The Model Church, Part 6

If you have your Bible, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. This is our sixth sermon on the model church, and we won't finish it today. Lord willing, we'll finish it next time we're together. But we want you to understand what it means to be a model church. The Church of Thessalonica was exactly that. They are the only church Paul calls a pattern. In other words, they are the quintessential example to follow. And they were that because, number one, they audibly disseminated the gospel.

We talked about that, I'm sorry, last week. They audibly disseminated the gospel. How the word of the Lord would sound forth from them throughout the region. And it was trumpeted forth, it was blasted forth from them as they had this seaport village on the Via Ignatia, that first Roman highway.

And everybody who came through, they talked to about Christ. Paul said, I don't have anything else to say because every time I come across someone, they tell me they've already talked to you and you've shared them Jesus Christ our Lord. They were the kind of church that spoke boldly and boisterously and bravely about the gospel. They audibly disseminated the gospel. Before that, we told you that they were the kind of church that abundantly developed in the gospel through their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope.

And then we told you they appropriately duplicated the gospel. They were mimics of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and they were mimics of the master himself because they followed Christ all the way. They followed him amidst persecution and difficulty and hardship. They were the quintessential examples of what it means to be followers of Christ. And today we come to our fourth point. And that is, they authentically demonstrated the gospel. They were genuine. They were true. In other words, everything about their lives was transparent enough to show you that they were true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul says these words in verse number nine of chapter one. He says, for they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for a son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, that is, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. He says you are the kind of church that truly, authentically demonstrated the truth of the gospel. How is it that? How does that happen? You walked away from idolatry. You worshiped God wholeheartedly and you waited for Christ expectantly.

You were marked by repentance, reverence, and reassurance. All that marked your life. You were true believers, so much so that when you heard the gospel, the power of the gospel turned your life around. You were walking one way, you were worshiping idols, and God turned you around to worship him. You were going after that which was dead to pursue that which was life. You were going after that which produced eternal death in order to have eternal life because you came after the one true and living God.

In other words, there was a true repentance about your life, a true turning of your life. Why? Because all of us at the very base of our nature are idolaters. That's what Paul says in Romans chapter 1, that we worship the created rather than worship the creator. We are idolaters at heart, not because we go around carving all these images and bow down to them, but because on the innermost part of our being, we crave all these images and bow down to them. Let me show you.

Over in the book of Colossians chapter 3, Paul says, because you have been raised up with Christ and you are to set your mind on things above and because you keep seeking those things that are above and Christ is soon to appear and he is your life, he says in verse 5, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, and greed which amounts to idolatry. In other words, Paul states it very precisely. He states it beginning with the action and ends with the motive.

The action is immorality, but why is there immorality? It's because there is impurity of thought, impurity of mind. Why is that? It's because there is passion and evil desire in the heart. Why is that? Because at the base of your heart, there is greed or there's covetousness and that is, as Paul says, idolatry. In other words, at the base of your being, you want to worship yourself. You want to worship something else other than the one true God. Notice the Ten Commandments.

What's the last commandment mentioned? Thou shalt not what? Covet. Is it mentioned last because it's the least? Oh no. It's mentioned last because it's the basis for the previous nine. Why is it I murder? Because I covet. Why do I steal? Because I covet. Why do I lie? Because I covet. Why do I have other gods before the one true God? Because I'm greedy and I covet. I love what William Barclay says in his commentary on Colossians. He says these words, covetousness is a root cause of all sin. It is therefore a sin with a very wide range.

If it is the desire for money, it leads to theft. If it is the desire for prestige, it leads to evil ambition. If it is the desire for power, it leads to sadistic tyranny. If it is the desire for a person, it leads to sexual sin. The basis of all of our sin is based on one thing, our own desire to worship ourselves and to gratify ourselves. At the base of everything is idol worship. It was Stephen Sharnock in his book, The Existence and Attributes of God, who says this, all sin is founded in a secret atheism.

All the wicked inclinations in the heart are sparks from this latent fire. The language of every one of these is, I would be a lord to myself and would not have a God superior to me. In sins of omission, we own not God in neglecting to perform what he enjoins. In sins of commission, we set up some lust in the place of God and pay to that the homage which is due to our maker. We deny his sovereignty when we violate his laws. Every sin invades the rights of God and strips him of one or other of his perfections.

Every sin is a kind of cursing God in the heart and aim at the destruction of the being of God, not actually but virtually. A man in every sin aims to set up his own will as his rule and his own glory as the end of his actions against the will and glory of God. So, Paul says, as he writes to the church of Thessalonica, you were authentic. You were true to the gospel because the power of gospel turned you from pursuing idols of the heart, idols of the mind, idols of the eye, turned it all around and you went after the true God, the one and living God.

That's who you pursued. You walked away from idolatry. That's what salvation is. When you're saved, there is a repentance that takes place. That repentance is an actual turning, a turning that God himself does in the heart and life of an individual. How do we know that? Well, over in Acts chapter 11, Paul makes it very clear upon the conversion of Cornelius, that first Gentile convert, as he talks to the church in Jerusalem.

He says this, in verse number 18, when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God saying, well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. In other words, they all recognized that now the Gentiles were granted what they themselves were granted, which was what? Repentance. In other words, repentance is a gift. Over in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 24, the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

In other words, Paul affirms the fact that God grants man the opportunity to repent. God grants him grace, God grants him faith, God grants him belief, and God grants him repentance. All of it is a gift given by God, so man will actually turn from his idolatry and worship to one true God. And Paul affirms in the life of the Thessalonians that this is what has happened in your life. Paul knew when John the Baptist came on the scene in Matthew chapter 3, he came out of the Judean wilderness like a locomotive preaching what?

Repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus would follow in the footsteps of John the Baptist, saying the same thing, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In fact, in Mark's gospel, in Mark chapter 1, this is how it is written. It says in verse number 14, now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God. What's that? It's the good news about the existence of God. It's the good news about the king. And saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.

In other words, the gospel of God is all about the gospel of repentance and turning from your sin to follow the one true God. Over in Acts chapter 5, Christ says, I have come to call sinners to repentance.

In Luke's gospel, in the 13th chapter, something very telling about our Lord's ministry. Have you ever asked the question, why natural disasters? Why horrific serial crimes? Why is there such horrific tragedies? And how do you respond to that? The simple answer is how Jesus responds. Because if you don't respond the way Jesus responds, you're responding the wrong way. And so, this is how Jesus responds. Now on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

In other words, the Galileans were going into worship and Pilate slaughtered them, cut them up into tiny pieces along with their sacrifices. So what do you think Jesus' response to that is? You know, you probably need a better security system. Maybe you need more cameras outside your temple in your synagogue area. Maybe you need to have more police on your premises. Was that his answer? No, here's his answer. He says, do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?

I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That's Jesus' response to mass murder. Unless you repent, you will likewise perish. And then he adds this. I tell you, he says, verse 4, or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. What is Jesus' response to natural disaster? He says, you better repent, or you're going to perish.

In other words, everybody's going to die. You don't know how you're going to die. You don't know where you're going to die, and you don't know when you're going to die. But mark this, you will die. You better be prepared to die. Because you see, eternity is forever. This life was just for a short moment. So this is how Christ responds. Why? Because Christ is concerned about man's eternal destiny. He's concerned about how people respond to the gospel. That's why he came preaching the gospel of repentance.

Repent and believe the gospel. Believe the good news about who the king is. Because when you believe the good news about the king, you realize there is no other king. And you turn and you follow that king, the true and living God. At the end of his ministry, in Luke chapter 24, Christ has died and risen again. He speaks to his men. He says these words in verse number 45, that he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. So at the outset of his ministry, all throughout his ministry, at the end of his ministry, it's always the same message. Repent and believe the gospel. You're going the wrong way. You must hear the gospel, respond by turning the other way, that is the way toward Christ, and follow him. It was John Stott, in his book Basic Christianity, who said these words about repentance. He said, That was a church that doesn't like it.

Everything about their behavior changed. Because they were idol worshippers. They were worshipping other gods. And they heard the gospel. And the power of the gospel turns the life around. It was J. Vernon McGee who said this about repentance. He said, He says, There will be a manifestation of a change in the life showing that the believer is turning from something so that there is no contradiction at all. Dwight L. Moody, famous evangelist, founder of Moody Bible Institute said this. He said, If you ask people what it is, they will tell you.

It is feeling sorry. If you ask a man if he repents, he will tell you, That, he says, is not repentance. It is something more than feeling sorry. Repentance is turning right about and forsaking sin. If a man doesn't turn from his sin, he won't be accepted of God. And if righteousness doesn't produce a turning about, a turning from bad to good, it isn't true righteousness. He says, When we are born again, we are born in a new way. And Christ is that new way himself. We give up our old way and take his.

The old way leads to death. The new way to life everlasting. In the old way, Satan leads us. In the new way, the Son of God leads us. We are led by him, not into bondage and darkness, but into a way of peace and joy and righteousness. That's repentance. This is so important. Because you see, when you talk to people about the gospel, you must explain to them what repentance is. What it means to turn from your sin, forsake your sin. That's why Christ said in Luke chapter 14, verse number 33, You can't.

There is a forsaking. There is a renunciation. There is a leaving behind that which I worshiped to now worship the one true God. That's what repentance is. And it's not feeling sorry or even crying about my sin. Paul makes it very clear in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse number 9. He says, For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. There's a sorrow, a godly sorrow, that leads to repentance.

A worldly sorrow only leads to death. Feeling sorry about my sin, feeling bad about my sin, is not repentance. It's turning from your sin. So he says, as he defines godly sorrow, There's an earnestness there. An earnestness for what? For righteousness. He says, what vindication. What vindication of yourselves. You want to rid yourself of the stigma that characterized you. It says, what indignation. What hatred you have now for sin. What fear. You have a fear of God. What longing. A longing for God.

What zeal. A zest for holiness. What avenging of wrong. You want to make all things right again. He's defining what repentance, what godly sorrow looks like, that leads to repentance. It affects every avenue of your life, not just certain aspects of your life. It's a turning around. That's why he says to those in Thessalonica, You authentically demonstrated the truth. How? You walked away from idolatry. You worshipped God wholeheartedly. And you waited for his son expectantly. Everything about your life was characterized by repentance.

By reverence and reassurance. You were true. You were authentic. You were genuine. The apostle Paul, in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 26, says this. That they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. That was Paul's message. All throughout the book of Acts. All throughout his epistles. It's all about the turning from sin to a savior. That's what repentance is. Jesus preached it. John the Baptist preached it. It's rooted in Judaism in the Old Testament. And therefore, the apostle Paul preached it.

Peter preached it. It's all about repent and believe the gospel. Charles Spurgeon, in his book, Turn or Burn, says this. When a man repents with that grace of repentance, God the Spirit works in him. He repents not of the punishment, which is to follow the deed, but of the deed itself. And he feels that if there were no pit dug for the wicked, if there were no ever gnawing worm, and no fire unquenchable, he would still hate sin. It is such repentance as this, which every one of you must have, or else you will be lost.

It must be a hatred of sin. Do not suppose that because when you come to die, you will be afraid of eternal torment, therefore that that will be repentance. Every thief is afraid of the prison, but he will steal tomorrow if you set him free. Most men who have committed murder tremble at the sight of the gallow tree, but they would do the deed again could they live. It is not the hatred of the punishment that is repentance. It is the hatred of the deed itself. Do you feel that you have such a repentance as this?

But one more hint, he says, when a man is possessed of true and evangelical repentance, I mean the gospel repentance which saves the soul, he not only hates sin for its own sake, but loathes it so extremely and utterly that he feels that no repentance of his can avail to wash it out. And he acknowledges that it is only by an act of sovereign grace that his sins can be washed away. Repentance. Do you understand repentance? Have you repented of your sin? When we go to Russia, many, many trips we've taken to Russia, they don't ask you if you've been a Christian or you are a Christian.

They don't ask you if you're a follower of Christ. They just ask you, have you repented? Because that's the essence of Christianity. A turning from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is such an important doctrine. This church, 30 years ago, came about specifically because of that doctrine. When the Lord moved Laurie and I from New York to California in 1988, not 1888, 1988, we became a part of a huge church in bougie Orange County. And we were there for almost five years. It was a great opportunity for us.

I was a college pastor and a baseball coach at the King's College in New York. And God clearly called us from that place to this place. And we loved the ministry we had at that church in Orange County. But one day I received a call from a church in L.A. County, not too far from here, in Glendora. They asked if I would come and candidate to be a pastor at their church. I said no. They called again. I said no. They called again. I said no. They called six times. Finally I said, I don't know how else to say no, except spell it for you, N-O.

But they didn't get the hint. So I said, okay, you know what? I'll come, I'll interview with you and then you will see that I'm not the guy for your church. So I went, met with 13 people on the search committee for three hours on a Saturday morning. Having met with them, they concluded that I was the guy for their church. So I said, evidently you didn't hear very well. They said, no, we did. We want you to come and preach at the church. I said, okay, I'll come and preach. And once you hear me preach, I guarantee you won't have me come to your church.

So I went, I preached, interviewed with the elders and they said, yes, we want you to come and be the pastor of our church. So Lori and I prayed and believed that God had moved us from Orange County to LA County to where the air is fresh to where the air is stale in the mountains of Glendora. But we moved and came and we're at that church 14 months. 14 months. We were there for a short time simply because I began to preach through the book of Mark. In preaching through the book of Mark, I preached, repent and believe the gospel.

I preached what John the Baptist preached. I preached what Jesus preached. I figured if Jesus preached it, it's gotta be right. Can't be wrong. So I preached it. They soon deemed me a heretic because they believed that I was adding works to salvation, that somehow man must clean up his life before he comes to faith in Jesus Christ. I never said that. The Bible never says that. I never preached that. I preached as I did today, Acts 11, 18, Second Timothy 2, 25, that repentance is a gift of God like faith and belief is a gift of God.

But they couldn't hear that. And the reason they could not hear that is because the previous pastor was the biggest proponent of antinomianism and licentiousness on the West Coast. In other words, he had lived in sin with another woman for seven years before it was ever found out. But because of his licentious lifestyle, a licentious lifestyle is a life without license. An antinomian lifestyle is a life that does not follow the moral law of God and separates justification from sanctification, meaning you can be justified by faith, but sanctification then becomes an elective in the life of the believer.

It's not an elective. It's a requirement. It's part and parcel of saving faith. But that's what antinomianism is. The previous pastor was the biggest proponent of that. In fact, I would even say he was a false teacher, not a true Bible teacher because he believed that you could live, come to believe in Jesus, but it not affect how you live the rest of your life. You can live any way you want because it's just free grace. And all you have to do is just ask for forgiveness and you'll be granted forgiveness.

So you have a whole church that's been taught by that man for over a decade. And the Elder Board became part and parcel of that because you had a man on the Elder Board who was involved in adultery. You had another man who had an unbiblical divorce. You had another man who was an alcoholic. You had another man who made sure all those sins were hidden and not found out, except I found them out and confronted them on their sin and told them they had to resign because they disqualified themselves from the ministry.

Well, they weren't happy with me and so they looked for a way to get rid of me thinking that the best way to do that was to charge him with heresy because he would preach the doctrine of repentance requiring works for salvation, which I did not do, but that's what they said. And so, after 14 months, I realized that I could not continue there to preach the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with men who were on the Elder Board who did not agree with that and were presently living in that lifestyle.

In fact, I sat down with the Chairman of the Board and said, really, tell me, can a man or a woman who is saved and is a prostitute continue her prostitution? He said, yes. I said, okay, if I'm a mass murderer and I get saved, can I continue my mass murdering? He said, well, no, I wouldn't go that far. And so I talked to him about repentance and what the word means and shared with him what other men have said over the years about what repentance is. But they didn't believe that because, you see, when a disciple is fully trained, he'll be just like his teacher.

And these men became just like their teacher. They had no meaning in their lifestyle, licentiousness in their living, and therefore they believed that repentance required a change of life, but they refused to believe that if you're saved, you had to change your life. And that was wrong. So, I resigned and 12 people or 15 people gathered together and decided to begin a new church. And that's how Christ Community Church began 30 years ago. Interesting, two years after we had left, a man who had been a missionary with that church was back to be on staff at that church.

And he wanted to meet with me. And so he called me up and said, Would you be willing to meet? I said, Absolutely. Are you buying? He said, Yeah. I said, I'll be there. You're buying lunch? I'm there. And so we met together. We were in a restaurant together. And he asked me, Why would you start a church right down the road from your previous? Why would you do that? I said, I didn't do that. I said, I didn't start the church. There were 15 people that gathered together to start the church. They just asked me to come preach.

They asked me to be their pastor until December. I said, but we went and met in Finkbinder Park, and then we moved to Stuller School, and then it was New Hope Church in Glendora that asked us to come and share their facility. We just moved where the Lord moved us. That's all we did. I said, but let me tell you this.

It shouldn't make any difference to you if our church was right next door to your church. Because we don't preach the same gospel. You see, either you have to repent to be saved, or you don't. I believe you need to repent to be saved. You, on the other hand, don't believe that. You just say, if you believe in Jesus, because it's free grace, you're saved. And I say, that's wrong. That's heresy. So we both can't be right. One of us is wrong, and one of us is right. And I firmly believe that what I preach out of the Scriptures is absolutely correct.

If that's the case, I'm right, and you're the heretic. So if you're the heretic, and I'm right, what difference does it make if we're right next door? It's like being right next door to a Mormon church, or right next door to a Jehovah's Witness church, or right next door to a Scientology church. It makes no difference. Because one of us is wrong, and one of us is right. You either repent to believe the gospel, or you don't. I said, I'm going to bank on the fact the way Jesus said it was absolutely right.

And I'm going to go with what Jesus said. You can go any way you want, but I'm going to go with what Jesus said. Because that's all that matters. And that's how Christ's Community Church came to be. We have a lot of new people in our church who have no idea when the church began or how it began. That's how it all began. It all began simply because there was a group of people who said, you know what? We believe you need to repent to be saved. And therefore, we're going to begin a new chapter, go a new way, and separate ourselves from a church that doesn't believe that.

And the ironic thing about that is, is that that church was not born that way. It was not birthed that way. R.A. Torrey, Louis Talbert, J. Vernon McGee, I quoted J. Vernon McGee, about what they said about repentance. But, when you get the wrong guy in there, this is what Jude says, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

That was the previous pastor of that church. He denied the only true Master and Lord Jesus Christ. He turned the grace of God into licentiousness and allowed people to live in sin without any confrontation because it wasn't a requirement to believe the gospel and turn from your sin. But God, like every church, has a remnant. And that remnant left. And that remnant began this church. Because in the back of their minds, they knew something was wrong. They heard something wrong. They didn't know quite what it was, but they knew something was wrong.

And God, in His sovereignty, brought me there just for 14 short months to show them the truth of the gospel that they might understand and believe. And that's how this church began. And God has been so good to us. That's why this doctrine is so important. The doctrine of repentance. It's in our doctrinal statement. What is saving grace? What does it mean? We spell it out in our doctrinal statement so people understand that repentance is not a work of man. It's a work of God in the heart of a person who hears the gospel, responds to the gospel, and God just turns them around.

They're a new creation. All things that pass away, behold, all things become new. That's the gospel. And I want to encourage you to make sure you understand what repentance really is. Why? Because over the years, we've had men come to our church, serve in the ministry of our church, but never understood the doctrine of repentance. But once they heard it, once they realized it, they came to saving grace. Saving grace. What a wonderful thing. Do you know for certain that you have truly repented of your sin, that you've turned to God from idols and that you are now serving the one true living God?

Because you see, to authentically demonstrate the gospel, you walk away from idolatry. You worship God wholeheartedly and you wait for His Son expectantly. And that was a church at Thessalonica. That's why they are the model church. Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for today. Thank You for the opportunity to spend time in Your Word. Thank You for the truth that's there. And pray, Lord, that as a church, we would stand strong on the doctrine, the doctrines of Your Word. Lord, You have never minced words.

You've always spoken that which is true. And we are grateful, Lord, for what You have done, for what You have said. We thank You, thankful, Lord, for how You've saved us from our sin. And pray, Lord, that we, as a church, would authentically demonstrate the fact that we have walked away from idolatry. We worship God wholeheartedly. There's been a repentance. There is a true reverence for the one true God, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.