“Is membership in the church essential to salvation”
1. In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus promised to build His church.
-Verse 18, “ I will build my church.”
2. In Mark 9:1, Jesus said His church would come with power, and that some of
them would be alive when His “kingdom” or “church” came!
3. In Luke 24:45-49, right before His ascension into heaven, Jesus told His
disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received that power from on high.
4. In Acts 1:8, the Bible says the power would come when the Holy Spirit
of God came.
5. In Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit of God came with power! Notice with me:
a. The apostles spoke in tongues they had never known
b. Those who heard were astonished, even accusing them
of being “full of new wine” in verse 13
c. Then Peter stood up and quoted the prophet Joel in verse 17
(if those people would have studied and known Joel’s
words, they would have known what was happening)
6. After Peter handled the confusion, he preached the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
a. In verse 29 Peter started to quote King David, how that David had foretold of the resurrection of Jesus, Read with me:
-Verse 29-36
7. Then in verse 37 something happened! Until then these people did not believe.
They thought Jesus was a fake, a fraud, a deceiver!
8. In the course of this sermon, Peter supplied the evidence in order to convince
them that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah of prophecy! Notice:
a. In verse 36, they got it! They understood!
b. In verse 37, they were ready to change and asked what to do!
c. Peter answered them in verse 38, with the same response the church must teach in this day and age.
d. And in verse 47, God added them to the church that Jesus said he would build.
9. You see, the church of Christ, the church that Jesus said He would build, is
a result of the gospel preached and obeyed!
Now, if you approached most people in Montgomery, most people who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and asked them if being a member of the church was essential to salvation, most of them would say “NO”.
Most of the good people who believe in Jesus - believe that one must accept Christ, but not the church. Just take Christ, leave the church!
10. However if you presented that question in any other way you would probably
receive a “YES!”
If you asked: “Must one obey the gospel to be saved?”
Almost everyone would say yes!
11. Romans 1:16
12. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 – This is the gospel, God’s remedy for our sin problem!
13. Matthew 7:21
a. That verse answers the question “who is going to heaven?”
b. Everyone who does the will of Christ.
c. So when we obey the gospel of Christ, we obey the will of Christ,
and we can live and die in the hope of heaven!
14. 1 Peter 4:17 – In regard to a suffering, not the final judgment.
But consider the great question!
What will be the end of those who don’t obey the gospel?
15. Paul answers this one in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
a. He’s not coming to make exceptions, or to give second chances,
Jesus will return to take vengeance on all who…
16. Someone is going to suffer the vengeance of God.
17. So then what exactly happens when one obeys the gospel?
a. What happened when those obeyed the gospel on the day of Pentecost?
b. God added them to the church, Verse 47.
c. You see, one cannot obey the gospel of Christ without being added to
the church of Christ.
18. So when you ask must one obey the gospel to be saved, you have really
asked, must one be a member of the church to be saved! It’s the same thing,
if you’ve done one then you’ve done the other!
19. Because God takes the saved and adds them to the church! It’s not up to
us, it is God’s job to add to His church!
How about this one: “Must a person contact the blood of Christ to be saved?”
a. Anyone who believes the Bible would answer yes to contacting the blood!
b. You must contact the blood of Christ to live and die in the hope of heaven!
20. Matthew 26:28 – Jesus said…
21. Ephesians 1:7
22. Hebrews 9:12
23. 1 Peter 1:18-19
24. Revelation 1:5
All the power of God to remit our sins is found in the blood of Christ!
25. Remember John 19:34? “forthwith came blood and water”
a. It was in His death that His blood was shed
b. A person must get to the death of Christ to find the blood of Christ
c. But a person can’t go back 2000 years to Calvary, so in some like
figurative manner mankind must get to the death of the Lord Jesus!
26. Romans 6:1-4, read with me …
a. So then it is by baptism that we get to the redeeming blood of Christ.
b. We must contact the blood of Christ shed in the death of Christ to
receive forgiveness. And that is accomplished in baptism!
c. Baptism is the culminating act of obedience to the gospel!
27. So then we contact the blood of Christ, by obeying the gospel of Christ, and thus
are added to the church of Christ!
a. Remember! Acts 2:47, says God adds the saved to the church.
b. Who are the saved? Those who obey the gospel of Christ.
c. Who are the saved? Those who contact the blood of Christ.
d. How does one contact the redeeming blood? By obeying the gospel.
e. And what does God do when one obeys the gospel of Christ, and contacts the blood of Christ? He adds them to the church of Christ!
28. All these questions mean the same thing!
Must one contact the blood?
Must one obey the gospel?
Must one be a member of the church?
These are all just different ways of asking the same thing!
And the answer to each of them is YES!
29. One might ask, “Must one be reconciled to God in order to be saved?”
a. Every one who believes the Bible would say, yes!
b. A person must be reconciled to God in order to be saved!
30. Most everyone knows that sin has made a great gulf between God and man.
a. In Luke 16:6, Father Abraham tells that rich man – “Besides all this,
there is a great gulf fixed between us and you!
31. Isaiah 59:1-2
32. 2 Corinthians 5:19, --- we must be reconciled, our sin has separated us!
Man can’t build a bridge to God. God had to build the bridge for us to
be reconciled to Him! And He did!
From Genesis 3:15, through he rest of the Bible, God is building a bridge for us to cross, by faith in Him. And in the fullness of time, Christ comes into the world, He lives the perfect life, He dies the horrible death, He is buried, and then He is raised from the dead. At that point God’s scheme of redemption is done! His bridge is built!
Now all that is left is for mankind to cross that bridge, and the conditions of the gospel are the steps we must take, we must believe (Romans 10:10),
repent (Acts 2:38), Confess Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew 10:32), be baptized for the remission of sins (Romans 6:1-4) and live faithfully (Hebrews 11:6). That is how we cross God’s great bridge of reconciliation!
33. Consider with me the passage in Ephesians 2:11-16
a. Notice where mankind is reconciled to God - In the one body!
b. What is this one body? Ephesians 1:22-23 says the body is the church!
c. We are reconciled to God in the church, so if you want to be reconciled
to God, you must be in His church! It is the place of reconciliation!
34. So being reconciled to God is the same thing as being a member of the church!
35. The question of membership in the church has been answered this morning,
YES, membership in Christ’s church is essential to salvation!
Do you need to obey the gospel this morning?
Do you need to contact the blood of Christ this morning?
Do you need to be reconciled to God this morning?
Then you need to become a member of the church this morning!
And if you are a member, but you aren’t being active in a ministry, you are wasting your time coming to this building giving a nod to God and then going your way! Our lives are supposed to be different! We must be committed to God’s will, repent of your sins and come home this morning!
