What Is a Church? — Rolfe Barnard

I don't know, I expect, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, I didn't turn it up. I have to have a doctor's degree. I never did get over here where they had it written out in English. I was trying to find the Baptist anthem.

I think it would be a shame to go through a whole week and not sing the Baptist anthem, and I don't believe it's in here. That's awful. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

That's the Baptist anthem. We try to be dignified like you Presbyterians and sing an anthem, but that's about as high as we can get. I mean, have you ever heard that old song, huh? Well, don't be bashful.

I never heard most of what I've heard you sing, so it's bad. But that's what's the matter with you. I had a colored church in Dallas that had outgrown its raising and got pretty dignified, and I had a visiting brother come into the Sunday morning service, and the service got going along, and he got saying amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord.

And one of the ushers slipped around while the service was going on, tapped him on the shoulder and said, we don't allow that in this congregation. And the brother said, well, what do you mean? He said, the Spirit of God gets to flow and the Word of God gets precious.

He said, I just can't keep from, he said, I like to say praise the Lord, hallelujah. He said, I just, that's the way I've been taught. And the usher said, he said, the old brother said, I got religion.

He said, when we sing, I just can't keep still. And the usher said, well, I don't care if your ears got religion, your dead throat didn't get it here. We don't allow that. But we had a report in the state paper of the Baptists of Kentucky some years ago where the pastor wrote up a little report of a week or two of meetings.

We used to call them revival meetings, and having revival, we called them that. Said Brother Joe Spink or somebody was our evangelist and said he left no problems. And I read it and I said that meant everything is dead when he got there.

Stayed dead while he was there and still dead because the only place no problems is the cemetery. Isn't that right? It might be a lot to go up and down the Lambsday a few days and cause some problems.

You'll have to work them out after I leave. I lay my burden down here tomorrow night, take up another one Monday night in another place, and I'll leave you with some problems. I won't talk to you tonight about the biggest heartache and problem that the professing people of God and church relationship certainly have.

The Great Absence of Christ in the Church

And that's the problem of the absence of Christ when the saints meet. The great absence. Last evening we tried to suggest that we must move back under the discipline of Christ as it's exercised in this church.

We gave you the four things that constitute Christ's discipline. People have repented, been scripturally baptized, they understand the implications, what baptism means to come under the authority of Christ in the church where he's head.

Then they are placed under a fourfold discipline. It's to that which they proclaim the apostles' doctrine. Fellowship. No spectators. Nobody paying somebody else to preach, but everybody preaching himself.

Fellowship. Coronaria. Partnership. Nearly 60 years ago, Mr. Lenine, or whatever his name is, fought the battle in a tenement house in New York City slums. And he won. The battle was over one issue. The keeping of membership in the Communist Party small.

Thus they have developed now until the fastest growing, most militant, hear me? Most like the Book of Acts religion on top side of the earth is a religion of communism. They're the only religion I'm aware of that pays any attention to the Bible today.

We Baptists don't, you Presbyterians don't. But they've taken the Book of Acts as a blueprint. And they keep the membership small and utterly committed. That's the church and that's the reason they're taking the whole outfit.

That's right. And it bothers me that they really pay attention to the Book of Acts. We give it lip service, but don't pay attention to it. But they do. No spectators in the Communist Party. Every last one of them, you give him half a chance, he'll preach his belief.

Amen? He'll die for it. He'll do anything. He'll riot in the streets and everything else. Isn't that right? He believes in what he believes. Puts it into action. That's the good picture of what the New Testament says the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is.

Isn't that right? All the days of my little ministry have been characterized by the great absence. Not the presence of the risen Christ, but the absence of him in power. Manifestation. I never shall forget some years ago, a good number, maybe 20, I forget exactly when.

Revival and the Manifestation of the Risen Christ

I was in a conference around the gospel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And I met for the first time a Saint of God who remains, until this good hour, the only human being I've ever seen that has actually been there when what we call revival took place.

He's still living. Brother James Stewart, I don't know whether you know him or not. The headquarters of his activities over at Lansdale, Pennsylvania, for many years was in Philadelphia. He's a European evangelist, born in Scotland.

Nearly 40 years ago in Russia, Czechoslovakia, and especially in Hungary, he was present in Hungary when a whole nation was made conscious of the living Christ. He dies on the program with this man, and I was scared to even speak to him.

Because our gospel and our witness here rattles like an old Ford going down the road, you know, so empty. We talk about revival, and the only acquaintance we've ever had with it is by reading about how it happened way back yonder.

We've never been present when Christ was free to still be holy and make his presence really manifestly felt. Everything we've done, we've had to find a substitute for the one thing that's absolutely necessary, and that's the presence of Christ.

For nobody's ever been convicted of his sinfulness until he's been confronted with the living Lord and his holiness. And so we have to have all of our tricks and our zeal, and we spawned a generation of church members that are saved, but they've never been convicted of sin.

They'll tell you they're saved. They know nothing of the living Lord, and they'll all go to hell, I guess, trusting their little experience. And that'll break your heart. James Stewart had seen God's Son confront people in the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I remember I'd speak, and he'd speak, and he's a Scotchman, and he didn't have much say to me, and I scared of him. And I brought the message at the 11 o 'clock hour the last day, and he'd spoken at 10, and then we were to speak that night, and the conference would be over, and he came up to me, and the first thing he said to me during the conference, he said, Mr. Barnard, he said, suppose we go have a spot of tea.

I'd like to talk with you a little. Now, a spot of tea to a Scotchman in England is about a gallon of tea that you don't, you can't stir it with a spoon, you have to have a knife to cut it with. And then it's a thanks your meal.

And when we were around the table, he said, I don't know whether to sow or not, I've hoped it was. He said, I discern that you are a New Testament evangelist. I've wanted to be, I've given my life toward that end.

He said, I discern, I hope you spoke the truth, that you are a New Testament evangelist. He said, my heart goes out to you in America. He said, I'd hate to have to try to be a New Testament evangelist in America, where there's no hunger and where there are no New Testament churches.

Where he said evangelism can only be prosecuted by that institution that Jesus gave the task of evangelism to. And that's New Testament churches. I've never forgotten that. Without any apology, I say that not simply the true message is the need of this hour, but under God the need of this hour is every institution calling itself a church of Jesus Christ, setting its face, coming under the headship and discipline of Christ, so that they might do what the Lord gave us to do.

Prosecute the grave commission. That's our job, isn't it? That's not the job of an individual. That's the job of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we halt in all the days of our lives, I've seen the churches get further and further behind in prosecuting that.

We are summoned as the hour is late to set our faces, to walk in all the light we have, crying to God as we study his word on our knees. It's our own place to study it. For more wisdom and light to be obedient to his teaching.

And all of it is for the one purpose, that once again he'll be in the midst of his people. It just won't do to quote the scripture, Matthew 18, 20, where two or three are gathered together, in my name, we say it awfully, there am I in the midst of thee.

And we are always thanking the Lord that we're in his house, and he's present with us, but he isn't. He's absent because we've not included in our theology the little term, in my name. And we are not under his authority.

That's what that means. We are not willingly, gladly under his discipline. We are not obedient to him. And he'd have to abdicate and cease to be holy and righteous if he smiled on our disobedience. Now I want to talk a little while tonight of that instance in the scripture where in a local church, we described it last night, the only church that existed at that time, the only local representative of the body of Christ, expression is a better word, the Church of Jerusalem, Acts 2.

It had 120 members to start with, and in one day 3 ,000 were added to them. And the reason was that Christ visited that assembly. And in the Holy Spirit, that's the Spirit's job, to take the things of Christ and make them real, and to reveal Christ in that rite.

And he did. And the people weren't convicted by the Holy Spirit. They were convicted by being confronted by the living Lord. It was the job of the Spirit to make... The Holy Spirit can't convict anybody of the Holy.

Only the person that's ever been convicted of his sinfulness is the one who confronts man as the Holy Spirit makes him real in the truth. In the book of Ephesians, if you'll turn to it quickly, I want to just start here briefly tonight so I can call your attention again to verse 13 of Ephesians, chapter 4.

Christ's Discipline and the Maturity of the Saints

That chapter, you know, is a tremendous chapter, and we call to your attention verse 11 and 12. And I'll read it again. I'll not take time to read the whole chapter. It's very familiar to you, I trust.

The risen Lord gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and our teachers for the maturing, the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. The comma there is clearly misplaced.

For the edifying of the body of Christ. What's all this for? Just to fill up some space? No, sir. Look at verse 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, it will take the ministry of these five men to bring God's people into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a what?

A mature, a perfect, mature man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's our goal, isn't it? Whose goal is it? Every member of the body of Christ. And God's given five gifted men, given them offices, or four, if the pastor is the pastor and teacher, if that's just one, four or five, I don't know which it is.

And he does that for the purpose of making good deacons, or that's actually good servants, good ministers out of the people. And he does that that we'll come to the unity of the faith, not split 1 ,400 ways over what we believe, unto the knowledge of the Son of God, and we'll know him only in proportion as we obey him.

You can't come to know Christ any other way except by obedience. Unto a mature man. Oh, that's the purpose of the whole thing. Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, if that isn't the goal of the public ministry, the session, and the people of this congregation, you set your sights below that which has been set before you.

You see what I mean? How do you expect when you've got something to work for and live for? Life's worth living. ...for us for being content to accept things as they are when the church, out of order as it is, divided and mangled and bruised and wounded and wellnigh helpless now.

The Ordered Church in 1 Corinthians 14

I would summon the quotation of the sainted Spurgeon, Give me souls of our adorable Lord who are rejected and denied in the first book of Corinthians, chapter 14. You quickly turn to it. I want to show you a church in order, what will happen when it meets.

Just to whet our appetites, if it happens, and the record of it is given in the New Testament, I say we must not be satisfied until it takes place amongst us. If there's one thing that we're not obeying about under God, let's go to do it.

If there's one thing that would hinder this, let's get rid of it. Here in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, I can't take the time, I'm so long-winded, I always just get started when it's time to quit.

But you read the book of 1 Corinthians, read it over and over again, and you'll find the remedy for everything that can possibly be wrong for your congregation. Don't go to some book some old Puritan wrote, go to the Apostle Paul.

If there was ever a congregation out of order, this is it. And the remedy is applied. It's right in the book. It's not in the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Baptist Philadelphia Confession, but it's in the book, God's book.

The old Presbyterians who started you folks out wouldn't have known a church that had met it in the road. Same with us Baptist folks. They knew something, but they didn't know a single God's verse about a church.

Go back to THE book! It's better than our Baptist Confessions of Faith. There's no error in this book, brother. There isn't in anything man wrote. Huh? That make you mad? It tickles me, you Presbyterians just reading about some folks have added to the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Well, you didn't pay no attention to any much. You didn't even know it existed until they got the change in it. And you'd be in 10 ,000 times better shape than you are now if you'd paid a little attention to the Westminster Confession of Faith.

And how much better then if you'd have skipped over it and gone clear back to the Bible. Huh? I just want to read this, verse 23, 14th to 1st Corinthians, if therefore the whole church be come together in one place.

You see, the church in Corinth, they had the advantage of us didn't have but one, but there's already so numerous they couldn't meet together. See what I mean? They didn't have any meeting place. The only way they could get the whole church together, some I met out at Sister Joan's home, some I met over yonder.

But every once in a while I said the whole outfit ought to get together. Amen? Of course, we can't now because we differ doctrinally in 10 ,000 ways. Brother, Brother Baptist, somebody asked him, how'd you meet and come out?

He said, well, we didn't do any good but thank God the message didn't leave him. But if the whole church be come together in the one place. I have lots of fun down south making fun of some of our language.

People go out and invite, ring, we're having meetings. We're having meetings down at our church. Wish you'd come to church tonight. Now, isn't that silly? That means the church is a building. Ain't no such thing.

It's a bunch of people. And ain't no way on earth you could attend church. You just show your ignorance when you invite somebody to come to church. I can understand how the church can go to some place to have a prayer meeting or skin a mule or do something.

But I can't see how anybody could attend church. Now, isn't that silly? But tomorrow you'll invite somebody to attend church, won't you? It shows that you don't know about what a church is. Us Baptists, about as bad as you Presbyterians are.

That's bad. It shows that we think a church is a place made up of some called-out people. Huh? And they can meet together. The people can meet in this place, can't they? Well, they could meet if you ever got saved down here on the square.

Fix it so the Salvation Army and everybody else wasn't the only folks passing out tracts on the street and down to jail and that way. Of course, I don't know about you Presbyterians, but the Baptists say that God doesn't call women to pray, but I say if you're saved, He did.

He didn't call you to be a pastor, don't believe me. But you see, or if anybody called you to preach, how come you women don't have, don't go down to jail to preach up a storm? You young people, you say you're saved, who are you preaching to?

You men. Well, since we've been knee-high to a dirt, we've been paying brothers of all to preach for us. We ain't done no preaching ourselves in Westchester to fix and to split hell wide open cause the churches have been doing everything except what the Lord told us to do.

To build a place and call it a church like people to come. But to come here and in the spirit of the old Quakers they were right on one thing at least, the service begins when the meeting ends. When the whole church become together into one place there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers will they not say that you're mad?

If they come in and all prophesy what a church does, every member of it prophesies he proclaims the word of God. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost. If all prophesy if under Christ discipline no specter then obey the commission Christ gave us.

He gave you with a gift he gave you so you could. The old Puritans knew more about the gospel than anything we'll know in a year. But that's all they knew. They didn't have the slightest conception of a church.

John Calvin and John Owen and those great men they said a church a place a place the fullest priest the sacraments observed and some of them said where discipline is maintained but they identified a church with a public preaching place.

They were dead wrong. No ladies and gentlemen a church is a bunch of people who've been saved by grace and commission to evangelize the world. Isn't that right? And they've got no business assembling in what we call a church house or anything else except to sharpen their tools to abide in the Lord in obedience to the great commission.

See what I mean? This is simple but we don't pay attention to it. All the days of our lives we've identified a church as a place where the gospel is preached. If there's one place in Westchester where the gospel is not to be preached it's in a church house.

No sir the gospel is to be preached where people are who do not know the Lord and they're not in your church house. Amen? And you say hadn't God blessed in spite of our ignorance? Yes but brother he's shutting us up now until we're going to have to come to an obedience like we never dreamed.

This isn't the day when people flock to hear a Puritan preacher. This is the day when people get converted and feel no need of anything else and where half of this church hadn't showed up for doing this meeting they've got the fish to fry.

And that's part of the course all over America. No! If the whole church could come together in one place and all speak with tongues and blah blah blah they'll say they're crazy but if all prophesied he gave some apostles some prophets every child in the world of God is in that word prophet here to be a proclaimer a fourth teller of the word amen if all prophesied and there come in one that believe is not or one unlearned what happens to it?

Suppose this church meets together here see and it's full of people who are not in rebellion against that which God has called them to be and do see I'll tell you what'll happen somebody else will be present if all prophesied and there come in one that believe is not or one unlearned you know what happens to him he's convinced of all he's judged of all and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship and he'll go back to Westchester Square and report that God is in you of a truth that's how people get saved when God manifests himself in Christ in the power of the Holy.

Spirit confronts men. That's the only way the secrets of men hearts come out and they're convinced of their sinfulness. And it's the only thing that'll break the stubborn will of a rebel like you and me and cause them to fall down and do what.

Worship God you ain't saved unless that's happened to you. Don't that make you hungry. Does it me. Well it happened on the day of Pentecost. Didn't it. What happened. Holy Spirit came. Who sent him Lord Jesus Christ.

That's why he said. What for make Christ presence felt. That's his job. And when the sills did what they do. Proclaim the wonderful works of God. They filled that town. They didn't brag on themselves tell their experience.

They told what God had done. Your experience is not the power of God unto salvation. To all who believe the gospel is oh God help us. Every last one of them 120 people that's all the members ahead. That's the church in order brother.

That's the church under Christ discipline. Why they do it. Claiming the wonderful works. They did it in such a wonderful way. The people gathered there all sorts of tongues and languages used from everywhere.

13 different gangs one I believe 13 they heard why they heard the wonderful works of God proclaimed so they could understand it in their own language. And of course that caused a little stir. And they began to ask questions and enabled Peter and Lillian to stand up with him and talk about Christ.

You and I answering questions. Nobody is asking. It's hard to do. What happened. How come now when they heard this as many as were stabbed in their hearts cried out. Men and brethren what must we do. I tell you what they were confronted with the fact that they were sitting on a stolen throne.

They were making out like they were God. But that's the essence of sin. Sin isn't getting drunk or committing adultery. That's sins. Sin is being God yourself. Now man will give of himself for some cause.

He'll even sacrifice. But he'll not dethrone himself. And that's what has to happen in order to be saved. Not give a thousand dollars to missions or throw yourself in front of a car to keep a young child from getting killed unsaved.

Man will do that apart from the grace of God. None of us will dethrone ourselves. Abdicate resign as being God. For there's just one person got a right to sit on the throne. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's what these folks faced. No wonder they cried out what must be done. Ladies and gentlemen five minutes five seconds after I get through preaching tonight. Some of y 'all will be.

Laughing and talking about corn crop the levity the familiarity of even our services today shows the blindness the depth of the blindness of our heart. Read the Bible. Every instance in the Bible where a human being was confronted in the Old Testament of our God in Christ.

In the new a deep feeling of awe. And right back seven said the Lord of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. That's how old Abraham got saved. He is confronted by God in the Old Testament said when the Lord appeared to our father Abraham when he is an idol worshipper.

Back over yonder and he spoke to Abraham. Abraham stretched himself out on the ground so he could listen. When God appeared to Abraham in the burning bush covered his eyes in fear lest he look on. When Moses said in Exodus 33 glory God said well if I did it I tell you what I will do.

You go down there in that rock that's got a cliff in it and hide in there. And when I pass by in my glory I'll let you see just a little glimpse of my hind part. That's all you can see. When Saul of Tarsus was confronted with of the Lord of glory.

It left him blind. Prostrate. Lord what would that have been.

The easy familiarity of this hour the lack of the sense that this one person doesn't meet with us. For if you ever are confronted with him with Isaiah when I saw the Lord I could do nothing but say woe is me never to be satisfied again with having to say what was the truth.

I'm a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst. Never be satisfied until at the call of God which comes to all when he says who will go for me. It's silly to talk about being saved. Unless you've heard that call and response.

Here am. I send me people who made a decision accepted a creed believed the doctrine done something can evade this. But if you're ever confronted with God you will do exactly. You can do no less than Saul of Tarsus.

You can do no less than Abraham. You can do no less than Moses. You can do no less than Isaiah. I come back to tell you the idea that you can be saved and not be a missionary is the silliest thing that has ever spawned in hell.

And on the day of Pentecost men were confronted with the living Lord who is the Lord. They were faced with the act of God. The most tremendous thing I've ever read. Let all the house of Israel Acts 2 36 know as a matter of fact that this same Jesus whom you crucified God has made him.

That's the act of God.

The Resurrection, Lordship, and Saving Confrontation

The one who went willingly on a cross to hang in the place of sinners men had their part the wicked hand laid hold of him and nailed him to it. God had something to He raised him and put him in charge of everything and the spirits and power of Jesus revealed himself.

The whole church and 3 ,000 souls were faced with confrontation of the living Lord. They cried out nothing short of that is the need of this hour. The problem ladies and gentlemen is that we meet and we go through the motions and he's not there.

And it will somewhat sober us to remember that it is solemnly true that we cannot command his presence. Consider at least one awful evidence of the great absence of the living Lord this generation and our congregations.

It's the vice of familiarity the common use of Christ of seeking to use him as a means to our own ends. But we don't have any such option. Christ never permitted anybody to be commonly familiar with him and if you know him you wouldn't be familiar.

You'd be irreverent. You remember your old gray-headed great-grandfather had a long beard and he did the praying for the local church and it took him thirty minutes to address the beard of the Lord.

They knew.

You couldn't. The more men came to know who Jesus Christ was the less familiar with him they were. Now those who didn't know him were very familiar. If you'd ask them who's that fellow Jesus oh he's Joseph's son.

We're acquainted with him. We know his brother's sister. If you'd ask old Simon Peter with holy awe he'd say we believe that he's the Messiah. When we begin to sense afresh that it was part of the mission of Christ that he left nothing undisturbed by his presence.

Then God help us. We'll face his absence with deep humility and longing. All that we do in seeking to be obedient to his commission to us waits on his presence. Can't get anybody saved. Can't do a single thing unless he's present.

I've done said all I can. The situation remains calm and undisturbed for a solid week. You and me put together in such a terrible state of disobedience. We couldn't even get a good fuss going. No disturbance.

Lord Jesus Christ hadn't come around to disturb anybody. You nice Presbyterian you're sweet. You look at me or run fast enough. I get shake hands with some of you. But you haven't been disturbed. And the reason we haven't been disturbed is Christ has not been present.

He has disturbed us from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. If he visited this assembly he would brother. He'd shake us till our teeth were brown. If he visited our assemblies an unsaved man could not be in one of our services and go away lost but they can.

Now can't. We can logically arrange all that we know about revealed truth. And yet he'll not be present God help us. If we're going to do service to the demands to the doctrine the teaching of the sovereignty of God it demands that we realize we cannot command God.

The evidence of such recognition would be that the vice of familiarity common way of speaking of him of thinking that he's at our command would depart from our.

Thinking and conversation. God help us for lack of the disturbing presence of him who was set for the rise and fall of men in the bespoken against us who disturbs everything he confronts because our confession of faith is a million miles less than the confession of the demons of Christ.

They would say we know who thou art thou holy one of God from the stuff we call assurance of salvation. And it would do us good to remember that Christ had twelve original disciples and the only one who had the kind of assurance of salvation you've got was a fellow by the name of Judas Iscariot.

He's the one that went out and hanged himself and went to hell. Oh God help us. You think anybody gonna listen to you brother Barnard paying attention to the message of the enthroned living Lord who's Lord of life to come willingly voluntarily gladly under the discipline of that one in the local church.

I don't know. Just one thing. We'd experience the presence of Christ. We'd experience the presence of Christ. Numbers of you talk to.

Me if you heart break your children are lost. You can't save them. They won't even pay attention to you. When you talk to them they say I'm alright. The only way on earth they'll ever be convicted of their sinfulness is in the presence of Christ.

With Simon Peter they'll say depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Oh. I believe the Lord left the church the glorious privilege of being a company of people in which and through which he could manifest himself in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work.

And as I leave these weeknight services and your gracious pastors put up with me I challenge you. Everything that's the matter with us is explainable. Just one thing. The absence of Christ. Amen. Every problem we got will be solved.

How with the presence of Christ. Amen. What can we do about it. Walk under his blessed headship obedient to his every teaching. Amen. I want to sing a verse or two of my song 707. I want to sing it. Ask you to sing it as a congregation.

The congregation is represented here. Surely our prayer ought to be. And surely it is. We just can't get the job done unless you are in our midst. Can't. We can't be your witness in this old godless world.

Unless manifest. Unless you with us. Pass me. Not as a congregation as an individual upon others. Thou art going. Do not pass us by. Amen. Well let's just sing it as a prayer as a.

Prayer are you. I don't believe. I may have my see how y 'all wrong. I don't know. Don't ask you to believe a word I preach. Just ask you to listen to me. I'm not responsible for you to do whatever you do about my message.

That's between you and the Lord. I can't react for you see. I don't know whether it's so or not I just think it is. I'm just a little old man. I'm not God you know that for.

Obedience to Christ Rather Than Perfection

A week. You've been gracious enough to listen to me as fast as a step aside. I'll have to beat you to judgment. I'll have to give an account there from the message. You'll have to give an account for how you heard isn't that right.

But under God I.

Think a congregation can be obedient to the great head not perfect. I can't preach perfectly but I can preach.

Can't sing. I can't sing perfectly but I can sing. I can't do anything perfectly. I can't be perfectly holy but I can be holy. Amen. Say well you're talking about a perfect church. No I'm talking about obedient church.

It'll not be perfect. That's the reason it has to have a head. And the head is the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. That's the reason we have to be under authority because we're not perfect. But I am hungry. And as I'll be leaving many of your friends who have visited from other congregations you'll not be here tomorrow.

God bless you. I'll see you to judgment. I'll never see you again. And the Lord don't judge us by what we accomplish he judges us by our obedience to him. Amen. I'd rather fail trying to get back under the discipline of Christ than to say it can't be done.

I'll try. And you let's sing for the last verse the benediction. Let that thy throne of mercy. Thank God. Amen. It is a throne of mercy. He wouldn't bat you over the head if you came and said Lord I've been dumb and ignorant that preacher is please forgive me.

He'd say well I'm the God of a new start. That's God the clean slate. Amen. Isn't that right. Alright sing it.