The Church In God’s Eternal Purpose

Introduction

Please open in your new testaments to the passage in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3. For our text this morning will be verses 10 and 11. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 and 11. While you’re looking for that passage, may I say just a personal word of thanksgiving to this congregation, to you who are brethren here. So the last uh couple of weeks, Arlene and I have been away, at least uh most of that time. As you know, we were visiting our family out in uh Alabama as well as in Texas. And uh I just want to say a word of appreciation, first of all, for the many cards and remembrances that so many of you sent to us and gave to us during this holiday period.

And then also uh uh for the remembrances that you have given to us and the view of the fact that Arlene’s sister passed away rather suddenly and unexpectedly while we were on that trip, and we were able to go to Dallas for our funeral Saturday week ago. But to have family like this, as well as our own physical family certainly is a blessing to us. We rejoice that we’ve been able to be a part of this South Bumbae congregation. Now, in our fifteenth year, seems hard to me to think that come July the first we will have been here a total of fifteen years. They’ve passed so very quickly, and certainly that’s due to the fact that you have been so kind, and so many of you have been very dear and near unto us, and we thank God for you and appreciate so many things that you do and encouraging us and helping us in the work of the Lord.

I also want to say a word of welcome to those who are visiting with us today. We do have a number in our audience, and we’re certainly glad to see you. Some I think maybe are new in our area. If you’ve moved in the area, we hope you’ll let us get to know you and you’ll be a part of us. Help work together with us in the cause of Christ. You’re visiting from another place, certainly we we welcome you, and we’re glad you’ve taken the time to come to worship the Lord, and we wish you a safe journey as you return to your homes. In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, the passage speaks about an eternal purpose of God. The passage says, verse 10, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The manifold wisdom of God made known by the church according to God’s eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ. I want today to begin a series of lessons concerning the church, which of course is to speak of Christ, is to speak about the church because the Bible speaks of the church as being the body of Christ. A relationship that believers in Christ share. We’re called the church or the body of Christ. Today in our world, we recognize there are many different kinds of churches. Our generation and time is filled with many different places where people can choose to go.

In fact, where did all the churches come from to start with? Do we read about them in the Bible, the Word of God? I think it’s important that we take time and examine what the Bible say about the church. From time to time, we’ve talked about this, and I feel like it’s time again that we take a public study of what God’s word says about the church. First of all, I want us to look today about the church and God’s eternal purpose. The reality that it is not simply an afterthought of God, something that he designed after the crucifixion of Christ and decided this is the best way to go, but rather that it is a body of which the Bible speaks hundreds of years before Christ ever even came into this world.

The church prophesied by God. And then we’ll be taught studying lessons about the church as revealed in the New Testament, the church built by Christ. What is its identity? And then we’ll observe some of the changes that men have made in that New Testament identity. And we’ll deal with the question can it, can it exist today as it did in New Testament types? I hope these studies will be interesting to you and challenging to you, and that even our friends and neighbors you will encourage to come and to be with us and study together. Such an important study.

1. One Body, No Divisions

Now he did not speak about several different kinds of churches. The very language, my church, suggests that there was only but one. In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and in verse 13, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. And as he describes in that same chapter, how that though there be many different members given different spiritual gifts in that first century, he says in verse 26, that there be no schism, that it there be no division in the body of Christ. There should be a sense of unity. That’s the plea of the Lord. That’s the prayer of the Lord. And that’s really the plan that the New Testament gives to us. It’s obvious when you read, in fact, in John the 17th chapter, he would be turning there, where in verses 20 through 21 in John 17, the time right shortly before the crucifixion of Christ, and Jesus was praying unto his Father.

And praying, not only he said for these apostles with whom he was gathered in John 17 and verse 20, he said, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Notice verse 21. Believers, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. To pray that they be one simply says that there be unity, that there be agreement. We see the Father and the Son in total agreement. They are as one. And Jesus prayed, even as we are one, so may believers be united and in total agreement. Not only was that the prayer of the Lord, we find that that is the plea of New Testament apostles.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the story tells us, or the New Testament tells us about a time when there were some divisions in the Lord’s church. I’ve often said, if there were ever a time that the doctrine, it makes no difference what church you’re a member of, if that were true, you ought to read about it in the church at Corinth. You see, the city of Corinth was a seaport. It was a town where there were a city where there were people from various backgrounds that came coming through and going here and there. And you had opinions, different opinions. You had different cultures that were all algorithm in that one city. And surely if there were ever a time that you ought to say, look, it doesn’t matter.

You know, this people over here, they believe it one way, and that’s people they have a different opinion or interpretation. So why not just let everybody follow their own feelings, what they want to believe about it? It ought to be at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10, in fact, he says, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing. That there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Gloi, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Verse 13 has three rhetorical questions. That is, they’re the kind of questions that need no written answer. The answer’s obvious. Is Christ divided? Obviously, the answer is no. Was Paul crucified for you? Obviously. No. Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Well, if you weren’t, then don’t say you are a Paul. Let there be no divisions among you. You see, the church at Corinth had its divisions. Approved of God? Not at all. In fact, they were reproved for it. Condemned for it. No division should be among you. Now, if that’s the way it was in New Testament times, has it changed? Does that mean today it doesn’t matter that God’s word, we can just cut this out of our Bible and say it doesn’t matter now?

We surely cannot do that. Or we cannot take from what God has inspired and given to us. But really, we find a plan for unity. If you turn to the book of Ephesians, where we started as our text, in Ephesians chapter 4, in verses 3 through 6, the apostle there says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And then he sets forth these essentials. Ephesians 4 and verse 4, there is one body and one spirit. Even as you’re called and one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Now nobody has a problem understanding what the word one means when we talk about how many gods are there?

How many lords are there? How many spirits are there? One. We understand the word one, don’t we? Did you notice he says there’s one body? And the body, described in Ephesians 1, 22, and 3, is the church. How many churches are there? You know, that’s Bible language. Somebody says, oh, you’re sure an error mind. You can talk about only one church. But I’m talking to you, not from a church of Christ, quote unquote point of view. Not what some one man has said, but what does the Bible say? There’s one body. Just as there’s one baptism. Just as there is one faith. That’s God’s plan. Now, what that means is that you and I, as believers, need to take the scripture and begin to say, what is that plan?

How do we have one body and speak the same thing? How do we serve the same Lord in a sense of unity where there are no divisions? The only way that’s possible is to put away human opinions and human creed books and come back to the Word of God and simply say, let us do what the Bible says without addition and without subtraction. Let’s speak where it speaks and be silent where it’s silent. And that’s the plea we try to make in a denominational world today, filled with division upon division, and opinion upon opinion. We need to be united, coming back to the Word of God. And so that’s what we’re going to be talking about in these next few days or weeks and talking about the church.

2. The Church in God’s Eternal Purpose and Plan

Not as my opinion might be, or what some man’s opinion may be, but what does the Bible say about it? It’s been in God’s eternal purpose. The passage we began with in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 10 and 11. You see, the origin of the church was in the mind of God hundreds of years before Jesus Christ came in the flesh. You realize that? That the prophets spoke about the establishment and the characteristics of the church. God’s spiritual kingdom. It is not the work of men. It was not even an afterthought of God, but rather it’s in God’s eternal purpose and plan. And therefore it’s important that we look at it from the biblical perspective. If you have your Old Testament, I’d like for you to look at with me at some passages.

You realize that even the Bible speaks about hundreds of years before Christ ever came, that the church would be established, and it gave the time and the place. It said in the book of Joel in chapter 2, a prophecy in verse 28 through 32. Verse 28, Joel prophesied, it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. In verse 32, the purpose for all this, he said, It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, shall be saved. Or in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall deliverance be. As the Lord had said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Now, Jewel was a prophet of God, and he lived in the days where men would pray. They knew something about the Lord in the time of the Israelites. They knew something about faith and walking by faith. Abraham, their father, had walked by faith, and yet there was something more yet to come. There was deliverance or salvation. The blood of bulls and goats that were sacrificed under the law of Moses could not take away sin. There needed to be salvation priest, the taking away of sins. And notice Joel, by inspiration of God, could say, Here is going to be a time when God would pour forth of his spirit. The Holy Spirit would be poured out. Where? In Jerusalem, in fact, he may. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Now, if you would turn to the book of Isaiah. For in Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 through 3. A very significant prophecy. Some over 700 years before Christ came. The prophet said, It shall come to pass in the last days. That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established forever in the top of the mountains. It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his path. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Again, notice the prophecy. Set forth some specifics. When’s it going to happen? In the last days. What’s going to happen? Well, the Lord’s house, the mountain of the Lord’s house, the rule of God shall be established. Hasn’t it yet been established? Was it not established with Abraham? Or through Moses? No, not yet. Not the means of redemption, forgiveness of sins. It shall later be established. In fact, where? Not only the time of when, but where? The word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. It’ll be a time not just for Jews, but it’ll be a time when all nations shall flow unto it. That is, Jew and Gentile. Many shall come and say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’s house. Let us go up and worship him.

3. A Kingdom Which Shall Never Be Destroyed

He’ll teach us of his ways. We’ll walk in his paths. Indeed, not only did Isaiah prophesy and say in the last days, but Daniel even foretold a particular period of time. More specific than even Joel or Isaiah had been. You’re familiar with the story in Daniel chapter 2. Daniel taken captive somewhere around about 605 BC. And there serving under the King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruling emperor of the world, the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he couldn’t remember what it was, or at least he didn’t know the meaning of it. He asked his wise men to give the interpretation. And they said, Oh, yes, if you’ll tell us what the dream was, we’ll give you an interpretation. He said, No. Nebuchadnezzar was wise enough to say, Look, you tell me what I dreamed as well as what it means.

Then I’ll understand that really you knew what I dreamed. In fact, he was about to have all his wise men put to death when Daniel sent word to the king that through the Lord’s inspiration, he’d tell him both what he dreamed as well as what it meant. What Nebuchadnezzar dreamed was of a great image. This image had a head of gold and arms and breasts of silver and belly and thighs of brass and legs of iron and feet of iron and marry clay. What does this mean? Because there was a stone cut out without hands out of a mountain. That stone came and smote that whole image. Broke it into pieces. But that stone then filled the whole earth. What does that dream mean? Daniel began to tell history before it occurred.

Interestingly, you can take even secular history today. I’ll sometimes say one of the strongest truths of the Bible is by the word of God, inspired of God is the is taking prophecy and seeing that history is told before it happened. How could man have guessed world empires? But study history today would verify the very prophecy that Daniel foretold in Nebuchadnezzar. He said, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire is not the last, and you’ll not stand forever. Your kingdom shall be destroyed. It’ll be followed by that second, that that represented by the belly, uh by the arms and breast of silver. That’ll be the Medo Persian, even named it. Who could have thought that there would be another empire, and you can name it before it happens? But Daniel did by the power of God.

But even that one will not stand forever. There will be a third empire, and he named it also, the Grecian Empire. There’ll be a time, we know it in history of the time of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian rising. But it won’t stand forever. There’ll be a fourth kingdom. We know that as the Roman Empire. But notice the significance in Daniel chapter 2, and in verse 40, after telling him his dream, and then describing these four kingdoms, he said, the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. For as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. Strong empire. But it won’t stand forever either. But the significant thing in verse 44 of Daniel 2, in the days of these kings.

The days of the fourth empire, the days of the Roman Empire, shall God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. What that says is that there’s going to come a time that God will set up a spiritual kingdom. Even though the world empires of men, really backed by Satan in many ways, whether it be the Babylonian, whether it be the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, or the Roman, they shall fall. But God’s going to set up a kingdom that shall never fall. There has not been a world empire since the Roman Empire, but you know, God’s kingdom continues to this very day.

God had prophesied the time that he would set up his kingdom. A kingdom that would stand forever. But one more prophecy, and Jeremiah. In Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 34. The prophet Jeremiah at the time about when the demise of the southern kingdom about to go into captivity. Jeremiah giving hope to the people of God, foretold that there would be a time, God would not forget his promise. There would be a time when God would give a new covenant with his people. Behold, the days come, said the Lord, that I’ll make a new covenant with the house of Israel with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, said the Lord.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, said the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. Significant. The law of Moses. Was that the law that would last forever and ever? No. Jeremiah even prophesied, there’s going to come a time God said, I’ll give a new covenant. Not the one I gave at Mount Sinai.

4. The Time Is Fulfilled: A Spiritual Kingdom

I’ll give a new covenant. That one given at Mount Sinai could not take away sins. The blood of bulls and goats couldn’t do that. There was a remembrance made every year, again, of the sins of the people. But this new covenant. A time when Christ would come. And as he would shed his blood for forgiveness, there would be no remembrance of sins. Sins would be taken away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Well, obviously, then we ask the question if these prophets hundreds of years before spake about these events, did they occur? Did they really come to pass? In other words, the simple question is, have these prophecies been fulfilled? Well, let’s take a look. What does the New Testament say about it? When you take a look at the scriptures, you’ll see what Jesus had to say, first of all.

Jesus made the comment when he came to the world in Mark chapter 1 and verse 15. He used the very terms, the time is fulfilled.

It’s near. Now interestingly, that was at the time of what empire? Jesus came to the time of the Roman Empire, during the fourth kingdom of which Daniel had foretold. Just as the prophet had said. Furthermore, Jesus described a kingdom not like men look for, but a kingdom that would be spiritual in its nature. You may recall even at the trial of Jesus that the Jews made a charge to Pilate. He says he’s the king of the Jews. Pilate asked him, Are you a king? You remember Jesus’ answer? In John 18 and verse 36, Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. For my kingdom were of this world, then will my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from hence.

It’s not an earthly, physical, material kind of kingdom. In fact, in Luke chapter 17, verses 20 and 21, Jesus said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. In other words, it’s not just something you see physically. It’s not built by machine guns or any other kind of military armor. But the kingdom of God, neither shall they say, Lo here or lo there, for lo, the kingdom of God is within you. What he described was a spiritual kind of a kingdom. Men who are converted to the Lord Jesus Christ are born again. That’s a spiritual birth. You remember the ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus, when he came to Jesus, and Jesus said in John 3, verse 3, You must be born again. Nicodemus puzzled at that.

How can a man be born again? You mean he has to enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time? You see, he was thinking like a lot of people then thought. They were looking for an earthly kingdom. They thought maybe the Christ, the Messiah, would sit on an earthly throne and reign in Jerusalem like David had a thousand years earlier. And that wasn’t the kind of kingdom Jesus was going to establish. Just like he was going to give a new covenant, he was also going to make a new kind of kingdom. A kingdom not made with hands, not physical. But as Daniel had said, that stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill all the earth, so it was the kingdom of God is by spiritual birth.

It is a spiritual kingdom. In John 3 and verse 5, except a man be born of water and the Spirit. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. If you’re in God’s kingdom, it’s by spiritual birth. That’s not physical. It’s something that starts from within, in obedience to the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, believing that he’s the Son of God, repenting of your sins, confessing your faith that he is God’s Son, you can be immersed or baptized, born of water, and of the Spirit in obedience to the Lord. That’s when the new birth occurs. Born again. Well, the question is, while Jesus may have said that that’s the nature of his kingdom, when was this fulfilled? He said the time is fulfilled, but how can you prove it?

5. The Kingdom Come With Power

Has the kingdom really been established? Has that kingdom that Daniel foretold, has it really come? One of the problems we have today, even in the religious world on this subject, is that there are those who talk about the kingdom as though it has yet to come. We hear people talk about the rapture is going to occur anytime soon, and Christ is going to come, maybe a battle of Armageddon. They look at it as a physical military battle. And they talk about how that Christ is going to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem and their reign for a literal thousand years. And they have to play biblical hopscotch to get all of that. But nevertheless, they can pick a verse here and pick a verse there, and they come out, and a lot of people who do not know how to take verses in their context are sometimes overwhelmed by their studies.

Read of the scripture. When you look at what Jesus said, you have to say, either Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about, or the kingdom has been established. You see, first of all, Jesus said the time is fulfilled. Did he know what he was talking about or not? But look, secondly, in Mark chapter 9 and verse 1. Jesus said, There are some standing here who will not taste of death till they see the kingdom come with power. That’s been nearly 2,000 years ago. Is there anyone today who’s 2,000 years old? Either Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about, or else the kingdom has come with power. For he said there are some who are standing here who will not die till they see the kingdom come with power.

And now that helps us understand when the kingdom really came. For we can know what the power was he was talking about, and when it would come, we can know when the kingdom came. Jesus, after his death, burial, and resurrection, shortly before he ascended into heaven, recorded in Acts chapter 1 and in verse 8, together with his apostles, he said, You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth. When shall you receive power? When the Holy Ghost has come on you. Now you know here’s how simple this is. If we can establish when the Holy Ghost came upon the apostles or the Holy Spirit, can we not know when the power came?

And if the power came, is that not when the kingdom would be established? And obviously, I know Bible students in this crowd know when the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles, don’t they? In Acts chapter 2. Some fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ, it was the day of Pentecost, 50th day after Passover. The Holy Spirit fell on the apostles. Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. And with that, there was the Holy Spirit falling on them. There was the power, the authority, even. They are the ambassadors of Christ. They spoke the word by inspiration of God. And when the power came, we know the kingdom then was established. And you know how that fits? All that fits the prophecies. Number one. As Jesus said, the time is fulfilled.

It was in the time when the Roman Empire, as Daniel had foretold. It was in the city of Jerusalem. And they began to preach the first gospel sermon. And even quoted the prophecy from Joel. And in fact, God’s eternal purpose began to be manifest as the church has its beginning and as its establishment. For example, let’s look at Acts 2, 1 through 4. Was it not on the day of Pentecost? Where? In the city of Jerusalem. But do you realize even later the apostle Peter in Acts 11 and verse 15 talked about that as the beginning? Beginning of what? The beginning of God’s kingdom. The beginning of the church. Beginning of the mountain of the Lord’s house that shall be established in the top of the mountains, he said.

A time when all nations shall flow unto it, because the message they were commissioned to preach was to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be down. It’s a message from the whole world. The beginning, the beginning of God’s body of believers, believers in Christ. In fact, as Peter stood up to preach in Acts chapter 2 and verse 17, I think it’s interesting. When they were charged with being drunken, they were speaking in different tongues or languages, and the only charge the heathen really could say are those Jewish unbelievers who challenged and even had Christ crucified and now are challenging the apostles the best they could say.

Oh, these people are drunk. Peter said, We’re not drunken. It’s only 9 a.m. in the morning, the third hour of the day. We’re not drunken. This is a holy day. But he said, This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And then he begins to quote that very prophecy from which we read a moment ago. It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. And that’s what you witness here, Peter say. As they had observed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, had seen, they’d heard the sound of a rushing mighty wind. They’d seen the cloven tongues like as a fire that sat upon each of the apostles, and that began to speak in other languages.

Languages of the multitude gathered there in Jerusalem. Languages they had never before learned. They hadn’t gone to school to learn all these languages, but God empowered them to speak the wonderful works of God in the very tongue wherein those people were born. And he said, This is the very thing that Joel had foretold would happen. This is that that would be spoken in the last days from Jerusalem. At a time when whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we’re preaching to you what you must do to be saved. The lesson that Peter preached in the apostles was about the Christ. How that in fact he was proven to be the Son of God, the miracles, the wonders and signs that God did by him.

Acts 2 and verse 22. How that he was crucified, but it was by the plan of God, by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, Acts 2 and verse 23. It wasn’t just because Satan was so strong he couldn’t stop the crucifixion, or God couldn’t stop it, but it was because God planned it this way. The death of Christ is essential. If you and I have any hope of salvation, he died in your place, in my place. For my sins and your sins are worthy of death. He died for us. So that was by the plan of God. But he was raised from the grave, and again he quotes, he quotes from Psalm 16. That his soul would not be left in Hades, neither would his flesh see corruption.

He said, This David, even being a prophet, foretold of the resurrection of Christ. Prophesied, yes. Foretold a thousand years before it happened. He’d be crucified that he’d be raised. And he says, We’re witnesses to the fact of his resurrection. And then he quotes from Psalm 110. That now, if the Lord has said he shall be on my right hand. So it is. He said, Christ has ascended to heaven, and he’s at the very right hand of God. And that same Jesus whom you’ve crucified as both Lord and Christ. He’s the anointed one. You know what they asked? Being pricked in their hearts, convinced, they said, What shall we do? The answer in Acts 2 and verse 38, Peter said, Repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Were they preaching salvation? Were they not telling men how to call on the name of the Lord to be saved? Obviously they were. And it’s the first time where you can read this side of the cross that men were told how they could call on the name of the Lord. How they could invoke the very promises God had made by inspiration to the Holy Spirit. Believing in the Christ, the Son of God who died for us. Now men can be saved. Sins forgiven, no longer remembered. When did it happen? In the days of the Roman Empire. Just as Daniel had foretold. Is that the time the kingdom established? Well, yes. It’s not a different kind of kingdom that’s material. It’s a spiritual kingdom. Men born again are in that kingdom.

6. Already in the Kingdom of His Dear Son

In fact, we read the accounts in the New Testament where they believed they were already in the kingdom. Not something that’s future, as some preach today. In Revelation chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, when the book of Revelation has its introduction. It speaks how that Christ washed us from our sins in his own blood in verse 6, hath made us kings and priests, or a kingdom and priesthood unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. He’s called the Lord of Lords and King of kings in Revelation 17 and 15. Is he not now king? Surely he is. And those redeemed by the blood of Christ are citizens under his rule. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. In Colossians chapter 1 and verses 13 and 14, the scripture writing of the church at Colossae, Paul says, how that God had delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

If you’re forgiven of sins by the blood of Christ, then you’re in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? We follow that new covenant. The New Testament, even as prophesied by Jeremiah, and quoted again in Hebrews chapter 8, verses 6 through 13. And how that now the sins no longer be remembered. In fact, in Hebrews 8 and verse 13, he says, in that he saith a new covenant, he has made the first old. Why do we call it the Old Testament? Because He’s given us a new testament. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. You see, my friends, the Lord’s church is something very important in God’s sight. The kingdom of God, if God had planned it and prophesied it hundreds of years before the very coming of Christ, do you not think it is something worthy of our attention?

In fact, worthy of us to examine very closely. What did God plan for it to be like? Do we have the right to meet in councils and synods and conventions and vote and have new doctrines and change what the New Testament says? Do we have the right to change any of its characteristics? I’d say to you, not one iota. What God had said about the Lord’s body of believers, we must follow without change. In fact, you ought to want to be a member of it. It’s according to God’s eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And in Ephesians 5, the scripture says Jesus is the Savior of the body. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

If the church is so important that Christ would die for it, shouldn’t you seek to be a member of it? Shouldn’t you want to be a Bible believing citizen of the kingdom of God under the rulership of Christ, who is the Savior and the only means of salvation? I hope you’ll consider these thoughts very carefully. And let’s examine even further, Lord willing, as we study again next Lord’s Day, then what is the identity of the church as Christ built it? What are some of its characteristics? And let’s seek to follow just what the New Testament says about Him. I hope you’ll consider very carefully these topics. And in fact, if you have a question or comment, you know that I’m ready and willing to study with you in a private way.

Conclusion

Now, as we bring our service to a conclusion, at least, if you’ll take your New Testament, your song books and know what the song has been announced. Consider with me the very fact of your own soul’s condition. Are you right with God? Are you in a condition that should we not see next Sunday? You’d be ready to face the Lord in judgment. Is there one in this audience who maybe one time served the Lord, but you’ve turned away? Your life is in such a condition that you’d be fearful to stand before him in judgment. If so, repent. Come back, renew your life to God. Maybe there’s some here who’ve never obeyed the gospel. You’ve never been immersed for remission of sins. You’ve never really called on the name of the Lord like the Bible says.

Why not start anew today? Won’t you come? Give me your hand as you obey the Christ. We’ll assist you as you prepare your souls for eternity. Won’t you come now while we stand and while we say