Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ. And now the message. We spoke the last several weeks on this matter of separation, and we looked about several weeks ago on the arena of personal separation, and then we focused on the matter of really the biblical doctrine of separation, and now we're coming to the conclusion of our series this morning, ecclesiastical separation. Notice, if you will, in Ephesians chapter number 5, Ephesians chapter number 5, the scripture records beginning on maybe about verse number 25. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. You know, as we conclude this study on the teaching of separation, we turn our eye from personal separation to what we would refer to as corporate separation. Corporate separation. By corporate separation, we're referring to the body of believers by which an individual saint is attached. So when we're thinking about this in context of our lesson this morning, We're actually talking about a specific body of believers. We're talking about the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Church. Another term for this type of separation is ecclesiastical separation, ecclesiastical separation. In this age, it is an age by which unity, unity is the watchword. In fact, some would put unity at being a far higher premium than truth or doctrine. That's often the misinterpretation of Ephesians chapter 5 when he talks about one faith, one Lord, one spirit, one baptism. The idea is Jesus loves us all so it doesn't matter at all what you believe. I rather contend that doctrine is so important that without doctrine you don't know the Jesus you love. Without doctrine you don't even know that Jesus is God and without doctrine you don't even know that Jesus can be a savior. That's all important. And it's important what the Lord revealed to a religious woman in Sumerian, John chapter five, or rather John chapter four. He said, the day is coming. We shall worship me in spirit and in. If you remove doctrinal truth, then you have changed the very narrative of the scriptures. Sanctify them. This was the Lord's prayer in the garden in the 17th chapter of John. Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. You do not know who Christ is or what Christ has done or what he will do if you do not have sound doctrine. Unity does not take precedence over truth. But it is a common narrative in this very age that every group should just kind of, you know, go along to get along. Yet, looking across the landscape of any community, including ours, you'll notice a plethora of Christian churches. What often distinguishes them apart is ultimately what they believe and what they engage in. It has been said that doctrine divides, but love unifies. One well-known pastor of sorts down in Charlotte, North Carolina is cited as saying this, we don't offer different kinds of Bible studies or teach doctrines because it gets in the way of evangelism. That is really a terrible thing. And you'll hear Christians sometimes talk about that today. They'll talk about, well, all that matters is that we get people saved. Well, again, if you remove doctrine, how do you know what saved is? How do you know if you can stay saved? And how do you know what you're saved from? A lot that goes on in the emergent churches today regarding the gospel, I deign to say is barely the gospel. You know, if there's not instruction on the judgment by which all humanity is under, why do you need salvation? But if you deal with judgment, you deal with doctrine. So this presents with us this morning some powerful questions, and I have three of them here in your notes, and I'll highlight them quickly for the greater context. But the first question is, as we're talking about ecclesiastical separation, what is, from our perspective, a church? On this side of eternity, what is a church? Well, Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20 speak of it this wise, that where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in thee. midst. So a church is more than just a collection of people. You can go today, I suppose there's a coffeehouse somewhere that has a gathering of more than two or three people. That doesn't make them a church. But they do have, they are visible, they are present, there's more than two or three of them and they have a purpose. Why would you go in a coffeehouse? Well, today you might actually go there to work on your internet computer and your internet and everything else, but you have a purpose. And you might even have a combined purpose. There's been times where I've met in a coffee house or something of that nature or ordered coffee at a place and it's me and two or three other people, but why are we there? We have a purpose. Maybe we're working out some plans or things along that, but that's not a church. What ultimately makes a New Testament church is the complete gathering of these entities. The populace, two or three are gathered. The presence, they're gathered together. The fact that you've got the Lord's name, that is doctrine that is present. And then finally, you have a purpose that is given. That is really a simplistic explanation of what a church really is. And by those definitions this morning, we've got more than two or three gathered. We have more than two or three. We have gathered together, that's the very declination of the word church, ecclesia. We've been called out. You've left your homes. Now, I understand there's reasons people would stream a message online or something like that. There are times that we're away, there are times that we're sick, there are times we want to be nosy. There's a lot of reasons why someone would stream, but I want you to know that streaming is not the same thing as church. You do not have a church if you do not have the present gathering of believers in a physical gathering together. So then you've got another thing here. We're gathered. Why? Well, we're gathered in the Lord's name. We're gathered to worship him. We'll get to that in just a moment. So then that brings us to that point. That's what a church is. And then we spoke a little bit on what's the purpose of church. And we could list a whole number of things, but essentially, ultimately, You know what, if you're here in Ephesians, turn over to 1 Timothy. So when you get to 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, they're referred to as the what type of epistles? They're pastoral. So if you want to know ultimately the doctrine as it relates to the polity of an assembly, These are the epistles that would have a tremendous amount on that. Now, it's not to say the other epistles don't speak on it, but they're written to two different men that held and had that role position as a pastor. And 1 Timothy 3 deals with the qualifications of a pastor. If a man, this is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. By the way, there's no such thing in all your scriptures as an office of the pastor. The pastor really is what he does. The Greek word for pastor is poimen, and it deals with the idea of feeding. In fact, if you note down in these verses, he talks about one of the qualifications, he's to be apt to teach. That's that pastoring. But the office really is that of an office of a bishop. And that idea of bishop has the one that does oversight. We spoke of that some weeks ago when we dealt out of 1 Peter chapter 5. But you come down to the end of chapter number 3, notice this. These things, verse 14, I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. Now notice verse 15. This will give you a concise biblical definition of what a New Testament church This gives you a purpose statement. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou altest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and then he uses two definitional phrases, the pillar and ground of truth. At pillar it speaks of the support. The ground speaks of something that is established for time and really eternity because the Word of God is. You get a definition of what a church is. A church is a place that at its premier focus as it worships God seeks to proclaim the truths of the Word of God. So let me ask you this. If a church's purpose is not to proclaim the truths of the Word of God, and I might would say the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is it really a church? Not by this definition. But then there's, of course, an application to this as well. You get to the application in the proclamation of the word, you certainly have the edification of the saints. As mentioned a number of times, that's also a personal ministry we do. We are to edify and exhort one another, and so much the more, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25, as you see the day approaching. We have a responsibility personally, individually to edify, but collectively, one of the reasons we come is that we might be built up in a most holy faith. And then, of course, we have a purpose, in a sense as well, in the sense of preaching the gospel of Christ. You might would look at that as a form of evangelism, and that's something a church engages in, by the way. forgot to announce that, but Wednesday night is the start of our season of evangelism. That's part of the purpose of a church, a purpose of a church. So if a church is not busy with the preaching and the teaching of the word of God, it's not a church. A church that is not engaged in some type of evangelism also is not fulfilling that role, the New Testament evangelist. So that is important aspects of what the purpose of the church is. And then the third question that it brings about is, Who is the judge of the church? And there's a few things here that we touched on. Number one, ultimately the judge is Christ. Now that's given to us in Revelation chapter 1. He holds the candlesticks. That's an important aspect. It's equally important to note that as the Lord's speaking to His seven churches, He talks about removing their candlestick. You know, if you've lived any length of time or if you've read any ecclesiastical books on ecclesiastical history, church-type history, you'll note that over the tenure of 2,000 years, there's been a lot of churches that have been extinguished. I dare say that the world has oft tried to extinguish churches, but they've never been successful. The blood of the martyrs, as one man put it, is the seat of the church. They could not, during the Spanish Inquisition or various other inquisitions, eradicate believers from following the way. So outside forces have never truly been successful on outing the light that is in God's candlestick. But Christ has promised he would take his candlestick. You see, the reality is Christ is the ultimate judge. And ultimately, when a church veers from its purpose, when it veers from the truths of the Word of God, it eventually will be gathered together and its light will grow dimmer and dimmer. Today, often, we have our focus set on different things. To some, when you deal with the judge of what a good church is, they'll talk about prestige. And you'll find in Revelation chapter 2 that prestige is not the greatest concern that a church needs to focus on. Whether that be an outward prestige or ecclesiastical prestige, it's not very important from the Lord's perspective whether or not the world over knows this assembly's name. Prestige isn't a great concern. A second one that we have here on our notes is outward success is not a great concern. Fred, I'll be honest with you, there's buildings that once used to house wonderful churches and the buildings remain. I could take you to churches that I was familiar with in my youth and they have acres of land and square footage of building space but they don't exist anymore. I was on the phone this week and a fellow was talking to me about a church and saying very positive things about you all and said, made this comment and said, you know, said, uh, it's always of an interest to me. He said, I know of a church that's got seven acres land and, and they've got a sanctuary could sit 300. And, and he said, they've got buildings galore. And he said, uh, they'll run 12 on a Sunday morning. What happened? God put the light out. He may have used various means, but that's exactly what happened. I think as believers, we need to realize that God's blessing, one must be able to ascertain God's blessing outside of the tangible successful. I'll be honest with you, friend, I don't want our legacy in 30 years to be how nice a building we had. You know what this building's destiny is? I'm not trying to upset you, but I want you to think a little bit. You know what this building's destiny is? You know what's going to happen to this building? At best, it's going to be burnt with fire. I second Peter. The day of the Lord coming and the heaven nurse will melt away with a fervent heat. What a shame that we put all our eggs in that basket. Now buildings have their place and they have their importance. I'm sure thankful for what God has provided. And I'm thankful for God's people that have given sacrificially and given of their time and efforts and talents. But the buildings aren't eternal. You know, it's eternal. those tangible people that drive us nuts. That's what's eternal. And so outward success, be careful about that. It's not the greatest concern, what people might think as they look by. I've mentioned this one or alluded to it already, but wealth isn't the final determination. The Lord gave great compliments in Revelation chapter two and three to some churches that had nothing. Where at the same time in Revelation chapter three to the Laodicean church, they proclaim themselves as wealthy and God had nothing good to say about them. Be careful. The message to the seven churches is quite clear. If the assembly compromises with error, compromises with error and darkness, or in its precepts or practice, its light becomes dimmer. until it will not eventually be able to give off any light at all. And this is the issue for these churches and certainly for all New Testament churches and for us today. The very word that is used in the New Testament for church, ekklesia, it means a called out group. And you can see it, kaleo is called and ek usually means out. It's the preposition, so you smush it all together and it means called out. The very nature of an assembly is to be different from the society in which it's located. Separation is implied in the very name church. And so that's leading us to our final question of consideration this morning. In what area should a local assembly seek to pursue doctrinal separation? And I think here in your notes you have four of them. Let me show you the first of these. The first of these is separation in the area of membership. In the area of membership. The membership of a New Testament assembly should be made up of, here's our word, it's a power word, exclusively professing, baptized individuals. So I know that this doesn't fit in a lot of ways, but churches by very nature are discriminatory. Now, we're not discriminatory on nationality. We're not discriminatory on pigmentation of skin. We're not discriminatory on gender. But when it comes to theological matters, churches by nature require some exclusivity. And a New Testament church must be so as well. A New Testament church should not be made up of unbelievers in its membership. Now, I know there are individuals that give a salvation testimony and unite because we're taking that by faith to a certain level. And they unite with an assembly, and then sometime later, they might come and say, hey, you know, I got it all wrong. and I need to get saved. I know that that, as an exception, often happens, but as a general rule, that should never happen. Believers should be the only ones that are entitled, if you will, to be part of a local assembly. There's no such thing as a lost person in the New Testament joining a church, which brings an interesting point, isn't it? That, by necessity, indicates that a church should give some real examination to who makes up its membership. It's not open enrollment. It's not whoever wants to come. Now, there was a day not too long ago, I can remember part of it, where the whole uniting with a membership was a very, with a New Testament church, was very, maybe I'd use the word, loose. It was just as simple as somebody coming forward, you're saved, you're baptized, you're part. But I'll be honest with you, those days have gone. You've got today people that hold ideas regarding, and I'm getting ahead of myself here, doctrine that are distinctly different from the New Testament church that they're trying to join. And again, where there's been such an emphasis in the last 20 or 30 years on evangelism aside of doctrine, the terminology has drastically changed. I mean, there's large emergent churches today that aren't even sure, they've got membership that is not even sure if Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. My friend, if your Savior sinned, then your Savior is not a Savior at all. So there's separation in regards to membership. Acts chapter two says, and this is the direction of the New Testament that gives clarity, those that heard and obeyed the gospel were saved and added to the church, Acts 2, 41. So where do you see separation? Well, you see it in regards of its membership. Number two, and I've alluded to this, there needs to be separation in regards to its doctrine. What position does this New Testament church take Well, that's the doctrine. The New Testament assembly being comprised of maturing believers. By the way, that's a good phrase there, maturing believers. Ephesians 4 talks about until we all come to the perfect knowledge, the statute, the fullness of Christ. The reality is that's where we all should be. Every one of us should be maturing believers. You know what that means? Changing believers. To grow is indicative of a change. I'll be honest, there's a lot of excuse given encouraging folks just to be stagnant believers. That's never the will of God for your life. He wants you to grow. You ought to have more victory this year. You may not have more victory in your finances. But you ought to have victory in your spiritual growth. You ought to have victory in your walk with Him. You ought to have victory over your thought life. You ought to have more victory with each passing year over the besetting things of our life. There ought to be greater faithfulness in us this year than there was last year. That's part of that maturing process. And so New Testament assemblies being comprised of maturing believers should seek to be instructed in the truths of the Word of God. As such, their beliefs regarding the interpretation of the word should be the primary unity that is sought. So I go back to that phrase, you know, I mentioned earlier about unity being the watchword. Well, the idea then, because there's been such a diminishing on doctrine, is that as long as you're saying they're my brethren in Christ, and there's an element of truth to that, and then it doesn't matter from there. That's what leads to churches that really are in a position where they cannot preach doctrine, where they can't take a stand on anything whatsoever. They can't preach about the King James Bible. They can't preach about believers' baptism. They can't preach these things. They can't preach eschatology. Why? Because they've got a congregation that though the entire congregation might be saved, and though to an element they're all maturing, doctrinally they hold strongly different beliefs. So you know what you're left to preach on? I guess just the gospel and how much God loves you. And the numbers swell, but the people of God can never be instructed because to have instruction requires exclusive doctrine. By the way, that's where, and I speak of our society, that's where our society was 50 years ago, that if you went into a Baptist church, here was their polity and here was their belief. That's not the same today. I mean, you've got Baptist churches in this area that are confused on gender. You know how that happened? That did not happen overnight. It happened because you had an element within the church that said doctrine's not important, let's just preach about the goodness of God. And protract that out down the road and you get areas you cannot touch on. So doctrine has to be the primary area. That's why in order to be part of this assembly, to apply for membership, what's your doctrine? That's probably the second question you're asked. You're asked about your salvation testimony. You're asked about, are you in agreement? Do you know what this church believes? Are you in agreement with this doctrinal position of this church? Have you ever been placed under the church discipline of another church? All those are important things. Why? Because doctrine truly matters. Number three, there should be separation in affiliation. The New Testament assembly must give caution to its associations with other churches and subsequent ministries. There are many areas in which churches associate. It might be an education. You know, I can use myself for an example. Many of you could use yourself for an example. But you think about the education that you might have received by way of biblical instruction, likely did not just come from one place. So there is that. Missions is another one. We've had some missionaries in this year. We have a couple more that we're scheduling for the balance of the year. They didn't come out of this church. You don't know who their parents are. I mean, some you might, but as a general rule, you may not. You know nothing about them. If we only supported missionaries within the confines of this assembly, as far as going overseas, we wouldn't have any overseas missionaries. So just like education to a role, so too is missions. And then there's fellowship. I think there's a great joy in our Heart Come Preaching Conference. Why? One of the things is we get to meet and greet with some other saints that come from other areas. Camps are similar like that. We've got a camp upcoming in June. There's a level of fellowship in God intended that night. I believe when you look at the scriptures, you can see this as well. They had mutual collaboration on education. They were to share works together, particularly the Church of Colossae was sharing an epistle that was written from the church of Laodicea. That was shared with them. That was a commonness that they had. By the way, they shared different speakers as well. Timothy would preach for a while. Paul would preach. Paul's in different churches. So there was a sharing in the educational thing. There was a sharing in their missions endeavor. Paul was never, or I should say, was not only supported for the entire length of his ministry by one church. There was a collaborative effect that occurred. And of course, their fellowship, they communed one with another. Romans chapter 16, they knew of other churches and other ministries and oftentimes had ministries that overlapped. All of that's in keeping. See, it's not isolation, but it is doctrinal in its affiliation. The New Testament assembly must choose and choose wisely her affiliations on doctrine. She cannot long remain doctrinally pure, please. She cannot long remain doctrinally pure if she allies herself with ecumenical groups that seek to unite truth with error. It won't long remain. Turn to the 1900s. You had many a church that was conservative, and I'm not just speaking of Baptist church. You had many a church that was conservative, and pastors retired. because they get old and they die, and they get sick, you know. And so they looked to replace them, and they wanted to get qualified candidates, and so they went to seminaries. And they recruited a bunch of fellows from seminary, and I'm not opposed to a biblically sound seminary, and they do exist. And they recruited these guys, and they had all the academia credentialing. But you know what the big problem was? They didn't believe the Bible. They didn't believe the Bible. And that happened in a single generation. Why? And, you know, we could look at whose fault it is, and some would look at that new preacher and say he's a shyster. Some would blame it on the old preacher. Does the church itself not bear any responsibility? The fact is, long ago, it was the church's dollars going to support these institutions, and the institutions were filled with individuals that had credentials, that maybe were qualified with their credentials, but they did not believe the book. By the way, that's the way that every Bible college often goes. They lean to credentialing, and when that occurs, credentials become more important than biblical truth. And to scream and remind you of the old television show, Danger, Danger, Will Robinson. There's separation and affiliation. With the winds of change always gusting, a New Testament church must constantly consult the compass of truth. Listen, that institution may have been a wonderful institution for 100 years or 50 years, but that don't mean it's the same institution in five years from now. And change can happen so desperately quick. It really is mind-blowing. So there's separation and affiliation. And whether you're talking about a missions agency, whether you're talking about a New Testament church, whether you're talking about a Bible college or whatever entity you are, you have to consult the compass of the word of truth. A fourth area that we mentioned is separation in practice. Separation in practice. The New Testament assembly must not be confused as to its practice. The proclamation of the truth has taken a back seat to church growth. the age of the seeker-sensitive movement. Seeker-sensitive. Come, come, come. Come one, come all. It's almost, really, the seeker-sensitive movement is almost like a carnival movement, meaning to modify church to make it more comfortable for people that aren't part of any church at all. You know, God never commissioned that type of evangelism. It's not, and it's not in the book. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul, I'll be honest, preaching in some churches today? They'd run him out on a rail. No. But the secret sensitive movement says make it hospitable, make it comfortable. Now we're not talking about making the building clean. You're not talking about having warm and hospitable people when they meet guests. Those are two different matters. But I'm talking about changing things so that unbelievers feel comfortable. I'll be honest, years ago, I got called, I had a bucket, thing on my bucket list got filled. I wanted to serve in a jury duty. I'd heard everybody talk about it, and I had never been a part of it, and I said, I just would like one opportunity. Now that I've had it, I don't need another one. But I got called for one, and they didn't sit me for a jury, but I got called to several. Apparently when they asked, and I said I was a pastor, I was automatically put on the no-dough list, the do not jurify. And I was sitting in this one courtroom, And it was here in Harrisburg, and it was cold. And don't get me wrong, I like a little on the cool side. I mean, it was cold by my standards. And when we walked in, a bailiff that got us lined up, and he said, listen, you can't have any jackets in the judge's courtroom. So, you know, you didn't have any jackets. I said, that's her rule. They seat us, and that's when we found out it was cold. We leave the courtroom and everybody's asking, why was it that way? I said, that's her rule. Except for like a sports coat or something, no jackets. And she said, wants that inmate that's being sentenced by her or the jury that's about to hear it, she wants everybody uncomfortable because they stand before the law. Oh, it's interesting. It's a sad thing when a church is more worried about the community being comfortable with their doctrine, then a judge is the law. Seeker-sensitive movement, that's what that is. And I use this word a lot, the emergent, E-M-E-R-G-E-N-T. And a lot of times they're blended together, and there's a reason for that, but let me give you a quick synonym for emergent. Think reimagined, that's what emergent means. You know what church feels like. You come to church, you got pews, you got a pulpit, Churches do it different, box, plates, whatever. You have hymnals. Now some churches have a hymnal and they have stuff on the monitor too. But you've got the concept of what church has been for hundreds of years. And yet you've got churches now that on a Sunday morning bring in Little Bo Peep and the sheriff from Toy Story, I forget his name, what's his name? Y'all were at that church, Woody? Anyway, and they come in and that's the entire message. That's emergent. It's reimagined. It's where instead of having a Christmas cantata where there's singing and a challenge from the word of God, the singing is dominantly pure, you got people flying across high lines across the sanctuary. You got smoke coming up from the platform, black lights with darkened, you know what I'm talking about? It's reimagined. It's not your grandma's church. That's what emergent means. secret sensitive movement, the emergent mentality, have really reduced the Word of God to nothing more than trivial pursuit. Biblical pursuit must be key. And the chiefest means is the foolishness of preaching. I'm going to tell you, you know how we're getting ready for gardening season and people have rules of thumb? Everything has a rule of thumb, something that you can gauge quickly. There might be a time when you can look differently, but they're kind of a rule. There are exceptions, perhaps, but it's a general rule. Let me give you a general rule. When your singing timeframe of church, when your service of singing is much longer than your service of preaching, you're going the wrong way. For there's more in the Scriptures about instructing in the Word than there is about singing by means of worship." And you say, preachers, is it always that way? No, there's exceptions to the rule I can think of. I'm not saying that it's wrong of a church to have a special time where maybe they've done preparation like a cantata. I'm not saying that's wrong. But I'm saying as a general rule, when that is always the case, you've got a big problem on the horizon. Activity that is sound in biblical truth is always safest. I think the lesson for us this morning is to let us maintain our passionate pursuit of purity, lest our candlestick be removed out of its place. Father. Thank you for listening. If you would like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541-Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.svbcpa.org. Until next time!