Issue 8 Will the Real Adulterer Please Stand Up?

“Will the Real Adulterer Please Stand Up?”

There was a T.V. gameshow called, “To Tell the Truth”. There was a host, a panel, and three people all claiming to be, let’s say, electricians. The panel would ask questions, trying to learn which two were imposters, and which one was genuine. After all the questioning is done the host asked this question, “Will the real electrician please stand up”. When it comes to the church, the scriptures clearly teach there is only one, it is the bride of Christ. According to the United Nations statistics there were over 23,000 “competing and often contradictory denominations worldwide” that grow in number by an average of 100 per day (World Census of Religious Activities [U.N. Information Center, NY, 1989]). Each denomination claims to be the church though by many different names and many differing teachings. If these all are truly the Lord’s that means Jesus has over 23,000 brides. So, I wonder? Is Jesus an adulterer?

Praise be to God that is not the truth. Jesus is not the One who is committing the act of adultery, it is every false teacher today that walks not according to the Spirit (2 Thess. 3:6). Those who do walk uprightly, He speaks of them this way, “…the blameless in their ways are His delight” (Prov. 11:20) and to those who don’t He speaks of them as harlots. In Hosea 2:2, Israel, God’s “unfaithful people” is represented as a corrupt woman. God says, “1Bring[c] charges against your mother, [d]bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;”

Paul in Romans 7 explains how the Jews could be married to Christ under His law. The Jews reasoned that it was contrary to their teaching to be married to more than one husband / wife at a time and Paul explains beyond a doubt that the old law to which they had been married was dead leaving them the right to marry another, that is the One who was raised from the dead, Christ. “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Rom. 7:4).

When we are buried in the waters of baptism, we are added to the body of Christ (Acts 2:47). Inasmuch as the body is the church, when we are in Christ, we are His Church therefore, Christians are married to Christ and as a wife is subject to her husband, so Christians must be to Christ (Eph. 5:22-24). Baptism brings us into one body (Gal. 3:27), one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13), and that body is the Church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23).

When a woman marries a man, they become bride and groom, she becomes subject to him and wears his name. She does not wear any other name, only the name of her husband. Can those who claim to be married to Christ wear another name? No! If they do can they still be considered faithful to their husband, Christ? No! Since Christ is not a false teacher, can false teachers claim to be His brides? No! Christ has made it clear the church must be faithful. If the church does not carry out Christ’s instructions, has she committed spiritual adultery? Yes! Christ wants His bride to worship in spirit and truth, to be praying, teaching, to partake of Lord’s Supper, to sing, and to give an offering all on the Lord’s day. His bride, the church should love Him enough to obey those instructions.

Many claim to be the faithful bride, or church to Jesus Christ. However, the true test is how they live and teach for it takes more than “lip service” or going through a “different gospel” (Gal. 6:6-10), to be a part of the bride, the body of Christ (the church). Christians are warned and commanded not to, “…believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Summary: Every time you are taught compare what was taught against the scriptures to see if it is so (Acts 17:11) and, “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the [a]doctrine which accords with godliness…From such withdraw yourself” (1 Tim. 6:3, 5).

Good news! There is only one church that Jesus died for and shed His blood for, one church that is the bride and one church which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:4-6). Of that church Paul wrote, “…For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). When Jesus said, “…I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.…”, He wasn’t talking of many churches with many names and many contrary teachings. He didn’t die for Charles Wesley’s church, or Martin Luther’s church or John Knox’s church. How Many Churches Does God Have? One! Every description of the divine church shows its oneness: Jesus said, “And other sheep I have [Gentiles] which are not of this fold [Jews]; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16 Emphasis Mine). One church, one bride, one husband and scriptures prove positively that there is but one true church, and one LORD thus, all those who will call men to join various bodies are adulterers.

 

“31For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

Ephesians 5:31-32

Again, “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD” (Hosea 2:19-20). “For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth” (Isa. 54:5). The whole idea of Christ having more than one wife (church) is repugnant to the Spirit, and to the word of God, the Bible. It is outright slander against the Son of God, “from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:15).

From these and other scriptures, we see the church is God’s bride and family. Since a man can have only one bride and one family, it follows that God has but one church and one family. What an awful reflection on the holiness men offer of one God having many wives and separate rival families, and that is exactly what sinful men are doing with their “own churches”. The multiplicity of sects, falsely called churches, are not God’s church.

Read Matthew 19:4-6, hear Jesus describe marriage as a union between one man and one woman and that two are no longer two but one. The church is the bride and the Lord the Groom, together they form the spiritual marriage. Are you ready? “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev. 19:7-8). So, will the real adulterer please stand up and leave. Are you ready to be received? Truth is when Jesus returns, He won’t ask will the real Christian please stand up for, “…The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). Don’t let the false teachers deceive you, the Lord told us what we must do to be His in His own words: Hear (John 6:45), believe He is the Christ (John 8:24), repent of your sins (Luke 13:3), confess Him as the Christ before men (Matt. 10:32) and be baptized for the remission of sins and to be added to His Body the church, His bride (Acts 2:38, 47, 22:16; Mark 16:16). “Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” (Rev. 19:9).

In Christ

Love

D. Scarpino

 “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2)

 What Jesus Said I Must Do to Be Saved?

  1. Hear the gospel———————————————————— John 6:45

  2. Believe the gospel——————————————————— John 8:24

  3. Repent of sins————————————————————– Luke 13:3

  4. Confess Christ————————————————————- Matthew 10:32

  5. Be baptized—————————————————————– Mark 16:16

  6. Remain faithful until death———————————————- Matthew 10:22

Welcome One and All!

Our faithful Creator is worthy to be praised in this assembly. All praise to Him who reigns above in majesty supreme! He gave His Son to die, for all mankind, that He might redeem all. Our blessed Redeemer suffered and died for our sins and is now risen and sitting at the right hand of God as only Head of the church. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, knowing that He is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:9). “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

Please mute your cell phones: “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20). “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”
(1 Peter 3:15)