand the

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New Testament apart from the local church would be like this, trying to play baseball or softball without bases.

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And some of you all in here, I know, I've seen you, you're softball players, you're baseball players. How would you play the game without bases?

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Well, I could watch you and I could say, well, they're playing some sort of game that kind of looks like baseball or softball, but the path to winning, well, it's been completely eliminated.

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That would be like trying to read the New Testament apart from the local church. If you pull the thread of the local church out of the fabric of the

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New Testament, if you pull that, you know, like sometimes you got a sweater and you begin to pull that.

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Okay, if the New Testament was your sweater and the thread that you're pulling is the local church and you said, you know,

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I'm just going to pull that all the way out. We don't need that. If you pulled that, then your sweater would just unravel there on the floor.

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Now, in no way does this minimize the centrality of the work of Christ.

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Rather, instead, friends, please hear me. It magnifies it because it shows that the fruit,

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Christ is bearing fruit in our world today. The fruit of Christ's work in his life, in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, it manifests itself in local visible bodies called churches.

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The lamb who was slain will receive the full reward for his suffering.

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And one of those rewards that he received for his suffering is because of his resurrection, the local church exists.

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Paul tells the Ephesian elders to care for that local church in Ephesus because Christ obtained that church with his own blood.

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The local church is the place where the accomplishment of Christ's work is being realized in a specific locality.

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His blood bought people aren't merely forgiven of sins. Praise God. Our salvation is about being forgiven of sins, but it goes beyond that.

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We're also living transformed lives together. Christ will build his church and he always makes good on his promises.

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I got some encouraging news for you. By the end of 2023, you will turn on your television and you will once again be hearing presidential debates.

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Isn't that encouraging, exciting? Aren't you ready for that? And when you get to the end of this year, those people who are running for president, they will begin to make promises to you.

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Now, some of their promises may be good, but they don't really have power to bring about all the promises that they promised, right?

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And some of their promises are just lies. But Jesus made a promise too, didn't he? And what is his promise?

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Matthew 16, 18. I will build my church. That is infinitely greater than the promise of any politician.

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Jacob Raom, he happens to be one of the former pastors of the Osbournes, actually.

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He put this matter pointedly when he said this, to say that the church is unessential is to say that the blood of Christ is unessential.

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You understand the connection between the blood of Christ and the church? To say that the church is unessential is to say, we're going back to Acts 20, 28, is to say that the blood of Christ is unessential.

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The blood of Christ, though, fell on the ground outside of Jerusalem. It flowed to Judea and all

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Samaria. It kept flowing to the other most parts of the earth. It flowed all the way over here to Arkansas.

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And from that life -giving fountain sprang up local churches. Jesus rose again from the grave to build his church.

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Or I could use another analogy. Now, listen, and I want to be reverent here. But maybe this analogy will stick.

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You don't take Jesus out to eat without him bringing his bride. Oh no,

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Lord, if it's okay, I just want to hang out with you. Leave the wife at home.

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But Jesus says, through the apostle Paul, that he gave his life for his bride, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

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Friends, Christ's heart is for no other woman. It is for his holy bride.

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And what an insult that some bring to our King to try to separate the work of King Jesus from his church.

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Or I'll give you one more analogy, but you've got to know your Bible for this one. So some of you, if this goes over your head, be a better Bible reader, okay?

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So there are people like Sanballat in the book of Nehemiah. And Jesus is like Nehemiah.

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And people say, like Sanballat, come, let us meet together, right? Come and let us meet together.

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Hey, Jesus, didn't you see this new thing on the news? Hey, Jesus, don't you know who the president of our country is?

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Hey, Jesus, don't you see this big event going on here? Hey, Jesus, don't you see what's trending in social media?

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Hey, Jesus, you need to come over here and you need to stop what you're doing and we need to meet together and we need to figure out all of this.

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And Jesus says, like Nehemiah, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.

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Why should the work stop while I leave and come down to you? And the work that Jesus is doing, he's building his church.

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And when he saves sinners, it is part of that work. And it's not a work that he will stop until the song sing, like the song says, till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.

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In other words, you cannot disconnect the work of Christ and his gospel from the fruit of that work, which is the transformed lives of sinners, laboring alongside one another under qualified leadership in local churches.

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Now, that's a lot of information, but here we are back in Galatians. So look at Galatians. Chapter six, verse one.

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Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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Okay, why all that stuff that we just talked about before these verses?

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Because I need you to understand, friends, I need you to understand the big picture concept here.

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I need you to understand the grand storyline of the New Testament and even the entire

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Bible here. Christ is building, listen, Christ is building his church. And Galatians six is part of that.

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This is what, Galatians six, these are not just verses that you stitch on a sweater.

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They're not just verses you slap on a coffee mug and you say, well, isn't that encouraging? No, no, these verses are understood within a context and a wider context.

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They are understood within the context of the local church. And Christ is worthy of a healthy church, not just to the people, not just to the

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Galatians. And Christ is worthy of a healthy church here. So we want to hear this. We want to hear about life in the local church and we want to obey that.

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So let me read our distinctive and then we'll work through this text. Biblical membership is a distinctive of our church.

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Biblical membership. We are a Baptist church. This is in your handout if you want to follow along. We are a

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Baptist church, which we equate with biblical. We believe that membership in a local church is a biblical and precious privilege.

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Membership in the local church is limited to regenerate persons, that is believers who have been baptized as believers by immersion upon a credible profession of faith.

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Membership in the local church includes a covenantal commitment to weekly assembly with the body, as well as covenanting to watch over one another in holy love, to discipline one another when necessary, and to contribute financially to the needs and mission of the church.

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We believe all church members, both men and women, each having various gifting, must serve the body of Christ for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.

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No church will be successful in the eyes of the Lord without both holy men and holy women committed to the cause of Christ.

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This is Christ's vision. And by the way, I put scripture references in there. This is

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Christ's vision for biblical membership. Now we can't exegete all that. That in itself would probably be a hundred weeks.

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But some things I want to say based on our text. Number one. Number one. You cannot understand this text apart from church membership.

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The text that I just read. Galatians 6. You cannot understand this text apart from church membership.

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Okay, look at verse 2. I'm going to prove it to you. So please follow along with me. Here's the deal. Listen, you need to believe this about anything.

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You need to believe this about every doctrine you hear from this pulpit. If I am the one who can convince you to believe something, someone else better than me, more articulate than me, smarter than me, more charismatic than me, can come along and convince you of something else.

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It's not my desire, it's not my goal even, for me to argue your way into a certain doctrine.

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Rather, it is my desire to convince you from the Word of God. Because if you're convinced from the

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Word of God, that is where you will stand. So look at it with me. Please look at the verse with me.

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Verse 2. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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Now the text commands us there to bear one another's burdens. So here's a question. How can you do that if you do not know the one another's?

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Right? Bear one another's burdens. How can you do that if you don't know one another? Oh, but you have a response. You've thought through it.

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Here's my response. Well, Paul just means any Christian. So it doesn't mean church membership, because Paul means any

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Christian you come in contact with, you should bear their burdens. Now, actually there is some application here.

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But the primary application is church members whom we know. Okay? Well, what is my response to your response?

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My response to your response is go back to verse 1. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Okay, so first, you who are spiritual is not a super group of Christians.

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Like, what kind of Christian are you? Well, I'm a spiritual one. No, it's not a special group of Christians.

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A spiritual person is one who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. It is believers who are full of the

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Holy Spirit and following the Spirit's leadership in His Word. And how do you know? Okay, so here's,

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I'm pushing back on you. How do you know who falls in a transgression unless you know them? You have no way of knowing.

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By the way, if anyone is caught in a big trans... Look at your text, please. If anyone is caught in a big transgression?

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If anyone is caught in a small transgression? No, no, what does it say? If anyone is caught in what?

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In any transgression. In other words, how could you possibly know if your brother or sister is caught in any transgression unless you actually know them?

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How can you know whether or not they're addicted to something that they're looking at on the

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Internet? How can you know whether or not they're watching too much Netflix? How can you know the idols that are in their lives unless you know them?

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And how do you restore them unless you have something to restore them to?

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Again, verse 1. If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him.

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What does that mean? Oh, you're restoring him. He got saved again, right? You're restoring him to salvation again.

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No, no, no, no. Baptists believe in the principle of the perseverance of the saints. Once a person is genuinely converted, they remain converted.

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You don't restore them to being saved again. What do you restore them to? You restore them to fellowship in the church.

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That is what restoration that you're giving. Of this text, John Gill writes, the relation the saints stand in one to another as brethren should excite them to seek one another's welfare and to restore any that are fallen and to abstain from all roughness and severity.

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Friends, what we're saying, this is Jesus' view of membership here. Jesus' view of membership is that if any of us are caught in any transgression, we know one another well enough, we're committed to one another, we love one another well enough that if we fall, that we have brothers and sisters with compassion, with kindness, with grace, with love that are willing to stoop down.

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They see us falling on the sidewalk. They see the world passing us by and laughing at us, but they come over.

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They bend down like that Samaritan. They patch our wounds. They give us the right hand of Christian fellowship and they pick us up and they restore us.

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This is the vision. Jeff Johnson says, It is the soul's invisible unity with the invisible

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Christ that compels believers who live in a physical body to outwardly unite in visible and local assemblies.

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We unite in local assemblies like this to watch over one another in brotherly love.

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Friends, you cannot say that you're merely a member of the church universal and not a member of a local church and be faithful to this text.

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And by the way, let me just make this real quick in case there's anybody here that would argue this. Quatro, it's not

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Jesus saying that in chapter six. It's Paul saying it. Okay, push back.

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1 Timothy 3 .16 says, All scripture is breathed out by who? Jesus is

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God. Therefore, every word in the New Testament is breathed out and Old Testament, sorry,

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Old and New Testament, Genesis to Revelation is breathed out by Christ. We're not just reading

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Paul's vision or Paul's idea for the church. We're reading Christ. To be a faithful saint is to have a geographic locale where you are actively participating in the life of the church.

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Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted. You can't fulfill that just existing out in the world apart from the church.

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Because the local church is the place where saints live out the reality of their earthly walk both in regularly gathering with the local church and as the local church goes throughout its week and lives holy lives and shares

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Christ. That's how we, verse 2, bear one another burden. There's really no understanding in the scriptures of rogue

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Christians who were united to Christ, part of the universal church, but didn't live as members of local churches.

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Now, as a Baptist church, I'll just mention this real quick. We equate, which by the way, not to be funny or silly or poke anybody in the eye, but we equate

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Baptist with biblical. If we didn't think Baptist was biblical, we wouldn't be Baptist. But Baptist and biblical are synonymous in my vernacular.

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We believe, therefore, that nobody can be part of the local church unless he or she is born again and biblically baptized.

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In fact, if you just go over one chapter, so there's no Galatians 7, but the next chapter is Ephesians 1.

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In Ephesians 1 .1, I'll just read that, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints, to the saints who are in Ephesus.

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In other words, the local church in Ephesus was made up of saints. Those who have been set apart by God in Christ, having trusted

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Christ with repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins. Only saints, only those born again are part of the new covenant.

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And then, of course, the sign for the new covenant is baptism. Baptism. Let me just read real quick.

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I love old history. The 1644 First London Baptist Confession of Faith says this of baptism.

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Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament given by Christ to be dispensed only upon persons professing faith.

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The way and manner of the dispensing of this ordinance, the Scripture holds out to be plunging the whole body under water.

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It being a sign, must answer the things signified, which are these. First, the washing the whole soul in the blood of Christ.

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Secondly, these are the things baptism is a symbol of, it's saying. So it's a symbol of washing the whole soul in the blood of Christ.

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It's a symbol of that interest the saints have in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Thirdly, together with the confirmation of our faith that is certainly as the body is buried under water and rises again, so certainly shall the bodies of the saints be raised by the power of Christ in the day of resurrection to reign with Christ.

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Okay, so we believe then that in order to be a member of the church one has to be converted and baptized. Now, that got a little bit off track.

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Let me get you back. Number two, church membership is not only required in this text.

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Like you can't do this text without church membership. You just can't. Number two, church membership is formal and covenantal.

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Church membership is formal and covenantal. Now we're going to skip a lot, but go down to verse 10. Formal and covenantal.

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Verse 10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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Now, Paul makes a distinction, doesn't he? There's a distinction between everyone and those of the household of faith.

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There's a distinction between unbelievers and believers. Christians, we seek to do good to all.

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But Paul says in this text especially those of the household of faith. Now, this is where words matter.

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That word for household is the typical Greek word, the common Greek word for what could mean physical blood relatives, but it could also mean slaves in the household.

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It could also mean families even united together into one household. Paul uses it this way very generically in 1

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Timothy 5 .8. If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

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Okay, so listen. This is very, very important because some people will be like, oh yeah, you don't have to have a covenant. You don't have to have formal membership.

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It just matters whoever shows up. But I want to I think I hope prove this from the text.

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The word household it's not just an abstract idea. In other words, the word household it contained in the word household you have to think about membership.

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A connotation of the word household brings to mind membership. Okay, so then as we have opportunity let's do good to everyone and especially to those that are of the household of faith.

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So the illustration I'm going to use I'm going to bring it 2 ,000 years to today and the illustration

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I'm going to use is a modern illustration that I think will help prove my point. Now you may later after the sermon you may say, oh, there's more ways than this.

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But I thought about three ways today. There are three ways today to become a member of a household and these three ways are they all involve paperwork they're all very public they're all covenantal and formal.

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Okay, number one, how can you become a member of a household? Number one, marriage. Right? One way to become a member of a household is that two people get married and they form their own household.

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That's a covenantal formal relationship. Number two, adoption.

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How do you become a member of this household? You are legally adopted into this household.

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Again, requires legal paperwork, it requires promises, it requires commitment, it requires covenant and a formal process.

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Thirdly, how can you become a member of a household? Marriage, adoption, a third way. You can be born into a household.

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Now, when you're born and you ask some of these families that have just given birth to a child and you say, there's no paperwork involved with the child.

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Oh yes there is, right? Yeah, you're not getting out of the hospital unless you fill out the necessary forms and begin to work through that process.

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So what I mean in these examples is you don't have people in your household today who just wonder in and out and you're curious if they're really members of the household or not.

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No, no, no. In all of these scenarios that I've given you, you know who is in and who is out and you see in each one of these that the formal covenantal aspects are involved and even legal paperwork, there are formal and covenantal and legal aspects of all of this.

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So these ideas in my opinion help us in our modern mind to understand verse 10.

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So then as we have opportunity let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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The church is referred to here as a household. To be a member of the household is formal and covenantal and this isn't the only place that this is talked about.

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Hebrews 3 says Jesus is building his house. Ephesians 2 says we are members of the household of God.

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1 Timothy 3 .15 calls the church the household of God and the pillar and buttress of the truth.

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So the idea here then is that when we become a Christian when we by grace turn from our sin and repentance and trust the

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Lord Jesus by faith we become part of God's family we become part of God's household and God's family is represented on earth by visible local households.

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Visible local congregations called churches. And so in these households as it were we have formal and covenantal membership.

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We don't leave people wondering is that person part of the household? Imagine somebody's gonna make a joke about the number of kids we have but just imagine

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I wake up and there's a new kid in the house which by the way with five kids and them having friends over and sometimes this does happen sometimes

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I do sometimes wake up and there's another kid in the house I'm like hmm who is this child? But I don't ever wonder to myself huh

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I wonder if he's staying around huh I wonder if he's a member of the household now huh no that's not how it works that's not how it works in the household and if it's not how it works in a human household that's not even more so how it works in God's household in the church.

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Okay formal covenantal membership says of the member to the congregation if formally

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I had an argument with I had a person there's a person left one time over this because just a situation

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I was like you know you ought to be a member and they got mad my name needs to be on a piece of paper and you actually hear people living together outside of marriage that kind of use that argument too like we don't need a piece of but formal covenantal commitments and so the formal covenantal membership says of the member to the congregation

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I'm here I'm staying I want to be part of this I commit to watch over you and I want you to watch over me and it says of the congregation to the member we believe you are a son or daughter of the king we commit to walk with you toward that celestial city we are watching over you in love and we invite you and require you and ask you to watch over us let me also mention something else about verse 2 bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ this requires showing up we believe in weekly commitment as the floor level commitment to one another that is we gather every

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Lord's day it's here we learn about one another's burdens and we also pray for one another's burdens and I'm not saying

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Sunday is the be all end all commitment I'm just saying our commitment is more than that it's definitely not less we'll talk more about prize and Sundays when we talk about worship but some professing

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Christians let me put it this way most professing

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Christians have completely lost the biblical understanding of the local church and there are some professing

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Christians out there today who are more committed to their membership at Costco than they are to their membership at the local church or you could fill in anything there you could fill in tea time you could fill in sports you could fill in activities in the community oh well

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I can't do this because I'm a member of such and such club I'm a member of the school board I'm a member of the city council or whatever and we treat membership in worldly temporal things more precious than membership in Christ church what

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I'm saying is let us order our week around Sunday rather than trying to squeeze our Sunday gathering into our busy schedule you say

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I can't do that the only way that I can fit Sunday into my life is if I give up some of the things that I love and I would say it may require cutting out things in our life and it may require to give up certain things but I am saying that it is better to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters in the

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Lord like the Bible says than to fill our lives with so many non -eternal matters you cannot understand this text apart from church membership and church membership is formal and covenantal thirdly biblical membership requires formal corrective church discipline biblical membership requires formal corrective church discipline this is what the text is talking about verse one brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression you who are spiritual you who are walking by the spirit you who are being led by the spirit you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted now church discipline is not a popular subject and some people don't even know like some of you might be listening and you're like I've never even heard this term before I mean you probably have but some of you may not but formal corrective church discipline is a vital necessary aspect of biblical membership the goal of church membership do not lose this point the goal of church membership is always restoration the goal of discipline the goal of discipline is never the inquisition the goal of discipline is not ultimately to have to kick someone out of the church the goal is always restoration you should restore him verse 1 in a spirit of gentleness we are to be patient we are to be humble we are to be gracious we are to be watchful but the point is biblical church membership means we're inviting one another into each other's lives so that we will actually hold one another accountable will actually confront sin when necessary in one another's lives we need this your pastor needs this we all need this why do

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I say we need this consider Hebrews 3 12 and 13 take care brothers lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

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God but exhort one another every day as long as it's called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin you have believed the lie that you and God got all you need and you just live the church is important you wouldn't say it's unimportant but it's not necessary it's important but not necessary you and God got all you need now

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I'm not downplaying your relationship with God through Christ I'm not downplaying that at all but God has given his people the church the local church which we are expected and required as necessary part of our lives in order to keep us walking in holiness you need the church and friends the church needs you and one reason is for the daily relationships to help us fight sin sin is a great enemy we lose that sometimes when we get mad about the democrats or when we get mad about this person cut us off in traffic or we get mad the way this person behaved you know who our great enemy is is sin and we're not meant to fight sin alone

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Christ has defeated sin in our stead and he has appointed his local churches to watch over one another so that they have practical victory in their lives of holiness and we restore one another to fellowship in Christ now that's the goal the goal is always restoration however because of sin and the hardened heart restoration does not always happen sometimes the church is called to separate from people who persist in sin you must remove them from the church roles and you must treat them as though they are an unbeliever because they persist in sin whoa where did you get that from two passages

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I'm not going to exegete these passages I'm just going to read them we could be here a long time but I do need you to turn to them

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Matthew 16 18 sorry Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 so please we're just going to turn these

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I want you to read them I want your eyes to see them Matthew 18 please Matthew 18 and then 1

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Corinthians 5 Matthew 18 and then 1

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Corinthians chapter 5 Matthew 18 verse 15

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Matthew 18 verse 15 by the way let me say this 99 % of the time it's not that the

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Bible is hard to understand 99 % of the time what's right there it just means right there what it says now you may run into a situation like the

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Nephilim or something like that and you say well that's kind of hard to understand but 99 % of the Bible 99 % of the time the

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Bible just it's really easy to understand it's clear so just listen to this Matthew 18 verse 15 if your brother sins against you go and post it on social media oh no that's not what mine says if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you've gained your brother ok but then what verse 16 but Jesus he's not listening ok but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses ok he's listened now what happens alright we're restored praise

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God no Jesus but now he's not listening so then what verse 17 if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church ok he didn't listen to anybody now we told the church but now he listens to the church he's repented what now he's restored ok but what if he doesn't listen to the church if he refuses verse 17 and if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector in other words if he won't even listen to the church you have to treat him like an unbeliever verse 18 truly

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I say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and again

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I say to you if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask it will be done for them by my father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name there

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I am among them by the way you're gonna use that you know wrongly like there's two or three gathered so you're like you're going hunting with your buddies and you're like hey man there's two or three of us

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Jesus is with us but that's not what he's talking about he's talking about in the context of the church gathered and specifically here in the context of church discipline ok 1

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Corinthians 5 next passage 1 Corinthians 5 these are only two

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I wanted to mention here with church discipline maybe we'll look at some of them tonight if you have questions that would be great actually if you have questions come back tonight and let's talk about 1

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Corinthians 5 verse 9 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9 if some of you have never read this before it's gonna blow your mind that Paul talks like this cause you're like I didn't think we could talk like this ok listen to how

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Paul talks I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people what?

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that's not what Andy Stanley said that's not what the big evangelicalism says it says we're just to associate if people you know that's what

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Paul says no not to associate with sexually immoral people listen not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world in other words he's saying no no listen

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I'm not talking about when you gotta work you gotta work with a sexually immoral person or a greedy person ok you can be around those people who are not they don't profess to be believers you've gotta be around them that's part of being in the world you've gotta be around them no no what

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Paul's saying is verse 11 but now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone this is what

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Christ says to his churches I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater reviler drunkard or swindler not even to eat with such a one what ok but we can't judge

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Paul we can't judge verse 12 for what have I to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge now listen

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I know this pushes against us but Paul says God judges those outside purged evil person from among you what

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Paul is saying there's a terrible situation by the way if you read the context first Corinthians terrible situation but what

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Paul is saying is here he's saying is if you have brothers and sisters who claim to be

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Christians and they are living in unrepentant sin and you've warned them and you've warned them and you've called them repentance and they don't repent then you have to turn them out of the church now this is not a witch hunt it's not something that makes us giddy it ought to be handled with great care and love and grace and patience however please remember this is what the

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Bible says this is God's book therefore this is good this is the type of church that Christ bled for this is the obedience that Christ wants from his people and so ultimately a local church must discipline itself for the glory of Christ and to show the watching world that Jesus is serious about sin and that he cares about the purity of his church and the fame of his name and this is

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Christ's vision for his church and we can trust this and we ought to trust this and we must trust this last thing

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I want to mention then we'll close number four all church members are called to this kind of membership all church members

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I really probably should say all Christians but I'm trying to make a point here our our distinctive says it this way we believe all church members both men and women each having various gifting must serve the body of Christ for his glory and the advancement of his kingdom no church will be successful in the eyes of the

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Lord without both holy men and holy women committed to the cause of Christ so go back to I'm all the way over here in 1st

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Corinthians go back to Galatians 6 when Paul says brothers in Galatians 6 1 he doesn't just mean just the men he's saying brothers in the terms of like brethren brothers and sisters brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted bear one another burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ here's what

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I'm saying I'm emphasizing here that this is for men and women the offices of elders and deacons we talked about last week are reserved for qualified men and when we talk about worship we're going to talk about being led by qualified men but let me say this this does not undermine or downplay the role of women in the church in any way rather what we're trying to do is exalt women to be women and exalt men to be men and exalt

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God's good design for men and women in the church you're going to hear a message your children are going to hear a message weekly at school or weekly on the daily on the television shows they watch that they're going to hear this message that men and women it doesn't matter men can be anything they want to be women can be anything they want to be and it doesn't really matter they're all the same thing and I'm saying to you no no no no no come back to the bible

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God has a good design men can never be a mother and a woman can never be a father men are called to certain roles in the home and in the church and women are called to certain roles in the home and in the church and we're not apologetic about it why because it's good it's good

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It's God's design and we love it because God is good and so what

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I'm saying is when it comes to watching over one another in love and edifying over one another, edifying one another and using our gifts to serve one another, beloved, we need all hands on deck.

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We need every man and every woman pursuing holiness together in the fear of the

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Lord and committed to the cause of Christ together. We need the whole body here at work.

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This isn't just the men doing this. This isn't just the women doing this. We need the church doing this, loving one another, watching over one another, bearing one another's burdens.

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Someone may say, well if I can't be an elder that is a pastor, if I can't be a pastor or deacon, what role do

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I play? Or someone else may say, well if I can't be up front, what role do I play?

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And I say, brothers and sisters, read the text. Verse two, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ that is the law of love, loving one another in Christ.

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Healthy church membership is going to require every man and every woman because it's hard work.

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You don't even, some of you don't even understand how hard it is to have healthy church.

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It takes all of us. It takes a commitment and loyalty to one another and first and above all to the

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Lord Jesus, to King Jesus. But here's what I'm saying. Here's the question we need to ask. Is this worth it?

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Like is it worth it? Is Christ, is he worthy of a healthy church in Perryville?

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Amen. And I say he is. And so look at verse 9. I know we didn't get all the text, but look at verse 9.

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Look at verse 9. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

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Friends, Christ is worthy of a healthy church in Perryville. Jesus bought you a family.

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Do you prize this reality? Don't give up while there's a temptation. Doing good, you can grow weary in that.

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Why? Because you can do it day after day after day and labor after labor after labor and sometimes you won't see your fruit and sometimes you see the people that are living wickedly.

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They don't care about the church. Everything in their life is going good. They say, they post things like, oh we had a great day at church and you're just like, man but we have to deal with this church discipline issue.

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We have to deal with this membership issue or we're having to try to work through our Constitution and bylaws or we're trying to install an elder.

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It's like this is hard. It's work and I'm there all the time and I'm up late at night and I'm praying and it seems like everybody else is having so much fun and me

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I'm trying to do well and I'm getting weary in it. But I say, don't grow. The Paul says, Jesus says, don't grow weary.

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Don't grow weary. Keep going. It's worth it. You will reap. Look, look, look, look. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

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What God has sown in this place is beautiful. Friends, let us press on.

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Let us not grow weary. Jesus is worthy. A healthy church is worth it. Will you be committed to biblical church membership?

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Okay, for some of you that means, some of you, some of you are, you're already here. Like, yep, boom.

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So what you need to respond is this. You need to praise God for the church and your response today, you need to encourage others, maybe even intentionally, maybe even seek out others in this fellowship and encourage them in Christ's vision for the church.

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Some of you, you need to join the church. Well, I thought I was a part of the church.

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No, no. You need to formally join the church in a formal and covenantal way. For some of you, you need to confess to the

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Lord your sin of putting the church on the backburner. Well, I'm a member of the church but I've put it on the backburner.

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What do I do? Well, here's the answer. Repent and commit to walk in faithfulness under the headship of Christ and with the local church.

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And then for some of you, it means that right now you stand outside the door, as it were.

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You need to see the glory of the gospel and the beauty of Christ and the wonder and importance and necessity of the church.

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And you need to repent of your sins. You're playing games. You think you're young.

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You think everything's okay. You're playing games with the Bible. You don't care what the Bible says. Sleeping during church, sleeping during Sunday school.

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Ah, you're just gonna can't wait to be done and go back to lunch. And you don't realize that the wrath of God hangs above your head.

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And at a moment's notice, God and His justice could bring His wrath upon your wretched soul.

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And yet, here you are. And here you're hearing the gospel. And I remind you, friend, young man, young woman, older man, older woman, little boy, little girl,

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I remind you of the mercy of our Lord. There is only one type of person that our

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Lord Jesus receives. Do you know what that type of person is? Sinner.

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If you are a sinner, then here is the invitation. Know the command of Almighty God.

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Repent of your sins and go to Christ and find in Him an all -sufficient and totally suitable

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Savior. The preaching of God's Word demands a response. And so I wonder today what your response is to biblical church membership.

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Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. And we pray, Lord, that not that it just works right here and right now as though we're trying to build up to some crescendo of a moment of great decision -making, although that is wonderful.

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No, Lord, what we're trying to go for is a Word that continues to reap fruit five days, ten days, six years, ten decades down the road.

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That's what we're trying to sow. And I pray, Lord, that You would be pleased to do that here. Work in a way that brings glory to Christ.