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

We were there in Colossians chapter one, and we have been going through a statement of faith, an updated, renewed statement of faith. And what I want to bring your attention to is verse number 17, Colossians 1, 17. And he's before all things, and by him all things consist, verse number 18, and he is the head of the body. What's the body? It says he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first one from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. The title for the sermon this morning is The Local Church. The Local Church. Last week we had a look at individual soul liberty. We had a look at ourselves as individuals, that God has given us the Holy Spirit, has given us his word, that we have the right to read the Bible and make decisions of how we're going to live in accordance to God's word by our own conscience, and by how the Lord God has taught us. You know, it's great to be in church. You know, it's important, but we don't want to forget the individual. That was what last week's sermon was all about. But hey, this morning we're gathered as a church, right? You know, we're here, congregated together, and so we also need to understand what the role and what the purpose of the church is. And in our statement of faith, this is what we're going to have under the local church. And by the way, when I say the local church, that should automatically tell you that we do not believe in a universal church, okay? We do not believe that there is this one church, spiritual, universal body that we're all plugged into. No, yes, we're all plugged into Jesus Christ if you're saved, but when it comes to a church, we're talking about a local congregation, okay? And I'll prove to you later why this is the case. But under the statement of faith, we're going to have these words. The church is the body of Christ. Okay, that was what I brought your attention to to begin with, okay? Because we're going to be looking at this term, the body of Christ, in a few passages here. The church is the body of Christ composed of local baptized believers united in organization to practice New Testament ordinances. And when I say New Testament ordinances there, I'm not talking about just baptism and the Lord's Supper. I know we refer to these as ordinances, but the word ordinances just comes from the word order. So we're doing things orderly. We're doing things in a certain way that God has instructed the New Testament church to carry about its business. The statement of faith continues by saying this. The purpose of church is to meet together for preaching, teaching, exhortation, fellowship, and, spelling error here, but anyway, and to be actively involved in winning souls to Christ. Okay? And then the next paragraph says, we believe Jesus Christ is the only head and founder. What do we read there in Colossians 1.18? And he's the head of the body of the church. Okay? This is so important that we believe Jesus Christ is the only head and founder. A man is not the head of this church. We are not plugged into a universal body where someone would say, well, that's the Baptist Pope. The Baptist Pope, Mr. So-and-so, he's not the head, okay? Or some president of some organization. That is not the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. We believe Jesus Christ is the only head and founder. Therefore, each church is free to govern itself on the principles laid down in the holy scriptures without interference from outside organizations or other churches. We do not have another church that calls the shots here at New Life Baptist Church. And even though Blessed Hope Baptist Church is a plant of this church, New Life Baptist Church does not control Blessed Hope Baptist Church. Each church governs itself because the head of that church is Christ. And so this will be under our statement of faith. You're there in Colossians. Let's go back to Colossians chapter one and let's keep going there, verse number 18. Verse number 18, let's read it again. It says, and he is the head of the body, the church. I mean, that's clear as day, right? If this church is under another organization or under another church, okay, Christ is no longer the head, okay? Christ is no longer, this is why we're an autonomous, self-governing church, okay? Christ is the head. He's given us his word. And as a church, we do the best we can in accordance to God's word to govern this church and to do the works that the church has been commanded to do. Let's keep going. It says, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence? Who gets the preeminence in the church? Pastors to Paul, no. You know, the church member that puts the most money in the offering, he gets the preeminence. No, he doesn't. Christ gets the preeminence, okay? He gets preeminence. He is the one that church is all about. Drop down to verse number 24, please. Colossians 1, 24. Who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. I just wanted to read that once again. You see in this passage over and over again, you see the church being referred to as the body or the body of Christ, okay? And if this is Christ's body, then of course Christ is the head, okay? Christ is the head. Christ is the founder. Christ is the head. This is the body of Christ. You know, what's wonderful about being gathered together as believers, we get this title being given to us as the body of Christ. You know, this isn't just a body of filthy sinners that are saved by grace. No, we actually represent Christ, okay? This church represents Christ. And so this is so important that we understand what a church is. Now, people do not, you know, generally speaking, people don't know what a church is. I'll give you some feedback that I received from different people that have visited our church over the years. There was once a lady that came, I'm not sure if she came to our church now. I don't wanna lie, you know, I don't wanna miss. Yeah, I can't remember because it was a few years ago or maybe it was just over the telephone. And she said something like along the lines of, well, I'm interested in your church, but I'm no longer going to attend or I'm not going to attend. And I said, well, I mean, what's the reason why? And then she said to me, because you don't meet in a church. And I couldn't understand. I said, what do you mean we don't meet in a church? I don't understand. Because I've grown up in church and church to me has always meant the people, the saved believers that are gathered together. You don't meet in a church. I'm like, what do you mean? This is church, right? And then, ah, because we meet in a warehouse location. We meet in the industrial area, okay? We don't meet in this sort of this building that's, you know, that people would look at with stained glass windows and maybe a cross on top of the roof or something. And they look at that as that's the church. They look at the building, a physical building as a church. And so this individual would not attend our church because we met in a warehouse space. See, they got the wrong impression of what a church is. No way in our statement of faith did it say that our church is a building. It doesn't matter where we meet. You know what? If we decided to meet today in a park, a local park, it's still church. Doesn't matter where we meet. It's a congregation of believers. So you have that extreme that people go, well, it's not the right building, okay? And then I've had the other extreme. Well, I'm not going to attend your church because you meet in a building. Like instead of meeting in someone's home or in someone's house, you've actually got a building that is for the reason of church, therefore I cannot attend because you actually meet in a building. So in their view, the only right place to have church is in someone's house, okay? And again, what's the problem with both of those people? To them, church is about a building, okay? It's about a physical location. Remember, we saw this earlier when we were going through the book of John on Wednesdays that Jesus Christ told us that we worship the Father in spirit and in truth. It's not about the mountains, it's not about Jerusalem, it's not about the temple, it's not about physical location. It's whether you're saved and whether you accept the truth. Then you can worship the Father. And so church is not about a physical location. If that's your mindset, then I want to fix that. There is a lot of people that think that's the case, that it's a physical building that makes the church. No, it's not. Hey, this is a building. I call this the church building. I don't call this bricks and mortar, the church. That's the church building. This is where we meet to have church, okay? Now, if you look up the dictionary definition of church, what is the first definition that the, generally speaking, most dictionaries are gonna give you? Well, it's along the same lines. Okay, I'll just give you one definition that I found online, church definition. A building used for public Christian worship. So most dictionaries are incorrect on this issue. I know that's what most people think, you know, and I guess part of the reason they think that is because that's what the dictionary says, the church is. But of course, when we talk about the church, we talk about anything to do with our practice as New Testament believers. We base our beliefs on the Bible, on God's word. So instead of taking a definition from a dictionary, let's take the definition of church from God's word. Can you please turn with me, turn with me to Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two, keep a finger there and turn with me to Psalm 22. Go into two locations, please. Go to Hebrews chapter two and go to Psalm 22. Hebrews chapter two and Psalm 22. Hebrews in your New Testament, Psalm in your Old Testament. Okay, I'll give you a moment to turn there, two passages. Hebrews chapter two and Psalm 22. All right, now let's read Hebrews 2, 12 first. Hebrews 2, 12 first. It says, Sain, so this is a Sain of the Old Testament. And of course, that's gonna be in Psalm 22. Anyway, let's read. Sain, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee? You see, the church is the place where the brethren are. So the brethren there, and it says there that in the midst of the church, will I sing unto thee? Now verse number 12 began with Sain. It's referring to a Sain of the Old Testament scriptures. So let's go to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 and verse 22. Psalm 22 and verse number 22. And this is where the Sain comes from. If you can compare both passages, you'll see that it's identical. It says in Psalm 22, 22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. There it is again, the brethren. In the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee? In Hebrews, it was in the midst of the church. In Psalm 22, it says in the midst of the congregation. The church is the congregation of the brethren. That's what church is, by the Bible's definition. It's the congregation. It's the coming together of God's people for yes, singing praises. Yes, learning God's word. Yes, worshiping the Lord. Church is the congregation. Church is the gathering together of God's people to serve him, to worship him, to praise him, to learn of his word together. Church is not my family in my house singing hymns together. That's a family, okay? Church is not my house, my family, inviting a few friends together at my house and singing praises to the Lord. That's just family and friends. Corregation, that's what church is. The brethren coming together in an official manner to praise our Lord, to worship our Lord, to learn from his word. The congregation are the people, okay? It's the people. It's not the physical building, all right? So that is the common term that you read. You understand what church is. It's a congregation of brethren, all right? You're in Hebrews. Come with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Come with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 23. So of course the word congregation means the gathering, right? A gathering of people. And in Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 23, the Bible says, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. What's another way that we can define church by looking at this passage? The assembly. The assembling together of God's people. That's the church, which means it's the same thing as congregation. When you read your Bible, you'll often find, yes, the word church many times, it's the word that's used in the New Testament, but you'll even understand the concept of church in the Old Testament when you look up the assembling or the congregation, okay? These words also apply to church, okay? It's the very definition of what a church is. Come with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. The assembling of ourselves together, the assembling of the saints, the assembly of the brethren, the congregation. This is the church. And I'm just introducing you to some other language the Bible uses to describe the church. The congregation, the assembly. All of that has nothing to do with assembling a building. It has to do with assembling people together, okay? For the purpose of worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Come with me to Acts 16. You guys know that these statement of faiths, these beliefs that we're going through is a Bible study. Okay, so just get ready to turn to as many scriptures as you can, okay? I spoke to you about the local church. Now, if church means assembly and congregation, then that should automatically tell you that there is no universal church. Because I'm not assembled this morning with a Christian that lives in the United States. You know, some people think, well, everybody that's saved makes up the universal, no, church means congregation. Are you assembled together right now with a Christian in Africa or a Christian in Europe or a Christian in North America, unless you're visiting from those places, okay? No, we're not assembled. And if we're not assembled and if we're not congregated together, then there is no universal church. Like by its own definition, by its own word, it doesn't make any sense, a universal church. It's like the word eternal life everlasting life. You don't need to teach someone that you can never lose salvation because within the words everlasting life, last forever, within its own definition, you cannot lose salvation. So when someone says, oh, you can lose eternal life, it makes no sense. How can you lose that which is eternal? How can you lose that which is everlasting, okay? And when you understand the definition of the words, then you won't get caught up in false doctrine. There is no universal church, okay? Until I suppose, and I would call this the heavenly church, where we're all gathered together to be in the clouds of our Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Then we're gathered with all saints from all time, not just of every place, but of all time, yeah, I guess. But then, hey, still in that sense, we're still gathered together. We're still congregated together, okay? So we don't believe in one universal church. We believe in individual churches, okay? Local churches. The Bible says in Acts 16, verse five. Are you there? It's Acts 16, verse five. And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily, churches. The Bible speaks of churches, multiple, the plurality, because not all congregations can be gathered together because we all live in different places of the world or different places throughout Australia. And so we believe in a local church. We believe in many churches. I'll read some other passage to you. You don't need to turn there. Romans 16, 16. Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. The churches are saluting the church in Rome in that passage. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11, 28, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. You see, Paul had started many churches, not one church, but he had started many churches. And he says the care upon the churches have fallen upon me. And I'm kind of similar. I have churches, I pastor churches, okay? I have New Life Baptist Church, of course, here, and Blessed Up Baptist Church in Sydney. I don't want more churches, really. Unless the Lord gives me super, you know, supernatural ability to do something like that. Pray that God will send more pastors to start, to take care of these churches that exist. There's a lot of churches throughout Australia that do not have pastors. There's a lot. You know, when I've heard about, like I hear about certain churches that are looking for a pastor. You know, or they point to a man who's not ready to be a pastor because they're just so desperate to have someone leading that place. But churches, we believe in local churches in different places. I mean, your Bible's broken up pretty much like this. You read the New Testament, you got the book of Ephesians, okay? That's a church in Ephesus. You got the book of Colossians. That's a church in Colossae, okay? You got the books of Thessalonians, okay? That's a church in Thessalonica, okay? Different churches in different locations. We are a church that's located in Little Mountain on the Sunshine Coast. All right, now, before I can continue, I need to address some incorrect teachings that probably some of you believe. Like, some of these things that I'm gonna cover about incorrect teachings, some of you really believe this is biblical, okay? And some of you might be like, ah, I don't know about that, pastor, but I'll prove all of this from the Bible very clearly, okay? I've gone through some statement of faith, and the statement of faith that I'm about to read to you actually comes from one of my previous churches that I love. I'm not having a go at them. I'm not attacking them. Okay, I'm just, I love the pastor. I love the brethren. I love them. So I'm not attacking them. I'm just giving you an example of another statement of faith relating to church, okay? Now, under the statement of faith of the church, this is what is listed in the statement of faith. And actually, this statement of faith, I agree 100%. Don't get me wrong, okay? They have, we believe that the New Testament church is a local assembly, that's like us, of born-again baptized believers. We believe in the independence and autonomy of the local church. Autonomy means self-governing, okay? That each New Testament church is free to govern itself on the principles laid down in the New Testament without interference of outside organisations and should cooperate with other New Testament churches, okay? I agree 100% with that statement of faith right there, under church. What are they saying? We're not a universal church. We believe in churches. Each church is independent. Each church is self-governing, okay? But then, in that same statement of faith, you drop down to the second coming of Christ, okay? The rapture, the rapture of the saints. And this is what they've got as the second coming. It says, we believe in the second coming of Christ, that he's coming in the air to rapture his church. To rapture his church. If this church, statement of faith, they believe in churches, and you say he's gonna rapture his church, is it just one church that's been raptured then? I'm basing this on their own definition. In fact, a lot of people use this language. Christ is coming to rapture his church, singular. All of a sudden, churches that believe in independent local churches, all of a sudden when it comes to the second coming, they now believe in the universal church. It doesn't make sense to me. And I think most church members read this and it goes over their head. For some reason, God's given me a very analytical mind. And I find a lot of inconsistencies very quickly. And before I preach to you God's word, I try to line up everything as best as I can. I can see the Bible's very consistent. The Bible is 100% consistent, actually. It's just that man, we are inconsistent. So is Christ coming to rapture his church? Which church gets to get raptured and the rest gets a little bit left behind if you believe in multiple churches? But let's keep going there. He's raptured his church. He will then pour out his righteous judgments upon the unbelieving world, and afterwards descend with his church, and then in brackets, his bride. How many of you have heard that the church is the bride of Christ? You have to show me your hands. But I know I have. Now, if that's the case, and I know everyone says it. Everyone believes it. Everyone just says, yeah, the church is the bride. All right. Then you go to God's word and find me where the church is the bride of Christ. And you won't find it. Okay. You see, I understand mankind. We are fleshly. We are biased sometimes. We're influenced, you know? And sometimes, many times, statement of faiths are just copied and pasted, copied and pasted, copied and pasted. Or they come from Bible college, copy and pasted, copy and pasted. Many times, even the leaders of those churches don't read their own statement of faith and actually even understand what it truly is saying. I'm trying to show you the inconsistency there. Do we believe in churches or do we believe in the church? It's one or the other. If you believe in local churches, do you believe in a universal church? In fact, when you hear me talking about the rapture, I'll never say that Christ is coming to rapture his church because I know within church, there can be false brethren. So he's gonna rapture the false brethren in the church? No. Who's gonna get raptured? His believers. Those that are in Christ Jesus. Hey, what if you're not in church, but you're saved? Do you get raptured? What if you're between churches? What if your church closed down a day before the rapture? Do you get raptured? You see, I'd rather say Christ is coming to rapture his saints or Christ is coming to rapture his believers. Whether you're in church or not in church, if you're saved, if you're in Jesus Christ, when the rapture takes place, he's going to rapture. He's going to take his believers, his saints with him. And again, I'm not having to go to this church. I love them. I promise, I love them. I love them. I'll do anything for these pastors. All right, I'll do anything. Because they've had such an influence on me. But we need to understand that pastors are not infallible. I'm not infallible. Okay, this is why it's so important that we also, with your individual soul liberty, not just absorb anything that's been preached behind the pulpit, but you make the effort yourself to read your Bible and find out for yourself. Many times to be part of a church, you have to sign off and agree, yes, I believe in that statement of faith. But I would read that statement of faith and go, I don't know now. Is it a universal church? Is it a local church? I don't know anymore. I would say, look, is the church the bride of Christ? Well, pastor, can you show me that in the Bible? Because I can't see it. And I'm not trying to be rebellious. I want to be a learner. I want to know God's word. I want to know the truth is what I want. And so many times, and look, we're going to look at some passages that people, if you can come with me to, come with me to Ephesians chapter five. Come with me to Ephesians chapter five. Let me just give you probably the most common verse or the most common passage that people turn to to say that the church is the bride of Christ. Ephesians chapter five, verse number 22. Ephesians chapter five, verse number 22. The reason I'm bringing this up again, I'm not trying to attack other churches. If they're serving Jesus Christ, praise God for them. All right? But I just want to make sure that our statement of faith is clear and you understand why it's written in the way it's written. That's all. I want to make sure, at least when it comes to the statement of faith, it's as clear as it can possibly be without any kind of confusion or doubt. Okay? Because if you go and read our statement of faith and you say, I want to be part of New Life Baptist Church. Let me read the statement of faith. And you find an error. Is it going to give you that much confidence to be like, yeah, I'm going to learn a lot of great things. You'll probably create some doubts in you, right? So Ephesians 5, 22. This is where the bride of Christ ID comes from. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Yep, I agree with that. For the husband is the head of the wife. Yep, I agree with that. Even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. So in this passage, the Lord is using the illustration of a marriage, a husband and wife, and using that relationship as a description between Christ and his church. Okay? It's not saying here that Christ is the husband and the church is the bride. It's saying here, when it says even as Christ is the head. So what is the even as referring to there? That the church is married to Christ? Even as referring to the authority structure. So as the husband is the head of his wife, so too is Christ the head of the church. Even so, in like manner. It's not saying that Christ is married or going to get married to the church. Okay? Let's keep going there. It says, verse number 24. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. So you can see that yes, the Lord is using the illustration of a marriage in reference to Christ and his church. And this is teaching us how to strengthen our marriage when we understand how much Christ loves the church and how the church ought to be in subjection because Christ is the head. So this is a parallel to marriage. And so when someone says to you, the church is the bride of Christ, I'll turn this to this passage. But the word bride is never even mentioned. Okay, it's using an illustration to speak of authority structure. Who's the head? Who's in subjection to that head? Okay? Now look, I'd say it, I can understand how someone can read that and conclude the church is the bride or the wife of Christ. I can understand that. I can understand it, it's not right, but I can understand it. Okay? But you know what's really unusual about this is that the Bible makes it crystal clear without a shadow of a doubt who the bride of Christ is. So come with me to Revelation 21, Revelation 21, verse one, Revelation 21 and verse number one, we are fast-forwarding into the future to come after God raptures his saints, after God pours out his wrath on this wicked world, after Christ reigns for a thousand years, what happens? God creates a new heaven and a new earth. Okay, if you know your chronology. Well, Revelation 21 is about that new heaven and new earth. It says in Revelation 21, verse one, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. What is the bride in verse number two? The church or heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city, new Jerusalem. See, when God creates a new heaven and a new earth, there's going to be a heavenly Jerusalem that descends from heaven. Now you say, well, pastor, even this verse, it's not really saying it's the bride, it's saying there, prepared as a bride. So it's not the bride, it's just using an illustration of a bride, prepared as a bride. Fair point, you got a point there, okay? But let's drop down a little bit further, verse number nine, verse number nine, Revelation 21, verse nine. And they came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, come hither, look at this, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Who is the lamb? Jesus. The angel is coming, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. So who's he going to show? What's he going to show? Let's keep going, verse number 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me, remember he was going to show him? And showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. I'm going to show you the bride, the lamb's wife. So he shows him new Jerusalem, descending from heaven. Look, I'm not giving you my interpretation. You read it for yourself, and you tell me what it says. You tell me who the lamb's, who's God, Jesus Christ, tell me who the bride of Christ is, according to the Bible. I'd be surprised if you don't conclude that it's new Jerusalem. I'm like, what are you reading? Because it is so crystal clear. I reckon I can give this to my six-year-old child and read it, and they'll tell me what the bride of the lamb is, what the bride of Christ is. Let's keep going there. It says in verse number 11, having the glory of God and her light, so you can see the city's referring to it as a she, her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper, stone clear as crystal. Now look, let me refer back to this idea that people say the church is the bride of Christ. I'm not saying that it's completely false. All I'm saying to you is that it's a half-truth. It is partly true, because who do you think is going to live in new Jerusalem? Okay, the city is, well, I mean, God's gonna create a city, not just to have nice buildings, it's to populate it, amen? It's going to include people in the city. So when we look at the idea of the bride, of course, yes, the city, but that city is populated with people, okay? So yes, it's half-truth, because you, as a New Testament church, you will occupy, okay? You will find just at times that you're gonna abide, I don't know exactly how it all works out in eternity, but you're gonna be living in that new city. You're gonna be living in new Jerusalem, which is the bride of Christ. So you are gonna be part of that bride, okay? But let's keep going, let's understand who or what this city represents. It says in Revelation 21, verse two, so it explains, you know, there's a lot of description about the city itself, but it says, and it had a great, sorry, it had a wall great and high, and had 12 gates, now this is really important about the gates, and at the gates, 12 angels and names written thereon, which are the names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. The bride of Christ, the bride of the lamb, has 12 gates, and each gate is given the name of the 12 tribes of Israel. That's Old Testament Israel. So now understand the half-truth here. Is the bride the New Testament church? That's the idea that they're trying to portray to you. Well, it's half-truth. But the other half of the truth is, it'll be populated with the Old Testament saints. That's why it's got the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. You see, the reason you hear this a lot at church, the bride of Christ is the church. What they'll say is, it's not Israel, they'll say. They'll say, it's the church. And sometimes they'll even go as far as saying, well, the church is the bride of the son of Jesus. Old Testament Israel is the bride of the father. But then I'm kind of like, what about the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy Spirit miss out on a bride? What about the saints before the New and the Old Testaments? Remember, when did the Old Testament come into effect? When Moses received the 10 commandments. What about the saints that lived and died before the Old Testament and the New Testament, who they get married to? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Enoch, Adam, Abel, Noah. Who do they get married to? They're not Old Testament or New Testament. They lived and died before that time. So do they marry the Holy Spirit? And then show me where Old Testament Israel is referred to or called the bride of the father or the wife of the father. But see, people come with strange doctrines. Why don't we just, the Bible's so clear. The bride of the lamb is New Jerusalem. It's obviously gonna be populated. 12 gates, the 12 tribes of Israel, Old Testament saints. And again, people cringe at this. They don't like it because they wanna keep the separation, like this eternal separation between Old Testament Israel and the church. They say the church is not Israel. I understand this is not Israel in that sense of a physical nation of the Old Testament. I understand that. But the bride includes the Old Testament saints. That's the truth that they don't want you to hear because they don't like mixing these thoughts. Okay, but isn't it true that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek? In Christ Jesus, we're all one. Isn't that the truth of God's word? Let's keep going there. Verse number 14. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations. So let's hear about these 12 foundations. And in them, the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. Who are the 12 apostles of the lamb? The apostles of Jesus Christ, right? After Jesus Christ began the New Testament by the shedding of his blood, by his death, these are the ones that went out and started what? New Testament churches. They became the pastors of the New Testament churches. So the city is represented by the Old Testament tribes of Israel, 12 of them. And the New Testament is represented by the foundations of the 12 apostles of the lamb. Meaning that the city is made up of what? Saints of the Old Testament, saints of the New Testament. And I'll even say to the saints before the Old Testament. Anybody that is in Christ Jesus. So is the church the bride? Half truth. New Jerusalem is the bride. Holy Jerusalem is the bride. Made up of all people in Christ Jesus. Not divided by race or DNA, okay? Only those that belong to Jesus Christ. I'll prove it to you further. Let's keep going in this passage. Let's drop down to verse number 24 for the sake of time. It says, and the nations of them, there's nations in the new heaven and the new earth? Yes, there is, there's still nations. Explain that to me, pastor. I can't explain it to you. Okay, but we just believe by faith, God's word. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. Are you saved? You're gonna walk in New Jerusalem. You're gonna walk in the light of New Jerusalem. You're part of that. Even the Jews that are saved, okay, are part of this. It's those that are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. Do you see there's still kings, there's still authority? Hey, you want to increase your chance to be one of authority in heaven and serve the Lord Jesus Christ today? He's going to reward you. Heaven is not communism. We're not all equal in heaven. Some of us are gonna be kings. Some of us are gonna have different levels of authority. Do more for Christ and increase your opportunity to be someone great in the kingdom of heaven. Verse number 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. So the nations are gonna come into it. And look, who are these nations? Well, we already saw they're saved. But let's confirm it further in verse number 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever work of abomination or make of a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If you're saved and your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life, whether you lived in the New Testament times, whether you lived in the Old Testament times, whether you lived before the Old Testament times, if your name is found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you are gonna be permitted to walk into that New Jerusalem. You'll make up part of that bride of Christ, okay? So I'm showing you this, not because I'm teaching on New Jerusalem, but I'm trying to debunk some false ideas that people hear, that people preach. Unfortunately, a lot of pastors just parrot information because they've learnt it in Bible college or something. I don't mind learning from other people, but whatever you learn, what do you do? You compare spiritual with spiritual. You go back to God's Word and say, is this correct? Is this explained clearly? Is the Bible more clear than what I got taught in my lectures? I'm gonna go with the Bible. I'm gonna go with God's Word if we're King James Bible believers, and then just use the language, use the phraseology that God uses in His Word. Then you don't get confused. Come with me to Acts 7, Acts 7, verse number 37. And this is where people will be like, oh, Pastor Kevin, you're so messed up here. You're confusing Israel with the church. You know, I mean, I'm not confusing. That's New Jerusalem. God is not a respecter of persons. No difference between the Jew and the Greek, okay? This is clear, basic milk of God's Word. I mean, if you think you're special because of your DNA, you do not know the Bible. I'm telling you now. If you think there are superior races or because your lineage goes all the way back to Abraham, you're someone special. No way. The only special one is Jesus Christ. You're gonna be special in God's eyes. You be in Christ Jesus. You accept Him as your Savior. Acts 7, verse number 37. So they say, well, there was no Old Testament church. Well, correct. When you read the Old Testament, you're not gonna read the word church, but you're gonna read the word congregation, which is church by the Bible's definition. Now, when Moses came out of Egypt with the nation of Israel, was that nation congregated together? Yeah, they were being led by Moses, weren't they? In the Old Testament times. Now, before we read this passage, I know many of you have also heard of the church age. The church age. Again, the idea of a universal time of a universal people. And so the church only exists in the church age. Okay, now you go to your Bible and look up the church age and tell me what you find. And you'll look and you come back to me, pastor, I don't find it anywhere. Exactly. You received another half truth. Okay. It's just, I really care for you guys. I want you to just study your Bible. Okay, learn from God's word, please. Acts 7, verse 37, please. I hate deception. I hate it. I hate being lied to. All right. God does not lie. God is not the author of confusion. All right. He wants to give us the truth. And we read Acts 7, 37, it says, this is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. I just want to show you that this points to Moses. Then it says in verse number 38, this is he that was in the church. Let me read that again. This is he that was in the church, in the wilderness, with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us. For ever when Moses was leading that Old Testament nation of Israel in the wilderness, when God gave Moses the 10 commandments and the laws of God, the Bible says this was the church in the wilderness. I do sometimes use the terminology, the New Testament church, okay? But I want you to understand church has always existed. When the brethren, when God's people came together, and you had a godly man like Moses that would receive the word of God and teach the word of God, even in the Old Testament, that was church. I did not write that in your Bible, it's there for a reason. Pointing us once again when we read the word congregation, God is speaking about church, a gathering of his people to worship him, to learn of him. The church age, it's not in your Bible. In fact, do a word search for church and age, and you'll find this passage. Come with me to Ephesians chapter three, Ephesians chapter three and verse number 21. Ephesians chapter three and verse number 21. Ephesians chapter three, verse number 21, please. I really want you to look at this one as well. Ephesians 3, 21. The Bible says, speaking of Christ here, of course, Ephesians 3, 21. And to him be glory in the church. Brethren, I wanna give glory to Christ in the church this morning. Can we do that? Can we give glory to Christ? And to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. Look at this. Throughout all ages, world without end, amen. The church has existed throughout all ages. There's no church singular age. The church has always existed in every age. World without end, amen. Brethren, as far as this world exists, and we know there's a new heaven you have come in, there's always going to be church. There has always been church. When God's people come together to learn of his word, to praise him, to worship him, when they congregate, when they assemble, whether it's in a building, whether it's out in the park, whether it's at the beach, whether it's in the wilderness, it's church. Say, Pastor Kevin, why don't you just line up with every church? Why don't you just line up with every other pastor? Stop standing out. My job is to preach you God's word. And if man has made a mistake, man makes mistakes. I make mistakes, okay? We all make mistakes. I'm not here on a trigger to just blast every church and every pastor that uses these phrases, the bride of Christ and the church age. Because if they're my brother in the Lord, I just want to bless them and I want to see God use them in a mighty way. I want them to do great works for God. But each church is autonomous. Each church is independent. Each church must teach and preach God's word. I'm not interested in preaching to you lectures from Bible college. We come to hear God's word and God's word is clear. God is not a racist. God does not prefer one nation over another nation. The only nation you should be part of is the spiritual nation in Christ Jesus. Do you in Greek? Whatever you are, it doesn't matter if you're in Christ Jesus. If you're the worst sinner that's ever existed or you're a young child that's not committed any grave sins, if you're in Jesus Christ, we're all on the same page. And you're all going to participate of heavenly Jerusalem, the bride of the Lamb, okay? Come with me to Ephesians chapter four. You're in Ephesians three, come with me to Ephesians four. Let's talk about the body of Christ. Let me explain to you why some people and myself included when I started this church, I was a little bit confused on this topic. I've had to fix it, okay? Nothing wrong with saying, hey, I was wrong about something and I preached it wrong before, let me get it right. There's nothing wrong about that, okay? Pastors should be humble. Moses led Israel, he was the most humble man that lived, Jesus Christ said, at that time anyway, okay? Ephesians 4, four, this is where the confusion comes with whether the church is a local body or a universal body, okay? Ephesians 4, four says, there is one body and one spirit, even as ye accord in one hope of your calling. Well, see, pastor, there is one body. And if the body is the church, then therefore there must be one church, one universal church. That's where it comes from. And I was confused by that, I'll be honest, I was confused. I wasn't sure where I stood exactly on this issue. Because I'd read, yeah, there's one body. So you kind of get the idea there, there must be numerically one body, right? Like the number one, numerically one body. All right, we're gonna come back, keep your finger there in Ephesians 4. I'm going to explain to you what this is actually teaching and then we'll come back to Ephesians 4 and see whether this makes sense, okay? Keep your finger there in Ephesians 4, come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12, 12. The Bible says, for as the body is one. Let's stop there for a moment. We read in Ephesians 4, one body. This one explains it a little bit different. For as the body is one, isn't that a little phrase a little differently there? In what sense is the body one? And have many members, so this is one body, many members right here, many people, different people, different backgrounds, and all the members of that one body. So as members, we make up one body. Be many, so let's not forget the individual, okay? Be many, our one body, so also is Christ. Now what is this referring to? For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, there's another reinforcement once again, there is no difference for everyone. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit, for the body is not one member, but many. All right, I'm not gonna read all of this chapter, you can read it in your own time. Drop down to verse number 18. And if you're in church this morning, gathered together, corrugated, assembled together with us, then this is true about you, verse number 18. But now have God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it have pleased him. You thought it was your decision to be in church this morning, nope. God set you right here, as it pleased him. He pleases Jesus Christ that you're here, gathered together in the body of Christ. It wasn't your decision, God made the decision for you. In fact, church should never be a decision. It's something that God expects you to be at. You don't wake up in the morning, Sunday morning, going, should I be in church this morning? What do you guys think? You don't do it, just like you wake up and breathe, just like you wake up and brush your teeth, just like you wake up and have breakfast, just like you wake up and go to work, that's the idea of church. It's not a question, do I go to church to work today? Or do I, the decision's been made for you by God already. Okay, and when you're here, it pleases him. Verse number 25, now this is the key. If you know the church, the Corinth church, if you know about this letter, the first Corinthian church, you know it was a divided church. Chapter one begins about its major divisions. People are saying, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, and I'm of Christ. They've all got their favorite preachers, they're all divided, Paul just calls them out for being carnal, you know, worldly, you know, Christians. And so there's divisions in the body. The body should be one, but there's divisions, okay? Verse number 25, it says that there should be no schism in the body, no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. So God does not want us to have our little clicks and divisions in our church. He wants what, unity, right? Let's keep going to verse number six, 26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Do you see how this is speaking about unity? The body is one. One is not numerical. One is unity, is what it's referring to. The body is one. There ought to be unity in our church, not schisms, not divisions, okay? Like this body, this body is one. If I chop off my hand, I can't function properly. I need it all together. I need it all plugged in. I need all the nerves connected, all right? I need the blood pumping in all areas of my body because then I can function properly. It's the same as this church. We can't have schisms and divisions. It's like chopping off your leg, chopping off your ear, and thinking you can live just fine. We need to have unity in our church. As it says here in verse number 27, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particularly. So again, one in this passage, one body, or the body is one, is not numerically one. Not that there's one body, but that the body is one, that the body is unified, that it's not divided. Okay, now that we've compared spiritual with spiritual, let's go back to Ephesians four. Let's go back to Ephesians four and remember verse number four said there is one body, which is where people get confused. There must be a universal church. Okay, before we read verse number four, we should read the verses before it. Okay, let's start there in verse number two. Ephesians four, two, with all lowliness and meekness and long suffering, forbearing one another in love. That's how we ought to be. Verse number three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. What is God teaching us here? Unity and being bound together, a bond, united. There is one body. See, if you just keep it in context, this is not saying there's numerically one body. It's saying there's one body because we're united. We're in unity. Okay, I hope that makes sense to you guys. And this is why, again, this is the main verse people use to teach a universal church. But they forgot what one means. And look, I got confused, I didn't know. The language sometimes can be a little bit confusing. It's so important when you go and read the Bible yourself, compare spiritual with spiritual, and then it all makes sense. Let's keep going in that passage. Ephesians four, drop down to verse number 11. Let me explain to you the unity here. Ephesians four, 11, it says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, another term of the word body, look at verse number 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith. You see, sandwiched between there is one body, other words, unity, united. The context of one body is the unification, not splits, not divisions, not fights and arguments, but that we're united for the work of the Lord, brought into unity by the teaching of God's word. I'll read verse number 13 again, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. All right, I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions about that one, please let me know. Come with me to Acts chapter 20. I'm near the end. I've just got to speed up a little bit. And sorry that I take a lot of time sometimes to explain, because I really want you to walk away understanding, knowing what passages to read and checking it out for yourself. Okay, I want to speak to you man to man. I don't want to speak over your heads here. Okay, because this is important. This is our statement of faith. We'll make sure we're on the same page about this. Acts chapter 20, verse number 17. Let's talk about church governance. We said that each church is to govern itself. I don't go to Pastor Paul Stevenson and ask him, hey, Pastor Paul, what should I do about my church situation here? And then he storms in here. You know, I'll show them who's boss. Don't worry about Pastor Kevin. No, no, no. This is the body right here. We're united. Okay, and I don't do that to other places. Well, I do it to bless it up about the church because I'm the pastor there. Let's talk about pastors very quickly. Acts 20 to 17. And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. I just want you to stop and think about that term, the elders. The elders being called in this, Paul is calling for the elders. He's going to teach them some things. We're not going to read it all, but let's drop down to verse number 28. What does this say to the elders? It says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. Okay, to all the flock. The flock refers to a herd of sheep. Yeah, the flock. So that brings us to another thought. Well, if this elder is looking after the flock, what does that make him? The shepherd. And what's the Latin form of shepherd? Pastor. Elder, pastor, shepherd. Let's keep going there. Over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers. To feed the church of God, which you have purchased with his own blood. The elder, the pastor has been made the overseer. The language we would use today is the supervisor. Vision, supervisor, overseer. You're watching over. The Bible speaks of the office of the bishop. You know what the word bishop means? The overseer. Elder, pastor, bishop. These are all different words for the same office. And what is the primary job of this man? To feed the flock of God, okay? God's word, that's what feeds you. I'm not trying to feed you a Bible college course. I'm not trying to feed you the wisdom of man, the philosophies of man. I'm not buying self-help books to teach you how to help your life. I'm here to feed you God's word. I want you to walk away from church going, I was fed. I feel full. Because that's what a shepherd does to his sheep. He leads them to the green pastures where they can feed. This is the man that has authority in the church. Come with me to First Peter chapter five. First Peter chapter five. First Peter chapter five. And while you're turning to First Peter chapter five, I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 13, 17. The reason I'm giving you these verses is because when we talk about church governance, it's not a democracy. The sheep don't get to vote where they're going to eat or where they're going to be led. It's the shepherd's decision. When you go to work, you don't decide what you're going to do today, you ask your supervisor. There is authority within a church. Christ is always ahead. But then God gives pastors to help lead a congregation. This is a pastor-led church. Now look, if I'm making a big decision for church, you guys know already, you know that I go and talk to you. Get your opinion, get your thoughts. Am I missing something important? I get your thoughts around it. But at the end of the day, it's my decision. Because I'm the pastor. So when I talk about governance, I'm not talking about democracy. I'm talking about a pastor-led church. And pastors can still make mistakes. I'm not infallible. Please understand. Even a democracy of a church will make mistakes. In fact, they'll make more mistakes. I tell you now, you run a church by democracy, you will create schisms. You will create divisions. Because one person making a decision is easy. 40 people, whatever we are, making a decision, forget about it. Is that what? Majority, 70%. All right, 30% will be against you. Is that a good way to make decisions? You've really got a division right there. And before we read first Peter chapter five, I'm gonna read quickly to you. Hebrews 13, 17. Obey them that have the rule over you. It says rule in the house of the Lord. And submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls. They watch over see a bishop. They watch for your souls. As they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. There is rule in the house of the Lord. Again, my rule only extends with the local congregation. If we believed in the universal church, you know what that means? I can now rule in your house. You go home, that's still church. Because it's a universal church. It's not about a congregation or assembly, wrong. I have authority when we're congregated, assembled together. That's where my authority lies. When church is over and you go your own separate ways, each family is responsible. Each individual is responsible. Individual soul liberty, okay? That's how it works. If it was universal church, I can come to your house and say, guys, my kids are hungry, what do you have for dinner? That's not gonna happen. First Peter chapter five, verse 11. First Peter chapter five, verse number 11. That's where, oh sorry, verse number one, sorry guys. First Peter chapter five, verse number one. Let me just show you how this bishop, pastor, elder, it's all one and the same. Verse number one. The elders, so there's that word again, which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder. So Peter, one of the apostles of the lamb, where his name is one of the foundations of the new Jerusalem, is an elder of a church. And a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partake of the glory that shall be revealed. Verse number two, saying this to the elders, feed the flock of God. Again, the shepherd now, okay? Which is among you. Taking the oversight thereof of the bishop, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither has been lords over God's heritage, but been ensembles to the flock. Brethren, I am not your lord. I have rule in the house of the lord. The lord is the lord. God is the lord. Then when we leave church, I'm not the lord over you. I'm trying to be an example. That's all I'm trying to be. I'm trying to be as best of a Christian that I can be to just be a good example unto you. To show that it works if we just live godly for Christ Jesus. Let's keep going there. Verse number four, it says, and when the chief shepherd, or the chief pastor, who's the chief shepherd? It's gonna be Jesus, right? And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. You see, there's a chief shepherd, the head of the church, Jesus Christ. I'm just an under shepherd. I'm under the authority of Christ. I am not the head of the church. Christ, the chief shepherd, is the head of this church. All right. One more passage, sorry guys, one more passage. First Corinthians 5.11. First Corinthians 5.11. So when there's governance, when there's authority within a church, if something happens within our church, we need to take care of it, and we take care of it in the proper manner. The one that has authority has to call the shots. That's me. Okay? And that's a humbling thought. I don't take pleasure in having authority like this, because then God's holding me accountable very severely. Okay? But the Bible says in First Corinthians 5.11, but now I have written unto you not to keep company, not to fellowship, in other words. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetrous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat. We are not to eat with brothers and sisters in the Lord that become drunkards, or that begin fornicating. So what do we do with that, Pastor? Verse number 12. For what have I to do, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? Do we not judge them that are within? There's governance in our church. Okay? So we can judge within. When it comes to someone in these sins, what do we do about this person? Verse number 13. But them that are without, so those that are outside of the church, God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. If we find that one of our young people are committing fornication, by God's word, I have the authority, I have to say, you are not permitted in this church. You are a wicked person. You cannot participate in church at this point in time. Get right with God. Repent from that. Get right with the church and you're welcome back. See, we're self-governing. Now here's another mistake that churches make and pastors make. They think, well, self-governance means if criminal activity takes place in the church, then we cover it up. It has to just be kept secretly here. Nobody should find out. Don't go to the authorities. Don't tell other pastors. Don't tell other people. Wrong. Wrong. I also believe, and I'm careful about these words, I also believe in the separation between church and state, which I'm not gonna cover in the statement of faith, but the basic principle is this. God has created governance to punish wicked people, to punish evildoers, to punish criminals. It is not the church's responsibility to punish criminals. If a man walks into this church, and this happens in churches, in independent Baptist churches, and he is a pedophile, he molests children, brethren, we are not covering that up as a church. I'm not saying, well, we're self-governing, let's just not tell anyone, because what are people gonna say about our church? You better believe it. If I hear such a thing, even if I hear rumors of such a thing, I will investigate immediately and report that information to the proper authorities. No pedophiles are allowed here. That kind of criminal behavior, if you're in church for that reason, get out of here. We're not gonna cover up your sin, okay? You are gonna be reported by the authorities. We love our children. We care for them. We want them to love the Lord. You want little children to hate church? Then you let these wicked people get away with their sins, and then you blame the victims. No. Pedophiles are not allowed in this church. And I promise you, they creep in. They creep into churches. They think they're gonna get a free ride. No. Criminal activity. And I want to be careful, because yes, we are self-governing, but we're not self-governing when it comes to criminal activity like this. That gets reported to the proper authorities. In that sense, I believe in separation between church and state, okay? So, in conclusion, brethren, in conclusion, the local church, it's an important body The individual is important, yes it is. But collectively, we are important as well, okay? We can motivate, encourage, love each other, serve one another, do great works for God together. Like yesterday, that was great, okay? So, in summary, under our statement of faith, the local church, it's gonna have these words. The church is the body of Christ composed of local baptized believers united in organization to practice New Testament ordinances. The purpose of church is to meet together for preaching, teaching, exhortation, fellowship, and to be actively involved in winning souls to Christ. We believe Jesus Christ is the only head and founder. Therefore, each church is free to govern itself on the principles laid down in the Holy Scriptures without interference from outside organizations or other churches. Let's pray.