The Presentation of the Church - Roanoke Summer Series

Intro:

Good evening.

(I really appreciate the invitation to be back with you tonight — Appreciate Caleb and Joey as well).

How many here enjoy going to a play?

I enjoy going to watch a play.

We have a “little theater” in Ardmore, OK that my family and I like to go to from time to time.

(There’s just something about a live in-person atmosphere that a play produces that something like a movie theater just can’t quite replicate as well)!

Someone says, “Where is this analogy going?”

Have you ever thought about all the work that goes into the production that is a play?

All the preliminary work like the writing the script, the auditions, the call-backs, the writing the songs and musical score, etc.

And then you’ve got the decorations, the costumes, the lighting, the microphones and sound systems.

You’ve also got to have a theater, right?

What good is a play without a theater?! (Or at least some sort of outdoor amphitheater).

And then after all of that … You’ve got the premier of the play itself!

Right?

The DEBUT!

And so all the actors come and do their thing, the audience gives applause at the end and then a standing ovation.

“Encore!” “Encore!” Right?

And then the play runs again for however many nights it runs.

Again, someone says where does this analogy play out (pun intended!) in tonight’s introduction?

Well, think of the “play” that is the Bible, if you will!

I know, I know — Humor me a bit!

You’ve got the setting, you’ve got the actors, you’ve got a plot or a theme, etc. etc. etc.

The setting of the Bible when you really think about it? The world!

God’s creation - Genesis 1 and following (and of course Heaven and Hell come into play in the Bible as well - There’s that pun again!)

But if we are thinking about the grand play that is human history, the world is the stage upon which …

The ACTORS play out human events.

And of course, the actors are US!

Mankind!

(God, of course, is even more important than we are … Because He’s GOD!)

But God creates man in His own image (Gen. 1:27), everything that God made (Gen. ch. 1) was described as good and even VERY GOOD!

But then man comes along in Genesis chapter 3, influenced by another main character (the devil), and man SINS!

Bad things - evil things, along with pain and suffering, enter t he world at that time, and thus there is a need for the ultimate main character (if you’ll let me phrase it this way) — Jesus Christ!

Genesis 3:15 - “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” (The first prophecy of Christ and His destruction of Satan, which you and I know occured when Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected unto life on the third day!)

The plot of this “play” then?!

We just said it.

God created man — Man sinned — Man needed a Savior — God the Son came in the flesh (John 1:14) and is that Savior that we needed!

He came and lived a sinless life, He taught us everything we needed to know, He fulfilled every prophecy there was to fulfill about Him, He died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and arose on the third day — The Gospel!

That brings us to this point that I hope you’ll get from our introduction as we discuss the “Presentation of the Church” tonight — Think about it like a play!

That is, think about the fact that as Jesus was doing all of that, He PURCHASED A CHURCH (Acts 20:28) with His own precious blood!

And so when we think about that blood-bought institution …

Think about that grand unfolding of the infinite wisdom of God as a 3-act play!

Act 1 - The Church in Prophecy.

Act 2 - The Church in Fulfillment.

Act 3 - The Church in Heaven!

I wish we had time to cover everything there is to cover on all three accounts, but we will probably for the sake of time spend most of our time tonight on the first 2, but we will briefly mention a couple of things on Act 3 (the church in Heaven) as well!

Act 1 - The Church in Prophecy:

If I were to ask you, just answer this intuitively, if we’re talking the church in prophecy, where should we go first?

(Raise your hand if you think O.T.?)

(Raise your hand if you think N.T.?)

Kind of a trick question, because believe it or not, we can go to BOTH to see the church in prophecy!

Let’s prove that by going FIRST to Matthew chapter 16!

Is that in our N.T. or our O.T.? (N.T. right?)

But is when does the Church come into being? (You probably already know - Acts 2, right?!)

So we are in Matthew which is technically a N.T. book, but Jesus is prophesying that He would build His church, still yet future at that point!

Matt. 16:13-20 (read in Bible and comment — We know this passage, right?!)

Alright, how about the O.T. now?

There are actually quite a few allusions to the church in the O.T., types and shadows and whatnot, but …

I want to go first to Joel chapter 2!

(Read Joel 2:28-32 and comment — To what time does this refer? [The Day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection — And we will prove that in just a few minutes!])

(Read Dan. 2:44 and comment). (Go back and read verses 36-45). [Picture and handouts]

(Read Isa. 2:1-3 and comment).

(We could also go to Micah 4:1-5 as well, but it says almost the exact same thing as Isa. 2:1-3).

Act 2 - The Church in Fulfillment:

If you get a chance later, read Ephesians chapter 1 and you will see that the church was always in the mind of God from the very beginning!

Salvation in His son Jesus Christ, and every spiritual blessing, located in Jesus Christ — That was the plan from the beginning (Eph. 1:3)!

So we’ve come to Act 2 in our “play” if you will, and …

We go to Acts 2! (That’s helpful!)

(Read very quickly Acts 2:16-41, commenting also about the setting [Acts 2:1ff (Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles as if cloven tongues of fire and they spoke in tongues); Acts 2:5 (Jews, devout men of every nation); Acts 2:15 (They had supposed them drunk), etc.]

It’s also important for us to realize that Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us that we are living in the last days — the last dispensation of time, if you will, which began with Jesus establishing His church.

Hebrews 1:1–3 NKJV

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Also, Col. 1:13-14 tells us that at that time it was written, people had been translated from the power of darkness INTO THE KINGDOM of God’s dear Son! “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 1:13–14 NKJV

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Col. 2:11-14 is important as well.

Colossians 2:11–14 NKJV

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

And we could list a whole lot more that there is to say about the church in fulfillment, but finally let’s briefly touch on …

Act 3 - The Church in Heaven:

Revelation 19:7 - (describing the church meeting Christ in Heaven) says … “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

Revelation 19:8 - “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Revelation 19:9 - “Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Revelation 19:10 - “And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Revelation 19:11 - “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

Revelation 19:12 - “His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.”

Revelation 19:13 - “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

Revelation 19:14 - “And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”

Revelation 19:15 - “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Revelation 19:16 - “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”

A beautiful picture of the church whom Jesus died for, meeting the Bridegroom in Heaven!

(By the way, this business of the “New Heaven and New Earth” — I know Caleb and Joey do a good job teaching the truth on that, but I’ll mention it too).

Symbolic language!

It only appears in the Bible a few times.

There are those among us who try to make that out to be something it’s clearly not when you read the rest of your Bible, but the meaning is very clear.

“NHNE” is symbolic language meaning, essentially, a new FAR BETTER place of existence called heaven, and it is a totally different place than where you and I set foot on in the here and now!

Won’t it be wonderful there?! (As we love to sing)

All because we are a part of the precious, blood-bought institution called the church of Jesus Christ!