The Mark Of A Real Church Member - Pastor Jake Hall

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Well, if you'd turn with me to. First Thessalonians chapter 1,

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

We're going to be this morning. Man, what a what a joy on this

Lord's Day, singing of our one foundation, Jesus Christ, to

look into his word, to be with his people.

There's no better place to be. Amen.

We're going to look at the 1st 10 verses of First Thessalonians

today. And so if you follow along with

me as we begin in the first verse, we'll read this and then

we will look at it in detail against Paul, Silas, and Timothy

to the Church of the Thessalonians and God the Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you.

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you

in our prayers. We remember before our God and

Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by

love, and your endurance inspired by hope and our Lord

Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved my

God, that he's chosen you because our gospel came to you

not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy

Spirit. And deep conviction.

You know how we lived among you. For your sake you became

imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in

the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy

Spirit. And so you became a model to all

the believers in Macedonia and Ikaya.

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and

Ikaya. Your faith in God has become

known everywhere, therefore we do not need to say anything

about it, For they themselves report what kind of reception

you gave us, and they tell how you turn to God from idols to

serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from

heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from

the coming wrath. Father, we come to Your Word

this morning asking that You would humble us, that You would

help us, and You would impress Your truth upon our hearts and

our minds that You may change us by it.

Lord, we recognize Your power in Your Word that You've placed

there for Your glory and for the benefit of Your people.

Father, we ask that today that You would grow us and equip us,

and most of all you'd be honored as we look at Your Word together

on Your day. We pray this in Jesus name we

all sent together. Amen.

Well, if you'll read the New Testament, and I encourage you

to do so regularly, if you read the New Testament, you will find

out. This fact you will find out that

to the New Testament writers and to the New Testament believers,

it was a foreign concept for someone to be a Christian in

name only. It was foreign to them to have

someone bear the name of believer in Christ and not do

anything else with it. It was impossible for us to

understand for in the church to be room for Pew warmers, people

who just come in and they take and they never actually do

anything and they're not involved in the life of the body

of Christ. And so on that train of thought,

Paul begins this letter with to the church, telling us something

that it's definitely going to be helpful for the Church of all

time, of all believers, of all walks of life, every tribe,

nation, tongue, every time period.

But it's specifically to this local body.

It was founded by Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

You can read about it in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And when he writes this epistle to this church, exuding off of

the pages is encouragement, great pastoral care, deep

compassion, love, even patient correction, we see that there

had been a false teaching that had corrupted this church and

some of the. Believers there that some people

were spreading the false notion that the resurrection of

believers had already taken place and we had no future

resurrection to look forward to. And Paul of course correct this

in chapters 4 and chapter 5 in a very pastoral, again loving way.

I mean, Can you imagine being a believer and not having the hope

of a future resurrect resurrection, that one day we

will rise from the grave just as Christ rose and we will meet him

in the air to be with him forever?

That's our great Christian hope. And this church had been

sideswiped with the notion that we had nothing of that sort to

look forward to. And so Paul corrects them.

Paul lovingly points them back to the truth.

But it's also a letter of commendation.

This was a church that we would say was absolutely rocking.

This is this is a healthy church for the most part.

Of course, it's not a perfect church.

There are no perfect churches, but this church very healthy as

Paul informs them very quickly on that.

He always thanks God for all of you.

And he continually mentions them in his prayers.

I don't know. About you.

But if I am continually thanking God for someone I love that

person or I love those people I can get, I definitely can feel

what he is thinking here and what's going through his heart

and mind that the people that he's writing to, he really cares

for them. He really loves for them, loves

them deeply, and he's thanking God.

And remembering them continually in his prayers.

But who are these people? I find it very hard to believe

that Paul is just addressing A nameless crowd or just a clump

of people that he's not thinking about specifically.

Because I know and you know, if you spend time praying for the

Saints of God, there are certain specific people that come to

your mind, aren't there? And there's details that come to

your mind about them, and you begin praying to God, thanking

God for that person or those people specifically, don't you?

So who's he addressing? Who's he thanking God for?

Well, it is the church members in Thessalonica.

When he mentions them, it's because he can confidently call

them the church. The church.

Not the church in name only, but a church.

So much so that he calls them later on.

A model for all believers. I told you this was a very

healthy church. And so it's safe to safe to

conclude this is a real church. This is a real church with real

church members, vibrant church body, if you will.

And that's what I want us to examine today, what it looks

like for a church member or a real church member.

What do they look like? Well, today there's much

confusion about a church member. There are people who they want

to join a church, they want to be a member of the church and

they believe this, that if I just sign up and fill out the

card, I'll be a member and I'll be in the club.

Or maybe if I give money, I can pay my dues to this club and

then I'll be in the church. I'll be a member of the church

or I'm going to be a private church member.

I don't want to know. I don't want anybody to know me.

I really don't care about knowing anybody.

I just want to come in late. I want to slip in the back.

I want to slip out as soon as it's over so I don't have to

talk to anybody. My church membership is going to

be private and maybe my church membership is going to be

anonymous. Don't want to know anybody.

Don't want anybody to know me or they'll tragically church hop

and church shop and never invest their lives and invest their

families for one specific local body.

They'll just go to this church for a minute.

They'll go to that church for a minute and whatever church they

feel good going to at that time, that's where they'll go.

And they'll never plant and they'll never root.

That's what some people want out of a church.

That's what some people think about when they think of church

membership. And some people even sadly,

think that church membership in a local, local sense, in a local

body is not important at all. And they'll say this well, I

don't need to join a local church.

Because I am a member of the Universal Worldwide Church.

Well, the problem with that is the New Testament letters, the

epistles, go to local churches. And so yes, if you are a

believer in Christ, you are a member of the universal body of

Christ worldwide and throughout time, but it is also your duty

and obligation to be a member of a local body, a local

fellowship. So you can get the picture.

Yes, you're the church is worldwide, every believer

everywhere, but this is the local church key life

fellowship. And if you are here, you need to

be invested in, you need to be bought into.

So I want to address and all those things would be corrected

as we look at this text. I want to address, I think, the

five marks that the apostle Paul ascribes to real church members.

What is a real church member? What do they look like?

And again, 5 marks so that you can follow along if you're a.

Note taker the first mark I want to look at is a real church

members. They are remembered.

They are remembered and that's what Paul begins with in verse

2. We always thank God for all of

you and continually mention you in our prayers.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by

faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance

inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, this is not just a random vague group of people that he's

addressing. This is a living Organism called

the Church that he remembers. Specifically, the Church is

likened to a body elsewhere in Scripture, with parts and

movements and jobs, and then we actually depend upon one

another. If the hand is not doing its

job, the rest of the body will suffer.

They're remembered real church member.

They remembered. They're remembered first for

their service. And these are going to come up

all throughout. I think it's kind of a

foreshadowing of what he's going to expand upon.

He remembers them for their service and namely their work

produced by faith. No, he is not teaching salvation

by faith plus works. That would be a heresy.

That would be legalism. But here's what he is teaching.

He is teaching real faith that works.

Faith alone saves. Faith alone in Christ alone is

what saves us. Amen.

But that faith alone will not be alone.

It will be accompanied by works, won't it?

You will do something. It is these works that are

produced by faith that Paul remembers about this body and

even that James expands upon. In James chapter 2 verse 18 he

James 2:18

says you have faith, I have deeds but show me your faith

without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

See it's faith producing work. You believe that there's one God

good. Even the demons believe that and

they shudder. Verse 22, he just talks about

Abraham, that his faith and his actions were working together.

This church was a working church.

This church was not just the church that was working for the

sake of working. They were producing their works

because of the faith that they had in Christ.

And Paul remembers it and he remembers their labor prompted

by love. There is an.

Unexplainable love between believers isn't there?

Believers that you serve with specifically, and you can't

explain it. If there's a Christian that

doesn't do anything in the body of Christ, they don't get the

love that you get with somebody by serving next to them,

whatever it may be, in whatever capacity.

There is a bond that happens, isn't it?

Paul remembers their laborers of love.

Now this is the scary part about laborers of love.

First, John 3 verse 14 says we know that we've passed from

John 3:14

death to life because we love each other.

In verse 18, he says let us not love with words or speech, but

with actions. And in truth, their laborers

were prompted by their love for one another.

It is because they love the brothers and sisters in Christ.

They labored with them and they labored for them.

It is because of their faith in Christ that they worked and

served the Lord Jesus Christ and his body.

And Paul goes back in his mind to the names and the faces in

this, a local body of believers. And he remembers their work, and

he remembers their labor. He remembers their service and

he. Remembered not just for their

service, but they remember for their steadfastness.

This church ride off the jump faced some pretty trying times.

We'll read about in just a moment.

But Paul. Says this their their endurance

inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and this.

Hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ that prompts our

endurance, that inspires our endurance.

It is not a vein or an empty hope.

It's not like I hope this is going to happen.

It is a firm hope. Hebrews 619 says.

It's an anchor for our souls. It's firm.

It's steady. And Paul remembers their

steadfastness when anything happens.

Maybe he heard the stories, or he lived it alongside of them.

When persecution came, they remained steadfast.

They remained steady. They remained firm When danger

came. They didn't sway, they didn't

run away, but they stayed firm in the faith.

When heresy came in gripping the Church about no future

resurrection, they endured. And Paul writes the letter and

corrects them, remembers that baby.

When tragedy strikes, he sees these believers staying the

course. The real church, the real church

members, they can look back and they can look around and they

can say, wow, I remember when so and so went through this hard,

difficult time and how they handled it and how they endured,

how they didn't lose hope, how they didn't fall away, but they

remained steadfast. And I'll tell you, I think one

of the best ways to see this happen is at a.

Funeral of a fellow believer or the family going through some

kind of death? Isn't that the truth?

That when you see them face death head on with hope and you

see them endure through losing a family member, losing a spouse,

losing a child, having something unspeakable happen in their

life, and you still see their endurance inspired by hope in

our Lord Jesus Christ that will prod you along and will cause

you to remember them to. Remember what they had done.

Real church members, they're remembered, they're remembered,

but it's it's impossible to be remembered if your church

attendance and maybe your church membership or so you think is

just online, online church. Is not a thing.

We stream our services, but you are missing out.

If online is all you get, You can gain a lot, you can learn a

lot, but there's no replacement for meeting with the church.

You can't be remembered if all you're doing is watching

Facebook or YouTube. You have no accountability to

the body. Real church members are

remembered, but it's even virtually impossible.

If you're here in person and you show up late and you leave early

and you're not involved, how are you going to be remembered?

That's not a church member. That's a parasite.

You don't want to be noticed. You don't want to be

accountable. You don't want to hold others

accountable. You just want to come in and

just do your own thing. No, you need to be sold out for

the body. That's what church members do.

I love this because for the most part, that's not this church.

We have to kick some of you guys out most Sundays.

You know you guys can talk at a restaurant.

It is OK to do that. I love it, please keep staying,

but it's also just entirely impossible to be a remembered

church member if you're not an active member of a local body.

You say? Well, I'm a member of the

universal body. The church actually had

membership roles dating back to its earliest time.

Or scripture reading today. The men were saved that day and

they were added to their number. Somebody was keeping count.

Somebody knew these people. When Paul writes to other

churches, he actually names specific believers to commend to

them. It wasn't just I'm.

Going to pop in and pop out. This is real church membership.

They are remembered, they're joined, they're involved,

they're serving, they're steadfast.

But. I don't want you to get the

wrong idea. A church member is not just

someone who serves and they're just steady.

They're on the rolls. But a church member, secondly,

is one who has been regenerated. That's the second mark.

They have been regenerated. They have been born again.

They have been made alive. This is the doctrine of

regenerate church membership, that you may join a church on

paper. You may serve, you may do

everything you can. Every night at the church is

open, you're there. Every opportunity you're there,

anything you can do, you're doing it.

But if you're not regenerate, if you're not made alive by Christ

alone, you're not actually in his body, the church.

You may be there on paper, but in God's economy you are lost no

matter what your service looks like.

Since said that you can have your name on a church roll.

And not have your name in the Lamb's book of life?

Very possible. Jesus addressed his people like

like this to Matthew 7, doesn't he?

Many will say to me on that day, did not we do this?

Did not we do that and it'll say depart from me for I never knew

you, you workers of iniquity. What in the world that's

unregenerate church members, real church member.

They've been regenerated and they've been regenerate

regenerated because of a sovereign choice.

Look with me in verse 4. For we know, brothers loved by

God, that He has chosen you. This is clearly speaking about

sovereign election, that a real church member is regenerated

because of the sovereign choice of God.

You don't sign up to get into the church.

The Lord of the church selects you.

He doesn't select you by your pedigree.

He doesn't select you by what you can bring to the table.

He selects you by His own sovereign, unaided,

unconditional choice. And Jesus said this really

clearly to his disciples in John 1516, didn't He?

You did not choose me, but I chose you.

All the I choose Jesus or I chose Jesus crowd just kind of

go quiet when you speak that right.

But when did this choice happen? Well Ephesians one verse 4 tells

us that He chose us in him before the creation of the world

and so God shows. A specific group of people we

know as the Church to be saved, to be holy and blameless in his

sight. And he did it before time began.

Absolutely. You see, how do we change this?

How do we have them? You don't.

God's already done it. He selects who is going to.

Be in the Church simply because of his own pleasure and

goodwill. In fact, the very word Church in

the Greek is the word ecclesia. And it means to be called out

and assembled together. The idea is that someone calls

you and that someone we know. Is the Lord himself?

Did he say this in John 644? No one may come to me unless the

Father who sent me. What draws them?

Wow. You mean I I don't have a role

in this? Nope.

You have 0 role in regeneration. Your regeneration is only

because of a sovereign choice of God.

Now Paul also answers this. He answers how you may know

someone is elect or someone is regenerated.

And here's how. It is because of the gospel's

reception. Look at verse 5.

He said. We know in verse four that he's

chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with

words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep

conviction. We know that God has chosen you

because of the way that you believe the gospel.

And in Acts 1348, there's a group of people that Luke

writes, all who were appointed unto eternal life believed.

Why did they believe? Why did they believe the gospel?

Why did the gospel transform their life?

It's because of a sovereign choice of God.

It's because God made that effectual to them and they

believed the gospel and the gospel changed them.

They've been regenerated because of the sovereign choice.

And it's by the Spirit's power that's at work in them that this

sovereign choice becomes a reality in the here and now.

Understand how this happened, that God before time shows we

can use these guys, the Thessalonian believers to be

saved. And in the time and space that

we live or they live, the gospel comes to them.

And Paul says, we know that it came to you not just in words

but in power, that they heard the gospel and they didn't take

it as just Paul and Silas and Timothy's words.

They took it as the very word of God.

You've experienced this if you've been saved that there was

a man preaching to you and for some reason there was some power

behind the. Words he was saying.

There was something, or rather someone drawing you to receive

and believe that message. Then it became so real to you

that it wasn't just. Yeah, I think Jesus really did

die. And I think really, Jesus did

resurrect. And this guy has a point.

And I think Jesus is a better way to live than everything else

I've tried. Let's try them.

No, there was a drawing power of the Holy Spirit through the word

of God that caused you to have faith and gave you the gift of

repentance and made you alive in him so that you can now believe

this message that it went from Jesus died to Jesus died for me

and he died for every one of my sins and he resurrected to bring

me life. Oh, it's salvation.

You probably didn't understand election.

Amen. He didn't get it.

But the only reason you believed and the only reason the gospel

was so powerful to you is because of God's electing power

before time began. And the only reason that the

Thessalonian believers believed the message of the gospel is

because God's sovereign choice and His Spirit who worked

powerfully within them. In the gospel we see this.

It wasn't just powerfully working in their life, but there

was a spiritual power working in the life and through the words

of the preacher as well. Then when we preach the gospel,

it is not our power, it is not our words, but it is the power

of God unto salvation. I'm going to tell you this.

If I didn't believe in sovereign election, I don't know why I

would evangelize because all the hope would be on a guilty Sinner

and my own good presentation. I have no hope and guilty

sinners and I have no hope in my own presentation.

But you know what I have hope IN when I share the gospel with

people, that the Spirit will work through the gospel and He

will save all that the Father has chosen to save.

That's why I evangelize. Evangelism doesn't.

Squat. I mean.

I mean election doesn't squash evangelism.

When you understand God's sovereign election, it should

propel you to evangelize to anybody you can.

That's the fuel, that's the motivation.

God has saved souls and they need to hear the gospel.

I know the gospel and I'm going to go get them whoever I can,

wherever I can. However I can.

And when you come to grips with the truth, when you are

regenerated, it's not because of your mental or willpower, is it?

It's not because it just all clicked one day and made sense.

Oh yeah, I can get that. Because you can understand just

the basic form of the Bible, you can kind of.

Get the picture right but. There's a difference between

knowing what's going on and knowing who it is, right?

That's that's the difference. God brings this new birth.

And if God has not brought new birth into your life, no matter

what church you've joined, you're not a real church member

because you're not regenerate. You don't belong to his body.

You can know the scriptures. You can recite the gospel, you

can serve, you can even share the gospel.

This is how. Powerful this is.

This is how powerful the gospel is.

You can actually share the gospel, be lost people, hear the

gospel from a lost person, and be saved because the power of

the gospel Trump's your own sinfulness.

But here's the scary situation. There are those who know a lot.

There are no those who may even be teachers but have not been

born again. They have not been regenerated.

That Jesus encountered a guy like this in John 3.

Remember him, old Nicodemus, and he comes to Jesus at night.

And Jesus said, very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the

Kingdom of God unless they're born of water and the spirit

flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to

spirit. You should not be surprised at

me saying you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from

and where it is going. So it is with everyone born of

the Spirit. Here's.

What he's saying, God does a work.

Outside of us that we know not of.

To regenerate us completely unaided, completely sovereign,

so that a real church member is regenerated by the power of the

gospel because of God's choice, because of the Spirit's power

working in him. I've seen this in my own life.

I've seen it in many of yours. Or the convicting and the

changing power of the gospel just grips you and you're no

longer who you used to be. That's regeneration.

Being made new, the grown men will be moved to tears.

They will be moved to love for people that they would never

think about loving before doing acts and laborers of love and

works produced by faith that they would never have sacrificed

to do before. But now there is this love,

there is this new heart that they have for the body of Christ

and Christ their head, that this compels them to love the Church

and to love the head of the church.

That's regeneration. That's what happens in a real

church member. The third mark of a real church

member is they have a reputation.

They have a very solid reputation.

He begins in verse 5 to talk about them setting the standard

in actions. The middle of it, He says, You

know how he lived among you. For your sake you became

imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message.

In the midst of severe suffering, with the joy given by

the Holy Spirit, you became imitators.

Of us, you started to do what Paul, Silas, and Timothy did

when we were with you. What is it that they did?

Well, in chapter 2 of First Thessalonians, he kind of

reminds the people what they saw in Paul, Silas and Timothy.

And here's what he said, that they continued in suffering.

The Thessalonians imitated that that Paul was truthful.

They imitated that that Paul was approved of God.

They imitated that that Paul had no pretext, no greed.

He sought no glory for men. They imitated that that he was

gentle, loving. He gave the gospel and he gave

their lives to them. They began to imitate that as

well. He labored with them and for

them day and night. He was devout, he was righteous,

he was blameless. He exhorted them as a father

does to his children. And everything that they saw in

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they began to copy.

They even copied. Some of their ministry

practices. In Acts 17 we read the account

of the Thessalonian Church's birth.

And the apostle Paul, joined by Silas and Timothy, go there, and

in verse 2 says, as was his custom, Paul went into the

synagogue, which would have been the gathering of the Jewish

believers there, the followers of the Old Testament in that

city. And on three Sabbath days he

reasoned with him from the Scriptures.

It would have been the Old Testament Scriptures as well,

explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise

from the dead. This Jesus I am proclaiming to

you is the Messiah, he said. And So what Paul does is for

three Sabbath days at least, he goes into the synagogue and he

takes the Old Testament and he begins to explain from the Old

Testament who Jesus is so that they.

Believed. And these believers copied it,

imitated it, They imitated him. As he was imitating Christ, they

imitated him in a couple ways, because they were not deranged

by the world. That's how they imitated him.

They were not deranged like the world.

And maybe just look around and watch the news for a minute.

Isn't our world absolutely deranged?

I mean, some people don't know what bathroom they're supposed

to go to. It's really obvious.

If you can't get that right, you're deranged.

Some people don't know or even tried to deny who the creator is

or that there is a creator at all.

If you deny, there's. A creator.

And who that creator is? You, Sir.

You, ma'am, are deranged. The people around them, of

course, are deranged. They were pagans.

They worshipped false gods. They worshipped many other gods,

but they didn't imitate them. They didn't imitate what is

evil. But as Third John 11 says, they

imitate what is good. They imitated what they saw in

Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Very simply, they just lived

like Christians. That's it.

They lived separate than the world.

They didn't live like the world, but they imitated godly

ministers. They weren't deranged like the

world. They weren't deterred.

By the world, he says that they received the message with joy.

Look what a little bit was going on in Acts 17 when these people

were saved. In verse 5, we read about this

other Jews were jealous that's. Because people were being saved

and they were leaving their way and following the way.

So they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace,

formed a mob, and started a riot in the city.

They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in

order to bring them out to the crowd.

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some

other believers before the city officials.

Immediately there's persecution. And Paul says here's your

reputation, here's the standard that you're setting in your

actions and in your behavior that you are receiving the

message amidst affliction with joy.

They're dragging believers out of their households and you're

still receiving the message. That's a standard to follow,

isn't it? That's something to commend.

So this was a model for the rest of the church to follow.

In verse seven, I think you could do this.

Church in Macedonia, church in Ikaya, be like them, church in

Ephesus, church in Corinth, Look to this church.

They're who you want to be like. They're the model.

They had this reputation. Setting the standard in action

and even of sharing the gospel everywhere.

Look, look what happens in verse 8.

The Lord's message rang out from you.

The idea is this. A trumpet is being sounded from

you with the Lord's message. It is blaring on a loudspeaker

from your midst to all believers in Macedonia and Ikaya, the

Lord's message rang out from you.

Not only there, but your faith in God has become known

everywhere. Therefore, we.

Do not need to say anything about it.

For they themselves. Report what kind of reception

you gave us. They were evangelizing so much

and spreading the Lord's message so much that other believers are

telling Paul about this church that is so zealous for the

gospel, that is so missional, that other believers are saying,

those believers in Thessalonica, they're reaching everybody with

the gospel. It's even getting to us.

They're sending missionaries to us.

They want to reach whoever they can.

People are talking about you, Paul says.

Because this is what church members do.

They set the standard in their action and their morals, don't

they? They live upright and holy lives

amidst this godless generation, and they share the Gospel with

whoever they can and any opportunity that presents

itself. That the message of the gospel

rings out from real church members, and it does so much

that other people begin talking. It should be this.

And I will say I've even heard this, someone was talking to one

of our members and it's happened on a number of occasions.

And then from the area and they said where do you go to church?

Do you go to church anywhere? Something like and they told

them where they went to church and they went to Key Life

Fellowship. And the person said, I figured,

why is that? Of course, whoever that is, and

there's several of you, they were living like a real church

member. They had a real reputation.

Their behavior was outstanding. They shared the gospel, they had

a glow about them that the Lord's message was ringing out

from them. And there should be a certain

rap about you around town, proverbially speaking.

That you go to key life. It shouldn't be this you're

going to key life. Unless the next response is I

heard you believe. Insert something biblical.

That should be your wrap. You go to key life.

I heard they believe. Well, yeah, because that's what

the Bible teaches. That's a very good reputation,

that you are believing things about the word of God that

professing Christians balk at. You're bold enough to believe

it. They should know this.

The world around you should know that.

You go to the church that believes that the eternal Son of

God came down to this earth Incarnate, truly God, truly man,

and He lived under the law and He was cursed for us and he was

cursed by being hung upon a tree.

That God the Father punished His only begotten Son on the cross

for the sin of everyone who will believe in Him.

And if you or if anyone doesn't repent and place their faith in

Christ alone, who bled and died and resurrected for them, you'll

be cast into the eternal lake of fire.

You go to that church that believes that Jesus is the only

way. Amen.

That message should ring out from you.

So much. Did people talk about it?

It was coming out of this church.

It was coming all over the known world.

And they had a reputation. That's a real church member,

firstly, a real church member. They have repented.

And Luther talked about repentance like this.

He said that. Repentance is not a one time

repentance. You don't just repentance,

salvation. Rather, repentance is lifelong.

You're continually turning from sin, and that's what these

believers did in verse 9, he said.

They're telling again how you turn to God from idols to serve

the living and true God. They are telling how you've

turned. What a testimony.

You don't even have to tell what God has done for you.

People are talking about what God has done for you and who you

are. Now that you've turned from

idols or you have turned from sin.

That's the first step of repentance, turning from sin.

Real church member is one who is turning from sin.

For these believers here, it was idols that was their sin.

That's what they were gripped with.

And so when they turn from idols, that's a drastic change,

isn't it? You've turned from many gods to

1. You claim is the one God who was

hung on a cross and resurrected from the dead.

They tell how you've turned from idols.

They even tell the specifics of what you've turned from.

This should be this. Your repentance should be so

drastic. Your repentance should be so

changed. Changed from who you used to be,

because that is repentance, turning about and unto.

The people tell how you've turned from sin, and if you

haven't just turned from sin, but repentance also is turning

to God. These believers turn from sin,

they turn from idols, and they turn to the living and true God.

They didn't just turn from something.

They didn't just quit this and then later pick up something

else. They turned completely away from

their old life and they ran fully at the only true God to

worship him. That's repentance.

And it happened so such a big. Deal on Acts 19 that an Ephesus

and people began being saved there.

They turn from idols and they turn to the one true and living

God. And so of course, when you turn

to the one true and living God, you also turn to follow his

statutes. And the first one is you shall

have no other gods before me. And the second one is don't make

for yourself any graven image. Well, these people are saved.

They have been following idols their entire life.

And so they stopped following idols.

And what was so dangerous for them is they stopped buying the

little shrines from the local metal workers.

So much so that he got so upset. And he said something like this.

The followers of the Way are pretty much killing my business

because they're not buying my shrines and my idols anymore.

We need to do something about it because the local economy is

just absolutely getting worked over by these Christians.

Everything about him had changed.

They turned from who they were and they turned to serve the one

true and living God, and nothing was the same any longer.

That's the testimony that Christians have.

They have repentant, They've repented from their sins.

They are repenting. They're still turning from sin.

They're still turning to God. And you cannot have a gospel,

you cannot have a Christianity that does not include

repentance. It's not I'll follow Jesus now,

or I'll trust Jesus now and then later I'll repent.

No, you repent now and follow Jesus or you don't follow Jesus

at all. This was ingrained in the gospel

messages. Acts 1415.

We are bringing you good news, the word for gospel, telling you

to turn from these worthless things and to the living God.

Now, does that sound like repentance turning from turning

to? Acts 2618 I'm sending you to

them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and

from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive

forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified

by faith in me. I'm sending you to preach the

gospel to turn them from sin and turn them to God.

That's the. Essence of A.

Believer they aren't who they used to be.

They're on a completely new path.

They're no longer worldly. They're not carnal Christians.

Church members have turned from sin.

They hate even the clothing stained by sin.

They want nothing to do with their old life because they have

turned to serve and follow the one true and living God who has

made them alive. They want nothing to do.

With their sin. That's a real church member, and

it's not just internal. People begin to notice that.

They begin to talk about it. You repentance should be so

radical that Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are a little

awkward. Why is that?

Well, you have turned from worthlessness.

Some people at the dinner table have not.

They're living in filth and worthlessness.

You've turned to follow the one true and living God.

That's kind of ruffle feathers. You're different than you used

to be and you should be. What's troubling is if you claim

Christ and you're not any different than you used to be,

you haven't repented. You're not a church member.

You're not a Christian. Oh, but if you are a church

member, you know. I'm not who I used to be.

I have left the broad Rd. that leads to destruction and I've

entered the narrow way that leads to life that only few

find. Praise God that I found it.

And you begin to put the pieces together and realize I didn't

find this narrow Rd. The narrow Rd. has found me and

I've turned and now I'm walking towards Jesus. 5th mark of a

real church member. And this should produce

something in you that they will be rescued.

And that that's how he keeps. Going in this text, I think

we've seen their their labours of love and their reputation

that they love people. We've seen their work of faith

and thinking turning from sin and turning to the Lord.

I think in our rescue we see the endurance and hope.

Look at verse 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he

raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from the coming

wrath, Christian member of the church.

We will be rescued and when we are rescued, it is going to be

fulfilling our deep longing, our deep longing to see our Savior.

If you don't long to see Jesus, you don't know him.

If you. Love living now you don't know.

Jesus every time you have a toothache you should long to see

Jesus every time that your. Old sin nature creeps back up.

You should long to see. Jesus, who will rescue you?

Who will rescue? You from your sin, who will

rescue you from this world? Who will rescue you from

yourself? Who will rescue you from His

wrath? This Savior is who we long to

see. This is the one we.

Love the one we love so dearly. Church, this is our.

Our. Groom, we are his bride.

What bride does not long to see their groom?

A church that does not long to see Christ is.

Not a church. This is the one who we've served

all these years. We have served faithfully.

Shouldn't we be ready to see him?

In Acts chapter 1, when the Lord Jesus ascends into heaven, He

Acts 1 · chapter mention

had told his disciples to go into Jerusalem and wait for the

promised Holy Spirit. For when he comes on you, you

receive power to be by witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea to the

end of the earth. And then he ascends into heaven,

and he hid themselves from their sight.

And I'd like to read the Bible like this because it was a real

story with real people, Amen. And I know a little bit about

the disciples. They were slow to catch on,

weren't they? And So what?

You just told him that he ascends into heaven and they're

literally doing this. He had just told them to go into

Jerusalem and wait, and here they.

Are and right then in verse 11, some angels appeared to them and

said, what are you doing looking up into the sky?

It's really a rebuke. Did you hear what he just said?

What are you doing? Look up into the sky?

He said this this same Jesus who's been taken from you into

heaven will come back in the same way you've seen him go into

heaven. What are you doing looking up?

He said he's going to he's coming back, but he told you to

do something. Go serve him.

Remember Matthew 25? Jesus told that parable.

He said that it'd be good when the master returns to find his

servants working. We have served this Savior so

faithfully for so long, and when we see Him, oh what a glorious

day that will be, the one that we see who's the source of our

hope. This is what was so sad about

this church. The one thing they had against

them is that they weren't looking forward to the

resurrection. You have no excuse.

You know, 2000 years of church history have over and over and

over again confirmed that the Scriptures teach a future bodily

resurrection where we will meet the Lord Jesus in the air.

We know it's coming. That's our hope and it's a firm

hope It's not. I hope this happens.

We know it's going to happen. So we endure, so we serve Him,

so we hope in Him and so we long to see Him.

And as Paul speaks in Second Timothy 4 verse 8, that there is

2 Timothy 4:8

in store for me. A crown of righteousness.

But not only for me, but also for.

All those who long for his appearing, that's what's coming

for real church members. They're going to be rescued.

They're even going to be rewarded.

This will all take place when Christ our life appears.

We will also appear with Him in glory.

That's what we wait for. That's our rescue that's coming.

And right now, he's seated at the right hand of the Father in

heaven. If he is our life and our life

is there here does not consume us any longer, Paul writes in

Philippians 320 our. Citizenship is in heaven and we

eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's our hope. That's who's coming to rescue

you and me, believer. And that will fulfill our deep

longing to see our Savior, will it not?

And it will free us from God's wrath.

Christ is coming. Christ is returning.

He's bringing us home. And he's going to free us from

God's wrath because sin's penalty has been removed from

real church members. The confession that Jesus died

for me is not just because he demonstrated His love.

Though it was so loving, wasn't it?

No greater act of love. Our hope is that the Father's

wrath has been satisfied in the Son, that there's no more wrath,

no more condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus.

Why? Because Christ took every bit.

Of our wrath. There's no more.

Left so we can look forward to the hope of Christ returning

because He will rescue us from God's wrath.

He will not give us what our sins deserve.

And that's all of His wrath, isn't it?

We are look forward to this day. I pray you are.

I pray you're longing to see our full salvation come.

But so sadly, in our woke world, we want to remove God's wrath

from the gospel. We want to take it out.

We want to erase the need to be rescued from God's wrath.

It's just that God wants to have a relationship with you and

you've messed up the relationship.

And so you, you, you need to, you need to follow Jesus so that

your relationship with your creator can be restored.

And yes, when you follow Jesus, your relationship with your

creator is restored. But you need to flee to Jesus

because there is a wrath coming upon your sin, and Jesus is the

only answer for the wrath that you deserve.

And so if you erase God's wrath, you erase the need for Jesus,

the true Jesus. And that's the real danger with

the church members. They're going to be rescued.

They have no guilt in life. They have No Fear in death.

They've been freed from God's wrath.

They will be rescued from the coming wrath by Jesus Christ.

Oh, but those not in the church, those who are not real church

members, they only have a fearful expectation of judgement

and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

Hebrews 1027. That's what you have to look

forward to. Now, I don't want you to think

this. I don't want you to think that.

There was a meeting this week and all of us pastors got

together and said, wow, what do we need to do?

Service numbers are down. We need more nursery workers.

And so Jake, it's you're up this week, can you guilt trip them

into being real church members so they'll serve a little bit

more? That's not what's happened.

But when we read this text, when we read what a real church

member looks like, and I warn you of the wrath of those who

are not real church members, I am scared for some of your

souls. Because this is a real church

member. And if you're not a real church

member, you have a fearful expectation of the fire of God

that will consume you. It's not you just need to flood

church Center and sign up for as many service opportunities as

you can. It's that you need to do some

deep soul searching and to see this church is just some game

you play and some addition to your life.

Or is Christ and His body your very life?

Because if he is your life, all five of these marks will flow

out of you because you're a real church member.

But some of you it doesn't flow out of.

I'm scared. You need to flee to Christ not

to add something to your life. You need to renounce everything.

You need to come to this Jesus. Your very eternity is at stake

because the real church members are looking forward to a rescue.

No rescue for non church members.

Don't ask this question. Is anything keeping you from

being a real church member like we've just seen?

That's what a Christian looks like.

What's keeping you from it? Is your service not remembered

because you just don't do anything?

It's a great possibility if no one would know if you're

steadfast in trials because you never open up and you're never

vulnerable to seek prayer from other Christians.

Do you have 0 labours of love and works of faith within the

body of Christ that we would know you?

Are you just lazy? Are you scared of being known?

Are you scared of having other people look to you?

Are you scared of accountability?

Are you scared of holding other people accountable?

Stop being foolish. That's what the church is all

about. It's about remembering one

another. But if you have no heart for

that? You're probably not regenerate,

which is where we need to start first.

William Gernold said this the Puritan.

He said it can be written on the tomb of an unrepentant Sinner,

that here lies a man who in all his life worked not an hour for

God. It will do nothing for the Lord

and they'll be OK with it. You, ma'am, You Sir, are not

saved. You have a fearful expectation

of wrath heading your way. You need to flee from and flee

to Christ. Maybe let's look at your

reputation. Do you have a reputation similar

to this church? Your actions are outstanding,

not so people can say, oh look at me, but just because the Lord

has changed you so much that people are talking about it.

Do you share the gospel when you have the opportunity?

Do do you seek to reach people with the only way to reach them

in the gospel? Do you have the spiritual

discipline and practice that is disciplined because it takes

sacrifice to evangelize. Are you sure about your hope of

rescue? Have you really repented of sin?

Have you turned to the one true and living God?

Do you know that one day He's coming to give you rescue from

His wrath that He has purchased on the cross?

Fear of death is real, isn't it? But there's a real cure to a

real fear of death. Here's the real cure.

The real cure is repenting of your lack of trust.

That's why you feel fear death, because you don't trust.

That Christ really did pay to rescue you from God's wrath, and

that anything. After death is good, we look at

this, we say, well, we have, we have covered about everything in

life, haven't we? This encompasses all of life.

A church member. They're not known primarily for

their job. They're not known for being a

Texans fan, an Astros fan, a hunter, a fisherman, a whatever.

They are known by this. This should be our life.

This should be everything that we do and say and are.

That's a Christian. That's a member of the Lord's

church. And you may be skeptical and

say, wow, this is a lot to ask. We have a lot going on.

If you're a parent, the world wants to own your children.

And the way they're going to own their children is by

infiltrating your mind and temptations and desires.

And they're coming after that. Here's what your kid has to do.

Here's what your kid has to do. Here's who your kid has to be.

Here's what you have to do to set your kid up for.

This kind of stuff. And all the while it's

distracting you from living your entire life sold out for the

church and the body of believers, and you're teaching

your kids to be far worse than you.

Teach them to flee the fleeting. Pleasures of this world and to

give their lives and pour their lives out for the body of

Christ. Ironically, the body that was

poured out for us. You say, wow, this is going to

cost me some things. If I am going to live like a

real Christian, it's going to cost me.

I'm going to sacrifice this. I'm going to have to stop doing

this. That's the point.

Being a follower of Christ will cost you everything.

In fact, that's worship, Paul says in Romans 12.

I urge you, brothers, to offer your bodies as a living

sacrifice unto God, holy and pleasing unto them unto him, for

this is your true and proper worship.

Offering your bodies is a sacrifice.

This isn't easy. A real church member, it's going

to cost you so much, but it's still worth it because what else

could you live your life for than the one who bled and died

for you? Some might look at this and I

pray this is you because I do believe talking to a real church

for the most part with real church members that they are

remembered that I can look at some of you live your lives and

I can go back to times or even there are Times Now where I've

served alongside of you and I'm still encouraged and I thank God

for that. I know that you're regenerate

because I know what you believe and and how you have received

the gospel. I know your reputation because

I've heard people talk about it and I've seen it in my life,

seen it with you. I know you've repented.

You've shared the struggles of your old flesh in the world.

Now you're striving to turn to Christ at every corner.

I know you're looking forward to a rescue.

So you may say I'm doing pretty well.

But Paul calls this church a model for believers.

How has this model highlighted your shortcomings?

'Cause I know. This this has highlighted many

of mine. It was said before this service,

three of these marks will hit you, if not all 5.

Where has this shown that you are falling dreadfully short?

You might be regenerate. You might be a member of

Christ's family by the new birth, but what comes out of

your life doesn't always match. Like you belong to the body.

You're a hand, but you've cut yourself off.

You're a foot, but you're just dragging behind.

Whatever it takes, whatever sin needs to be cast off, whatever

help from the Lord needs to be sought.

Be a church member. Devote your very life

personally. Start in your own heart that I'm

going to be a real church member and whatever doesn't look like

that, I'm casting it off so that you can be a model to all.

How blessed would that be to have the Apostle Paul write to

this church? And so you are a model to the

believers in New Caney and Splendora and Kingwood and

Porter and Cleveland and Tarkington and to the ends of

Texas. What will it take?

What will it take for you to be a real church member?

The Lord has laid it out very clearly for us.

I pray that the Lord will change your hearts and change your mind

and compel you and propel you to be all that the Son has died for

you to be. Father, we ask that that would

be true. Well, Lord, we thank you for the

churches of ages gone by who lived the truth fiercely and

boldly and with everything. And we thank you for their

example. We know if we were asking them,

they would give all glory to you.

So we praise you for the work you did in this church's life.

Yeah. We praise you for the the work

that you've doing and you have done here in this body of key

life fellowship. Got to ask that you would make

us in to be make us to be real church members.

You'd conform us to the image of your Son, then we would show

him. And when people see us, they see

the glory of our great God and Savior, they see our good deeds,

and they would glorify you. And we ask that we would be,

above all else, people personally and collectively who

seek to bring honor and glory to you or whatever that takes.

May you convict us, and may you change us to make that happen.

We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. You've been listening to Key

Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.

Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.