What Does The Bible Say?
30 Minute Discussions Of Bible Subjects
What Does The Bible Say?
What Does the Bible Say About Christ's Church or Men's Churches #4?
Arnie, Fred and Glenn continue their discussion of what the Bible says about Christ's Church or men's churches. In this episode, we begin our discussion about the membership of Christ's Church. We begin by noting what Peter said about the saved when he preached the first gospel sermon on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. We next look at what Jesus said that individuals who heard the gospel were required to do. We return to Acts chapter 2 to note that some of those who heard Peters sermon that were convicted of having Jesus crucified, wanted to know what they must do because of what they did. We talk about his answer. There was an Ethiopian eunuch, a proselyte Jew, who was returning to his home country that Philip was sent by the Holy Spirit to teach. He was reading from Isaiah chapter 53 and invited Philip up into his chariot to learn what it meant. We note what Philip told him and what the eunuch said and did. We next move on to talk about the name Christian and when it was applied to Christ's disciples. We close out this episode by looking at how long Christ's Church and words will last. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.
This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ, meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com.
Arnie:Oh, good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke with the scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com. Woodland church of Christ in Sumter, South Carolina and and with me are Glenn Landrum and Fred Gosnell. And we want to talk about the Bible a little bit here. We've been discussing a number of of topics, and if this is your first time with you, we're just familiarize you with the fact that we meet on the Lord's Day at 3370 Broad Street extension in Sumter, South Carolina. You can either visit us there for worship service or Bible class, or you can, you can contact us on on the phone, 803-840-6693, and you could send us a card at Box 3171 in zip code, 29150, we'd be glad to hear from you. If you have questions, we'd be glad to honor those and and give you a Bible lesson. Glenn, I think that we had ended up last week's session, we had read very quickly from Acts chapter two. Is that where we need to start again? This, this this week?
Glenn:Yes, that's correct. We're on the sub topic, I guess you just call it, Christ's ordained church. Okay, so we talked about, who is the owner, the organization, organization, the doctrine and the worship of the the church. And now we're talking about the membership. We talked last week. We read Acts two, 4, 46, and 47 and so we want to move on now to Mark 16, 15, and 16. And it reads, And he said to them, this is Jesus speaking, Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Our title of our program is, what does the Bible say? And so we invite you to simply read the scriptures that we know we give you. We read them to you, but you can read them for yourself. And if you simply read the scriptures, in most cases, it's going to be very clear what the Scriptures say. And so who are the saved? Well, it begins with this, what we've just read to he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And pay attention to that is a coordinating conjunction that word, and so it connects two things together that both are required, believing and being baptized.
Arnie:You know, if I can just butt in here, the the opposite side of that, the downside of that is, is they that believe not shall be damned. And so what you just said is the only way that someone can be saved, be saved, and if anyone tries to seek salvation by some other means, it's bound to fail. Bound to fail. Fred, you had a thought,
Fred Gosnell:Well, you know, belief is the is the first requirement. You know, if a person doesn't believe, Jesus had said, If you believe not that I am, you will die in your sins. So if you don't believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then you're not going to do the rest of it anyway. So, and when you when we get to Acts chapter two. We've, we've talked about Acts chapter two several times. Of course, that's the place where Peter preached the first gospel sermon. And he, of course, he was preaching to Jews there. That was Pentecost. There was people we talked last week about the different countries. That the people were there. They were from all from all over the world. And he basically convicted those, those Jews, of being responsible for killing the Messiah. They had Him crucified. And so when they finally realized what Peter was saying to them in Acts two, verse 30, let's, let's just begin in verse 36 they said, well, Men and brethren, what shall we do? And of course, Peter then told them. He said, Repent and be beginning. Verse 38, Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Somebody might say, Why, he didn't tell them to believe. Well, they believed because they just realized what they had done. They realized they had crucified, had had Jesus crucified. So, so then, then he, he goes on, of course, the their repentance, their baptism, says, for their mission of sins. And then he says, you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So then he says, For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as the many, as the Lord our God shall call and with many other words, did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. And with many other words, did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day, they were added unto them about 3000 souls. Of course, the the end of the chapter tells us that the Lord added the saved to his church, upon their obedience to what was required of them. So in this case, they had to repent, they had to be baptized, immersed, for the remission of their sins. And of course, that's what that those are the conditions of membership, and those conditions are conditions that the apostles told people, and of course, they got those words from the Holy Spirit who was provided them by by God. That's what the Bible says.
Arnie:Verse seven is the one that I want in. In Isaiah 53 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before shearing is dumb, so He openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was He stricken. Then he goes on to say that He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich, and his death because he'd done no no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Uh, Isaiah tells us this, and then Acts chapter two virtually repeats enough chapter two, chapter eight virtually repeats that concept. There you want me to read that, or one of you want to read that?
Glenn:Acts chapter eight. And this is a, basically a reference to Isaiah in 53 says, And the Lord spake unto Philip, saying,
Arnie:Yeah. Arise, go toward the south and to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is the desert, and he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia and aeunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and sitting in a, in chariot and reading Isaiah, the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, go near and join thyself to the chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he had read was this. He was led as as a sheep, to, his sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb, dumb before his shearers so open not his mouth; in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet, of himself or some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And they went on their way, and they came to a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What does hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down, both into the water, both Philip and the unit, and he baptized him. And when they came, came up out of the water, the spirit of the of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. And that's the long passage, but basically it's telling that that Philip joined this eunuch who was reading from Isaiah and reading this passage that Arnie just read a moment ago, but he didn't quite understand it. And pay attention. It says that Philip began at that very passage and preached unto him Jesus. That lets us know that that passage in Isaiah refers directly to Jesus and what was happening with Jesus. And then pay attention also, when they came to some water, the eunuch asked, What keeps me from being baptized? And Philip told him, says, If you believe it, you can. It's very simple. Philip preached Jesus to him. So therefore he taught the eunuch, how to be saved.
Fred Gosnell:Yeah. And you know, he's, of course, the eunuch asked. Well, what does hinder me to be baptized? So he said, If you believe, of course, then what he did was he made a confession of his of his belief. And, of course, the word baptism, most of the translations we have have the word baptism there, but that's a transliteration of the Koine Greek word, that the translation of it is immersion. So to be baptized is to be immersed. Of course, both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he immersed him in the water. Of course, if you don't understand that, you can go to Romans six verses three through five. And Paul even explains it to, explains baptism to us there and then he, notice what he said to the Romans. He says, Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Then he says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. Baptism is a burial that, like as Christ, was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. So our baptism is basically is a picture of the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. Before we are baptized, we are dead in sins. After we are baptized, we are raised up to walk in newness of life and our sins have been forgiven. We are baptized for the remission of our sins, for the forgiveness of our sins. So baptism, Bible baptism, is when a believer is immersed in water for the remission of their sins.
Arnie:Yeah, I'm looking at Acts chapter eight or chapter 11 right now. Boy, I'm not getting my numbers straight today. chapter 11 in Acts, in verse 25 tells us that, Barnabas had departed to Tarsus for to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year, they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. So at the beginning of the church, all the way back in Acts chapter two, you don't find the word Christian there. It hadn't been hadn't been used at that particular point. It didn't begin until a couple of years after, after that at Antioch. The there were a couple of Antiochs, one over in Eastern, southeastern, what's now Southeastern Turkey, and one also in Syria. This would be the Antioch in in Syria that where they had met with these people and where they were, where they were first called Christians. And that agrees with what Fred was just telling us there about about the name and and using the name in ourselves, the name of Christ, the word Christian begins with Christ's name and or his title, and then continues on after that. So they were called Christians first, and no one had used that term prior to to that occasion.
Fred Gosnell:Well, you know, you know. Isaiah said something about this in Isaiah 62 verses two and three. Then notice what he says. He says, For Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. And so the word saint, the word disciple, a lot of words referring to God's people had been used, but the word Christian was not used. But then notice it was used there in where Arnie read was in Acts chapter eight. But notice in or at Acts chapter 11 said that they were first called Christians at Antioch. But notice in Acts chapter 10, notice who had obeyed the gospel in Acts chapter 10, that was a man named Cornelius. He was a Centurion. He was a Roman soldier. He was a Gentile. So, but then he obeyed the gospel, so he was not, the the new name was not going to be used until the Gentiles heard the gospel and of course, then the word Christian was they were called Christians. If you want to look up the word called, you'll find out that that word has to do with God doing the calling. And one final point, when Peter said in Acts chapter two, he said that they would in, let's say verse, verse 39 he said, For the promise is unto you, he's speaking to Jews, right, to your children, the children of the Jews, and to all those that are afar off. The word afar off, there is not talking about afar off in distance. That's talking about afar off as as in Gentiles, and I believe, and once Fred leaves our notes there, Fred could get lost. But it's in Ephesians, I think it's chapter two. And Ephesians chapter two. Notice,
Arnie:And don't feel bad, because I've had a day like
Fred Gosnell:Notice, notice, uh, he's he's right. He's that. talking about Gentiles here in Acts chapter two, then probably verses, verse 11, Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles. He's talking to the Ephesians here that were called the Circumcision. The Jews were called that way. And then so he goes on, if you, if you read the the context there, when you get down to verse 17, notice what he says, And came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them which were nigh. Those who were afar off were the Gentiles. Those who were nigh were the Jews. So just just remember that when when you read your Bible, and you have a little bit better understanding of what's being talked about, as far as why they were not called Christians until chapter 11, verse 26 that was after the first Gentile obeyed the gospel.
Arnie:The afar off is not referring to distance as far as as far as geography is concerned.
Glenn:So, so basically, we've, we've talked about, now, who is saved. So we, we've, we've learned what, what it required for someone to to be saved. And talking about Christ's church. How long is Christ's church going to last? Well, that's that's a good question. Daniel 2, 36 through four through 44 gives some good information about this. And of course, this is a prophecy by Daniel and. Some many 100 years prior to to Christ. And it says, This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof, before the king, Thou, O King, or the king of kings, for the God of heaven has given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thy hand and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all Earth. And a fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. For as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things as and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet of the toes part of part of potter's clay and part of iron. The kingdom shall be divided. But there shall be in in it's the strength of iron. For as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. But they shall not not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Well, if we do do our studying with, with with history, we would learn who these kingdoms were. Daniel was talking to the to the king of Babylon, and he was the one, first one that he mentioned. And then it became the Medo Persian Empire took over from Babylon. And then the Greeks took over from the Medo Persians. And so they were the next ruling a kingdom. And then the kingdom after that came the the Romans. And so then finally, we come to the last kingdom, the one that would last forever, and that's the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, the church. We've we've spoken before that we have some synonymous terms, the church, the body, the kingdom. They all refer to the same the kingdom is the church of Christ,
Fred Gosnell:Exactly. And of course, what Daniel said was at the time of the fourth kingdom, the Roman kingdom was when his eternal kingdom would be established. And of course, that was in the first century, and we know that that the Colossians were added, were translated into the kingdom. And if you read the context, there they were, they were buried in baptism as the condition of them becoming Christians and being added to the church or translated into kingdom.
Arnie:And and this kingdom is an eternal kingdom. Certainly, the the Babylonian kingdom wasn't eternal, and neither was the Medo Persian or the Greek, or, for that matter, the Roman. Every kingdom that has ever existed on this earth has eventually faded away or possibly even been completely destroyed. But the kingdom of God is is one that's that is eternal. And and I'm looking at Luke chapter one where an angel had come and spoken to to Mary, who became the mother of of Jesus, and in verse 31 of Luke one, the angel said unto her, for, for, Fear not Mary, For Thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest, And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father's David. Uh of his father, David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom, there shall be no end. Well, that's exactly the same thing that that Daniel had had said, Listen to it again. Luke 1, 33, He shall reign over the house of Jacob, and that would be the the Jews forever, as long as they as they last, and his kingdom, of the HIS Kingdom, there shall be no end. So, it's an eternal kingdom. You don't have to worry about whether it will still be active, you know, in the next year, in the next decade, or the next century, or anything of of that sort. It's eternal, and you need, if you want an eternal home, you need to be a part of that kingdom.
Glenn:You know, this was exactly what Peter was talking about. We read this a bit of this earlier in in Acts two, but this is exactly what Peter was talking about. And he said that Christ had been put at the right hand of God, and so he was ruling over the kingdom starting at that time. So we've we've already covered that, and that was when the church began. Well Mark 13, 31, says, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Just like his kingdom, God's words, Christ's words, are going to last forever. We don't have to worry about something taking the place of God's word, because it's it's eternal, and we're not going to do away with it.
Fred Gosnell:Yeah, and all of these things that we've talked about concerning the Lord's Church and the HIS Kingdom, the required requirement for membership, the fact that there's a specific worship that we are to do, there's a specific mission that we are to, that The Church has, that it's the Lord's church, and all of those words notice constitute a pattern. And Paul tells, tells Timothy in Second Timothy, chapter one, he says to Timothy, Hold fast, or hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ, Jesus. And of course, the word form there is, is the word for pattern. And then one of the things that John said in Second, John nine, one of the things he said there, he said, Whosoever transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son. So so we've got to hold fast to the pattern of the Lord's church and everything He established. And if we go beyond that, we don't have God. We have transgressed or committed sin.
Glenn:To add to that, and I think this will probably be the last point we we make. But I wanted to add to that about this, and this about God's word being eternal. Well, God's word is eternal, and God, I think we've covered this before, but I'm going to cover it again. God has told us something about His word, about how we should deal with it. In Revelation 22, 18, and 19 says, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of this prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away the words of this book and of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. Well, God basically says you cannot add anything to it. You cannot take anything away from it. And if you wanted to claim that this only re, applied to the book of Revelation, Look at Deuteronomy, four, two. It's always been God's requirement, not, that we cannot add to or take away from his word.
Arnie:It's dangerous business to to tamper with God's word. We're out of time right now. And Fred, I see you're quickly moving through your Bible. There you had a passage?
Fred Gosnell:I just wanted to add something to what Glenn just said. Glen just said, it's tells us not to add to his Word in Deuteronomy, chapter four, right? And then it tells us not to add or take from it in in Deuteron or Revelation, chapter 20, 21, 20, 22. But, but then notice in Proverbs, Chapter 30, uh. It says in verse six, Add thou not to His words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. So in the beginning of the Bible, it tells us not to add to it. You look at Proverbs 30, and that's in the middle of the Bible, it says, don't add to it. And at the end of the Bible it says, don't add to it. So don't add to it. We've got it all. And it represents a pattern that we cannot change.
Arnie:It's dangerous to mess with God's Word. We thank you for listening. We hope that you have a good week, and we hope that you'll listen to us. Tune us in again, next Lord's day.