Address—Robert Boulard
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Good afternoon.
I thought we might sing number 99 and if I could ask someone else to start that him number 99.
Lord willing, I know it's just after lunch and people tend to get sleepy, so I like to give out of him halfway through. So we'll stand up and sing to him, Lord willing, at about 2:30.
So let's ask the Lord's blessing on our time together.
I'd like to turn to Ephesians chapter one just to open up with my little subject here this afternoon.
I'm going to read a few verses.
And then we'll begin to make comment on some of these words that are used, some of these terms that are used. Ephesians, chapter one.
Verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, or in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children.
Our sonship Jesus Christ to himself.
According to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. According to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will. According to His good pleasure.
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Which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times.
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, or in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things, after the counsel of his own will.
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, In whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.
While I read these few verses of scripture.
Because, you know, I believe that we need to enjoy the little terms, the expressions that the Spirit of God uses throughout Paul's ministry because they are expressions of his love.
We sometimes think of it as technicalities to speak of our sins being forgiven.
A technicality that were justified before gone.
A technicality that were redeemed, a technicality that he produced, he purchased.
Made a purchase at the cross. But it's more than that brethren. And I'm going to address my comments this afternoon with the Lord's help and great weakness, but with the Lords help to all of us that are Christians young and old alike. And So what God has written in his word about these little terms.
Apply to the youngest believer here.
And they apply to the oldest believer, and they are given, as I say, as an expression of the love of God.
For us and the love of the Lord Jesus for us, they're not to be taken as those expressions.
That are just technical and so I just like to bring out some of those thoughts and connection with these things I might say that.
I have been stunned.
Stunned at the.
Error in the Christian world in the Brazilian.
World and the country of Brazil has met with different believers there and at cottage meetings and even in the assembly in different places and.
They don't know that some of them have not known what it is to have eternal security. And so the Lord did his work at the cross of Calvary, so that we would be eternally secure, that we would know it, that we would appreciate it, and that we would thank Him for it. He says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
I was in the home with my wife. I have a brother called Diego, Diego and Regina.
And Diego has been saved since he was 13 years old. And he told me this story. He's 30 years old now, but he was brought up in a church system with his wife, a Pentecostal system that teaches that you can be saved and lost again.
And that's not true. God's Word tells us that it's not true. But I have wondered sometimes, why is it that the Christian profession has sunk to such a low state that we can think, possibly think?
That we could lose our salvation. It's impossible, because what God does, he does in perfection.
And it can never be undone. But Diego, you know, said to me that his, the work in his soul began when he was 13 years old. And so you don't need to be very old to recognize that the work of God is going on in your soul and to search out the truth of God for yourself. Diego was told that he wasn't saved because he couldn't speak in tongues.
And so he said, yes, I am saved. I know. I've trusted Christ as my Savior. I know.
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That I'm saved, They said no, you're not saved because you can't speak in tongues, he said. I didn't feel like.
It was right for me to do what they were doing. And so he said. I read in the first chapter of Ephesians, and this is what he read.
In verse 13, in whom ye also trusted, he said, I trusted.
I know I've trusted the work of Christ.
He said he kept reading after that. Ye heard the word of truth, he said. I've heard the word of truth. I've read it.
I know it's true. God wrote it.
And he said the gospel of your salvation, he says, I know I'm saved. I've taken, I'm saved salvation. That's what it's Speaking of.
The salvation of the soul, in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He said, I'm sealed with the Spirit. I'm indwelled with the Spirit because I believe, he said. I believe what this wrote this the word that God wrote.
And he had assurance of his salvation sealed with the Spirit of God. You know when you get sealed with the Spirit is after you accept the work of Christ and you apply it to yourself. You say the Lord Jesus died for me on the cross. He died for me and I appreciate what he did. And I lay my faith and my trust for eternity upon that finished work of Christ. You can thank Him for it.
Well, I could tell you other things in connection with this dear brother.
But he left that church system. He was pushed out, you might say, because he began to read the word of God. He said, what else didn't they tell me that was true?
And he began to read about the Church of God.
And he had responsibility for some young people. He said to these young people, he said, what is the church? Show me the church. And they pointed to the walls of the building that they were in. They said, this is the church. This is where we meet, and this is the church right here. He said, no, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that you and I are members of the Church of God, living members.
Of the Church of God, and we're members of the body of Christ.
And he says that's what the churches, within a week they had.
Cast him out of the church.
And so he said. I wonder what I do now.
And so the Lord by his grace, you know, if you take one step in faith, well, he'll lead you on. But he began to search for the truth of what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name. He didn't know exactly how to call it, but he got onto a website or two, couple of different websites, and he got onto this website of Mario personas, Evan Helio de la Gracia de Dios entres Ninjutos, 3 minute Gospel on YouTube.
And he heard of eternal security and having your sins forgiven and knowing it.
And he contacted Brother Mario.
The Evangelist Mario and Mario put him in contact with some of the brethren.
He comes to the little assembly. He drives 2 hours to get to the assembly meetings in Sao Paulo. It's a city of 20 million people.
He knows what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name, to have been gathered. Well, I just wanted to express this afternoon that the reason we find ourselves in the Christian profession with such degrees of ignorance as to the work of Christ and the security, the eternal security of the believer is because we don't know some of the terms that the apostle Paul uses in his ministry in his epistles in connection with the Church.
And we don't appreciate it and we don't recognize that he uses those terms in love.
And he uses them that he might stir our hearts to follow him. And so let's look at a couple of them. In verse seven it says chapter one and verse seven of Ephesians, and whom you have redemption through his blood.
Now, you know, redemption is spoken of in several different ways. I think maybe about 5 different ways if you take into consideration the final redemption of Israel when the Lord delivers them from their enemies. But we have the redemption of our bodies in Romans chapter 8. We have the redemption of our time in Ephesians. I think it's chapter 5. We have the redemption of our souls spoken of here.
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And so, you know, it's necessary for us in our Bibles. If I could make this comment.
I may make it again, but when you have redemption mentioned, when you have forgiveness mentions, there's five different terms in connection with forgiveness. Mark in your Bible, which one it is? Is this a redemption of your soul or the redemption of your time or the redemption of your body? And read those things and enjoy them and recognize that the Lord Jesus has told us about those things that he might that we might enjoy.
Those terms, well, to be redeemed, you know, means to be bought back and set free from the power of sin. And I have sometimes used a little illustration and maybe you've heard me use it, but pardon me if I'm repeating myself. But I also have experience with dogs like Brother Steve this morning, except it's my wife that has this experience and my daughter, one of our daughters.
They wanted to have a little dog.
And I'm allergic, deathly allergic to some kinds of dogs and cats and so on. So.
Anyway, they wanted a little dog, so they went looked in the newspaper for a little dog and they were shopping for this dog and they saw the right type of hypoallergenic dog.
And the price was up pretty high. So they said, well, we'll just kind of wait. They looked weak after week, after week and after several weeks. They, my daughter said to my wife, she said, I think I have enough money, I could go and buy that dog. So they said, well, let's go look at the dog. And so they hopped in the car and they went and looked at this dog, a little white dog, a poodle mix dog.
And it was kept at the front door of a house in a cage.
And it was treated very badly, was dirty, filthy, had an injury.
It was a miserable sight.
And my wife and daughter said, oh, we have to take this dog and rescue this dog.
And so they made a transaction. They made a purchase.
They made a purchase, there was an exchange of some money, and then that dog became the property of my daughter and my wife. And then they took that dog, they undid the cage, they took that dog out of the cage and they set it free. That's what redemption is. They set it free from the power of that cage and from the ******* of that old master.
And so.
When it speaks of purchase in the scriptures, it speaks of our transaction that took place at the cross of Christ.
And we came under the benefit and the blessing of a new owner, an owner who loves us.
You know, let's just turn to the Exodus and we'll see the I think it's chapter one or chapter 2 That has this illustration. Exodus chapter 2, verse 13.
Says that the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and they made their lives bitter with hard ******* and mortar and brick, and in all manner of service in the field, in all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. It speaks of with cruelty.
With severity and with cruelty.
You and I were born into this world as those that were sinners of the fallen race of men, and we were slaves. We were a race of slaves to sin and Satan, and it took the power, the direct intervention of God Himself and the person of His Son.
To extract us from the power of sin and Satan. And so there was a transaction made at the cross of Calvary.
The purchase.
You know, I might as well. We might just turn to.
We don't have time to turn to a lot of passages of Scripture, but let's look at Ruth, the little book of Ruth.
Chapter 4, it just gives us a little illustration. Remember, those of you that are younger, we all need this kind of a reminder is that the Old Testament is God's picture book. He uses the Old Testament as examples, little examples to teach us what the New Testament doctrine is. So we have the pictures in the Old Testament and then we have all the writing underneath the pictures.
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In the New Testament. And so he speaks of redemption.
In chapter four he says in verse four, chapter 4 of Ruth, verse four, I thought to advertise. He's saying buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that thou that I may know. Well, it turns out in verse six, the kinsman said I cannot redeem it for myself. There's a lot of teaching that goes beyond behind this. But verse 9.
Boaz says.
He said to the elders and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Killians and melons of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Malan, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. Well, you know.
In the language of Matthew Gospel chapter 13, it says that the Lord bought the field. He bought the whole field and the treasure that was hidden in that field.
Boaz bought a field. There was a treasure in the field.
There was a house in the field, maybe. And Naomi was in the field. Ruth was in the field. Oh, he wanted that treasure.
And he had to be able to have Ruth. He had to buy the whole field.
He bought the field. We don't hear anything more about the field, but we hear a little bit more about Ruth.
She came into the lineage of the Lord Jesus. She was set free from the ******* and the debt that was perhaps incurred, all of those things in connection with that field. Oh, she was bought and then she was set free. You know, dear young people, the Lord Jesus has bought you. He bought the whole world.
At the cross all of creation, he lost it because of sin.
And it came under ******* the ******* of sin, but he set it free. He's going to set it free in the future during the millennial scene, but he wants to set you free. If you've never accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior, He wants you.
To be saved, He wants to set you free from the power of sin and Satan. And to open up that door, I want to just say this.
That he did not work in love.
He wanted that treasure, and you're a part of that treasure. Treasure speaks of a little collection of gemstones.
Everyone of them unique, not one of them the same. And he wanted you for himself. And he's polishing, and he's grinding away and chipping away at the sharp edges. And he's polishing and polishing it and he's putting it under tremendous heat sometimes. But he wants to be able to look through that.
That little gemstone he wants to see a little reflection of himself.
And he's making a collection of gemstones in the scene. Well, he purchased, made that purchase. There was a transaction done. But there's more than that in connection with redemption. He set it free from the power of sin. He set you from free from the power of sin. And Satan, have you ever thanked him for it? Why did he set you free?
Did he set you free to have a good time every weekend?
Did he set you free to have a wonderful career and to live in the biggest house and to have the best of what this world has? Is that why he set you free? He set you free.
You set your affections free to live for Him and to return some love and affection to Him. He set you free to live for His glory in a world that is characterized by sin and rebellion.
He set you free because he loves you and he didn't want you to serve a wicked master. Well, you know he says that.
In First Peter, let's just look at First Peter chapter two. I think it is.
I'm sorry, second Peter, chapter 2.
And verse one, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who shall privilege, bring in damnable heresies, or sole damning heresies, and even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So the truth is that all men have been purchased in this world, They all.
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Belong to the Lord, they all.
Have ought to recognize that they have a new master, but they don't all recognize that they have a new master. But you and I that have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ and acknowledge the Lord Jesus earth our Lord, we acknowledge that we have a new master.
And so the world is not living a normal way. They're not acknowledging the purchase that took place. You and I have the right and we have the privilege to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus has purchased us. Now it says here in verse seven of our chapter, it says that we have the forgiveness of sins.
When it speaks of redemption, it speaks of being brought into a place of liberty.
Because we were slaves. And when it speaks of being purchased, it speaks of our having a new ownership, a new master.
And the Lord desires that you and I would draw near to Him. I want to tell you a little bit about that little dog. Her name is Shama.
She's not alive anymore, but she lived along 14 years in our home.
She never forgot.
That she had been redeemed. She didn't know the term, she didn't know the term purchase, but she never forgot.
She would watch sometimes at the door. When my wife went away on a trip, she would take a day to go down to Ohio, maybe get a grandchild and bring a grandchild up, and that dog would sit at the front door. There's a glass front door at our door.
And that dog would sit at that door.
Well, for two days.
And it would never surprise when the master came back down at the top of the hill, the van would show up. The dog was never surprised.
And that dog, that little dog would sit on the sofa with my wife always sitting.
Touching her side, she kept close to that one who had set her free.
You know the Lord Jesus desires that you would.
Acknowledge His rights, acknowledge what He has done for you, set you free from the power of sin, so that you would be at liberty to be in His presence without any fear. Have you ever thanked Him for it? Are you trying to stay close to that Blessed One and to rest in communion with Him? Well, he speaks of the forgiveness of sins here. This is another term that he uses, the Spirit of God uses in connection.
With our.
The work of salvation.
And it has to do with our guilt. You and I were guilty before God, and we needed to have our consciences cleared of our guilt, and our sins needed to be dealt with on a righteous basis. And so God wanted to have you and I in His presence with a clear conscience.
Did the children of Israel ever have a clear conscience before God as to the question of sin?
They never had a clear conscience. Did you know that the children of Israel, they could offer an offering for sin? Let's just look at it. Leviticus chapter 4.
I'm going to read just one.
Portion of it Leviticus chapter 4, verse 27. If anyone of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty, or of his, if his sin which he has sinned come to his knowledge, then he shall bring his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish for his sins.
One sin.
For his sin.
Which he has sinned, And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and shall pour out all of the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from the off the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
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And the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the Lord.
And the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
Now you know. Forgiveness is spoken up in five different ways in the Scriptures. We have brotherly forgiveness.
Brought out in Matthew chapter 18, it's one of the similitudes of the Kingdom, brotherly forgiveness. And I think Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 speaks of brotherly forgiveness. We should be forgiving one another. We should have a spirit of forgiveness.
But when it speaks of this forgiveness, it's judicial, the judicial forgiveness of God against sin, your sin and mine. We were going to face God as a judge.
We were destined to face God as a judge, and God so loved the world.
That He didn't want you or I to ever face him as a judge. God judges sin. He doesn't pass over sin. And so governmentally, we can be forgiven as well if we sin, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's governmental forgiveness. We have administrative forgiveness in connection with the assembly. But you know, I just want to comment on this.
Forgiveness. Judicial forgiveness.
If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, the Lord Jesus because he loves you.
Never wanted you to feel guilty in the day of Grace.
Because you were a Sinner, He never wanted you to feel guilty. He wanted you to have a clear conscience as to your sins. And so our sins, if you believe on the Lord Jesus, you've accepted him as Savior. He took your sins and laid them upon his Son in those three dark hours. And the Lord Jesus bore the judgment for those sins, and they're gone.
They're gone because he bore the judgment for them and he went down into death. He paid the penalty.
And then he rose again from the dead, and he's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. There is no sin that can come into heaven itself, and so the Lord Jesus is there without any sin.
Your sins are gone.
God wanted you to have a clear conscience because He loves you. He wanted you to walk in fellowship with him in this world and never to feel guilt because you were a Sinner. You were a Sinner. Now he sees you as a Saint of God. Oh, it's wonderful to have your sins forgiven and to thank the Lord and to know that you'll never face him, but you know the children of Israel.
They never had a clear conscience. They never had a purged conscience before God.
Because if they sinned and they offered that one sacrifice. Her brother was talking about the animals on his farm this morning. A little lamb. What did a little lamb ever do?
The man had to kill the lamb and shed the blood because of that one sin. Maybe 10 minutes later he sinned again.
He had to go and offer another sacrifice.
He was never finished and maybe he forgot one. He never had a clear conscience before God. And so they were told in Hebrews Chapter 9 that in verse 14.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Oh, you can have a purged conscience, know that your sins are forgiven, and judicially you will never face God as a judge.
At the judgment seat of Christ, He will never remind you of one sin.
He will never look into your face and say I died for your sins. But that one sin, I just can't. I just can't let it go. I just can't forget. No, he chooses never to remember our sins. For all eternity they're forgiven and you'll never be reminded ever again. Let's sing a hymn. Let's stand up and sing a hymn and we'll continue.
#265.
Someone started please.
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265.
These are Father, we bless thy holy name.
God and found the sand brought us nigh to.
Thee and won the rest of the.
Of glory.
Our Holy.
That's the current Romans chapter 5 will read the first verse.
Romans, chapter 5.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. We'll just stop there. I just want to speak a little bit about justification because it's a legal term that Paul uses in his epistles, and it speaks of a new position that we've been brought into before God.
It's not that you and I are seen in the before God has saved sinners. He doesn't look at you where you're sitting and say there's a saved Sinner. Thank God. He doesn't see us as sinners. He sees us as Saints of God, children of God, sons of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. And he treats us in this way as well. He dislights in us as the sons of God, but we're justified before God.
We're justified by faith.
And it really speaks of being placed in a position before God, a new legal standing before God.
Why did he have to do this? Did he have to put us into a different standing before himself?
As those that were.
Cleared of the debt. You know, we sometimes have heard this term and it's not really very accurate that justifications mean just as if I'd never sinned. It's not accurate at all. Brother Gordon Hail used to tell us. Often times God never pretends.
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About such a thing use sin and I sin, and God never pretends that we didn't sin. But he knows that that work of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary is so sufficient that the blood of His Son was shed to cleanse away all of our sins. And it permits Him on a righteous basis to put us into a new legal standing, a new position before Him as those that are justified.
And so we are no longer guilty because we're forgiven.
He forgives us because he loves us.
And He wants us to know his heart, and so he justifies us as well. He gives us a new standing, a new position before Him in love because He desires us to.
Enjoy that relationship that we have with him and so that's why it speaks here of joy. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God and we have peace with God in verse five chapter 5 verse one and so it speaks of our position as those their sons were brought into a new relationship were brought into the relationship of the family of God and then it also speaks a little bit further on I think it's.
Chapter 5 of justification of life in verse 18, he says in verse 18, Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment, one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, Even so the righteousness of one, the free gift, came upon all men unto justification of life. So we have a new life.
We're part of a new creation race, as we've been saying in the Reading meetings, but we also have a new life.
We have justification of life. We don't need to live the way we lived before.
We have new standing before God. We have a new life that we can live before Him. It's a wonderful thing. Why does He tell us about this?
Because he loves us.
He wants to have that relationship with you and I as sons, children of God, to know the love behind that work that was accomplished, the cross of Calvary. And he uses all these terms to make sure that we understand that we can never lose our salvation. We can never fall out of favor before Him. We're brought into a place of blessing and favor before Him and a standing that is inalterable.
You can't alter it. And if I could put it this way, reverently, reverently, God himself can't alter it. We're justified. He doesn't forget our sins. He can't forget. But you know, he has the power never to remember those sins ever again. And he says that they're forgiven. And on the basis of that work, he can forgive the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Well, let's look at one more.
Term that he uses in. We were Speaking of it a little bit in Second Corinthians. Let's turn back to a chapter 5.
Two Corinthians, chapter 5.
Verse 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, creature, or new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
He set us in a new place of blessing, justified us, and so we find ourselves in a new position of blessing and favor before him. But we're also reconciled to God. You know, when it speaks of reconciliation, it speaks of it's a term that the Spirit of God uses to remind us that we were once enemies of God.
And man is born into this world.
And he's an enemy of God from birth.
An enemy.
And you might say, well, what did God ever do to man?
What did God ever do to man to deserve this? He did nothing to deserve it. And God doesn't need to be reconciled to man. Man needs to be reconciled to God. I think our brother Vern brought that out yesterday and needs to be reconciled to God. And so we are ambassadors. We ought to be ambassadors. Sometimes we're pretty poor ambassadors because we forget why we're here and we start to involve ourselves in the.
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Political world and all those sorts of things. The we involve ourselves in this world that cast out and crucified the Lord Jesus.
But the Lord Jesus tells us, the Spirit of God tells us here that we're.
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by.
Jesus Christ, you know, there are people that are going to pass out of this scene, out of this world, and have passed out of this world and gone into lost eternity and they'll never be reconciled to God.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin, and God sent His Son into this world that His love might be manifested at the cross of Calvary. He proved His love. It says in Isaiah chapter 4 or chapter 5. What more could have been done to my vineyard? The children of Israel didn't know what more could have been done?
We know what more could have been done. The Lord Jesus was sent. God sent his Son.
And God wanted to have a relationship with you individually. He wanted to reconcile man to himself, and he didn't want you and I to feel ill at ease at all. And so he uses this term reconciliation.
And it's a term that he uses that to express the fact that we are no longer at enmity with God, we're no longer enemies with God after we're saved.
Now we have an old nature. We still have the flesh in US, and that flesh wars against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh, we're told, and there's a battle going on sometimes.
But the fact is that God sent the Lord Jesus into this world.
And one of the purposes was that you might be set free from the power of sin and Satan.
And that you might be reconciled to himself that there might be no.
Animosity whatsoever between yourself and God, and not only that, but that you would enjoy being in the presence of the Lord.
Can you imagine? You and I are here at this weekend at this Bible conference and I trust everyone here that knows the Lord Jesus as Savior is rejoicing at the privilege of being in the presence of the Lord and reading some passages of scripture, reading about the love of God and being instructed and being encouraged and the things of God.
We enjoy being in the presence of the Lord.
We no longer have fear. We're no longer at enmity with God.
Why did he tell us?
Why did he do it?
Because he loved us.
Did you ever thank God for that work of Christ on the cross?
To reconcile you.
Christ came into the world to reconcile you.
Unto God.
So that you wouldn't be an enemy of God, So that you would be one of His children, That you would be set at liberty in His presence and enjoy His company.
Well, let's just look at a couple of other passages of Scripture.
Like to switch gears a little bit? Let's look at Matthew's Gospel chapter 18.
I'd like to read verse 20.
Matthew 18 verse 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I.
In the midst of them. And then let's just turn back to Ephesians chapter 4.
And, umm.
Let's read from verse one. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of vocation, wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called, in one hope of your calling. 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
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Well, I just want to make this comment in connection with the love of Christ.
It speaks of him having a church.
And it says in Ephesians chapter 5 it says Christ also loved the church.
And gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself. A glorious church.
Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
And it says in Matthew chapter 16, it says I will build.
My church and so we have identified in the Scriptures in the New Testament something that was new that the Lord Jesus was going to do, and that is that he was going to build his church. And we have little different figures in the passages of Scripture in connection with the church. We have the church presented it speaks of.
I think the term means the called out ones and so.
He has one church. It speaks of it in a couple of different manners. We know that the church universally includes all believers.
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He's only got 1 Church, but then there's a local aspect. And so he raises up testimonies in different places, and he gathers by his Spirit to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Little testimonies gathered to his precious name.
Because of his love, he bought the church. He paid that price, he redeemed the church. He's let's just. I don't want to misquote here.
It says Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He gave himself for it. He loves his church, He nourishes it, He cherishes it. It says a little bit later on in verse 29.
In a future day, he's going to present it to himself.
And so he uses some different terms in connection with our collective responsibility.
In the day that we live in, and it says that the Lord Jesus was going to build the church.
You and I are not building it. Christ is building the church, and you and I are members too. He speaks of being members of the body of Christ.
He speaks of these terms and he uses these little terms.
Paul uses them in his ministry to give us little distinctions of the blessedness of the place that we've been brought into.
As those that belong to the Lord Jesus.
And so we're a part of the church. He has one church. He also uses the figure of a bride.
He's only got 1 bride. He'll have one bride for all eternity. He's going to have that heavenly company composed of all of those that are a part of the church. He's going to bring them into His presence. Why? Why does He tell us these things? It's because of His love for us.
You know, I think sometimes we have the feeling that Paul was a very hard man and Paul wasn't.
Very soft or tender hearted perhaps, that we we think. But you know, I've enjoyed looking in the passages of the Scripture, in particular in the book of the Acts and in some of the epistles he mentions as well. And he mentions his tears.
We're talking about a man who was the focus of God's energy in the Christian world at the time of the beginning of the church, and he shed tears.
Because he loved the Saints, and he wanted them to know how much they were loved of the Savior.
I want to just make this little comment that I would like to suggest that we study some of those little expressions that the Word of God uses in connection with the Church, the Bride, the body of Christ.
And he uses other figures. He uses the temple where our bodies are, the temple of the Holy Ghost. He speaks of a Pearl of great price in Matthew chapter 13.
Research those little expressions and enjoy them. Don't just know them, but enjoy them and think of the love of the Savior behind that expression. Why does he say he bought that one Pearl of great price?
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It speaks of a Pearl because, you know, you and I are gathered out of this world, out of this Gentile world, out of the sea. That's where the oyster grows. He grows in the sea, and it's formed in a time of suffering. And we're suffering in this scene, and the church is being formed in a scene of suffering. And when it's complete, it's going to be viewed by Christ as a Pearl, an object of preciousness exceeding.
And there's only one Pearl just like that. It's going to be the church. And he loves the church. It's an object of preciousness. So you and I, the Spirit of God, communicates this, that you and I are objects of the preciousness of the heart of Christ. Collectively, yes. But even as a treasure collectively, you and I are precious to the heart of God, to the heart of the Lord Jesus.
And so.
We have 52 weeks in a year.
I would just like to suggest that we study perhaps for.
I would just suggest in your own personal life, have your personal reading in the scriptures, but study one of those little terms, 11 little term a week, let's say the forgiveness of sins.
Or forgiveness, The word forgiveness and how it's used in the scriptures and the five different ways that's used.
Right down the list. Make a list of those.
Passages of Scripture that use that term and discover where it speaks of the judicial forgiveness of sins, the governmental forgiveness of sins in connection with David and his sin with Bathsheba. He was governmentally forgiven. He had to suffer the consequences of his sin, but he was governmentally forgiven. I just want to suggest that we learn these terms.
So that we're not ignorant of what the work of Christ, the value of the work of Christ, and that we have an appreciation for the expression of His love in telling us, giving us these expressions.
And so that we might never be ignorant of the fact that He saved us, and by grace were saved and we know it.
I'll just give you 1 little story just before we close.
Years ago I had a man come into my office.
Who is a supplier of ours?
I used to keep a Bible beside my computer and I was in management, so I had that liberty. Perhaps you don't have that liberty, but I kept the Bible in my office and by the grace of God, if I had opportunity, I tried to be a little bit of an ambassador for Christ. I'm not a good example, but this man came into my office one day. His name is Dan Strong.
And he closed the door to my office.
And he was weeping.
A grown man, 54 years old, and he was weeping, and in his hand he had a letter from his daughter.
I had been speaking with this man on and off for 9 years about his soul. He was brought up Roman Catholic. He was still technically a Roman Catholic.
And he had a letter from his daughter. His daughter had written him a letter, she said. And he showed me the letter and it says, Daddy, I got saved.
And she told them a little bit of the love of the Savior, and she gave them a Bible as a present.
And he was weeping, he said. What does she mean by being saved?
He says I don't understand the term. Tell me what the term means to be saved.
And we sat down and we went over some passages of Scripture and spoke of the salvation of God, to be eternally saved from the judgment of a holy God and to know it, and went through passage of the Scripture. And then I needed to get a vehicle down South about 20 minutes away, and so I needed a ride. And he gave me a ride and we spoke about the Lord as we drove along.
And that man, that rainy Friday afternoon.
In Mount Eaton, OH decided that he would not get out of his car until he too could say I'm saved.
And that Friday afternoon, he took Christ as a Savior and he said, when he called me, he says I'm saved. And I know what it means, I'm saved. I just want to say, dear brethren, let's use these terms accurately. Let's use these terms with affection. And let's remember that the Lord Jesus didn't tell us these things to be technically correct or technically accurate in our expressions with one another.
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But that we would appreciate the love behind the work of Calvary and appreciate the love in these expressions. Let's let's just ask Lords blessing.