SERMONS.
The one church.
Introduction: The Body of our Lord Jesus is the most special institution on earth today. It is the one Body to which saved men and women belong. I want you to take a minute to examine this Institution with me. You and I will look at exactly what makes up this Institution, how many Bodies this Institution involves. We must, as created human beings, heed to the instructions of the Heavenly Father exactly as He commands and not defer from them one little bit. Look in LEVITICUS 10:1, 2 and see what happened to Nadab and Abihu for defering from God's instructions just a little bit. If Naaman of 2 KINGS chapter 5 had not followed Elisha's order (given unto him by God) he would not have been cleansed of his leprosy. If he had dipped 6 times instead of 7 he would not have been cleansed. We must comply completely with the commands and instructions of God. If Noah had made the ark out of cedar or oak or maple or any other wood but that which god had instructed the ark would have sunk and we as people would have perrished. God's instructions are not to be taken lightly. Those in the Old Testament had to obey completely and we must obey completely also. Christ is the Word of God (John 1;14) and he is the same yesterday and today and forever, so the word doesn't change even though Christ has come we still must follow it exactly as it is.
1. Christ has only one Body. Ephesians 2:16.
A. Christ, although the Son of God, was born a man. No man has ever been born with more than one body. Have you ever seen someone like that. Even siamese twins are two seperate people joined together. So Christ only had one Body. Christ has only one spiritual Body, the church! We as Baptized believers are the members that make up that spiritual Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans that We Being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. He said we are ONE BODY IN CHRIST NOT MANY BODIES. We make up the Body as members of the church 1 Corinthians 12:27. Look at 1 Corinthians 12 and read from vs 12 to the end of the chapter to get the idea of the body and what the body is. My hand, arm foot, leg fingers, toes, ears and nose are all seprate members of my body. They are individual members that make up my one body. So we, the obedient; baptized believers are the individual members of the Body of Christ.
B. In 1 Corinthians 1:13 the Apostle Paul asked the question "Is Christ divided?" They were dividing the body of Christ by calling themselves followers of Paul, Appolos, Cephas (Peter) and Christ. By calling ourselves "BAPTIST, MORMANS, CATHOLICS, METHODIST OR OTHERWISE" we are claiming to be followers of those who designed or started those sects. We as the church of Christ are claiming to be followers of Christ only. The church of Christ was started on the day of Pentecost A.D. 33 by Christ through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles were equipped with the Word enabling them to Preach the first sermon and the first members were added BY THE LORD Acts 2:1-48. To call ourselves anything other than Christians makes us followers of someone or something else other than Christ. So that being true then we, as the church, calling ourselves any thing other than the church of Christ is to say we are the church of something or someone else! Christ is NOT divided physically or spiritually. Paul knew that these people were dividing the body of Christ and he tells them that this is not right to do. That makes division sin!! When Christ came into this world He had only one body just as you and I. It would be unnatural to see someone with one head and 15 or 16 diffrent bodies. Can you imagen Christ with one head and 15 or 16 thousand bodies, that would be outrageous? Can you see how ridiculous this must look to God for christ to be the head and we have many diffrent bodies claiming to be the body of Christ. Simply put DIVISION IS SIN!!! Why because Christ prayed for unity John 17:21
C. Colossians 1:18 tells us that Christ is the Head of the body. The word body is singular meaning ONE. There is no plural form of the word body here not in English, Greek, or any other language. So how is it that we get the idea that there has to be diversity. Christ did not pray that we all be seprate or diverse he prayed "That they all may be one" John 17:21.
2. What is the body in a spiritual sense? It is the church!
A. The church of Christ and the body as mentioned in Colossians 1:24 are one and the same. If the body is the church, Ephesians 1:22, 23; Colossians 1:18, and we are the body Romans 12:4, 5, then we are the church of Christ. Let me explain. If I own a store it is my store, I own it, it is my possession. Only I have the right to name it or change the name of that store. If I want it to be called Jason's store then that will be the name of the store and only I can change that. In the Greek language there is no.. " 's " to show possession. They showed possession by wording things this way "The book of Luke", "The house of God" instead of "Luke's book" or "God's house" Christ said "I will build MY CHURCH" This makes it HIS possession. So we have, in the Greek language, the church of Christ! We are His Possession and remember we are the church, His church, He possessed us buy purchas He purchased us with His Blood making us His possession. So we are the church of Christ (Christ's Church)!
B. What about when we read of "churches" in the Bible? This was used to identify churches of christ in diffrent locations not diffrent churches of diffrent practices or methods or teachings, diffrent locations. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul addressed the CHURCH OF GOD, the church, singular not plural. Yes he wrote that one church but these letters were circulated to other churches, see Colossians 4:16, so why did he not address "The churches of God'? He knew that no matter where it was read it was addressing the same church, body of believers who were obedient to the Word God, as were at Corinth, The church of Christ! The church at Corinth was the church of Christ, the church at Laodacia was the church of Christ, the church at Antioch was the church of Christ and so on. they were the same church only in diffrent locations. "CHURCHES." They were all obedient believers of the same body of Christ and added by the same person, The Lord Acts 2:48. Every example of conversion in the New Testament shows that the person was added by the same process Hearing, Believing, Confessing and being Baptized. Look at these scriptures Acts 8:37-38; 9:17-18; 10:47-48; 16:33; 19:4-5, all were baptised and had to go through the same steps as the rest. Wait I said every example of conversion the person was baptized right? What about the thief on the cross? He wasn't baptized or was he? We don't know if he had been baptized by John the Baptist or not. The Old Law was still in effect untill Christ died nailing it to the cross Colossians 2:14 (the handwriting of ordinances). So the thief was still under the Old Law and Our Lord has the Authority to make the decision whether he saved the thief or not. Also the fact is not told that the thief did not die before our lord. The guards broke their legs to be sure that does not mean they were not dead already. Untill Christ died and the church was established on the day of pentecost baptism for remission of sin was not a requirement because Christ had yet to enter into the Holy of Holies to present His sacrificial Blood to the Father. Heb 9:22 tells us without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Christ did not shed his blood till he was dead John 19:32.
C. Ephesians 4:4-6. There is one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism, one faith, one calling and one Word found in the New Testament. Think about this for a moment, There is one God, there was one creation, one Law, one ark, one family that survived the flood, one people who were God's chosen, one Christ so how can there be but one church. Think how beautiful this is, there is one God who is the Father of one Lord who is the Head of the One church which you and I can be a part of by being submissive and obedient to the will of God not ours. That is a beautiful thought, better yet it is a beautiful reality. It is true, it is that way!
3. Must a person be a member of the one church, the church of Christ to go to Heaven? YES!!! Look at John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. So how do we come to the father by Christ? We obey his commandments! Which ones do we obey? ALL OF THEM! One command we must pay special attention to, we must abide in Him! How do we abide in Christ? Well can a person abide in a house without entering in? NO! We must enter into Christ to abide in Him! How is that possible? WE ARE BAPITIZED INTO CHRIST GALATIANS 3:27; ROMANS 6:3-4. So can one who has not been baptized into Christ and added to His church, the church of Christ go to heaven when they die? NO! Read John 10:1, 7, 9. Trying to get in by any other means makes us a thief and a robber. We must enter in at the door CHRIST!
CONCLUSION: The one church, the church of Christ is the only institution set up by Christ. It is His possession, His church and it is called just that. Being a member of any other church or not being a faithful member of that one church carries a concequence of an eternity in Hell. Simply comming to worship does not make one a member of that church. One must be added by the Lord as in Acts 2:48. Those who Hear the Word and believe that to be true, Romans 10:17; will confess that Christ is God's Son and that he is risen from the grave and then they will turn because of Godly sorrow or (Repent) of their sins, Luke 13:3,5; then they will obey the command given to all to be Baptized, fully emersed according to Romans 6:3,4 and Colossians 2:12 (burried with Him, fully put under) in Baptism and then they will go on to live a faithful life to Christ and His church as instructed in Revelation 2:10 to recieve their crown of life that is eternal life in Heaven with the Father. Wont you listen to His word today, become a member of Christ's church, the church of Christ today before it is eternally to late. The time to repent is now tommorrow may be to late!
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