You can turn in your Bibles to John chapter 10, please. John chapter 10. We're actually going to read a portion of John chapter 10 and then a portion of John 17 as we consider this morning the attributes of the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The attributes of the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We're going to read John chapter 10, 14 to 16, and then John 17, 15 to 23. So, John chapter 10, beginning at verse 14. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd." John 17, beginning at verse 15. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
Amen. Well, let's open again with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you again for this time to be together as your people. We pray, Lord God, that we would now prepare our hearts to consider your holy word, Lord God, knowing that it is not just a dusty old tome of truths, but it is the living and true word of the living and true God.
We pray, Father, that you would give us minds again now to consider the weightiness of your word, the truthfulness of it, and Lord God, that we might act and that we might live according to it. We pray in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Well, as I said, we're going to consider the attributes of the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when we consider or when we talk about attributes, what do we mean for the children here?
Some children maybe don't know what that means. It is a larger word. But when we speak of attributes, we speak of those things that characterize, those things that identify, those things that mark something out. When we read from the Shorter Catechism, We read the section regarding God, and it speaks of his attributes, or what Robert Raymond likes to call his perfections.
And it says that God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, justice, holiness, goodness, and truth. Those are attributes of our great God. Well, likewise, there are attributes regarding the Church. There are those things that characterize, those things that identify, the true church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, there was an early church creedal statement that read this way, or a portion of the creedal statement read this way. We believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church. Now, of course, I will qualify that statement by saying when that sort of language was used, there was a seeking to justify it biblically done on the part of those who were members of the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, when we hear that language, many of us who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church tend to back off and tend away and to shy away from that language.
However, one, holy, catholic and apostolic church is a statement that is acceptable as long as it is understood in biblical terms. Now, it isn't just some sort of theological rigidity or some stuffy theological approach to identifying what the Bible says the attributes of the church are. No, these are valid. these are glorious attributes of the church that Jesus Christ shed his blood for. So
Introduction: Four Marks of the Church
we're going to consider these four things, the four attributes of the church, its oneness, its holiness, its catholicity, and its apostolicity. So
The Oneness of the Church
first off, its oneness. You'll note when we started reading our text for this morning, John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus Christ ties his redemptive work, or the fact that he's giving his life for his people, he ties that to the oneness of the people that he is actually giving his life for. The Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. and other sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and note, and there will be one flock and one shepherd." The Lord Jesus Christ affirms, acknowledges the oneness of the Church, His Church, and then also in the prayer that we read in John 17, you have to note that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His prayer to His Father, uses the word one many times. especially in the portion verses 20 to 23. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they all may be one.
As you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. So not only does the Lord Jesus Christ affirm the oneness, the togetherness, the unity of his church, of his one flock, but he also likens it unto the oneness that he has with the Father and the Father with him. So certainly the oneness of the Church is something that the Lord Jesus Christ affirms and something that his apostles affirm also.
Now just a brief introduction or a brief qualification of what oneness doesn't mean, what the oneness of the Church does not mean. First off, the oneness of the Church is not found is not found in denominational or institutional exclusivity. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, there isn't one denomination that can claim that it is the one true church and that all other denominations are false churches.
Now, our minds might be turning. The Christian perversion in history that likes to identify themselves this way, of course, is the Roman Catholic Church. But there are other churches that do this also. They do so wrongly.
They have a defective understanding of what the oneness of the Church of Christ actually is. Again, it is not found in denominational or institutional exclusivity. The oneness of the Church is not found in a perfect business model of church growth. that one church has, and every church is required to follow suit. In other words, there can be a sort of Protestant one true church, but a defective one, where they say, okay, we do everything right, we've got the perfect business marketing model of how to do church, and every other church, if they don't do it our way, well, they stink, and they just need to pony up and follow follow our model, follow our doing of church.
No, that isn't the oneness of the church, biblically speaking. The oneness of the church is not found in some sort of unbiblical unity where the once-for-all delivered to the saints faith is compromised for emotional togetherness or social reform. So what I'm saying there is very often the church or those within Christendom will seek togetherness either with those or with other religions who do not claim Christianity, or those Christian perversions such as the Roman Catholic Church, such as Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, those sorts of things, they'll seek togetherness for the sake of some sort of emotional, spiritual ambiguity. Let's just all love, let's just love, love, love, togetherness, joy, joy.
No, that is to set aside doctrine, that is to set aside apostolicity, which we'll get to later, but that is to set aside the once-for-all delivered-to-the-saints faith for a wrong unity. And very often what another thing that people within the rank and file of Christendom or Christianity will do, will seek to set aside doctrine, will seek to set aside the teachings of our Lord Jesus so that they can tackle a social issue. And while tackling social issues is a righteous exercise, it ought not to be to the casualty or to the sacrifice of the purity of the doctrine of the Christian Church. So those are not, those things do not indicate or do not reflect the oneness of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So what is the oneness of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
What Oneness Is
positively speaking, the oneness of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is a reality by virtue of its union to our Lord Jesus Christ. First and foremost, the Church is won because of Christ. As we work through these various attributes, you'll note that a defection from the biblical understanding of the attribute always comes back to the fact that they have steered it away from Christ Jesus as the source of that particular attribute. In other words, it isn't Christ that is the foundation of that which identifies the Church, it is now something that is external, something that is away from Christ, and maybe only distantly related.
But first and foremost, or positively speaking, the oneness of the Church refers to the fact of the Church's union with Christ. You can turn to Ephesians chapter 4 for a moment. Ephesians chapter 4. If you're not forced to turn there, if you can, great.
If you can't, I will read it for you. Ephesians chapter 4. speaking of oneness, speaking of other things also, but specifically in this context, Paul speaking of unity. Notice Ephesians 4, verses 3 to 6, endeavouring, speaking to the people of Christ, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all." Now, the background of this particular exhortation by the Apostle Paul is everything that he's written before.
Remember what Paul does when he opens up Ephesians, when he draws the Ephesian Christians' view or glance or gaze to triune salvation and that perfect triune salvation. God who chooses, Christ who redeems, Holy Spirit who seals unto that great day. And he speaks about the togetherness in chapter 2. He speaks first about grace, that God has made alive those who were dead in their trespasses and sins, and then he speaks of the unity between Jew and Gentile.
In other words, everybody on earth. That God, through Christ, has made one new man, not bringing the Gentiles up to the level of the Jews, but making one new man in Christ Jesus, saved by grace through faith in him. Well, he gets to chapter 4, and now he's exhorting Christians to exercise a conduct, to live in a manner worthy of everything that he's written about. the perfect triune salvation, the redeeming work of a triune God, and one of those things that they are to strive for, that is to mark them, is unity. One body, one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.
So oneness, not only is that affirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ, not only does our Lord Jesus Christ pray for it to the Father, but the Apostles, by the instruction of the living Christ, Preach it and exhort Christians to seek after it. We have the same Lord, we share the same salvific reality, and we share the same mission. That's one thing that we ought to have in our minds as we seek unity with Christians, unity among ourselves to be sure, but unity with all those who name the name of Christ. We have the same Lord, we have the same salvific realities.
What does that mean? Well, pertaining to salvation, we all have the same things in common. We have been regenerated by the Living Spirit. We have been justified by Jesus Christ.
We are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We will one day enter into glory. We will be glorified by our Lord Jesus Christ. So, we share in the same Lord, we share the same salvation, and we share in the same mission. speaks something of why we ought to be united. 1 Peter 2.9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvellous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but have now obtained mercy." Now, what does this have to do with oneness?
Well, if there is an unbiblical division among people, then we are not doing this job properly. We are not proclaiming the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christians, generally speaking, and as an assembly, whether visible or invisible, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. So there is a oneness to the Church of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Before we move on to holiness, we know from Paul's letters that oneness not only was it affirmed again, but it was appealed to both God and to men to be a reality in the Church of Christ. One thing that's very interesting about these, you'll notice, for anyone who was here last Lord's Day evening, we looked at the perseverance of the saints. And one thing that is unique to that, the perseverance of the saints, the fact that all of Christ's people will endure unto the end by amazing grace. That none will be lost, but all true Christians will enter into Emmanuel's land safe in the arms of Jesus.
Well, with regards to perseverance of the saints, it is a reality that perseverance is true, but nevertheless the apostles exhort Christians unto persevering in the faith. It's an interesting dynamic. Yes, you will persevere unto the end because God is great and he has promised to do so covenantally, but nevertheless I'm going to exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. so that you do not fall away. Well, the same is with the attributes of the church.
Not only has Christ already affirmed that his flock would be one, that the church would be one, but we have exhortations to the people of God to make sure that they maintain that unity. Romans chapter 15 at verse 5. You don't have to turn there. Romans chapter 15 at verse 5.
Now may the God of patience and comfort according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." So not only does Paul appeal to God, but he appeals to men. Remember in that one discourse, not discourse, but when he's writing to the Corinthian church. He's writing to the Corinthian church, and he's appealing to men. In Romans he's appealing to God.
In Corinthians he appeals to men, and in Romans he's appealing to God. in order to maintain that unity. Now, I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, I am Paul, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So Paul's exhortation is not to have these sectarian divisions, not to be divided into these sort of competing divisions of Christians, No, he says, I plead with you, brethren.
Not only does he plead with them, but he pleads with them by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and there be no divisions among you. So they are, and that was an aspect, an attribute of the early church, if we read through the book of Acts correctly. When we read through the book of Acts, what do we find? Well, they prayed together with one accord.
They were gathered together with one accord. There was a togetherness, a oneness, to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God gives us, or sorry, Jesus gives us, Jesus is God, infested in the flesh. John 17, though, when Jesus is praying to the Father, he gives something of the purpose of this particular thing, the purpose of the oneness of the church.
Verse 23 of John 17, I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you loved me." What does this mean? That means that the oneness of the Church, as an attribute, is to be visible by the world. Yes, there is an invisible oneness that we all have, we are united to Christ, but nevertheless, there is to be a visible aspect to that oneness. That's what Jesus just said, that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me." So not only is the outside world supposed to see that these Christians are together, they are unified, they are one, they are to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Romans 15, 5-6, but they are also to know that God loves us.
That God loves us. The world, the unbelieving world, is to look upon the Christian church and they are to see that there is a God in high heaven who loves his people. So let's strive together for that oneness, that biblical oneness.
The Holiness of the Church
Secondly, holiness. Holiness is an attribute of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. From the text of John 17, we get that. We get that.
Notice, if you're there, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is true." This speaks to the holiness of the Church, that the Church is to be a holy body.
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His body being the recipient of breach upon breach in His flesh on the cross, He has breached us from the world. There has been a radical breach by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His saving activity, He has purified a people, breaching them from the world, not removing them away from the world, out of the world to Venus or to the hills of the Rockies, but removing them from the activity of the world, from its fancies, from its sins, from its transgressions, from its dirtiness. He has purified a people and pulled them and separated them unto His use, His usefulness and His glory.
Ephesians 5 verse 25 speaks to this particular reality. When we think of the holiness of the Church, let's qualify it. What it doesn't mean is that the Church obtains by sacramental grace communicated in the sacraments, or grace conveyed in the priesthood, some sort of holiness. Now, why do I say that?
Well, because the Roman Catholic Church, and other bodies likewise, will say that our holiness is accentuated or is made up of communicated grace through sacraments and by the priest. and that's ridiculous. That's to take away our holiness, away from Christ as the source of it, and to put it upon externals, rites, ceremonies, and all of those things. It's not, our holiness is not the acquisition of sanctity by works righteousness. In other words, we don't acquire our holiness, we don't earn our holiness by the performance of deeds.
That is evidence of our holiness, but it is not something that makes us holy. And our holiness is not indicated by a personal or cultic adherence to appearance norms. What I mean by that is, oh, that person's so holy because their skirt is below their ankles, because their hair is in a net, because they have no makeup, and their toenails are free of any color. that doesn't indicate holiness. That is not holiness.
What is holiness? Well,
Definitive and Progressive Sanctification
holiness, or the church is holy by virtue of the fact that Christ has cleansed us by his precious blood. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25, Paul here actually giving an exhortation to husbands gives us something of the sanctified church and what Christ did to sanctify it. HUSBANDS, LOVE YOUR WIVES JUST AS CHRIST ALSO LOVED THE CHURCH AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR HER, THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY AND CLEANSE HER WITH THE WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD, THAT HE MIGHT PRESENT HER TO HIMSELF, A GLORIOUS CHURCH, NOT HAVING SPOT OR WRINKLE OR ANY SUCH THING, BUT THAT SHE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT LIMITS. That is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, Churchward, in cleansing her and in making her holy.
So, when we speak of the holiness of the Church, first and foremost, like when we speak of the holiness of the Christian, we say that the Church is definitively holy because of our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving work. Absolutely holy, completely holy, perfected and sanctified and cleansed by Christ. So, the Church is definitively holy because of Christ's work. Now, the Church is also progressively sanctified.
Just like the individual Christian is advancing in this lower world, but is not yet perfected, so too the Church is, ought to be, advancing in this lower world, but is not yet perfected. So, we have the fact that, yes, our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His work, His character, His person, His righteous activity, has definitively sanctified the Church. Nevertheless, the Church, as a body, as a growing entity, as a congregation of saved individuals, is not perfect, but is advancing, and will one day be perfect. The language of 1 Peter 1, 15-16, carries with it or maintains the language of the Old Testament with regards to God's covenant people. 1 Peter 1, 15-16.
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. So, God commands his people to be holy. Why? Well, first and foremost, because God is.
We are to be God-like, not in our being, not in our power, but in seeking after those perfections and attributes that he wants us to seek after. We should be seeking after holiness. When I read that to a shorter catechism list of the attributes of God, there's a couple that we can't seek after. We can't seek after being, His being, and we can't seek after His power in order to acquire a measure of it.
However, we should be seeking after wisdom, we should be seeking after justice, we should be seeking after holiness, goodness, and truth. There are aspects of God that we have no part in, but there are characteristics of God that we ought to seek after, and holiness is one of them. As He who called you is holy, so you be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
This is John Gill on this language. John Gill, our old Baptist brother, an argument the Apostle knew must have weight with these persons who were chiefly Jews scattered abroad among the Gentiles, and had a value for the Scriptures of truth, and therefore, as the argument for holiness of life from the nature and perfections of God, is strong. It must receive additional strength from this being the declared will of God, even their sanctification on this account. and though holiness equal to God is never to be attained to by a creature, yet so far as it is capable of it, it is desirable, because agreeable both to the nature and will of God, by all such who are truly his children, who love his name, adore his perfections, give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, fear his goodness, and obey his will. So we, as his people, who are to do all those things, who give thanks, who give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, who fear His goodness and obey His will, we are to seek after His characteristics.
We are to be holy as He is holy, because He is holy. So that is actually reason one why we are to be holy.
Reasons for Pursuing Holiness
Reason two, we are to be holy because of covenant promises. we are to be holy because of covenant promises. A lot of scripture I know, but 2 Corinthians 6, beginning at verse 14, We have the second reason. We are to be holy because of God's covenant promises. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Now notice the therefore that is throughout our scriptures, our Bibles. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." What is that therefore built upon, or from where does that therefore come, but the covenant promises in the two verses prior to it. because of the fact of our covenant Lord, because of the fact that He has made a covenant with us, that He will dwell with us, that He will walk among us, that He will be our God and that we will be His people, we are therefore to cleanse ourselves from filthiness and we are to perfect holiness in the fear of God.
The third reason why we are to be holy, why holiness ought to be an aspect of the Church, is because of Unconditional Election. You remember what Unconditional Election means? It is the U in our acrostic tulip. Unconditional election means that God did not, in electing, look through the tunnel of time and see who would believe in the risen Christ and therefore elect based on that foreseen reality.
No. God, according to His love, according to His purpose, according to the immutability of His will and His loving-kindness, chose a people before the foundation of the world to be saved by Christ Jesus. And so it is according to that unconditional election that we are to be holy. We just read that before.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who calls you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. we are to be holy because God, in his eternal loving kindness, chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
The Catholicity of the Church
Thirdly, the catholicity of the Church. One holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Now, catholic, just so I don't scare anybody away, means universal. The word Catholic means universal, so when we speak of the Catholicity of the Church, we speak of its universality.
What we don't mean is this, or, Catholicity does not refer to the breadth of coverage of an institutional church, some notion of an ecclesiastical empire spreading its tentacles throughout the known world. that's not catholicity. That is not biblical catholicity. Sometime in the past, the medieval church felt that catholicity, or moved the notion of catholicity away from biblical universality, and applied the term to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church not only reigned in its monstrosity in Europe, but now it was in the New World. That became the external catholicity of the church.
That is not Catholicity of the Bible. Catholicity, again, is not an external thing. Defective understandings, we already noted this, of the attributes, deviate from the glorious truth that Christ is the source or the foundation of the attribute, and the same is the case with Catholicity.
Biblical Universality in Christ's Redemption
I think a great Catholicity text is Revelation chapter 5, verse 9. Many of you may know what that verse speaks of, what it is, but if you want to learn biblical universality, biblical catholicity, it is Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, but I'll read verses 8 to 10. Now when he, speaking of Christ, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders, fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bulls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals.
For you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth." Biblical Catholicity is that Jesus Christ, by His precious blood, has saved not just the whites, not just the blacks, not just the Native Indians, but every single, has saved a people from every race on the earth. Black, white, yellow, brown, pink, blue, covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now we did say earlier, or just a moment ago, that the biblical catholicity of the church is not simply geographical. It's not just tentacles going out and finding land to gobble up and people to bring to hell in your own perversion of what you think biblical religion is.
That's not catholicity. But there is a geographical element to Catholicity that the Bible, or the truth of the Gospel, has gone forth. Jesus Christ promised, and gave exhortation to his apostles in Acts chapter 1 at verse 8, that they were to go first, or they were to be his witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then Judea and all Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. So there is a geographical element to Catholicity, but as we noted, first and foremost, primarily, there is an ethnic catholicity to it.
Again, every tribe, and nation, and tongue, and people. But there is also a social aspect to it, or a demographic element to it. One of the grievances I find in the church today is that you have the goth church, and the skaters church, and the people who wear pink church, church, and all these different churches that are just appealing to one demographic. Oh, how old are you? 55?
No, sorry, you can't come in here. Oh, how old are you? You're 18? No, this is just for stuffy gray-haired folk with ties and suits.
There is a Catholicity to the church, and it breaks social and demographic boundaries. Not only does it crack out of the walls of Jerusalem, not only is it not just for white folk, but it is also for young and old, male and female, plumbers and doctors, pediatricians and whoever else is saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the issue here. When we apply anything other than biblical universality to the universality of the Church, we steal away from the redeeming work of the risen Christ.
It is Christ who makes the Church universal. It is not the declarations and the pomp of a man wearing a big red hat in the Vatican. It is Jesus Christ who is the source and the foundation of biblical universality, and he did so by his victory upon Calvary Street, when he spread out his arms, when Roman nails were hammered into his appendages, when he died for sinners, when he rose again, when he ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, where he now lives to make intercession for us. Christ's redemption is the source of universality.
The Apostolicity of the Church
the fourth attribute of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fourth and the last, we will close with this one, apostolicity. Negatively, what doesn't that mean? Or negatively speaking, this apostolicity is not this, does not, apostolicity, does not refer to apostolic succession or a visible and traceable lineage from a current ruling hierarchy back through the past to Peter and the apostles. Why would you say all that?
Well, some people, the Catholic Church and others, apply apostolicity to that particular notion. That they can trace their church, their ruling hierarchy, back through time to Peter and the apostles. That is not biblical apostolicity. And it is against, biblical apostolicity is against, on the other hand, a no-teaching-authority-required approach to the church.
Now, what do I mean by that? Well, just as an introduction, 1 John 2, verse 27. Turn there if you wish, if you're quick, because I'm going to read it right now. But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in him.
The Apostle John here says that you need that no one teach you. And so people will go to this text, and as people often do, wrench it out of this context and propagate error, saying that, oh, we don't need the Bible, we don't need instruction, we don't need doctrine, because the Spirit, in some sort of mystical way, teaches us. Well, the Spirit works by and with His Word. Jesus prayed in John 17, thy word is true.
And so while apostolicity on the one hand isn't this unbiblical traceable lineage authority, nor is it the case that there is no teaching authority required. So what is the apostolicity of the Christian Church?
Faithful Adherence to Apostolic Doctrine
Apostolicity of the Church refers to faithful adherence to the Apostles' doctrine and teaching. That is biblical apostolicity, faithful adherence to doctrine and teaching. Acts chapter 2 verse 42, what happened there? Eder on the day of Pentecost had just preached a wonderful sermon.
He had closed it by indicting the House of Israel. Therefore, let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He commands those who are before him to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, then what do we see all those who believe? And they gathered together in one accord, and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers." They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine.
So that is the apostolicity of the Church. Again, faithful adherence to doctrine. The Apostles were the recipients of divine revelation. The apostles were recipients of God's will, His divine revelation.
They, in turn, communicated and inscripturated the word by God's inspiration. And we have apostolic authority, not in a conglomeration or a congregation of men with big red hats, but in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We have apostolic authority in our Bibles, and we are to follow after it. A church can only claim apostolicity if it remains faithful to the gospel and teachings.
Now, we see concern for this in the early church. Again, a true church can only maintain apostolicity if it remains faithful to the teachings of the apostles and true and proper doctrine. We have a wonderful connectivity between the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ before his disciples, the exhortation of the apostles after his ascension, and then the church listening to that exhortation after that particular fact. I'm just going to trace through this, and you don't need to turn there, but Matthew 24, Jesus Christ speaking at verse 11.
Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, will grow cold. He reiterates something of that in verse 24. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
Well, the Apostle Paul, knowing that this was already going to be taking place in his particular time, tells the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, beginning at verse 28. take heed, or therefore take heed to yourselves and to 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. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock." Also, from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. So then we get to the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ commending the church at Ephesus, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. We have a wonderful chronology there. if you will, our Lord Jesus Christ. preaching, foretelling that many false teachers would arise among them, savage wolves.
The apostle Paul reiterates that in exhorting the church elders in Ephesus, savage wolves will rise up among you. The church at Ephesus listens to him, listens by virtue of listening to Paul, to the risen Christ, and they exercise church discipline and they put doctrine to use by testing those who said that they were apostles and were not. and found them to be liars. So, we find where, again, the apostolicity of the Church refers to the apostolic teaching, doctrine, the faith of the Gospel, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Now, this is, you may be asking, well, what is that then?
What is doctrine? What is apostolic teaching? Well, it's what the Bible says. what the Bible says. But I'm going to refer or defer to John Gill here for a moment because he gives a wonderful summary and then we will close with some brief application and then pray.
This is John Gill speaking about that verse from Philippians 127 where the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Philippi because a discord among the believers there. And he says, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. and he asks them, or he exhorts them, to stand fast as one man, in one spirit, and to strive for what? The faith of the gospel. And that faith of the gospel refers to an objective body of doctrine and truth committed to the Church for her defense and for her proclamation.
And this is what John Gill says regarding that exhortation, striving for the faith of the gospel. And for this, in all its parts and branches, believers should strive, as for all those doctrines of faith which concern the unity of God, the trinity of persons in the Godhead. the Divine Sonship of Christ, the proper deity and distinct personality of Him in the Blessed Spirit, and for all such doctrines as regard the state and condition of men by the fall of Adam, as that the guilt of his sin is imputed to all his posterity, the pollution of nature by it, derived and communicated to them, that the bias of man's mind is naturally to that which is evil, and is averse to that which is good, and that he is impotent to everything that is spiritually good, and for all those doctrines which regard the free and distinguishing grace of God, of election as eternal, personal, and irrespective of faith, holiness, and good works, as motives and conditions of it. of the covenant of grace as from everlasting, absolute and unconditional, sure and firm, of redemption as particular and as proceeding upon a full satisfaction forced in to law and justice, of justification by the righteousness of Christ, of peace imparted by His blood, of regeneration, conversion and sanctification as entirely owing to powerful and efficacious grace, and not to man's free will. Of the saint's final perseverance, the resurrection of the dead, a future judgment, and eternal life as the free gift of God." That is a mouthful, that is a lot. Kids, memorize that and go tell it to your friends at school. adults, to people in the workplace, but that is a wonderful summary.
Now, you might be saying, oh, do I need to know every single word there, or else, you know, I'm just a jerk? No, but that is a wonderful summary of what the Bible teaches regarding apostolic doctrine. If you want to know what doctrine is, then you can, well, read the Bible, first and foremost, but if you want to read a good summary, you can look up what John Gill says on Philippians 127. That stresses, that whole mouthful stresses something of the importance of doctrine.
Now, doctrine is something that is often thrown out the window. Doctrine, you know, we don't need doctrine, we just need to love Jesus. We need to love Jesus, but putting aside doctrine is to hate Jesus. I don't need to sound strong and I don't want to sound strong, but Jesus Christ taught doctrine, communicated it to his apostles, demanded that his apostles instruct others in it, and we, by hearing the apostles, hear Christ.
We, by reading the New Testament, read Christ and hear Christ. If we reject one of Christ's apostles, Jesus says, we reject him and so reject the Father. So we are to love doctrine. Setting it aside is to set aside Christ for some emotional sort of Christianity, a spiritual ambiguity wrapped up in a fluffy love.
Biblical love, among other things, is to love the doctrine of the one who is to be loved. We are to love the law. We are to love the doctrine of Christ. We are to be joyful recipients of a communicated Bible and a read Bible.
Protestant Apostolic Succession
Now, one last thing here. Apostolic succession. We just talked about apostolicity. And apostolic succession is one of those things that we say no, because apostolicity was this doctrine, the Apostles' doctrine.
But I'm going to give you something that is a quote that tells us of Protestant apostolic succession. Now, what do you mean? Well, can we trace apostolicity through the ages? Yes, we can.
Do we just set aside the history of the Church and just say, now we are considering and recognizing and owning doctrine and teaching and the gospel, the truth of it? There is Protestant apostolic succession, C. H. Spurgeon.
It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are truly and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make my pilgrimage into the past, and as I go I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr standing up to shake hands with me. Taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren.
I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own Church. And so when we own and when we amen and when we praise Christ for the doctrine that we read in 2009 in the lower mainland of British Columbia, we can with Spurgeon look back into time and shake hands with our brethren. Because the land of the ancients is peopled with our brothers and our sisters in Christ Jesus. And there is true biblical apostolic succession, not men with red hats, but people, brothers and sisters in Christ, loving the doctrine of Christ and seeking to defend it throughout the ages.
Application
And in closing, that is one of the applications. We ought not to, and never should, set aside doctrine. We are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude set aside speaking about common salvation so that he might exhort the people in his day to earnestly defend and contend for Christianity.
We are to do that likewise, knowing that Oneness is an attribute of the Church we are to seek for unity. We are to set aside selfishness, set aside greed, and we are to work unto a unity, and we are to love our brethren. Knowing that an aspect of the Church is holiness, what are we to do? Well, we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
We are to walk in a manner worthy of the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that an attribute is catholicity, we are not to put signs on our doors saying whites only. We're not to put signs on our doors saying anybody between the ages of whatever and whatever go down the street. We are to open up our arms and recognize that Christ shed his blood for every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
And knowing that an attribute is apostolicity, we defend that apostolic truth. We defend the doctrine of Christ. We defend all of those things that we read our brother Gil expound upon. we defend and contend for our precious faith. And remember at the outset I said that all of these attributes are because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
All of these attributes, oneness, holiness, Catholicity, apostolicity, flow from Christ and his redemptive work if you do not know Christ. It is the preacher's wholesome job and it is wholesome activity to plead with you to repent and believe the gospel. If you don't know this Christ, you don't just enter off into an eternal state of indifference, you enter off into an eternal state of eternal punishment. Jesus Christ in this lower world and in this time is lowering and pushing his boots and his bootstraps upon his enemies, upon those who do not believe the gospel and own the God of Holy Scripture.
Christ is pressing down those strong feet upon his enemies. Well, in eternal life, when we pass away from this life and into eternity, if you are not in Christ, you are in a bad place. Eternal torment, eternal punishment, away from the glory and the presence and the common grace of a righteous God. And the exhortation to you, the pleading with you, or the plea to you is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Kids, you hear this very often. very often, and it isn't just the mechanical reverberations of a preacher, it is the genuine plea of the preacher, the genuine plea of the preacher that you bend a knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, because there will be a day when pleading will no longer be, when He will come and your knee will be forced, because it will be forced in fear, will be forced under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will bend it reluctantly, but you will bend it. And you may even confess, yes, he is Lord, but it will still be in hatred. It'll still be at enmity. Bend an knee in saving faith.
Bend an knee believing in the one who died upon the cross to save sinners perfectly and to bring them into everlasting bliss. Believe in him and you will be saved and saints rejoice in him this day and seek after these attributes knowing that Christ is the fountain of them.
Closing Prayer
Let's pray. Father, we ask you that you help us, God, help your saints in this place to rejoice in the church that you saved with your own precious blood as we read in Acts chapter 20. We pray, Father, that we would seek after these attributes, not as simple theological truths, God, but as things that come from the Holy Scripture, as things, Lord God, that flow from the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that each and every saint in this place would seek after oneness, that we would seek after, Lord God, holiness, that we would seek after a universality. and that we would seek after apostolic doctrine and the maintaining of it.
Help us, Father, to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Help us to live according to your truth, according to your holiness, according, Lord God, to all of your perfections. We pray, Father, that you would save those who do not know you in this place. Even now, Father, I pray that you would remove hearts of stone, replace them with hearts of flesh that beat for the risen Christ.
Might you, Father, do a work of salvation in our midst, and might it be to the praise of your glorious grace. We pray these things now in the name of our Savior and our Redeemer and our victor, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.