Christ's Call to Reform the Church
Notes
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Social
Introduction: pages 9-13
Introduction: pages 9-13
Christ’s primary concern was not social or political
The Church is not fighting a culture war
Matthew 16:18
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
“Believers need to put our energies into the ministry that can transform lives, not into laws.” —John MacArthur
Morality Damns (pg.10)
Morality Damns (pg.10)
Morality cannot change the heart
Jesus confronted the moral Pharisees
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
:
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’
Matthew 23:16
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
Isaiah 64
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
Romans 3:
People
“People can change their lives.”
“Morality can’t save anyone from guilt or fuel genuine godliness.”
The Church needs to be careful moral or social justice doesn’t distract from the main task
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
The True Calling of the Church (pg.12)
The True Calling of the Church (pg.12)
Don’t turn our mission field into our enemy
“Angry protests”
“Partisan politics”
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Timothy ministered in a culture like ours
2 Timothy
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
We must show the world love and not be like Jonah
“The world is the way it is today because it is the world.”
Example Jonah
Matthew 5
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
“Virtually every admonition, rebuke, warning, and call to repentance our Lord makes in these letters is applicable to the church in the twenty-first century—including today’s best-known and most-influential evangelical churches. It’s time for us to pay attention to the letters to those in Revelation and heed Christ’s call to reform His Church.”
Calling the Church to Repent: pages 15-36
Calling the Church to Repent: pages 15-36
Church repenting collectively?
The Great Ejection (pg.16)
The Great Ejection (pg.16)
History of the Puritans against the Anglican Church
Continuing to rid church of remaining Roman Catholic influences and practices
Act of Uniformity August 24, 1662 an attempt silence opposition to the Anglican Church
Matthew Meade
JB Marsden
Puritan pastors who lost their pulpits but continued to preach: Richard Baxter, John Flavel, Thomas Brooks, and Thomas Watson
The Legacy of the Reformation (pg.19)
The Legacy of the Reformation (pg.19)
Institutional corruption
Hersey and spiritual deception
John Wycliffe and John Huss
Martin Luther
John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Philip Melanchthon, Theodore Beza, John Knox
The Pathology of an Apostate Church (pg.23)
The Pathology of an Apostate Church (pg.23)
“Consider the spiritual ground that is lost when the church surrenders biblical authority. If Scripture does not speak with absolute, inerrant authority, the offer of justification by grace through faith cannot be extended to desperate sinners.” JM
Doing away with biblical authority opens the door for false doctrine and false teachers
Todays church is surrendering to the characteristics of the corrupt Catholic Church in the days of Martin Luther
Apostasy happens gradually
…maybe we can be more relevant and inviting to the world if we don’t take this verse or that sin too seriously. Dangerous philosophy
The Alleged Advantages of the Early Church (pg.26)
The Alleged Advantages of the Early Church (pg.26)
Call to early church model
Anti-large church
Even the early church had problems
An Apostle in Exile (pg.26)
An Apostle in Exile (pg.26)
Revelation before getting into God’s judgment on the unrepentant sinners first addresses the churches
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
Real historical churches
Time periods and today’s churches might be similar to these 7 churches
Periods of persecution
Revelation 1
Judgement for the Household of God
Judgement for the Household of God
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
2 Timothy
God’s warnings to the church should be taken seriously
Apostate Israel is an example God will bring judgement
The Lord’s Work in His Church: pages 37-53
The Lord’s Work in His Church: pages 37-53
A Voice Like a Trumpet (pg.39)
A Voice Like a Trumpet (pg.39)
In the Spirit
“not a normal human experience”
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.
Ezekiel
;
“on the Lord’s day”
The day the Lord was resurrected
The day the early observed because of the significance of the day
“heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet”
Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Exodus 19:
Loud voice or sound proceed solemn announcements or heavenly praise
And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Revelation
And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.
Revelation 14:
“What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia...”
The New King James Version Chapter 1
What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
One of John’s last tasks
The importance of the local church
The Lord in His Church (pg.41)
The Lord in His Church (pg.41)
Seven golden lampstands
Value
Main purpose is to shine light
Like the Son of Man
High Priest in the midst of the lights
Jesus is active in His Church
We can find comfort
We can find encouragement
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Son of Man
Jesus is active in His Church
We can find comfort
We can find encouragement
The Interceding High Priest (pg.43)
The Interceding High Priest (pg.43)
The Interceding High Priest (pg.43)
The Interceding High Priest (pg.43)
His clothing appears to be that of the Great High Priest
He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on.
Leviticus
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Romans 8:
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:
The Purifying Sovereign (pg.44)
The Purifying Sovereign (pg.44)
His physical description describes His holiness and power
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow
“I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
His bride should be the same
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
His eyes like a flame of fire
omniscience -
He sees all
He knows all
judgement - He knows all
Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
Matthew 10:
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Judgement
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace
Authority and judgment
No impurities
He disciplines church to purify them
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Hebrews 12:5
The Voice of Authority (pg.47)
The Voice of Authority (pg.47)
The voice of Christ is our authority
The voice of Christ demands our attention
The voice of Christ trumps all
Opinion
Divine Care and Protection (pg.49)
Divine Care and Protection (pg.49)
Seven stars = seven angels (messengers) or pastors verse 20
A Reflection of Gory (pg.50)
A Reflection of Gory (pg.50)
Terror Turns to Comfort (pg.51)
Terror Turns to Comfort (pg.51)
The Loveless Church: Ephesus pages 55-71
The Loveless Church: Ephesus pages 55-71
The Persecuted Church: Smyrna pages 73-85
The Persecuted Church: Smyrna pages 73-85
The Compromising Church: Pergamum pages 87-102
The Compromising Church: Pergamum pages 87-102
The Corrupt Church: Thyatira pages 103-119
The Corrupt Church: Thyatira pages 103-119
The Dead Church: Sardis pages 120-137
The Dead Church: Sardis pages 120-137
The Faithful Church: Philadelphia pages 139-156
The Faithful Church: Philadelphia pages 139-156
The Lukewarm Church: Laodicea pages 157-176
The Lukewarm Church: Laodicea pages 157-176
The Need for a New Reformation pages 177-194
The Need for a New Reformation pages 177-194