The Destiny of the Church

What is the destiny of the church? There’s just one word that fits that. The church has an eternal destiny. We noted a moment ago Hebrews 12:23, “the church of the firstborn.” In those 5 verses down the column in your Bible, when the writer refers to the church of the firstborn as the “kingdom which cannot be shaken (or, “moved”), that’s reminiscent of a prophet, Daniel 2, and verse 44. The prophet said to Nebuchadnezzar, “And in the days of these kings (referring to the Roman Caesars) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never…be…destroyed…and it shall stand for ever.” That’s the unshakable kingdom, which Hebrews 12:23 identifies as “the church”of Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 5, and verse 23, Paul says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the church, (being) Himself the Saviour of the body.” Now, in what sense is He going to save the body, which is His church? Will He save it in the sense of protecting its members from physical harm and from dread diseases and from broken bones and from heartache? No…no. That’s not it. He’s going to save it eternally! He’s going to save our souls! He’s going to take those who are IN His church home to GLORY some day!! That’s the sense in which He’s the head of the church and the Savior of the body.

The destiny of the church is eternal because…. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:24, “Then (cometh) the end….” He’s just been talking about the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and then in this verse he says, “Then cometh the end, when He (Christ) shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father….” Now there’s another passage that utterly refutes the “future kingdom” theories. Christ is not coming to set up a kingdom. He’s coming to deliver up His existing kingdom and take it home! That’s what He’s going to do with His church. It’s going to be at home, at last, eternally.

You see, the church is simply the depository of…God’s…saved…people. Every time a person obeys the Gospel of Christ and is saved, a deposit is made of that person into the church. “The Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved” Acts 2:47.

Now, there are two thoughts I want to leave with you as we close tonight. The first is one that should bring great gladness and joy of heart to anyone here who is not a member of the church that we’ve been talking about tonight. You can be before you leave here tonight. You need not leave here outside of the body of Christ, which He is going to save when He returns. The very same body of people, the church that Jesus built, the church that was established on Pentecost, the church that the apostles were members of, that very same church—YOU can be a part of it.

The other thing I leave with you is this: If you want to go to heaven, you must be a part of it. That’s what the Bible teaches. Now, don’t go away saying that the preacher got up there and said that if I didn’t “join his denomination,” I was going straight to hell. You will seriously represent me if you do any such thing. But I do not apologize one bit. I can’t and be true to the Bible. To let anyone leave here tonight thinking that they can go to heaven outside of the church…that…Jesus…bought with His blood—that’s why you must be a member of it, my friends. He is not going to save those outside of the church, if the Bible is TRUE! And I believe it’s true! You must be a part of it. That may be a shock to some of you, but that’s what the Bible teaches. Haven’t we seen it over and over tonight?

Well, how does one become a member of it? The answer is right there in the birthday of the church in Acts, chapter 2. The Gospel was preached; the people cried out as they came to the conviction that Jesus was the Son of God; they implicitly confessed their faith in Him when they said, “What shall we do?”

Now, if Billy Graham had been there, if Max Lucado had been there, they would have said, “You don’t need to do anything—you’ve already done all you need to do. Just go find a church you like. You can be baptized later of you want to.”

But, bless his heart—Peter was just a poor old inspired apostle who didn’t know any better. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you….” No exceptions! “…in the Name of Jesus Christ…” meaning “by the authority of”!—just like the sheriff says when he knocks on the door, “Open up in the name of the law”—by the authority of the law. “By the authority of Christ, I’m telling you to do this,” Peter says. “…UNTO…”—that you might receive “the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Peter wasn’t through preaching. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all of them that afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. And with many other Words did he testify and exhort them saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ They then that gladly received his Word were baptized: and there were added (unto them) in that day about three thousand souls.”

Now, you can be a part of that number added…tonight. I hope and pray that you will if you’re outside the body of Christ. If you’ve never confessed your faith in Christ, turned away from you sins, and been baptized in order that you might receive the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, why don’t you do that tonight? I want you to go to heaven, and you surely want to go to heaven. I don’t want anybody saying to me when I get up to the Judgment, “You didn’t make it plain enough that night in Albuquerque.” I’ve risked hurting some feelings tonight, perhaps, by speaking plainly, but I hope your feelings are hurt enough that you’ll obey the Gospel. Why don’t you come to Christ tonight, confess you faith in Him, be baptized into Him, become a member of the Lord’s church and this body of His church here?

And now, brother or sister, if you have defamed the Lord’s precious bride by the way you’ve lived; if you’ve neglected her; if you have despised her; if you’ve mistreated her; you ought to repent in bitter tears tonight. He loved her so much that He gave all He had for her, and you’re a part of what He loved so much and gave Himself for as a member of the church. Come back to Him tonight. Let’s stand and sing.

Concluding Comments at the end of this Gospel Meeting by Brother John Phillis, Evangelist of the Northeast church of Christ

I don’t think that in all of my years that I’ve heard preaching that has been quite as plain, quite as straightforward, quite as understandable, as that which we have heard this week during this series of lessons. We are indeed indebted to this good man for coming here and sharing these wonderful sermons with us. Brother Dub, you’ve preached the Word of God powerfully, faithfully, and in a loving way, we have been exhorted; we’ve been edified; yes, we’ve been admonished. And we have been encouraged; we’ve been uplifted and we’ve been strengthened. We are better Christians today than we were a week ago, and thus, this is a better congregation. Thank you, Brother McClish.

We have heard six very powerful sermons concerning what the Bible has to say about the Lord’s Supper; what the Bible has to say concerning Worship Attendance; what the Bible has to say about Discipleship; what the Bible has to say about It’s Own Silence; and last night, that wonderful lesson about Baptism and tonight about the New Testament Church.

I want to mention once again The Gospel Journal. This is the fine publication—a monthly publication—that Brother McClish edits. [For ordering information for The Gospel Journal publication: Phone/fax: 210-566-9055. Email: tgj.1@juno.com. Mailing address: P. O. Box 219, Cibolo, Texas 78108-0219.]

If you subscribe to that Journal—well, if you don’t subscribe to it—you might want to also be aware of the publication company that used to be owned by Dub and his wife that is now owned by The Gospel Journal and is under that name. [The Gospel Journal now carries a large assortment of Bibles, many, many good books on a wide variety of subjects (e.g., apologetics, the home, elders, debates, hermeneutics, liberalism, etc.), commentaries on almost all of the books of the Bible, numerous standard Bible reference works (concordances, Bible dictionaries, word studies, church histories, Bible introductions, etc.), lectureship books and CDs from the Annual Denton Lectures, and their successors, the Schertz Lectures books. Contact information is as above.]

Well, it’s been a great week. We’re glad that you have been here.