Reid, Doug: Christ And His Church ~ Matt 28

Now, would you turn with me, please, to the Gospel according to Matthew, and chapter twenty eight. Matthew, chapter twenty eight. And I appreciate very much seeing so many out this afternoon. Sunday afternoon is kind of a sleepy time sometime, and and uh, we just appreciate the effort that you all made to come along. Matthew twenty eight and verse eighteen. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me, or perhaps better translated, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, or make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, though I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, to the end of the age. Amen. Now, First Corinthians chapter one, please. First Corinthians chapter one. And verse one. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse nine: God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Chapter two, please. Verse one. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Verse four. and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Verse eleven: for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And, uh, chapter three, chapter three, verse nine: For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, suffer loss, that is, loss of reward. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Chapter four, verse one. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Verse five: Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God. And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that ye may learn in us not to think of men. Actually, the of men is in italics, it's not in the original. That you may learn not to th- in us not to think above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. Now finally, please. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received this word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Verse 20, verse 47, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Now, we wish to, uh, try to help the young believers, especially in the comprehension of what the church is. And, uh, many a time the young believers, they ask, well, why do we gather as we do? And they wonder about comparing it with, uh, other professed church gatherings around, and they're concerned about knowing the why of our way of gathering. And so this is what is before us at this time, to consider the mind of God as revealed concerning Christ and his church. And this afternoon, we wish to meditate a little on the church as God's building, as God's building. Now, in First Timothy chapter one, the conversion of the Apostle Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, is told, eh, we are told it is a pattern conversion, a pattern of those who should afterwards believe unto life eternal. Now, of course, perhaps strictly speaking, this, uh, pattern conversion would refer more to the, uh, the people of Israel in a latter day, when they will suddenly, as Saul of Tarsus was, when suddenly the Lord will be revealed from heaven to them, and the nation will be con- converted in a day. But nevertheless, even as far as ordinary believers are concerned, his conversion is a pattern conversion. We see him coming to trust the Lord there on the Damascus road, and after having found Christ as his savior, his question was, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And that's a good, healthy question for any young believer to ask. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Because, you see, if the Lord's only purpose was in saving us, why, he would have taken us yonder to glory the moment we trusted Christ. But God has left us here for a purpose. Now the result is that we see that the Apostle Paul was there, was baptized, and then we find him gathered in assembly fellowship. And here we find the believers here in Acts chapter two. we find them receiving the word of salvation, we find them baptized, then we find them being gathered together and forming the local church there in Jerusalem. And they continued, continued steadfastly in the functions of the local assembly. Now we see this pattern in Paul. We see it here at Jerusalem. We see the same pattern at Antioch. Souls reached and saved, baptized, gathered together, and form- forming a local, a local church or local assembly. We see it at Philippi, we see it at Corinth, and thus we learn from the example set forth from the Word of God and from the teaching that is God's purpose that souls who are saved should acknowledge the lordship of Christ, and that's expressed in baptism, and not only so, but they should be gathered unto him and for in the form of a local assembly for their protection, for their instruction, for their spiritual welfare, for their growth, and of course, above all, for the Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall see see later. So it is not God's purpose that the young believers should just be saved and then sort of go on as a freelance and wander around. God has a definite purpose in the recognition of the lordship of Christ and of gathering the saints together unto him. We shall see why as we progress, but that is God's purpose. Now then, the question is, if we can see that it is God's purpose that the, that a young, that believers should be gathered together in assembly or in church fellowship, then of course the question is how we should gather. How we should gather. And of course this is important because we have been reading together concerning the church. I'm speaking of the local church now. We've been reading in, in First Corinthians that it is God's building. Ye are God's building. And he says concerning the local church, ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now that's not the same as chapter six. In chapter six we find the Spirit of God dwelling in the believer's body as his temple. But in chapter three it's the assembly, it's the church. The church is God's building. It is temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells there. It's God's dwelling place. Now that, for example, is why that, uh, we don't put, uh, something like, uh, uh, temple or, or chapel on the door. The word chapel is, is equivalent in the Bible. It's an alternative translation of temple. You'll find that in your concordance by checking it out. But we don't put temple on the outside because when you come to the scriptures, we find ye are the temple of God. This, now this is, this is the building where the saints meet, but this is not the temple. The congregation of the saints themselves, ye are the temple of God. Now for that, that's good to get understand that, that of course, that, that doesn't mean that we should not, uh, uh, can I get out of Spanish here, uh, that we shouldn't, uh, try to behave ourselves in a godly way, because this is where the assembly meets, and there's a testimony connected. There should be a dignity as to our comportment. That's the word I was looking for, i- i- in, in as in, in the, in this building, because this is where the saints meet. But this is, this is not the temple. The saints themselves, the congregation of believers, they are the church. The word church is never used as the building in scripture. For example, you will find many of the New Testament churches, the church, it speaks of this way, the church which is in thy house. Now, I haven't been to very many of your houses, but even this one, this church, this building isn't very big, but you'd have a little job getting inside your house. I think so. Uh, and uh, we also read about things, tidings coming to the ears of the church. I don't think you've seen any churches around with ears. A few with loud speakers, but not with ears. Hm? You see, it's the congregation. It's the, it's the believer. They themselves, they are the church. They are the te- temple of God. They are God's building, and the Spirit of God dwells there. All right now. Uh, because the assembly is God's building, because it's his temple, and because he dwells there, he is the one who tells us what is suitable to his presence. How are we going to gather? Well, it isn't a question of convenience. It isn't a question of expediency. It isn't a question of preference. It's a matter of divine revelation. Now, that's what the Apostle Paul brings out here in chapter two of Corinthians, if you still have it before you. A- and he's speaking concerning, uh, the, the assembly, and in verse eleven, he says, for what no- what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in man, in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God, and we have received not the spirit of the world, but that spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak in word, which the Holy Ghost teacheth. So you see, God dwells in the assembly. Now, uh, we're staying out with the brother and sister McCullough there, and uh, I'm sure if, if uh, he was building a home, he never would have asked me to build it. It would have been an awful mess. But he, he, he had this design that he was going, and, and it, because he was the one that was going to dwell there, he designed the thing according to his own design. Now, so much more the house of God. You see, we don't, we can't, I couldn't possibly know what was suitable to our brother, because he knows that himself. And how can we know what is suitable to God's dwelling place? How can we know what is suitable to God? See, no man knows the man, the spirit, the man, but the spirit of the man. So no man knows the things of God, but the spirit of God. And God, by his spirit, in his word, has revealed the mind of God. Now, the epistle to first epist- the uh, first epistle to the Corinthians is really what we might call the Magna Carta of the church. It gives us the majority of the major part of church instruction. And so when he's speaking these things here in chapter two, he is showing that it is the spirit of God that in his word has revealed what is suitable to God's dwelling place, what should constitute it, how we should gather, how we should function, and so on. It is a question of the testimony of God, so that it is a, it is a nearly all with the church, the first fourteen chapters particularly have to do the church, the way it functions, and and things relative to it. And here in chapter two, at the beginning of the divine testimony, we're told it is the testimony of God, and when you come to the end of chapter fourteen, the apostle, where he's terminating this specific instruction relative to the church and how it functions, he says, if any man think of himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. So, again, the matter of how we gather is a matter of God's testimony. It's a matter of divine revelation by the Word and by the Spirit, and not only so, it is a matter of the Lord's commandment. Now, you remember that we were reading in Matthew chapter twenty eight, all authority, says the Lord Jesus in resurrection, all authority is given unto me in me in heaven and in earth. All authority belongs to Christ. And he tells us to baptize the disciples, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And here in Corinthians, we find that the teaching, the instruction concerning the divine way of gathering is a part of the commandments of the law. So that, if we do not heed the commandments of the Lord and the revelation of the Lord relative to the way in which we are gathering, we are actually turning our back upon the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And since all authority belongs on- onto him in heaven and in earth, if we are found practicing things for which we do not have his authority, since all authority is his, then for those things we have no authority at all. All right, I remembered, uh, remember a man down in Costa Rica sat in quite a few meetings where we were speaking concerning the assembly, and after it was over, Brother Dave Booty asked him what he thought of, of the, of the teaching of the assembly and what he thought of the assembly. Oh, he believed that was scripture, all right. But he says, uh, well, he says, uh, but I like going to a place where there's all sorts of music and stuff. Well, I like good music too, and I like to hear the saints praising the Lord with all their hearts, and we should. But for him, his way, the way of gathering was strictly a matter of preference. He liked this, he liked that. Well, I want to tell you, there's nothing outwardly very grand, outwardly to the world's eye, about the assembly, but I'm in the assembly of God because I believe that's where the Lord wants me to be. I believe that's his mind. And, uh, if I saw anything else, and if I believed anywhere else was script- more scripture, that's where I'd be, because I want to be where the Lord wants me to be. If any man love me, let him keep my commandments, and since his commandments are relative to the matter of church gathering as well, then we do well to heed the commandments of our Lord. Now then, God has then, then given us instruction as to how to gather, and it is not the first time he has given instruction in this way. There were, shall we say, two outstanding, uh, gatherings together of the saints as house of God in the Old Testament. At the time of the tabernacle, when the children of Israel were called out of the, out of Egypt into the wilderness, and the tabernacle was there built, and the saints gathered together in a priestly way. And then in the time of Solomon, likewise, there was the temple, as you will remember, in Jerusalem. But in both those cases, the Lord gave explicit instruction of how, of how his house was to be formed, and it was to be carried out to the very letter. And so, likewise, when we come to the New Testament, we find that God has a pattern for the church. Now, I want to suggest to you that the pattern for gathering in the New Testament consents- consists essentially of three things. First of all, the model which the Lord himself set up in Jerusalem in Acts chapter two. Now, it was the Lord himself that formed that local company in Jerusalem. And it was the Lord that added daily to that assembly such as should be saved. It was the Lord's own workmanship. That's the first aspect of the pattern. The Lord, as it were, said, now I'm making this, and of course I guarantee that the Lord made it perfectly. And he says, this is what I want to see realized in all parts. Here's the model, hmm? Here's the model. Now, this is what there should be in every assembly, and we're going to come back and look at that a little later. And, uh, then in, uh, in Ch- in Corinthians Corinthians chapter three and verse nine, where it's speaking concerning the church of God which was at Corinth, it says, we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry, you are God's building. Now here you find a change has come in. You see, when the Lord set up the church at Jerusalem, that was a hundred a divine work. But here we find there are laborers, co-laborers together with God. We find the Apostle Paul, as it were, doing the foundation work, and others are adding thereto. In other words, God now in this time is taking into association with himself others in responsibility. And so we find then that since there are co-laborers together with God in the establishing of local assemblies, that God has therefore given us instructions as to how the church should be formed and how it should gather. Now these instructions, that's the second aspect of our pattern. The instructions are God's design, God's instructions of how we can arrive at what he wants. There's the model at Jerusalem. How are we going to get there? Well, here are the instructions given to us in the epistles to show us how we can get, how we can arrive at a building of God. How we can arrive at an assembly, a church which is of God, of God in its origin, of God its construction, of God in its character, of God in its function. The instructions, which are the second aspect of the pattern, are given to us principally in the epistles. And the principal part of that in the first epistle to the Corinthians. And then the third aspect of the pattern is the practice of the servants of God as we have it in the book of the Acts. In other words, the methods, the exemplary methods by which we might put into effect the practices so as to end up with a building, I'm talking about a spiritual building, an assembly, which is of God. So we have the model, Acts two. We have the instructions for arriving at that in the epistles, and then the God-honored methods for establishing that in the practice in the book of the Acts. Now, this is very important, this pattern is very important. In verse ten of chapter three, at the end of the verse, the Apostle Paul says, but every, let every man take heed how he builder. So we just can't build any way we, we see it. And there are certain things that are important, and this is in, this is important in view of the judgment seat of Christ and of the reward. It's possible to put a great deal of effort into building, and this is, this is especially has, has the building of assemblies in view here in, in this portion. Possible to have a great deal of work and a great deal of effort and a great deal of, uh, design and so on, and yet find that the whole thing doesn't get divine approval and will not receive its reward in the coming day. So it's very important that we take heed how we build or how an assembly is formed, or how, if you like, how we gather. There are two things that are very important here, and that is verse, uh, eleven: for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. The assembly must have Christ as its foundation. He is the nucleus, he is the center. We are gathered unto him. We're not gathered into a doctrine. We're not gathered unto an organization. Our gathering together is unto the Lord Jesus. And, uh, it belong- the ase- the assembly belongs to him. And it's of him, it's for him, it centers in him, and, uh, it's important that we grasp this if we're going to appreciate what the assembly is. We're going to be looking that in, in, uh, on Tuesday night, Lord willing. We'll be looking at Matthew sixteen and considering the foundation of the church relative to the revelation of who Christ is and the offices that he bears. And, uh, then the other thing that is important is that the church must be made up of divine materials. Now, he speaks here of these under the symbolism of gold, silver, and precious stones. And there are those things which abide the test and go on into eternity, and there are those things that are burnt up. That which abides the test and goes on into eternity is eternal. In other words, it's divine. It is only what is divine. That which abides the test and goes on into eternity is eternal. In other words, it's divine. It is only what is divine that will stand the test and go out into eternity. So the materials that go into the composition of the assembly must be divine. And the, uh, uh, and the, uh, the teaching that goes into the assembly must be divine. The methods used must be divine. Nothing of this is left to human imagination. Everything must be divine if it's going to stand the approval of God in that coming day, so that true churches of God must be built up of divine materials and in a divine way. Now, I think this is quite logical, isn't it? Supposing we, we were trying to build a building, well, the owner would get together with the architect, and he would draw up the plans. And then after these were draw- drawn up to the satisfaction of the owner, and the architect knowing more or less what the government inspector demanded, they would put it in the hands of the contractor, and then the contractor, he, uh, he would try to build in sa- according to the plans so that the owner would be satisfied, and likewise that the government inspector would be satisfied. The government inspector comes along, he says, no, that won't do, that's got to be torn down. His building is in vain. And so, likewise, we can see that it, that if I, if I, if I, if I was going to design a house and, and somebody built the house and, and the view was over there, I wanted the big picture window there, but somebody put it out the other side and changed the rooms around, made them a little bigger. This wouldn't be to my satisfaction, and that's important because I'm the one that's going to dwell there. And so, you see, it's important that God's house be according to his design and his revelation and suited to himself, and likewise, of course, it must meet the approval in the day of the judgment seat of Christ. Now, the importance of this is that, is that we are building a building of God, and therefore, this is more or less the main idea that we're trying to get across this afternoon, that since the assembly or the church of God is a building of God, therefore its design, its pattern is of God. And we must look to God and to his word for the revelation of how we gather together. Now, the importance of faithfully adhering to the pattern is very much stressed throughout the scripture, and we're going to look at that in just a moment. Relative to the, for example, the tabernacle and relative to the temple, God gave a pattern of the gathering together and of the priestly function of his people, and they were to adhere strictly to that pattern, as we're going to see. Yet in Hebrews chapter nine and verse nine, we learn that the tabernacle, and that was true concerning the temple, likewise, but especially the tabernacle, was a figure for the time now present, and that's what the translation really is. Revised version and J. N. Darby confirm that, not the time then present. No, the figure was then, but they are figures of that which is for, for the time now present. They are, they are figures, those ritualistic gatherings together, the tabernacle and the temple, were figures of that which has now come in, in reality in the Lord Jesus. Colossians chapter two, for example, we have those Old Testament things, those, uh, the way they gathered, the ritualism, and so on, which was a shadow of things to come, but the body, the substance, the reality of is of Christ. We've come to the reality. And here's the point I want to make, and we're going to come back to this in a minute. But if God was so explicit as the pattern of what was merely figures for the time then present, is God, does God not desire precision and an exact following his word as to the reality? That seems logical to me. God was so precise as to the pattern of figures and shadows. Is he not just as much or more interested in us following exactly the pattern as to the reality which we have come now to in our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, let's look at back at the book of Exodus, chapter twenty five just to see this for a moment. Exodus chapter twenty five. And, uh, shall we read verse one? And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, verse eight, Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. This is speaking concerning the tabernacle of old. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. Verse 40. And look that thou make them after the pattern which was showed thee in the mount. So here we start find very clearly that God gave a pattern to Moses, a pattern for the house of God itself, and a pattern, uh, divine instructions as to all that should be used, come into, into function, into usefulness in the house of God that then existed, or was to exist. So God says very clearly that Moses was to adhere firmly to the pattern, and the result was that when we come to the, uh, book of Exodus chapter thirty nine and they are carrying out the instructions and setting up the tabernacle, no less than ten times we read that they did all as the Lord commanded Moses, as the Lord commanded Moses, Ten times over, the Spirit of God stressed that the house of God was built according to the pattern as the Lord commanded Moses. Now let's look over in Deuteronomy chapter twelve. Deuteronomy, that's the fifth book of the Bible. Deuteronomy and chapter uh twelve, verse eight. Deuteronomy twelve and eight. Ye shall not do, after all the things that we- that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. Verse thirty two: Whatsoever thing I command you, observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. So here we see again, when it came to building the house of God in the Old Testament, he told them they weren't to do what was just right in their own eyes. It wasn't a matter of their own preference, and a matter- it wasn't a matter of what they thought best. God had given his pattern. God had given his design, and he says, whatsoever I command you, that's what you to observe to do it. And not only so, he says, you shall not add to it or diminish it. Now you see how precisely God, how precise God was in the design of his house where he was going to dwell. He gave the pattern, carry out the pattern to its perfection, he says, and don't add to it and don't diminish from it. First Chronicles chapter 28. First Chronicles chapter 28. Verse ten. Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it. And David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, of the houses thereof, of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers round about, of the treasures of the house of God, of the treasures of the dedicated things, also of the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord. Verse nineteen: All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works, for the Jerusalem Bible says all the details of this pattern. So again, we see the same principle, now relative to the temple. All, every aspect of God's gathering place was detailed. The pattern of the house itself, how the priests should function, how the Levites, the servants of God, should function, the, the thing, the instruments they should use, just everything was given in detail, in the minutest detail, by God himself. Now, all of this teaches us, again, what we have been stressing, the importance of here, here, adhering to the New Testament patterns of God's assembly. We've already re- been reviewing it. The, the model which the Lord himself bore. Now, it's a very simple model, just a, a few simple things on that. Acts chapter two, that model that the Lord set up. It was composed entirely of believers. That's very simple. But it didn't contemplate a mixture of those who are saved and those that are not saved. Of course, that doesn't mean that when people come together, we expect people that are not saved to come in and hear the gospel and get saved. But we're talking about the responsible membership, shall I call it, the responsible communion of the assembly. It is not a mixed company. It's composed only of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We noticed in that model that the Lord set up, it was composed of baptized believers, of those who had obeyed and subjected themselves to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. That's what it stands relative to in Matthew twenty eight, really. All authority is given unto me. Go ye therefore and make disciples, baptizing them. You see, the disciple is acknowledging, really, he is submitting himself to the lordship of Christ, and that's why baptism is such an important step in the life of a new believer. It's very important because this is really the key to all Christian living. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the first thing that Lord says, well, submit yourself to me in baptism. Recognize my authority. And what am I going to do the rest of my life? The very same thing. That's it. That's why it's the key. You see, how am I going to live after I get baptized? Well, I'm going to find out what he wants, and then I'm going to do it. And then when I've done that, I'll find out how I'm supposed to be ga- I'm going to find out what the Lord, how the Lord wants me gathered, and I'm going to obey that. This recognition of the authority and the lordship of Christ is the very key to all. It'll carry you, it carries you right through the end. That's why baptism is so important, that simple submission to the Lord Jesus and recognizing his lordship in your life. Well, now then, it's composed of the believers who have been obedient to the Lord in baptism. It's composed of those who have been gathered together. They have been added together. That's what these, these, these saints were added together and formed the assembly. And this, of course, reminds us, doesn't it, of Matthew eighteen and twenty, or where two or three are, having been gathered. That's the Spirit's work, the Spirit's work to gather us together unto his name. There he says, I am in the midst of them. And then they continued steadfastly. Here we have the basic functions in the model church again. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers. And here we find the basic m- uh, meetings of the assembly when it meets together in assembly. I remember a man down in, uh, down in, uh, in Cuba, when we worked down there, and and he'd been saved, and he he wanted to, uh, gather with the saints in the assembly in Vedado. So they wanted to know if he if he was baptized and and, uh, just how how far he'd gone on in the things of God. Well, he wanted to remember the Lord, but these steps hadn't taken place in his life yet. And so he wanted to know why why he wouldn't be able to come in and take his place and remember the Lord. Well, Brother Smith, he said, read of Acts chapter two. and he says, well, now here, this is the order that God has set forth for us within the word, and neither you nor I have any right to change God's order. Well, I thought that was good. It w- it was, it was part of the design. God himself placed it there. And so, if we follow God's order, we certainly won't go amiss. And so we have there the models, we have the instructions in the epistles, and the apostolic practice in the Acts. And certainly, as we were saying before, if God shows us such precision as to the pattern in the Old Testament, every detail, and he says, there's the pattern, you gather in that way, and you don't add to it, and you don't diminish it from it, surely God expects the same thing of us today relative to the assembly. But that's just not a guess. We actually have it here in the New Testament, back in First Corinthians chapters three and four where we were. Now, we have already seen that we are to take heed in First Corinthians three how we build. That is to say, our gathering is to be in a divine way. That is to say, to be according to the pattern. And then in First Corinthians four and six, we read, the Apostle Paul says, and these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes. Now look at carefully, that he may learn in us not to think above that which is written. What's that? Don't go beyond the pattern. Here we've got the pattern, here we have the divine revelation. Don't, as as I'm speaking especially concerned, of course, that's concerning anything, but especially concerning Christ and the assembly. Don't allow your thoughts to go beyond what is written. That's the same as we had in the Old Testament. Don't add to the pattern. And then you were n- we were noticing together in Matthew chapter twenty eight, teaching them to be observed all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And we've noted the instruction concerning the church as summarized in that in first Corinthians fourteen. these are the commandments of the Lord. Now, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever are commanded. That means not diminishing from the pattern. Take heed how we build, gather according to the pattern. Don't go beyond what is written, don't add to the pattern. Teaching them to observe all things, don't diminish from the pattern. And so this is because it's God's dwelling place. And so surely any of us who have desire to please God and to arrive at a building of God would observe these things and recognize them because it is God's dwelling place. Therefore, it's God's prerogative to tell us how we should gather. It's our responsibility to gather in a scriptural way. Now, why are we stressing this? We're going to have to close within about five minutes. So why are we stressing this? Well, simply because, as a young believer, the person trusts Christ, and they begin to look around, and they see many church gatherings, professedly anyway. They begin to ask, well, well, they're not all gathering the same. How should I gather? And if they're wise, they'll start reading the New Testament, they'll start reading in the book of the Acts, they'll start reading the epistles, and they'll start comparing what they see with what they read. Here's the pattern. I'm going to see if it conforms to what God has. Now, there is much today as to church gatherings, which is beyond what is written. We are not to think beyond what is written, because revelation is complete. There's much today that's beyond. Let me suggest just one thing. In the New Testament, we read of the church, so I call the universal church, the church which is his body, informed, uh, composed of every saint from the day of Pentecost until the Lord comes to his own. That's the universal church, most of what is in heaven today, church which is his body. And, uh, then we read of local gatherings or churches or assemblies of God, a congregation in a locality, various in various places. But man isn't satisfied with that. Man takes these local companies and he organizes them into various church systems with a hierarchy of human control beyond what is fit. For example, I'm going to quote one of the, uh, uh, most famous preachers in the world. I'm not going to tell you what his name is, but you can ask anyway if you want. I'm not going to tell you here. But anyway, this is what he, this is what he published, and I'm translating from Spanish, so I may not have it word for word, but it's pretty close anyway. This is what he said. The New Testament teaches that even though in reality there is only one church, the body of Christ, there may be any number of local churches. That's correct. And here's what he went on. There may be any number of local churches formed into denominations, sects, societies, or councils. They may be gathered or divided according to national tendencies, to nationalities, rather, theologies, or according to the temperament of its members. That is common current religious thinking as the church gathering today, but it is entirely beyond what is written. You don't find national churches, you don't find cultural churches, you don't find organized churches, churches, a number of churches all organized to form a church body, this church, that church, and so on, with that hierarchy of human control. That is entirely beyond what is this. In other words, it's adding the time. Or again, consider this. That what, what is the, what is the heart of, uh, very large percent of church gatherings. It is the clerical system. That is to say, the clergyman, if you want to put it in, in that word. Uh, in, if you were to visit a Roman Catholic church, you would see a priest up there, and that priest is in charge of the congregation, and he's directing the whole function of that professed church. Well, anybody that reads and knows the New Testament knows that that's not biblical. Hold on. When you jump over the fence and land in Protestantism, and in evangelical centers as well, you find, well, it's not a priest that's there in charge of the church and has the whole thing under his control and function. It's a clergyman. And, of course, we must make the distinction between the clergy and the laity. There's the ordinary people, the ordinary Christians, they're the laity. And here's Reverend Tondo, he he's a clergyman, and he has the whole congregation under his control and function. He's probably responsible for higher up. But anyway, you know what a clergyman is? Well, a clergy, the word clergy comes from the Latin clérigos, and I think that's from the Greek clerikos, and it means a priest. So it's just a, it's just a change of clothes, that's all. There's the clergyman, the minister that has everything under control, and he is a clergyman, and that means a priest. And so we find that he is, and we'll look at this tomorrow, he is infringing upon the priestly privileges of the people of God, for we're going to find out tomorrow night that in the New Testament, all the leaders are priests. And he is infringing upon their priestly rights, and he's infringing and usurping the priestly rights of the Lord Jesus as high priest over the house of God. What's he doing? Diminishing in the passion. The Church of God teaches clearly that all believers are priests, and as we gather together as temple of God, we gather together having one over us, not, and that's not a man. What is the man, Christ Jesus, but it is the high priest over the house of God. And yet I say that this system, the clerical system that is, that is all around them, is not only beyond the pattern, well, it's beyond the pattern, and it's diminishing in itself, in its function, from the pattern, taking from the people of God as they're gathered together, their priestly exercise before God and their liberty to be controlled by the Lord Jesus himself as high priests over the eyes of God. All this should surely, as we're considering the way that we should gather together, should make a sense. Should make a sense. And, uh, be concerned that we are gathering in such a way as is pleasing to God, and we'll be assured that as we did, uh, gather together, there is being formed a building of God, a church and assembly which is of God. Remember, I'm going to close with this, the second time I'm going to close, the, uh, uh, brother Jake Szczepanski in Edmonton, that, that he came out to many of the gospel meetings there, but he actually got saved when he was at the Salvation Army. And, uh, so he had visited quite a few places before he got saved, and now he decided, well, the, the brethren tried to encourage him to be gathered in the Lord's name there in Edmonton, but he decided he wanted to visit here and there. And, and finally, after much mu- months of visitation here and there, he finally came and, and he asked, told the brethren he d- he desired to be identified with the little assembly there. Well, what has made you come to that conclusion? And this is what he said. He says, as I went around in the various places, she said, he said, I reached this conclusion that each one was gathering as they themselves were most pleased. But he says, when I came to the assembly of God, I discovered that for everything they did and practiced, they had divine authority. Why do you do this? Here it is, this chapter and verse. Why don't you do that? Authority for doing it. There it is. And that's what I discovered, he said, that this was the one of the great distinguishing factors of saints gathered under the name of the Lord Jesus, that they gathered according to divine authority. And so he says, that's why I'm here. Well, that was good. Nice to see that exercise. Now, the Lord will bless his word, and tomorrow night, Lord willing, we're going to pursue a little more concerning this subject of the as- the assembly as the temple of God. Tomorrow night we'll be treating, in the will of the Lord, of the priesthood of all belief. Father. Father, what a wonder that thou dost deign to dwell with men. Solomon could say, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that I have made. And to think that thou hast promised to be in the midst of two earths, the twos and the threes that are gathered together into thy name. Oh God, how it behoves us to move softly and carefully, and to seek to carry out thy will in this matter. Make us more teachable, make us pliable with the divine mind, and grant thy blessing upon the assembly here in Paris. Grant thy blessing upon the young. Help them to understand the things of God. Let them prosper thy work, we pray. Now, we'd ask you to take us to our homes in safety and bring us along safety in the, safely in the evening with the power and blessing of God, that we might rejoice in the salvation of precious souls. Bless thy word to each one of us and part us now with thy blessing.