The Vital Role and Nature of the Church

Now this doctrine is very often entirely omitted in books that deal with biblical doctrines I find it very difficult to discover why but that is undoubtedly the case and yet it seems to me that this is something which is most regrettable because if we rarely are concerned that a deal with the doctrines that appear in the Bible itself well then we must of necessity deal with the doctrine of the church every single New Testament epistles was written to a church and their teaching is so much about the church. [00:01:57]

Our fathers going back to those centuries regarded this doctrine as of such vital importance that they were prepared to undergo very great hardships and to suffer the loss of almost all things because of their concern about this doctrine of the nature of the church to them it was not a something that didn't matter very much that you could regard it as a matter of indifference whatever persecution they might have to India even at the risk of their reliance many of them formed they're convinced Eagles as you know and insisted upon meeting together. [00:04:10]

The kingdom of God is present wherever God is reigning and ruling that was why our Lord was able to say remember when he was here in the flesh that because of his activity and his work she said the kingdom of God is amongst the scum a tongue if I II said by the finger of God do these things then the kingdom of God is come amongst you and upon me he was ruling at that point so that you see if you regard the kingdom of God as the rule and the reign of God you can say that it was here when our Lord was here in person. [00:10:37]

The church is an expression of the kingdom it isn't the kingdom the kingdom of God is a wider and a bigger concept in the church in the church where the church is truly the church the lordship of Christ is acknowledged and recognized and he of reigns there so the kingdom is there at that point well that is the church the church is a part of the kingdom but it's only a part of it his kingdom is much wider than that he rules in places where he is not acknowledged outside the church because all the things are in his hand and history is in his hands. [00:11:44]

The term ecclesia and the ecclesia means the cold apt ecclesia means those who are called out not of necessity called out of the world but it means people who are called out of society for some particular function of purpose they are called together if you like or indeed you can translated by the word assembly now the word you see is not confined in the scripture to a spiritual assembly if you read the account of that extraordinary meeting that took place in the city of Ephesus you'll find it in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles a great meeting took place it almost became a riot from the town clock referred to it as an assembly and ecclesia. [00:12:52]

The church is something spiritual and being visible that is the church as it were now that isn't something visible that's something invisible all these instances I've given me of the church used in the singular are suggesting something which has the reality as a spiritual entity but it can't be see but at the same time the church is also visible and can be seen externally and can be described as existing in Corinth or in Rome or in some other particular place now it's very important that we should there those two things in our mind that the church is invisible yet many facets are visibly this invisible something has local manifestation. [00:24:09]

You cannot be a Christian without being a member of the church spiritual and invisible it's impossible all Christians are members of the body of Christ I mean this invisible spiritual church but you can be a member of that with without of necessity being a member of a visible part of the church you should be but you can be one without the other on the other hand it is possible to be a member of the visible external manifestation of the church and not to be a member of the invisible spiritual church so that you see these distinctions become rather important and they are both to be found in the scripture the church which is his body the church had comings the church had roamed these visible local manifestations the churches of Galatia. [00:25:30]

The unity that the scripture is interested in in the church is spiritual unity that was why I read that 17th chapter of the Gospel according to st. John at the beginning oh how often is this chapter misquoted today people just tear a phrase right out of its context that they might be one lesson and leave it at that and say that division in the church is the greatest sin the ball and so on well we are of course all agreed that division is regrettable season is certainly Sydney yes but you see when that is interpreted as meaning that anybody who calls himself a Christian in any shape or form is one with whom we should be an absolute unity in every respect it becomes an actual contradiction of what the 17th of John teaches. [00:27:46]

The basis of unity must be doctrine it must be doctrinal now I've shown you that already in the seventeenth chapter of John he says now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has given me out of thee for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that out it sent me now those words mean the words about his being the only begotten Son of God their words about the Incarnation about the word being made flesh there are words in which he claims before Abraham was I am there are words in other in other words that teach his mere vacuuming into the world the virgin birth they refer to his miracles because he he refers them himself to his miracles the supernatural the purpose of his death giving his life a ransom for many. [00:31:50]

The Roman Catholic idea was that the church is the state and is everything else but the church controls everything and as I reminded you at the beginning the church did let at the extreme opposite to that is the so called air raspbian view the view first propounded by a man called Erastus whom i regret to say was a medical men i feel i must on some occasion give you the story and the history of the unfortunate interventions of medical men in the doctrinal history of the church they arrest us unfortunately was the men who started this pernicious doctrine and idea that the church is a branch of the state now that is of course the viewer in this country with regard to the Church of England the judge of England is a rascal and most of the Lutheran churches take the same view that you're the Lutheran Church in Germany was arrested and I think a very good case can be made out for saying that perhaps we would never have heard of the man called Hitler where it not for the arrestee anism of the Lutheran Church in Germany. [00:38:47]

The church is now supranational she has our people in all nations she's above the nation she consists of God's people living on earth in States but there they are citizens of that Kingdom which is not of this world. [00:44:23]