Jesus said, "I
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.---Matt 16:18
Long before the birth of Christ, the
prophet Zechariah wrote: "Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH;
and he shall grow of his place, and he shall build the temple of the
Lord"---Zech 6:12. This Branch is Jesus, and the temple that he built
is the New Testament church.
The Christian people themselves are
the temple of God. Writing to the Corinthians Christians, the Apostle Paul
asked, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is Holy, which temple ye
are"---1 Cor 3:16. This text states that the saved are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in them.
"And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God
hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people"---2 Cor 6:16. Again we see that God
dwells in His people, who are his temple.
During Old Testament times, God
dwelt in temples made with hands; however in the New Testament
dispensation, "the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands"---Acts 7:48; 17:24. God now dwells in a spiritual temple or
tabernacle, not made with hands. See Heb 9:11.This spiritual temple is
made up of all Christian people, saved and sanctified. "We also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house"---1 Pet 2:5. Every
saved person is a stone in this spiritual house not made with hands. This
house of God is also called the Church of God. "But if I tarry long,
that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of
God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of
truth"---1 Tim 3:15. We see that the house of God and the Church of
God is identical.
The church is sometimes referred to
as the body of Christ. "And gave him to be head over all things to
the church, which is his body"---Eph 1:22-23.
Forn the foregoing scriptures we see
that the body of Christ, the temple of God, the house of God and the
Church of God are all the same.
How do we become the members of this
body of Christ, or the Church of God? Here is the answer. "For by one
Spirit are we all baptized into one body"--1 Cor 12:13. Verse 18
says, "Now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as
it hath pleased him." When a man or woman repents, the Lord forgives
him of his/her sins and at the same moment adds him to the body of Christ,
which is the Church of God. :And the Lord added to the church daily as
should be saved"---Acts 2:47.God himself adds the members to his
church as fast as they repent. Men cannot put members into the Church of
God, neither can they expel them.
Salvation is the only door into the
Church of God. Jesus says, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in,
he shall be saved"---John 10:9.The Bible says, "Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God---John 3:3.In order to become
a member of the Church of God, we must truly repent, and be born again.
When we are born again, we do not live any longer in sin. "Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin---1John 3:9. "We know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not"---1John 3:18.
It is difficult for many people to
understand that there are no sinners in the Church of God, but all of its
members are saved and living above sin. It is true some people who claim
to be members of the Church of God do not live as they should, but they
are not in the church; they claim to be in it. They are what the Bible
styles hypocrites. Judas, one of the twelve, was not right in the sight of
God, but that did not keep the other Apostle from being right: We should
not hide behind hypocrites. The only way to be saved is to live a holy
life, free from sin; regardless of what the other person may do.
I shall repeat that the Lord does
not add members to the church unless they have truly repented. A man may
be a member of a denominational church without having repented, because
most denominations take in members whether they have repented or not.
When a man/woman repents of his
sins, with the expectation of living a Christian life, he at that moment
becomes a member of the Church of God. Then if he joins a denomination, he
is a member of two churches. He is a member of the Church of God by
spiritual birth; he is a member of a denomination by joining. If he joins
a denomination without repenting, he is a member of the denomination, but
he is not a member of the Church of God, because he has not repented. We
cannot join the Church of God; we cannot be voted in; we cannot get in by
signing a card; the only way is to be born again.
The members of the modern
denomination consist mostly of sinners, but there may be few Christians
scattered here and there. The members of the Church of God are all
Christian.
If all saved people in denomination
would come out of it, and unite in the Church of God, the Christian life
would be much more easily lived.
Wherefore come out from among them
and be ye separate, saith the Lord--- 2 Cor 6:17