Sound Doctrine: A Gospel Church

As we're studying through the New Hampshire Confession, that which we have adopted into our Constitution and bylaws, we want to continue to expound upon sound doctrine. And today we're talking about a gospel-centered church, a gospel church. A true church does evangelism and discipleship. A true church is one that studies the Bible and makes disciples. There are all kinds of things the New Testament talks about that authenticate what a gospel church is, and we're going to talk about some of those today. So this kind of falls underneath the category of ecclesiology, the doctrine of the local church. And so the church, pretty much to start off with, is the great number of people whom Christ has saved. We believe in regenerate membership.

So we're going to start off by looking at this metaphor in Ephesians chapter five, verses 22 and following to see exactly what God has for us in regards to what the local church is. So read with me if you would in Ephesians chapter five, verse 22. And by the way, this is anti-cultural information. And if you want to go against the flow in our American culture, then embrace these ideas and put them into practice and you will find yourself a stranger in your communities. But God wants dynamic disciples on display. His ways are not our ways. Amen. And as you read this, I challenge you today to conform your life to these principles. These are God's ways and we must not only embrace them and submit to them, but we must celebrate them. This is God's way of doing church and family and marriage and parenting in your household will be the best household ever when you do it God's way. But I'm telling you that old flesh will work against you.

Listen and see what I'm talking about. In Ephesians chapter five, verse 22 and following, we're looking at a metaphor here of marriage and Christ is extracting the truths that are true in marriage and applying them and illuminating them for the local church. In verse 22 it says, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord." That's very clear, isn't it? That's so clear that you can't even mistake what Christ is saying. And then in verse 23, "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church." That is very clear. Christ is the head of the church. And to usurp Christ as head of the church is to make a huge mistake. To not place the husband as the head of the home is to make a huge mistake. Okay, let's read that again in verse 23, "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." Verse 24, "But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands in everything."

Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have a modern translation, a little loosey-goosey there at the end. If it's tight like mine is, I think it's pretty clear. Verse 25, "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church." What a tall order, men. You know it's not hard for a wife to submit to the husband when the husband is loving her like Christ loved the church. "Just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that," — you know, some of my favorite words in the Bible are "so that," you get the why behind the what here — "so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word." You see, men, it's not about you, it's actually about the sanctification through you and your wife and children. And the same thing for the church, it's about the sanctifying aspects of the bride of Christ because we will be united with Christ one day. And Christ wants His bride pure and spotless and holy.

We are working toward the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are working towards eternity with Christ. We are getting ready to be united with a holy Christ. It's a lot of work to sanctify this old thinker and this old feeler. It's a lot of work to get the heart and the mind right and ready for Christ. I'm glad we got time, perhaps. "So that He may sanctify her, cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. They may present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless." Verse 28, "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church because we are members of His body."

Today I want to talk to you about a gospel church. Perhaps the greatest hindrance in our day is unregenerate membership. Unregenerate membership is a byproduct of idolizing numbers, making numbers a gauge for success upon the local church, and that is simply taking an American business model and placing that template of success upon God's holy church. What a mistake! How have we fallen for such a foolish goal? That is not in Scripture. In fact, when you take and look at all of the Scriptures in the New Testament, I found 68 references to synagogues in the New Testament as Jesus went and taught in the synagogues. You know what? There is no mention of numbers. There's no mention of that, and even when the early church was started in Acts chapter 2, verses 41 and 42, and 3,000 souls got saved, guess what Peter never said. He never repeated that. He never bragged on 3,000 souls getting saved. We do not see numerical idolization in the New Testament, but this whole prideful, braggadocious thing has crept into the church and we idolize big buildings and big numbers. It's not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible.

It leads to a popularity contest between the pastors. It leads to a Hollywood theology like who's following you on social media, who's got the most followers and likes. All of this stuff is out of bounds. But let's take a look perhaps and think, what is Jesus's church growth model? What did He do to grow the church? Well, He dumbfounded the masses and left them confused oftentimes. He offended other religious leaders — that's really good for church growth. He was teaching difficult parables like "eat my flesh and drink my blood." Oh, that's church growth 101. And then He disappears when His disciples need it the most. Go figure. And then He says, "Go and do likewise." Wow. You know what? If Jesus was all about church growth, then why did He disperse His disciples to the whole world? Why didn't He make a megachurch in Jerusalem and then report the numbers to the local association or the state convention or the national headquarters? You do not see church growth in the Bible. You see people growth. You see maturity. You see genuine salvations. You see people conforming to Christ despite persecution. You see people who are willing to suffer for the causes of Christ.

Perhaps unregenerate membership is one of the greatest hindrances in ecclesiology today — idolizing numbers. I want you to see this first here in the text.

Number one, the church are the regenerate. Look in verse 23 with me. "For the husband is the head of the wife, Christ also being the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior." Christ saves. He is the Savior. And when you're saved, you are born again into the church. You are part of the church when you're saved. Christ is Savior. You are not yet part of the universal church, the born-again congregation of believers, past, present, future. You're not part of the church until you are regenerated because Christ is Savior. Savior means deliverer. It means preserver. In 2 Peter 1:1, it says this: our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Savior. In Titus 3:6, "Jesus Christ our Savior." And so the church are those who have been saved. They have been called, regenerated. They have been given a new heart and given gifts. The Holy Spirit now has infused inside of this person new gifts resulting in faith, resulting in a desire to serve, resulting in repentance and belief and a changed life and faithfulness and new desires.

Basically you're a whole new person from the inside out. There's nothing your mama could have done. There's nothing your daddy could have done. It's only what the Word of God, Jesus Christ Himself, could have done inside of you. He took you from being wretched and He made you into a child of God with new desires, with a new heart. You're a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away and behold the new things have come."

You have new motives. You now have the ability to control your mouth. Come to the Women's Conference this weekend and you'll learn more. I wasn't invited, but it's going to be good. Susan Heck is coming. It's all on the mouth. It's all in the tongue. I'm so pleased. But not only when you're a new creature do you have new motives from the heart and the ability to want to work on your tongue and your mouth, but now you have a new mission in life. You have purpose as to why you exist. No longer are you some individual person floating around this world looking for God's will. God's will is that you would be sanctified, saved, and sanctified, and on mission for Him. You have been called for a reason and now you're joining this great congregation of believers to spread His glorious gospel. Evangelize and disciple. It's just that easy. Share the gospel and make disciples. Study His Word to spread His Word. Do everything that you possibly can to invest your life in and through the local church.

The church is God's number one plan. He does not have a number two plan, and everything for the church is prescribed and it's not up for discussion. It's all written in the Word. And so the English word church is derived from the Greek adjective kyriacos, and that means belonging to the Lord. You who are saved belong to the Lord. Ecclesia refers to local congregation, those who have been called out. If you are part of a local congregation, you have been called out of the world and into a local church to be trained, to be sanctified, to be on mission, to worship God, to observe the ordinances, to see others saved and baptized and joining the local church and knowing how to study the Bible for themselves so they have a discerning element amongst them so they don't get caught up in the world. True Christians have seriously been called out of the world and into Christ. True Christians have been created in Christ. Ephesians 2:10 says, listen to that — created in Christ. Born again. You have been recreated and you are now united with Christ. Your life is no longer your own. You are inside of the body of Christ.

So the church, we are the saved. Proof of that is that you long to worship and you come to lift up your voices and sing and allow this overflow — what's happening is Christ in you that is truly wanting to worship the Father. And proof of this is that you love the Word of God. You don't love the things that you used to love, and in fact when you do engage in trying to love the things of this world, they don't suffice. They leave you empty and you circle right back around to the Word of God. And studying the Word of God is, as we say around here, there's nothing better than Bible study. There's nothing better than fellowship with Christ on your own time. You'll do whatever you can to get to Bible study. You'll do whatever you can to study God's Word. There's nothing better than the Word of God. True saved people love the Word of God.

And not only that, proof is that they're humble ministers. They actually minister. They have a desire to serve others, not in a superficial, shallow way, but actually to serve. Listen to this — a book written by Gary Gilley, This Little Church Went to the Market. Have you heard of that? Oh, it's a good one. If you have not read that book, I highly recommend you buy it and read it. It's a quick read but it is awesome. This Little Church Went to the Market, written by Gary Gilley. He exposes how, by buying into the market-driven philosophy of church growth, rather than influencing the world, the world has taken over the church. And here are some simple ways that they bought into worldliness. Rather than worshiping, they've been given to entertaining. And rather than true preaching, preaching the Word of God, they've been given to psychology. And rather than ministering — actually employing the gifts that God has given the church to minister, to actually help another brother or sister in Christ, to minister to their soul, to help their mind — instead of that, shallow service. Humanitarianism. Anybody can do that. The unregenerate lost world gets a Facebook-like feeling when they go out and just serve somebody, help a neighbor. But that is not ministering. You see the difference? When you are ministering the Word of God to a situation, it meets a desperate need in their life. And God does that. It's a need that God meets. So it's really cool to see how true Christians are aiming at ministering.

Unregenerate people act like Simon in Acts chapter 8, where they're all about the crowds and all about the entertainment, all about the tricks and the gimmicks. You see, Simon was an unregenerate magician who saw true preaching affecting the crowds and he wanted to get that same kind of power. And he even offered to buy it. And Peter rebuked him and said, "Your heart's not in the right place." Folks, we need to be rebuking people who are all about church for the wrong reasons. We need to call them to repentance and say, "Listen, this is not up for grabs here. Jesus bought this with His blood. He owns it." And we're not going to redefine missions. We're not going to redefine serving. We're not going to redefine worship. We're not going to redefine preaching. It's all here in the Word of God. We don't need a new story. We need the old, old story. We need to be faithful to what is already here. And so it was to Simon's — secular Simon's — benefit that Peter told him the truth. And we need to be telling the truth. We need to be telling the truth. We need to be truth tellers.

You know, before American Idol and ABC, there were church idols BC. We all have taken on idols. We all have that in us, to want to be like the Israelites. Israelites were given to idols. You look back in the Old Testament, how in the world did they do that? Why do you make a golden calf for? "I would never do that," so you say in your pride. "I would never do that," so you say. When you read the Old Testament, it seems ridiculous. But Paul told the Corinthian church they were our examples as to not to gossip and not to do idolatry. Folks, we are human beings susceptible to the schemes of the evil one, and we need one another in the local church to help call each other out and to encourage one another in sanctification. If we didn't need each other, then we wouldn't need each other. We wouldn't need the local church. We need each other. We need a standard. We need the Word of God.

You and I are not perfect yet. We don't have the glorified body. We don't have a glorified mind yet. We need a standard. We need one another. God in His glorious brilliance has devised a plan called the local church for your benefit and my benefit, so that people can gain Christ, so they can know Him and be sanctified. We need not Hollywood theology, but biblical theology. Too many unsaved people are allowed to play church. Too many unsaved people refine church. Too many unregenerate people remake church about them instead of Him. Too many people over time take a budget and, one little line item at a time, curve it towards their likings, not towards reaching the nations. Eliminate that and make yourself more comfortable. I am king of my own world. These things creep in. It's not like they're just automatically done overnight, but over decades a church budget can change to being more towards what makes you happy and comfortable, rather than being so sacrificial as to be thrilled to be able to give to missions and be on the goal of missions.

Guys, we live in a day and age where all of world history's information, all of world history's ability to build buildings, all the technology, all the information has seemingly come to a climax where we in America, in a prosperous nation, can enjoy all of the wonderful things that information, technology, and all of this progress in world history that centuries before us did not even come close to enjoying — and yet somehow we would still focus on ourselves and want more. Do you see the elephant in the room when it comes to idolizing perhaps yourself, or perhaps numbers, or perhaps making the church about you rather than Him? It is something that can creep in.

But for the true church, a church that is gospel-centered, a gospel-centered church that's all about the gospel, we have that wonderful Holy Spirit inside of us that convicts us when we get off track. We have the wonderful saints to be able to say, "Brother, that's not going to be glorifying to the Lord. Let's re-look at that. Let's pray through this before we make that decision." We have a church filled with regenerate membership here to be able to make the right choices and do the right things and go in the right direction. Praise God. I really do praise God for our wonderful church, and humility and ministry are at the top of our list. So that's a byproduct of number one, the church are the regenerate.

Number two, the church are those Christ is sanctifying. The church are not only those who are saved, but those whom Christ is sanctifying. And this is rather verifying — it is. The word sanctify, look with me in verse 26 in Ephesians, "So that He may sanctify her." The church is to be being sanctified. Not that you'll ever arrive in a perfect form this side of heaven, but you are to be growing from being born again, to a child in the faith, to a youth in the faith, which is an overcomer, to a father in the faith, which is a reproducer. There is a logical process there for spiritual growth and being sanctified. To be sanctified in the Greek, hagios, means to be made holy. It signifies that you have been set apart. Again, we're separate from the world. We're in the world, but we're not of the world. We are still in the world to reach people for Christ, but you cannot reach them if you're acting like them. You must be different. It's striking. There's a difference. There's a contrast because you've been set apart for God. You're no longer living for yourself. You're living for God.

The opposite is true if you're partnering with the world. A church that is no church doesn't even know that James 4:4 is in the Bible. Partnership with the world is hostility towards God. They don't even realize that when you partner with the world, it makes you an enemy of the Lord in His very church. Rather, we should reach the world, not team up with the world. We don't need the world's illustrations. We don't need the world's gimmicks. We don't need anything the world has. All we need is Christ because He's sufficient in His Word. In doing that, we have separated ourselves and Christ is sanctifying us. In fact, those who are being sanctified are those who have been separated to God. The church are those who have been saved by Christ and are now being conformed to Christ. I ask you this question: Is Christ working on you?

Sometimes you feel really low because you messed up. That is proof, is it not, that God is working on you? If conviction sets in after you sin, you're saved. If you can freely sin and justify your sin, there's a really good chance you have not been regenerated. I'm just telling you, not only is the true church saved, but they are being sanctified, conformed. So are you changing? If you're the same person now as you were five years ago, you're not changing. Are you moldable? Jeremiah wanted Israel to be moldable clay, not dry, stubborn clay. Are you an unconforming, stubborn American Israelite? We all want it our way, right? We all battle like Paul did with the flesh and the spirit — who am I going to yield to? Well, feed the spirit. Feed your mind the Word of God and you will end up being strengthened and sanctified. But if you constantly feed on the things of this world, if you're constantly on the wrong social media channels, and on the television, as you're constantly looking and lusting and committing these things that break the Ten Commandments — I mean, goodness, guys, if we are constantly coveting the things of the world, then you are not being sanctified by the Spirit. You've got to set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And if you do that, then you are yielding to the Holy Spirit's work in your life. You will be content and not discontent.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Oftentimes young people struggle: "What is God's will for my life?" I want to welcome back the majority of our college students. We have a lot of RBC students. They go back home, they come back here in the summer. Anybody else that's in college, this is what I want you to hear me. Don't fall into that trap. "Oh God, what's Your will for my life?" God's will is that you would be sanctified. God's will is that you would walk with Him day by day and He'll work out the future. Believe me, you stay close to Christ and as you walk with Him, you will know if you have peace with Him or not. Amen? He will rob you of your peace if you step out of line. If you're going in a direction that is not His will for your life, He will burden your heart. He will work through other Christians in your life, primarily your parents if they're saved. He will help you through the local church to be able to say yeas and nays to you in your life. Don't worry. Okay? Don't worry about your life. Just focus on Christ and He has the future in His hands. You're in Him. You don't have to worry about that. Your primary job is to be holy and to learn about Him. Continue in His Word.

How does He do this? Well, He does it by His Word. John 17:17: "Sanctify them in the truth. Thy Word is truth." Stay in the Word of God. Stay underneath His authority and you'll be being sanctified. He rewards those who are continually pursuing Him through continuing in the Word. John 8:31 says, "Continue in the Word and so prove that you are disciples of Mine." The Holy Spirit will also help you through sanctification. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of God." The Spirit of God will help you be sanctified. So to say that you are of the true church and not to be becoming more and more and more and more like Christ is a contradiction. Don't be a living hypocrite. Be consistent in what you say and believe and do. And so we are to be becoming more and more and more like Christ. That is what it is to be being sanctified.

Number three, the church is who God cherishes. This is beautiful. Look with me in verse 29 in our text. Verse 29, "For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it." He cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. Jesus cherishes His church. Cherishes means to foster with tender care. It means to keep warm. You realize this: your relationship with Christ should not be growing cold because Christ is cherishing you and your relationship. He is making it warm. That's what that word "cherish" means. Metaphorically, it means this — it's of birds covering their young. You know how little birds don't have all their feathers yet? They've got to crawl up underneath the mother's wing to get warm. Jesus kind of threw this metaphor out there by saying in Matthew 23:37, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, and you were unwilling." Jesus throws that metaphor out there. He wants to keep you warm underneath the shelter of His wing. He wants to help you.

In Isaiah chapter 62, verses 4 and 5, God cherishes and delights in His own. In Hebrew, we're married to Him. By the way, welcome to Beulah Baptist Church. Beulah in the Hebrew means married, being joined together. Oftentimes it refers more to Beulah land, a land that Israel was married to, but nevertheless, where God cherishes His own by taking care of them and providing for them their needs — perhaps land and food, shelter and clothing — He also cherishes and takes care of His own by loving and nurturing the needs that you have. He knows not only the hair on your head, every single one that you have and don't have, He knows your needs as well, both emotionally, physically, spiritually, and He nurtures those things. Stay underneath the shelter of His wing.

Number four, the church is the pillar of truth. And now I want to kind of add to a little bit of what it is to be a gospel-centered church by asking you to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15. This is probably the essential part of what a true gospel church is today. If the church are those who are saved and sanctified and are cherished by God, then what does the church do? What do we primarily do? What are we all about? What is the main emphasis behind what we do? In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15, "But in case I am delayed, I write so that" — again I love that, "so that" — "I write so that you will know how you ought to conduct yourself in the household of God." Okay? So God's household is the subject at hand, and then he goes further to say, "which is the church of the living God." We've discussed the church as those who are saved and being sanctified and are cherished by God. Now look at this. What is the church? "The church is the pillar and the support of the truth." The pillar and the support of the truth. We are all about truth. We support the truth. We stand up for the truth. We spread the truth. We study the truth. We separate from non-truth and we worship in truth.

We worship in truth, John 4:24. We study the truth, 2 Timothy 2:15. We spread the truth, Matthew 28:18-19. We stand up for the truth, 1 Timothy 3:15. We are all about the truth. We must be pillars of truth. The word pillar means to prop. It means to support. We are pillars, supporters of truth. Peter, James, and John in Galatians 2:9 were reported to be pillars of the local church, pillars of truth, and these pillars have the responsibility to collectively maintain the doctrines of our faith, the truths that we hold dear, the truth of God's Word. With all integrity, we don't back down from anything that compromises the truth of God's Word. On every front where truth is assaulted, we step up to the battle. On every front where truth tries to compromise and get into the church and whittle away and chip away at what truth is, we address it. We don't back down from anything. We stand up for righteousness because Satan only needs a little crack in the door to get in here and weasel his way in.

And in our text in Ephesians, I'm just going to tell you this: Satan has devoured churches by empowering women to be in leadership over elders in our recent decades. Satan has torn churches apart by these different ideologies of what a family is, what a marriage is. He's gutted the strength of a local church. He's gutted the strength of a man and his leadership. Men don't come to sit and stay like a Labrador. Men show up to be a part of a mission, and when you tell a man to sit, "I've got it all under control, there's nothing here for you to do," you've just crippled him. You've gutted him. A man has been made by God to conquer, to be on mission, to do things. And so wives and women, you need to encourage that and support that. The pillar and support of truth. The truth is men are to lead in the church. Women, we've got to build back up our men and lay down the expectations for them to be the head of the household. And if they're not leading, expect them to lead. Do not enable them to be passive in this area. They've got to lead their children, worship God, and pray with their families. They've got to lead their families because the church is made up of families, and men must lead. Satan has really taken his subtle and slick time over the course of our last lifetime and gutted the church of its real strength.

And so, men, we have now voted in a constitution that puts elders into leadership. Yes, it has taken a lot. Go figure. Just to get one little point of doctrine correct at this local church, and an entire coup of people rose up against that one point. Go figure. But we're not given to traditions of men. It's not like, "That's what we've always done." Expecting different results. We are subject to Christ as the head of the church. He bought it with His priceless blood. He's written the how-to manual right here, and all we have to do is read and do. It's not up to us. It's not up for discussion.

And so now I congratulate you as a church for voting in a constitution and bylaws that places a plurality of elders into the leadership role, to guide, to shoulder the doctrine, to shoulder the direction, to shoulder the vision, to shoulder the things of the church. It's God's way. It's God's way. And go figure, we would have an entire coup rise up against God's way. Well, the Lord has refined us. Amen. And we stand stronger because of it. And I'm proud to be here with you on a mission to honor Christ, to reach and to teach people for Jesus Christ. We are pillars. We are taking on the responsibility of standing up for truth.

My goal is simple. If you want to turn and see my goal, in Colossians chapter one, verses 27, 28, and 29, it is to mature you to the best of my ability. And I am going to labor in doing so. Colossians chapter one, verse 27, the last phrase says, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And then in verse 28, "We proclaim Him, admonishing" — which means warning. That original word admonishing means to lay the wisdom down in a heavy way, to make sure you understand. I'm admonishing and warning the congregation what truth is. Verse 28, "We proclaim Him," Jesus Christ, "admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom" — not my wisdom, but the wisdom of God here — "so that we may present every man complete," which means mature in Christ. You see, the goal is to get you in Christ and mature. And then, "For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." If God is not in it, then I can't do it. I need Christ. I know what I'm capable of doing without Christ. It's a big old fat zero. Nothing. And the maturing of the saints is my goal here at this church.

And as we mature and as we grow, we will have a burning desire to reach the lost. Jesus said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. You will grow here and you will become so discontent in just getting that you have to give, that you've got to go. You've got to share the gospel. You've got to evangelize. You've got to be a part of the solution. You've got to get people to church. You've got to get them here because this is God's plan. And so, striving with God's power to be able to mature the saints is a reason why we work so hard on 3D Bible study and getting everybody in a Bible study group studying the Bible. It's a reason why we want everyone discipling someone with a Next Steps book that's available for free in the back. What is it to believe in Christ — chapter one. What is it to be biblically baptized, to belong to a church, to study the Bible, and to pass on the gospel? What is it to do these things? You can articulate these things by grabbing this little book and going through it with someone. You can be a disciple maker. You can talk about the basics of Christianity. You can labor like Paul labored to mature men. You can do these things. We can be pillars together.

It's our goal that we want to be able to reach the unchurched and strengthen the saints. You like that? Those who ain't in Christ are probably lost. We want to reach them. We want to share the gospel, the life-transforming gospel with them and bring them into Christ. So nobody here should be a twig for truth. They should be stout for truth. And nobody should be a skinny little stick. Can you imagine having a stick to hold your weight up? It would be flimsy. No, we want to be sturdy saints for Christ. We all want to be spreading sound doctrine and be pillars for Christ. Titus 2:1 says, "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine."

Yes, you speak, articulate, figure out how you can speak sound doctrine. It's one of the main Next Steps. It's a book available for you in the back. It helps you to read out loud with someone else what the basics of Christianity are. Speak sound doctrine. Speak these things. We've equipped you to be able to go across the street and across the world to be able to make disciples. And now it is your job to step up and stand for Christ, to be a pillar for Christ in your sphere of influence. Sound doctrine. Verse 15 in Titus chapter 2 says this, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you." This is great. No matter how old you are, how young you are, it doesn't matter. Do not let anyone disregard you. The church stands for truth.

Let me ask you this. Do you think you're going to be challenged in this area? Well, of course you are. Have you been challenged lately? Well, yes. Will you tell them? If you've been challenged as to what you believe in regards to sound doctrine, you tell them: chapter and verse, please. Repeat after me: chapter and verse, please.

You got it down. If someone is challenging you, just tell them: chapter and verse, please. We are all about the authority and the sufficiency of God's Word. If you have something different to say other than what I believe the Word is saying, I'm open ears. I want to hear what you have to say. But as far as I know what the Word is saying is this, because the Word of God is our foundation, not our feelings. Feelings are flippant. Do not be given to emotions and feelings. Be given to the facts of what is written in God's Word. Has someone challenged you lately? Well, you tell them. My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Don't come at me with hysteria. Come at me with history.

Tell them: chapter and verse, please. If someone is challenging you, tell them, "I don't want to give in to emotionalism. I want you to be historical." One man said to another man who was complaining about his wife getting all historical. And the husband said to the guy, "You mean hysterical. You mean your wife gets hysterical when y'all start arguing." No, he said, "No, historical. She goes dragging up everything from the past all the time." I don't want you to be historical like that. I want you to be historical like this. When you are able to do that whole iron-sharpens-iron thing, go back into your faith where we're grounded. Go historical. Go with the Bible. Substantiate yourself in the Word of God. Tell folks, we are based upon the solid rock, not shallow reasoning. We want a chapter and a verse. Why? Because God's Word is our guide. I'm not trusting my inner feelings. I want my outward facts to give me objectiveness. I don't want to search within my heart and soul because I don't trust my humanism. I know I've been born in sin. I know I'm trying to be sanctified. I don't worry about what I feel. I want to know what is right.

We are pillars of truth. Truth is objective and it is outward. It is not found inward. But the whole world is telling you, "Dive into your inner self and discover what you feel like is true. What's true for you is true for you." Oh, that sounds really fluffy and nice, doesn't it? Chapter and verse, please. If we can stand for truth, then we're going to have these conversations, and I'm telling you that the evil one is after our children and telling them to be like a turtle and go inside of your shell and look through the inner parts of your self and your heart and discover what you feel. Well, if you do that, you might come out thinking that you're a different gender than what you were born. If you do that, you might find out something else that you think is just ridiculous, because we need to be pillars of truth and telling folks we subject ourselves to God's ways. In Genesis 1, He created Adam and Eve. Those are two biological people.

Guess what? I don't know if you knew this or not, but the most famous atheist in our day, Richard Dawkins, has been ousted by the atheistic community. Did you know that? Do you know why? It's because he is standing up for a biological man and a biological woman according to actual science. Woo-hoo! All right. So if even an atheist, Richard Dawkins, is saying this is a whole bunch of hogwash and now he's been canceled by the LGBT community, can't you see? The writing is on the wall. This is not subjective, it is objective. So we are pillars and we're firm and we're permanent in what we believe and do.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says this, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth."

I'm warning you, guys, people will turn away from the truth. Don't worry, you've been bought by Christ. You belong to Christ. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting Him. You're just doing your job by being a truth teller. There's a time and it's going to come — perhaps it is now — where people will not endure sound doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:3-4. I believe they were talking about their own lifetime, but boy, it sure applies today. People wanting their ears to be tickled. "Don't tell me what the Bible says. I want to do what I feel like is right. Don't tell me what the Bible says. I want to do what I've always done. Don't change the church, keep the Constitution the same and let me do what I want to do, what I've always been doing." Guys, that's heresy. That is making you at the center of all things and displacing Christ as the head of the church. And so we have fought the good fight, we have prevailed, and now we are biblical and becoming more and more biblical. It doesn't bother me to be opposed because the Bible says that's what's going to happen. And I pray that your resolve steps up to the plate in the same ways.

Because we have a government that's going to be saying to you, "Do not proselytize in your job places. Do not try and convert people to a different persuasion or opinion. That's illegal." You're going to have people breathing down your neck trying to tell you that you can't do these things. The same old lie has happened with the separation of church and state. Do you realize that the church tells the government what they are about and what they are able to do? It's the church of God that instructs the government as to how they are to be. But when the church is silent on governmental or political things, then what happens? The government overtakes and overreaches. And so we must be pillars of righteousness, pillars of truth. We must be able to read the Bible and instruct and guide and live out our faith. We must be pillars.

What happens if you stand for truth and what happens if you continue to be faithful? You have got to see this. Please hang with me for just a little bit longer. Turn to the book of Revelation chapter 3, verse 12. A pillar is firm and permanent in position and stands for truth. In Revelation chapter 3, verse 12, this is an amazing verse because pillars of truth overcome. God does something for those Christians far and above your mediocre Christians or your chameleon-like Christians or your passive Christians.

Look at this in Revelation chapter 3, verse 12: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar." Okay? Do you consider yourself a pillar for truth? There's something in this verse that is going to be a blessing to you above all blessings. I don't even comprehend it, but I know one thing's for sure, I'm striving for it. "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God." Okay? So you're in the church to come. Not only that, "and he will not go out from it anymore." And I — here it is, how precious is this? I can't even comprehend it — "and I will write on him the name of my God." What does it mean to have God's name written on you?

No tattoo compares. No marking compares. No bracelet of identity compares. No necklace. No ID card. Nothing compares to having God separate you and Him, to write His name on you.

Will it be on your forehead? I don't know. Will it be loud and proud across your chest, on your hand, on your back? I don't know. But I know one thing's for sure, I'm striving for this mark.

I want to be a pillar. I want to continue in the Word to the point where God writes on me His name. "In the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my new name." His new name on us. I can't even comprehend it. But I know one thing's for sure: dynamic are those who dedicate themselves to Jesus Christ as a disciple.

It's not average. It's not mediocre. It's not haphazard. It's not a life of leisure.

You're going to get off the couch because people are dying and going to hell. And you're going to stand for truth in the local church.

The church, the church, the true church, seriously is unconquerable. You need to get who you are in Christ. You are in Christ an unconquerable one. Matthew 16:18 says, "I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." No liberal government, no woke government, no military, no legislation, no police force can conquer the local church. Those entities have come and gone through history, but the church still stands. The church is unconquerable. Christ is far above all principalities and power and might and dominion. All things are under His feet. He is the head over all things to the church, which is His body, Ephesians 1:19 and following. So the church, you are unconquerable. John 14:19 says, "Because I live, you also will live." The church is indestructible according to Hebrews 7:16.

Now listen to this. We need a true church reformation. We need true Christians to stand up and be part of a new reformation. We need the true church in our country to speak up before we lose our country. We need Christians to stand up in their communities and do what's right and do all that they can while they can. How do we do this? How do you as a church be part of a reformation? We have seen in times past a Protestant reformation. We need a church reformation. We need churches to be filled with Christ-honoring, dedicated Christians again. We need preachers to be part of God and not psychology. We need worship leaders to lead in theologically sound hymns and not try to entertain you and lull you to death. We need people who are dedicated to Christ. How do you do that?

Well, holiness must be prioritized, not marginalized. Sin must be handled with grace and not swept underneath the rug, which is a disgrace. We need love to be defined by scriptural authority, not defined by an emotional society. We need sound biblical doctrine to be preached, not subjective individual dogmas screamed at us from the streets. We don't need a new agenda. We need to be faithful to an old formula. We need the scriptural tenderness and love and the care, and we also need spiritual warfare. We need Christians who are willing to suffer and not Christianettes who need to be pampered. Suffering is our calling. That's how God does it, through the weakness of the saints. We embrace these things and God has His will in His way according to 2 Timothy 2:3. We don't need prayer babblers. We need prayer warriors. We don't need shy listeners. We need bold ambassadors. Ephesians 6:20. It all starts with a gospel-centered church. Are you with me?

C.T. Studd said it best in the 1800s when he said, "We have only one life to live and soon we'll pass, and only what's done for Christ will last." Who would waste their life outside of the church? I'm calling us to come to Christ. If you are not saved, if you're not being sanctified, come to Christ. I'm calling us: come to the church. Be a part of the sanctifying battle here, not only with yourselves but with the world. Join the battle. Join the fight. Be fully engaged. Say no to the world. Come to Christ. Come to Jesus. If you're not saved, repent and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15 says Jesus said, "Repent." Repent of your sin. Repent of the things that keep you away from Christ. Repent of the things that are dishonoring to Him. Repent. Say, God, I'm sorry. Turn from your wicked ways. We're wretched. We're born in sin. We need to turn and repent and come to Christ. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest." The word rest means that now you're at peace with Christ. You're no longer a child of wrath. You're no longer underneath the eternal wrath of God. You're a child of rest and peace. You don't have to worry about eternity. It's sealed. It's signed.

Guys, if you're not part of the church, if you're not saved, if you're not being sanctified, if you're not being cherished by God, if you're not standing up for truth, I'm calling you: come to Christ. I'm going to pray it's your time to reconcile with Christ. The ministry of reconciliation belongs to us all, but I have distributed to you right now and it rests upon your shoulders. If you are not in Christ, the invitation from Jesus is to come to Christ, be a part of this church, and win souls and see them for eternity. Pray with me if you would.

Father, we do love You and we thank You for this time, this precious time on Your day, the Lord's day, to worship You in truth and in spirit. God, I pray that if You see any lost souls in here today that You'd save them, grant them repentance, give them faith to turn from their wicked ways and to believe that You died on the cross for their sins. You paid the payment. You are the substitutionary payment for their errors. God, what a gift that You have given humanity to be able to place their faith and trust by faith in You and Your finished work on the cross. God, none of our works can amount to anything in regards to saving a soul. Nothing we say or do amounts to anything. It's all a work of You. And I pray, Lord, as perhaps someone would turn from their wicked ways to acknowledge that they have broken Your holy law — they've lied, they've fornicated, they've coveted in one way, shape, or form, whether it's small or big, makes no nevermind to You, because Your priceless blood paid for it all on the cross. And now, Lord, as that atonement is applied to the sinner's debt and You save their soul, God, I pray that their life would be changed in such a way that it is so obvious to those around them and so glorious that You've changed their mind, their motives, and their mission. They're no longer about themselves. They're all about You. God, only You could do that. And we're dependent upon You to work, to draw souls by the power of Your Holy Spirit unto repentance and salvation. Father, continue to work a glorious work through this dear, faithful congregation we ask, and it's in Jesus' precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.