# “He will build His church” by Michael Horton

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2014/10/09/he-will-build-his-church-by-michael-horton/
- Published: 2014-10-09T18:00:06-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“The church’s unity and catholicity do not a rise immanently within individual believers
or a historical institution; they are gifts from the Father, in the Son, and by 
the Spirit. They are given because the triune God has elected, redeemed, and called
us in Christ to belong to Him and to each other.

The church was chosen in Christ to be holy (Ephesians 1:4) and was sanctified by
Christ’s life, death, and resurrection — applied by the Holy Spirit. The church’s
apostolicity is grounded not in its orthodoxy or orthopraxy, but in the external
Word, made fruitful in us by the Spirit.

As long as the church hears, receives, and proclaims this Word that it has been 
given, it is something other than a club, neighborhood association, theological 
school, or political action committee.

A church that, weary of its ambiguous location between the two ages, preaches another
gospel or corrupts the sacraments is no longer holy, but is assimilated into the
world– the age that is passing away– despite its outward forms (Galatians 1:6-9;
1 Corinthians 3:10-17).

We cannot deny that there will be those finally who hear these chilling words of
Jesus Christ: ‘I never knew you; depart from me,’ although they protest that they
performed wonders in His name (Matthew 7:22-23).

The candlestick of any particular church or group of churches can be removed when
it ceases to bear illuminating witness to Christ in the world (Revelation 2:5). 
This tragic end may come upon a church not only for abandoning the doctrine of the
gospel itself, but for failing to bear witness to it.

To deny that this eschatological judgment of one’s professing church is impossible
by virtue of its inherent holiness and eminent history is itself a harbinger of 
apostasy, and it is a tendency to which all of our churches can easily succumb.

Yet we have Christ’s promise that He will build His church. Despite the church’s
compromised, ambiguous, schismatic and sinful character, the covenant of redemption
ensures that our unfaithfulness will not have the last word.”

–Michael Horton, _[The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310286042?tag=toletaupanre-20)_(
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 870.

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