The Church Built By the Lord Jesus Christ

Richard Warmack
Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Ruston, Louisiana

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It is vitally important that we make the Gospel clear to every sinner with whom we have an opportunity to speak. Christ did not come merely to set an example for sinners to emulate so that they might gain eternal life or maintain their standing before God. His obedience is not a pattern by which we establish our own righteousness. Christ Himself is the righteousness of every sinner whom God saves.

The sinner’s acceptance with God rests entirely upon the obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is neither earned by following Christ’s example nor preserved by our success in imitating Him. Salvation is wholly of the Lord.

The Desire and Failure of Every Believer

This does not mean that those who have been born of God are indifferent toward obedience. Every sinner whom God the Father justified and Christ redeemed at Calvary is given a genuine desire to love God.

The apostle John writes:

“We love him, because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19

Believers also desire to love one another:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”
1 John 4:7

These desires are real. They are the fruit of God’s saving work within His people. Yet every true child of God is also compelled to confess how miserably he continues to fall short of God’s holy standard.

Paul described this painful struggle:

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
Romans 7:18–19

He later cried:

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Romans 7:24

The believer desires to love God perfectly, yet he recognizes that sin remains present in his flesh. He longs to love his neighbor as himself, yet he continually discovers selfishness, pride, and weakness within. His confidence, therefore, cannot rest upon his performance. His hope must remain fixed upon Christ alone.

The Fatal Confidence of Self-Righteousness

This reveals an important distinction between those who have been born of God and those who remain in a state of spiritual lostness.

The natural man imagines that his acceptance with God is based upon something he has done or something he believes God has enabled him to do. He points to his religious works, moral improvement, decisions, dedication, or service as evidence that he deserves God’s favor.

The Lord Jesus warned that many will approach Him with precisely this kind of confidence:

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
Matthew 7:22

Notice where their confidence rests. They speak of what they have done. Their hope is founded upon their works performed in Christ’s name.

The Pharisee in Christ’s parable displayed the same spirit:

“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are… I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
Luke 18:11–12

Even his thanksgiving to God became a declaration of his own religious accomplishments. He looked within himself and found reasons to believe that he was accepted.

The sinner whom God has taught by grace speaks differently. He finds no righteousness within himself. He makes no claim based upon personal merit. He comes before God pleading only the blood and righteousness of Christ.

Christ Calls Sinners

Many people seem to imagine that Christ needs moral, sincere, dedicated, and committed people to build His Church. Scripture presents a very different picture.

Christ declared:

“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Matthew 9:13

Christ’s Church is composed of sinners saved entirely by sovereign grace. They were chosen by God the Father in Christ before the foundation of the world:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.”
Ephesians 1:3–4

God’s choice was not determined by anything foreseen in the sinner. His people were chosen in Christ according to His own eternal purpose and grace.

These same sinners were redeemed by the particular and effectual sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul instructed the elders at Ephesus:

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Acts 20:28

Christ did more than make salvation possible. He purchased His Church with His own blood. He accomplished the redemption of every sinner whom the Father had given Him.

Sons by Grace

In God’s appointed time, the Holy Spirit brings these chosen and redeemed sinners to know the salvation that has been freely given to them in Christ. Through the preaching of the Gospel, He reveals Christ to their hearts and brings them to rest in His finished work.

Paul writes:

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6

The order is important. God does not send the Spirit into their hearts so that they might make themselves sons. He sends forth the Spirit of His Son because they are sons according to His eternal purpose in Christ.

Their sonship does not begin with their decision, obedience, or religious activity. It originates in the everlasting love and purpose of God. The Spirit brings them to know and enjoy what the Father ordained and the Son purchased for them.

The Lord Adds to His Church

No sinner adds himself to the Church of God. The Lord adds His people through the preaching of the Gospel.

Scripture records:

“And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Acts 2:47

The Church belongs to Christ. He chose its members, purchased them with His blood, calls them by His Spirit, and preserves them by His grace. Every sinner brought to see the glory of this salvation gladly confesses that the whole work belongs to God.

Christ is certainly precious to His people as their Lord, Shepherd, and Teacher. They desire to follow Him and walk in love because He first loved them. Yet their obedience contributes nothing to the righteousness by which they stand before God.

Christ alone is their righteousness. His obedience alone answers the demands of God’s holy law. His blood alone cleanses from every sin. His finished work alone secures their eternal salvation.

Every child of God would have it no other way.

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About the Author

Richard Warmack has served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Ruston, Louisiana, since the congregation’s establishment in October 1987. For nearly four decades, his preaching and writing have emphasized God’s free and sovereign grace, the accomplished redemption of Christ at Calvary, and the believer’s complete acceptance in Christ. His sermons and articles are available through Grace Baptist Church and its SermonAudio ministry.

Visit Grace Baptist Church of Ruston to learn more about Pastor Warmack’s ministry.

To learn more about the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, visit www.RedeemerPiketon.org.