This isn't the first time we're talking about church membership at Gospel City. This introductory message will explain why we're bringing up the topic again and will lay the foundation for a brand-new series by addressing one of the biggest pushbacks some people give - the claim that local church membership is too rigid.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
Imagine with me. if you can... It's our very first day of high school. You've been thinking about his day all summer long. Even if you never heard the saying before that you only get one chance to make a good first impression, you know it to be true intuitively. You know it deep down in your gut that the first day of high school will set you on a particular trajectory for the next four years - either for good or for bad. You got your best outfit on - your drip, right? As the kids say...
You're ready to make a good first impression. But something weird begins to happen the moment you get to school on your very first day, and it keeps happening all day long. Kids are looking at you funny. Some of them are giggling even, and you have no idea why. It's happening in every class.
It's happening in the cafeteria, at lunch. It's happening on your way to and from your locker. You're perplexed. You have no idea what's going on, but you make it through the day. You bust home and walk in the door.
And when your mum sees you, a look of shock and horror comes on her face and she asks, what's that? And you say nervously to her, "What's what?" And you run into the bathroom and you look in the mirror and you are horrified at what you see. You've had a huge booger hanging out your nose all day long, and you've had no idea that it was there.
That's what you did with the one chance that you had to make a first impression at high school. And from that day on, you are affectionately known as the Booger Kid. And you'll never shake it. It doesn't matter if you end up scoring the winning basket in the championship game next day at school, everyone's high-fiving you and saying, great shot last night, Booger. It doesn't matter if you end up becoming the valedictorian of your graduating class.
After you give a riveting and passionate speech at your grad ceremony, the whole crowd chants, booger. Booger. It doesn't matter if after high school you go on to start a Fortune 500 company that's worth a billion dollars, and you also somehow end up winning a Nobel Prize. When you come to your ten-year high school reunion, everyone is like, I saw you on TV last night, booger. Congratulations.
And when you eventually pass away after you solve world hunger and bring peace to the Middle East, old classmates remember you fondly at your funeral that Booger was such a great person. I know that's a lot of booger talk, but I've opened this message this way for a reason. Whether you've heard the saying before or not, all of us know deep down that you only get one chance to make a first impression. And I feel like there's an area in ministry where I had one chance to make a good first impression, but I ended up with a proverbial booger all over my face. Let me explain.
Gospel City Church is only a few years old. Back when New Hope and God Rock merged, jeff and I wanted to establish and reestablish a few foundations for the church right off the bat. The first Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God. He is inconceivably better than anything we can think of or imagine. He made salvation and eternal life possible for us, and those things are only possible through Him.
And we love Him, we worship Him, we trust Him, and we obey Him. That was the first and most important thing to make clear for everybody who comes to Gospel City Church, and everyone has been on board with that since day one. No problems there. The second foundation we wanted to make sure that everybody was clear on. The Bible is God's word.
It is spirit breathed and orchestrated. It is totally trustworthy in everything and anything that it addresses. God reveals who he is in it. He reveals his will, he reveals what he has done, and he reveals what he's going to do. He tells us what he wants us to do.
All his precious promises to us are found in that great book, and we give ourselves to learning, loving, and obeying the word of God. Again, preaching to the choir. Everyone who comes to Gospel City knows this about us and loves that about us. So, no problem there. And then there's the third foundation we wanted to make clear, and this is where things haven't gone as smoothly.
The church is made up of those who belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus' Church is made up of believers from all over the world, and formally belonging to a local church is a big deal. And that formal process of being incorporated into the church and being formally recognized as a member of the church is wrapped up in a practice that we call church membership. Jesus is God. The Bible is God's word.
Those two are pretty easy. It's this third foundation about church membership that's produced a mixed bag of results of responses. Now, some of you were all in on church membership right from the jump, but others not so much. And this has led me to experience a little bit of frustration if I'm being honest. But please believe me when I say this, I am not lying to you.
My frustration is not directed toward anyone who hasn't fully embraced the practice of church membership here at Gospel City Church. No, because the source of my frustration is me. Jeff and I are currently the only two elders at Gospel City Church, and we share the responsibility of preaching the Bible here between the two of us. I was the one who taught our series on church membership, and it was on me to roll out the pathway to become members of Gospel City Church. And since there were a handful of people not picking up what I was putting down for them.
When it came to church membership, the idea struck me that I should go back and watch the content I put out for it so I could see what their problem was. But here's what I realized when I watched it the content is just not very good. It's not super clear. Those of you who haven't got excited about church membership are not the problem. I was the problem.
I didn't do a good enough job articulating the concept of church membership and arguing for the biblical nature of it. Now in my defense, it was good enough and clear enough for people to receive it and apply it and become members and enjoy all the benefits that church membership provides. I can say with confidence that if you're not a member of Gospel City Church yet and you ask anyone who is currently a member of the church what they think about their experience as members, you will get really positive and encouraging feedback from them. Members of Gospel City Church love being members of the church. But for those of you who are not quite sold on the idea of formal church membership yet, I don't blame you.
That's because I blame myself. I had one chance to make a good first impression about church membership and I was the one who got home after the first day of school, looked in the mirror, and realized I had a big booger on my face. And so, because church membership is such a big deal, and it really is, and because our God is a God of second chances, I'm going to give it another shot at teaching about the practice of church membership. Now that I'm keenly aware of how poorly a job I did at it my first time around, I am driven to deliver a crystal clear what I believe to be an airtight apologetic for the biblical nature of church membership. My desire for this series is that everyone will see how the practice of church membership comes straight from the scriptures and therefore it's biblical.
And if it's biblical, that means it's God's will. And if it's God's will, that means it's good. And if I can help you see just how biblical and good and necessary it is to become a member of a local church if you are a Christian, then that would lead you to want to do that here in Gospel City or if not here in any other Jesus exalting, Bible-believing church. Not because you feel pressured to do it against your conscience, but because you recognize from God's word that it's something he wants you to do. Now with all that said, we're actually not starting this new miniseries on church membership today.
We're going to dive into it in a few weeks' time. What I'm going to do with the rest of the time I have in this message is address one of the most common pushbacks that I hear to the idea of formal church membership. And that pushback sounds something like this church membership, it's too rigid, it's too divisive, it's too exclusive. And those who say things like that do so because church membership identifies those who are formerly a part of the church. And it does make a distinction between those who are not.
And some people think that this is unnecessarily divisive to some people. His idea of dividing people into groups based upon whether they are a part of the church or not reeks of exclusivity - an us versus them mentality. It's not warm and welcoming. It pushes people away. It doesn't draw them in.
And I think I have a good idea why some people feel this way about it. I think the idea of drawing a dividing line between groups of people stirs up the kind of emotions that are felt when you see a kid not being picked for dodgeball and they're left on the Israelites while everyone else is having a good old time or someone not being invited to the party or someone not being included in a certain group of kids at school or showing partiality treating people differently depending on whether they have a lot of money or not. Or making distinctions between those who have a messy past from those who don't. Between those who battle addiction and those who haven't or don't. Between those who have a certain color of skin or a certain culture or heritage or speak a certain language.
I could go on and on and on. We're in, you're out. Now, let me be clear. These kinds of divisions that I've just listed for you do exist in the world. We can't pretend that they don't.
But these kinds of distinctions are not distinctions that God makes between people. No. These are man-made distinctions that are made between individual people and between certain groups of people. And these kinds of divisions are not good at all. Sinful man constantly divides and on the contrary, God is always working at uniting, restoring, and reconciling people together.
So, because some distinctions are bad, does that mean that all divisions between certain groups of people are bad are a bad thing all of the time? Should the act of making a clear distinction between some individual people or between some groups of people should that automatically be considered wrong? Just because a sinful broken humanity has twisted and perverted the idea of establishing and upholding proper division between certain groups of people that does not mean that every single rigid line that is established between people is a bad thing. We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater just because there are bad examples of manmade rigid dividing lines in our world today. Because we all know and believe there are instances where it's very good to have very rigid lines put in place to divide certain groups of people or certain individuals.
Here's just one example of a good distinction. It is very good to have a firm, totally inflexible rigid dividing line surrounding the marriage bed. You better believe there is a distinction made between those who can sleep in my bed at home from those who can't. There is only one man that can sleep in my bed with my wife me. And there's only one woman that can sleep in my bed with me, and that's my wife.
There's a concrete line that keeps people out of our bed and that line divides groups of people from each other. Those who can and those who can't. It's a rigid line and it's a very good and healthy line. Now, that's just one example, okay? That shows how good and necessary rigid lines are when they are implemented in a good and healthy way.
But there's another reason that I'm very confident that rigid lines established between groups of people are not a bad thing all of the time. Because if our eyes are open to it, we can see very plainly that rigid lines of division and distinction are drawn all throughout the Bible. First, fill in time. Write this down there has always been an extremely rigid line that separates those who have faith in God from those who don't. Always.
There always has been and there always will be. We see this rigid line of distinction all the way throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I'm going to show you this by laying out a bunch of examples for you. I'm going to go through them rather quickly. Now, this isn't meant to be a deep dive study into each scene that I'm going to show you.
Rather, I'm going to simply highlight each example just so that you can see that they are indeed there. I've included the Scripture references on your outline for each of the scenes I'll be highlighting. That way you can look them up during the week to study them more on your own, if you like. So, let's start at the beginning by taking a look at the rigid line God drew around the Tree of Life located in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were created by God, they were placed in Eden, and they enjoyed access to everything in the garden up until the time they sinned against God by breaking his command to not eat from one tree in the middle of the garden.
That's the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. They could have eaten from any of the other trees, including the Tree of Life, and they could have eaten as much as they wanted to. None of those other trees were out of bounds to them. But when they disobeyed God, he kicked them out of the garden and banned them from eating from the Tree of Life. Now, not only were Adam and Eve not allowed to eat from the Tree of Life, nobody was allowed to eat from it from that day forward.
God drew a very rigid line around that tree that prevented anyone from accessing it. Now, how rigid was that line? Well, God placed powerful angels there to keep anyone and everyone from accessing it. Genesis 324. It's on your outline.
Says he, God drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming whirling sword east of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Nobody could get to it. No one in all of humanity that would come from the line of Adam and Eve could eat from that one tree. Everyone was jannes. There was no way around it.
Why? Because God made a distinction. He drew a line around it. No one could eat from that tree after Adam and Eve sinned against God. Okay, let's move on to our next scene from that first sin in the Garden of Eden.
Things went from bad to worse in the world super quick. It got so bad that we read this in only the 6th chapter of the entire Bible. Genesis, chapter six, verses five to seven. When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the Earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the Earth, and he was deeply grieved. Then the Lord said, I will wipe mankind whom I created off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky, for I regret that I made them.
The Bible tells us that God was going to do this by causing a flood to cover the whole Earth. But then right away, in verse eight, we read, Noah, however, found favor with the Lord. Noah found favor in God's eyes. So, God told Noah to make a boat, a big boat, an ark that would save everyone who was in it from God's judgment. Noah built the ark, and then he and his family got into it.
There were eight of them in awe. They got in, along with a pair of every animal on the planet. And once they were in, God closed the door and it began to rain, and it rained for 40 days, and the whole earth was flooded. Now, can you see the rigid line of distinction here? There were only two groups of people on the planet at this time.
There was the group that was in the ark, and there was the group that wasn't in the ark. Those who were in the ark survived the flood. Those who weren't in the ark didn't. And God made a distinction between the two groups of people. And needless to say, it was a very rigid divide.
Fast forward a few chapters in Genesis and we get to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, I know this is Family Sunday, so we're not going to go into too much detail here, but this is what I can say. Even with all our younger years in the congregation with us tonight, Sodom and Gomorrah had very, very bad people living there. It was so bad that God said he was going to destroy that place. But before he destroyed it, he gave a chance for any good people to get out.
And God drew a very rigid line around that city. If you were inside the line of the city when God's judgment came, you'd be destroyed. If you were outside the line of the city, you'd be saved. There were only two groups of people, and there was a rigid and clear distinction made between there was no third group of people. No one got half salted because they were right on the border when the judgment came, and they were half salt and they're just walking.
That person didn't exist. Two groups. You were either saved out of Sodom and Gomorrah or you weren't. There was no one in between. It's around this point in the Book of Genesis that our focus is placed on the origin of the nation of Israel, the special, unique people that God chose to set apart to Himself as his own possession.
Abraham and Sarah eventually had their son Isaac. Isaac and Rebecca had their sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob had twelve sons. And then God changed Jacob's name to Israel. Israel's whole family eventually immigrated to Egypt, where they stayed there for over 400 years.
They went in as a family of 70 people, and over that time that they were in Egypt, their family grew to be about 2 million people. By the end of their stay in Egypt, they had become slaves of the Egyptians, and their harsh slavery caused them to cry out to God to save them, and he answered them. God sent Moses and God worked his power through him in the famous Ten Plagues. These plagues were meant to show Pharaoh and the Egyptians that Israel's God was God over all the Egyptian gods, and that Pharaoh was supposed to yield to God. But Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, and he wouldn't let God's people go.
Pharaoh kept rejecting God through all the plagues until the very last one. For the final plague, God was going to kill every firstborn son in the land of Egypt unless a household took a lamb and killed it instead, took some of the blood, and painted the doorposts of their home with it. If they did that, the angel of death would pass over that home, and the firstborn son in that home would be spared. Exodus 1213 says, the blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now, that was a very rigid line. There was no wiggle room available in the event of the Passover lamb's blood on the doorpost. Yes, or no? Yes.
The firstborn son was spared. No, he wasn't. Now, that was the last straw. Pharaoh let God's people go after that 10th and final plague. And when the nation of Israel left Egypt, they went through the parted sea and into the wilderness where they wandered for 40 years.
And they eventually took possession of the promised land. And God made a name for himself as the God of Israel. Israel was set apart to Him, a distinct people from all the other nations. Israel, they're the ones who received the law of God. Israel was instructed by God how to worship Him through the sacrificial system.
Israel had the Tabernacle and then the temple, the special place on earth where God's personal presence dwelled among his people. Israel was given judges, priests, prophets, and kings to help lead them in God's ways. Israel was given promises from God unique to them. Israel would receive special blessings if they obeyed God and special curses if they chose to disobey Him. The other nations in the world would incur blessings and or curses depending on how they treated Israel.
Israel was a distinct people from all the other people groups in the world. And you were a part of the special people of God, or you weren't. There was a very rigid line drawn around them to distinguish them from all the other nations.
Now, one of the best things that God promised Israel was that the Savior of the world was going to come through their lineage. A Jewish Messiah was going to be born in Israel, and he would save humanity from the fallout of Adam's sin back in the Garden of Eden, Adam's sin brought death upon all humanity. But the Messiah's death and resurrection was going to make life available to all humanity. That Jewish messiah was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And when Jesus came into this world, God became a man and dwelt among us.
And he had a plan. He was going to save the world, both Jews and Gentiles, into a new group of people, a people that was going to be distinct from every other group of people on the planet. A lot like how Israel was different from every other nation. During his ministry, Jesus said, I am going to build my church. And the word church means an assembly of the called out ones.
Those who come to Jesus and turn their life and will loves to his care and control are placed in a group of people that is distinct and set apart from every other person or group of people on the planet. He calls you to come out from this dead and dying world and to come into his church. Instead, he calls you to be a part of his assembly of called-out ones. Now, there are a host of special privileges that uniquely mark those who belong to Jesus' Church. Here are just a few.
If you were a part of Jesus' Church, you have the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit, and God comes to live inside his people. That's only true of those who belong to Him. You get the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He just doesn't sit in there and lie dormant.
He gets busy. He gets to work. Producing supernatural realities from the depths of who you are. God's presence in our lives produces new sweet realities. Galatians 522 to 23 says this, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
These aren't man-made and man-manufactured versions of these things. These are supernatural, God-empowered versions of love, and there's nothing like it. You get forgiveness of your sins. The record of all the wrong things you've ever done in your life against God and against other people will be removed from you. You get reconciliation with God.
You will no longer be an enemy of God because your sins are forgiven. You will be a friend of his instead. You get promises personally signed by God to you, promises for this life and for the life to come. God says that he's going to do some amazing things in your life, and all of them will come to pass for those who belong to God. Again, we can stop here.
And that list is amazing enough. But there's more. I feel like the Sham-Wow guy. There's more! You get eternal life.
You're going to live forever with God and with his people. Your physical death is not a period in your life. It is a comma because you will continue to live through the grave. You get a new identity, cleansed, redeemed, loved, adopted as a child of the King of Heaven, unconditionally, accepted by God on the merits of Jesus' perfect life lived on your behalf. You get a new purpose and mission.
Do you ever feel aimless in life? It should not be true of any Christian, because now you live to do God's will. Whatever is revealed to us in the Scriptures, we get to be about God's business now, not our own, and there's no greater privilege. You get discipleship, active, real, meaningful training and teaching and encouragement and correction and accountability, and the practical help that you need so that you could become more and more like Jesus. You get prayer that we as Christians have access to God.
We can pray to Him and get this he hears us, and he listens to us, and he answers every single prayer perfectly according to his wisdom, plan, purposes, and power. Now, this is not an exhaustive list of the privileges that belong to those who are part of Jesus' Church, but there's enough here for you to know that these realities distinguish those who get to enjoy them from everyone else. These privileges are available only to those who belong to Jesus and are a part of his church. There are only two groups of people in the world today, right now. The group that loves Jesus and belongs to Him and the group that doesn't.
And there is a clear, rigid line that exists between the two groups. There's no third group. Okay? One of the things that will take place moving on. One of the things that will take place in human history before Jesus comes back and he is coming back, by the way, if you're hearing that for the first time, he left physically and bodily.
His disciples saw them with his own eyes, and he's coming back. That's good news or bad news, depending on what side of the line you're on. But one of the things that will take place in human history before Jesus comes back is that he is going to take his church off of this planet before he pours his wrath out on those who hate God and reject Him. This is known as the Rapture. This future worldwide event will take place in a very similar way to the way God did things with Noah and Lots.
He took them out before his judgment came. There's a day coming when in the twinkling of an eye every true believer who is a part of Jesus' Church around the world will be taken up to heaven. Snap, and we're gone. Yes. And when that day comes, a very rigid line of distinction will be observable between only two groups of people on the planet.
And this distinction will be obvious because one group will be taken to Heaven and the other group will be left. And there's no third group. You're not going to see anybody on that day suspended weirdly bodily between heaven and Earth, floating halfway up and halfway down, just hanging there. You're not going to see that group of people because that group of people doesn't exist, taken or left. That's it.
Two groups. Rigid distinction. How you guys doing? We're going fast here. I told you upfront, we're going fast.
I got a thumbs up on the back. That's good. We're flying through the whole Bible, and I wasn't kidding. After the church is taken in the Rapture, then the seven-year period called the Tribulation begins to unfold upon the Earth. And it will be the worst period of time in the history of the world again because it's in this time that God is going to be pouring out his judgment upon the Earth.
Some people who are left behind will come to believe in Jesus at some point during the Tribulation. Praise God. They're known as Tribulation Saints. But many will harden their heart towards God just like Pharaoh did back in Egypt, even though he saw with his own eyes the mighty power and work of God. Understand, Pharaoh saw miracle after miracle after miracle and he set his heart against God.
People who are left after the Rapture, they're going to see millions of people taken to. Heaven and they're going to harden their heart against God. At the end of the seven-year tribulation, Jesus is going to physically come back to earth and he's going to judge everyone who's alive on the earth at that time, and he's going to divide everyone who is left into two groups. One group enters into the kingdom after the tribulation, the other loves into eternal punishment. Here's Jesus's words, Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31 on - when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another. Just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.
I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take you in or without clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the of the least of those brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Then he will also say to those on the left, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal, first prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in. I was naked and you didn't clothe me.
Sick and in prison, and you didn't take care of me. Then they too will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or without clothes or sick or in prison and not help you? Then he will answer them truly, I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me, and they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous into eternal life. Two groups when Jesus comes back, no third, there's no weird sheep, goat, hybrid animal in this parable.
The sheep who loved God's people throughout the tribulation will enter eternal life. The goats who didn't love God's people throughout the tribulation will go away into eternal punishment. These are just I'm just reading Jesus' words to us. And the line that divides those two groups of people couldn't be more rigid and clear. Well, after that judgment, Jesus is going to set up his kingdom on this earth, a literal kingdom, a kingdom that is called the Millennial Kingdom, because it's a kingdom that will last for a thousand years.
Satan will be bound during his thousand-year reign of Christ, and at the end of that reign, he'll be released for one last time, a short time, and then he will be judged and sentenced to hell once and for all. And then everyone who is alive after the 1000 year reign of Jesus will stand before Jesus to be judged, along with all those who have died apart from God, from all of human history past. All those who have died as enemies of God will be resurrected to face the king and receive judgment. And this is what will happen. John writes this for us in Revelation chapter 20.
Starting in verse eleven then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great, and the small standing before the throne. And books were opened, another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. Each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire, and anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. One book, the Book of Life, and it divides people into only two groups.
Your name is in the Book of Life, or it's not. How much more rigid of a divide can you get than that? And then heaven comes down to earth, and all God's people will live with God forever and ever and ever in glory. And we're never going to get bored, we're never going to get tired of worshiping Him. It's going to be one degree of glory to the next jubilee and exaltation pleasures forevermore.
This is why we long for Jesus to come back, because that's what's happening for us and his people. And those who aren't a part of his people will exist apart from the glory of God forever and ever and ever. The end. Is your head spinning? Okay, we covered a lot.
We did it pretty quick. So let me remind you that the purpose of this message is not to make a biblical argument for the practice of church membership in the local church today. I'll do that when we start this series in a few weeks. What I wanted to do for you tonight was lay a primer for that series by taking time to address one of the pushbacks that I hear against the idea of church membership. Some people push back against the idea of making distinctions between those whose are part of the church and those who are not, a distinction that church membership does make, even though something in us kicks against that idea.
We have to make our feelings line up with what God's Word says. And I think I've shown you tonight from God's Word that he does indeed make very rigid distinctions between groups of people, between those who put their faith in Him and between those who do not. And he has done this all the way from Genesis to Revelation. And church membership just draws those exact same lines. We're going to deep dive into the church membership discussion in a few weeks, but for now I want to give you a few takeaways from this message that you need to leave with tonight.
These are going to be very quick. You can write the first one down on your outline. It is and has always been good to belong to the people of God. It is today and it has always been and it always will be good to belong to the people of God. The enemy is going to try to tell you that it's not good.
I'm here telling you that it's so good. It was good to have access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. It was good to be in the ark when the flood came. It was good to be out of Sodom and Gomorrah when the sulfur rained down. It was good to have the Lamb's blood on the doorpost of your home in Egypt.
It was good to be a part of Israel and to enjoy all the benefits that came with that. It is good to be a part of the church and to enjoy all the benefits connected with it. It will be good to be raptured when the church is taken. It will be good to be a part of the sheep and not the goats when Christ comes back. And it will be and is so good to have your name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
There is a rigid line that distinguishes those who belong to God from those who don't. And it is always, always good to belong to God. Number two, God doesn't leave anyone out of the Dodgeball game. He doesn't want to anyway, because God wants everyone to be a part of his people. He's always wanted this.
He wants everyone to cross the rigid line of distinction that does exist. He wants everyone to cross it and to become a part of his people. One Timothy Two Four says God wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It's God's desire for you and for everyone else on the planet to be a part of his people. Make no mistake about that.
That's what God wants. Number three, your next fill-in. God has provided the way for you to be a part of his people, the way for you to cross the rigid line of distinction. Our sin is the only thing that keeps us out of being a part of God's special people. But Jesus came to take away our sins.
He died on the cross to pay for your sins. And if his blood covers you, god's judgment will pass over you just like it did back in Egypt. If you believe that, turn from your sins today. If you've never done that and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, ask Him to forgive you and give Him your life to follow Him the rest of your days. Do that, and I promise you, you're in immediately you cross the line.
And number four, there's a way to recognize who has crossed over the rigid line of distinction into God's people today. And that way is church membership. We don't have to guess who belongs to Jesus and who doesn't. God has given us a way to know, and that's what this new series will be all about when we pick things up in a few weeks' time. With that said, I'm going to invite Kyle and Maureen to come up and get ready to lead us in worship, and I'm going to pray.
So, I'm going to invite you to pray with me. Father. Thank you for your Word. I just thank You, Lord, that we never have to be scrambling around in the dark trying to figure out what life is and how life works and who you are and if we can know you or not, or if you're even likable or not. You spoke and your word is light.
And Your light penetrated the darkness of this world, and you reveal yourself. Light always shows what is there. And You've shown that you're here and You've shown us that you're good and that you're knowable and that you're worthy of praise. You're worthy of worship. You're worthy of adoration.
You're worth everything, like we read in the kid story at the beginning of our time. You're worth me giving up everything in my life if that's what it takes in order to have you. It's worth it a billion times over. Thank you for just being who you are. God.
Thank you for being patient towards those of us who just keep hardening our hearts against you. Thank you for being patient and keep wooing us and drawing us to Yourself. I pray that you do that with people here tonight. There are people amongst us here tonight, Lord, who don't know you yet. Tear down that wall.
Work a miracle in their soul. Tonight, we pray. I don't know how to do anything, Lord. Say anything in the right way. Only a work of Your mercy and Your spirit can lead a sinner to repentance.
Pour Your grace out upon them tonight. Open the eyes of their heart so that they can see you, see who you really are, and they can know you're worth it. Oh, God, do that, we pray. I pray. Lord, you stir our affections in our minds and get us ready for this series.
It might be difficult for some but teach us from our word more about what your church is and what it means to belong to her, what it means to cross the line into her, what it means to be governed by a particular boundary, good healthy, rigid boundaries around us. For those of us who aren't quite sure about it yet, let us come with an open mind to this in a few weeks' time. And those of us who are already all in, Lord, to strengthen us and build us up in our most high faith. Whatever you do, Jesus, I can pray this with surety. All we want is for you to glorify your name.
Do that here in Gospel City. Do that in the Tri-Cities, do that around this globe. Make your name famous. But the cry of our heart here in Gospel City Church, Lord, is that you'd use us to that end. Wake up people who want to be a part of that group who lives to make you famous.
Do it, Lord. For your glory and for our joy, we pray. Amen. Amen.