R.C. Sproul: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

Summary

In this profound lecture by Dr. R.C. Sproul, the essence of the Christian Church is examined through its four foundational characteristics: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Dr. Sproul delves into these attributes, tracing their historical and theological roots. He explains the unity of the church despite its denominational fragmentation, and clarifies the true meaning of 'Catholic' as universal, not necessarily Roman Catholic. Moreover, he discusses the holy and apostolic nature of the church, emphasizing the importance of maintaining doctrinal purity and understanding the church's mission through this framework.

Highlights

• Unity is challenging due to over 2000 Protestant denominations, but Christ's headship is central 🌐.
• Holiness is about being set apart for God, not just purity in morals 🌟.
• Catholicity indicates the church's universality, not just a single denomination 🕌.
• Apostolic roots stem from teachings that connect us to Christ’s authority ⚓.
• Efforts to unify often result in more fragmentation, showing the complexity of church unity 🔄.

Key Takeaways

• The term 'Catholic' refers to the universal church, transcending national boundaries 🌍.
• True unity in the church is founded in Christ, despite external differences ✝️.
• The holiness of the church is derived from being set apart for God's purpose ✨.
• Apostolic authority is rooted in the teachings of the apostles, foundational to church beliefs 📜.
• Doctrinal discussions, though divisive, are necessary for maintaining the integrity of the church 🤔.

Overview

Dr. R.C. Sproul begins by reflecting on the unity of the church, acknowledging the challenge of maintaining it amidst thousands of denominations. He humorously shares anecdotes to illustrate the fractured state of Christianity and emphasizes that true unity is found in acknowledging Christ as the singular head of the Church, transcending organizational divisions.

In discussing the holiness of the church, Dr. Sproul makes a clear distinction between the moral purity and the sacredness that comes from being a congregation set apart for God's purpose. He uses biblical examples, like the story of Moses and the unconsumed burning bush, to illustrate how certain spaces and times are made holy by divine presence, and how this principle applies to the church.

The lecture wraps up by exploring the catholicity and apostolic nature of the church. Dr. Sproul clarifies misconceptions about 'catholic' being synonymous with Roman Catholicism, emphasizing instead a universal church that crosses cultural and national boundaries. He also explains the importance of adhering to the apostolic teachings, which are foundational to the church's faith and practice. This understanding safeguards the integrity and identity of the church across eras.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Background The chapter introduces the setting of the author's graduate studies in Europe, specifically under the mentorship of Dr. G. C. Berkour at the Free University of Amsterdam. Dr. Berkour is highlighted as a highly distinguished scholar, recognized for his extensive work in theology, having written over 25 volumes on systematic theology.
• 01:30 - 09:00: Four Attributes of the Church The chapter discusses the educational requirement for students to read, study, and be examined on the doctrine of the church, particularly focusing on a significant work consisting of two volumes titled 'The Church, Volume One' and 'The Church, Volume Two.' These volumes seem to be essential reading material for understanding the church's doctrine.
• 09:00 - 18:00: The Unity of the Church In this chapter, the focus is on examining the subtitles of two volumes that discuss various aspects of the Church. Volume 1 is particularly centered on themes such as unity and holiness, indicating a focus on the church's core characteristics and ideals. The significance of the titles and what they reveal about the Church’s mission and identity is explored.
• 18:00 - 36:00: The Holiness of the Church This chapter discusses the holiness of the Church, focusing on its catholicity and other specific qualities. It highlights Burke's comprehensive work on church doctrine, which synthesizes everything taught about the Church.
• 36:00 - 43:00: The Catholicity of the Church The chapter discusses the four defining attributes of the Christian Church, as confessed in the fourth century: the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
• 43:00 - 51:00: The Apostolic Church The chapter "The Apostolic Church" introduces the concept of the church being holy, catholic, and apostolic. The speaker discusses how their mentor organized teachings on church doctrine by focusing on these four key characteristics. The intent of the session is to provide an introduction to these characteristics, setting the stage for deeper exploration of each aspect of the church's identity.

R.C. Sproul: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 when I was a student in Europe doing my graduate work in Holland I studied under dr. G C Berk our at the Free University of Amsterdam and Bourke our had distinguished himself by writing over 25 volumes in his studies in theology that's over 25 volumes of systematic theology which of course all of his
• 00:30 - 01:00 students were required to read and study and be examined on one of the last things that he wrote in that series was a two-volume work on the doctrine of the church and those two volumes were titled the church volume one and the church volume two very original type of thing
• 01:00 - 01:30 but I found it interesting to see the subtitles of those two volumes volume 1 on the church were subtitled the N heights and high like height for the character the unity and holiness of the church that was volume 1 volume 2
• 01:30 - 02:00 was the catholicity and a patella so tight fond akattak the catholicity annapolis felicity of the church and what i found striking about that was that in Burke hours massive treatment of the doctrine of the church he said sumed everything that he taught about the church
• 02:00 - 02:30 under the four characteristics or attributes of the church that was confessed by the church in the fourth century that the Christian Church is one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church let me write those four attributes of the church one
• 02:30 - 03:00 Holy Catholic and apostolic that my mentor as I said subsumed his entire treatment of the doctrine of the church under the rubric of these four characteristics and what I want to do this evening is to provide a brief introduction to these four
• 03:00 - 03:30 characteristics or attributes of the church the first one is the unity of the church now it may seem like something of a fool's errand to talk about the unity of the church in this day and age and in this country in the United States as I
• 03:30 - 04:00 speak tonight there are more than 2000 distinct Protestant churches over 2000 there's the church of the latter up to heaven number 1 and the church of the latter up to heaven number 2 which broke away from the Church of the ladder up to heaven number 1 reminds me of the story probably many of you
• 04:00 - 04:30 heard of the man who was shipwrecked and marooned by himself on an island for ten years until finally a steamer came by and rescued him from his isolation and as they were sailing away the captain of the ship looked back at this island he saw three buildings and he said one of those buildings and he said well the first one over there is
• 04:30 - 05:00 my home that I built with my own hands and that's where I've lived for the last ten years but what are the other two buildings he says well the middle building over there is the church that I built to worship in well what's the third building he said well that's the church I built after I left the first church that I established you know that's really not funny but it's tragic but that's how much the
• 05:00 - 05:30 church has been splintered over the ages and of course at the time that these four characteristics were confessed by the church in her theological confession of not only of the doctrines of Christology and theology and the rest but the church also had a doctrine of herself understanding of what it meant to be the
• 05:30 - 06:00 church and at that time the fragmentation of Christendom in the thousands and thousands of distinct denominations was not part of the landscape there was a tremendous sense of unity organizationally and organically in the fourth century although there were small heretical offshoots here and there that disturbed that unity but the church was
• 06:00 - 06:30 trying to be faithful to the confession of the New Testament that Christ who is the head of the church has given us his body with one Lord one faith and one baptism and so at the heart of the unity of the church that Christ established is what we've already heard from John the singular head of that church the church
• 06:30 - 07:00 has one Lord and that unity persists through all time people may seek to over throw that dimension of the church but such efforts are destined to futility because there only can be one Lord who rules over his church again John and I were talking during the break talking about the etymological
• 07:00 - 07:30 derivation of the word church we know that the English word church translates the Greek word ecclesia which means literally those who are called out of the world so in that meaning for church in the New Testament ecclesia means that the church is people but the English word Church has a different derivation in English we speak
• 07:30 - 08:00 of the church in Scotland it's called the Kirk in Holland it's the Carrick in Germany it's acacia and you see that all of those words sound like each other because they all have a common linguistic root and the root from which all of these different Germanic and English words for church derive is the Greek word
• 08:00 - 08:30 Kuryakin you've already heard John tell us that Christ is the kurios that is the name that is above every name the title kurios which means Lord and the possessive form of that kuryakin means literally those who belong to the kurios so the church refers to those people
• 08:30 - 09:00 who are the possession who were owned by the kurios there's only one owner one Lord and therein is the foundation for our unity but we've seen in the last 100 years or so a tremendous interest in repairing the disintegration of organizational unity in the church with the ecumenical
• 09:00 - 09:30 movement that have sought to bring back into one massive World Church body all the disparate various denominations that compete for our loyalty out there and so we've seen Church merger after church merger after church merger usually what happens when two churches merge is the result is not one Church but three because you have the new
• 09:30 - 10:00 Church of the merger and then you have those who weren't happy with the merger who continued the existence of the original two so the unity movement usually ends in greater fragmentation than you started with but the scandal of all of this that you hear preachers to cry all the time is that we are in total disobedience to the prayer that Jesus gave in his high
• 10:00 - 10:30 priestly prayer in John 17 where our Lord in his time with his disciples in the upper room prayed so earnestly for the unity of his disciples for the unity of his church and so what I've heard theologians and ministers decry is the failure of that prayer to be answered and that
• 10:30 - 11:00 the great scandal of the church is that we have failed to listen to the high priestly prayer of Jesus who prays for our unity so often what happens dear friends in efforts to bring organizational unity to the church is that in order to do that the one faith is sacrificed back in
• 11:00 - 11:30 Ligonier many years ago I had a request for 30 Frenchmen to come and visit us who were part of the charismatic movement in France and they wanted to come to Ligonier to our study center and bear witness to what God the Holy Spirit had accomplished in their midst and they came in and they were filled with enthusiasm bubbling over with joy and they were
• 11:30 - 12:00 singing we are one in the spirit and they gave testimony of how the Holy Spirit had given them a unity that had transcended all of their historic differences over doctrine and they were Roman Catholics there and Baptists there and people from all different kinds of backgrounds from France and I said wow that's amazing and I said how have you been able to
• 12:00 - 12:30 reconcile your differences over justification is it by faith alone or isn't it by faith alone and I started asking some of these critical theological questions to these dear people and within ten minutes they were at each other's throat they were singing were one in the spirit until we start talking about the content of the Christian faith they had one Lord they had one spirit
• 12:30 - 13:00 that they didn't have one faith and they said well that's why we don't like doctrine because doctrine divides one that it ever not divided when did the truth not ever divide and these people say we have to do away with doctrine if you want to do away with doctrine you better burn your New Testaments because the New Testament is one doctrine after another which is the
• 13:00 - 13:30 revelation of the truth of God and if you want to have a superficial unity that is ultimately meaningless get rid of your doctrine in one sense I'm glad that Christians argue so much over doctrine because at least the people who are arguing about doctrine understand that it is of eternal significance what we believe and where we differ in doctrine we should be going to the mat
• 13:30 - 14:00 and looking for that unity of the one faith that has been delivered to us in the pages of the New Testament but let us not forget also that there exists a real and profound and important unity that all of the differences that we have in denominations and in the trappings of our polity and our
• 14:00 - 14:30 doctrines at this point in that that all of these differences cannot overcome and I want to say to you that I don't believe that the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ our great High Priest that he gave to the father with great passion fell on deaf ears and I don't believe that the fervent effectual prayer of the righteous one was ineffectual I
• 14:30 - 15:00 believe that the church has and enjoys a unity that is profoundly important right now and I don't want to over this or bathe it in a kind of superficial piety but let us remember that one of the definitions of the church is that the church is the communal song forum the communion of saints and
• 15:00 - 15:30 what does the word communion mean it's a word that itself is almost an inherent redundancy because you neo the best basic substance of the word for union means oneness and the prefix com means together and so it's kind of oneness oneness it's together with each
• 15:30 - 16:00 other now how does that work out well let's look briefly at the language of the New Testament when the Bible calls us to believe in Jesus what does that mean it doesn't simply mean that we are supposed to believe and affirm certain axioms or certain truths about Jesus in fact if you look carefully at the New Testament mandate to believe in Jesus
• 16:00 - 16:30 you will see that the language of the text uses the word ice rather than n so what well literally when the Bible says that we are to believe in Jesus we are called to believe in to Jesus and the force of that little word ice is this that if you're in this building now in order to get in this building if you were once out in the parking lot you had to enter into it because before you were outside
• 16:30 - 17:00 of it and then when you come in you come into something where you were previously not inside and after you walk in then you are n in the Greek sense you're inside of it and so the dynamic of this and the language is that we're called to believe in to Jesus and once we believe into Jesus then two things happen the new testament speaks of our being in Christ Jesus and
• 17:00 - 17:30 when I am in Christ Jesus the second thing that happens is that he dwells in me I am in Christ and Christ is in me if you are a believer you are in Christ and Christ is in you so what does that mean it means this that if you're in Christ and I'm in
• 17:30 - 18:00 Christ and Christ is in you and Christ is in me we have a profound mystical you that is not just a spiritual idea but it is a spiritual reality there is a union right now that every believer in Jesus Christ enjoys with every other believer in Jesus Christ
• 18:00 - 18:30 that transcends all the differences that we debate about in this world and nothing can destroy that unity now we're going to hear later on about the difference between the visible and invisible church and what I'm talking about now is the union that we have in the invisible church that Union may not be in the visible Church and we don't see it that plainly
• 18:30 - 19:00 but it is real it is substantive and they cannot be destroyed and I experienced this perhaps most existentially when when I went several years ago to Eastern Europe I went to the Czech Republic and lectured for a week over there and then from there went to Budapest in Hungary and lectured there for a week and then from Budapest
• 19:00 - 19:30 that went into Romania this was right after the Soviet bloc disintegrated I mean months after the fall of the Soviet Union I'll never forget that experience because when I preached in these different countries of course I had to have a translator so I had to preach in short little sentences that say a phrasing and then translate it and and yet the people were tracking with
• 19:30 - 20:00 the text and with the sermon I was giving but then we celebrated the Lord's Supper and in Hungary I'll never forget it we all came down to the table not in rows but the whole congregation was gathered around the table and we were singing hymns and I recognized the tune but I didn't know what the words I knew the English words but I didn't know the Hungarian words
• 20:00 - 20:30 but I was with these people at the Lord's table didn't understand what they were saying they didn't understand what I was saying except if it were translated there was a bond there folks that was electric it was vital they knew it and I knew it that we were experiencing the communion of saints at the table of our Lord there is a unity
• 20:30 - 21:00 that cannot be destroyed the second mark the second characteristic may seem like a strange one when we say that the church is one Holy Catholic and apostolic as you look at the church today and viewed from one perspective the organized church the institutional church particularly in this country at
• 21:00 - 21:30 this time it's one of the most corrupt institutions in the face of the earth in fact from one perspective I would say that the church is the most corrupt institution in our country why do I say that you say certainly it's not as corrupt as murder incorporated well viewed from one perspective it isn't but if you look at the principle that the New Testament
• 21:30 - 22:00 gives that to whom much is given much is required in light of the weight of the gifts that Christ has given to his church and what we have done with those gifts it is a scandal and we can hardly almost choke before we say that the Lord or that the church is holy
• 22:00 - 22:30 but to understand the reality of the holiness of the church I want to take just a couple of minutes to examine that word holy more with you when we look at the way the Bible uses the term holy there are two distinct ways in which it is used the first way in which the term holy is used and far and away the primary meaning of the term holy refers to the
• 22:30 - 23:00 other nough something that God is holy because he is transcendent and he is above and beyond any creaturely reality and so when things are called holy they are called holy because they are other they are different they have been consecrated they've been set apart and we've profoundly lost this sense of the
• 23:00 - 23:30 holy in the environment even of the church this day the church looks so much like the world the one hardly notices any transition when you come from outside the church into the church at our church here in Orlando we have something printed on the front of the bull bulletin we say that when you come into the building you cross a threshold
• 23:30 - 24:00 there's a transition from the secular to the sacred from the common to the uncommon from the profane to the holy now that may seem like an ark a ism to you but if you go back to the scriptures there is a profound sense in the Bible of what we call holy time and holy space
• 24:00 - 24:30 let's look at it just briefly the time of the Exodus when God had heard the cries of his people who were in bondage and he sent Moses to Pharaoh with the message let my people go let them go out into the wilderness so that they can worship me and you know the story of the plagues and of the resistance and the hardness
• 24:30 - 25:00 of the heart of Pharaoh until finally the last plague visited upon Egypt was the plague of the slaying of the firstborn sons God said to the Jewish people I'm going to send the angel my angel of vengeance upon this land and he will slay the firstborn son of every household unless on
• 25:00 - 25:30 the doorway in the doorpost of the home the angel sees the blood of the land and where the blood of the Lamb is present the Angel of Death will pass over and so God sent his angel and this cry went up from the households of the Egyptians as their sons were slain
• 25:30 - 26:00 even from the palace of Pharaoh but not a hair on the head of the sons of Israel were harmed and God said to his people this was a holy moment this Exodus is one of the most dramatic experiences of redemption that I have wrought for my people
• 26:00 - 26:30 up to this point in history this is a holy moment and don't you ever forget it I want you every year on the date of the commemoration of this event to gather your people for a dinner and sit at the table and you explain to your children when they say why are we eating this food why are we drinking this wine then you are to tell your children what I did on this occasion don't you forget
• 26:30 - 27:00 it and for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years every single year that holy moment was observed and our Lord had deep feelings of celebrating that moment just one last time before he would die so he secured the Upper Room and he ate the Feast of the Passover in the same context in which he
• 27:00 - 27:30 consecrated the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the same manner saying what you're going to see tomorrow is a holy moment in time don't you ever forget it so we have the sense of holy time what about holy space you ever gone to Israel what do we call it the holy land
• 27:30 - 28:00 remember Moses in the Midianite wilderness when he's tending his sheep doing what he did every day for decades mining those businesses and then all of a sudden he looks out the corner his eyes see something weird sees this bush that is burning but it's not being consumed and he goes over to take a look at this bush and the bush starts to talk to him out
• 28:00 - 28:30 of the bush comes the call Moses Moses take off your shoes from off your feet why for the ground whereon you're standing is holy ground what made it holy I'll tell you what didn't make it holy it was not the presence of Moses it was the presence of God but you say
• 28:30 - 29:00 wait a minute the Bible says that God's everywhere so what's so special about this little piece of real estate here's what's special and that little space of real estate there was an intersection a redemptive intersection where God visited his people there in a redemptive way so that that ground became holy ground Jacob on his way on his journey
• 29:00 - 29:30 goes to sleep puts a stone under his head for his pillow and in the night he sees this vision of the latter stretching between heaven and earth and the angels of God ascending and descending on this ladder and in his dream God speaks to him and reiterates the Covenant promise that he had made to Abraham his grandfather and to Isaac his father promised his presence to Jacob and
• 29:30 - 30:00 when Jacob woke up he was terrified and he said surely God was in this place and I knew it not how dreadful is this place this is nothing else than BL the house of God and this is the gateway to heaven
• 30:00 - 30:30 remember that and what he do goes to a saddlebag takes out a jar of oil probably olive oil and he goes over and goes to this bizarre ritual where he sprinkles the oil on the stone that he had laid his head on during the night he said this is now Bethel the house of God
• 30:30 - 31:00 what was he saying the same thing Noah was saying when he built the altar when he came off the ark the same thing Joshua was saying when he set up the stones of testimony after he goes across the Jordan River this is holy ground it's different because in this place God has ministered to his people
• 31:00 - 31:30 God doesn't dwell in buildings made by hand but the church building is holy ground you wouldn't know it in the vast majority of churches that dot the landscape of America today we've done everything that we can to conceal the other miss of the sanctuary I was kidding earlier when somebody said
• 31:30 - 32:00 well RC is going to come up now on the stage and I said hold up hold it this is not a stage this is a chancel a stage is some place for entertainment it's not holy ground but this is a church not an opera house or a cafe and it is a place that God has set apart
• 32:00 - 32:30 God has consecrated and the church is that institution that God has chosen has established has called out from the world the ecclesia called it out of the world not to mimic and mirror and reflect the world but to mirror and mimic and reflect his
• 32:30 - 33:00 holiness that's what we've lost in the church and we've experienced the eclipse of God himself in the church in our day it's holy ground it's holy time when we come together to worship Him because the church has been set apart to be different from any other institution on the planet and that's the primary
• 33:00 - 33:30 meaning of the word holy in the Bible the secondary meaning is the meaning of purity that's the one we're most familiar with isn't it then when we think of holiness we think of spiritual purity free from corruption and sin and it's there that it becomes funny to call the church holy
• 33:30 - 34:00 because the church is the only institution I know of that requires that you be a sinner to join it that's the one necessary qualification we have to get in church has no place for people who are righteous altogether the church is a place for sinners and yet you look in the New Testament
• 34:00 - 34:30 and Paul will write to the Saints at Corinth and what does that mean what are the Saints it's not the Saints in that Roman Catholic sense but Saints in the difference in the biblical sense the hagyó are the ones who have been set apart and Paul writes to the Saints to the Holy Ones you got to stop this sin you got to stop that sin you got to stop this sin you got to stop that sin
• 34:30 - 35:00 because the Saints who are holy in one sense are not very holy in the other sense of the word because the church is not a body of pure righteous people but the church is holy not only because it's been consecrated and set apart but the church is holy
• 35:00 - 35:30 because it is the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost where the Holy Ghost comes in and you ever wonder why the Holy Ghost is called the Holy Ghost and we don't talk about the Holy Father the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit we talk about the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit I mean the Holy Spirit doesn't have a corner on holiness the father's every bit as holy is the Holy Spirit and the sons every bit as holy is the Holy Spirit but why do we
• 35:30 - 36:00 refer to the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit well because for one reason his function is to apply the work of redemption that Christ is one for us to our lives to sanctify us as we heard in Ephesians 5 is that the church exists that Christ is cleansing his bride of every spot and every wrinkle making her pure and so the church is that place or those
• 36:00 - 36:30 people whom the Holy Spirit is purifying bringing into conformity to Christ cleansing is bride from every spot and every blemish ironing out the wrinkles that Christ may present his bride in perfect purity these are just some aspects of the
• 36:30 - 37:00 holiness of the church but let's go on to the catholicity of the church and this is where people get confused all the time when we say we believe in the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints forgiveness of sins resurrection body and so on people say I just thought we weren't Catholics I said you know we're Catholics I'm getting rid of that word there's Greek classic and Rome Russian Catholic and there's Roman Catholic and
• 37:00 - 37:30 then there's Catholic Catholic just plain Catholic and they're Catholic referre to the universality of the church this is what I experienced as I mentioned a few moments ago in the Czech Republic in Romania in Hungary the Catholic Church the church that doesn't end with the boundaries and borders of America
• 37:30 - 38:00 we have the American Luther Church the American Presbyterian Church the Methodist Church of America and so on but the church can never be contained in national boundaries the church always goes beyond national boundaries it reaches into the furthest corners of the world Rome used to define the
• 38:00 - 38:30 confines of the church in terms of its catholicity by saying wherever the bishop is there's the church the Reformers said no wherever the spirit is there is the church and our church organization may not have jurisdiction in Canada or in Ireland but the church particularly the
• 38:30 - 39:00 invisible church is worldwide every tongue every tribe every nation that is in Christ Jesus belongs to the Catholic Church the church in its universal manifestation finally the fourth attribute set forth in the Nicene Creed was the
• 39:00 - 39:30 APIs dallisa T of the church one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church you know there's confusion about that in what sense is the church apostolic well according to Rome the Church's apostolic character is found in The Vicar of Christ the ongoing apostolate of Peter
• 39:30 - 40:00 in the Roman see in other churches they believe in apostolic succession where we trace our ordination all the way back to the work of the Apostles in some charismatic churches there are leaders who claim apostolic Authority that they are agents of Revelation and that they are doing today exactly what the Apostles did in the
• 40:00 - 40:30 first century that they are performing miracles and delivering new revelation to the church just as Paul and Peter did in the first century these are spurious forms of apostolic ministry after the original Apostles died there were no further Apostles because to be a apostle of Jesus Christ
• 40:30 - 41:00 as the New Testament declares certain criteria had to be met such as being a disciple of the Ministry of Jesus during his earth or tenure of his incarnation being an eyewitness of his resurrection and most importantly being immediately and directly called by Jesus to be an apostle an apostle is one who was given the stamp of authority by Jesus and the pasta loss is one who is
• 41:00 - 41:30 sent he's commissioned by the Lord to speak for the Lord and the authority of Paul carries with it the authority of Christ himself but one of the big issues in the 1st century church was was Paul really an apostle because he didn't meet the first two criteria that he wasn't an earthly disciple and he wasn't an eyewitness of the resurrection but he was called directly and immediately by Christ
• 41:30 - 42:00 but when he was called directly and immediately by Christ and this is a tough one he was told to go back to Jerusalem and to have his apostolic ministry corroborated by the Apostles about whom there were no doubt about their credentials now Paul is jealous to say to the Galatians that he did not receive his authority from men and he didn't he received it from Christ but that direct
• 42:00 - 42:30 an immediate call that came to Paul he got his authority from Christ but it was confirmed by the other apostles and there aren't any of those around today anybody can walk in here and say well Jesus called me to be an apostle I had a vision you know some were sent that's what it means to be an apostle and some went make sure if you go if you went that you
• 42:30 - 43:00 were sent that not all of those who went were sent and so nobody today can be an apostle in the new testament sense and so in what sense is the church apostolic well the sense in which the church is apostolic beloved is foundational to our understanding of the church now we sang tonight the song the church is one foundation as Jesus Christ
• 43:00 - 43:30 our Lord great hymn a little bit misleading because the New Testament does use the metaphor of foundation with respect to Jesus no other foundation can be laid except that which is laid in Christ Jesus the primary metaphor that is used for Jesus in the building scheme is that he's the chief Cornerstone but the foundation are the prophets and
• 43:30 - 44:00 pauses who's the head one had one Lord but our Lord lays the foundation for the church in the Apostolic office of the first century when the people of God came together to worship on the first day of the week in the book of Acts and they did several things they prayed they broke bread together and so on but the first thing
• 44:00 - 44:30 that they did was they devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles are Aeneas fighting against the heretics of his age had to defend the authority of the Bible against the Gnostic heretics for example and he did this kind of reasoning he understood that the first and great apostle of the New Testament
• 44:30 - 45:00 was Jesus the father sends the son and the son is the father's chief apostle and so that apostle said I speak nothing on my own authority but only I speak what the father has authorized me to speak so that Christ is the supreme apostle and then he called from his band of disciples certain ones and made them his apostles and
• 45:00 - 45:30 communicated to them his authority and this is what irony aswer saying if you deny the apostolic authority of Paul and Peter and so on you deny the authority of the one who sent them if you deny apostolic Authority you deny the authority of Christ and if you deny the authority of Christ
• 45:30 - 46:00 you deny the authority of the one who sent him so our Aeneas was saying to the heretics if you deny the authority of the Bible if you deny the authority of the Apostolic writings of the Canon of the New Testament you are doing nothing less than denying the authority of God himself his jesus said it this way he said those who receive you receive me
• 46:00 - 46:30 those who don't receive you do not receive me how many times I hear it from people particularly in the feminist controversy I will hear the people say well I listen to what Jesus teaches I love what Jesus teaches it's Paul I can't stand that first century chauvinist you can't have it like that you know what the Jesus ever right the
• 46:30 - 47:00 only thing we ever know that Jesus wrote was with his finger in the ground with the woman caught in the dollar e we don't know what he wrote he didn't write the Gospels and you read what Jesus said in the Gospels but the record we have on what Jesus said is the Apostolic record of what Jesus said so he can't set Paul against Jesus because Paul is Jesus man Paul is Jesus spokesman Paul is the agent of revelation assigned by Christ
• 47:00 - 47:30 to the church I was in Philadelphia Conference of reformed theology probably 25 years ago and to my surprise one of my close friends from college a guy used to meet with every single night for prayer for a half an hour he was in the audience and I was speaking that night on a Sola scriptura the authority of the Bible and he met with me after the service and
• 47:30 - 48:00 he was all excited to see me and I was excited to see him I said oh it's been so long and we went out for dinner and we sat down and I'm trying to ask him about his family and everything and he says well before we go any further our see there's one thing I have to tell you I said what he said I don't believe that stuff about the Bible that you were talking about I don't believe that anymore he'd gone to Union Seminary in New York
• 48:00 - 48:30 and they beat his confidence in the scripture out of him he said I just believe that anymore I said well Charlie what do you believe from the days where we used to pray together they'd smile I said I still believe that Jesus is my Savior and my lord I say well I'm glad to hear that I said but I have a question for you he's what I said try how does Jesus exercise his lordship of your life
• 48:30 - 49:00 he said what do you mean I said well the Lord is one who gives orders it gives his marching orders he imposes obligations upon people if you can't find those in the Bible or do you find it you know what he said in the church and he was presbyterian I said which church the church pestering church in Harrisburg the pressroom Church in Pittsburgh Presbyterian Church in st.
• 49:00 - 49:30 Louis he said no no no he says that the General Assembly I said well the General Assembly last year that voted this way in an issue or the General Assembly from the year before that voted the exact opposite way he said what will those are the tensions that we have to live in I said Charlie you're kidding yourself if you think you believe in the lordship of Christ this is what the scripture said if the foundation be shaken how can the
• 49:30 - 50:00 building stand when we say that the church is apostolic we mean it's biblical that Christ exercises his headship he exercises his lordship through his word mediated to the church by the Apostles so their struggles that every one of these four attributes but we remain confident in the church's
• 50:00 - 50:30 historic confession that in a real sense not in a superficial sense in a profound sense the church is one and in a very real sense the church is holy and the church goes across the globe because it's Catholic but the church has its foundation in the Word of God
• 50:30 - 51:00 ministered to our communion by the Apostles the church does not create the Bible the Bible creates the church let's pray father we thank you for your body the church for your people that have been purchased
• 51:00 - 51:30 because you paid the bride price and that you would cleanse her by your blood give us a love and affection and a devotion to the church because it is yours for we ask it in your name Damon you [Applause]