The Church: Its Meaning - The Pathway to the Knowledge of God

We're so glad that you're here today as we celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to be able to spend time in the Word of the Lord together You know, if you're visiting with us or you haven't been with us for a while, we're looking at the meaning and mission of the church What is the church? And if you haven't been with us, on the screen behind me are the points that we've covered that we began way back in June to help you understand the meaning of the church, that the church is what it is because it's the plan of the Son of God Everything about the church has been planned out

And Matthew 16 tells us how Christ said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Then we talked to you about the fact that the church is the possession of the living God You've been bought with the price, you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb You're owned by God No longer do you own yourself or no longer you're owned by Satan, you're owned by the true and living God And that's what the church is That's the redeemed humanity with the possession of the living God And then we told you that the church is the pillar of the truth of God

First Timothy 3, 15 and 16 talks about the fact that the church stands for the truth, lives the truth, proclaims the truth And then we told you that the church is the picture of the love of God and the product of the grace of God God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us And there's no greater picture of the love of God than the assembly of the redeemed And then we are a part of that assembly because of the grace of God

Nothing that we did to earn our way into God's kingdom, to be a part of the assembly of the redeemed, God graced us, God favored us For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, that is a gift of God, not of works that any man should boast That's the meaning of the church And we told you that the church is the priority of the people of God

Listen, if you understand that you're owned by God and you understand that the church has always been the plan of God and you understand that the church is the pillar of the truth of God and the product of the grace of God and the picture of the love of God, the church is your priority It's where you want to be It's where you want to be with the people of God, worshiping the living God And that leads to our next point where the church is the place of the worship of God

We gather together to sing praises to His name and to make ourselves as living sacrifices before our God, for God inhabits the praises of His people, so we gather together to worship His holy name And, of course, the church is the protector and the proclaimer of the gospel of God We live here to make sure people understand who Jesus Christ is And so, as we proclaim the truth, we protect the truth But number nine, the church is the pathway, the pathway to the knowledge of God And I think a lot of times people miss this The church is the pathway to the knowledge of God

The church is like a womb where the baby inside the womb is nurtured and grows and is cared for The assembly of the redeemed is like a womb where the people of the church are nurtured and cared for and grow You were never meant to live in isolation from the rest of the body You were never meant to live in isolation from the rest of the flock Why? Because we're all one body, we're all one flock under one shepherd under one head, and within that body we grow together And so the church becomes the pathway to the knowledge of God

In fact, I go so far as to say this, that unless you're a part of a vibrant Bible-teaching church, you will not grow spiritually. I don't care how much you read your Bible or pray, you cannot grow spiritually apart from the body of Christ God designed the body for your growth. I recall when Cade was going off to Indiana State University to play football that Lori and I had done some research in terms of the church he should attend when he goes off to Indiana

Is there a Bible-believing church in Terre Haute, Indiana that my son can be a part of and continue to grow spiritually? We knew he was going to Indiana State to play football, but something more important than playing football was his spiritual health He needed to be a part of a local assembly where his growth would continue to happen So when Lori went with him when he went out to Indiana, they went to church together, found the church, but Cade knew the kind of questions to ask about a church That's very important

And so in going to that church for a few weeks and meeting with the pastor of the church, he asked some questions about the church, realizing that that probably wasn't the best place for him to attend while at Indiana State So he found another church, a small Bible Baptist Reformed church where he could grow He became a part of that church, became a part of that assembly, brought other players with him from the team to that church, and then they all began to grow spiritually together in that church

And that's a church that his brother Drew is the pastor of today, how all things come together and come around But it's interesting to note that we send our children off to college wanting them to get an education, but we don't even care about what church they go to

Why would you as a parent even think about doing that? Why would you as a parent not even consider what church will they attend as they go through this secular university for the next four years? How will they continue to have accountability? How will they continue to grow spiritually? How will they have the kind of spiritual leaders that will nurture them and grow them day after day apart from the family? So many times we don't even think about that, but that should be the most important question you ask as a parent when you send your son or daughter off to college if you choose to do so

What church will they attend while they go through the secular university? Because children tend to walk away from the Lord after their high school years They tend to wander away from the Lord because they get so inundated by the things of the world What church are they a part of? Because the pathway to the knowledge of God is in that local assembly of people of redeemed humanity who gather together to worship Christ and to hold one another accountable, to pray for one another, to admonish one another, to encourage one another, but most importantly to teach the truth of the Word of God

Parents, I want to implore you Don't ever send your son or daughter off to college without first finding a strong Bible-believing church in that arena where they can grow spiritually, or you're only asking, asking for trouble You need to make sure that you as a parent continue to lead your children down the paths of righteousness That's our responsibility You don't stop being a parent when they go off to college, all right? You're always going to be their parents You're always their mom You're always their dad

To give them wisdom and counsel in the church of Jesus Christ, the assembly of the redeemed, those called out by God are designed to nurture and to grow one another You know, God always, always wants us to get to know Him That is so important God told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah these words, Jeremiah 9.23, Thus says the Lord, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and knows me

That I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth For I delight in these things, declares the Lord The King James says, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom The word for glory in Hebrew means to be heavy Whenever you are heavy with something, that means you are great in something, right? So if you are heavy in wisdom, you are a wise man If you are heavy in riches, you are a rich man

If you are heavy in strength, you are a powerful man, right? And Christ says, I don't want you to glory. I don't want you to be heavy in the intellectual arena. I don't want you to be heavy in the physical arena. I don't want you to be heavy in the material arena. I want you to be heavy in the spiritual arena. I want you to glory in Christ Jesus. I want you to be heavy in knowing me But we find ourselves being heavier in collecting riches and power and wisdom more so than in being heavy in collecting the spiritual knowledge of the true living God That's a problem

Because our emphasis is totally wrong It needs to be on the Lord Jesus Christ, getting to know Him He wants us to know Him He doesn't want us to know facts about Him The world knows facts about Jesus He doesn't want us to accumulate a lot of information about God that we have a doctrinal statement that's sound and that we can defend the faith, although that's great He wants us to know Him intimately, personally He wants us to have a relationship with Him, where we walk in intimacy with Jesus Christ our Lord That's what He wants He's always longed for man to dwell with Him

And we as believers need to be the kind of people that dwell intimately with the true living God The way that it happens is through the church of Jesus Christ our Lord It doesn't happen on the island, out in the middle of nowhere, all by yourself with your Bible, although that's good You need to have the assembly of the redeemed Why? For the purpose of accountability, for the purpose of admonishment, for the purpose of prayer, for the purpose of encouragement, for the purpose of teaching and growth, all of that We are the body of Christ We function as a unit We function as one

Christ said in Hosea 6, verse number 6, I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings Christ condemned Israel Why? Because superficially they did everything externally, but internally they were void of the knowledge of God They went through all the rituals and all the ceremonies and the Lord says that doesn't make any difference to me at all. I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in the fact that you really truly know me Earlier He said in Hosea that my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

Not that they didn't know about the existence of God, they did Not that they didn't know about the power of God, they've seen the power of God on display They've seen God's attributes all throughout their wilderness wanderings They knew about God, but they didn't know Him to the point where He rubbed off on them in such a way that their lives were altered That's what it means to know God Those who know God have God's life rubbed off on them in such a way that they walk as God walked, they talk as God talks, they live as God lived God's life rubs off on them to alter their lifestyle

That's what it means to know God. I know a lot of people who can spit out Bible verses and spit out all kinds of facts about the Bible, but they are void of intimacy with the God they say they know That's a tragedy You need to walk in intimacy with the Lord, and you can't do that without the assembly of the redeemed Tom Asco, who pastors a church in Florida, a church that we supported last Thanksgiving because of the hurricane that hit Fort Myers, Florida, says this about the church

He says, it takes a church to raise a Christian, and believers who think they are sufficient in themselves to maintain spiritual health and growth without submitting to a church are dangerously naive Christ has given gifts to the church, including pastor teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, Ephesians 4 There is a corporate dimension to spiritual growth that highlights our interdependence as brothers and sisters who are following Christ together

God has designed individual Christians to function as members of one another in a local body of believers If your goal is spiritual maturity, you simply cannot neglect being united to a well-ordered biblically faithful church He's right, you can't As much as you try, you will be unable to attain spiritual maturity apart from a local body of believers that you associate yourself with intimately and faithfully The church is absolutely essential to your spiritual growth because it is the pathway to the knowledge of God

Now, David said to his son Solomon, in 1 Chronicles 28 verse number 9, as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father You need to know my God and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts If you seek Him, He will let you find Him But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever Solomon, you need to know the God of your father You need to know my God You need to serve Him with a willing heart You're the king of Israel You're the wisest man on the planet You're the richest man on the planet

But it means nothing if you don't know God You must know Him intimately You must serve Him willingly And you must follow Him with all of your heart That should be the mantra of every father to every son, to know the God of your father, to walk with Him, to live with Him, to serve Him In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 7, 8, and 9, the Bible tells us that when the Son of Man returns, He will deal out retribution on all those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of God All those who do not know God and those are defined by those who do not obey the gospel of God

We are to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. 2 Peter 3, verse number 18, Paul's whole life was centered around the fact that I may not know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings

In fact, Paul's prayer for those at the church of Colossae in Colossians chapter 1, verse number 9 was this, for this reason also since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in the manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power according to His glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light

In fact, Paul's prayer was that those at the church of Colossae would grow in the knowledge of His will, increasing in their knowledge of God Why? Because it affects everything that they do And that should be our prayer as well because we want those in the assembly to walk with the true and living God And yet as important as it is to pursue God, as important as it is to know God, it is life's most impossible pursuit

Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, Paul says these words in verse number 33, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, it is so deep, he says, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor? Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things To Him be the glory forever Amen Paul says that God is so unsearchable Unsearchable in all of His ways It's a word that's defined as untraceable

So as you seek Him, to find Him, you cannot trace His footsteps In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 145 verse number 3, Great is the Lord and highly to be praised His greatness is unsearchable That's just a fabulous statement about our Lord In other words, no matter how much you seek Him, you're never going to find Him fully this side of eternity But you need to keep seeking Him that you might know Him all the more In other words, you can't read enough of the Bible or study the Bible enough to get all the knowledge you need to have of God because He is unsearchable

He says His ways are unfathomable, untraceable Psalm 77 verse number 19 says this, Thy way was in the sea and Thy paths in the mighty waters, and Thy footprints yet were not known In other words, you can't trace Him That's how hard it is to know God And He's unimaginable Why? Because you can't even begin to wrap your mind around Him And yet the depths and the riches of the knowledge of God are far beyond anything we can comprehend And yet we're compelled to study Him We're compelled to know Him He wants us to know Him So it mandates a tenacity about our lives

And within the realm of the church, the assembly of the redeemed, there is that accountability to get to know God even all the more so that you might come to grips with the reality not just of His existence but all that He is and all that He wants for you as His children That is just so incredibly important The church is everything You know, what I learned about the foundation of everything I learned about God was not learned in Bible college or seminary, although I went to Bible college and seminary

The foundation of everything I learned about God was in the realm of the church. I was raised in the church. I was always in church My parents made me go to church Why parents don't make their children go to church? I have not the foggiest idea why they don't do that If they live in your home, they go to your church It's just that simple And my parents made me. I told you a story that we would gather together as young people in the foyer, right? And my dad would sit at the front of the church like this Call me down front. I'm 18 years old. I'm six inches taller than my dad

You know, why? I sat right down in the second pew every Sunday And my parents made me take notes They quizzed me on the notes that I took on the way home because they wanted to make sure I was paying attention in church Why don't parents make their kids take notes? Why don't parents make their kids sit with them and learn and grow? Why don't they do that? I don't understand that And as much as I despise the fact that my dad would embarrass me in front of all my friends because my friends got to sit by themselves

Oh, by the way, all my friends who sat by themselves, none of them today are walking with the Lord Not one of them They sat by themselves, sat in the back. I couldn't do that Boy, I wanted to be in the back with my friends Nope. I had to sit down front And although I was not very happy about that, the fact there were days I despised doing that, I thank God that my parents were so strict on me that they kept me with my nose to the grind when it came to the truth of the Word of God. I praise the Lord for that Because the foundation of my faith was established in the church

My father did not teach me the Bible My mother did not teach me the Bible They just made sure I was in the place where the Bible was taught, see? And made sure I took notes on what was being taught And that's why my Bible, even today, every five years, beginning of January, I've got to replace this Bible because it's all filled with notes because I write in my Bible all the time My mom taught me how to write in my Bible She said, why would you do that? Because she would always write notes and always keep notes to make sure she would learn the things that were being said

And my father would write in pencil, my mom would write in pen, and her pen would bleed over to the next page and it would be all smeared, but yet she would learn things and know things It was one of those things where within the assembly of the redeemed, you hear the Word of God taught Why? Because God has given gifted men to the church Ephesians chapter 4 Turn there with me if you would for a minute, please Ephesians chapter 4 We know that God gives gifts, right? He gives gifts to His children, the redeemed

Every one of you in the room has a gift, and we'll talk more about this as we progress down our outline once we get back into it in January because in the month of December we're taking a break from this to look at the prophecies and promises of the Christmas season But the fact of the matter is that God gives gifts to men Each of you has a gift And the great thing about the gift is that you don't have a gift that you don't like This Christmas you're going to receive gifts that you don't need, that are irrelevant, that you can't use, and that you don't like, right? That just happens

But with God, He gives gifts to men that you will absolutely enjoy You'll be overwhelmed with.. My gift is exhortation My gift is teaching. I am overwhelmed with my gift. I love the gift God gave to me. I live to exercise my gift When you know your gift, you live to exercise your gift Because that's how God wired you That's how God made you God gave you a gift Well, God not only gave gifts to the church, He gave gifted men to the church So they are gifted men with spiritual gifts

And so He says in Ephesians 4.11, He says this, And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers These are gifted men that God has given to the church Now, I believe that all those gifted men exist today Okay? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers Now, listen carefully Not Apostles with a capital A, but Apostles with a little a Because none of us has seen the resurrected Christ But Apostle is just someone who is sent The sent ones

So Apostles are your missionaries that are sent into other countries and other arenas to spread the gospel Bruce McLean, we sent him out to India two decades ago To do what? To be an apostle To be a proclaimer of the gospel He was sent forth from this church because we knew that God had called him to be sent forth as a missionary, in this case, to India So we sent Bruce out to do that Right? Because that's his gifted area He's a gifted man given to the church with the gifts of evangelism, and teaching, and pastoring We have Roger Flores, who has the gift of evangelist That's his gift

He's a gifted man given to the church He screams evangelism You can't talk to Roger without him talking about evangelism That's all he thinks of Why? Because that's how God designed him You want to get Roger excited? You can't talk to him about USC football because there's nothing to get excited about that about Although he loves USC Right? But you talk to him about evangelism and going door to door and sharing your faith, the man's ecstatic Why? Because that's his gifted area But he's a gifted man given to the church As your pastor or teacher, I'm a prophet

That is, I'm not foretelling the future, but I am foretelling the truth That's what prophecy is It's the proclaiming of the truth to people who need to hear the truth So God gives gifted men to the church for one reason, and it tells you Verse number 12 For the equipping of the saints for the work of service Kartartismos, which means the putting together It's used of mending nets in the New Testament It's used of setting bones in place that are broken

And so God gives gifted men to the church so that they might mend broken lives, lives that are torn apart, and put them back together for the work of service And it says this To the building up of the body of Christ In other words, God gives gifted men to the church to help mend their broken, tattered lives That they may then minister effectively in the church so that they will then mature the body of Christ So in other words, the church is the pathway to the knowledge of God

In order to be built up in the church, you must be under the solid Bible teaching of gifted men given to the church who then will equip you for the work of service and ministry in the church so that you then will function within the body to help grow the body of Christ That is extremely important He goes on to say this It says, Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God There you go

The pathway to the knowledge of the Son of God comes through the assembly of the redeemed who are led by gifted men who teach you the truth of Scripture so that your life can be put back together again in a way that honors the Lord so you can effectively serve the Lord, thus building up the body of Christ so we come to understand the knowledge of the Son of God That's what the church is all about So he goes on to say these words

To a mature man, to the measure of the statue which belongs to the fullness of Christ, as a result we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects unto Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love

My friends, this is so important We need to understand this We gather together Listen, we teach you We have Harold Fraser here who has the gift of teaching So what does he do? He teaches you what? Doctrine So we have classes every year that teach you the doctrines of the church so you know what it is we believe We don't want you left out in the dark We want you to know what it is we believe and why we believe it So we teach it to you You come in here We gather together We just happen to be covering a series on the church

Before that, it was our study of Hebrews, right? After we're done with the study of the church, we're going into 1 Thessalonians to study about the model church and how it is they lived their lives so you can grow in your walk with the Lord and know what it means to follow the Lord You see, God gave us all these epistles And they were all written to churches The ones that weren't were written to pastors of churches Why? Because everything about your growth centers on and around and in the church The assembly of the redeemed Those called out by God to be a part of His kingdom

They may grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord My prayer for you and for me is that we'd always be growing spiritually None of us ever attains perfection this side of eternity There's always the constancy of growing You're learning You're being molded into the image of God that you might understand the nature of God So much so that everything about who He is rubs off on me He's a God of mercy Are you merciful? He's a God of forgiveness Are you forgiving? He's a God of justice Are you just? He's a God of truth Do you speak truth and live truth? He's a God of grace

Do you extend grace to those who are undeserving? You see, everything about God is to rub off on us And so we are learning to grow every single day in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord And the great thing about this is that it's a never-ending process. I've been studying the Bible for over four decades And I still don't even know that much about the Bible There's just so much more I need to learn Why? Because of the depths and the riches of the knowledge of God It is so deep. I learn something every week about the Lord. I learn something new all the time

And the things that I've forgotten, I need to be refreshed on all the time And so the opportunity to grow is so wonderful It's so great. I don't understand why more people don't want to be involved in Bible studies, be involved in the ministry of the church, and to grow in their walk with the Lord Just coming on Sundays and Wednesdays is great It's not enough, but it's great, right? We want you here on Sundays We want you here on Wednesdays But to be involved in the service and ministry of the church, that's just so vital to your own personal growth

Listen, when you serve in the church, you grow spiritually When you don't serve in the church, your growth is hindered It becomes stale Why? Because you need the accountability You need the opportunity to continue to serve others, to sacrifice for others And as you do that, all of a sudden, you begin to be used in the lives of other people in the church And God wants you to be used in people's lives He designed you for that And so the pathway to the knowledge of God is in the assembly of the redeemed This is how we grow spiritually This is how we come to know who Christ is

There's a lot of people who in the day of judgment will say, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not do many marvelous deeds in your name? In other words, they are very sincere in their appeal to God We did this for you We served for you We did ministry for your sake And Christ will say, depart from me. I never knew you, those who practice lawlessness That is going to be such a tragic day for a lot of people who attend church because they're going to think they did everything right But they never truly gave their lives to Christ

They didn't really know him in the biblical sense Oh, they knew about God They knew enough to be involved in the service of God They knew enough to be involved in the ministry of God But they didn't know the God of the ministry They didn't know the God of the service They just had a lot of facts about God But they weren't intimately equated with him You see, the question comes not so much do you know God as does God know you, right? Does he know who you are? And you know he knows who you are because you've been called by him You've been chosen by him You've been used by him

You're growing in the knowledge of him And you can't wait to be around the people who love him and serve them. I don't want you to be like those people who when they wake up, having died on this planet, to wake up and realize they'll spend a Christless eternity because they thought they knew God but didn't know him in the true biblical sense of the word He never rubbed off on their life

They were hearers of the word, but they weren't doers of the word, right? They would hear a lot about the Lord, but they didn't have the Lord rub off on them in such a way that it altered everything about their lives See, the man being Christ, he's a new creation The old things, they passed away But hold, all things have become new Why? Because you're a new creation And you see, within the assembly of the redeemed, you hear those things You have to examine your life to see whether or not you're in the faith

And you grow in your walk with the Lord. I wonder today, if you look back on 2023, would you be able to say, man, I've really grown this year in my walk with the Lord? I'm really closer to the Lord now than I was when the year began Can you honestly say that? That you know more about him because he's altered everything about your life? He's changed your marriage He's changed your family He's changed your work environment, not because the environment changed or the family changed, but because you changed You're becoming more and more like Christ You're representing Christ in the marketplace

You're representing Christ in the family You're representing Christ to your wife and to your children And therefore, everything about your family, your workplace, your school is changing, not because the places change or the people change, but because you've changed in your growth and your walk with the Lord My prayer for all of us is that that will be the case Let's pray together Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to be in your Word Truly, Lord, you are a great God, and you alone are worthy of praise Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Word of God

Thank you for the truth of the Word of God Thank you, Lord, for the things that we learned today May we grow in our walk with you every single day, until you come again, as you most surely will In Jesus' name, amen.