Let's turn to Acts chapter fifteen, shall we? Acts chapter fifteen and when you have it, then find Galatians chapter two. Acts chapter fifteen and then Galatians chapter two. Reading from the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts, you know where that is of course, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Acts and Romans follow on. Now there it is, at least you can have the first six books in the New Testament. And certain men came down from Judea, or which came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. but there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. Now turn over to Galatians chapter two, and notice what the apostle Paul has to say, verse eleven, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew himself and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin, God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Now there's more about that, but we won't stay to read any longer. I just want to point out to you that even in the days of the apostles there were things that arose to disturb their fellowship. Last Sunday we began a short series on the Church of God, and we spent the Lord's Day morning and the Lord's Day evening talking about the origin of the church. This morning we began talking about the order of the church, and we noted that God is a God of order. And it's not surprising since the Lord Jesus said, I will build my church. and he was responsible for bringing it into being on the day of Pentecost, and sustaining it and adding to it, and providing a remarkable prospect for it, it's not surprising that there is a very definite order to be observed in the Church of God. Now we noted that order in the Church Universal this morning. We're going to notice that order in the local church tonight. Now this morning we noted that order in the church universal is according to a divine plan and accomplished by a divine person. Concerning the first we noted that the period of the church was planned, the process of the building of the church was planned, and the prospect for the church was planned. And we noticed that the accomplishment by the Spirit of God of order in the church can be summed up in this way. He includes every member, he supplies every gift, and he provides every exercise. Now we want to talk about the local church. And this is important because all of us are members of some local testimony, some local church, and we are fortunate in this area to have very real and earnest and effective witness from a number of the local churches. I say again we are a fortunate community. Now what does God say about the local church, and how can we sum up God's idea of order in the local church? Four things I mentioned to you this morning and tonight we'll dwell on them. The first is the Constitution. of the local church. In a word, it is composed of believers. You cannot have unbelievers in a New Testament church. They do not belong. They may carry a label, but if they are not born again, then they are not members of the body of Christ, and they cannot, by God, be reckoned to be members of the local church. because they are not members of the church universal. They are not members of the body of Christ. So we'll talk briefly about the Constitution of the local church. The second thing is the communion of the local church. Not only is it composed of believers, but it is characterized by fellowship. There is a communion in the local church which is so very, very often more close, more intimate, and more wonderful than any blood relationship. And if you travel across this country, or if you travel across the world as we've had the privilege of doing, you'll find that you can meet believers for the very first time thousands of miles away and immediately be at one with them and conscious of a very remarkable rapport. You know, Christian men, Christian servicemen who travel across the face of the globe are always a marvel to their fellow servicemen, because it doesn't matter where they go, they immediately seem to find friends and remarkable and wonderful friends, and it puzzles unconverted cohorts of theirs because they do not have access to such a communion. The third thing is the center of the local church, that which is comprised of believers and that constitutes, or is characterized by fellowship, is centered in the person of the Lord Jesus. Then finally, we want to talk about its control. The church is subject unto the Christ around whom it revolves. Now, I hope we can get through this by half past eight. If not, then some of it we shall leave undealt with. First of all, then, the Constitution of the local church, or it is composed of believers. Now we read in the Bible about the church in a locality. We read about a church in a locality. Now if today the phrase the church in a locality is a valid phrase. then it's just as the body of Christ is composed of many churches, so the Church of God in a city must be composed of several local churches. Now I know that there are those who have some small fellowships, who always advertise in local papers wherever they belong, themselves they advertise as The Church of God in this particular city or that particular city. How many of you have ever seen an advertisement like that in the newspaper? Your education has been sadly neglected. This group is called the Needed Truth Group, and they maintain that they are the only church in any given city, and so that's how they advertise themselves, when indeed they advertise, the church in that given city. What presumption. What presumption? to believe that the body of Christ is composed of all believers, no matter what their labels may be, and yet to be able to claim for a tiny little group that they are the Church of God in a given city. I repeat, just as the body of Christ is composed of many, many churches, so the Church of God in a city must be composed of the number of New Testament churches in that particular city. And I use that expression very deliberately. Now, in such a church, all must be believers, and obviously all must belong to the same area. And having said all that, I have to say this. It may be that the phrase, the church in a given area, is no longer a valid phrase. I'm not sure about it. Maybe. But now we read about a church in a given locality. And this is how we can, in Bible language, speak of ourselves who gather in this place and other congregations who gather in other places in the area. The Bible describes us as being a church or an ecclesia in that locality. Now to be so described, all the believers must meet in the same place. and all must be sound in life and doctrine. Now, a little later on in the study, we'll find it is possible for a person to belong to the universal church of Jesus Christ and not to belong to a local church. They can have been disciplined and put outside of the fellowship. It doesn't take them out of the body of Christ, but it does deny to them the privileges that come with fellowship in a local church. Now ideally such a local church is a group of believers meeting together with Christ as the center, studying his word, praying in his name, remembering him during a worship exercise and exercising their gifts. Every believer is called into the priesthood. and there must in a local church, if it is scripturally ordered, be an opportunity for each believer to exercise his priesthood. We read then of the Church of the Thessalonians. Now that's a reference to those who comprised that local church. We read about the church at Corinth. Now there is a reference to the location where that local church met or belonged. And then we read elsewhere about the church which is in thy house. And this, of course, is a reference to the building in which the church, the local church, used to meet. Now there are other expressions that we find in the New Testament. There's one expression, the church is of God. I was rather struck as I examined that phrase to find that that particular phrase is used mostly to churches that were predominantly Gentile, the churches of God. Strikingly enough, there's another phrase, the churches of Christ. And that particular phrase is most often used in speaking to churches or writing to churches that were predominantly Jewish. Now that is not accidental. That is engineered by the Spirit of God. There is another phrase, along with the churches of God and the churches of Christ, and that is the church of God. But that type of address is absolutely unique to the Corinthian epistle. And the Corinthian church is so addressed because in this particular epistle, there is given to us the pattern for the local church. So we have that expression, Church of God, and it's unique to that epistle, the letter written to the Corinthian church. Here then is the constitution of the local church. All believers and all sound in life and doctrine. Now the second thing is the communion. And this is important. Let me mention four things that are apropos here. We ought to know what is the meaning of fellowship. We ought to know what is the ground of fellowship. We ought to know what are the hindrances to fellowship. And we ought to know who is the stimulator of fellowship. Let me go over those four things in speaking of the communion. For the local church, which is composed of believers, is characterized by fellowship. There ought to be nothing quite so sweet for the Christian as fellowship with other Christians. In visiting missionaries on the foreign mission fields, I found invariably that the hardest thing that the isolated missionary has to endure is the inability to put himself regularly in the presence of other believers in order to enjoy their fellowship and communion. And yet we have a way of taking these things so much for granted. It's so true in this matter as in so many others, you never miss the water till the well runs dry. I hope you appreciate your fellow believers. I really do. I hope you don't spend your time criticizing them. I hope you don't spend your time talking about them behind their backs. I hope you appreciate them. Because if ever the time comes that you are taken away from them or they're taken away from you and you don't have the opportunity of Christian fellowship, then you'll recognize how much you've lost. I hope you appreciate your fellow believers. Now what is the meaning of fellowship? There's a Greek word koinonia and it is translated in a number of different ways in our New Testament. And I thought if I gave you some of these translations, that should explain for us what is the meaning of fellowship. In First Corinthians chapter ten and verse sixteen, it is translated with the word communion. Now you know what communion is, don't you? I'm not talking about taking the bread and the wine. I'm talking about that kind of intercourse between believers that comes of a closeness and a rapport and an appreciation of one another. You know, we ought not to be able to find in the worldling, in the unsaved person, anything like that that we can find in a fellow Christian. I'm a little suspicious. of the Christian who has to go outside of the church and indeed to the world in order to find something in common with himself. If your communion is not with believers, if you do not enjoy fellowship with other Christians, then you had better examine your life, because there's something tragically wrong there. If you have to go to the world in order to find some kind of fellowship, some kind of communion, then I say again, you'd better find out what is wrong, because there's something very wrong. Now in Acts chapter two and verse forty-two, which verse was read for us, the word is translated fellowship. Communion and fellowship are so akin, they should be, because they're translations of the same word. Maybe you can find some shades of difference in the word fellowship from the word communion. Perhaps communion is something that is a little closer, a little more intimate. I don't know, I just make that suggestion to you. In Second Corinthians, chapter nine and verse thirteen, that same Greek word is translated distribution. Now here is another thought. It certainly belongs to the thought of fellowship. And it is, I believe, a deliberate translation because where there is communion and where there is fellowship, there will be distribution. There will be a concern on the part of one believer for another believer. There will be concern on your part. about the believer who is not so well provided for, or not quite so healthy, or who is facing grave difficulties and problems. This word is significantly translated in that chapter, distribution. That's part of fellowship. In First Corinthians chapter ten and verse eighteen, it's translated partakers. And again, part of fellowship is being able to receive from that privilege and that experience. As iron sharpeneth iron, so the countenance of a man, his friend, and where there is real fellowship among the people of God, there will be mutual receiving. There will be mutual benefit because you can't have real fellowship without going away the happier for it and the more blessed because of it. In Second Corinthians chapter eight and verse twenty three it is translated partners. Now the meaning of the word fellowship carries all of these thoughts. Communion, that's the thought there is intimacy, fellowship, the thought there is sharing, distribution, giving and receiving, partakers, actually being involved and participating, and then finally partners, being yoke fellows one with another. I wish I had time because there are some very practical lessons here. There's no place in this fellowship for the man who says, let George do it. There's no place in this fellowship for the man who wants everybody else to get involved while he sits on the sidelines. Somebody has said there are two kinds of people in the church, those who work and those who let them. Now the people who let them don't usually turn out to the Sunday evening service, so of course I don't have to say too much there. But, you know, somebody has disagreed with that and said there are not just two kinds of people in the church, there are three. There are the workers and there are the jerkers and there are the shirkers. or if you like it better, there are those who are out and out, there are those who are in and out, and there are those who are down and out. Now, I don't know how you're going to sum all this up, but true fellowship calls for everyone to be involved, take his share of the responsibility, his portion of the burden, to be concerned about his fellow believers, and to make sure that he is making his contribution and that each is being a blessing to the other. Now that's the meaning of fellowship. And in a local church where you have that kind of fellowship, the people around look on and they say, behold how these Christians love one another. In the past, some of us have gotten a reputation as being those who rightly divide the word of truth and wrongly divide one another. Isn't that tragic? That is an indictment. Now, what about the ground of fellowship? Will you turn to First Corinthians and look at the chapter one. First Corinthians chapter one. And just a little further on from the, well, somewhere I guess about the middle of the chapter. Not quite. Verse nine, we read this in our hymn book reading, God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now after the meaning of fellowship comes the ground of fellowship. We are called by the faithful God until the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the person and work of Jesus Christ constitute the ground of our fellowship. If I am going to say, and you know the next time I land in among the congregation where I am asked, do you know this brother? Do you know that brother? Do you know the other brother? And I say, no, I don't know any one of the three. And they say to me, please sit back and don't take the elements. won't be the first time I've had that experience. But frankly, it doesn't trouble me, because to sit down at such a table is to sit down at a sectarian table, and not at the Lord's table. I never have yet sat back. When I've been asked to sit back, I would say it's a waste of my time. Goodbye, brethren, and I'll go find a place where the believers accept all of the Lord's people. You see, I believe that participating in such a feast is becoming a partner to the error for which they stand. Let me quote C.H. McIntosh for you. If the train will be spread on any narrower principle... than that which would embrace all the people of God, it has become a sectarian table and has lost its claim on the hearts of the faithful. The ground of our fellowship is the person and work of Jesus Christ. How can we refuse to receive those whom the Lord has received? And yet there are those who do it. Did you notice the words in this verse, Jesus Christ? Jesus, there's a reference to his manhood. Jesus Christ, there's a reference to his Godhood. Jesus, I shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. There's the thought of his being Savior. Jesus Christ, there's the thought of his being the chosen, the anointed one. Jesus Christ, our Lord. There's the thought of his Lordship. his leadership and his control. And did you notice in that verse, his son, our Lord. My, how much there is. What a wealth of wonderful truth there is in that little verse nine in chapter one of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. So the ground of our fellowship is the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now what about the hindrances to fellowship? It isn't very often we talk about these. Turn over a page or two from that chapter one in first Corinthians and look at chapter five, will you? Now this is a very solemn chapter. It begins like this. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles. Don't you imagine that the local church cannot become polluted? Don't you imagine the local church cannot be gone corrupt? Read the rest of that chapter. But go on to verse eleven here. Now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one know not to eat. Now here are the hindrances to fellowship. Let me sum them up for you. A man must be excommunicated from the local church who is guilty of immorality, covetousness, idolatry, obscene reviling, drunkenness and extortion. Now I don't have time to go into detail here. If you go into First Timothy, you'll find one other thing, and that is heresy. Now obviously, what we are being reminded of here is this, that the local church must be jealous of its purity. The honor of God and of Christ are at stake, and if the local church is going to tolerate in its fellowship those who are guilty of these things, then that church is going to become nauseous to God. And we're living in days of lowered standards. We're living days when the world has no standards. We're living in days when sin is being made respectable. And that which used to be simply tolerated is now becoming popular. And even the church is beginning to grow afraid of standing up to these things. I have known local churches. divided, split down the middle on this issue. Here is a girl who is not married, she becomes pregnant, and the brethren get together and say she must be disciplined. A party in the church says, well, no, she's one of our relatives, and she mustn't be disciplined. What happens, the church splits down the middle. That is an indictment. The Word of God demands that the local church be kept pure, and that sin be judged in the local assembly. There are hindrances to fellowship. And there come times in the history of the local church when a believer must be put out of assembly fellowship. Now you will read in this first chapter, in this first epistle, that Paul is demanding that this be done with the fornicator of which he speaks in this chapter five. But as we go on into the second epistle, we find that the purpose of such discipline is not to punish. The purpose of such discipline is not to vent the church's spite. The purpose of such fellowship is to bring about contrition and repentance and restoration for the sinning believer. So Paul, who makes such a positive demand that something be done about this fornication by this local church, when he comes to the second letter to the Corinthians, he said, I rejoice that it produced repentance. And now he says, what you must do is take this believer back to your breast. What you must do is restore such a one and rejoice in the fact that God has restored him. So discipline in the local church is demanded. It is not vindictive. It is a protection of the purity of the local church, and it is carried out for the purpose of the restoration of the erring one. Now, you know, no sin like this comes into a local church. Without in lesser forms, it first of all makes its way into the lives of believers who belong to that local church. I wonder if there's someone here tonight, and these sound like ugly words to you as they do to most of us, immorality, idolatry, obscenity, drunkenness, extortion. And you know you feel that you would never be guilty of any of these things. You know the devil has a way of getting in a thin end of the wedge. Those who are guilty of immorality, didn't start out intending to be immoral. Those who were guilty of drunkenness didn't start out meaning to get drunk. And those who were guilty of obscenity didn't start out meaning to be obscene. If there's somebody here and you search your heart and your life and you know that you're a backslidden person, I want to warn you that when the devil has gotten in the thin end of the wedge, He is not going to waste any time driving the wedge all the way home. If you find yourself neglecting the things of God, if you find yourself turning your back upon the one whom you profess to trust, so that other things now are taking up the bulk of your attention and your interest. be troubled about it. If you're a Christian and a backslider, the Bible says to such Christians, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God loves you so much, and he knows that the best for you lies in the center of his will, that he will leave no stone unturned in his attempt to bring you back to himself. And if he cannot draw you, then he may in his love for you begin to drive you. And you could spare yourself such heartache and such heartbreak if now you recognize your backslidden state and confess it and let God restore you. Because if you go on as you're going on, it may well be before very long you'll be such a long way away that you will be the beginning of the introduction of some of these things into the local church. Isn't that a solemn thought? It's a terrible thought. But in every one of these cases, it undoubtedly began with a tiny backslide. And eventually it led to these ugly things. Hindrances to fellowship. Who's the stimulator of fellowship? Of course, it's the Holy Spirit himself. for it's not our fellowship called the fellowship of the Spirit. Now he is the one who stirs us up to make our fellowship an active and a wonderful thing. He's the one who stimulates it when it begins to get a little lethargic and when it begins to flag. He's the one who reminds us there is really nothing like Christian fellowship and that indeed our hearts ought to be so glad of it and so appreciative of it that we ought to let nothing come in to disturb it. So I realize that tonight this congregation represents more congregations than one. I wonder what kind of congregation it is that you belong to. When you ask yourself a question about it, my time has gone, so my message is at an end. Ask yourself this question. What kind of church would my church be if all its members were what? Just like me. What kind of church would my church be, and all its members were just like me. I remember in the little assembly to which I was first introduced twenty odd years ago in Hackensack, New Jersey, that we never used to walk through the door without glancing up at this little motto over the door that I just repeated to you. Asking ourselves the question as we left every meeting, what kind of church would my church be of all its members who are just like thee. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the local church. We thank thee for the order that has been introduced into the local church by the Spirit of God. We realize that it is out of this order that these precious things that we've been speaking about come. We know that Satan is very, very anxious to disturb our fellowship. It's where the brethren grow together in unity that the Lord commands the blessing, so that Satan would fain stir us up and disturb our fellowship so that we are not at one, and then we have to forfeit the Lord's blessing. grant, as we pray, that as we leave tonight, that we might leave thoughtfully, that we might leave facing the challenge concerning our own lives and the measure in which we are or we are not, contributing that which is a blessing and a benefit to all of our fellow believers.