Can the Church be Restored

• The Restoration Plea
• 1 Peter 4:11
• The Restoration Plea …
• A plea for Christ, the authority of Christ, and the church of Christ …
• A plea to be biblical, walk in the old paths, restoration of New Testament Christianity...
• A plea to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent …
• 1 Peter 4:11
• If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

• The Restoration Movement
• John 17:20-21 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
• A Biblical Theme
• Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the Lord: "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'
• A Biblical Theme
• Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
• Why the need for Restoration?
• 1 Timothy 4:1-4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth…
• Why the need for Restoration?
• 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.... 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way….
• The Falling Away …
• In New Testament …
• Corruption of organization of church…

• During apostasy …
 Development of a religious hierarchy …
• The Falling Away …
• In New Testament …
• Corruption of organization of church…
• Changes in baptism …

• During apostasy …
 Baptism of infants by sprinkling and pouring…
• The Falling Away …
• In New Testament …
• Corruption of organization of church…
• Changes in baptism …
• Corruptions of the worship …

• During apostasy …
 Images, prayers to Mary, holy water, rosary, crucifix, instruments ..
• The Divine Pattern…
• 2 Timothy 1:13-14 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
• The Divine Pattern…
• John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
• John 16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth….
• The Divine Pattern…
• Romans 6:17-18 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
• The Divine Pattern…
• “Form of Doctrine” – the doctrine given by God as a pattern (tupos) for men to follow..
– “Tupos describes an original, a pattern in the technical sense of prototype, model” which in Rom. 6:17 refers to the content, the expression of the doctrine” (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1978)
• The Divine Pattern…
• 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God….13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
• The Divine Pattern…
• Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
• Acts 2:41,47 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them... And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
• Restoration a Return to God…
• Deuteronomy 8:11-13 "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today ….
• Restoration a Return to God…
• Joshua 1:8-9 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success…
• Restoration a Return to God…
• Judges 2:11-16 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger... Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
• Restoration a Return to God…
• 2 Kings 18:1-8 Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, ... 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went.
• Restoration a Return to God…
• 2 Kings 22:1-13 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. 8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 13 "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
• Our Standard is Christ and His Word…
• Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
• God’s Eternal Purpose …
• Ephesians 3:8-11 To me this grace was given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord …
• Life through ancient seed…
• New York Times: JERUSALEM, June 11, 2005 - Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date seed nearly 2,000 years old.
• The Church Jesus Built …
• A church that recognizes Jesus as its head (Ephesians 1:22-23; Col 1:18)
• Simple, scriptural, meaningful worship (Acts 2:42; 20:7; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 4:1-2)
• Work of preaching gospel (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-38)
• The Restoration Plea
• 1 Peter 4:11