Address—C. Hendricks
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And said unto him.
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell are Hades shall not prevail against you. Well, we know this story. We know this incident in the Gospels very well. They've heard it many times.
I was thinking of taking up tonight. The thought of.
The church as the building of God, the Lord Jesus says to Peter, Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Peter had just confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Confessed him who is the rock, the one on whom the church is built, And so the Lord changes Simon's name.
He's called Simon Barjona in verse 17. And the Lord says, blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed unto thee with my Father, which is in heaven. He had revealed to him from the Father who Jesus was, the Christ, the Son of the living God. And on that Christ says, I will build my church. That's the rock. He changes Simon's name to Peter.
He gives him a new name and so in order to enter the church we need.
A new life. We need to be new creatures and we need to be born of God. And so Peter, that name brings out the new man in contrast with what he was by nature. And the Lord says, upon this rock I will build my church, my assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. What Christ builds is infallible.
And all the power of Satan will not prevail against what Christ builds. Let's turn to.
First Timothy 3.
First Timothy, chapter 3.
Paul writes to Timothy and in verse 15 he says, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou Artest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the church, the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Now the church is mentioned, and then in the very next verse, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. We have the person, the truth of the person of Christ mentioned next.
That he speaks about the.
Behavior, the conduct that becomes us in the House of God.
Many reading today, their thoughts are so Judaistic and so patterned after Judaism, don't really see the true character of Christianity. They would think of the House of God as a physical building that one enters into called the Church. But really the House of God is the Saints of God. Look at Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, is also Moses was faithful in all his house. That's God's house he's talking about.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Hebrews is a series of contrasts, contrasting Christ with the angels, contrasting Christ here with Moses and later with Aaron. His priesthood was better than that of Aaron. He was likened to Melchizedek, who was greater than Abraham and so on. And he gave a much more excellent sacrifice. It's.
So here we have the Lord Jesus in contrast with Moses. Moses was faithful in God's house. Verse 3. Again, for this man Christ was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. Here we have the Creator himself, the builder of the house.
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Having far more honor than the house itself.
For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his or God's house as a servant. Moses was simply a servant in the House of God, or a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after, but Christ as a son over his house.
It says his own house. It's better just to read it.
Christ as the Son over his house. He's talking about that. He's talking about God's house all the way through here. And so Christ in contrast with Moses as a servant in Christ was a son over God's house and then it goes on to say, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. So he's he's bringing these Hebrew Christians who had embraced Christ as the.
And they had embraced Christianity. And he said Moses was a servant in God's house. For the Lord Jesus is the Son over God's house, and we are that house. We are that house.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, I will build my church.
It was future, it was not in existence at the time he uttered the words, and we'll see that why that is so. Let's read another passage in connection with the House of First Peter 2.
In first Peter chapter 2.
I'll read through verse one. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that she may grow thereby. If so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming is unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
He also as living stones. I have no doubt that Peter, in writing this, was thinking of that encounter that he had with the Lord Jesus when he confessed him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord pronounced blessing on Peter, gave him a new name, and said that on that rock that he had confessed, he would build his assembly. So here he says he also.
As lively or living stones.
Are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Here we have a holy priesthood mentioned and in verse 9 he says, but ye are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
So here is another mention of a spiritual house.
We are built up a spiritual house. Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is looked at as a living stone, and the Lord Jesus is here building those living stones into this house where God is going to dwell.
Marvelous, marvelous thought of God dwelling.
Honor in his house.
Just while we mentioned that, turn back with me the second Chronicles chapter 6.
Second Chronicles chapter 6. This is the chapter right after Solomon had made the temple.
And.
Well, let's read from verse 13 of chapter 5. It came even to pass as the trumpeters and singers, whereas one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praise the Lord saying.
For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. That then the house was filled with a cloud, even the House of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister by reason of the clouds. For the glory of the Lord, he filled the House of God. Now here we have this earthly temple, and we read that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. And Solomon says in verse.
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17 of his prayer.
It says in verse 12, He stood before me also with the Lord, and the presence of all the congregation of Israel read forth his hands, and he kneeled down upon his knees, and he prayed his hands towards heaven. Now in verse 17 he says, And now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou has spoken unto thy servant David.
But will God in very deed dwell with men and the earth?
Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which I have built. Well, he had built a, a material building. He had built a house that is often referred to today as a House of God. You go down the street and you see a, a church building and you say that's the House of God. Well, that's all pattern.
Those are all Judaistic thoughts and it was so in Judaism. And here Solomon had built this magnificent temple and he realizes, he said with God in very deep dwell with men of the earth. What a thought that God had the desire to dwell with man on the earth. We we could trace that through the whole Bible beginning of Exodus, the book of redemption.
The very thought of God. No sooner did Israel come out of Egypt through the Red Sea.
They sang a song and they said we will prepare him in habitation so God has his dwelling place on earth. It's now in the assembly, not a House of.
Stones and and mortar and not something physical but constituting constituted by the living stone as we saw in Peter, built up a spiritual house. The Lord Jesus is the builder when viewed in that way. You can view the builders of the house in two ways.
The Lord Jesus is the builder and then he says the gates of Haiti shall not prevail against it or man as the builder. And we'll look at that shortly in connection with the thought of the House of God. But here we have the Solomon making this statement and I just want to read a few things. In verse 22, he says if a man sinned against his neighbor, then in verse 23 then hear thou from heaven.
And do and judge thy servants. Verse 24 Thy people Israel, be put to the worst before the enemy.
Verse 25 Then hear thou from the heaven and heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel. Verse 26 When the heaven is shut up, there is no rain. Verse 27 And hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants. Verse 28 If there be dearth in the land of pestilence. And in verse 30 Then hear thou from heaven, thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according to his ways, and so on.
Verse 33 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place.
Verse 39 then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place. Therefore prayer. Now that's a thought which is quite well known that God dwells in heaven. That's his dwelling place. God dwells in heaven. But Solomon says in that 17th verse, will God verily.
In verse 18, will with God dwell in very deep with men on the earth.
That was a new thought and a wonderful thought, that God's desire is to dwell with men here on the earth.
Now let's turn back to the New Testament and look at Ephesians chapter 2.
Connection with the subject of God dwelling.
On the Earth.
Ephesians 2 we have.
The truth of the one body mentioned. I'll start with verse 14. For He is our peace, who have made both Jew and Gentile, 1 and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.
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Or to making himself obtain a Newman, so making peace.
1 Newman, Jew and Gentile united together into one body, into the glorified head in heaven, and that he might reconcile both both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross. That's the basis for this marvelous reconciliation. Having slain the enmity thereby, the enmity that existed between the Jew and the Gentile, God has accomplished the impossible.
Together into one body, the Jew and the Gentile. Those that wouldn't speak to one another, that would have nothing to do with one another. It was absolutely defiling to a Jew to to eat with a Gentile. God has brought the two together into one body and made peace between them and between them and himself.
He is reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And he came and preached peace.
To you which were afar off, that's the Gentiles. They were dispensationally far off, and to them that were nigh dispensationally near the Jew.
For through him Christ we both.
Again, Jew and Gentile have access by 1 Spirit unto the Father. There you have the whole Trinity, the Son, the Spirit, and the Father mentioned, and we have access by Christ by through Christ by 1 Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers than foreigners. That's what we Gentiles were as as mentioned in verse 12 He says at that time.
You were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel.
Strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus. Ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. So the Gentiles now have been brought near, and it's not just a dispensational nearness which the Jew enjoyed, but a vital nearness by the blood of Christ.
And so he says in verse 19. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners.
That fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God. We belong now to God's household. We are members of his household. We constitute the house itself in which the household lives. And we are also priests in that house, the House of God. And we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. These are New Testament prophets.
For Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, He is the cornerstone and we're built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The writings of the New Testament are the foundation upon which the assembly is built, their ministry, the apostles and prophets. We don't have apostles and prophets with us today, these that are mentioned here, but we have their ministry, we have their writings in the New Testament and.
Assembly is built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. Now the figure is changed from a body which is, which is an organic body united to a head in heaven. And now it's changed to a building we are building together. And what does it say in verse 21? In whom all the building?
Fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. So this this building.
Is framed together by God and it's growing every time a soul is saved, he becomes a living stone and he's building into that, into that spiritual house, and he becomes a holy priest and a royal priest as well. And to offer a spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ in the house. But here we have the figure of the building fitly framed together.
Roweth unto a holy temple in the in the Lord here the end result.
Is called a holy temple in the Lord. The end result of this building on this rock. I will build my church and the gates of Haiti shall not prevail against it. So Christ is the builder here and it's he's putting in good material living stones and it's growing to a holy temple in the Lord but the last verse of the chapter.
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Applies right now in whom ye also he also you Gentiles also.
Are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit or in the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit inhabiting the house, God the Holy Spirit dwelling in the house. Not, not now a house like Solomon builds which you could physically enter, but the whole company of believers on the face of the earth.
Constituting the House of God, the assembly, viewed in its entirety, is the House of God where God Himself dwells. Now That, of course, could not be until redemption was accomplished, until sin was atoned for, until God was glorified. As to the sin question in type, there was no thought of preparing God a habitation in Exodus until after they were redeemed people out of Egypt.
Under the shelter of the Passover blood and they were clean delivered out from Egypt through the Red Sea type of the death and resurrection of Christ. And they were saved. Now they redeemed people, a saved people, and they had a song of redemption. When they were in Egypt, they had no song to sing. And so the first thought in the singing of the song was to prepare God.
A dwelling place, a habitation. And this was God's thought when we saw.
There in in the reference we read in Solomon's Building the Temple, the the thought that God would dwell among men on earth.
He Solomon, realized this was a thought of tremendous importance, that he dwells in heaven. We do know, but he has been dwelling in the assembly on earth for 2000 years near me now.
And this began on the day of Pentecost. This began with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is a truth that is almost never heard nowadays. It's not just the truth that He indwells us individually. That's the most precious truth. Let's turn back to First Corinthians 6 for that.
1St Corinthians 6.
We have this truth.
Verse 19 What?
Ye not that your body.
Is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and you are not your own for your walk with the price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and he's dealing with the subject here of purity of life, and he gives several reasons why we should not allow our bodies to be used in in a way which is not becoming.
And so he says, flee fornication. Your bodies are the members of Christ. And here he says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You're not. You're not your own. You're bought with the price. You don't belong to yourself anymore. You belong to another. The Christian is not his own. He's been purchased and he's been sealed. The Holy Spirit has taken up his dwelling in his body.
And so the body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Well, we saw in Ephesians 2.
That God is building another house and every believer is a stone being added to that house and it's growing to a holy temple in the Lord. The end result of the of this building and the last soul is added and saved will be that the church is a holy temple in the Lord.
Now it is the habitation of God by the Spirit. Now that's a collective truth.
God, the Holy Spirit inhabiting the house, this building that God is building and constituting the house, His dwelling place. Turn back to First Corinthians 3 and we'll see that the temple of God is used here in a collective sense. In chapter 6. It refers to our bodies. That's an individual sense.
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And the Spirit of God dwells within our bodies, making them his temple.
But he also dwells in the Saints collectively.
1St Corinthians 16 he says, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, ye plural, that is youth, Saints at Corinth.
Are a sample locally. They were a local assembly at Corinth. The Church of God which is at Corinth. You're a sample locally. You are a local expression of what the church is in its universal character. The church is the habitation of God by the Spirit.
And he says you locally are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy that word? Defile in the Greek, And the word destroy is the same word. And how do we destroy the temple? We destroy its true character by defiling it by evil practices, by immorality, by false doctrine.
By all that is contrary to God, the true character of the temple.
Is holiness. Holiness becometh the House of the Lord forever. And why is that so? Because of the one who dwells there, the one who inhabits the house, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit dwells in the house and we are that house. This is a marvelous truth that the Saints viewed collectively.
Constitute the temple of God.
The the article verse 16, I'm going to read it without the article. It's really not in the original. It's know ye not that ye are temple of God or ye are God's temple.
That is, they were representatively in their locality.
The temple of God. We have the same thought in One Corinthians 12 in connection with the body of Christ.
1St Corinthians 12 verse 27, the apostle says now ye are the body of Christ. Again, the article isn't really there. Ye our body of Christ or ye are Christ's body locally and members in particular. Now the fact that the article isn't there and both of those expressions they were temple of God that is locally in in the in Corinth, the assembly of Corinth was an expression.
The church is in its universal character as the temple of God in the House of God. And so the assembly at Corinth was also an expression of the one body, the body of Christ in its locality, as that's what the church is in its totality, the body of Christ. He loved the church, the church which is his body. He loved the church and gave himself for it. That, of course, refers to the church.
Including all believers.
The world over, all the way from Pentecost to the Rapture.
It is the church in its entirety. He loved it and gave himself for it. Usually when the church is mentioned down here, it has to do with it has to do with the assembly on earth and it doesn't include those members that have gone on to heaven, but it has to do with the assembly on earth.
Turn to the 12TH chapter of First Corinthians and you will see.
How that this is so?
In First Corinthians 12.
In verse 4 there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.
The fact that there are many gifts does not mean that there are many spirits. He's insisting all the way through that there's one spirit, the same spirit, even though he gives many gifts and there are differences of administrations or services, but that doesn't mean there are many Lords. There's one Lord. You see, in the heathen world there were many spirits and many gods and many Lords, but in Christianity there's only one.
And there's only one Lord, and there's only one God.
And yet in contrast with with the idolatrous religions rounded out.
And then he says in verse 6, there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh All in all. So God is working, the Lord is administering.
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Very The service is very The operations of God vary, but it's one God and 1 Lord and one Spirit that is doing it. This is the truth of Christianity.
Then he says in verse 7, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. So here we have the statement that there is a manifestation of the Spirit given to each one who is a member of the one body. So we can't say that we don't have any gift.
Paul says to the Ephesians, to everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, and here it says.
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. So each one of us in the body has something to do and has some manifestation of the Spirit. 4 to 1 is given by the Spirit, the Word of Wisdom. You'll notice that everything that is said here has to do with earth.
The word of wisdom to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit to another, faith by the same spirit. We won't need faith when we get to heaven, because faith will then give way to sight.
To another the gifts of healing by the same spirit. We won't have anyone to heal in heaven. So this is clearly talking about earth, is it not?
We won't need teachers in heaven because we'll know as we are known.
And so all of these gifts, these manifestations of the Spirit have to do with earth to another, the working of miracles. We won't need miracles in heaven to another prophecy. We won't need prophecy in heaven. Do another discerning of spirits, do another diverse kinds of tongues, do another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh at one in the self saying Spirit dividing to every man separately as he will.
Now it's it's interesting as we consider the assembly.
In its universal character as the habitation of God by the Spirit God, the Holy Spirit inhabiting the house, dwelling in the house. And Paul says to Timothy in that first verse that we read, But you know how to conduct yourself or to behave yourself in the House of God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. So there's a conduct that that becomes us being in the sphere in this, in the house.
The Spirit of God is and the first thing, the primary thing, the most essential thing is to recognize that He is there.
That he is the director of all the activities that are taking place in his house. It's not our house, it's God's house.
What would you think about someone coming into your house and giving orders as to?
All the events that are going to transpire in that house, when you're going to eat and when you're going to go to bed and all the things that are going to happen, someone is arranging things in your house. They have no right to do that. It's your house. But that's exactly what man has done. He has come out with his own arrangements of things in the House of God. It's not his house. It's not the House of Christians. We constitute the house, but it's God's house and the Spirit of God dwells.
Mr. Darby's, one of his first Baptists that he ever wrote, was entitled The Notion of a Clergyman, Dispensationally, The Sin Against the Holy Ghost. And what did he mean by that? The notion of a clergyman is to have one man ministry, to have one man appointed and ordained and appointed by man to preside over the flock, and he calls it my flock, my church, and so on. That setting aside.
Presidency and the leadership and the recognition of the very presence of the Spirit of God to use him so ever He will. For now let's read it again. The manifestation of the Spirit is given not to one man for the prophet of all, no, but to every man to profit with all. For to 1 is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom to another, the Word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another, faith by the same Spirit to another.
Some healings by the same spirit to another, the workings of miracles to another, prophecy to another, discerning of spirits to another, diverse kinds of tongues to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one in the self, same Spirit, dividing to every man severally, as he will, as he pleases, as he chooses.
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Now as we think of this and we think of this cardinal truth of Christianity, Christianity.
That God inhabits the house in the person of the Holy Spirit, and he has been practically ignored and set aside.
And almost dictated to as to whom he will have to use and if he has given a gift to Brother AB and C, if they're not ordained, if they're not a member of the established clergy. The system of things that man is established pattern after Judaism. He can't say anything.
He's out of order to take part and that's the way it is in most of the established churches, the system of clergy, the clerical system. I believe it's what is referred to in the in the address to the seven churches as the doctrine, the the ways and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He says, which I hate, the Lord says I hate you because it displaces.
The one who inhabits the house, it practically sets his authority aside.
And sets up the authority of men.
And the rule of man in the House of God, is that not a most serious thing?
Is that not a most serious thing? And so it says in Two Timothy 2.
Where the House of God has come to be in ruins. And that's where we're living today.
We read the verse in First Timothy 36315.
That the man of God should know how to behave himself in the House of God. And that doesn't mean when we come to meeting, that doesn't mean when Christians go to church, we're always in the House of God. We can't get out of it if we're Christians, if we get out of the House of God, we're apostates.
Where you can get out is to renounce Christ. If you're a Christian, as long as you make the profession of faith in Christ, you're in the House of God. You're in that sphere where the Holy Spirit is, where he is. He's not in Mohammedanism, he's not in Hinduism, he's not in Buddhism. He inhabits that sphere of the world which we call Christianity, where the name of Christ is named.
Now in the beginning, those who were members of the One Body, only true believers can be members of the One Body, can be united to the glorified head by the Spirit. Only true believers can be indwelt of the Holy Spirit, born of the Holy Spirit, have eternal life. Only true believers can be that. You can't have anyone in the body that is not a member of Christ, not real.
But you can have someone in the house that isn't real.
In Acts chapter 8, we might just look at the passage, because there you can see how in the history of the church, the the house, those who inhabited the house, those who were in the sphere where the Holy Spirit dwells.
There was 1 here that's mentioned that was in that sphere, but he wasn't real.
Verse 9 of Acts 8. Well, in verse 5, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with 1 accord gave heed to those things which Phillips spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed. That was great joy in that city.
And there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery.
And he bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself with some great one.
To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. To him they had regard, because at a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and were baptized, they were baptized, both men and women. Then notice then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip. So now he's he, he believed and he's baptized. He's brought into the house.
He's brought in amongst the company of Christians by baptism.
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He continued with Philip, and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Notice that characterized his believing was beholding the miracles and signs which were done. His was an intellectual ascent. He was convinced that this was a marvelous thing. When he saw the miracles in science, he was very much persuaded by them, and this ought to warn us that.
Signs are not all the highest order of blessing that God gives. In fact, they are the lowest order because one can believe, because he beholds the miracles and signs and not be real at all. He's just intellectually convinced and he had a covetous heart. Simon, let's read out now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down.
Prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was followed upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. God took great care to maintain the unity of the assembly in those early days. If the Samaritans had received the Spirit independently of Jerusalem, that would have been two churches, the Samaritan Church and the Jewish Church. But God didn't allow that to happen, so he sent Peter and John down there.
So that when the Spirit of God was given by the laying out of their hands, the Samaritans had to acknowledge that they received the Spirit not independently, but in fellowship with those at Jerusalem, and the Saints at Jerusalem had to acknowledge the same thing. So God maintained the unity in a most difficult situation, because the Samaritans and the Jews had a very natural dislike for one another.
And it very easily could have resulted in an early division in the church, But God didn't allow that.
When they were come down, verse 15 prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then laid bade their hands on them.
And they received the Holy Ghost, so that's a special case.
Where the God maintained unity between the Samaritans and the Jewish Church in Jerusalem.
By this means not. And when Simon saw that through laying out of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.
Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee.
Because that was thought that the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, the gift of God.
May be purchased with money. Thou hast neither partner nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right insight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God of perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall finish, and in the bond and iniquity.
And answered Simon, and said, Pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Simon. It says he believed outwardly. Yes, there's a sense in which he did believe.
Intellectually, but I wasn't saving faith. He wasn't saved at all. He was a wicked man and so he wanted to have the power to confer the Holy Ghost. Well, he was in the church, though he was in the outward sphere. He was in the House of God. He wasn't in the in the body of Christ. He wasn't a member of the body of Christ, but he was in the house. And so the those that constituted the house, the place where the Spirit of God was.
Become larger than those that are simply members of the body of Christ.
The true believers. And so today the church is spoken of in Two Timothy as a great house, no longer even call the House of God, because so much departure has come in and man has introduced so many things. There are things there which are totally contrary to the mind of God. Let's turn to that passage and just read a few verses. Second Timothy 2.
In the first epistle.
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3:15 I'll reread that if I Terry Long, that I may know how to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
But now in Second Timothy 2, you'll see that it's not called the House of God here, it's called the House.
A great house, but.
It's received a different name because of the departure that's coming in verse 19 of Two Timothy 2, nevertheless.
The foundation of God standeth sure. He's just talked about two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth, have heard saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of sons. He's talking about doctrinal error that has come in now to the spear where the Holy Spirit dwells in the house. He dwells there.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God's standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Now we've come to a point in the history of the Church when the the state of things is so low that he has to say the Lord knows them that are his. We don't.
We simply don't. I've been asked so many times, do you think Jimmy Baker is a Christian?
Do you think Jimmy Swaggart to Christian and they can name some of these men that have done some very serious things that are not of God? All you can answer is the Lord knows them through His.
He has not conducted himself as a Christian.
You can say that, but the Lord knows them that are his. Now in the early days they all knew who were the Lords. They knew who were the Lords and and it says of the rest, there's no man join himself to them. There was such a fear of God in those early days. With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all and great fear was upon everyone. No one dared join the company.
Until.
A little time had elapsed, and then we saw Simon. He was one, and he saw these miracles, and they just.
Had entrance into his heart. He wanted that power. He had bewitched them with sorcery and he thought, oh, if I only had this power, just think what I could do. He was a wicked man, and it says he believed.
Leave the message convinced by the miracles and signs and that he was baptized.
He became a Christian. Outwardly, he was in the house now, but he wasn't real. And there are multitudes like that today. Multitudes.
The Lord knows them that are His. It is said that we have to read that.
We ought to know who is.
Is saved and who isn't? We ought to know that.
But things have come to such a pass in such a state of things that we have to just leave it right here, when Lord knows.
And we're not called upon to pronounce upon whether someone's saved or not today, or what we are called upon is, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ or the name of Lord depart from iniquity, if one refuses to depart from iniquity.
We're not saying if we don't have fellowship with that person, if they remain in that which is iniquity, that which is unrighteous, that word iniquity literally means unrighteousness. That's what it means, what is not right.
Now I clearly see, and I believe everyone in the room sees that a system that has been set up with men that practically quenches the Holy Spirit so effectively that he's not free to use the various gifts that he has given his manifestations to, as we read in First Corinthians 12, but he is quenched.
He is hindered from.
Using whomsoever he will.
And a system of clericalism has been established of man.
That's iniquity.
That's unrighteousness that we are to depart from.
Let everyone that nameeth the name of Lord depart from iniquity. We're not used to thinking of that as more serious than moral evil. Someone falls into immorality, like the man at First Corinthians 5. He was a fornicator. It's far worse to set aside the presidency of the Holy Spirit. Far worse.
That to fall into an individual sin that you may commit with another person.
Here you are. You are ignoring and rejecting and refusing the.
The free working of the Holy Spirit in the church, He has taken up His dwelling in the assembly, and to set Him aside, as is done so effectively by the systems of men, is iniquity. Now, if we haven't had to separate from that, say there are many in the room that have been raised in the meeting, or that have never had to really separate from.
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That kind of thing. Are you called upon to regard it as iniquity? You certainly are. You're called upon to view it as God does.
And to regard it as God does, and I believe that if we really looked upon.
Those who are in that kind of thing and supporting it with all the weight of their gift, and some of the men that are in those systems are very gifted men, and otherwise we would say godly men, but they are giving support to that which is a signal dishonor to the presence and dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the assembly.
And quenching him most effectively and sadly but everyone, the name of the name of Christ depart from iniquity, from what is not right, that is not right.
Independency of of local assemblies is iniquity. It is a principle which sets aside the truth that there is one body.
That's iniquity. That's ecclesiastical iniquity.
And that's iniquity of the worst kind, because it's against God.
Directly against God if I sin with my body with someone else.
I'm sinning against my own body and I'm sitting it's a sin and it's hateful to God. But we think of that as so terrible. And then these other sins which are, which are just going on all the time in Christendom, we kind of weekend. Do we really have God's thought about it?
Do we really see and understand how serious the departure is in Christendom and why the brethren of one 5070 years ago?
That the cost, the terrible price they had to pay in separating from the iniquity that they were connected with the system.
In a great house, and that's what Christendom has become, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also wood and of earth.
Some to honor and some to disown. Simon was clearly a vessel to dishonor, but you might have a gold vessel.
Its gold would speak by its very material of a real believer.
But some company arrives and you've got a gold and silver vessel and they're sitting dirty in the sink, unwashed. You can't serve them food in that vessel because it's not clean.
And there are many true believers who are in that state of soul, that condition of thing they're involved in that which is defiling. And so they're not really separate from the iniquity that exists in the camp and they cannot.
They're not in a fit state to be used. They might be a vessel to dishonor in that case.
Just like the man in First Corinthians 5 was put away as a wicked person, Paul doesn't say Put away from among yourselves that brother.
Say that, he says, Put away from among yourselves. That wicked person turns out from the second epistle that he was a true believer.
He was a brother, but he wasn't put out as a brother. He was put out as a wicked person.
And so one may be real, might be a vessel of gold or silver, but his he may not be clean and so he can't be used at a particular time.
In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood in the earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. The man therefore purge himself from these, from these vessels to dishonor, from those who are not clean. He should be a vessel unto honor. So how do we become vessels to honor? By purging, By separating ourselves from that which is not of God.
He should be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for the Master's use prepared unto every.
Good work.
We also youthful us.
Purge verse 21.
Verse 22.
Purge ourselves from vessels to disarm. Free, youthful us. All those things that characterize you.
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And then follow.
Righteousness.
Faith, charity or love peace?
With them they called the Lord out of a pure heart.
It says in Isaiah 32, it says the effect of righteousness shall be peace. And so this list starts with righteousness doing the right thing.
Follow righteousness. Act in faith because God says so, not because man says so.
And then love.
The way we show love to all the Saints is by walking in obedience, isn't it?
And then that ends in peace and issues in peace.
With them that called the Lord out of a pure heart, it's it's an individual faithfulness. Second Timothy is individual faithfulness when the collective thing has broken down. But thankfully it's with them that calling the Lord out of a pure heart, there will be others that will also.
Walk in a path of separation from evil. And so we can we can pursue this with them. That's calling the Lord out of the pure heart.
We're no better, not one bit better than anyone else. But he is worthy. That's the point. He is worthy. God the Holy Spirit dwells in our midst. Christ is the head of the assembly. The Spirit is here to glorify Christ. He is our head, and He is the one from whom we take all our instructions, as led by the Spirit of God. And as the Spirit of God is free to use him, so every will in the assembly, whether it be in prayer, praise, or worship.
Or ministry, or the administrative functions of the assembly. The Spirit of God is there to be counted on, and we can develop and set up, even as those gathered to the Lord's name, a system of many clericalism in our midst that effectively sets aside the leadership.
And the acknowledgement of the presence even of the Holy Spirit in our midst a very serious thing. So May God give us grace to go on quietly, softly, in the realization of all the room that has come in.
My brethren exist as a testimony to that rule, nothing to boast of, but seeking to to act upon the precious Word of God, and to give the Spirit of God who dwells in the assembly, his place. And he will, when given his place, he will glorify the Son, and magnify him before us, and we will go on.
As it says here following righteousness.
Faith, love and peace with them, and calling Lord out of the pure heart.