Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

It is good to be with you all today, as of course we come together to worship to God who
is so deserving of our praise, who is so deserving of our worship, who is so deserving of

our focus being upon Him.

This morning we're going to talk about Christ and we're going to talk about His church.

We're going to look at that Savior and what He came to do, what He came to purchase, who
He came to purchase.

But we're going to begin in the garden.

If you think of Genesis 1 and verse 31, there was a problem.

Or rather, it was creation.

If you think of the end of that creation, it was said to be very good.

This was exactly what God had intended for his creation.

It was perfect.

It was complete.

It was exactly what he wanted it to be at this point.

But if you go a little bit further in Genesis 3 and verse 6, man sins.

Man has violated the law of God.

Man has done that which God had expressly forbidden to be done.

Man has partaken of that tree.

It says there, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took it and ate thereof,

and gave to her haw husband also, and he did eat.

They ate of that fruit which God had forbidden.

They had done which God had said no, and in that they sinned.

But that sin problem did not stop in the garden.

If you go a little bit further into history, you think of the flood.

Just as it was talked about this morning, Walker talked about Bible class, that flood.

Think of that the sin that had so infected the society, that it had reached a point that
the wrath of God was poured out because of it.

That the wrath of God demanded that that sin be dealt with.

And then Noah was the only people saved through that flood.

Think a little bit further with Sodom and Gomorrah.

The influence of sin there.

That sin that had so infected that nation that God had it destroyed.

That God had it wiped off the face of the map.

Sin is a problem.

Sin hurts God.

Sin is something so in violation with what God has stated, for in with the way God has
stated for us to live that He cannot deal with it.

He cannot see it.

He cannot accept us when we sin and we violate His law.

But

That sin problem had would not just stop in the Old Testament.

That sin problem affected all of mankind.

Genesis 3 and verse 23, or Romans 3 and verse 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God.

Both Jew and Gentile, all were in need of a Savior.

Why?

Because the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6 in verse 23.

Though what sin earns is death.

What sin is deserving of is death.

But we have been have the opportunity to be free from death only in Christ.

Only in his church.

Christ came with the purpose of defeating sin.

If you look at me a little bit further in the book of Genesis, in Genesis 3 and verse 15,
that very first promise of Christ is made.

It says there,

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed.

Thou shalt bruise his head.

He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

That's speaking to Satan.

He's saying that that seed of woman, that one who is coming from woman, that one who is
coming to redeem man, is going to crush the power of Satan.

He is going to crush the influence Satan would exert.

He is going to just destroy the power of Satan in sin.

When John saw Jesus in John 1 and verse 29, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.

He was the opportunity.

He was the one in whom we can be freed from our sin.

And then in Luke 24 and verse 47, Jesus is talking about that time when freedom from sin
would be made.

And he points a little bit further from there.

This is after his ascension, or after his resurrection, right before his ascension.

And he said, and he says there in Luke 24 and verse 47, if you would turn there with me.

It says there

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

In this we have where the church would be established.

It would be established in Jerusalem.

Salvation would be first preached in Jerusalem, that permission of sins, that freedom from
sins, that opportunity to be safe, that opportunity to be right with God.

You cannot separate the salvation that God would provide from his church, from that
institution that Christ would purchase, from that

Group that he so loved that he would send the only Son of God to free to purchase.

As salvation in Christ was preached, so was his church.

Acts 8 and verse 12 says, and that when they believed Philip preaching the things
concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men

and women.

They understood the kingdom of God.

That's referring to his church, Matthew 16 and verse 18.

They understood the name of Jesus Christ.

They understood who Jesus was, who

Who he had came for, what he had done for them.

It was in God's eternal purpose to save men and his church.

You can look at multiple, multiple verses, but simply Revelation 13 and verse 8 that Jesus
was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

He was so in God's mind to sin that it was as if he had already been sent before this
world was ever created.

God had a purpose, and he wanted to save men, and he wanted to save men in the church that
Christ would establish.

The manifold wisdom of God is displayed in the church of Christ, Ephesians 10 and verse,
Ephesians 3 and verse 10 and 11.

That which God's wisdom had seen, that which God said, that place where God said he would
save all people, is in his church.

Is in the church where he purchased.

The purpose of Christ was fulfilled in.

So we've looked, we've seen the need for a church, where the salvation will be found in
his church.

But the primary thrust of our lesson, we're actually going to be looking at the Christ who
purchased that church.

We're going to be looking at the one who freed us from our sins and how he is qualified to
build this church.

First, we're going to be looking at Christ and we're going to look at his identity, who he
is.

His identity.

The apostles preached because they were sure of the identity of

If we would turn with me to Acts 2.

Acts 2.

We'll begin reading in verse 22.

It reads there, ye men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, signs, and wonders which
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.

Peter stands up in the midst of the apostles, all the apostles would be speaking this day,
and he points to Jesus.

That man whom they have seen, that man who they knew, that man that they knew had been
raised from the dead, that man who they knew had lived for a short period of time after he

had been put to death on a Roman cross.

And he says, Remember that man?

That you've crucified, that you've slain.

Remember how he was approved of God by miracles and how you denied him?

And that's the very thrust that's brought out in verse 36 of this same chapter, where it
says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same

Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Who is he?

What is his identity?

Well, he is one sent by God, approved by God with miracles.

Verse 22: He is Lord.

He has power.

He is ruling.

He is reigning over his kingdom.

And he is the anointed one.

He is the Christ.

He is the one who is going to save men from their sins.

The same as him being the Messiah.

His identity was preached.

Who Christ was was preached.

His identity, though, is foundational to this church.

If you turn with me a little further in Acts 4 in verse 11.

Acts 4, beginning in verse 11.

He had been, the apostle Peter there had been preaching Christ, talking about Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, verse 10.

But verse 11 it says, This is the stone, referring to Christ, which was set at not of the
you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

Neither is there salvation

any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved.

There is none other name.

He is the only one in whom we can be saved.

He is the only one upon the only foundation upon which his church was built.

His name.

There was something special about Christ.

There was something different about him from any other.

He was the perfect Son of God come down in human flesh.

There was something special because he was the creator of this world who came in human,
the human body.

To suffer and die for us.

If you look at John 1 and verse 14, it says, And the word became flesh.

That word that had been talked about in John 1 and verse 1 in the beginning was the word,
the word that had created all things.

It says there in John 1 and verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth.

Look a little bit further in John six verses sixty eight and sixty nine.

Jesus is asking Peter, Will ye also go away?

And Peter answered him and says, Lord to whom shall we go?

For you have the words of eternal life.

And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

The identity was Christ was known to those apostles.

They saw his miracles firsthand, they saw his character firsthand, they knew with
assurance that he was the Savior of mankind.

Jesus himself gave evidence supporting his deity, that he was the Son of God.

If you look in John 5, he gives fourfold evidence.

First, he gave evidence saying that of himself.

He said, If I give witness of myself, my witness is not true.

He's not saying that he's saying a lie by calling himself the son of God, but he's just
saying it wouldn't stand up in court.

It wouldn't, it's not enough.

It's not sufficient to some of you.

He further says in John 8 and verse 58 that he before Abraham was, I am.

So he knew with certainty, and he told the people that he was the Son of God himself.

But he gives even more than that.

He said that John the Baptist gave

Witness of him.

Think of John the Baptist, what did he say?

Make straight the way of the Lord.

He was pointing to Christ.

He was pointing to the Messiah that would come.

If you look at the miracles which Jesus did in John 5, those were said to give witness of
him.

It says in John 10 and verse 25, Jesus talks about those miracles which he was doing, and
he says, Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe me not.

The work that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

The fact that I can do these miracles.

Miracles, the fact that I can do these great wonders, that I can raise men from the dead,
that I can.

What had Jesus been just done in John 10?

He had just raised a cripple.

He had in ver in chapter 9.

Those miracles which Jesus was doing, they bore witness of him.

They showed that he was God in human flesh.

They showed.

To Nicodemus that no man can do these miracles except God be with him.

He was God in human flesh.

The scriptures finally bore witness of Jesus.

They showed that prophet who should come, Deuteronomy 18 to verse 15.

You think of all the messianic prophecies, one that we looked at just this morning when we
partook the Lord's Supper with Psalm 22.

They all showed Jesus.

They all showed that coming Messiah who would come and save mankind from their sin.

That he was the one that they should listen to, and they were rejecting him, referring to
the Pharisees.

But his identity is foundational.

They didn't believe he was the Son of God, but we need to.

We need to be confident in that fact.

Why?

Because his church was built on his identity, who he was.

If you would look with me at Matthew 16, Matthew 16.

We'll begin reading in verse 13.

It says there, when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

Verse 14, and they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, 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, Blessed are thou, Sarmon Barjonas, for blessed for flesh and
blood hath not revealed

unto thee, but my father which is in heaven.

And I say unto thee that upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom.

Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

He is making the qu he is asking the question Whom do men say that I am?

It was important if people were recognizing his deity to say that.

If you look at the context here, he had just fed the 5,000 in Matthew.

That same context that we looked at in John 6, where many went away, many had left Jesus,
many had deserted him, just saying that he is just someone else.

He is just the son of Joseph.

Whereas in Matthew 16, he says, Who do men say that I am?

He said, They're saying that you're one of these prophets reincarnated.

But Pete but Jesus makes it personal.

He says, But whom do you say that I am?

He says, There the Yah art of Christ, the Son of the Living God.

There is none other like you.

There is none other like Jesus.

But he says there, If flesh and blood if he had fought um he said flesh and blood shall
not re have not revealed it unto thee.

If flesh and blood was proving that Jesus was the Son of God, if flesh and blood was who
Peter was following, he would have left with others.

But he was sure because he looked at Christ plainly, looked at the evidence, looked at
what was supporting that Christ was who he said he was.

And then in verse 18 he says, Upon this rock I will build my church.

He, of course, there are many who would say that this rock is referring to Peter.

This rock is referring to Peter, that the Peter was that Peter was the one that was going
to be the rock of this church, the foundational pope.

But that's not what this text is saying.

Peter is a the word petros, which is a masculine word in the Greek.

This rock that Jesus is talking about is feminine.

Just like his church is his bride.

It's feminine.

This rock upon which the church would be established is that reality that Jesus is the Son
of God.

That there is none other like him.

That he is God in human flesh.

And this church would be established upon that basis.

This church.

This word church is referring to the ecclesia.

That group that's been called out.

The group that's been called out, separated for the world, called to God, and that
worships God in spirit and truth.

That word, that church that he would establish is not talking about just a building.

It's not talking about just another denomination going down the street.

It's talking about his church, his people, the one he purchased, the one who is part of
that church that was established by the apostles, or rather, the keys were of the door

were opened in Acts 2.

His church, his kingdom.

The identity of cre of Jesus is something we must be sure of.

And it's something that we must stand upon.

We live in a world where the influence of certain religions has crept in.

You think of Romans 9.

It talks about the Israel and how they have not accepted Jesus.

They cannot accept that he came to abolish the old law.

They cannot accept that he came to start a new one, to start his church, to start his
group.

They want it both ways.

They want to have part of the old law, and then they also want to have it their way.

They also want to do it Jesus' way, but we have to be sure that we're only doing it his
way.

We have to accept him.

We live in a world that rejects Jesus, though.

Think of the rise of Islam.

That group says Jesus is only a prophet.

He is only, he is only just another prophet.

Just like all the others, he was just one of them.

But then Muhammad's perfect, that man who we have record of realizing he was a pedophile,
that he was a horrible man, that he's the holy one.

That's losing Jesus.

That's not claiming him.

That's not saying that he is exactly who he said he was.

Or we see groups such as the Jehovah's Witness who will say in their New World
Translation, it doesn't say that he was God in John 1 and verse 1, but he says he was a

God.

He was just another.

He was just a spiritual being.

That's not who Jesus was.

Jesus was the only begotten Son of God.

Israel didn't accept who Jesus was.

Many don't accept it today.

We have to preach to them.

We have to show them and we have to prove to them that Jesus was exactly who he said he
was.

But there are also many who corrupt Christ.

They'll teach a Christ who is blemished.

He is not unspotted and perfect, just as 1 Peter 1 and verse 20 says he is.

They'll teach a Jesus that serves alcoholic wine to men, who is making Jesus nothing else
than a bartender.

They'll teach a Jesus who is not perfect, who just taught love.

Not representing Jesus accurately for who he was, but just teaching their own idea of
Jesus.

Friends, we must now allow the identity of Christ that's revealed in Scripture to be an
obstacle to us.

We must teach the doctrine of Christ fully, the doctrine about Christ fully, that which he
wants us to do.

This can be an obstacle that can separate us from God if we don't.

But we look at his church.

We've talked about Christ and his foundation, the foundation of that church that was that
it was built upon Christ.

It was built on him.

It was built on him being exactly who he said he was.

Next, we'll look at Christ and we'll look at his authority, his authority over his church.

If you would turn with me to the book of Colossians, in Colossians 1, we see a threefold
picture of Christ and his authority.

We see Christ as king over his kingdom in Colossians 1 verses 12 through 14.

We see Christ as the creator over his creation in Colossians 15.

Colossians 1, 15 through 17.

And we see him as head over his body in Colossians 1 and verse 18.

The point of the first one, him being king over his kingdom, is that we are in his
kingdom.

We're not in another, we're in his.

We are in the one that he would establish.

If you would read with me, Colossians 1 and verse 12 to 14, it says there, giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of

life, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his

It was prophesied that Christ would receive this kingdom.

This kingdom that we have been translated into as members of the body of Christ.

It says in Daniel two, verse forty four, And in the days of these kings shall God set up a
kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

That kingdom was an eternal kingdom.

That kingdom is a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

That kingdom is the one that will be in heaven someday.

We see in Daniel that the Son would receive that kingdom.

Daniel 7, verse 13 and 14, when he ascended back into heaven.

There's that picture of the ancient of days giving the kingdom unto the Son of Man.

That would be just after Jesus ascended up into heaven.

Just as we see in Luke, in Acts 1, and verse 8:8, when it's when he says to those
apostles, um, but tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be induced with power from high.

That's not the right verse.

But you shall receive power after that.

The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me to all nations
beginning in Jerusalem.

When he's saying that you're about to receive power, the Holy Ghost is about to come upon
you, and you're going to show me.

You're going to show this to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.

That church would be established in Jerusalem.

That eternal kingdom would be established in Jerusalem.

They are one and the same.

Matthew 16, verse 18 and 19.

They're one and the same, my church and my kingdom.

In this kingdom, though, we have certain benefits.

We have certain blessings.

In this kingdom, we are partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light.

What does that mean?

We have an inheritance.

Think of who receives an inheritance?

Your children.

Whenever you get grow old and you pa eventually pass away, if you've left something behind
for your children, your children receive that.

What's this talking about there?

When we're saying we're partakers of the inheritance, we're hit God's children in his
kingdom.

We are those who can call him father.

We are those who receive the benefits of citizenship because we're children of God.

Genesis 12 and verse 18, God is talking to Abraham.

And he says there that in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because
thou hast obeyed my voice.

In thy seed, in thy singular seed, we'll look at in Galatians.

If you turn there with me, Galatians 3 and verse 16.

Galatians 3 and verse 16 talks about the seed of Abraham.

And it says there

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.

He saith not unto seeds as a many, but as to one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.

And to thy seed.

That's the point.

All nations are given this promise of the seed.

All nations have the ability to be blessed, Genesis 22 and verse 18, through this one
seed.

And that's the very thought in Galatians 3 and verse 29.

And if ye be Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

You're an heir of God.

You're an heir of Abraham.

You're one who has received that blessing of the seed of Abraham coming to this world,
coming to this earth.

If you look further in in chapter 4 and verse 5, it talks about a benefit of being uh one
of these heirs.

It says there to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons.

In Christ, in his kingdom, when I am one of those who is receiving an inheritance, I am a
son of God.

I am a child of God.

There is none other who can call God his Father.

There is none other who can genuinely say that they're a child of God unless they're in
his kingdom.

Unless they're in his church.

And how do we take part in that?

Well, Acts twenty-two not twenty-two.

Acts twenty-six and verse eighteen.

Paul it said to Paul

In verse 17, delivering thee from the people unto the Gentiles, unto whom I now send thee,
to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto

the power of God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among all them
that are sanctified by thee faith which is in me.

You want a part of the inheritance?

You want a part of this inheritance of being a son of God?

Well, you have to turn from darkness to light.

You have to come to God.

You have to obey Him.

You have to hear what He has said.

Your eyes have to be opened.

You have to be part of that faith which is in Christ.

That one distinct faith.

That one distinct system of faith which God has established.

The one way to be saved.

In his kingdom, though, the king rules.

It's not for us to alter what God has set forth.

It's not for us to change his doctrine.

We just need to point people to what it says.

We just need to point people for what Christ would have them to do.

We can look at this and be confident and be sure that we have a king reigning over us who
loves us so much that has set for us the best way for us to live and for us to do what's

pleasing in his sight.

Further, we'll look at him being creator of his creation in Colossians 1.

Colossians 1, we'll look at verses 15 through 17, and it says there, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

For by him were all things created and that are in

In heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him, and he is before

all things, and by him all things consist.

It talks about him being the creator here.

Him, he is God, as already been, we've already looked at.

Just as John 1 and verse 1 through 3, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with
God, the Word was God, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made

that was made.

He is the creator.

He is the one who sustains all life.

Hebrews 1 and verses 2 and 3.

He is the one who created all things.

But the emphasis of this passage is that we he is our creator, but his creation, we were
made for him.

He did not make us so that he

He could serve us.

He made us so that we served him, so that we did that which was pleasing in his sight.

Revelation 4 and verse 11.

Revelation 4 and verse 11, it's talking about Jesus there.

And it says there, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power.

For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure were all things created.

Thou art worthy.

He is worthy.

He is able to receive praise.

He is able to receive honor.

He is able to be glorified among his saints because creation was made for him.

We are those who should worship him.

We are those who should serve him.

Genesis or John 3 and 4 and verse 23, it says there that God is seeking true worshiper.

The Father is seeketh such to worship him, referring to people, referring to that group
that he was seeking who would serve him, who would please him.

Everybody in this world serves something.

Think of all the religions that have existed from throughout history.

You think of

You think of all the Buddhist religions that are very old.

You think of the very ancient Zoroastrianism.

You think of all of these different religions that people serve, this generally
polytheistic religions, how man wants to serve many things.

You think of that when Paul came to Athens, he said to you men are very superstitious.

You're very religious, you're serving a lot of idols.

Man has wanted to serve something.

Even the atheist serves the fact that there is no God and serves himself because of it.

Man wants to serve something.

Of all the things to serve, though, Christ is the very best.

Christ is the one in whom there is salvation.

Christ is the one in whom that we were created for.

Since his creation was created for him, his creation should do what he wishes we should
do.

Ecclesiastes twelve and verse thirteen, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all.

For God will bring every work into judgment, and every including every secret thing,
whether it be good or evil.

What's the whole of man?

What is our whole purpose here on this earth?

It's to please God.

It's to serve him.

It's to do that which he desires us to do.

We see him, we've seen him as king over his kingdom, as creator of his creation.

And finally we see him in Colossians as head over his body.

As head over his body.

The thought is that he has authority in his church.

He has authority over us.

He has told us what we should do, and he wants us to just follow it, just to obey him.

um If you would read me with me in Colossians 1 and verse 18, and he is the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he

might have the preeminence.

He is the head of his spiritual body.

This is not a physical body.

We're not a physical, we're just not physically placed as some body part of the literal
Christ.

No, but we're part of his body.

It's been said many times, the illustration has been given that that's given in this text
that Christ is the head, and Christ has one body.

He only has one.

He only has one body.

He is not a head with many bodies attached to it.

He is one.

He has one head, he has one body.

He is that head.

He is the one who controls his body.

My body doesn't control me.

My lower extremities don't do something unless my head has thought it.

Just the same way, we shouldn't do what Christ has not authorized us to do.

We should not do what Christ has told us explicitly we should not do or what he has not
told us to do at all.

Ephesians one and verses twenty-two and twenty-three, and hath put all things under his
feet, and gave them to be the head over the body, the church, which is the fullness of him

that filleth all in all, were put under his feet.

Which means we listen to him, which means we're serving him, which means he is our king.

It is by his authority that we go out and teach others.

Matthew twenty-eight and verse eighteen, it's by his authority.

He said, All power is given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations.

We do that because he told us to do it.

But we only do that which Jesus authorizes, that which he has told us to do.

Colossians three verse seventeen, and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus.

Thanks to God the Father by Him.

If I'm doing something, I do what Jesus authorizes.

We only practice that religion which Christ has set forth for us to practice.

Christ has told us what to do.

Christ only has one body.

He has his church, Matthew 16, 18.

He people are added to the church, Acts 2 and verse 47.

Ephesians 4 and verses 4 through 6.

In the list of the seven ones, he says there is one body.

There is only one Lord, but there's one body in the same way.

He only has one church that he purchased.

He only has one people that he redeemed.

And over that group he has preeminence.

in Colossians 1 and verse 18.

That means he has the first place.

That means he has the place of authority.

There is no question that he has authority, but the question is how will I respond to it?

Will I obey him?

Will I do that which they did in Acts 2 and verse 41 when it says there, and they which
gladly received his word were baptized, and that day were added unto them about three

thousand souls?

What did they do?

They received his word.

They did what he told them to do.

They were added to his church because they obeyed.

And Colossians 2 and verse 11 talks about this same process.

Colossians 2 and verse 11 talks about submitting to his authority.

It says there.

In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off
the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism,

wherein you are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who raised
him from the dead.

And you being dead in your sins and the uncertainty of your flesh, hath ye quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses.

When the religious world tells us that if baptism saves, I earn my salvation?

Pull them to this verse.

Show them this passage.

If you think of going to a gas station, you think of when you go up to that door, do you
earn your entrance by opening the door, by simply pulling it open?

Or does the man who built that gas station earn you entrance?

Does the man who turned the key

Who unlocked that door earn you entrance?

Does the guy that put that sign there that says pull, don't push, earn you entrance?

In the same way God built his church.

God gave the keys of the kingdom to the apostles who established it, who unlocked that
door.

In the same way God said, pull, don't push.

Don't force your way in.

You can't go in any other way.

You go in the way He told you to go in.

All it takes is submitting to Him.

All it takes is trusting him.

What is baptism though?

Baptism is a spiritual circumcision.

Just as the in the Old Testament the Jews were added to covenant with God in circumcision,
on the eighth day the young boys were.

In the same way we're added through spiritual circumcision.

We're added to his church in that manner.

For he is not a Jew which is one inward, he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and
circumcision is that of the heart and of the spirit.

Romans 2.

What does it say in 1 Peter 3 and verse 21?

Baptism doth also now save us, not the removal of the filth of the flesh.

It's not the part that you get wet, but it's the answer of a good conscience toward God.

When I'm baptized, I'm appealing to God according to that manner which he has set forth.

I'm appealing to him just the way he told me to.

I'm doing what he said.

All I'm doing is obeying.

All I'm doing is submitting to his plan.

All I'm doing is pulling the door and not pushing it.

Baptism is an operation in which God separates us from our sin.

I don't earn my salvation by being baptized.

It's the operation of God.

When I do that, He cleanses me.

When I do that, He buys me.

Acts twenty two and verse sixteen, and now why tarriest thou?

Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Why are my sins being washed away?

Why are they being cleansed?

Why am I going to be spotless and white as snow as far as the soul is concerned?

When I'm baptized?

Because I'm appealing to him.

Because I'm going to him and calling on his name the manner that he has told me to, by
obeying him completely and being baptized into Christ.

And baptism is a resurrection in which we are made alive by Christ's resurrection.

You wanna live again and if do you want to live again, if you want a new opportunity, a
new life, it comes in being baptized into Christ.

The sins of the past will be forgiven you, and you can serve him fully and completely your
the rest of your life.

We don't earn our salvation.

We don't earn what we do when we're baptized into Christ, but we just submit to Him.

We just obey that authority which has told us to do it.

Finally, we look at Christ.

We've talked about Christ and His identity establishing the church.

We've looked at Christ and His authority, and that it is over the church even today.

And finally, we look at Christ and His reliability.

Who is He?

He's a God and He is the God in whom we can trust.

He is the one who does not lie.

Hebrews or Titus 2.

He is the one that we can know, that we have assurance of salvation in.

He is one that we can know that we know him.

1 John 2 and verse 3, hereby we do know if that we know him if we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous.

You want to know you have eternal life.

You want to know that there is salvation, that you have salvation, you have to be in
Christ.

You have to keep his commandments.

You have to do that which is pleasing in his sight, and you can be sure that the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses you.

1 John 1 and verse 7, but if you walk in the light as he is in the light, you have
fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all

sin.

It keeps on cleansing.

It keeps on washing.

So long as you're walking in the light.

As so long as you're like that just man called in Proverbs 24 and verse 16, where it says
the just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, you never stopped being just because

you kept on getting up.

You kept on working, you kept on striving to grow closer to Christ.

Just like ver first John one and verse nine, it says, But if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He keeps on cleansing as we keep on trying, as we keep on working, as we keep on growing
closer to him.

John ten verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight.

It's a section that many people take out of context.

They try to say that.

We keep on being saved no matter what we do.

Whether whereas what Jesus says is, My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give
unto them life eternal.

If I keep on following him, if I keep on serving him, if I keep on doing that which he is
pleased with, I can have assurance that I will be saved, that I'm right in his sight.

If I stop following him, I don't have that assurance.

I'm walking in darkness and I'm lying and doing not the truth.

1 John 1 and verse 6.

We have assurance in Christ.

We have a hope beyond the grave.

This body is not the last one.

If we're in Christ, we have confidence there's another one to come.

First Corinthians fifteen and verse twenty, but now Christ is risen from the dead and
become the first fruits of them that slept.

He's risen from the dead.

He's ascended up into heaven.

He is resurrected.

And even in the same matter where he was resurrected physically, where he went to eternity
spiritually, in the same matter, we will be resurrected spiritually.

We will be resurrected in such a way that we will have a new body.

First John three and verse two, we know yet know not yet what we shall be, but we know
that we shall be like him.

We'll be changed.

This spiritual body, this physical body can't see God.

2 Corinthians 5 and verses 6 or 1 through 8, but that body can.

We'll be changed.

We'll be able to see him as he is.

And in this hope of beyond the grave, we have the promise of heaven.

We have the assurance that we will be with him.

Let not your heart be troubled, Jesus says in John 14 and verses 1 through 3.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house and many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again to receive you to myself,
that where I am, there you may be also.

He says, I'm going.

I'm going to make this, I'm going to

Build this place.

It's going to have plenty of room for everybody.

Everybody that obeys me, everybody that seeks me, everybody that wants to be my children,
they have the opportunity to come to me.

They are with the opportunity to have this home in heaven.

They have this opportunity to have this place of rest.

That's what it's described as.

2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 7: it's a place of rest to those who are troubled.

J Matthew 5 and verse 12, it says it's a reward for those who are persecuted.

It is a hope that's found in heaven.

1 Corinthians 1 and verse, or Colossians 1 and verse 5, rather.

And it is a crown of life that we can partake of, that we can be with God for all of
eternity, seeing him as he is.

Having the assurance and the confidence that this body is not where things in, but we know
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 8.

And we walk by faith, not by sight.

We have assurance and we know that that body is there, that we know that there is hope
beyond this life, that there is an eternity that we'll find with God one day, if we're

part of his body, if we're part of his church, if we're part of that institution that he
established, if we're one of those people that have been cleansed and are walking in his

life.

So we've looked at Christ and his identity.

We've looked at the fact that he was uniquely qualified to build his church.

We have looked at that those who have been baptized into Christ, that they're members of
this body.

Those who are baptized into Christ also obey him.

They have to keep on doing that which pleases him.

Putting away those sins of the past life and keep rising up again and serving him, doing
that which pleases him.

And we have the benefits of a reliable Savior that we can trust in, that we can be sure
that He will give us all that we need in the life to come.

That we know we we can know we can have eternal life in.

Christ, in Christ and in His church, is the only place that you can have these spiritual
blessings.

Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

Maybe today you want to know more about his church.

Maybe today you want to know about that blood bought institution, that group that he
redeemed and that he purchased.

Well, you need to make sure we know.

Make sure that we can tell you more about it.

Make sure that we can tell you about that body which he purchased.

Maybe today you're you know what you need to do.

You know that you need to hear the gospel, Romans 10, verse 17, believe it.

John thirte three and verse sixteen.

Confess the name sweet name of Jesus.

Um Matthew ten verses twenty eight and twenty-nine.

You need to repent of the sin which is in your life, Acts two and verse thirty eight.

And you know you need to be baptized into Christ, submitting to his authority, trusting
that he will save you.

Maybe today you're a Christian who's wandered from the truth.

You haven't been walking in the light.

You haven't been walking in the authority of Christ.

Well, in any one of these instances, you have the opportunity to make it right.

Don't leave here today without doing so.

Don't leave here today if you're not right with God.

Come now as we stand and as we stand.