Hebrews 10:24-26
24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. Its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. Through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to “the principalities and powers in heavenly places,” the final and full display of the love of God. Ephesians 3:10. – {TT 9.1}
Many and wonderful are the promises in the Scriptures regarding the church. “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” “I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isaiah 56:7; 49:8, 9, l5. – {TT 9.2}
The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son. From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church. In every age the Lord’s watchmen have borne a faithful testimony to the generation in which they lived. God has sent forth His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people. Not one opposing force has risen to counterwork His work, that God has not foreseen. He has not left His church forsaken, but has traced in prophetic declarations what would occur. All His purposes will be fulfilled. Truth is inspired and guarded by God, and it will triumph over all opposition. – {TT 9.3}