The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with grace

to you.

If you've never contacted Grace to you, we want to send you a free booklet by John called

Forgiving One Another.

It spells out God's superabundant forgiveness for redeemed sinners, and it explains why

our forgiveness of those who sin against us should be just as lavish.

Request your free booklet titled Forgiving One Another by Writing To Forgiving at gty.org.

This offer is good in North America and Europe through December 2023.

And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.

Here is Grace to you, Bible teacher John MacArthur.

We come now to the Word of God, Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, and I know the

tendency in the world today, even in the evangelical Christian world, is to kind of float around

and kind of create your own spiritual environment any way you want.

It's not a time for belonging, it's not a time for loyalty and faithfulness and long-term

commitment.

That's not on the agenda of most people today.

But that is what the Lord requires of His church that we be loyal and faithful to the assembly

of those the Lord has called us to.

So we're trying to help you to understand the character of the church.

I think when most people think about a church, they think about either a building or a certain

style.

Buildings aren't so much the issue anymore.

...