Address—C. Hendricks
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In Romans 15, there's a verse I want to read. Begin with.
In verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.
That we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
And then there's a verse in 1St Corinthians 10.
Similar verse.
Where it says.
Verse 11 Now all these things happened unto them, for in samples or as types, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. So these two passages in the New Testament tell us.
Of the value of the Old Testament.
And teaching us principles and truth and lessons that are.
To be taken heed to.
Written for our learning, our comfort, our encouragement, our instruction.
Let's turn back now to Deuteronomy chapter 12.
Deuteronomy chapter 12. We're going to be looking at this, to start with, at a principle.
That, uh.
Very clear in the Old Testament.
And it's just as true today in the new, though the application of it is different.
Because the conditions in which Israel was found and in which the churches found are quite different.
Israel was a nation, a very small nation. You could walk from the northernmost part of it to the southernmost part.
Not too long a time.
The center, the divine center which God had established was at Jerusalem.
And it was all accessible to the Israelites, no matter where they lived.
That's not true. The Church, the churches throughout the whole world, there is no earthly geographical center.
It began with one that was Jerusalem, which was the overflow from Judaism. But God soon put a stop to that when he sent the Roman armies down in 70 AD and and the Christians were scattered from Jerusalem and.
And there was never God's mind in Christianity to have an earthly center such as they had in Judaism, in one place, one city. We know the Church of Rome has patterned itself after Judaism, and it has a center at Rome. That was never God's mind.
Where is the center? Well, Christ, of course is the center. He's in the glory, but he has His.
Representative centers down here in this world in every local assembly. And so we'll see that the principles that we're going to be looking at.
That applied.
In the Old Testament, the principle never changes. It's the same principle though.
Applied in a slightly different way, those that reject the one place, one name, they don't reject the one name, but they reject the one place do so because they say we're not Jews. And these verses I'm about to read don't apply today, but they do apply. Not in exactly the same sense, but the principle applies. Principles don't change.
So with that introduction, let's begin with Deuteronomy 12. Now these are the statutes and judgments which he shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy Father's giveth thee to possess it. All the days that ye live upon the earth, ye shall utterly destroy all the places. Notice the notice as I read this, the plural, when it's in connection with that which is not of God.
All the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess, serve their gods.
Upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree.
And ye shall overthrow their altars and break their pillars.
And burned their Groves with fire. And ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods.
And destroy the names of them out of that place. We were singing tonight about the precious name of Jesus. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. God has given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. It is to His name that the Saints are scripturally gathered.
One name, one place, one center. It was so in Israel. It is so today.
Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God. They haven't entered the land yet, but He's giving instruction for them when they would enter the land, which they were shortly to do.
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But unto the place.
Notice the singular which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there.
And we have a name. It's the precious name we were singing about the name of Jesus, the name to which were gathered.
The one who is on high in the glory, but he promises wondrous grace, His presence in the midst of the twos and threes gathered to his name.
Even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.
And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings.
And your sacrifices, and your tithes and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free will offerings, and the first things of your herds and of your flocks.
That is their worship.
Their observances, their sacrifices, all were brought to that divine center.
Where the Lord had said his name, the sin of Ephraim was that they had multiplied altars unto sin.
Says that in Hosea.
But there's only, well, there's only one altar. And the Hebrews tells us that we have an altar where have they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. That is, it's not the altar for Judaism any longer. It's Christ who has replaced that altar. He is our ground of sacrifice. He is the altar, He is the sacrifice. He is everything in Christianity.
We have an altar. Christ is that altar.
And He is the place, and it is His name that is to us everything. Amazing that Christians can so quickly forget this.
That it is so basic, so essential, so primary in the truth of God.
The world charges us Christians with being narrow minded and bigoted because we say that there's only one way to heaven.
Other Christians charge us with being narrow minded and bigoted because we say there's only one name to be gathered to and only one place.
Now why so?
It's strange. It's a strange inconsistency. There can only be 1.
And I think the trouble comes is when they look upon those that profess to be in that place.
What I want to press tonight is not anything that centers in us as a company.
Because we are nothing.
But He is everything. He is the center. It is His name that is so precious and which we seek to uphold and to honor and to glorify.
And it is to him alone that we seek to be gathered.
If we accept the principle, if we see from the Scripture that there is only one place.
Where Israel gathered. And that's quite obvious as we read this chapter.
And that there can only be one in Christianity. And that's where the Lord is, where he has been pleased to set his name.
That expression occurs over and over again in the Old Testament, the place where he has set his name.
The place which he has chosen. Now what has man invented? He has invented.
Go to the Church of your choice.
You know what that is? That's heresy.
The Greek word heresis translated heresy.
Means the root of it means to choose.
And when we choose where we're going to meet and with whom we're going to fellowship, because of maybe many different reasons, we like the people there. We like the love that's shown there. We like the fellowship, we enjoy there. All of these reasons are good reasons.
But not good enough.
Is he there?
That's the important question.
Well, he's with all his people. Yes, he is, no question about that.
But he was with all of Israel, too.
But still, there was a place where they were to bring their sacrifices. There was a place where they were to go three times in the year. Aubrey Mail in Israel.
Was to appear there in Jerusalem.
And to carry out those feasts.
That.
God had established.
Well, there's something that answers to that all, of course, in the New Testament, and we'll look at that shortly, but let's just dwell here a little bit longer.
It's he says.
In verse 7 There ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto ye, and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.
You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day. They weren't in the land yet, they were going to enter it, and He's giving instruction for them after they had entered it. So he says you should not do the thing that you're doing here this day. Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes, for ye are not has yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that she dwell in safety, then there shall be.
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Place which the Lord your God shall choose.
To cause his name to dwell there.
Thither ye shall bring all that I command you.
Your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows, which he vow unto the Lord, and he shall rejoice.
Before the Lord your God, ye, your sons, your daughters.
Your menservants, your maidservants, the Levite that is within your gates, for as much as he hath no partner inheritance with you. Take heed to thyself. Now notice this warning.
Now let's just pause a minute. Let's reflect on this. If God has a place.
If he has a center to which the Spirit of God gathers all the Saints.
Would gather us all. We were all subject to his leading and all led by the word of God, we'd all be.
Together.
He cannot lead you.
To this place.
And another to this place, and me to this place.
He must lead us to one place now. I don't mean a geographical location because the church is too large for that.
But here in Kirkland, you broke bread last Lord's Day. You remember the Lord. The Lord was in the midst. I was in Tacoma and we did the same. We were in the same place and we were gathered to the same name, and the same person was in our midst.
So it's just one, isn't it? Even though it's expressed in different localities because of the?
Logistics of the problem.
But still, we're one.
In the early days when you would go into a city, you would say, where are the Christians?
Oh, those people, they're down there.
But they were all together. That word, Christian was a term of reproach. It was not.
An endearing term. Those that are the Christ people.
But they didn't say it with a very kindly tone to their voice. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. It was a term of reproach.
But they gladly bear it.
And they were proud to be called such. They belong to Christ.
And they refused every other name.
They were his people.
And they were saved by his precious blood, and they all met in one place.
And the world knew where they were.
The greatest sin of the Church. Greatest sin of the Church.
Are the multiplicity of divisions.
That exists when I was at John and Patty's.
And they had a bunch of tracks there, and I picked out this one little track that's just a small pamphlet. Some of you no doubt have read it.
And I think it was about a Chinese man named Mr. Chan. I think it was. I'm not sure I got the name right, but just just reading his Bible.
He learned tremendous amount of truth.
And the thing that puzzled him was that as he looked around at the Christians, wherever he looked around, he he saw musical instruments, he said. I don't read that in my New Testament.
He saw one man minister over the congregation presiding. I don't see that in my New Testament.
And he saw a lot of things that were not consistent with what the word of God said. And he started to ask himself, don't aren't there any Christians that that meet according to the scriptures?
Aren't there any Christians that meet according to the pattern that I see in my New Testament?
You're not going to get the pattern for how Christians should meet in the Old Testament, but the principle that we're looking at applies.
That in all dispensations.
Principles don't change. There was one place for Israel. There's one place today.
I said to 1 How many places can God have?
There is one body.
And one Spirit, even as ye are called, in one hope of your calling, 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and in us all.
How many? One.
One the heathen had many gods, but to us there is one God, the Father.
Of whom are all things, and by whom are all things. And they had many Lords. But to us there was 1 Lord Jesus Christ.
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To them they had many spirits and demons that they worshipped, and gods and so on. But to us there is one spirit.
One spirit in one body which he has formed, and that can only be expressed in a consistent way when all Christians are in fellowship together.
And expressing on that ground that there is one body.
And that's what's meant by the one place. I remember talking to a young girl, young sister once and she talked about a certain assembly and she said, oh, they take, they teach error there. And I said, well, what error do they teach there? They teach that there's only one place.
And I said to her, Well, how many places can God have?
How many places can God have? When he gave instruction, they asked him. They said, Lord, where will thou that we prepare to eat the Passover?
And he said, well, go into the city and lookout some nice places and you pick one out and.
We'll have the Passover there. He didn't say anything of the kind.
He said go into the city and there you will find a man bearing a picture of water.
Now in those days, the women bear the picture of water, not the men. So this was an unmistakable sign. This was not a usual happening. They found a man who had a picture of water. A man's the type of the Holy Spirit. The picture of water is the type of the word of God. And follow that man into the house. And that's where you're going to prepare the Passover.
It was instruction unmistakable from the Lord, just one place that would satisfy.
Him and he directed it. He chose it.
The principal go to the Church of your choice or you choose where you're going to go. I had a young brother say to me, well, you've chosen where you meet just like I've chosen where I meet. I said, no, I haven't chosen that place. God has chosen it for me and I'm simply following his instructions.
In his word. And that's the difference.
That's the difference.
Now verse 13 is a solemn warning.
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes. There thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
That's a solemn thing when you think of what it means. They in their worship, in their sacrifices, they had to go to just one place. They couldn't go to any others that they chose. They may have thought some places were nicer than Jerusalem, and maybe to the eye of man it would be so, but not to God.
No, he had chosen the place where he had set his name, and that's where they had to go.
Now if I really believe that.
If I really believe that in my soul, if I see that principle in Scripture.
Then I should be then if I want to please him.
I should be earnestly saying, Lord, show me where that is.
Show me where that is.
I want to be where thou has set thy name.
I want to be there.
I'm not concerned about who else is there. I want to be with them, yes, but I want to be there because thou art there.
That right there.
And there was only one.
In Israel.
When God told Jeroboam who was Solomon servant that because of the sin of Solomon at the divine center. You read about this in First Kings 10 to 13 when he told Jeroboam, I'm going to take 10 tribes from Solomon, not from Solomon, but from his son Rehoboam and give them to you Jeroboam.
And I'm doing it because they have disobeyed me. They have gone after other gods, they have set up idolatrous altars.
Under the leadership of Solomon. What a terrible ending that man had who started out so gloriously, who asked for wisdom and not honor and victory over his enemies and all the things that the natural man would aspire after he asked for wisdom.
And I remember when I was in Montreal this last winter.
I visited Eric Smith 2 Times. He was a dear brother that lived in Oak Park when I was there.
And I used to hear him say.
To us pray for this old man. He would say that he doesn't die a wicked old man.
Another brother said he heard him say pray for this old man, that he doesn't die a foolish old man.
Well, he didn't, thank God.
And I had two nice visits with him.
The first visit he didn't indicate that he knew we were there. We sang to him, we read to him, we prayed with him. That was on Saturday. And the second visit, on Lords Day, again we prayed and sang and read to him. There was no response.
And justice. Before leaving, I grabbed him by the hand.
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And he squeezed my hand.
So I knew that there was there was a sense. He knew we were there.
He couldn't talk.
And then I learned that two days before he turned 103, he went home to be with the Lord.
That he had so faithfully served.
Pray for this old man that he doesn't die a wicked old man, Solomon.
He died.
Away from the Lord.
The said his last days.
We're not good.
He went after other gods.
And God gave to Jeroboam, Solomon's servant, the 10 tribes.
And he told Jeroboam.
If you walk in my ways, I'll be with you.
Second, he said, I'll build you a sure house. Third, he said, I'll give the 10 tribes to you, Israel to you.
Did he follow the Lord? No, he didn't.
He was a wicked man. He's a sinful man. You read the expression over and over again all throughout the Old Testament, in history books, historical books, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
What did he do?
He set up.
Two rival centers in the Northern Kingdom.
One at Dan, which was the northern part of the land, one at Bethel, the southern part of the land. So that when Israel.
Went down to worship. They didn't go to Jerusalem.
Where they knew they should have gone, that was the divine center.
Even though God had taken in governmental discipline on the 2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin, because of their their sin, Solomon sin, He had taken the 10 tribes and given them, given them to Jeroboam.
And he says what a word to us.
I will for this afflict the seed of David.
But not forever.
It's an affliction, beloved, honest.
Those that have left us.
We miss them.
Terribly.
It affects our families.
Hardly a family isn't affected. Some not, but most are.
It was very sad.
I will for this afflict the seed of David because of unfaithfulness there at the divine center. But even though that happened, he still talks about Jerusalem as the place where I set my name.
Jeroboam set up two centers, one at Dan, one at Bethel. Dan means the God will judge. Bethel means the House of God. There was idolatry in both of those places. A golden calf he set up, and he set priests up that were of the people that were not of the sons of Aaron, not of the tribe of Levi.
And he changed the name, the dates of the, the feasts and.
Everything was his arrangement.
It's exactly what man has done in the House of God in Christendom. He's changed things.
Changed him things to his liking.
And he set up two centres.
A violation of this principle that we're looking at tonight, that there's only one center, there can only be 1.
God only has one son.
You can't have another center.
And if all Christians were truly gathered to his name, they would all be practically.
Unitedly Together.
Get escaped.
That's inescapable.
That's truth. That's the way it was in the beginning. That's the way it's going to be in heaven.
All these names and sects and parties will fall, and Jesus Christ will be All in all.
And will only be known there as those that belong to him.
The way it should be now.
So there's a solemn warning. Take heed not to worship in any other place.
In any other place but where I have set my name.
Now in the light of that, would you dare?
If you feared, if you had the fear of God before you, would you dare to bring a sacrifice someplace else?
Would you dare if you had the sense in your soul that there's only one place where God would have His people meet today?
In this 20th century.
Would you dare go to another place? Would you dare do that?
I wouldn't, by the grace of God.
And I trust none of us would.
Now, I spent a good deal of time in that chapter. Let's turn to the 17th of Deuteronomy.
The 17th of Deuteronomy and verse 8.
We read in that chapter, they were to bring their sacrifices, they were to rejoice, they were to sing, they were to praise the Lord, and they were to have their families present. And it was there where the Lord which the Lord had chosen. Now in Deuteronomy 17, verse 8, if there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment.
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Between blood and blood, that would be family problems, close relationships.
Family relationships, blood and blood between plea and plea.
That could be a controversy that arose as a question of where the boundary line between two properties was. And they one would plea and say no, it's over here, and another would plea and say, no, it's over here. And they would have to bring their.
Dispute to the judges and between stroke and stroke, there might be a fight that comes up as a result of controversy and disagreement and one strikes another, and this has to be.
This has to be looked into and settled so if there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment.
Now this is only the very serious matters, the less serious ones that could be handled locally where the Israelites were, they could be handled there. But this is more serious. It says between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.
Now here we have an administrative center. Not only was Jerusalem a place, the center of worship.
Where they would bring their sacrifices and their praises and their worship. But it was where they could have matters of controversy administratively resolved.
The administrative center.
And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, verse 9, and unto the judge that shall be in those days.
And inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee. And thou shall observe to do according to all that they inform thee, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee. And according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand or to the left.
And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God.
Or unto the judge, even that man.
Shall die.
Consequences of disobedience here are very severe, and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
And all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Well, in those days, all 12 tribes had one center, and it was at Jerusalem where the Lord had said his name. That's where all their worship was to be conducted. And that's where these matters of controversy that arose within their gates that were too hard for the them in judgment were to be brought to the to that center.
And to be resolved there.
Now in Matthew 18, the church is mentioned in verse 17. Tell it unto the church.
The local church, that's the church, that is the local assembly in the place where this problem has arisen.
The first time the word church is used in Matthew, it's in chapter 16. And the Lord says, upon this rock I will build my church.
Peter had just confessed Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He had just confessed the very foundation of the assembly.
The Christ, the Son of the living God, the Person of the Christ, and the Truth of the Lords eternal Sonship.
He had confessed that and the Lord says I'll build my church on that.
Now that's the church universal. But in Matthew 18, it's not the church universal. You can't tell it to the church universal. They're not available to us. You tell it to the local assembly. So here we have what answers to Deuteronomy 17.
We have a problem that arises that finally has to be resolved at the local assembly level. Let's read the account. Before I read it, I want to make this comment.
I may have made this here before, and if so, some may not have heard it.
It's very helpful. Our King James translation is written in Elizabethan English and they use the thighs and these and vows.
And modern English just uses you and you and yours for those those pronouns.
But in our King James and Mr. Darby's translation, 2.
Every second person.
Pronoun. Second person pronoun. It starts with the T is singular. Thigh the thy, thou, thee, thy thine. Those pronouns are all singular.
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And this is always true.
When you read your King James, if you read any of those pronouns, it's always singular, and the plural always starts with a why Ye you, you're yours. That's always true. Every time you you read you in the King James, it's always plural.
If you have a modern translation where you replaces all of those.
You don't know if it's a singular pronoun or a plural pronoun, and in this passage it's very important to know it in order to understand the passage. You'll notice that verses 1516 and 17 are all in the singular pronoun.
And verses 1819 and 20 are all in the plural pronoun, and we'll look at that.
And as we go through it now, verse 15 Moreover, if thy brother that singular shall trespass against thee, still singular, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Now here's a personal trespass that has been committed by.
Thy brother to thee.
And you go, thou goest let me keep it in the King James English. Thou goest to him and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
And if he hears thee, thou was gain thy brother, and it goes no further.
It's not shared with anyone else, it's just between the two of you.
And the person that is the one that is committed to trespass is referred to as thy brother.
And if he hears thee, thou hast gained thy brother, you have succeeded in.
In winning his heart and the problem has been resolved, and you are now reconciled.
Now verse 16. But if he will not hear thee still singular, take with thee one or two more. And of course that makes a plural company. I know that. But notice the instruction that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Now if that is successful.
Going to your brother on an individual basis, if that wasn't successful, you'd take one or two more than in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every word is established. If that's successful, it doesn't have to go any farther. You've gained your brother.
Thy bread. But if that fails, verse 17. If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church.
But if you neglect to hear the church, that's the local assembly there in that place.
Of which?
Thou and thy brother are two, and then the one or two more that you take along for this. That's the 16th verse. They also are from that local assembly.
If he neglect to hear the assembly.
Let him be unto thee still instruction to the individual that we started with in verse 15. Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. He started out to thee as thy brother. Now he ends up as a heathen man and a publican. That is, you look upon him as though he was not the Lords.
That's what he, the man in the publican is because he has refused the voice of the Lord in the midst of the twos and threes gathered to the Lords name. That's a serious thing to turn a deaf ear to the assembly.
That's the final Court of Appeal here. That's Jerusalem in Deuteronomy 17.
And if they did not hear the sentence that was passed at Jerusalem, that man that didn't hear it and would resist it was to die.
No, we don't do that.
We don't carry out.
Things that far in Christianity, but the principle that we're looking at is still here.
Then in verse 18 he changes to the plural. Now he is no longer speaking to the individual that was trespassed against, but he's speaking to the assembly itself. Verily I say unto you, that's plural, That's the assembly. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That's the administrative authority that the assembly has by virtue of the presence of Christ there in the midst.
And he addresses them as having authority to bind and to loose.
And in First Corinthians 5, when Paul says, put away from among yourselves that wicked person, they bound that person's sin upon him, and excluded him from their fellowship.
He was put away.
And in 2nd Corinthians 2, when he tells the Corinthians that he had repented and mourned and grieved over his sin, Paul says forgive him, comfort him, confirm your love to him. That would be to loose his sin, restore him, bring him back to a place of usefulness among the Saints.
Discipline is always, always, always with a view to restoration and a place of usefulness again in the assembly by the one that had to be disciplined.
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We do that with our children. We never discipline them with the thought of getting rid of them.
Never. It's that they might be corrected that then in the future their conduct might be such that would be acceptable.
And pleasing and helpful and edifying in the family. And so with the assembly.
Notice verse 18 starts out, Verily I say unto you, Verse 19 starts out again. I say unto you, He had more to say to the assembly.
And he's still talking to them Again, I say to you that if 2 of you the very smallest number.
Of Pearl.
Agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask.
It shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven.
I've seen, I've heard that verse applied many times.
And in just about every instance it is lifted right out of the context and applied.
To a just a general prayer meeting.
But in the context where the verse is found this praying.
And agreeing has to do with the problem at hand.
That they are dealing with.
The fact that verse 18 follows the refusal of this offending one to be reconciled to his brother.
Singly, and then with two or three witnesses, one or two more witnesses, and then with the assembly.
Shows that there's a state in that offender.
That the assembly might have to deal with and so you have verse 18. Their authority to bind into loose. But in coming to that judgment.
There is much prayer that is needed and only God can bring the agreement.
The oneness of mind on the part of the assembly to agree as to what should be done.
And I believe that's what verse 19 is all about. Again, I say to you that if 2 of you shall agree, it isn't calling one another up on the phone and say let's agree to pray about this. No, that's not the agreement that he's talking about. It's an agreement which is produced in your soul and mine and your brother soul and your sister soul. This is what ought to be done.
For the glory of God.
And for the glory of his name, and for the good and the good of the brother or sister, or whoever it might be.
Two of you shall agree.
On earth is touching anything that they shall ask.
It shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven.
And then the verse that we know so well, for where two or three are gathered together unto my name.
There am I in the midst of them.
He is there.
He is in the midst and He is the head of the Church.
Now we know these things doctrinally.
But we come to problems and I haven't been to an assembly yet on this whole trip.
That hasn't had serious problems.
I haven't been to 1.
How are they to be resolved?
By drawing upon the one who is there.
Who is the head of the church?
And to be brought to a point of agreement. I remember I was in a brothers meeting once.
And we were dealing with a really very sticky situation.
We were not of one mind.
And at the beginning of the brothers meeting.
At the end of the brothers meeting we were all of one mind and we prayed in unity and in agreement. It wasn't a compromise agreement.
It was the mind of God.
That we had been led to.
I remember it very specifically because I was the one that changed my attitude.
I was the one that was wrong.
And at the end, we were all of one mind.
It was so. It was so evident that the Spirit of God did it.
That Christ the Head did it.
That there was no question.
As to what had to be done?
And there's a beautiful pamphlet out by Mr. I think it's Witherby HF Wetherby acting in fellowship in matters of Christian discipline. Excellent pamphlet. I strongly recommend we all read it and see the the beauty of it. You know, most of the problems that we face today could be resolved very simply.
If we were in the right spiritual state.
The enemy has.
Done his work.
But the Lord is there.
And.
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I remember saying in one case very serious problem.
Have you this kind cometh not forth, but by prayer and fasting?
Have you really prayed and fasted?
Before the Lord.
Until the light broke through, we were singing Saturday night. Some of these, some of these things of the young people, the hymns that we we sing are so good. They have so much truth to them. Just like our little Little Flock hymn book has this precious truth. But there was one of the hymns that really went home to my conscience.
And it spoke about praying till the light broke through.
Continually persevering in prayer.
Until the answer came.
He will not disappoint us when we do that.
He is greater than all the evils that beset us.
And we know that he's the head of the church. We don't know how to use him as the head oftentimes.
And how important I am not preaching down to anyone.
I'm preaching to myself, to all of us.
Because we all.
Need to know if 2 of you shall agree.
It's the word for symphonize harmony. No discordant voices.
Shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
I remember having lunch with a with a brother, an older brother and I.
And he was pressing Matthew 1820 as applying to just our little gathering together at lunch in this in this lunchroom.
That we can claim Matthew 1820, where two or three are gathered together in my name. We're gathered to His name. And I said, well, let's just test that by the passage that it's found in.
Let's back up one verse. If 2 of you shall agree on earth is touching anything that they shall ask shall be done for them of my father, which is in heaven. Well, he said, I think we could claim that if we pray in agreement here I said all right, let's back up one more verse.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Can we claim that? I said.
He said no, he can't claim that here.
We're not the assembly, I said. That's it, That's it. This applies to the assembly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
Don't take these verses out of context. Read them in the context in which they are found.
And that all becomes clear.
All becomes clear.
Well, that's enough on that passage. Let's turn to 1St Corinthians 6, please.
1St Corinthians 6.
We're still on the administrative side of things.
This chapter follows the instruction.
That Paul gave to the Corinthians and ending with put away from among yourselves that wicked person case of fornication in their midst. Now they had another problem. They had a lot of problems there at current first Corinthians 61. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust.
And not before the Saints.
Have you ever noticed the word that's used for the ungodly? It doesn't say the ungodly. It doesn't say the unbelievers here. It does later on. It says the unjust. Are you going to get justice from the unjust?
What folly.
To go to them, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the Saints?
Remember that passage in Deuteronomy between blood and blood, plea and plea, stroke and stroke, matters of controversy that arose within their gates. They were to take it to the divine center. These problems that come up amongst us should be resolved within the House of God, not not in the world. Wouldn't it be incredible to think that that an Israelite that was dwelling at one of the cities of Israel, if a matter came up that they said we're going over to Moab to get this resolved?
Or to Ammon, Or to someone of the Gentile nations that were in and steeped in idolatry.
That's nonsense, you say. Well.
What about Christians going to the world to have their family problems or their marital problems or whatever it might be?
Without there is a place where God has said his name.
Where these things can be resolved, Did you not know that the Saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know you not that we shall judge angels, and that will be in the Millennium, I believe, when we will actually assign to angels certain duties for them to perform, and they will perform them.
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How much more things that pertain to this life.
If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. You don't need one of the most spiritual in your midst to resolve a merely A worldly problem.
He says I speak to your shame.
To your shame, their state was such. They were.
Gifted but carnal.
Acting on the principles of the world.
Is it so that there's not a wise man among you? No, not one that should be able to judge between his brethren.
But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another.
Why do you not rather take wrong?
Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud and that.
Your brethren, what a rebuke, what a solemn rebuke to these that were conducting themselves in such a way.
There was still an assembly. They were the Church of God that was at Corinth, and they had all these things that needed correction.
God allowed an assembly such as Corinth to exist in that 1St century so that we would have instruction from himself through the apostle how to handle these matters. Are we following the instruction that God has given us?
Or are we?
Because we refuse to deal with some things.
That are between blood and blood, plea and plea and stroke and stroke, matters of controversy within our gates. We refuse to deal with some things. We forced the persons to go outside.
The worst thing is if they go to the world for advice on these matters or maybe to other Christians that aren't gathered to the Lords name.
The place ought to be. The matters ought to be resolved where the Lord is.
He won't fail us.
We haven't learned what it is to draw upon Him as the head.
In whom all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells. There isn't a problem that's too great and hard for him. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? He's the one that's there.
What did he say? He said this kind goeth not forth. They asked the Lord, How could we not cast him out? This kind goeth not forth, but by prayer and fasting and because of your unbelief. Because of your unbelief.
They did not draw upon him who was there in their midst. Oh, it's beautiful to say, we're gathered to the Lord's name and He's in our midst.
Then problems come up and we send those that are in trouble and in need of help elsewhere.
That's not what Scripture teaches.
It's our responsibility to handle these matters.
For His glory.
Well, may the Lord encourage us. We have all that we need in this book. We have all the instructions that we need. We don't have to go outside of it.
To get our wisdom, we have it all right here. And He will not fail us. He cannot fail us.
If we trust in him.