Lesson - 21
The Lord’s Church
(Part A)

The Lord's Church

"My" is possessive, which shows the church belongs to Jesus. How many churches did Jesus say He was going to build? He said He was going to build "My church", which is singular not plural. The Lord only promised to build His one church.

Matthew 16:16-18
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Only one body

Just as there is only one God and only one Lord we also see there is only one body. What is this one body?

Ephesians 1:21-23
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Only one Church

So if there is only one body and the one body is the church, then there can only be one church that belongs to the Lord.

Colossians 1:18
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

This scripture is speaking of Christ. Here again we see that the body (singular) is the church (singular). Again the Bible tells us that the Lord has only one church. We also see that in all things Christ is to have the preeminence. For Christ to have the preeminence in all things, we must follow Christ in all things and not follow man. If we follow men in some things then Christ does not have the preeminence in all things.

Since Christ only built His one church, we need to ask where did all these other churches come from? The only answer is they were built by men, so men could "attend the church of their choice", and not God’s choice.

Christ is only the saviour of
His one body, (His one church).

Ephesians 5:23
"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."

What about all the others?

We have seen in the Bible that the one body is the one church, which the Lord built. We have also seen that Christ has only promised to save His one body, His one church. What then is going to happen to the hundreds of different kinds of other churches we see in existence today? Again let us let God answer this question.

Matthew 15:13
"But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."

The people labour in vain
if it is not the Lord's Church.

This is frightening. I want to make sure I am in the Lord’s church, the only one He is going to save.

Psalms 127:1
"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

No one has the right to start a church or religious organization that is different from the one Jesus built. But we see hundreds of different kinds of churches that men have built, each with a different creed. We must recognize the difference between the church the Lord built and the many counterfeit churches men have built. Why not be a member of the church that Jesus built, the church where Christ and His Word have the preeminence so you can go to heaven. This is a sad but serious situation; one that concerns me greatly and causes me much grief and sorrow to see honest people, who are honestly mistaken, laboring in vain. This is a supreme tragedy.