 What is the church? Who is the church? Well, it may not be what you think. Something we don't talk about a lot, which we probably should, at least more, get a better understanding is, what is the church? Who is the church? The word is eklassia, which is from the Greek word ek, plus the word kaleo. Ek is from or out of, and then kaleo means to call, to invite, to appoint, to name. Now, some will say that it means to call down ones. And in a sense, you can go with that, but that's really not what the word means. Eklesia literally means assembly, congregation, gathering. Therefore, you don't have to be a Christian to be part of a eklesia, because anything technically can be an eklesia. It's a gathering, it's a congregation. Now, in this case, though, what we're trying to figure out is what is the church or God's church. That's important, not just any gathering. Anyone can have a gathering. As a matter of fact, we see it throughout the scripture, the word is used and is used in a generic sense. But we're not concerned about the generic usage of the word. We're concerned about what is God's church. And Jesus brings this up in Matthew 16 to indicate what the church is. He asks, who do men say that I am? And then he turns to Peter and the rest of them and asks, who do you say that I am? Who do you say it? And what do they say in verse 16? Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who was in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. And there's that word ecclesia and the gates of hell or Hades were not overpowered. Now, to be clear, don't misunderstand that he's saying that upon Peter is who he's gonna build his church upon. He's not saying that. He's speaking of the profession that Peter makes. Upon this is what or this rock is what I'm going to build my church, build my assembly. And so it's important we're talking about his church, not any church or that gathering or any old gathering or assembly. We're speaking about his. And so going back to what he says, you are the Christ of son of the living God upon that profession, upon that understanding is what Jesus is building his church off of. It's vitally important that we understand that it's that profession that makes a person save. What specifically does that mean? What that means is that in order to be a part of this gathering, to be a part of his assembly, to be a part of his congregation, to be part of his church, means you must, you are required to confess that he is the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord. Remember though, the Bible tells us clearly in Deuteronomy 4, 35 and 39 that the Lord is God. There's only one Lord. And according to Paul in Romans 10, he says that you must confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord. Without that, you cannot be saved. You must recognize that he is Lord. Why do we say that? Because he also says that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. The Lord indicating who he is, that is God. God in flesh, the Messiah who has come to redeem us if we place our faith in him. The problem is though, there are those who will not do so. Remember in John 8, 24, Jesus makes a statement. He says, therefore I say to you that you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he. You will die in your sins. And notice what he says, I am he. He uses over here in the Greek on the right hand side. He says, ego, and me. This is the term that the Jews were familiar with equating himself with God. Remember, he says it again later on in verse 58 and what did the Jews do? They want to kill him. He even asked him, why do you want to kill me? And they said, not because anything that you've done not for any good works, but because you a man call yourself God. And so it's that profession, understanding that he's just not somebody coming to do God's will. It is literally God. This is Jesus who is God. It's also important to understand how he refers to us and he gives us an indication of how we should work. He calls us his body in Ephesians 1, 22. He says, and he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels all and all. Now, the reason why this is important because Paul even tells us kind of how the body works. There's a hand that there is an arm, there's an eye, there's an ear. And we all work for the benefit of the body and who's the head of the body? Jesus. And so his church is literally his body, not his physical body, but speaking in the sense that how we work together for the benefit, for the glory, for the fulfillment of his purpose, that's what the body does. And how we become his body is because of faith in what he's done on the cross by his blood. And the Bible is clear that it is he who purchased us by his own blood, as he says in Acts 20, 28, be on guard yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church, that's the ecclesia of God which he purchased with his own blood. And so God, Jesus as God, Jesus is God, purchased with his own blood, the blood of God. I know it sounds a little weird to think about that, but that's literally what the passage says, what the passage means. Now, to be clear, how a person can know that they are a part of this body, there is one identifying mark of every member of this assembly, every member of this congregation, every member of the church has this one identifying mark. And that is the Holy Spirit. Paul says that for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. This is 1 Corinthians 12, 13, whether Jews or Greek, whether slaves are free and we're all made to drink of one spirit, all of us, whether you have been a believer for one minute, for one year, for one decade, it doesn't matter. However long you've been a believer, you were made to drink of that spirit, you were baptized into the body by the spirit which is what John says, I baptize with water, but Jesus is going to baptize you in or with the Holy Spirit. And so the identifying mark of a believer, just like you baptize a white piece of cloth in red dye, the red dye, I mean, the white cloth comes up with the qualities of the red dye on it. Similarly, you're baptized in the Holy Spirit and you come up with the qualities of what you were baptized in. And so the identifying mark of a believer, of a church member is the Holy Spirit. If you do not have the spirit of God, you are not part of the body. And the way that this comes about, it is an exclusive club to be part of this congregation, to be a member of this body, to be a member of this church. It's exclusive, but it's also inclusive, meaning that all you simply have to do is place your faith in Christ, in what he's done on the cross, his shed blood, and that he did so as Lord, as the Messiah. That's the profession of faith upon that, is what Jesus says he will build his church. And if you believe that, you've been baptized. And if you do believe that, then that means you have been baptized into the body by the spirit, and you are part of not just a church, but his church.