(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so the title for the sermon this afternoon is The Church Institution. The Church Institution, so as 1 Corinthians chapter 12 was being read, I'm sure you can see there quite often the Bible referring to the one body and that one body representing the church. Now, I have taught on this in the past, but I think it's important to, you know, every now and again just to, you know, hammer home once again the importance of church. You know, the church institution, it is the church which Christ has died for. And so it's actually, the church is super important. You know, it's not just, we're not just playing games. We don't just get together just for fellowship, just to do something because we don't know what else to do on a Sunday morning, but it actually is an important institution that God has instituted. So we're gonna start with some basics. I just want you to understand the importance of church and appreciate the church for what it is, that you've got one that you can go to. There are many people across this world that do not have a church, a good church they can attend, all right? So be thankful for what you've got. So please, let's start off by going to Hebrews chapter two. Go to Hebrews chapter two verse 12. We will come back to 1 Corinthians 12, but that'll be later on in the sermon. But if you can go to Hebrews 2 12 for me, Hebrews 2 12. Let's just start here. I think it's a very good place to start and I'm sure you're all very familiar with it. But Hebrews 2 12, if you just read the second half of it, it says there, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And that is a phrase that has been taken from the Old Testament in Hebrew, sorry, in Psalm 22 22. It says in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. You've got Hebrews 2 12. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. So we don't need to go back to the Greek. We don't have to go back to the Hebrews. You know, we can see the Bible defines itself, right? When it says the church there, what's the definition of church? The congregation, the congregation, right? The congregation of believers, of believers, people that are saved coming together for the purpose of worshiping the Lord, learning the Bible, these things. We come together in the name of Christ. Another familiar passage is Hebrews 10 24. It says that let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. So what does Hebrews 10 25 call the church? The assembling, right? It's an assembly, a congregation coming together for the purpose of God. So what I want you to understand is it's a local assembly. It's a local church. It's a coming together of people. You know, if someone's on the other side of Australia, right, and they're not attending church, but they listen to the YouTube, you know, preaching, they're not part of the church. They're not part of our church. Great, they can benefit from something. They can benefit from the preaching, or maybe they listen to other churches, but being part of a church is being gathered together, you know, physically together for the purpose of fellowship and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, where I want you to turn now is Ephesians chapter five. Please go to Ephesians five, Ephesians five, and while you're turning to Ephesians five, I've got seven key points that I want to stress about the importance of church. Seven points. Point number one, while you're going to Ephesians five, point number one is that Jesus died for the church. Have you got a problem with that? Jesus died for the church. Now, quite often we'll say things like, well, Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died for me. Jesus died for everybody, and that's true, but Jesus also died for the church, okay? Now, I'm going to read to you from Acts 20, 28. It says, take heed or pay attention therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he have purchased with his own blood. You see, when Christ came and shed his blood for us on the cross, went through that sacrifice, rose again from the dead, he did not just do that to save our souls. He did it for the church. Christ came and he instituted the New Testament church by his sacrifice. You're in Ephesians five. Look at verse 525. Ephesians 525. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. How did he give himself? His sacrifice, his death, okay? Now, brethren, how important is church if Christ died for it? If he shed his blood for the church, then how important is church? Well, if we say every soul is important, right? If we go out there, we say every soul here in the Sunshine Coast, that we knock on their doors, preach the gospel, we would say that person is important, right, because Jesus paid for their sins, right? He died on their behalf, and so we want to send that message of them receiving the gospel, right? And we celebrate when someone calls upon them the Lord. Well, did you know the same death, the same sacrifice, the same blood that was shed was for the church institution as well. If every soul is important for Christ, then how important then is the church? It's of equal value. It's the same purchase. It was purchased by the same blood, the church institution. You see, not only does God want to save us, but then he then wants us to find a church. He wants us to be gathered with other believers. That's the purpose, right? To be saved and to get into a church. Church is so important that Jesus died for it as well, okay? It's not something you attach to your salvation. It should be something, when you're saved, you now seek to be part of, to do the works that God has left us to do. He died for our sins, yes, but he also died to establish the New Testament church. And that's why you can understand now how important it is, why we have a commandment to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, right? It's so important. Just as important as the need to get saved is to not forsake the assembling. It's been purchased by the same price, the blood of Jesus Christ. Now look at verse number 26, Ephesians 5, 26, just continuing on. Point number two is that every church will be presented to Jesus. I don't know if you realize that, but every church that names the name of Christ, that is made up of true Bible-believing, born-again Christians, will be presented to Christ, okay? Don't know how much you know about that. We get a little bit of information. But look at verse number 26, continuing on. It says that he might sanctify and cleanse it, that's sanctify and cleanse the church, with the washing of water by the word. Look at this, verse 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spots or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So how important is church? Well, not only is it for the here and now, coming to church, learn of Christ, you know, walk after his way, but there will come a time when New Life Baptist Church will be presented before Jesus, all right? And how do I want it presented? Just as we read it there, right? Holy and without blemish, all right? And how do we make sure we do that? Well, it said there that we're washed by the water of the word of God, all right? So what this is saying is when we come to church, you know, yes, we're saved, but we're still filthy, all right? Now, not in our position before God, but in our life. We're going to sin to the day we die, when we're not up to the standard. You know, the standard is Jesus Christ. And if you're not Jesus, guess what? You can still continue working in your Christian life. And so it's so important to come to church because this is where you get washed. This is where you get cleansed. This is where your blemishes are pointed out. And so you've got to fix this thing so we can be holy, separated without blemish, and come eternal, it's in eternity. However the judgment plays out exactly, we're going to have to present ourselves, not just individually, but as a church, all right? How well does New Life Baptist Church line up there with the word of God? And if you guys can go to Hebrews 13 now, Hebrews 13, and while you're turning to Hebrews 13, I'll read to you from 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, and if you remember our study for the Corinthian series, the Corinthian church was messed up, right? I mean, it's one of the poorest churches in the Bible. I mean, there was so many conflicts, so many divisions, false doctrines, false preachers. I mean, carnal, they were worldly, they were following after men rather than setting their sights on Christ. But he says here in 2 Corinthians 11, too, Paul says, for I am jealous of you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. That's a messed up church. And yet, you know, God has given that church time to cleanse itself to be that presentable chaste virgin to Christ in a picture of a husband and wife, right? So we see this teaching, though it's not very detailed, we do see it prevalent in scriptures that the churches will be presenting themselves as a whole, not just individually as in people, but churches as a whole. And why did Paul want this church to be cleansed? Why did it, in what way did he want it to be a chaste virgin? I already covered, you know, the fact that we come short, the fact that we're sinners, the fact that we need to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. But church is more than that, okay? Because if you continue reading verse number three, this is what he says, he says, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh, preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. So church is important to get rid of sin in our lives, yes, but how else are we cleansed? How else can this church be a chaste virgin presented to Christ is if we're sound on doctrine. You see, Bible teaching is important when it comes to church. We need to make sure we do not allow another gospel, another spirit, another Jesus from entering this church, because that will defile the church, and we wouldn't be then presented as that chaste clean virgin before God. So it's not just cleaning up the sin in our lives, but making sure the church is sound on doctrine, right? We have the right Jesus. We have the right Holy Spirit. We have the right, what did I miss, gospel, the right gospel, right? And so we need to strive as a church for doctrinal purity. That means when we're presented before Christ, Christ is going to check our doctrine. How well did it line up with what we read in the Bible? So doctrinal purity is vital, it's important. You guys are in Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, verse 17. Hebrews 13, verse 17, and this is the passage, of course, you're more familiar with, which says, obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they must give account that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Okay, so the pastor's job, you know, when the church is presented, is to give an account for the church. Now, so far, if the Lord were to return, I would give a joyful account. I have very little regrets. I mean, there are a few mistakes that I think I made, or the church has made, but you know, in comparison to the great works we're doing for the Lord, in comparison to the spiritual growth, the maturity that we're seeing, you know, I'd be delighted to give a report to the church. So the Lord's not coming back yet. Meaning, we gotta maintain this purity. We need to maintain this cleanliness, so I must give an account to the church. Yeah, but then of each one of you, in how you serve the church, in what capacity, you know, you are faithful toward the church. So if you're a troublemaker, you know, if you're always arguing, you're fighting, you're always, you know, causing problems, you know, you're sowing seeds of discord amongst the brethren, those kinds of things, I'm gonna have to give an honest report. I mean, I can't lie to Jesus, right? Even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to, because I have the new resurrected bodies, right? But anyway, you know, I'd have to give an account of, you know, and be honest of that account, and that's not going to go well for you, right? If I'm giving a bad report that you were, you know, just a tough person in church, right? You know, that your high maintenance, no, you know, I'd rather give a report that, you know, brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so, we're a blessing to the church, that we're faithful servants to the church, and, you know, thank you, Christ, for adding them to the church for us. So we do have to give this account, you know, this report, this judgment that God will give upon this church, and if we've passed well, we do well, hey, we're gonna profit from that, okay? But if we don't do well, the Bible said that it's unprofitable for you. So I'm looking forward to the rewards in heaven, you know, the treasures laid up in heaven, and I would love to have further treasures because of this church, not just because of what I've done, but what we've all done together, combined with the work that we've done together. And of course, this doesn't take away your personal responsibility, because in Romans 14, 12, it says, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God, okay? So that doesn't take away your personal responsibility, right, you know, you can't say, well, I'm gonna live a worldly, you know, un-Christ-like life, and well, Pastor Kevin hasn't given account for that. No, you're gonna have to give an account for that as well, personally, okay? So that doesn't take away your personal responsibility, but we do have to give an account of ourselves as a church, as a whole as well, all right? So those first two points right now, when it comes to the church institution, number one, Jesus died for the church, and number two, every church will be presented to Jesus. So think about that. I'm sure you would want this church to be presented clean, chaste, obedient, right? So that will then affect the way you think about church. That will affect the way you respond to maybe things you don't like, or, you know, conflicts that might come up. You may respond to it differently, knowing that this church will be presented before Christ in that sense, okay? Now, please go to Matthew 16. Matthew 16, verse 13. Matthew 16, verse 13. The Bible reads, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said, I, the Son of Man, am. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Now, these are the most important verses here. Verse 18. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, of course, the rock is Jesus Christ. And when he's saying, look, I'm gonna build my church, I'm gonna build it upon himself, Jesus Christ. But look what it says here. Oh, sorry, I keep reading. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So in hell, there are gates. Now, whether they're physical gates or spiritual gates, I don't know. But normally when you need to pass through a gate, you need keys. You need to unlock the gate and enter in. But then we see the reversal of this. Look at verse number 19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. So to go to heaven, there are also keys, right? And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It's so interesting that God has given the church the authority of these keys. This is point number three. The church has the keys of heaven. Now, let me just quickly talk about hell there. It says that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I've already covered this before, but just a reminder, people have a misunderstanding of what hell is. You know, they believe hell is the kingdom of Satan. And so when it says here the gates of hell, they believe that's the forces of the devil. But you know, the truth is the devil has never been to hell. There is a coming of day when the devil will be cast into hell. In fact, he'll be cast into the lake of fire at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ. And Satan's not ruling in hell. That's not the power of his kingdom. Satan's gonna be cast into hell and he'll be tormented day and night forever and ever. You know, the wrath of hell is not the wrath of Satan. It is the anger, it is the righteous anger and the wrath of God for those that have rejected Christ. It was created for the devil and his angels, the Bible says, okay? So keep that in mind. So if you're saved, if you're part of the church, the gates of hell will not prevail against you because we believe in eternal security. Once saved, always saved. You believed in Christ, you have everlasting life, you can never lose it. So the gates of hell will never prevail against you. You should never have any fear that you'll be cast into hell once you have trusted on Jesus Christ, on his death, burial and resurrection, right? But what I want to drive you to is verse number 19. We've been given the keys of heaven. What does that mean? Now that should be obvious, right? The fact that we love soul winning, okay? But let me just explain what some people, like the Roman Catholic Church. If you haven't seen the logo of the Roman Catholic Church or of the Pope, you know what it looks like? They've got keys. They've got one key going this way, one key going that way, and one's a gold key, one's a silver key. And then they have like one of those Pope hats on top of that. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyway, they believe they've been given the keys of heaven, right? And so this is why they believe to be saved, you've got to do it through the church. You've got to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church because they believe the church is basically the key to heaven, right? And that's why they have that false teaching. But let me just take, if you guys can keep your finger, they go to Luke 11. Let me just show you a comparison here. Luke 11, verse 52. Luke 11, verse 52. This is one passage where Jesus is just preaching against the scribes and the Pharisees, preaching against the religious leaders that are preventing people from getting saved. And he says this in Luke 11, 52. Woe unto you lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge. Ye entered not in yourselves and them that are entering in ye hindered. So there are religious leaders that have taken away the key of knowledge. Now let's sign that with the keys of heaven. You know, to go to heaven, you've got to have certain knowledge. You've got to understand what Jesus Christ has done for us, how God has saved us from hell. You've got to understand that Jesus Christ came who's fully God, fully man, died on the cross, was buried, rose again from the dead, paid for all our sins. You have to understand that by calling upon the name of the Lord, by believing on him, that you will receive everlasting life, that it's forever. It's based on what Christ has done, not based on anything you've done. Hey, that's knowledge, right? And that's knowledge that you need to believe to be saved. And so these lawyers or these religious leaders were hindering people. There were people wanting the keys, wanting to know how to get saved, wanting to know the gospel, but these guys, not only did they not enter in, they were hindering others from entering in, okay? Now it's important to understand that our church, New Life Baptist Church and other churches that are made of born again believers have been given the keys of heaven. If that's true, then how important is soul winning? How important is evangelism? I mean, a church that's not evangelizing, right? That's not encouraging people to get out there. A church that's not teaching people how to preach the gospel, how to explain the gospel. They're not, they've got the keys, but they're not using them, right? What's the point of having keys to a car if you never drive it? What's the point of having keys to your house if you never enter in, all right? Or invite people into your house. You've got keys because you're trying to bring people into heaven. The third point for the church is that we have the keys of heaven. Church ought to be a place where you're being sent out to do the work of God, right? If you do other, if you preach gospel in your own time, praise God for that as well, okay? But church ought to be the one that's encouraging you, motivating you to get out there, do the work of God. All right, please join Matthew. Go to Matthew 18 now. Matthew 18. So you see, you know, God has entrusted a lot of responsibility onto the church, okay? Matthew 18, verse 15. Matthew 18, verse 15. And point number four is that God has entrusted the church with his judgment, with the judgment of God. Think about that. Now we're gonna look at this. We're gonna prove this shortly, okay? But he's entrusted me as a pastor, us as a body to have the right judgment, okay, in accordance to God's word. But Matthew 18, verse 15, and this of course is the passage of how to deal with conflict in a church. I'm not gonna, you know, teach about that conflict because I've taught on that before. But I just wanna take the lesson here. Verse number 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone, for he shall hear thee, sorry, for if he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. We see that truth. We preach about that this morning. Again, here's another truth where two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Verse 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Okay, what's an heathen man? That's a non-believer. That's someone that believes something else, right? So if there's conflict, and there are brothers that do not wanna sort it out, and it's been carried through this process, it's even gone into appointments brought before the church, and doesn't even wanna hear the church, they don't wanna resolve the issue, the Bible says, treat that man as a heathen. Let's get him out of the church, right? They're not permitted to be amongst the believers. Treat him as that heathen man, as that publican. Let's keep going. It says there in verse number 18. Verily I say unto you, that's still the church, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So whatever judgments we make when it comes to conflict, God says, I approve of that. The way you've dealt with it on the earth, that's I approve that in heaven, okay? Verse number 19. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, all right? So God hasn't trusted the church with carrying out church discipline, all right? And what we decide as a church, God agrees in heaven. All right, so what that's saying is basically, let's say there's a conflict between brethren that gets escalated to the whole church, all right? And then as a church, we hear it, we pass judgment, and the brethren sort it out, okay? And there's peace, and they gain a brother. Well, that agreement, it's been sorted, it's been settled. As far as God is concerned in heaven, it's been settled for him as well. Praise God for that, right? I mean, that's what we want with conflict. We want things to be settled. We don't want things to go on forever, okay? But if we don't settle it, right, and the one that doesn't want to settle it with the one that brought it forward, you know, he doesn't even want to listen to the church. He doesn't want to listen to what the church has to say, or that person needs to be cast out, treated as a heathen, as a publican, and, you know, and God basically says, yep, I agree with that, you know? If you want to take him out of the church, so be it. That's the judgment that we have in heaven as well. Now, that's got nothing to do with your salvation. Please understand that, right? Salvation is based on your faith in Christ. That person, it would not be permitted back into the church until they're willing to apologize and sort it out with that fellow brother. Otherwise, it's leavened. It'll leaven the whole lump, all right? Conflict between two people will begin to spread into the entire church and destroy the fellowship that we're supposed to have together, okay? Now, back, still on the topic of a church discipline, please go to First Corinthians, chapter five. First Corinthians, chapter five. Because this brings us to our next point. All right, following on on church discipline, First Corinthians, chapter five, verse 11. First Corinthians, chapter five, verse 11. Now, we're gonna be given here a list of sins that if people in our church are committing, they are also to be kicked out of the church, all right? First Corinthians, five, 11. It says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company. Now, let me just stop there for a minute. This is written to the Corinthian church, okay? This is for the church, all right? And then it says here, if any man that is called a brother, so this is a saved brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? That's within the church. We're being told, hey, we gotta judge these people that are in these sins, but them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person, okay? Now, look, if someone's committing these sins, right, and I hear about it, I'm not gonna kick you out immediately, necessarily. I'll say, hey, man, look, this is an issue. You've gotta sort this out, all right? My hope is that person will repent very quickly and stay established in the church. Otherwise, if they're not repentant and they're still continuing these sins, then we're to put them away, okay? Meant to, therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person, all right? Now, if you can just go up to verse number five, same chapter, verse number five, what's the reason why we kick people out of the church over these sins? What does God want for that person to sort of go through? Okay, and this might seem harsh, but look, everyone, just reading the word of God, all right? Verse number five, 1 Corinthians 5, five. To deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Listen, I never wanna be, I don't wanna face church discipline. I never wanna be kicked out of the church, all right? Or I don't wanna kick any of you guys out of the church. Really, all right? Because what happens? When somebody's kicked out of the church, they're delivered as unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, okay? And this brings me to my fifth point, is that the church is an umbrella of God's protection. You know, being part of a church adds another layer, another hedge protecting you from Satan. So the fact that when somebody's kicked out of the church, Satan has some further access to that person where they could actually destroy that man's flesh, okay? Now, we're dealing with brothers here, so even if that man's flesh is destroyed, even if that man suffers a terrible fate, his spirit will be saved, all right? His spirit will, because he's saved, all right? Even if you're delivered as unto Satan, if you're saved, you know, you still go to heaven when you die, okay? Because salvation is eternal. And so there is an umbrella of protection in God's house. And you know, I just wanna warn you about this, because if you ever have, you know, you may never be kicked out of church, but you may go through that temptation and be like, you know what, I'm sick of church, you know, teenagers grow up, you know, I've been forced to come to church my whole life, I wanna get out of church. Well, you're opening yourself, you know, you're moving yourself away from the umbrella of God's protection, okay? Church is super important. It adds that extra layer of protection from Satan, all right? So, you know, obviously the hope is, if someone's in these sins and they get kicked out, the hope is, yeah, they get afflicted by Satan to some extent, where they're like, man, I've gotta get this right, I've gotta get this sin out of my life, I wanna be back in church. That's the hope, right? So when they wanna get back into church, we would welcome them, again, they just apologize for what they did, repenting, we forgive them, we never raise it up again, and they're part of the church once again, okay? Anyway, let's get to the sixth point. If you guys go to 1 Timothy chapter three, 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 15. And once again, this isn't a groundbreaking sermon, these are all truths we're all familiar with, but we do need to be refreshed of these things from time to time. So 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 15, 1 Timothy three, 15, it says here, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. This is why finding the right church is so important, because church is supposed to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Now listen, the Sunshine Coast is full of churches. There are some good churches, and there are many, many, many, many bad ones, all right? Many of them will not be the pillar and the ground of truth, all right? Now, what this is saying is, this is where you should be guaranteed to hear the truth. Whether you like it or whether you don't like it, you're gonna hear the truth. That's what church is supposed to be, right? We live our lives, we listen to the media, we listen to the world's philosophies, it's full of lies. All right? And sometimes you just need to come to church just to be normal, all right? Just to be around normal people, just to be around hearing the word of God and be refreshed in the spirit. We need to be refreshed in that sense, just to hear the truth. And some people avoid church, right? And they say, well, I can find truth on the internet. Well, you can find truth on the internet, but you can also find a lot of lies, okay? The internet is not the pillar and ground of the truth. The church is a place where it ought to be truth 100% of the time, okay, and no lies. And you say, well, I can find truth in the library, in the local library. Yeah, but the library's full of fictional books as well. That's not true, all right? I mean, there are other institutions, there are other organizations out there that contain truth, but they're also full of lies. In fact, that's how the devil operates. He would give you 99% of the truth and just 1% of poison, but that 1% of poison is enough to send you to hell. Oh, yes, salvation is by grace through faith, but you've got to turn from those sins. You've got to, you know, surely the Bible's full of, it is full of turning from sins, but not for salvation, all right? And so church ought to be a place where you hear the truth. It's the ground and pillar. So the ground is what it's built upon, right? Our foundation must be the word of God. Now, our foundation is not Pastor Kevin's experience. It's not Pastor Kevin's wisdom. It's not some other man's opinions. The ground of this church ought to be the word of God. You know, this is why we read entire chapters. This is why our sermons are full of verses, right? Because we want to hear from the Lord, not just the wisdom of man. The wisdom man should be compatible, should be lined up with the word of God. But you only know that when you listen to the word of God, right? This is why it's important, you know, man, when you get up here to preach, that your sermons are full of doctrine, full of verses. So you're confirming the truth that you're preaching. All right, so point number six was the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. It should be 100% true. Now, will Pastor Kevin make an error from time to time with some other man? Of course, okay. But you know, obviously those things are not intentional. Okay, and in fact, the next point, I've got to address an error that I've taught this church. All right, so let's go back to 1 Corinthians 12, which was read. 1 Corinthians 12, please. 1 Corinthians 12, 12. Point number seven, 1 Corinthians 12, 12. The Bible reads, for as the body is one. Now, remember I told you guys this morning, keep in mind that Pharaoh had two dreams, but Joseph said, your dream is one, okay? For as the body is one, and have many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ. Verse 13, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been, sorry, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Point number seven is the church is the body of Christ. Point number seven, the church is the body of Christ. Now, when I taught 1 Corinthians, I made an error, all right, in my teaching. And I'll share what that was again. So if we look at verse number 13, I'll share my error, okay? And so I've got to fix this up. And if you're saying, well, how can we ever trust Pastor Kevin again? Look, be thankful you got a pastor that's gonna correct the little mistakes that he makes. In fact, there's no practical difference. It's not gonna affect your Christian life in any way, shape, or form. It's just we wanna be as accurate as we can here. But look at verse number 13. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. Now, that baptism there is not a water baptism. I think most people understand that is being baptized of the spirit. When you're saved, you're born again, you're in work with the Holy Spirit of God. And so there's a baptism there of the spirit. This is whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. So even people that are not in church, they might get saved at the door, and then they just maybe get into a bad church, or maybe they don't even go to church at all. They also have been saved. They've also been baptized, as it were, in the spirit. And my misunderstanding here was to take verse 13, and because it is talking about salvation, is to take that teaching and say, well, even if you don't join a church, if you're not part of a church, even if you're not attending a church, you're part of a spiritual body. Now, I don't believe in a universal church. I don't teach that. But what I taught when I went through 1 Corinthians 12, as best I understood that at the time, was that there was a spiritual body, and that spiritual body was made up of many churches. I now no longer believe that. In fact, I've been struggling. This is something that's been on my mind for the last six months. I was just waiting for the right time to preach this. So what I understand now, and you say, well, how did you make that mistake? Look at verse number 12. But as the body is one, okay? And then verse number 13 mentioned the one body. So I took, my idea behind this was that there is one body in the sense that there is one singular body, okay? So I'm like, well, it can't be the church, because there isn't one singular church. I mean, that's what the Roman Catholics teach, that there's one singular church, there's one singular true church, and you've all gotta be part of that Catholic church. Obviously, as Baptists, we don't believe that, right? And so that's where I was misled. But then when we looked at the dream of Pharaoh, who had two dreams, multiple dreams, but the dreams were one, okay? What did that mean? They were the same. They were united dreams, right? And so when it says here, for as the body is one, it's not saying there is one church body, which I didn't believe anyway, but that idea, but rather, there are many churches, and each church is one church. That's the teaching, that each church is one. And if you keep reading this chapter, the reason this is emphasized is because it talks about the church being made up of many members, okay? But even though we're many members, all of us have different backgrounds, different, you know, saved different periods of time. When we're gathered together, we're one body, okay? And the picture we'll soon see is, of course, our bodies, we've got hands, we've got arms, we've got legs, we've got feet, we've got eyes, we've got nose, we've got mouth, or every one of you is one of those members of a body. Some of us are the eyes, some of us are the noses, some of us are the ears, but it only works together when we're in unity, when we're in one body, and that's the actual proper teaching, okay? So my apologies for teaching that incorrectly. So what practical difference does that make? Nothing, all right? But it's important that we sharpen our understanding, all right? So be thankful that I'm not full of pride and just, you know, no, when I see something like that, you know, I will change it, I will let you guys know, all right? We're in the same chapter, look at verse number 14. Actually, before we read verse 14, I'm going to just reinforce this. In Colossians 3, 15, it says, "'And let the peace of God rule in your hearts "'to the which also ye are called in one body "'and be ye thankful.'" So this letter is written to the Colossian church, right? It's written to that body, and he says to the Colossian church, "'To the which also ye are called in one body.'" So the members that made up that church were called into that one body, the church in Colossae, okay? And of course, the one body that's been referred to in Corinthians is the church in Corinth, okay? And the one body that would be on Little Mountain, that would be New Life Baptist Church, for example, okay? So it's still one body, okay? But many, many churches, okay? Now let's keep reading, verse number 14. 1 Corinthians 12, 14. "'For the body is not one member, but many. "'If the foot shall say, "'Because I am not the hand, "'I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? "'And if the ear shall say, "'Because I am not the eye, "'I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? "'And if the whole body were an eye, "'where were the hearing? "'If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? "'But now hath God set the members, "'every one of them in the body, as it have pleased him.'" So brethren, not all of us, like maybe you might consider the pastor, the mouth, all right? Not all of us are the mouth, all right? Some of us need to, I know some of you guys work hard in cleaning the church, and you know, you're the hands. You know, the guys that go out soul winning, right? You know, you're the feet. You're getting out there preaching the gospel. You know, we can all contribute to this one body, and one of my favorite verses, actually verse number 18, let's read it again. It says, "'But now have God set the members.'" The members, that's you guys. God has set you, every one of them in the body. You say, why am I, New Life Baptist Church, what am I doing here? God set you here. God put you here to be the, like maybe this body needed a hand. So you were the hand, and he put you there. Okay, maybe this body needed a knee, and you were the knee, and God put you here. What this is saying is, we need each and every one of us to function, to serve one another, to do the works of God, otherwise the body won't function properly. I mean, we just saw Brother Rob come up for the Bible reading, his foot's still hurting, right? And coming up here, you see him kind of like limping as he comes up, well, his body's not fully functional. Why? Just because of one member. Then how important are each one of you? If you're not fully functional, if you're not on board, if you're creating conflict, you're going to cause dysfunction in the body, okay? And I'm sure you know what it's like. I've once had a pinched nerve on my back, and like, my arm was hurting, my neck was hurting, my legs were hurting, I'm like, man, where's this pain coming from? It's just coming from one area, just a pinched nerve having an effect on other parts of the body, okay? And so the church is the body of Christ. Each of us are members, each of us need to find something to do. Get busy, do whatever it is. You say, I don't know what to do, I don't have anything to do. Well, you know, after the service, there are hymn books, there are Bibles, maybe that's your job. Organize and put them back in its right place. Maybe that's what you're called to do, all right? Maybe that's your job. So whatever, listen, brethren, there's always something to do in the church, okay? Please find where you fit, please find how you can serve so you can be that member that makes up that one body. Now, if you can please go to chapter 10, same chapter, same book, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And I'm almost done now. But I just wanted to finish on this, because, you know, there are some questions that come to me often, all right? And one of the questions is, you know, why do we take communion in church? Like, why do we have the bread and the grape juice? Why do we do that in the church? Why don't we do it like in the Passover days where they would go into people's houses and do it like that? Why do we do it in the church? Well, let's go to 1 Corinthians 10, 16. And I can preach a whole sermon on this, but I just wanna, just in line with what we've been covering regarding the church here, 1 Corinthians 10, 16. The Bible reads, the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, okay? Now, notice communion has the word union, all right? Just notice that, okay? So communion is supposed to be a united thing, okay, of the blood of Christ. Let's keep reading. The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ? So here, obviously, we're talking about the literal body of Christ, the fact that it was offered for us without sin, you know, it was broken for us. But then, it parallels the body of Christ, verse 17. For we now, we, being many, are one bread and one body. For we are all partakers of that one bread. Now, that should immediately tell you why we should have communion together as a church, okay? Because we're one bread, we're one body, we're all partakers of that one bread. Notice how many times it says one, one, one, you know, communion, union, unity, right? This is something that should be bringing our church together. This is why the practices in this book, I know I've taken the practice from my past Baptist churches, okay? But I don't do it just because we practice it like that. There are biblical principles why they're laid out for us. And this is why we will continue having communion as a local body, okay? Because we're meant to be united. We're meant to be one body, not divided, doing our own things, okay, when it comes to communion. So I just wanted to bring that because it's in line with what we're covering. So in conclusion, guys, please understand the importance of church. You know, don't let it become this mundane task that you just come to. It's actually super important, okay? And God is looking down on us. And just in conclusion, the seven points that I had for you guys. Number one, Jesus died for the church. Number two, every church will be presented to Jesus. Number three, the church has the keys of heaven. Number four, God has entrusted the church with his judgment. Number five, the church is an umbrella of God's protection. Number six, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And number seven, the church is the body of Christ. Let's pray.