Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other.
Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I have been pondering in my soul what it is.
Walk in the light.
It's not how we walk, but it's where we walk in the light. I think we'll begin by reading.
Luke 12. Just a few verses from Luke chapter 12.
Luke 12/2.
For there is nothing covered.
That shall not be revealed.
Neither hid that shall not be known.
Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light.
And that which he has spoken in the ear in closets.
Shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
I believe in those two verses we have.
What is characteristic of Christianity?
As long as the law had a place.
A man was under responsibility to keep it.
And to produce a righteousness which would have been his righteousness, his own righteousness.
God was hidden.
He was afar off.
He was in the thick darkness.
He was not revealed.
But now he's come out of that darkness, and in the person of his son, he's revealed himself.
In all the blessed fullness.
Of who God is, who is light?
And who is loved? For God is light, and in him dwelleth no.
Darkness at all, if we say that we have fellowship with him who is light.
And walk in darkness. We lie and do not the truth.
And then the other grand truth that we have in the first epistle of John is that God is love.
Yesterday we heard a little about the grace of God.
No wondrous grace of God.
As long as our thoughts of God are in a legalistic frame.
We don't know him.
They haven't learned him.
As He is in the light, He is in the light if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, as long as we are under law, in our thoughts, in our outlook.
We are ignorant.
Of God in that measure.
He's come out.
And he's revealed himself, and I love to think of it as the Apostle Peter.
The one who had so signally failed because of his self-confidence.
The confidence that he had in his love and affection for the blessed Lord, and it was real.
Though all deny thee, yet will not I. He meant that from the depths of his being.
But he hadn't measured the wretchedness sufficiently measured the wretchedness of the flesh.
And that's why we're left here, isn't it, beloved?
That's why we go through the trials and the difficulties of the way.
That we might learn more fully our own wretched hearts.
And his own blessed heart.
And all that he is.
But that verse in one John.
Rings before us that He is in the light. He has revealed himself as long as man was under responsibility to keep that holy, just and good law.
And that would be.
If he was obedient, that would be his righteousness.
One that he was on that ground God was hidden.
But now the law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
So he says here in Luke there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed either hid that shall not be known.
What characterized the old economy was just the judgment of overt acts of disobedience.
But the nature, what we are by nature wasn't.
Judged and wasn't.
Exposed for what it is.
Christianity begins there.
A brother referred to this hymn that we just sang.
Where do we learn what Spain is?
In all its heinousness.
00:05:01
Where do I learn the awfulness of skin? We make light of skin. We treat it.
As.
Something that isn't so bad.
Brother was talking to me just recently about.
The awful strength of his life in his ambition to get ahead and it was tapping his spiritual life and he was prosperous here.
And he's judged that before God, and in the presence of God and in the light.
That that ambition and that pride of attainment which we all can take pride in.
And there's no one that looks down upon us for that. In fact, we are applauded by our fellows.
When we do well for ourselves down here. But it was robbing him of all that was vital and real, that which was really life.
Fellowship with the Lord Himself.
Well.
You judge that as sin.
But doesn't the attitude of that said, why are you making so much of that that isn't so bad? Doesn't that expose your heart? My heart surely does my heart. How we categorize certain sins, Some are very, very bad and others are not so bad. And usually the ones that we classify as not so bad are the ones that are just sapping us.
Of all of our spiritual vitality.
Well, there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. The true character of Christianity as being in the light is that it's all out.
A member of Brother that was an evangelist preaching the gospel, and he was waiting.
For the beginning of the meeting and someone delivered him a letter and he opened the letter.
While he was waiting for his time to speak.
And the letter read to him, you hypocrite.
And then it went on and outlined all the evil things that he had done.
How can you stand before this vast multitude and make out as though you are?
Righteous.
Well, when he spoke.
He brought all these charges that had been leveled against him out before the multitude and he said they're all true and far more that this person knows nothing about.
But thank God that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
There isn't anything that gives us more confidence to stand before souls.
And not the hypocrites. You notice that previous verse, the end of verse one. Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is all the word means. A play actor. It's one that's getting on the stage and he's playing out a part which is altogether different from his real life. That's what a hypocrite is. He's a play actor.
He's pretending to be something that he isn't.
We don't have to do that now that it's all out in the light, in the light of the Gospel. And as I look at the cross, I see how wretched I am.
Not only do I see my skins put away, but I see he's dealt with me as well.
And I can stay in the language of the New Testament, the light of the knowledge of the truth.
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
Who loved me and gave himself for me. We don't have to pretend to be better than we are. We can just admit it all and say yes. And nothing but a rotten Sinner saved by grace. I don't think my brother could have spoken on a more needed theme than what he spoke on yesterday. Grace and grace enables us to be just what we are before one another without any pretense, as long as we're under law.
In some measure.
And that's the easiest thing for us to get under is under law, because it's natural to us and the hardest thing for us to be in the sense of the sense of grace.
The sense of grace that every single blessing that I have and that you have, we owe it to another. We deserve nothing but judgment. I love this distinction between grace and mercy. Mercy is great in the greatness of the need.
Grace is great in the greatness of the giver.
Grace is what flows from the heart of God to bring us into blessing that we never dreamed of before, and mercy meets our need, delivers us from the awful condition in which we were found by nature and in sin.
00:10:12
Well, I'd like to read 2 verses from Peter. I began to refer to them first. Peter 5.
He had learned this and all how he enjoyed this truth.
First Peter 5.
Verse 10 But the God of all grace.
Who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus?
After that you have suffered a while. Make you perfect established strength and settle you to Him. Be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
God of all grace.
And then in the last chapter of the second epistle, the last verse, chapter 318.
He exhorts the Saints, but grow in grace.
And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
You won't know more of him and you won't grow in the knowledge of himself if a legal spirit is what is controlling your thoughts.
Growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Well, I was thinking we're in the light.
And as being in the light, everything is out.
That which doth make manifest is light.
You were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light.
In the 2nd chapter of the First Epistle of John.
Might just turn to that 1 John chapter 2.
Of a brethren, a new commandment I.
I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning.
Again a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, Because the darkness is it says past, I believe it should be passing, And the true light now shine with every one of us.
Is light in the Lord. We were once darkness. We are now light in the Lord. And so the darkness is passing. Every soul that is saved passes out of the realm of darkness into His marvelous light.
We go from darkness to light.
And.
So he says.
Which thing is true in him and in you? Well, we had that before us.
Eternal life that was seen in all its blessed perfection in Christ as He was a man down here, has now been communicated to you and to me.
A life without beginning and without ending.
A life that only we partake of.
An uncreated life.
The life of God.
The life of the Eternal Son.
Eternal life.
And that is ours.
And it's for us, it's given to us as a gift. We get that in the 5th chapter. And I want to read it because it's so important.
Verse 11. This is the record that he hath given unto us eternal life. Notice it's a gift.
And this life is in his son. We don't have it independently.
It's out of him. In him was life. That can't be said of us.
Because it is essentially in him and we have it in the sun.
These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life.
And that you may believe in the name of the Son of God.
These are one of the things that we know.
This is the light of Christianity.
We know that we have eternal life.
Turning back in first John to the second chapter, the 12TH verses. Another thing that we know, He says, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
We know that our sins are forgiven. We know that we have eternal life.
We know that we are justified before God.
00:15:00
Everyone of these gospel terms has a state that we can be viewed as being in, which is met by it.
Romans 3 says that we're guilty before God. We're guilty, We have offended against God's majesty, and we're guilty.
And now forgiveness is offered to the guilty soul.
We're under a state of condemnation.
And their justification meets us. Justification is the opposite of condemnation, a state of consisting righteousness before God, in which we are placed in Christ, risen from the dead.
We are in ******* in our sins.
Slaves to spin into Satan.
And on the way to death and judgment.
And in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. We are redeemed, we are set free, we are liberated. And Paul says to the Galatian Saints, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of *******.
The Lord says, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And of course, the most beautiful picture of redemption we have of the children of Israel in ******* to the Egyptians and under Pharaoh's power.
The Passover lamb is plain, the blood of the lamb applied to the doorposts and lentil.
And then they crossed the Red Sea and they passed clean out of Egypt.
Through the figure of the death and resurrection of Christ.
And they were redeemed, and they sang the song of redemption.
A redeemed people.
We can be viewed as.
Something even worse than in *******.
And that is an enmity with God, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in US.
And what meets that?
In Romans 5I will read the verse.
Romans 5.
When we were enemies.
Verse 10 We were reconciled to God.
By the death of his son.
Reconciliation.
Removing that which alienates us from God.
Now this is all Christian truth. This is all what we know and understand as being in the light. None of these things could be understood or enjoyed or could be the possession of those who were under law. A soul under law could never say I have forgiveness, I justified, I redeemed.
I'm reconciled.
No, because that's every one of these terms that we're talking about. These gospel terms flow to us from the grace of God, the God of all grace. They're all given to us. We haven't earned any of them. Eternal life. We can't earn eternal life.
Had they kept the law, they would have had a life which would have gone on down here, would have been a life forever on earth, but it wouldn't have been eternal life.
Or eternal life as we possess it, as the life of the sun.
Communicated to us by sovereign grace.
That we might have fellowship with the father and with his son.
We can be viewed as being dead.
In our sins.
And Paul says, you which were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened.
Together with him given life.
That's the antithesis. That's the opposite of death.
We can be viewed as having a nature which is polluted and defiled by sin.
Now we are born of God, a new nature, a nature which is holy. And again in first John chapter 3 I just want to read a verse.
Which deals with that nature.
These are all things that.
Have to do with being in the light 1 John 3.
Verse 9 whose flavor is born of God, doth not commit sin.
For his deed remaineth in him.
And he cannot stand because he is born of God. Marvelous truth.
The new nature communicated to us by sovereign grace cannot spin.
Cannot sin.
We saw in the 1St chapter the eighth verse. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
00:20:05
The new nature cannot stand, but being saved. We still have the old nature, but the day is coming, and we read of it in the 3rd chapter of first John. When that old nature will be forever gone. Notice what it says. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.
Beloved now.
Are we the sons of God or the children of God right now? We are that. We don't have to wait for that, he says. We are now the children of God. That's one of the truths that we enjoy as being in the light. We're children of God.
And it does not yet appear what we shall be as I look around you, look at me, and I look at you.
We don't look any different.
And the people of the world, if there is an unsaved person in a lost person in this room.
I can't tell any difference between that soul and the Saint of God.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
But we know another one of the wonders. We knows of Scripture, that when he should appear.
We should be like him.
We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I remember talking to a brother, talking to one who was of that persuasion that.
He was in a group of Christians where they believed that they had arrived at the second blessing and all sin had been burned out.
And he was perfect now. He had arrived with perfection.
He was sanctified and he arrived at perfection, we said to him.
That means you are entirely, altogether like Christ. Is that what you believe?
Right now.
Now I believe I'm going to be.
I'm going to be alike him in every aspect.
Sit apart.
In that day.
Heaven, nature, I have it now which cannot sin. But that's all I'll have then.
But now I still have it. Isn't it interesting that this first epistle of John, where it says he cannot spin because he's born of God? First John 39 In first John 21 it says if any man stand, we have an advocate, the very writer of the epistle, that says the new nature can't sin.
Supposes that one may.
Who is a believer? Of course we may, because we have still the sinful nature. But there's a day coming.
And all it isn't very far away.
When we'll be like him in every way.
Now God holds out as the measure of our sanctification, Christ in glory.
We have his life.
It's been communicated to us.
The Spirit of God has been given to us.
We have this word, we have him as an object outside of ourselves in the glory and with the knowledge that our sins are gone, that we are righteous before God, that we're reconciled before God, that we're redeemed. We're delivered from the ******* of sin and Satan and from the House of *******. We've been free.
We've been brought into fellowship with his thoughts were reconciled. The alienation and the enmity is gone.
And we have a righteousness, which is Christ risen before God. He has become our righteousness.
And we are forgiven.
We have eternal life. These are all ours. This is what it is to be in the light. We know this is true. God has come out in grace. We heard it yesterday. We can't emphasize it enough. We owe everything to God's grace. He is the God of all grace.
And he's brought us into it because that's the outflow of his heart. That's what reveals what's in his heart.
Not his demands of man who could never fulfill them.
When they heard the law, they said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey.
And before Moses came down with the 2 tables, they had already broken the first two commandments. They had made a golden calf and were dancing around it.
If he had brought the law into the camp, they would have all been condemned.
So he broke the.
But now we know God is a God of all grace.
Oh, what a theme.
How important to have that before our souls.
And as our brother read yesterday as Paul, his last word to Timothy.
00:25:01
He said be strong my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
I have any blessing. If you have any blessing, it's all grace.
It's all grace.
Well.
I want to touch upon.
Another subject, which it's not another subject, it's just the outflow of what we've been bringing out.
And let's turn back to.
John 7 quickly.
John 7.
Verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying.
If any man thirst.
Let him come unto me and drink.
Ye that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this bakey of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
Because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 14.
John 14.
Verse 16.
And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter.
That he may abide with you forever.
The Lord was about to leave them. Now He promises them another comforter. He'd been a comforter when with them, and now he promises another.
And he says he's going to remain with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him.
Two truths, wonderful truths of Christianity. For He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, the Spirit of God, in US, and with us forever, never to leave us.
16th chapter of John, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he has come, and so on.
In the 14th chapter he says I will give you.
Put away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he has come, and so on.
In the 14th chapter he says I will give you.
I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter.
And then in the 15th chapter, verse 26, he says, When the comforter is come, whom I will spend unto you from the Father.
There the sun sends him. In Chapter 16, he comes himself, but he says it's necessary. It's expedient for you that I go away.
What is the cardinal truth of Christianity? It is the Presence.
Of the Holy Spirit down here in this world, uniting us to a glorified man in heaven.
To the Christ in glory he couldn't come. John 7. The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Turn over to Acts one. We must pass on quickly in order for me to develop a little what I have before me.
Acts One, verse 4 Hear the risen Christ.
Is with his disciples, and being assembled together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith, He have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but he shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Verse 8 But ye shall receive power after that, the Holy Ghost.
Is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem.
And in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts Chapter 2.
Verse 36.
Brings home to the conscience of the Jews.
Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus.
Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
There was the guiltiest people on the face of the earth.
They had committed the greatest sin ever committed in the annals of time.
They have crucified the Lord of glory. Impossible to exceed that wickedness.
At the cross I see human wickedness impossible to be exceeded.
00:30:04
By the creature.
The greatest sin ever committed.
In the entire history of mankind.
Is when they nailed the Son of God to a cross of ignominy and shame.
And when they realize this, that God had exalted his Son and raised him to the highest place in heaven, and made him Lord in Christ.
They said what shall we do? Is there any hope for us?
Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.
And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
You'll find that in the connection with the children of Israel, baptism is mentioned why there's been a lot of.
False thoughts about baptism. Why was it essential that the Jews were baptized in connection with their repentance? They had publicly crucified the Lord of glory.
It was for them then to publicly own.
That they were on his side, it was essential. It's not required of Gentiles.
In Acts 10, while the apostle Peter testifies to the forgiveness of sins.
Immediately the Holy Ghost fell upon them.
And then Peter says, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized as well as we, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we?
And then they were baptized in connection with the Gentiles. Baptism followed the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Here they will repent and be baptized to publicly disconnect themselves by the act of baptism from the guilt they were under as being identified with that guilty nation of Israel that had crucified their Messiah.
And then he says you should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The wages of sin is death, but the death of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Spirit of God is the gift of God.
The Father whom the Father will send in my name.
You should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Turn with me to Acts 10.
Quickly.
And we'll read it again there.
Verse 43 Peter testifies here. To him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness.
But through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins, And as soon as testimony to the forgiveness of sins is given by faith in that rejected one, the one that God is exalted to His right hand, soon as those belief in Christ for the forgiveness of sins the Spirit of God has bestowed. This was a Gentile crowd, while Peter yet spake these words.
The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because that I'm the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Why is that stress?
Because he is the God of all grace.
The Lord said to the Samaritan woman, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give thee to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
A picture of the Spirit of God.
A gift.
A gift, a greater gift. We could not have the gift of the Spirit. God still loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
And he gave himself from the cross to put our sins away. And now he's gone on high, received the Spirit.
As the glorified man and given him, given the Spirit of God to each one of us.
Given us eternal life.
Given us the forgiveness of our sins and all the blessings that we've been looking at very quickly.
God is in the light. He has manifested Himself as a giver.
He's given me everything that I have.
That's eternal and that's going to last, and Satan can't touch one of them.
Touch one of these blessings.
Given me giving you the Holy Spirit.
Given us.
That other comforter, a greater blessing, impossible to conceive, Divine person indwelling us.
To give us the power to enjoy fellowship with Christ.
00:35:00
The Father and the Son, as we had before him.
But he talked in the 1St chapter about the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
All of these blessings we've been talking about have been individual blessings.
That we, each one individually as believers, enjoy Peter in explaining what had taken place.
He was taken to task for going in and eating with the Gentiles, and in the 11TH chapter of Acts he says in verse 15.
As I began to speak, verse 44 of chapter 10 says while Peter yet spake these words, he had testified to the forgiveness of sins, the remission of sins through faith in Christ, and he was just beginning. He had much more to say, but God cut him short right there. That's all that God wanted him to say.
And as soon as he testified to the forgiveness of sins, he says, as I began to speak, Acts 1115, the Holy Ghost fell on them, on the Gentiles as on us Jews at the beginning.
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift, as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I?
That I could withstand God.
God gave unto them the life gift we have been given.
Eternal life.
We've been given righteousness. Romans 5.
The gift of righteousness, Paul says we've been given.
The Spirit of God.
And all these blessings.
Well, now turn with me to 1St Corinthians 12.
Where we get the.
The Apostle Paul.
Explaining.
What the baptism of the Holy Spirit means, 1 Corinthians 12/12.
For as the body is 1 and half many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. We would say so also is the Church.
But here he gives the church the members on earth, and that's what he's talking about, The body here, the members here.
He gives it the name of Christ.
He called their name Adam.
Eve received the same name as her husband.
And so we are called Christ.
Whereby one spirit.
Are or were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles?
Whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit.
As healed by the Spirit, that's an individual blessing. I've been marked out as belonging to him by the seal of the Spirit. As anointed of the Spirit, I have intelligence to enter into the things of God, and so does every Christian.
The earnest of the Spirit gives us to enjoy that which is still future.
But the baptism of the Spirit unites us into one.
It is that corporate action of the Spirit of God which forms the one body.
And makes us members together.
Now the Apostle Paul is the only one that brought those truths out. He was the elect vessel chosen of God to bring that truth out before us. Now turn with me to Ephesians 4 please.
Ephesians 4.
Where we have the practical outflow.
Of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4I therefore.
The prisoner of the Lord.
They speak to.
That you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called.
Well, Ephesians sets before us the highest truths of the Christian.
The first two chapters of Ephesians through chapter 210, we have that which is for our individual blessing.
And starting with chapter 211 to the end to 22, we have that which deals with the two truths that I'd like to just dwell upon in the next 15 minutes.
The first truth is that we're members of the one body.
And the second truth is that we are the habitation of God by the Spirit.
This is what is corporate to us.
You know, we could be forgiven, we could be justified, we could be redeemed, we could be saved, we could be reconciled, we could have eternal life, we could be children of God. We could have all those blessings and still not be members.
Of the one body united to Christ in heaven by the Holy Spirit.
00:40:00
And still not be the habitation of God by the Spirit. These are two tremendous truths.
That the Apostle Paul was the elect vessel under God to testify to.
Notice he says in the first verse, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.
In the first verse of chapter 3, he says for this 'cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. And then chapter 3, verse 2 to the end is a parentheses. So he's really resuming in chapter 4 one, the very expectation which he began with in chapter 3 one.
Chapter 3 being a parenthesis. So he's exporting them, he's teaching them to walk worthy of the calling, the vocation wherewith they were called. And what is that calling? We have to go back beyond the parentheses to the second chapter and just I just can only have time to call a few verses. Chapter 2, verse 11 to 22, we have two tremendous truths brought out and 1 is.
Verse 16. That he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body, by the cross having slain the enmity.
Thereby.
In verse 15 it says it should have read that first, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments containing ordinances, for to making himself of Twain one new man.
So making peace, that one. Newman, is the body of Christ.
Consisting of everyone of us members, one of another, and of Christ the risen head in heaven. And we saw in First Corinthians 12 how that that body is called the Christ. It's given his name as united to him by the baptism of the Spirit by the Holy Ghost. Given we're united to Christ and to one another, now we cannot.
Be individuals only as Christians.
And this is the burden of my heart.
I feel that.
Young people.
Are not established in the present truth.
Of being.
Members of the one body.
And the truth that God the Holy Spirit is dwelling.
In our midst.
In the midst of the assembly, I don't mean just us, I'm talking about all believers, all Christians. But let's look at the one body aspect for a moment.
Every believer in Christ.
As a member of that one body, everyone is united to Christ in heaven.
I can deny that.
In two waves as the ground of gathering. And that's the ground of gathering. It's the truth of the one body.
That remembers one of another.
And of Christ.
I can deny that by.
What characterizes the table at which I break the bread and have fellowship?
One Corinthians 10 says the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
I want to ask each one in the room this afternoon. The table at which you break bread. Does it? Is it characterized by the truth of the one body?
That is, is it available mount of communion for every member of the body of Christ the world over? I'll say that again.
Is the table at which you break bread and available mount of communion for every member of the body of Christ the world over.
If it is not, it is either narrower than that.
That means that.
Certain ones who are members of the one body are not.
Free to partake.
Of the emblems, because they're not of you.
Of us.
And that's the badge of aspect.
And the other way that truth can be denied is to have a fellowship which is larger than the one body, by allowing those who are not members of the body of Christ to take part in the communion table.
Either way, by restricting it to a circle which is narrower than the one body, or by allowing it to expand to a circle which is broader than the one body, we deny the truth.
00:45:07
Ground upon which we profess to be gathered, which is the truth of the one body. I'm not talking about discipline. I'm not talking about the aspect of the House of God where because of.
An unholy doctrine or evil associations or an evil walk, one has to be put away and be under the discipline of the house. We're not talking about that at all. I'm talking about the ground of gathering.
It is that you are not intelligent in these truths that we're talking about. You might be just a very simple Bay, but if you're a member of the body of Christ, we can say you have a place at the Lord's Table. There's a place there for every member of the body of Christ. And if the table at which you broke bread.
Has restrictions which are narrower than that.
Then it is sectarian in principle. If it is broader than that. It also is not set up on the ground of the one body. Now I want to talk about the other truth that's brought out at the end of the chapter, verse 19.
Ephesians 2 Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens, with the Saints and of the household of God.
And I build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Turn back with me to Exodus 15. Exodus 15.
This is after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. They were delivered from Egypt. They were a stave people. Verse one says Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumph gloriously. The horse and his rider het be thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and strong. He has become my salvation. Here was a spave people delivered clean out of Egypt.
He is my God, and I will prepare him in habitation.
My Father's God and I will exalt him. I will prepare him in habitation.
Now, verse 17.
Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place the Lord which thou hast made for thee to dwell in.
In this sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established A dwelling place for God, for this redeemed people, this saved people. Think of it. What a tremendous thought, God dwelling in the midst of his redeemed people. Then chapter 25, please. Exodus 25, verse 8, the Lord is speaking.
Verse one the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, verse 8 And let them make me a sanctuary.
That I may dwell among them. Oh, that's such a tremendous thought to my soul, that God who humbles himself to behold the things in heaven and the things upon the earth, He humbles himself just to look at those things. He wants to dwell amongst His redeemed people. Chapter 29 of Exodus.
Verse 45 The Lord speaking, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
Zechariah 2 verse 10. We just quickly turned to these passages to bring it before us.
Zechariah chapter 2, verse 10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, sayeth the Lord.
Leviticus 26, verse 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Now that's quoted in the New Testament, Second Corinthians 6.
That passage is quoted and I'll read it 2nd Corinthians 6.
16 I believe, And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God had said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will dwell in them and walk in them.
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So we have that truth in the Old Testament. We have it quoted in the New Testament. First King 6.
First King 6, verse 13 and I will dwell.
Among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people.
00:50:02
Israel And then there's some other passages in Ezekiel that I want to read. Ezekiel 37. How many times the Lord repeats the desire of His heart to dwell among His people. Verse 26 of Ezekiel 37. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them. It should be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary.
In the midst of them forever.
More, my Tabernacle also shall be with them. Yeah, I will be their God.
And they shall be my people, and the heathens shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel.
When my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them.
Wherever more well, that's all looking on to the Millennium and then lastly in Ezekiel 48, the last.
Chapter of Ezekiel and the last verse talking about the millennial temple. We saw in First Kings 6 when Solomon built the temple, that he built the great magnificent temple of Solomon, that God said that he would dwell there.
Now the millennial temple, it says, starting with the second phrase of the sentence and the name of the city.
From that day the name of the city shall be. The Lord is there. The Lord is there.
Lastly, Revelation 21, Revelation 21 The Lord is there verse 3.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the Tabernacle of God.
Is with men.
And he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them.
And be their God. Tabernacle of God, I believe, is the assembly where God is dwelling. Now going back to Ephesians 2, where God is dwelling in the midst.
By the Spirit in the assembly.
Ephesians 2 verse 22, last verse, In whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
Tremendous truth.
That the assembly, that the church.
Is the habitation of God by the Spirit.
We are members of the one body.
And when we break bread, we give expression to that tremendous truth that we are united to one another and to Christ in heaven. We are no longer just individuals, but we're fellow members of the body of Christ, and God. Is there, the Lord is there, God the Holy Ghost, making the assembly his habitation, his dwelling place. What has man done?
He set up parties and sects and divisions under the influence of the enemy, and man is content by calling himself every name that separates him from his brethren. What denomination do you belong to? Is the common question that is put to us when we talk to another Christian. What church do you go to? The common phrase today is to go to the Church of your choice. God hasn't left us a choice.
As soon as you choose. As soon as I choose.
Were off the ground of obedience. We're simply to obey. We're to scout where that table is, which is an available amount of communion for all the members of the body of Christ. And we're to own in our comings together the presence of the Spirit of God, whom he has given to us individually, who has baptized us into one body.
United us to Christ in heaven. What has man done? He stood up his own principles and systems of organization.
An arrangement of meetings and a clerical system which says that this brother, this reverend, this reverend is the only one that is to preach. And those whom Christ has gifted to be used of the Spirit of God for the edification of the Saints of God. If they're not ordained under man's ordination, if they haven't submitted to the ordination of man, they're disqualified. The Spirit of God is in the assembly. These are the 2 cardinal truths.