The Wonderous Cross Pt.5

Let's pray Dear Lord, God in heaven Almighty, omnipotent, victorious God. The one who sent forth his Son to die on the cross, and he was raised up bodily from the dead, ascended, seated at the right hand, Jesus. living to make intercession for us, we approach your throne of grace with boldness this morning, confessing to you, Lord, the fact that we sin and fall short of the glory of God, acknowledging, Lord, that we are guilty of sins of commission as well as sins of omission.

And yet, Lord, you are a merciful and gracious God.

You have been so kind to us, that you sent your Son Jesus to bleed his blood on the cross for us, that you took upon yourself the punishment that we deserve for our own crimes committed against you, and that Lord, you traded our rags for your own riches, and so we are dressed up. In the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation for any of us who are in Christ Jesus. You who began that work will complete that, Lord, we come to you with full confidence and trust in a good, merciful, kind God.

We ask Lord that you would minister to us today, this Lord's Day.

Lord, that You would speak to us through your word, open. Our heart to your word. Open the eyes of our understanding, Lord. Let us behold wonderful things from your word, Lord.

Let us hear you speak to us. Let us behold you through the eyes of faith. Let us be nourished and encouraged, exhorted, challenged. give us things to think about, cause the truths that we meditate upon to dwell in our hearts.

We pray that the word of Christ would dwell richly within us, Lord, and we would overflow in our speech to one another with gospel words. Biblical words, God exalting, gospel-centered. Words, Lord. So quiet our hearts before you.

Much is on our hearts, much. To feel concerned about many things to pray for. We just want to lay all of these things at your feet. We pray for loved ones that have yet to come to faith in Christ for their salvation.

We pray, Lord, for our country for a revival. We pray for churches throughout the land, Lord, that You would bring an awakening inside of the doors of the church. You would perform great works in the church and through the church. We pray for the election, for your will to be done and we trust in you for that.

And just bless our time here together, Lord, as we fellowship, Lord, around you, your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

So over the years, guys, I have had the privilege of officiating a number of weddings, not a whole lot, but a decent number of weddings. my first wedding was, Daniel and Cindy Ben Chandler. They were my very first wedding. some of you perhaps remember, that an unexpected illness pushed the date up quite a bit, to say the least.

It got pushed way up actually. I remember getting a phone call from Daniel, I think it was a Saturday morning. And he had news for me. He asked if he could come over to the house.

He came over to the house. We went, I, if I remember correctly, around the side of the home, and I just remember him and I weeping together by the side of my house when we first learned that, Cindy, his, his wife to be, had cancer. and, and I remember telling him, Daniel, we'll, we'll do whatever you need us to do. whatever you and Cindy want, just let us know, we'll do it.

it, it came as no surprise to me when Daniel contacted me. I think it was like the next day or maybe two days later at the most, he gave me a call, and he wanted me to know that, that they wanted to get married ASAP as soon as they could. It was within 2 weeks. that Daniel and I were standing at the altar of the old cornerstone building.

As his bride approached the altar. I remember looking over at Daniel and, and there, there was just no mistake, no mistake in how much he loved Cindy and how eager he was to declare, I do. The look in Daniel's eyes and the expression written on his face said everything to me. I remember thinking at the time, Daniel loves Cindy.

You could just see it by the look in his eye as he just looked at her coming. down, down the aisle, and I remember Cindy. Approaching the altar too. Every step was marked with beauty.

And grace. She was equally eager to pledge her life to Daniel and to declare. I do. That was the first of several weddings that I have had the honor to officiate.

and every wedding is special in and of its own right. I love weddings. They're such a, such a wonderful, such a glorious occasion. And, and there's a couple of favorite moments of mine.

One is when the bride comes forward. I just, I just love standing there and the bride's coming forward from the distance and the groom is right there. And I wish I had like two sets of eyeballs so I could have one set there and one set because I just, I love that moment. It's just so, so, so filled with excitement, anticipation.

And the look on the groom's face is always so special and the bride coming down the aisle, it's, it's always just such a beautiful moment. It's one of my favorite moments in a wedding and, and I just, I always, I always, and I always think about, that day when the bride of Christ. will come before Christ and the ultimate wedding. I always think about that.

Another of my favorite moments in these weddings too, it's like near the end of it, after you go through the whole ceremony. And then, and then the couple, you ask them to place, to place their hands together and you put your hand over there and over their hand and then at that moment you get to say, as a minister of the gospel and by the authority entrusted to me by the state of California, I now pronounce you man and husband and wife. those are just magical moments in, in a wedding.

and, and Daniel and Cindy's was the first of several weddings that I've had the honor to officiate and, and, and again, with every wedding, I'm always reminded of the ultimate wedding.

Of course, I am talking about the marriage that stands above all marriages, the marriage between Christ and His church, his bride, the church. Our Sunday school message this morning is entitled The Bride of the Cross or you could say the bride of Christ, the Church of the Cross, however we want to say it. we're gonna be focusing our attention on the church and your relationship to the Lord. There is so much here that could be said and I've done this once before.

It's probably very ill-advised, but I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna fire away at you buckshot style. So there's a lot of truths, a lot of observations that are gonna be made and just thrown at you, and I trust that of the 50 shots, 50 pieces of, of bullet, that get shot out at you, something's gonna hit, something's gonna stick. So.

Anyway, just to give you that heads up, it's going to be a lot of, of observations, a lot of truths, if you will. And so we're gonna consider a number of passages that make observations from each in order to build our understanding of the church or at least to remind us of truths about the church that we already know, the church, which is the bride of Christ. So let's start with Matthew 16:16. I'm gonna start, the first text is Matthew 16.

Beginning in verse 16, and, the broader context for Jesus, he says to his, to his disciples, who do you guys say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Right? And then Simon Peter is going to answer Jesus.

And here's what he says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Matthew 16:17, and Jesus answered, and he said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Verse 18. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock.

I will build my church. And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. So what are some of the observations that we can make from this passage? let us begin with number one, the church embraces the truth about Jesus.

Right? That's, it's probably a no brainer, but it's important because there are churches, so-called churches out there, who failed to embrace the truth about Jesus. And so this is relevant and this is important that we understand truly who Jesus is, and we embrace the truth about who Jesus is truly. this is what Peter did when he declared, thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.

You are the Messiah, you are the anointed one. You are the one sent from heaven, you are the one that we expected, and you are uniquely the Son of the living God. You are uniquely the Son of God. You are God the Son.

And then Jesus declares upon this rock. I will build my church. The rock is Christ and the truth about who he is. It is upon this rock, the rock of Jesus Christ, the rock of the truth about who he is truly, that the church is going to be built and so implied here again is the fact that the church embraces the truth about who Jesus is.

So much more could be said. Right? The time's not gonna allow us, but there, there's, there's, there's more that could be said on that score. Let us go to 2, the church will be built by Jesus.

Jesus says, I. I That is tremendously encouraging. He begins with I. The I who will build the church is Jesus.

He is actively involved in the building of his church. You get the sense that he is eminent in the church. He is involved in the church. He is building the church, right?

I will build my church. The 3rd Observation. The church is yet future at the time that Jesus made his declaration. He says, I will build my church.

And this declaration implies that the church has yet to be built. The building of the church is something yet to be done. And we know from scripture that the church was given birth on the day of Pentecost, on that day when the Spirit of God fell upon the disciples, the apostles, you recall how Peter proclaimed, he, he takes the keys to the kingdom that were given to him, the gospel keys, and through the preaching of the gospel, he opens up the door. Wide so that those in attendance could come to faith in Christ, believe in Christ, and be born again.

And the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that on that day about 3000 souls were saved. The church was given birth on that day. That day marks the beginning of the church. And so when Jesus says, I will build my church, understand that at the time that he said this, the church was still, it was yet future.

At the time that such a declaration was made. A 4th observation from the passage, the church being built is a guarantee. You can take it to the bank. It's a guarantee.

He says, I will build my church. this is a promise that Jesus intended to fulfill, and in fact he does. We know from hindsight that he cashed in and he continues to cash in on his promise to build his church, and part of what this illustrates, right, is the fact that he is trustworthy. He's trustworthy.

When he says he is going to do something, he is going to do it. In his time. And, by his own means, but he's going to accomplish what he says he is going to accomplish. He's trustworthy and also he's sovereign and powerful enough to accomplish whatever he says he is going to accomplish.

I will build my church. When he makes a promise, there is coupled with that promise a guarantee that it will happen. Extremely encouraging right when you think about it. OK, I, I'm, I'm involved in the counseling ministry and I, I can't tell you how many times, a person or maybe a couple come to, they're very discouraged and you come to them with this confidence that, what, I know you're discouraged.

I hear you. I, I, I know that you're feeling somewhat disillusioned and, and, but, but, but I'm here to tell you based upon the authority of the word of God, I can tell you with absolute certainty, you who have repented and believed, he will finish the work. All things are working together for good. This does not catch Almighty God by surprise.

And I can say with absolute confidence that anyone who comes to me, who has believed in Christ, that, that God is at work, and the million dollar question is always, what is he up to? What is he going to do? And the one thing that we must do in the midst of all of the chaos and all of the confusion and all of the discouragement is, is, is look to the promises of God and affirm them. There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

He who began the work will complete it. All things work together for good. I have you in my hand and on the last day I will raise you up. No one can snatch you from my hand.

So we've got to trust in these promises, believing these promises, and Christ is rendering a promise here that he fully intends to cash in on. In this instance, the church being built is a guarantee. Number 5, the church belongs to Jesus. Right?

Jesus uses the first person possessive pronoun, my. I will build my church. Make no mistake about it, the church belongs to Jesus. And that is a comforting thought to, to know if it belongs to him, he knows how to take care of it, and he will in fact take care of it.

This is his bride, this is, this is his special, special institution if you will, his bride. He says it's my church, and the Bible makes it clear that he purchased the church with his own blood. Right? The church belongs to him in part because he purchased the church at a very high cost.

He, he spilled his blood. Right? He, he, he redeemed the church, he purchased the church, from, with his own blood, purchased it from the marketplace of slavery, the church, we before Christ were enslaved to our sin and he purchased us from that marketplace of slavery, delivered us, freed us from the guilt and from the power that sin has over our lives, we have been set free because of him, and, and again, he, he is saying here, you're mine. You are not your own.

You were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. Right? We are owned.

We, we, we are possessed by the Lord Jesus Christ. We belong to him. And again, what a comfort to know. That we belong to Him.

He purchased us with His own blood. We are part of His church. Number 6, the church will not be overpowered even by the most wicked of forces. He says, and we can take this as a promise, and the gates of Hades shall not.

Overpower it. And that helps us to understand why the church has marched on throughout all of these centuries with all of the attempts to bring the church down. Guess what? The church still functions, the church still thrives, the church still advances.

The forces of wickedness in heavenly places might seek to come against the church, but guess what? We'll not be victorious. Right, the church will be victorious by the grace of God. The church will not be overpowered, even by the most wicked of forces.

He says the gates of Hades shall not Overpower it. OK, so that's one passage to consider as we think about the church, the bride of Christ. Let's go to another passage, Ephesians 5:22. And through the rest of it.

Ephesians 5:22. He says wives, and again, he's talking to the marriage relationship, but he's gonna make a connection between the marriage relationship of a husband and a wife, earthly husband and wife to the ultimate marriage relationship between Christ and his bride. Anyway, let's read the passage. He says, Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the savior of the body.

But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself up for her that he Might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word that he might present to himself the church in all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his own wife loves himself.

No one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it. As Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body, for this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and he shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each individual among you also love his own wife, even as himself, and let the wife see to it that she respects her husband.

And so a few observations to be made from this, the first observation, it's counted as number 7 when we take all the observations collectively. Number 7, then, based upon this passage, the church is to be reflected in the marriage relationship. Right, that's, that's, that's the purpose of marriage is ultimately to point to the ultimate marriage, the church, right? And this is one of the overarching points derived from this passage.

Marriage serves as a mystery that points to the ultimate marriage between Christ and his bride, the church. So that's number 78, derived from this passage, the church is headed by Christ. He says in 5:22, wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church. I draw our attention to that phrase, Christ is the head of the church.

He is the one from whom the church receives its marching orders. He is the one who is the brains behind the church, if you will. He is the one that controls all of the rest of what the body, the church does. He is the head.

He is the source of life for us. Christ is the head of the church. Number 9, the church has been saved by Christ. The church has been saved, and we see this as Christ also is the head of the church.

He Himself being the savior of the body. Implied in this title Savior is the fact that He saved us, and we know that He saved us through the shedding of His blood, right? We know this, that He saved us. He, he went to the cross in our place, took upon Himself.

All of the punishment that we deserve for our sin. He made atonement for us. We are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. His sacrifice was sufficient for our salvation.

And that's what the Bible teaches. That's what we are reminded of here when it describes him as being the savior. Of the body. He's the savior of his body of the church.

Number 10, the search is, the, the search. The church is subject to Christ. We read in verse 24, but as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands and everything. So the church is subject to Christ, assert, the church is to be in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, to, to fall in line underneath his rule and his authority.

Right, he is the head, and we are his subjects, and we are to fall in line with the Lord Jesus Christ, the church's subject. To Christ number 11, the church is loved by Christ, and this dovetails with what we have already said when we said that Christ is the savior, implied in the fact that he's the savior is the fact that he loves the church. We read in verse 25, and of course, love is a theme that gets hit over and over and over again in this passage., we read in verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself up for her.

Christ loved the church.

It follows That we love the church. When we consider the depths of his love for his bride. Unmatched love, unrivaled love, infinite, insurmountable love. Love beyond measure, the love he has for his.

Yeah, the church is loved by Christ and we also ought to love the church. Do you love the church? Do you love the people of God? Are you happy to be here today?

I believe it was Charles Hadden Spurgeon who once said that the church is the dearest place on earth. Is it your opinion? Are you persuaded that being here together with the people of God is the best thing you can do with your time? This is the best day of the week.

It is the highlight. Are you convinced of that? Gathering together with the people of God because you love the people of God. Do you love to see God's people face to face?

I'm not trying to be political here, but yeah, even unmasked. Do you love to see that? The smiles, the joy, the fellowship. Christ loves his bride, the church, and we also ought to love his bride.

We ought to love the church. The text says he loved the church and he gave himself up for her. That's how much he loved the church. Comprehensible sacrifice.

He bled his blood For unworthy sinners. Like ourselves, it's just an absolute wonder, right? that he would be willing to take upon himself the wrath that we deserve. To stand in our stead and to receive the punishment for sins that should have fallen upon us, that it, that it was that important to him that he would be willing to appease the wrath of a holy God.

And to be willing to endure separation and isolation and pain, not just physical, but emotional and relational and spiritual pain as well. He did that for us. He gave himself up for his bride. And it begs the question, doesn't it?

Are we willing to make sacrifices for the bride? Are we willing to go out of our way to be a blessing to the bride of Christ? Are we willing to forego personal preference for the sake of preferring others and loving others and ministering to others? Are we willing to take time out of our busy schedule?

Yeah, even in the wee hours of the morning to reach out to a hurting brother or sister in Christ. Are we willing to do these things? Are we willing to forego the Starbucks coffee for the sake of giving an extra dollar to someone else, a brother or sister in Christ who might be in need? Do we love the bride of Christ?

And are we willing to give ourselves up for the bride of Christ? Number 12, the church is sanctified by Christ. Verse 26 says, that, that he gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her. That he might sanctify her.

This is his goal for the church to set her apart and to sanctify her, to make her to become increasingly pure and holy and without defilement, not just positionally, but we're talking practically as well, practical sanctification. This is his desire for his bride, the church. He wants her to be beautiful. Right?

And he intends on cashing in on that desire of his to make us beautiful. Verse 13, verse 13.13 observation 13. The church is washed by the water of the word. Verse 26 says, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

OK, and so yeah, the church is absolutely in need of a washing that comes by the water of the word of God. We need the word. Number 14, the church will be glorified by Christ. The church, we, the church will be glorified by Christ.

Verse 27 says that he might present to himself the church in all of her glory, the ultimate goal, the ultimate purpose that the day will come in which the church might be presented to himself in all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless. Do you think that Jesus will succeed in his goal for the church? Do you think that at the end of the day, this is going to prove to be true? Will this come into fruition?

Will Christ present his bride before himself? In all of her glory, will he do that? In all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But that she should be holy and blameless, will he succeed in that endeavor?

He will He will. Each and every single one of us, who constitute the bride of Christ, who are in Christ, we will stand before him, holy and righteous and without blame. He is succeeding in his us. And we can look at ourselves and realize that the day is coming when that will happen.

We can look at one another and we can say with absolute certainty, I know that you will stand before your Savior in perfection. And that should be enough to get us pretty pumped up, right? How exciting is that? What a source of joy is that.

Right? I, I won't see any spot, I won't see any wrinkle, I won't see any of those things that in my flesh I might be tempted to complain about or gripe about. It won't be there anymore. Spotless.

In all of her glory the church presented. This is Christ's goal, and He will cash in on his goal. He will make this to happen. 15.

The church's relationship to Christ, and I'm stating this again because it comes again here, near the end of the passage, so let me just say it. the church's relationship to Christ is therefore to be reflected in the marriage relationship between the husband and the wife. He talks about in verse 32, this mystery is great. But I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The earthly marriage is the springboard from which we jump into the heavenly marriage, the ultimate marriage. It is used as a, as a pointer. It points to that reality. And Paul here is using this to point to that reality.

that's significant, isn't it? To think that if you are married, that your marriage is designed to show forth the gospel. That's the purpose of your marriage. When you die and go to heaven, guess what?

The Bible says Christ himself says we're not going to be given over in marriage, which is hard for me to fully comprehend. There's that part of me says, no, I want to be married to my wife forever and ever and ever and ever, but there's something about when we get into eternity. There's a change in that dynamic. The one marriage that means the most, that is the ultimately the most important of all marriages, is that marriage that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ as, as the bride to the groom.

So we continue on. Let's now consider 2 Corinthians 11:1. A third passage basically. 2 Corinthians 11:1, Listen to what the apostle Paul says, as he writes to the Corinthians, I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you're bearing with me, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband.

That to Christ I might present you. As a pure virgin. But I am afraid. Lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. And so a 16th observation coming from this passage now, the church is to be viewed as the bride of Christ. It's been stated, it's been implied, but this passage helps us to see that a little bit more directly. Paul says, I betrothed you to one husband.

Implied is that you are the bride of Christ. He is the groom. You are the wife, if you will. He is the husband.

I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. In connection to the church as the bride of Christ, I want you to consider. I'm going to read. A few paragraphs here.

As we think about this imagery of marriage. The imagery and symbolism of marriage is applied to Christ and the body of believers known as the church. The church is comprised of those who have trusted in Jesus as their personal savior and have received eternal life. If you have not repented of sin and believed in Christ alone for salvation, you are outside of the church.

You are not part of the church. You do not, you're not part of the bride of Christ. So it's important, right? It's imperative that you are in Christ, and if you are in Christ, you therefore are part of the bride of Christ.

You constitute the bride of Christ. And so Christ the bridegroom has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the church to be his bride, and we see that from Ephesians 5:25 to 27, just as there was a betrothal period in biblical times during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separate from her bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to be faithful to him. 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:24.

At the rapture, the church will be united with the bridegroom, and the official wedding ceremony will take place, and with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be actualized. Revelation 197-9 and 21-1-2. In the eternal state, believers will have access to the heavenly city known as New Jerusalem, also called the holy city, in Revelation 21:2-10. The new Jerusalem is not the church, but it takes on some of the church's characteristics.

In his vision of the end of the age, the apostle John sees the city coming down from heaven adorned as a bride, meaning that the city will be gloriously radiant and the inhabitants of the city, the redeemed of the Lord, will be holy and pure, where White garments of holiness and righteousness. Some have misinterpreted verse 9 to mean the holy city is the bride of Christ, but that cannot be because Christ died for His people, not for a city. The city is called the bride because it encompasses all who are the bride, just as all the students of a school are sometimes called the school.

Believers in Jesus Christ are the bride of Christ, and we wait with great anticipation for the day when we will be united with our bridegroom.

Until then, we remain faithful to him, and we say with all of the redeemed of the Lord, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20. So we move on to number 17. The church is to be presented as a pure virgin.

Paul says that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. This is the end to which he is laboring. This He wants to present the church to Christ in all of her purity as a pure virgin. And so like Paul, we ought to have that same desire.

That's the desire of Christ. It's the desire of Paul the Apostle and church leaders, and it should be the desire of all believers everywhere that the Lord help us to be used in one another's life to help one another be prepared for that day when we will stand before the Lord. 18, the church is to be protected from deception. Paul says, in verse 3, I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray.

Implied here is the fact that there is deception, that there is an evil one that would seek to deceive the church, and, and we ought to have a concern about that happening even as Paul had the concern. Right, we should be seeking to protect the church from deception. 19, the church is to maintain the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. That's what he says, verse 3.

I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray, led astray from what, Paul? From the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. There is a certain simplicity to it, isn't there? Know who he is, know rightly about who he is, and be devoted to him.

Love God, with all of your heart, soul, strength and might, there's a certain simplicity. Know him. And as a result of knowing who he is truly understanding his person and his work for you, you love Him. Right, understanding and knowing his love for you and responding to his love for you by loving Him back, being devoted to Him, there's a certain simplicity here.

Let's consider some additional observations from other passages, and we'll work through these quickly because we're getting close to time. Number 20, the church is to be structured with biblically qualified elders and deacons, and you can see this in the epistles of First Timothy 3 and Titus 1. You've got elders, deacons here at Cornerstone. We affirm deaconesses as well, but that's the leadership.

Structure of the church and God has given these gifts, if you will, to the church for the purpose of leading the church. And so there is a structure within the local church that is to be embraced and supported and submitted to. 21, the church is described by Paul as he writes to Timothy, the young pastor, as the pillar and support of truth. It is.

And support of truth. The church, you want to find truth, you ought to be able to go to the local church, and within the context of the local church, the truth is being proclaimed. Sadly, that's not always the case. So that's why we pray for the church.

We pray for an awakening. But in First Timothy 3:15 we read Paul saying, in case I'm delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, and listen to how he describes the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth. This is the place where unsafe people need to come to find the truth. They won't find it out there in the world per se.

22, the church is commissioned to go and make disciples, and we read about that in Matthew 28 where Jesus says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go. Therefore, make disciples of all of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So this is the commission that has been entrusted to us, and as stewards of this commission, we are called to be faithful and to go and to make disciples. Let me encourage you as I'm thinking about it. Have a bunch of tracks on the table. I think they're at the care group table and they're they're basically children type tracks, but they're really good.

Please take some after this or after the service is done. Take a handful and pass those out to the children that. Reach out to the young people, OK, and, and give them that track with a piece of candy and say Happy Reformation Day, right? We're celebrating Reformation Day.

You can say it that way. if you say, have a good Halloween, I'm not gonna come after you and rebuke you for that, but you get the idea, the goal is to reach others for Christ, reach the children for the Lord Jesus Christ, obey the great commission. And then, of course, the final verse, Acts 2:42, I don't know if that's in your notes, but I'm throwing this in there. the church is committed.

Amongst other things, Acts 2:42 tells us that the church is committed to the apostles' teaching, the word of God, fellowship, gathering together, breaking of bread, that's communion, the Lord's table, and praying together. So let me end with this. Again, I referenced Charles Hadden Spurgeon, the church, is the dearest place on earth. The people of God are the prized possession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The church is the dearest place on earth, and the people of God love and are committed to the church. Let us go ahead and close in prayer. The Heavenly Father, Lord God, Jesus, we come before You. We thank you for the church.

We pray, Lord, that You would help us, even as you love your bride, the church, Lord, help us to grow in our love for and commitment to the local body. Let us love the church, Lord, even as you do. Let us give to the church, sacrifice for the church. Let us extend mercy and grace and love and kindness and forgiveness to the church.

Let us bring the gospel to one another and build each other up, Lord, in our most holy faith, Lord, help us, Lord, to be a blessing. And Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.