What is the true church according to the Bible?

By the Church, I mean sinners, brought to know the heavenly Saviour, since the day of Pentecost, born of the Spirit, washed in the blood of the Son of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, baptized into that "one body," of which Christ, in glory, is the head. The Church is the body of Christ. He went into death for it. He has made it His own by dying for it, as it gays, "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 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" (Eph. 5:25-27). The Church, then, is composed of poor sinners, washed in the blood of Jesus, and led through grace to believe in Him. Anything down here, that man may call the Church, is neither here, nor there, in this respect. Being baptized, or a communicant, is utterly useless, for what I am speaking of tonight. These ordinances, most valued, and blessed, as they are in their place, never did, nor can, put a soul into Christ. The only real Church is composed of sinners, saved by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you can truly say, I believe in Jesus, I rest upon His blood, then I believe, I shall see you, by-and-by, shining in the very glory of God. You may have many a doubt, though you ought not to, for the Lord leaves no room for such, when He says to every simple believer in Him, "Where I am, there ye shall be also."

God’s Word only knows one church. This church consists of all believers. They have been joined together in one body, not through membership of an organisation but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13 and Eph.1:23).

The church of God is composed only of true believers on the Lord Jesus, of those who, having received the gospel of their salvation, are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. (See Eph. 1:13). It is never contemplated in Scripture, and is not possible, that mere professors should have a place in Christ’s body. Christ’s body is vital and real.

I have been trying on previous nights to show that the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has Him for his life: he has the place, and the position, and the relationship, which the Lord Jesus, as the ascended Man, has now before God, and, further, is united to Him. One is therefore quite prepared when we come to a scripture like this, to hear the Holy Ghost saying, as He speaks of the members of that one body here upon earth, "So also is Christ." God calls His Church upon earth by the name of Him, through whom it gets life, and existence, and every blessing, and to whom it is, by the Spirit, united: He calls it, Head and members together, Christ. How perfectly beautiful Scripture is. The thirteenth verse of 1 Cor. 12 is the explanation of the statement in the twelfth verse. The thirteenth verse expounds the nature and origin of the marvellous truth of the twelfth verse, which is this, that, being many members, we are one body, and that body is called Christ, The Head, in glory, and the members here on earth are called by the same name. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many." Now you see that the baptism of the Spirit carries with it the thought of the formation of a body, of which Christ is the Head. All who have received the Holy Ghost are members of this one body — the body of Christ. It was formed by the descent of the Spirit, still exists, and, as the Spirit yet abides on earth, no fresh baptism is to be expected.

The importance of the subject may perhaps justify some additional remarks of a practical kind on Church-fellowship, and that discipline of God which is its regulating spring. Whoever is in Christ is both in and of the Church of God, His Church being but another name for the general assembly of His saints as gathered out of the world by the gospel. But all true believers are in Christ. A true believer is, then, in the sight of God, a living member of Christ's body; a member, therefore, whether recognized or not, of each and every genuine assembly of God's saints. He is in fellowship with God's people, because he is in fellowship with God.

In the world today there are three classes: The Jew, the Gentiles, and the Church of God (1 Cor. 10:32). When a Jew or a Gentile believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he then immediately becomes part of the Church of God. He does not "join a church," but the Holy Spirit joins him to "the one body, the church." In the New Testament we only read of "the church of God," and every true believer in Christ belongs to that church. God sees him no longer as a Jew or a Gentile. Now his citizenship is in heaven. (Phil. 3:20.) He is not of the world, as Christ was not of the world. (John 17:14.)

And by the holy Spirit all believers have been joined together in the assembly of God, and are now forming the body of Christ, the temple of God and the bride of the lamb.

The church of God clearly does not include Old Testament saints. In Matthew 16:18, the Lord said, “Upon this rock [the confession of His Person: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”] I WILL build My church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.” When the Lord spoke He had not begun to build. “I will build,” is in the future tense. Not till the redemption work was completed, not till His resurrection and ascension, and the gift of the Holy Spirit had taken place, could that building begin.

So here, upon Peter's confession, the Lord says, "Upon this rock I will build My Church." You understand the glory of My Person; I will show you the work I am going to accomplish. Mark the expression. It is not, I have been building; but I will build My Church. He had not built it yet, nor begun to build it: it was altogether new. I do not mean there had not been souls believing in Him before, and regenerate of the Spirit; but the aggregate of saints from the beginning to the end of time it is an error to call "the Church." It is a common notion which has not one shred of Scripture for it. The expression in Acts 7:38, "The church in the wilderness," means the whole congregation — the mass of Israel — the greater part of whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. Can you call that "the Church of God?" There were but few believers among them. People are deceived in this by the sound. The word, "church in the wilderness," merely means the congregation there. The very same word is applied to the confused assembly in Acts 19, which would have torn Paul to pieces. If it were translated like Acts 7, it would be the "church in the theatre," and the blunder is obvious. The word that is translated "church" simply means assembly. To find out what is the nature of the assembly, we must examine the scriptural usage and the object of the Holy Ghost. For you might have a good or bad assembly: an assembly of Jews, of Gentiles, or of God's assembly distinct from either and contrasted with both, as can be readily and undeniably seen in 1 Cor. 10:32. Now it is this last which we mean, i.e., God's assembly, when we speak of "the Church."

Let us then now answer distinctly from the Scriptures our question, What is the church? We have a twofold reply. It is the body of Christ, and it is the house of God. Thus, in Ephesians, after the apostle has spoken of the display of the mighty power of God in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His supreme exaltation, he proceeds, "But gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." (Eph. 1:20-23. See also Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 10:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 2:16; Eph. 4:4, 12, 16; Eph. 5:30; Col. 1:18-24; Col. 2:19) And in the epistle to Timothy we read of "the house of God, which is the church of the living God" (1 Tim. 3:15); and in Ephesians, "In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. 2:22. See also Heb. 3:6; Heb. 10:21; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 4:17; also 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16, etc.) If you will be at the pains to search out the several passages given, you will see that these are the two characteristics of the church as presented in the word of God.