“Inquirers’ Class”

(Part 5a: The Church)

IV. The Church.

A. What is the Church?
1. Introduction.
a. What is the church?
(i) The church is not a building; it is a people.
(ii) The word used in the Greek is ecclesia, which means “assembly,” those “called out.”
(a) “This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the
angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and
he received living oracles to pass on to you” (Acts 7:38).
(b) The church is the assembly of those called out of the world by the Gospel and
God’s Spirit to be His people.

b. Why is it important for you to join with a local church (body of believers)?
(i) First, because it is your Lord’s will that you join with a local church.
(a) Elders are charged with oversight of Christ’s flock:
(1) “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of
the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion,
but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with
eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to
be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 5:1-4).
(2) “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with
His own blood” (Acts 20:28).
(3) How can they have oversight of the flock, if there is no flock?

(b) Believers are called to submit to those whom the Lord has placed over them in His
church.
(1) “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as
those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for
this would be unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17).
(2) How can believers submit to their leaders if they are outside the church?

(c) Believers are said to be added to the number:

(1) “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity
of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was
adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47).
(2) What number was the Lord adding them to, if not the number of those in the
local body?
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(d) Those that don’t live consistent with the Gospel are to be put out of the church.
(1) “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already
judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of
our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power
of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction
of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. . . .
Remove the wicked man from among yourselves” (1 Cor. 5:3-5, 13).
(2) “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you,
you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more
with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be
confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to
listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matt.
18:15-17).
(3) How could professing believers be removed from the local church if they were
not a part of that body?

(ii) Second, that you might have fellowship with other believers.
(a) “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
(b) “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of
love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in
spirit, intent on one purpose” Phil. 2:1-2).
(c) “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who
promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and
good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb.
10:23-25).

(iii) Third, that you might be built up by the ministry of the church.
(a) “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge
the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be
ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and
instruction. 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 to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will
turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:1-4).
(b) “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of
John, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that
I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My lambs.’ He said to him again a second time,
‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I
love You.’ He said to him, ‘Shepherd My sheep.’ He said to him the third time,
‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ Peter was grieved because He said to him
the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things;
You know that I love You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend My sheep’” (John 21:15-17).
(c) You need the shepherds provided by your Great Shepherd to help watch over you.
See 1 Peter 5:2 and Acts 20:28 above.
(d) See below Ephesians 4:11-13.
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(iv) Fourth, that you might be of service to Christ in His church and in the world.
(a) “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of
ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who
works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:4-7).
(b) “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists,
and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of
service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of
the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to
be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the
truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint
supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth
of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:11-16).
(c) “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the age’” (Matt. 28:18-20).
(d) As believers do what they are called to do in the church, the church is able to carry
out her mission in the world.

2. An important distinction: the Visible and Invisible Church.

a. The church is a body from which one may eventually be excluded.
(i) “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves” (1 Cor. 5:13).
(ii) “Let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matt. 18:17).
(iii) “They went out from us” (1 John 2:19).

b. But the church is also a body from which you will never be excluded.
(i) “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
(ii) “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).
(iii) “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal
life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand”
(John 10:27-28).

c. How can both be true?

(i) The word “church” is used in two different senses:
(a) Of the local body of professing believers.
(b) Of those who are truly purchased by Christ and placed into His body by the Holy
Spirit.
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(ii) Historically, this difference has been expressed by the terms visible and invisible
church.
(a) The visible church is made up of those who profess the true religion – paedobaptists
believe the children are included as well.
(b) The invisible church is made up of those who truly believe and are united to Christ
by faith.
(c) There is overlap between the two, but they are not identical, otherwise no one could
ultimately leave the local church.
(d) You become a member of the invisible church by grace through faith alone; you
become a member of the visible church through profession of faith.

3. How can we recognize a true church?

a. A true church will have certain marks:
(i) The preaching of the true Gospel.
(a) This is the reason the church remains on earth: to bear witness to the truth of the
Gospel.
(b) The Gospel is “the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom.
1:16).
(c) Without it, there is no salvation, “‘Whoever will call on the name of the lord will be
saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will
they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a
preacher?” (Rom. 10:13-14).

(ii) The right administration of the sacraments.

(a) That they receive and administer the sacraments the Lord instituted.
(b) And that the sacraments are not relied on for salvation.

(iii) The exercise of church discipline.

(a) Those who aren’t pursuing holiness are to be admonished to do so.
(b) Those who continue in sin are to be put out of the assembly in the hope that they
will come to their senses and turn back to Christ.
(c) Church discipline is to restore and maintain the fellowship.

(iv) Can you have a true church if any of these are missing?

b. If these marks are present, what else should you find?

(i) The fruits of conversion: faith and repentance/holiness.
(ii) Generally speaking, the more faithful the church is, the purer and stronger you should
find the faith that works by love. “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification
without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
(iii) In other words, you should find more of the invisible church present.

4. How should you determine which church to join?

a. There are no perfect churches on earth, but there are true churches that worship the Lord
according to His will.
b. You must find a church that most closely approximates what the Lord calls the church to
be.
c. What are some of the criteria people use today to choose a church?