1. Can You be Saved AND not Be a Member of the Lord’s Church?
INTRODUCTION:
We are not asking if one must be a member of a denomination in order to be saved.
B. Not whether he must be a member of "a" Church, or "some" Church, but "the" Church.
1. We further ask: Can a good man be saved out of the Church?
2. Acts 10:2 “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.”
Verse 22 “And they said, " Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you."
Acts 11:14 “who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. '

2. Can You be Saved AND not Be a Member of the Lord’s Church?
C. Several questions to be considered in this lesson:
1. Who is the Savior? - Eph. 5:23 “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. “
(The Church doesn't save you-Christ is the Savior).
2. When is one saved? - Mark 16:15,16; 2 Thess. 1:7,8 “vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel…”
3. Where is one saved? - Wherever God has located spiritual life - Acts 2:47.
4. What is meant by "being saved"? (1 Pet. 3:20,21; Acts 22:16); Acts 2:38;
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins”
(Rom. 6:4; Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 5:17).

3. Can You be Saved AND not Be a Member of the Lord’s Church?
5. What is involved in being "in the Church"?
a. We have already seen that salvation and Church membership occurs simultaneously - Acts 2:47.
b. Syllogistic Arrangement:
(1). Baptism puts one into Christ - Gal. 3:27.
(2). Baptism puts one into the one body - 1 Cor. 12:13 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”.
(3). Therefore, to be in Christ is to be in the one body which is the Church - Col. 1:18 “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”
That is, one cannot be in Christ and outside His Church which is His body.
c. Being in the Church is being in Christ.
(1). It is true that one may be in the Church and become unfaithful to the Lord.
(2) But it is also true that he cannot be faithful to Christ and out of the Church!

4. REDEMPTION IS IN CHRIST
Ephesians 1.7
Out of Christ = Out of the Church = outside redemption
REDEMPTION IS IN CHRIST: - Eph. 1:7.
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace “
~A. Out of Christ - Out of the Church; out of the Church - outside redemption.

5. Connection with Head Colossians 1.18 Ephesians 1.22-23
Out of the Church = out of the body = no connection with the HEAD
No connection with the HEAD = no direction and NO LIFE
II. NO CONNECTION WITH THE HEAD:
Col. 1:18 “And He is the head of the body, the church…”
Eph. 1:22,23 “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.“
~A. Out of the Church - out of the body; out of the body - no connection with the head.
~B. No connection with the head - no direction and no life.

6. Benefits of Blood Acts 20.28 Blood purchased the Church
Blood = forgiveness of sins – Eph 1.7
Blood cleanses from sin – 1 John 1.7
All benefits of the Blood (forgiveness and cleansing) are in the body, the Church
Cannot be saved without forgiveness and cleansing
III. BENEFITS OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AVAILABLE ONLY IN THE Church:
A. Blood purchased the Church - Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood”
Any benefit obtained from the purchase price, must be obtained from that which it purchased.
~B. Hence, any benefit from the blood of Christ must be enjoyed from and through the Church.
~C. The blood forgives sins - Eph. 1:7; cleanses from sin - I Jno. 1:7.
~ Therefore, forgiveness and cleansing can be had only in becoming and being in the Church.
~ If one can be saved out of the Church, he can be saved without the blood, hence without forgiveness and cleansing.

7. Citizenship in Kingdom
Eph 2.19 (1 Tim 3.15); Col 1.13 – Kingdom = Church
Spiritually only two kingdoms in the world
Kingdom of God
Kingdom of Satan
Kingdom = Church
If saved out of Kingdom, saved in Satan’s kingdom????
IV. CITIZENSHIP IS IN GOD'S KINGDOM - THE Church:
Eph. 2:19; “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, “
(1 Tim. 3:15); “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. “
Col. 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, “
A. If one is a Christian, he is a citizen of God's kingdom, therefore in the Church - Matt. 16:18,19.
~B. In a spiritual sense, there are only two kingdoms in the world - kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
1. Every rational, responsible being is a citizen of one or the other.
2. Therefore, if one can be saved out of the Church, he can be saved in the devil's kingdom while paying homage to his Satanic Majesty as his Lord and King!

8. Saved in God’s House
1 Timothy 3.15 God’s House = His Family, the Church
If you can be saved and not be in the Church, then you can be saved without being in God’s Family…
V. GOD'S HOUSE - GOD'S FAMILY IS THE Church: - 1 Tim. 3:15.
A. If one can be saved and not be in the Church, then one can be saved without being in God's family, or else God has children outside of his family.

9. Spiritual blessings in the Church
To be in Christ is to be in the Church
All Spiritual blessings are in Christ – Eph 1.3
Therefore, all Spiritual blessings are in the Church
If we are saved outside the Church, then we are saved WITHOUT ONE SPIRITUAL BLESSING!
VI. ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS ARE IN THE CHURCH:
A. To be in Christ is to be in the Church.
B. All spiritual blessings are in Christ - Eph. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
C. Therefore, all spiritual blessings are in the Church.
1. If one can be saved out of the Church, he can be saved without a single spiritual blessing.
2. But being saved would be a spiritual blessing.
3. If one can be saved out of the Church, he would have a spiritual blessing without a spiritual blessing!

10. Reconciliation in the Church
2 Cor 5.19; Eph 2.16
“Reconcile” – to ‘change from enmity to friendship’ (Vine)
Takes place in Christ – in the Body, the Church
If saved out of the Church, then saved without friendship with God and Christ!
VII. RECONCILIATION IS IN THE Church:
2 Cor. 5:19 “that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation…”
Eph. 2:16 “and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
A. "Reconcile" means to "change from enmity to friendship" - Vine.
B. This takes place in Christ - in the body, the Church.
C. If one can be saved out of the Church, he can be saved without making friends with God and Christ.

11. Child of God in the Church
Galatians 3.26
If saved out of the Church, then saved without becoming child of God
Saved while remaining a child of the Devil???
VIII. THE PLACE WHERE ONE IS A CHILD OF GOD IS IN THE Church:
Gal. 3: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. “
A. If one is saved out of the Church, he is saved without becoming a child of God.
B. Therefore, saved while remaining a child of the devil.

12. Access to Father in the Church
Ephesians 2.18
Access to the Father through Christ
To be in Christ is to be in the Church
Hence, access to the Father is in the Church
To reject the Church is to have no access to the Father
IX. HAVE ACCESS TO THE FATHER IN THE Church –
Eph. 2:18 “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
~A. Have access to the Father through Christ, but to be in Christ is to be in the Church.
B. Hence, we have access to the Father in the Church.
C. One who rejects the Lord's Church, has no access to the Father.

13. SALVATION IS in the Church
2 Timothy 2.10
Salvation is in Christ, therefore in the Church
Cannot be saved outside of the place where Salvation resides
X. SALVATION IS IN THE CHURCH:
2 Tim. 2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
A. Salvation is in Christ, hence in the Church.
B. If one can be saved out of the Church, he can be saved outside the realm in which salvation is located. Saved without salvation)

14. SEPARATED FROM CHRIST – SEPARATED FROM THE CHURCH
Ephesians 2.12
“having no hope and without God in the world.”
“But now in Christ Jesus…” (verse 13)
XI. SEPARATED FROM CHRIST - SEPARATED FROM THE CHURCH:
One separated from Christ and His Church is "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world." (Eph. 2:12)
BUT NOTE THE GLORIOUS STATEMENT IN THE NEXT VERSE…
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. “

15. Can You be Saved AND not Be a Member of the Lord’s Church?
Conclusion
1. When is one saved? - Mark 16:15,16; 2 These. 1:7,8.
2. Where is one saved? - Wherever God has located spiritual life - Acts 2:47.
3. Salvation and Church membership occurs simultaneously - Acts 2:47.
b. Syllogistic Arrangement:
(1). Baptism puts one into Christ - Gal. 3:27.
(2). Baptism puts one into the one body - 1 Cor. 12:13.
(3). Therefore, to be in Christ is to be in the one body which is the Church - Col. 1:18. That is, one cannot be in Christ and outside His Church which is His body.
NO!