Jesus Christ established God's true Church almost 2,000 years ago.
Discover the purpose for God's true Church.
Learn what sets it apart from the rest, next, on The Key of David, with Gerald Flurry.
Greetings, everyone.
One of the biggest mysteries in traditional Christianity is, Why the Church?
Why did Christ establish His Church?
I'm telling you, it is a mystery to this world.
The sixth mystery is, Why the Church? in Herbert W. Armstrong's book, Mystery of the Ages,
and I've already covered five of those mysteries of the seven, and so today I'd like to concentrate
on the sixth one "Why the Church?"
Surely that must be extremely important to us, and let me tell you, it was SUPREMELY
important to Jesus Christ, and He had to risk His ETERNAL LIFE to establish His Church.
That's how high the stakes were.
Notice Matthew 16 and verse 18; I'll just read a part of this verse.
Christ said, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it."
"I will build My Church, and the gates of hell, or Hades, are not going to prevail against
it."
Now, that's quite a statement for Christ to say, and He's just telling us, "Look, I'll
build it and it will never die.
It's never going to die."
And if you read the Bible you know it talks about the Church being a little flock, and
that in itself tells you, really, that Why the Church is a MYSTERY to this world.
That is just a revealing statement in itself.
But most people in this world do not recognize that Church, and perhaps one of the reasons
is because it's so small, COMPARED to other churches.
But Christ came to this Earth, and one of the big reasons He came was to establish His
Church.
I want to read to you some of the most profound statements, just a couple of them here from
Herbert W. Armstrong's book, Mystery of the Ages.
I mean TRULY they are PROFOUND and something ALL of us I believe need to think DEEPLY about.
But why did Christ come?
Well, He had to, first of all "qualify, where the first Adam failed to replace the former
archangel Lucifer on the throne of the earth, ruling with the government of God.
He had come, 2) to announce the future establishment of the kingdom of God and teach that prophetic
good news (gospel) to his chosen future apostles.
He had come 3) to take on himself, as our direct Creator, the penalty for our sins by
his death on the cross, that we might share in that world.
And he had come 4) to be resurrected from the dead by God, making possible eternal God-life
for the people of God and after his Second Coming for ALL who are willing, of all humanity,
who have ever lived on this earth.
And he had come 5) to establish God's Church, to be trained to rule under him.
"When Jesus was about age 30, he was ready to begin choosing his apostles, and proclaiming
and teaching them his message from God to man, his gospel.
But first," notice this very important point.
But before He could do that, "it was imperative that he qualify to replace Satan and set up
the kingdom of God, by overcoming the devil."
Now, that's an amazing statement!
"This perhaps was the most important, momentous, decisive confrontation and battle ever fought
at all time in the universe."
And so in essence he's saying, "Look, I don't even want to go and teach the apostles and
give them this message and all of that before I first qualify to replace Satan on his throne."
Now, that's an understanding that we all need to have, because if He didn't conquer Satan,
if He didn't overcome Satan, then it was all over for ALL of us, including Himself.
He could not sin and still be our Savior.
But let me tell you this, that Satan knew that he was about to have a battle with Jesus
Christ, and it was about whether or not he would be dethroned from ruling this Earth,
which he does now, as II Corinthians 4 and verse 4 tells us.
But here Christ had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and that's a long time to go without
food and water, and so Satan knew he needed to talk about THAT to try to get Him to weaken.
And of course, the most vulnerable SPIRITUAL weakness is VANITY, and notice what Satan
said to Christ in Matthew 4 and verse 3: "If," Satan sort of sneered at Christ, "IF," the
word "If" here, notice that, "If thou be the Son of God, a normal human would certainly
have replied to that, "Well, that's INSULTING for him to say that.
What do you mean, IF I'm the Son of God?"
But Jesus didn't respond that way.
He was perfect spiritually.
And then notice, going on down a little further, well, he talked about the bread and then the
water, and he also said, well, "The Son of God can produce miracles.
PROVE to me you are the Son of God!"
In other words, by "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
He made THAT statement.
"IF you are the Son of God."
He kept hammering that point home, trying to approach Christ through vanity.
But it didn't work at all because Christ was perfect.
But then notice verse 4: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
So Satan had failed.
And then Satan took Christ up into Jerusalem, at one of the very high pinnacles of the temple,
and he had this to say again, "IF you be the Son of God," verse 6, "IF you be the Son of
God," the third time, and here's a scripture He quoted, "cast thyself down: for it is written,
He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee
up, lest at any time thou dash thy food against a stone."
Now, "he misapplied this, twisted its contextual meaning."
But look, Satan does this to people in this world all the time.
He misapplies these scriptures and we have to really be close to God to be able to see
what he's doing, letting the mind of Christ live in us so we can respond the way Christ
did.
That's what we ought to be doing, and that's the ONLY way we can succeed.
Notice now in verse 7 of Matthew 4: "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God."
And that's also quoted in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 16.
Isn't that amazing that Jesus Christ was actually quoting SCRIPTURES to him, and in this case,
from the Old Testament.
And He said in verse 4 you have to live by every word of God!
He set the example for us!
That means, what we can call the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Verse 8.
"Next he took Jesus atop a high mountain," and notice what he said.
He showed him ALL the kingdoms of the Earth.
He said: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Now, you need to notice that Jesus Christ didn't deny that all these nations were under
Satan, the devil because he's the god of this world.
But then Jesus Christ knew that He was going to be ruling this Earth a little over nineteen-hundred
years later.
But then in verse 10 you can see He had dealt with Satan, the devil, and He COMMANDED Satan
to "Get OUT of here!"
"Get thee hence," He told Satan,.
"Get out of here!"
And Satan slunk away because he knew he had to obey the authority of God.
God is the MASTER over Satan ALL the time!
But He had a job to do here, and now notice one more quote.
"Jesus Christ, the second Adam, had qualified!
Never until that minute could the good news of the coming kingdom of God be announced
to the world."
In other words, He had to conquer the devil, He had to overcome him before He could replace
Satan on his throne, and He qualified right there!
Now, He's also giving another couple of thousand years for His Church to ALSO qualify, the
same way Christ did, only it's not such a titanic battle as Christ had with Satan.
But the paragraph concludes: "Now the Son of God resisted and conquered Satan, had qualified
to reestablish God's government and set up the kingdom of God on the Earth!
But now the Church must also qualify to rule with him!"
Well, hey, the Church has to qualify to rule with Christ!
Christ had to qualify to replace Satan on his throne.
You and I have to qualify to SHARE that throne with Him before the Second Coming.
And we're going to be kings and priests as well, just like Christ is a King.
But I think that's just amazing that all of a sudden, after He conquered Satan and was
qualified to replace him on his throne, then He could go out and preach the Gospel, the
GOOD NEWS of the coming Kingdom of God, that this evil world is about to come to a close,
and I mean it's right on the immediate horizon!
It's about to happen!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ began being proclaimed after that amazing battle.
This is in Mark, and notice what Christ says: "'The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God;' Jesus came into Galilee, preaching [proclaiming, teaching] the gospel
of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel."
But people don't even understand what REPENTANCE is today.
They don't even understand what the Gospel is; it's a mystery, and so is the Church,
a mystery.
But notice what Christ says that that Church must do.
It must proclaim that Gospel and realize NOW Christ has qualified and He's going to give
every human being who's ever lived an opportunity to be in His Family forever.
That's what the whole Holy Day plan is all about, and it teaches you that.
If you don't have our holy day booklet, please write for it because it will explain all that
to you.
But notice what it says in Revelation 3 and verse 21 to the Church of this 20th century.
Christ said this: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
That's verse 21 of Revelation 3.
He said, "Look.
You have to overcome, even as I overcame.
I had to overcome Satan the god of this world, and if you're going to rule with Me on that
throne, you're going to have to overcome him, too."
There's something to do in this Church of God.
The Church feeds the flock, and they have to overcome Satan, the devil, the all-powerful
god of this world.
Now, that is a mystery to this world.
It's a mystery.
It says in Revelation 5 and verse 10 we're going to be kings and priests.
It also says in Revelation 1 and verse 6 that we're ALREADY kings and priests, in embryo.
IF we are following God.
In other words, we'll be over Church and state.
I mean we'll be over everything, and Christ said you will be able to, with Him, rule this
world with a rod of iron.
In other words, with real authority and real direction because we have to, if we're going
to rule with Christ, we have to learn how to do that, how to teach people, in love,
but also well, with a certain amount of authority when we become God beings, like Christ is
God today.
So Jesus Christ is about to return, and now we're preparing ourselves, and we're going
to rule with Him for a thousand years over this world IF we qualify, IF we prepare ourselves
to be the bride of Jesus Christ.
That's what it's all about!
But how many people do you know that really understand that?
Now, it says in John 7 that there's coming a time when God is going to open the minds
of everybody in this world.
But that's not the way it is today, not that way at all.
This is really an unparalleled HONOR to be able to rule with Jesus Christ, and if we
need to be where Christ's Church is, or God's Church is, to be fed and prepare for that
AWESOME responsibility!
It's just mind-boggling!
But it's true, more true than what you see in this world really, and it's all a mystery
to this world.
We're going to be kings and priests forever, and that all will happen ONLY if we are being
fed and nourished and nurtured by the true Church of God.
So we have to be very careful about that.
SURELY we would know that you can't become a king and a priest without preparation, without
qualifying.
If Christ had to qualify to replace Satan on his throne, well, what about us?
So the word "Church" is from the Greek word ecclesia, and it just means "called-out ones."
Christ has to call us out and give us the very MIND of Christ (Philippians 2 and verse
5).
And in II Corinthians 4 and verse 4, it says that Satan has BLINDED THE MINDS of them which
believe not.
He's blinded them!
He's made all of this wonderful precious truth of God just a mystery, they don't understand
it.
You can look at Matthew 24 and verse 14.
Well, I'll just quickly read that to you.
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come."
Now, what is Christ saying there?
People don't understand that verse, I'll tell you.
Think about it!
The Gospel was preached around the world in that first era, and now Christ is saying that
it isn't going to be preached again until the very end time.
Because when you see it preached around the world AGAIN, it will be this end time.
If it happened in 1100 or 700 or 1800, well, the end would have come THEN.
But He is saying that that Gospel was not preached from, let's say, 50 A.D. to 1953,
to be specific, and we can prove that to you.
But anyhow, that is a powerful statement, that people do not understand.
But look, the Gospel has not been going out to this world because, again, it is a MYSTERY
to this world.
They don't know what it is, and I'll explain more of that in the final program next week.
Notice what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in his book: "It is a fact to stagger the mind
of the reader that the gospel of Jesus Christ was not proclaimed to the world from about
A..D. 50 until the year 1953."
See, all of this precious truth was hidden from this world by Satan, the devil that I
just mentioned to you before.
You can read Galatians 1, verses 6 and 7, and Paul was just APPALLED that the Church
members had already turned away from God, some 20 years after, that's my recollection,
about 20 years after they had been fed the truth, they were turning away from God.
It is a battle!
You have to overcome the devil!
I'll just give you a few comments here from people in the world telling you that something
happened in, let's say, at the end of that first century, and even the world can see
that in the history books of this world, at least they see some of it.
Here's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and here's what it says: "'The scanty and
suspicious materials on ecclesiastical history seldom enable us to dispel the dark cloud
that hangs over the first age of the Church.'
I have often called it the lost century."
That's Mr. Armstrong speaking.
And then, "A Handbook of Church History" wrote: "The thirty years which followed the close
of the New Testament Canon and the destruction of Jerusalem are in truth the most obscure
in the history of the Church."
See, people can see that.
"Well, what happened then?"
"In Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, William Fitzgerald: 'Over this period of transition
which immediately succeeds upon the era properly called apostolic, great obscurity hangs...'"
What happened?
Well, there are all kinds of these I could read.
But then the Roman Empire was ruling at that time, and something terrible was happening.
Now, even the HISTORY has become, the HISTORY of the Church has been blotted out, for the
most part, and it, too, is a mystery.
That's how much MYSTERY there is in this world.
Now, John came along in his epistles and explained all that history to us, and that's really
the main place, about the only place you'll find it, except a few other of John's writings
you'll find a smattering of it here and there.
But John explained it very well in those epistles of his.
And if you want to read about that, you can read it in my Last Hour booklet.
Well, I'll have to just mention this to you before I close, that God has given His Church
a DUAL responsibility, to proclaim the Gospel message and proclaim God's message to the
world.
In this era, it's "prophesy again," but that includes the Gospel.
And He also said, "Feed my sheep."
And look, there has to be a person PROCLAIMING it, God says.
but then if there aren't people out there backing him up, he couldn't do ANYTHING!
It's a team effort!
The Church is called the body of Christ, and it's all to function according to the MIND
of Christ.
That's what should be happening.
I want to just mention one more quote here that I think is powerful.
This was from a German theological school and it made this statement about that obscure
century in Church history: "During that time, a violent CONTEST was going on between two
gospels.
Some wanted the Gospel of Christ, which means the same Gospel Christ preached, the Gospel
of the Kingdom.
And others wanted a Gospel ABOUT Christ.
Which one do you think won out?"
Well, the Bible tells you.
Let me read where it is prophesied, where Christ, Himself, prophesied to you that would
happen in this end time, in particular.
Notice verse 3 of Matthew 24: "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the
sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" or the age.
Now, OK, they wanted a sign.
"Well, give us a sign.
What is going to happen?"
Well, notice verse 4: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you.
For MANY shall come in my name," in the name of Christ, "saying, I am Christ;" I, Christ,
am Christ, "and shall deceive many."
Shall deceive many.
Now, that is a phenomenal prophecy, and here this is a big reason you can see that the
Church is a MYSTERY to people.
They chose a message ABOUT Jesus Christ.
But they didn't choose the message OF Jesus Christ.
He is the Word.
The Bible is His Word.
It is Christ in print!
And God is telling us that, look, if we want to remove the MYSTERY we're going to have
to live by every Word of God!
Not just talk about the person of Christ and accepting Christ or whatever they would say
to you, but we have to keep His Word, His message, and live by every WORD of that Book,
of the Bible, or Christ in print.
That's what He's talking about.
You can read I Corinthians 15 and verse 50 where it talks about flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is not the Church.
This is something spiritual.
It's a Family that we're born into if we're qualified, and Christ is helping us to be
qualified right now if we're willing.
Until next week, this is Gerald Flurry, goodbye, friends.
When Jesus Christ founded the New Testament Church, He said the gates of hell would not
prevail against it.
He prophesied of seven successive eras of the Church before His Second Coming, and even
foretold the predominant character of each.
Request Gerald Flurry's free book The True History of God's True Church to learn more
about each Church era.
Understand why God has given His Church the responsibility to proclaim to the world the
good news of His coming kingdom.
Discover how Satan suppressed this vital gospel message for 1,800 years.
History shows that God's true Church has survived for 20 centuries despite vicious attacks from
Satan-inspired false religion.
Now, on the cusp of Christ's return, this dramatic and miraculous story can be fully
told!
Read this inspiring account in The True History of God's True Church.
Before Jesus Christ could preach the gospel message and establish the true Church, He
waged a titanic battle for world domination against Satan the devil.
He won that battle.
So can you.
Request Gerald Flurry's free booklet How to Be an Overcomer to learn how.
Understand how Christ, a mortal man, lived for more than 30 years without committing
a single sin.
Receive practical lessons for how to win your war against sin just like Christ did.
The reward for doing so is spectacular.
All our literature is available free of charge, at no cost or obligation to you.
Request The True History of God's True Church and How to Be an Overcomer.
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