The Names and Designations of the Church

Good evening. Tonight we're on lesson number three of ecclesiology. Last week we looked at the illustrations or figures, the metaphors that Scripture uses to describe the church, how it pictures the church. Tonight we'll be looking at the names or designations of the church, and there's a little bit of an overlap. For example, last week we looked at the church being pictured as the body of Christ. Well, the church is also called the body of Christ. We looked last week how the church is the bride of Christ and Christ is a groom. Well, the church is addressed as the bride of Christ. We talked about how the church is the building or temple of God in its function. Well, the church is also addressed as the building of God and the temple of God. But don't worry, we're not going to actually overlap. We're not going to rehash what we did last week. We're going to be looking at nine different descriptions of the church, ones that you may not have thought much about.

But before we get started I want you to flip over on the back of your handout. We're not going to be referencing this tonight unless we have a little bit of time at the end. But on the back I tabulated about 154 different descriptions or names or designations of the church along with their scriptural references. We did this when we did the names of Christ back when we did Christology. So I encourage you to hang on to this. This would be a very good way to be able to take some time as you have a quiet time. Look up one or two of these each day, right? Find out what Christ thinks about you and has to say about the church. That's what you'll find here on the back. Let's begin with Bible point number one on the front.

The church of Christ is the whole company of persons in all times and ages in heaven and earth who Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. That should sound familiar. That's kind of the definition of the church that we're working off of. Union with Christ is the presupposition of the church. In other words, without union with Christ there would be no church, right? We're only saved in that we are united to the Savior. We are only the body of Christ as He is our head, right? We're only the bride of Christ as He is our groom. God imparts Himself — that's the first blank. That's what He does in union with Christ. God imparts Himself. He gives Himself to us in Christ. Christ is the second blank. Filling and blessing us by His Spirit — that is the third blank. And forever possessing us as His own chosen and beloved people. So God unites Himself to us by giving Himself to us in Christ, and He fills us and blesses us with His Spirit. So we're forever sealed as His chosen people, as His special people of God.

Scripture often uses names and titles to help describe the glorious reality of those who've been united to Christ. The most common designation of the church in the New Testament is those who are "in Christ" or "in Him." If you were to tabulate all throughout the New Testament, everywhere you'll see "in Christ." We just went through Ephesians last year. If you remember chapter one and chapter two in particular, it seems like every other verse was "in Christ, in Christ," or "in Him," or when Jesus says "in Me." If you were to tabulate just the Apostle Paul, it'd be about 140 or so. If you were to tabulate all the other authors, it'd be about 200 or so, where it's variants of "in Christ" or "in Me" or "in Him." And then when you take all the designations that are the opposite, where it's "Christ in Me" — Christ dwelling within us — the total brings up to about 300, right? So that's the primary designation of the church: those who are united to Christ, those who are in Him, or those in whom Christ dwells.

This designation describes both our nearness — nearness is the fourth blank — our nearness to the Savior. And all the benefits — benefits is the fifth blank — benefits that He gives us. When we say that we're in Christ, you can't get any closer than that. We are spiritually in Him, and He is in us. We're interpenetrated. You can't get any closer than that. We may sometimes think, well, God's way up there in heaven on a cloud surrounded by angels playing harps, right? No, He lives within us by His Holy Spirit, right? And that "in Him" communicates all the blessings that come to us — they only come to us through being in Him, through being in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4 says, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. At the very beginning, He chose us in Him, before we were even born." Romans 8:1 is another example where this "in Him" designation is used. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." It's great news to know that there's no condemnation if you are in Christ Jesus. And why is that? Because Christ is the perfect Lamb of God. He is the one who has made our sacrifice. He's the one who paid our price. He suffered for us. "On Him was laid the iniquity of us all." That's what it means to be in Christ.

The application for number one: "Where is every" — every is the blank — "where is every spiritual blessing found?" The reference there is Ephesians 1:3. Many of you know that by heart now. "Where is every spiritual blessing found?" Is it found under the Christmas tree? No. In Christ, right? The Word, Christ Jesus, made flesh. It's in Christ that every spiritual blessing is found. Ephesians 1:3 says, "He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." He's a conduit of all blessing. There is no spiritual blessing apart from Christ. You may say to someone, "God bless you," but apart from them being in Christ, that blessing is not going to come, right? All spiritual blessing comes from Christ.

Bible point number two: the church is Abraham's seed — that's the first blank, seed, which means descendants. I'm going to say seed, just like a pumpkin seed, S-E-E-D. All who are in Christ inherit — inherit is the second blank — all of the promises — promises is the third blank — God made to Abraham. So the church is Abraham's seed, his descendants, and all who are in Christ inherit all the promises that God made to Abraham.

We often talk about how nice it would be to leave an inheritance for our kids. I think every father and mother aspires to that if they can, right? Some of us may not be able to leave much monetarily, but you can leave a godly inheritance, can you not? By being a good example to your kids, by teaching them the Word of God, showing them what it means to be a faithful husband, what it means to be a faithful wife, a good mother, a good father. That's a spiritual heritage that you're leaving for your kids. Well, because we are in Christ, we are considered to be His descendants, part of His family, if you will. We talked last week about the metaphor of the family of God or the household of God. So it's through Christ that we inherit all the promises that God made to Abraham. And we see that, of course, in Galatians 3:29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Abraham was the father of those who had faith, right? And earlier in the book of Galatians in the same chapter, chapter 3, it says that Christ is the one — the seed, singular — to whom all the promises were made. Not only in whom they were fulfilled, but those to whom they pertained are in Christ. And if we're in Christ, those come to us as well. We are "heirs according to the promise," the same promise that God made to Abraham, which is: "Look up, count the stars if you can, see if you can number them. So shall your descendants be." And He promised them that He would make them a mighty nation. We are included in that promise if we are in Christ Jesus.

Look at Genesis 12:1–3. This is the first promise that God made to Abraham. God actually makes four promises at four different times to Abraham. And each and every time it's expansive. It starts here, which sounds great in chapter 12, but then it gets bigger in chapter 15. I think then it's chapter 17. And you'll just see the scope of these promises being magnified each and every time. Because with God, there's always more, right? Genesis 12:1–3: "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" When we get to the New Testament, Romans 4:13 says, "For the promise that he would be the heir" — not the heir of a particular land, but the heir of the world — "was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith."

The promise is to all those who have faith in Christ Jesus. That's how you become that seed, so to speak. That's how you gain engrafting into Christ. It's through believing His promises, right? It's through faith, not through the works of the law.

Application for number two: "All things" — things is the blank — "are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ" — that's Christ's possession — "and Christ is God's." And you'll see that in 1 Corinthians 3:21–23. What Paul's telling the Corinthians is that you have all things. If you have Christ, you have everything. There's nothing that you lack, right? What would you rather have? A promise of a full belly for every meal for the next week, or the promise of Christ in you, the hope of glory? What's greater? No material blessing could ever compare to what we have in Christ. And if you are Christ's, then you're God's, right? What's true of the Father and the Son and the Spirit is true of us because we are in Christ Jesus. We've received His blessings, His love, His favor because Christ is worthy, right? And it's not that we're worthy — it's because of Christ.

Application — I'm sorry — Bible point number three: the church is the called — called is the first blank — of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the second blank, Christ is the third blank. We talked last week when we were talking about the designations of the church that "ecclesia" means "the called out ones" or "the assembly," right? And the Bible says that the church is the ones who are called of Christ Jesus. Look at Romans 1:6. This is the introduction to the book of Romans: "Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ." What does that mean to be the called of Jesus Christ? Does it mean that Christ brings you up on the phone if He calls? No. Do you remember when we talked about soteriology and when we talked about the effectual calling, where the Spirit of Christ draws you to His side? When He draws you to His side, He converts you, He gives you a new heart, He gives you a new will, a new disposition, right? That's what it means to be called of Jesus Christ, to be saved, called into fellowship with Christ, called into union with Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:9: "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." He's called us into the fellowship, into participation, into union with His Son. 1 Corinthians 1:22–25: "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks or Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greek, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than man." The promise of God's calling is for every man, every woman, whosoever will believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether you're Greek, whether you're Jewish — the promise, the gospel, is for all people.

The application for number three: be "awed" — "awed" is the word — be awed that you are called into fellowship with Christ. Be awed that you've been called into fellowship with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He wants to know you. He wants to merge His life with your life. That's what it means to be united to Christ, right? "No longer I live, but Christ lives in me," right?

Bible point number four: the church is designated as the children — children is the first blank — of God. God is the second blank for number four. He calls us His children. Romans 8:15–17 says, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." He's adopted us, right? Into the family of God, because Christ is the true Son of God, we are the true sons and daughters of God.

It's interesting — you go back to Exodus and God tells Pharaoh through Moses that Israel is designated His son. "Out of Egypt I have called My son," right? And we see that same metaphor being applied to Christ in the New Testament, right? In the book of Matthew: "Out of Egypt I called My Son." He is the true Son of God. And when we hear the Son of God being proclaimed by God the Father at Christ's baptism — "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" — if we are in Christ, we are God's children, right? Christ is our elder brother. What a blessing that is.

Galatians 3:26: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Not your heritage, not something you've earned or merited, but simply through faith in Christ Jesus we've entered His family. Matthew 7:9–11: "What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask of Him?" He's saying, you know how to bless your kids and you're crooked, rotten scoundrels, you know? But God is perfect, right? And He knows exactly what you need and He wants to bless you.

The application is this: do you consider and look to God as your perfect — perfect is the blank — perfect Father?

We all have different backgrounds. I was blessed. I was raised in a Christian home. My dad died when I was a young boy, but I knew him and he loved me and I knew he was a good man. I knew he was a man of God. And I was blessed to have that Christian heritage. My mom, the same way — she was a godly Christian lady. Not all of us have that privilege. I've talked with some of you. Some of you didn't have a father. You may have had three or four different men in your life. Some of them may have abused you. Some of them may have been undependable. Some of them may not have radiated the love of God. They may have shown anger. They may have been bad providers.

But whatever your experience is, even if it's a bad experience, you can pivot that, because you know what you lack. You had maybe a poor earthly father. You can picture a perfect heavenly Father — one who never leaves you or forsakes you, one who protects you, one who provides for you, one who leads you gently. That's the kind of Father that we have, and we must fight to keep that in the forefront of our mind because it makes a difference when we pray, right? What kind of a God is your Father? Is He a good Father? Is He a perfect Father? That's why Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven."

Bible point number five: the church is called a glorious — glorious is the first blank — a glorious church. Clean is the second blank, clean and bright — bright is the third blank. Ephesians 5:27, which is this metaphor speaking of the bride of Christ and Christ being the groom, but also how Christ is washing and caring for the bride — because it says as if it's His own body — "says that He might present her to Himself a glorious church."

Now who is the one who is all glorious? Amen. Exactly right. We see the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, do we not? The glory of God is the sum of all His infinite perfections, all of His attributes. If you think about His holiness, His purity, His love, His wisdom, His truthfulness, His faithfulness, His kindness — all pushed into one. If you could even grasp that or try to bear that, that weight would be insurmountable, right? That's the glory of God. And the church is called the glorious church. Why is that? Is that something that we have inherent in and of ourselves?

What is the church to be but the image of Christ, right? Is not the bride supposed to be lit up by her love for the groom, right? And vice versa — the groom lights up when he sees his bride. As we have His holy character imprinted on our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the church becomes glorious, right? So we are a glorious church, clean and bright. "He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." As Christ is holy without blemish, we want to be as Christ is, right?

For those of you who work outside the home, I come home with dirt and all kinds of crud, and I wash my hands and try to smell a little bit better before I give her a big hug, because I don't want her to get my filth all over her, right? Christ washes the church. He takes away the grime so we'd be without blemish and without spot.

Look at Revelation 19:7–8, picturing this wedding supper. It says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory" — give Christ glory — "for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." We know from reading Ephesians that "it's by grace you've been saved through faith, not of works" — not of yourselves, so that no one can boast. But we were created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works, right? And it was granted to the bride to array herself in these fine linens, which are the works of the saints, right? God gives us instruction on how to live a holy life, a pleasing life to Him, right? So He grants that and we in turn say, "Yes, Lord," and we make ourselves ready, right?

Application for number five: do you see — S-E-E, as in sight — do you see the church as Christ sees it? When you come to church on a Sunday morning, what do you see? Do you see glorious saints, precious in the sight of Christ, bought by His very blood? Or do you see — "That sister's a pain, I want to stay away from her. I can't have that conversation today. That brother is trouble over there. I never have liked Mike, you know, he's kind of shifty, I'm not sure I want to be near that guy." Is that the way we think? Not at all, right?

And we have such a sweet fellowship here at Villa, and that's something we must work to protect, something we must work to maintain. That means that when gossip occurs, you nip it in the bud, right? You correct it. You stop it. When grumbling occurs, you nip it in the bud. You stop it. When a brother has ought against you, you go to him, right? And you make it right. You do everything that you can to maintain this bond of peace in the church.

I want to ask you a second question. It's related. Not only when you think about the church, do you see the church as Christ sees the church? Well, how about when you think about yourself — do you see yourself as Christ sees you? Because you are a member of Christ. You're a member of His body, right? You're a member of the bride of Christ. And do you believe what He says, that He washes you white as snow? He can wash every bit clean, right? That if you trust in Him, though your garments may be stained and soiled to scarlet, right? He can wash them as white as snow. That makes a difference when we pray, right? We believe God's promises. God's promises are to the church corporate, but they're also to us as individuals, as members of the church.

Bible point number six: the church is called a chosen — chosen is the first blank — a chosen generation. A royal — royal is the second blank — a royal priesthood. Third blank: a holy, holy nation. And the fourth blank is special — His own special people. The church is called a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. This comes from 1 Peter 2:9. You'll see it here: "And you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."

And what he's doing here, he's quoting Old Testament appellations of Israel and applying them to the church. It says, "His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who" called you "out of darkness and into His marvelous light." One of the places that we see this is right there when God has brought Israel out of bondage, out of slavery, and brought them to Mount Sinai. He's about to establish the covenant — the Mosaic covenant — with the people of God. Look what He says in Exodus 19:4–6: "For you have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself." This is what a conquering king does — He tells them what He did for them. "Now therefore, if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant" — this was a conditional covenant, this was a law covenant — "then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people." See where he gets that from in 1 Peter 2:9 — "a special people," right?

Now in the new covenant, it's not conditional. Christ has perfectly obeyed once and for all. He was the once and for all sacrifice, right? "This is a special treasure to Me above all people, above all ones, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Here we can see "a royal priesthood" — "a kingdom of priests." As we talked about when we looked at the very beginning of the book of Hebrews and we studied Psalm 110, the lines of the priest and the king were forever separate, right? But if you go way back in time, there was that guy named Melchizedek, who was a kind of pre-figurement of Christ, who was a priestly king, right? And Christ is said to be in Psalm 110 a royal priest, right? A king who conquers, and He can conquer because He was first a priest who was our sacrifice, who laid His life down for us. And it says that we too are now considered to be a royal priesthood. You'll find this language in the book of Revelation chapter one and also in Revelation chapter four as well. And why is that? Because we're in Christ. Christ is King, right? And Christ is Priest, and He has allowed us to now participate in that, right? We can go directly to God in our prayers because Christ has pierced the veil, right? We can reign in this life right now through Christ Jesus because Christ was exalted at the right hand of God for the benefit of the church, as it tells us in the book of Ephesians.

"And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." So this is what Moses would say to them. We see also in Deuteronomy 7 a very similar passage, one that he's also quoting from in 1 Peter 2:9. It says, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God." Be a holy nation. What does holy mean? To be separate, right? Israel was to be separate from the other nations. They were separate in that the male boys were circumcised — that was a mark that separated them from the other tribes. Something different. They were also separate in that they were not supposed to worship the gods of the Canaanites, right? They had multiple gods for everything, and Israel had one God, right? "And Him only shall you serve." So they were to be wholly God's, a holy nation.

It says, "For you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you." Chosen. It's a chosen generation. It's not that Israel deserved it, right? It's not that Israel merited it. Not that Abraham had anything special about him when God said, "Get up out of the land of your fathers and go to a land that I'm going to show you," right? "God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more numerous than any people, for you were the least of all the peoples. But because the Lord loves you" — God just sovereignly set His love on Israel, right? Not because they were mighty or big or anything else, simply because He loves them, right? And the same thing applies to the church, which is called a chosen generation. We have not earned God's favor. We have not earned His love. He just set it upon us. We are a royal priesthood because we are in Christ, right? We're a holy nation. We're to be consecrated, to set our lives and our hearts and our minds on Christ and Christ alone. And we're called His own special people. You are God's own special people if you are in Christ Jesus.

The application for number six: faithfully serve — serve is the blank — the Lord Jesus Christ in holiness. The reason why I say serve here: these designations are meant for service, right? What does a priest do? He makes intercession, right? And he makes sacrifice. We are to make intercession for our families, for our loved ones, for a lost and dying world, right? While we do not offer any sacrifice that can merit our salvation, we are to render our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, right? To be a holy nation means a people who are marching on God's orders, who are following His commands, right? To be holy, to be separated unto Him. And we're to serve Him in a faithful way and a holy way. We are not our own. We are His nation, His people.

Bible point number seven: the church is called His inheritance. His inheritance. I talked a little bit earlier about how we, being in Christ and being part of His family, are now heirs of God. But do you know that God considers you to be His inheritance?

If you remember, Pastor Casey preached about this maybe a year ago when we did Ephesians chapter one. Let's read Ephesians 1:17–18: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." He's telling them how to pray — that God would give you this spirit of wisdom and understanding. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

We think of an inheritance as something that's precious to us, right? And it may not be monetary in value. My brother has something that means a lot to him. I mentioned earlier that my father died when I was a boy — I was in fourth grade. And years later, my brother was going through some things and he found my dad and mom's courtship correspondence. They met when my dad had run out of money. He was going through law school, so he taught for a semester in Port Arthur, Texas. And that's where my mother was teaching. And over the summer, they wrote each other, and that's where their love blossomed — through these letters, right? Letters aren't worth anything historically, right? But they mean the world to my brother and me, right? Because you learn a little bit about your parents, right? Some things are sentimental. Maybe you have a keepsake from a grandfather or grandmother, something that they gave you that's precious to them. Maybe it's something that has monetary value. It used to be that people passed down china — not quite sure if they really do that these days anymore. But the point is, you are precious to God. You are valuable to God. You are His inheritance, as it tells us here in Ephesians 1:18.

The application for number seven: pray — pray is the blank — pray to grasp the hope of His calling and His regard for you. Pray, just as Paul said, pray that you have the hope of His calling — what it means to be called into fellowship with the Son, right? And therefore into fellowship, Triune fellowship, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit through fellowship with the Son. And what it means to think about God's regard for you — that He would consider you so precious that He would give up His very Son for you. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." Christ, for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the suffering and the shame, suffered even unto death, right? For you, His bride.

Bible point number eight: the church is called "Mine" — M-I-N-E — mine. What's one of the first words that a young kid learns? "Mine, mine," right? And that's natural, right? We want to protect what is precious to us, what is our own. And you give a child something and he or she is not going to let that go. "It's mine," right?

Listen to how Christ describes us as He is speaking to His Father in John 17:9–10 and also verse 24. "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours and Yours are Mine and I am glorified in them. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." Christ sees us as precious — as a gift from the Father, right? He says, "All Mine are Yours and I am glorified in them," right?

Blows my mind, right? Think of all your failures, all your shortcomings, all the wicked thoughts you thought even today, right? I was behind a car on the way over here that was slow as molasses, and I wanted to — yeah, exactly — give them some word of encouragement and exhortation to get going because I had to get to church, right? And we think about that sometimes, right? And that gets underneath our skin, things that bother us, but despite our shortcomings, God says, "You're Mine," right? You're Mine. That's how Christ describes us — we are His precious possession. The application is this for number eight: "Live for His glory, knowing that you are not your own." Jesus said, "All that are Mine are Yours and I am glorified in them." So live for His glory, right? Because you're not your own. You're God's, right? You're Christ's.

Bible point number nine: the church is called "My church" — that's the first blank — "My church," "My people" — that's the second blank — "My" — third blank — "My beloved" — the fourth blank — "My sons and daughters" — fifth blank — "My sheep." That's a lot of "My's," right?

That's again God expressing His possession of you. Look at Matthew 16:18: "I will build" — not "I will build a Pastor Casey's church, I will build a Beulah church" — "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Why will not the gates of hell prevail? Because it's My church, Christ says. I'm not going to let anything happen to My church.

Romans 9:25–26 — here he's quoting Hosea from the Old Testament — says, "And as He also says in Hosea, 'I will call My people who were not My people, and her beloved who was not beloved.'" And Hosea is talking about the restoration of Israel that had gone a-whoring from God. And he says, "I'm going to take them back to Me." And he applies that to the church. He calls us His people who were not His people, because we've been adopted, right? We've been grafted into Christ. "And her beloved who was not beloved, and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there they shall be called the sons of the living God."

1 Peter 2:10 — he also quotes Hosea. Here he's quoting Hosea 2:23: "You who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy." That's another word for "beloved" — mercy. It's His covenantal love, hesed in the Old Testament.

2 Corinthians 6:18: "I will be a Father to you" — we read this last week — "and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." This is quoting from His Davidic promise to David from 2 Samuel 7:8. It's also quoting Isaiah 43:6, talking about the restoration of Israel and tying that again to the church.

John 10:27–28: "My sheep" — He's not saying that you're just a wild goat, right? He's saying, "You're Mine. My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." That's a sure promise from Christ. If you ever question your salvation, if you ever question, "Can I lose my salvation?" — this is a great verse to know. You are His sheep and Christ doesn't lose anything out of His hand.

The application for number nine: trust that God is always with you and always for — for, F-O-R — for you. He's the God who says, "You're My church. You're My people. You're My beloved. You're My sons and daughters. You're My sheep." Mine, right? So He's for you, right? He is for His church.

Flip over on the back. There's no way we can go through all these. Again, I think there's about 154 of these here on the back, and there's more, but this is all I could squeeze in. But I want to go over just a couple that you may not be familiar with — they're pretty neat.

Look at the first column, about halfway down: "Circumcision." I know Hal's class talked about circumcision this past week because they're going verse by verse through the book of Romans. But do you know that God actually calls us the work of His hand — circumcision, spiritual circumcision? We normally think of that as a title for the Jews, right? But let's look here at Philippians 3:3. You want to open your Bibles and flip over? Philippians 3:3: "For we are the circumcision" — is that a proper name here? — "the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." He's contrasting that to the prior verse, verse 2. He says, "Beware of the mutilation" — those who are actually being physically circumcised and saying that that's what gets you into the kingdom of God. No. He says, "We're the circumcision" — the ones who have had our hearts purified and cut and made new and brought into the new covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another one that I like is near the bottom of the first column: "The Fragrance of Christ." What a beautiful title that is. And let's look at 2 Corinthians 2:14–15: "Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

A family that I grew up with, that we went to church with regularly — precious family, they loved the Lord. His mother — he was a good friend of mine — his mother, she smelled like, if you ever go through Dillard's or whatever, she used copious amounts of perfume. It always smelled great but you could smell her before you saw her. The idea behind that is that we are to be a fragrance everywhere we go — of Christ. That's what the church is. Everywhere shining Christ, telling of Christ, speaking of Christ, acting like Christ, being His hands and His feet, diffusing the knowledge of Him in every place.

Another one I'd like to share is one you know very well. It's in the middle column toward the bottom: "The Light of the World." We find that in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14. I'd like to read that to you. So let's turn to Matthew 5:14. "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify" your Father "in heaven."

Just below that, two down, is another one: "More than Conquerors." What a great promise, what a great name that is. That's from the book of Romans 8. Romans 8 is one of those crescendo points, those mountaintops of Scripture that has so many good thoughts you can't pick a favorite one. Verse 37 — actually, let me go back to verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Not just conquerors — because all Christ has to do is say the word. Remember, He sent one angel through the encampment of the enemy and killed 187,000 people in one night. We serve the God who speaks and it is done.

I want to show you another one that's a precious one, and it's in the right-hand column. About a fourth of the way down: "One in Christ." There are two references there, one from Galatians and one from Ephesians. Since those are both close to each other, let's look them up together — we'll look up Galatians, then Ephesians, which is right next door.

Galatians 3:28 — I'm going to actually read back to verse 26: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." That's union language there. "There is therefore neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — you are all one in Christ Jesus." We live in a day and age that's marked by identity politics. Divide and conquer. "Oh, well, you're not of my tribe, you're not of my people, you are not of my gender. I'm a unique gender, actually — I'm one of 500 or so genders that people construct." You can say all these crazy things to try to identify yourself, but there's only one identity that matters. It's: are you one in Christ Jesus? That brings us all together, no matter what our background is.

Another one just below that — it's one you may not be familiar with. It's used a lot in the book of Acts. We're just going to read Acts 9:1–2. So let's look at Acts chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. I hope I'm whetting your appetite to look up more of these on your own in your devotion time.

"Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." He describes the church as those who were of the Way. What did Jesus say? Exactly right. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me," right? That was so much a part of their kerygma, their proclamation, that they were known as followers of the Way, right? Should that not encourage us to be bold and say, "Christ Jesus is the only way. Trust in Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life."

Almost halfway down, there's "Pillar and Ground of Truth" from 1 Timothy 3:15. We're not going to look that one up, but I know many of you are familiar with it. The men in our Bible study actually recently went through 1 and 2 Timothy. What does it mean that the church is the pillar and ground of truth?

Anybody? Yeah. What does a pillar do? Yeah, you see columns — like those ancient Roman and Greek columns, how they would hold the roof up and hold the building together. Well, are not we supposed to uphold the truth, to publish the truth, to speak the truth of God, right? "Go into all the world and make disciples of all men, teaching them to observe whatever things I have commanded," right? That's what it means to be the pillar and ground of truth. The church cannot compromise. If the church fails to be the voice of moral clarity, if the church fails to deliver the gospel, you're not going to get that from the United Way. You're not going to get that from the YMCA. You're not going to get that from PBS. The church is the only one who proclaims the gospel, right? And that's got to be part of our DNA.

Just below that: "A Purchased Possession" — it means that we're purchased by His own blood. Let me read to you from Acts 20:28: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." If you buy something, you purchase something, it's yours, right? And He purchased it with His own blood, right? We are purchased by the blood of Christ. So we're His and we are dear to Him.

The last one I was going to point out is from Isaiah 62:12. So we're going to flip to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 61 and 62 is often called the fifth servant song. It's a messianic song of the Servant of God, Christ Jesus, the Messiah. And in 62:12, it talks about the restoration of God's people. It says, "And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord. And you shall be called Sought Out, a city not forsaken."

To be considered sought out by God — it's that God left heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. He took on human flesh to come into this world, to be incarnate, right? He came, lived a human existence, suffered for us, because He sought us and bought us with His very own blood. One of my favorite chapters in the Gospels is Luke chapter 15, because it's three different stories but they're all about God who seeks us, right?

Remember there is a shepherd and a lost sheep. He leaves 99 to go and find the lost sheep, and he puts it on his shoulders and he comes back rejoicing, and they all make merry because the sheep that was lost has been found, right? That's what God does. He seeks us out. We are the sought-out ones by God. We're not the seekers — God is the one who seeks us, right?

Then we find the widow who's lost her coin. She's desperate, sweeps the whole house looking for the coin, and when she finds it she rejoices because that which was lost has been found. Then of course we have the story of the father who loses his prodigal son to prodigal living, right? And the father is looking for the son. He sees him from afar, and the son is repentant because he's down on his luck and he doesn't even want to be considered part of the family. He says — he's practiced a speech in his head — "I'll be one of your servants. I've been foolish." And the father doesn't even hear his speech. The father runs to him, right — which is considered undignified for the patriarch of the family to do — and falls on his neck, kisses him, puts a ring on his finger, brings out the best robe, puts sandals on his feet, kills the fatted calf, right? "My son who was lost is found," right? That's how God thinks about us. We are the sought-out ones. He loves us. He wants to be with us, right? He wants our fellowship. He wants us to glorify Him. That's what we do as the church.