Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
And the porch that was before the house, the length of it according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm trees and chains.
And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubim on the walls.
Lord, we do want to thank Thee that we have found Thy presence this morning. We have been worshipping Thee and praising the Lord, and we want to tell Thee again how wonderful we find the Lord.
We thank Thee for that amazing grace of Thine which has taken hold of us and brought us to Thyself, and, Lord, called us with such a high calling. Lord, we want to tell Thee that in ourselves we know we are nothing, and we cannot even, Lord, really understand the things concerning Thy Son.
But, Father, we praise Thee that the Holy Spirit has been given to us, Who will lead us into all truth, and take these things of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, and declare them and make them real to us.
Lord, we do come in our weakness to Thee—weakness in speaking, weakness in hearing. We need Thee, Lord. Especially we need Thee today. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt make clear exactly what it is, Lord, that is on Thy heart for every one of us, and Thou wilt, by Thy Spirit, write it in our hearts.
O Father, hear us. We do not want these times just to be academic, or merely the mental accumulation of biblical knowledge. Lord, we want to pray that Thou wilt make Thy Word that kind of Word which gets into us and does Thy work. Fulfil Thy purpose, Lord.
Somewhere it says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom.” Lord, let there be a dwelling in us of Thy Word, we pray. Let there be an outcome of Thy will and working of Thy Word.
We cannot just turn to Thy Word, Lord, without, in a very definite way, standing together in the anointing which is upon our Head, the Lord Jesus, that runs down to the hem of the garment and includes every one of us—anointing for speaking, anointing for hearing.
Lord, we stand in that anointing this morning. We ask that this may be communion with Thyself, a meeting with Thee, Lord, a giving and a receiving of Thee. We ask it together in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have been looking at these books of Chronicles, the first and the second book of Chronicles. You will simply remember—I will not again go over either what we said yesterday or the day before, except to say this: that Chronicles is one of those more unique books in the Bible, in that it is the interpretation of many other books.
Deuteronomy is the interpretation of the first four books of the Bible; so Chronicles is the interpretation of the whole of Old Testament history. We already had this history recorded from Genesis right the way through to the end of Kings. Indeed, it goes beyond the end of Kings; it goes right to virtually the coming of the Messiah.
But the book of Chronicles is the secret that lies behind all God’s dealings with men. We have seen that that secret is that God should have a habitation for Himself in the Spirit.
His purpose is that He should not only save us, not only bring us into an experience of the indwelling Christ, not only bring us into an experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, but that we should be made and built together into a home of God in the Spirit, that we might grow into a holy temple in the Lord.
Now, I had something on my heart this morning. I would like to go on to other things, but I feel somehow strangely held back. So I have this matter on my heart, and I just have to trust the Lord to help me to express it.
We come here in chapter 3: “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.” I think we should be very careful of this kind of teaching that all this building work is totally in the unseen.
Of course it is a spiritual work. But there is a kind of teaching which somehow seems to believe that all this takes place somehow or other in an abstract, vague, ethereal way. It does not matter how we live down here; we can be as divided as we wish to be. We can collide with one another as much as we wish. We can be out of sorts with one another as much as we wish. But somehow, in some marvellous way by grace, we are all built together in the unseen.
It is an extraordinary kind of teaching and, I must say, a very comfortable one.
Now, God preserve us from ever coming to another level than the one God would have us upon, however difficult. The fact of the matter is this: of course this building is a spiritual building. Of course, it is essentially unseen at present. It is something which God is doing by His Spirit. It is a habitation for God in the Spirit.
But you know as well as I do that when a person gets saved, we expect to see some concrete result. If a person continued to live in sin and said he was born again, we would doubt very much whether he was born again.
If a person is really born of God, we expect to see certain fruits. The Lord Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” There is some positive expression of their spiritual birth.
Now, spiritual things always have concrete expressions. If God is building us together for an eternal habitation of Himself in the Spirit, somehow or other there will be some expression of that on earth. It will be spiritual. It will be of God. It will be of heaven. It will be by the Holy Spirit, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You do not see the Holy Spirit, but it will nevertheless have concrete expression.
If we turn to some Scriptures in the New Testament, in Ephesians 2:20, we read:
Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone;
In Whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord;
In Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
“Being built.” “Being built.” “Fitly framed together.” “Groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.” “Ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.”
Again, in Ephesians 4:12, we read of these gifts of men to the church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers—for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.
So this building up of the body of Christ is in time, on earth, in space. We are here in these dimensions.
Then again, in Ephesians 4:15-16:
But speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, Who is the Head, even Christ;
From Whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
That is not quite the same figure as the other, where we are built with stones together, but here we have the same thought again of being fitly framed and knit together.
Turn over to 1 Peter 2:4-5:
Unto Whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
“Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.”
No wonder, therefore, that we have three times in 1 Corinthians 14 the thought of building up. I will only read verse 26:
What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
The fact is, this building work has a very concrete expression. There is to be a concrete expression of it on earth.
I cannot understand this kind of teaching that somehow or other we can drift through life as believers, learning of the Lord and knowing the Lord in a totally personal way, and then suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye when the Lord comes, we are all built together as a habitation in the most marvellous and sudden dramatic way.
The crabbiest, most awkward Christians suddenly get built together. I cannot understand it. We all know the kind of Christians who have spent their whole lives being awkward and difficult and self-centred. “Crabby” is the best word for it. And we are to believe that suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, they are marvellously changed and built together. It seems very strange to me.
Surely, if there is going to be a building together, the work has got to take place here and now. It has got to take place with us, and the Holy Spirit has got to do a work. This is not to say that it is not a personal work. It is a deep personal work, but God uses one another to do the work.
There are many other lines in which we could say the same thing. For instance, I must say this without trying to be cheap: if every Christian is going to sit on a throne and rule over this earth, God preserve it. That is the only thing I can say, knowing some Christians.
If it really means that automatically, just because we are saved, every Christian is going to sit on a golden throne and rule areas of the earth, then, I must say, the Lord preserve us. What kind of kingdom is it going to be?
The Bible does not say this. It says, “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” Here is an “if.”
The whole point is this: God never goes on title and position. He never goes on just something official. There is always character inside. We see this most beautifully in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course, He had the pedigree. Of course, He was great David’s greater Son. Of course, the Bible is at pains to point out that He is of the royal line of David. But the Father allowed the Lord Jesus to be divested of every single thing that this world calls royalty.
He was divested of everything: all the mystique of royalty, all that keeping at a distance, all that outward dignity, all that goes with the awe of majesty. He was divested of all—stripped naked, beaten black and blue, spat upon until the spittle covered His face, His beard plucked out, a crown of thorns jammed upon His head, a reed placed in His hand.
Almost unrecognisable as a human being, His visage more marred than any man. And in that moment the Lord Jesus was more King than at any other time in His whole life. His inner royalty came out.
He made that crown of thorns the most precious crown that any man has ever worn. He made that reed the most powerful sceptre that any king has ever held. Why? Because He had an inner quality. He is worthy to be King. He is not simply King because He is of the Davidic line; He is King because He has the inner character of King. It has been proved that He is King—King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now, dear child of God, if God would bring you and me, by His grace alone and through the finished work of our Lord Jesus, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to the throne, we too must have such an inner kingliness. We shall never be there simply because we are called kings unto God. We must have the inner quality of kings. We must have the character of the King in us.
This is true of everything else. It is true of this building work. If God is building living stones together on the foundation which is Jesus Christ, and seeking to cause us to be fitly framed and knit together, and to increase with the increase of God, it is not all going to happen in the twinkling of an eye at the coming of the Lord. It has got to happen now.
The Holy Spirit has got to do something with us. We have got to come to terms with one another, however ugly and difficult one another is.
Bad grammar—but do you understand what I am trying to say? The fact of the matter is that we are stuck with each other. By the grace of God, we have got to go through with each other and not just fragment and fragment and fragment and fragment again.
It is amazing to me to believe that one day we are all going to be this whole building, fitly framed together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord, when we cannot bear each other down here.
Only God can do a work in our hearts by His Spirit. First of all, I am sure, He must open our eyes to see that this matter of being built together is not a luxury; it is essential.
If you and I are really going to be in this city which is built together compact; if we are going to be this body of our Lord which is to grow up into Him as Head in all things; if we are to be the bride of the Lord, producing all that He is out of His life and character; if we are to be this holy temple of the Lord—then the work has got to be done down here in time and in place.
Having said that—and that is really quite a lot said—could we move on to 2 Chronicles 3?
You will see, and this is where I have something on my heart: “Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.” On Mount Moriah. The house of God was built on Mount Moriah.
The Scripture makes very much of this. You will remember that David found this spot as the site for the house of God through a sin which he committed and which, when finally he confessed, revealed to him that this was none other than the site of the house of God.
It is stressed here in 2 Chronicles 3:1 that Mount Moriah was the place where the house of God was built. Now, what do we know about Mount Moriah? If you turn to Genesis 22, of course we have the very well-known story of Abraham offering Isaac.
It was upon Mount Moriah that Abraham offered Isaac, his son. I think, therefore, we have here a most wonderful picture of Calvary. We have the Father offering His only Son.
You will note in Genesis 22 the interpretation that is given for Moriah. I do not quite understand, I must say honestly, the interpretation, because Moriah in Hebrew does not mean quite what they say. But the Bible says, in Genesis 22:14:
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
“In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Moriah, according to many, means, “The Lord provides.” The Scripture gives the interpretation: “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
But is this not marvellous? The Lord will provide. Where does the Lord provide? In some subjective experience of yours? Never. Where does the Lord provide? He provides through Calvary. He provides through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Son offered up by the Father for our sins.
“In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” The house of God is built on the mount in which it shall be provided. What shall be provided? Everything shall be provided. Your salvation shall be provided. Your justification shall be provided. Your sanctification shall be provided. Your anointing shall be provided. All the materials for the building will be provided. The grace to start the work, to develop the work, and to finish the work will all be provided in Mount Moriah.
Jehovah-jireh: the Lord will provide.
Here, child of God, do you realise that through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has, in one offering forever, provided every single thing any one of us needs to be saved, to serve God, and to be built together into the house of God? Everything you need.
Now, some of you will immediately say to me, “Well now, just wait, just wait, just wait. What about Pentecost?” Pentecost is important as power, but it comes out of Calvary. It is the outflow of Calvary. I will come to that in just one moment. Give me a chance.
The first thing is this: in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, every single thing that is required for the purpose of God to be fulfilled has been provided.
You are—well, let me put it this way—I am a worthless bit of clay, and so are you. We are worthless bits of clay.
Moses was only a thorn bush. The Lord did not take a palm tree. What a wonderful thing it would have been if He had blazed forth in glory from the top of some stately palm tree in the Sinai and said, “Moses, Moses, take off the shoes from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
The Lord could have looked down upon a palm tree; they are absolutely magnificent. We Bible students would have had a whale of a time taking the symbolism of the palm tree. We find palms in the temple, engraved everywhere.
Nor did the Lord take the acacia tree, which is the most common tree of all in the Sinai. He could have taken the shittim tree, the acacia tree. This would have been a marvellous thing for biblical exposition, because the tabernacle was made of this wood. We would have said, “Now you see, as the Lord appeared to Moses, He was telling him: ‘Moses, I am going to dwell in the midst of you.’”
But God took the commonest bush of all—a thorn bush. Even the camel turns up its nose at the thorn bush. Furthermore, it was a dried-up old thorn bush that had lived its life and died. Its resources were finished; its energy was burnt up. It was finished.
And because that dried-up old thorn bush had God Himself in it, Moses later said, “The grace of Him that dwelt in the bush.” Out of that common little cheap, vulgar, ugly bush, God chose to make one of the greatest encounters with any human being in world history.
“Moses, Moses,” He said, “take off the shoes from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Holy ground—a thorn bush. Holy ground.
Here, child of God, that is all you and I are. We are only thorn bushes. We think sometimes we are palm trees. We think sometimes we are acacia trees. We think we are something rather beautiful, something rather fine. God says, “No, you are not. You are just a common thorn bush to attend. No good for anything. Billions and billions and billions of you.”
But the wonder is this: God was saying to Moses, “Moses, you are only a thorn bush. You thought you were a palm tree when you started out and slew that Egyptian and said that you were to come as a deliverer to the people. You thought you were a palm tree. I reduced you to a thorn bush—forty years in the desert. It took Me to reduce you to a thorn bush, but you are only a thorn bush.”
“Now, Moses, I am going to get into you.” The bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. “You will remain what you are; I shall remain what I am. We together will do this work.”
Dear child of God, you and I are nothing. It sometimes takes us almost a lifetime to discover that we are nothing. We are only thorn bushes. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, the first thing you have got to come to is to be a thorn bush. Then later you may become an orator.
The thing is this: when you and I realise how utterly worthless we are, how insignificant we are, then this becomes so real to us: “How can I have any part in this building? How can I be built together as the habitation of God in the Spirit? I am only a common thorn bush. I am a worthless bit of clay, an insignificant bit of debris.”
But God says, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, He clothes you with the garments of salvation, and then He clothes you with the garments of praise. On top of the garments of salvation, He puts another covering upon you and gives you the garments of praise. He says, “Now come into Thy presence with boldness”—not because you are anything. You are still only an insignificant bit of clay, but now you are clothed in what Jesus Christ is.
You can come into the presence of God clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, dressed in all the excellencies of our God. God invites you. He says, “Do come in. Do not come in ashamed. Do not come in apologising. Come in with boldness into My presence, because in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Many believers think that justification belongs to the kindergarten. It does not. I believe that two-thirds of the problems—and there are plenty of Christian neurotics—two-thirds of our problems amongst believers go back to the matter of justification, not sanctification: justification.
So few people see what the Lord Jesus has done. They say, “Now I am saved, now I leave all that behind.” Justification is tremendous. Many a saint comes into deliverance through simply seeing what the Lord Jesus has done with them at the cross—what He has done with their sin and done with them.
Do you understand? “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Dear child of God, you may be the most hopeless human being on this globe. You may be a person with a depraved background. You may be a person who is so unstable that, well, we can say no more: you are so unstable.
But listen: “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” If you will believe it and take the provision, you shall come into the presence of the Lord, and you shall be involved in this building work of God.
There is much more than that. There is this whole matter of the indwelling of Christ. How can the Lord get into me and dwell in me? How can I know His resurrection life and power in me? In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
What is the problem? All the materials—we are talking spiritually—all the materials for the building of the house, gold, precious stones, silver, whatever it is that goes into the building of the house, everything is Christ. All those qualities of Christ are in His eternal life, in His nature, in His life.
Now the thing is to get the life flowing, is it not? It is to get the life flowing. That is more than just being saved. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”
Once you have got the life flowing, you have got the materials for the city. God starts to do the work in you of producing the materials for the city.
Most of us feel, “How can the Lord dwell in me?” But, dear child of God, the problem is “I,” is it not? The thing that jams up the whole life of God is my self-centredness. We can get saved, but still be very self-centred. The whole world revolves around us. Everything revolves around us. I am the centre. Heaven, the kingdom, the throne—they are all there for me.
How can we get rid of it? Is there anyone here, I wonder, who is wrestling with this problem?
I remember when I was a young believer, first saved for four years, I wrestled with this problem of me. I tried to Christianise myself. I beat myself into prayer. I beat myself into Bible study. I beat myself into witnessing.
I remember the students at the college I was at were terrified of me. I always got a portion of the student common room to myself. Whenever I went down a corridor, if anyone was coming out, they just vanished into doors. This was because I had adopted John Wesley’s plan of at least buttonholing one person a day about their soul’s salvation. I did it with great gusto, and the result was that everyone was very afraid.
My problem was that I could not get rid of me. I did everything. I tried to Christianise myself. I tried to make myself a really good Christian. I taught myself biblical knowledge, and I prayed, and I witnessed, and I did everything until I felt hopeless.
I shall never forget the day when I saw two things. The first was this: the Spirit of God is in you, and He is there to reproduce the character and life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was just like a revelation of God. I thought, “What a fool I have been. It is the Holy Spirit, is it? Then why am I trying to do the work? He is there to reproduce the life of Christ.”
“Well, You had the keys. I took You and locked You up in the attic. You have just been locked up, as it were. I have been doing all the work without Your help. Now You do the work, and I will cooperate.”
The second thing was—and here is the whole problem for me—I saw that I was crucified with Christ. When Christ was crucified, I was crucified. I thought it was not a question of trying to be crucified. It was not a question of attaining to it. I saw that it was done.
The moment the Lord Jesus was crucified, at that moment I was crucified with Him. I died with Him. Why, it was a revelation to me. It was like a great load lifted off my back. I thought, “For the first time I can become myself.”
Most believers suffer from being artificial. It is not deliberate, but they have to try to be like the rest. It is awfully hard. You know, you have to have that smile at the right times, and you have got to have that holy look at the right times, and you have got to say “Amen” at the right time, and you have got to have the biblical words and the right phraseology, or someone may pounce upon you to give you a lecture.
It is a kind of artificiality. It is not that we deliberately want to be hypocrites; we are unwitting hypocrites. We cannot help it. We come in and feel we have got to be something.
But when we see we have been crucified with Christ, and there is what Christ is in us that matters, then we can relax. We can become ourselves, warts and all. It is just as simple as that.
We come down to the level of reality. That does not mean that you can inflict yourself upon everybody—not at all. It means that God will have to deal with you and with me. But the fact is, we are ourselves. “I am what I am by the grace of God.”
This is what the apostle Paul meant in Romans 12:3:
For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith.
If your measure of faith is small, thank God for that: you have got a measure of faith. Let that be the real thing, because that is the only thing that matters. Do not try to inflate it. Do not try to make an artificial standard.
“In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Have you got a trouble with yourself? After all, that is the problem, is it not? How can we all be built together when someone says, “I,” and someone else says, “I,” and someone says, “I”? “I feel. I know. I disagree. I have it from the Lord.”
That, you will know, is a United Nations. You never get anywhere with that. You have got “I”s all over the place. How can you bind “I”s together?
But when you say, “I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ,” then there is a plenty. It is not that we lose our originality or our personality. These things are given to us by God, to be broken, then moulded, and to come into their own. There is a right spontaneity, and God get us all there—to the right kind of living and normal life.
But the fact is, it is Christ. Christ in you. Christ Who is the power and the dynamic. In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
Have you got a problem with yourself? Thank God, you are crucified with Christ. In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
The moment you go down, the life of God starts to flow.
He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
All you have to do is believe into Him. Believe on Him. Rivers of living water flow out. Do you understand? You die; out comes the life.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We have got the treasure inside if Christ is within, but how can the treasure within come out? How can it be communicated? Only when we bear in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also might be manifested.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
Death in us, life in you. If every one of us knew and experienced that, would it not be marvellous? Every one of us would be building one another up.
I think you have heard the old Jewish story of the rabbi who dreamt a dream and saw in the kingdom of heaven a whole lot of people around a table eating. The angels brought the food and put it in a bowl for every one of them, and then brought them spoons two yards long.
They had a terrible job, because each one was trying to eat. He was sticking his spoon handle in the eye of the one next to him. They were having a terrible time—until one suddenly started to feed the man opposite. Then they all began to feed one another, and then there was no problem.
That is the kingdom of heaven. It is a little lesson for you and me. It means simply this: if only we were all to know what it is to be crucified with Christ, that in the mount of the Lord it has been provided, if it was an actual experience, there would be just enough life in you, and every one of us would be giving life to the rest. Think what that would be.
Now, what about the anointing of the Holy Spirit? There is an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Let us make no mistake about that. There is a real anointing of the Holy Spirit. There is a power, an empowering of the Holy Spirit, that comes upon us.
This also is through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we look at Acts 2:33:
This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.
How did the Lord Jesus receive the promise of the Father? The Lord Jesus—not you, not me—the Lord Jesus has received the promise of the Father. What is the promise of the Father? The promise of the Father is the promise of the Holy Spirit.
How has the Lord Jesus received the promise of the Father? Through His finished work. He has appeared before the face of God for us.
The Lord Jesus did not need the promise of the Holy Spirit. He was already born of the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit. By the Spirit He had offered Himself unto God without spot or blemish. Through the Spirit He had been raised from the dead.
But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you…
So He did not need the promise of the Father. For whom, then, did He receive this? For you and for me. He received it on the basis of His finished work.
So, dear child of God, you can strive and strive and strain and strain, but you will never enter into the empowering of the Holy Spirit until you see that it is your birthright. It belongs to you through the finished work of the Lord.
“In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” We need the Holy Spirit if we are going to know what it is to be built together. If we are going to know the clothing and equipment for the building work, we need the Holy Spirit. We need Him in every single aspect of the work of God.
Will you also note that this house is built on Ornan’s threshing floor? Turn back to 2 Chronicles 3. I wonder why it makes so much of Ornan’s threshing floor.
There is one thing that comes to me in a solemn way, and it is this: there can be no sin if there is to be any building. There can be no sin if there is to be any building.
Ornan’s threshing floor was the scene of David’s collapse, the scene of David’s collapse. He numbered the people of God, and it was there he saw the angel of the Lord standing with His sword drawn, ready to wreak havoc in Jerusalem.
You remember how the prophet Gad went to David and said, “David, you have sinned.” There were two of three things the Lord said. You remember David’s reply. Do you remember I said yesterday that answers reveal the kind of person you are, even in your sin?
When God said this to David, David said, “I will not choose. Let the Lord choose. It is better to fall into the hands of the living God.”
If you want to look at this, it is in 1 Chronicles 21, the twenty-first chapter of the first book of Chronicles.
There is a threshing floor connected with building. The altar was built on the site of the threshing floor.
Where there is sin, the sin has to be confessed. Once it is confessed, there is that threshing. What does God do in threshing? He separates the chaff from the wheat. What does God do in threshing? He separates the chaff from the wheat.
A good example of this is in Luke 22:31-32:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat:
But I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not: and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.
“Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat.” Is this not exactly 1 Chronicles 21? Satan got permission to do something, and it was Satan that caused David to number the people of God. The greatest of us can fall.
There has to be this sifting. The wonderful thing, of course, as I am sure has often been pointed out to you, is that in the end Satan gets the chaff and God gets the wheat.
C. T. Studd once said that Satan was God’s greatest servant, because God uses him more than anyone else to do His work. Think that one out.
Once sin is confessed, then the scene becomes a place of building. Here, child of God, if there is sin in your life, get it settled. Get it settled. It will effectively put you out of the building. Get it settled.
Then, when it is settled, the very scene of your sin will become the scene of the building. The grace of God is so great that He turns the whole thing round and makes the scene of your fall the scene of your building into God’s home in the Spirit.
May the Lord help you.
Lastly this morning, one other little point I will just mention here. When David saw this at Ornan’s threshing floor, he offered a burnt offering, and he would not offer that which cost him nothing. He paid for it.
This comes right back again to this simple little matter: dear friend, dear child of God, you can know all about this matter of the church. You can know all about this matter of being built together. You can know all about the matter of fellowship and other things. But unless you are prepared to be a burnt offering, unless you are prepared to present your body a living sacrifice unto God, holy and acceptable to Him, there will be no building.
There can be no building. The church was never a platform for our ministries. The church was never just a place for the exhibition of our gifts. The church was never a place for mere self-satisfaction and self-fulfilment. The church is to be a home for God in the Spirit, and the gateway into it is that we must lay down our lives.
That is why it says in 1 John 3:16—which I always find rather remarkable. We all know John 3:16. First John 3:16 seems to be the marvellous complement:
Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Only when we are prepared to lay down our lives can there be a building. Have you laid down? Do I?
The last point I would like to make this morning is that this house is built on the foundation. Now, that seems to be quite a simple statement. In 2 Chronicles 3, we read:
Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God.
The rabbis tell us that part of Mount Moriah was levelled in order to lay this foundation. It was a very big job. A huge platform was laid upon Mount Moriah. Only one crag, apparently, was left exactly as it was, and that was literally Ornan’s threshing floor. The rest was levelled, and huge stones—enormous blocks—were laid into position.
Now, this was a very great and solid foundation. Dear child of God, the Father, God, has laid for us a very great and solid foundation.
In 1 Corinthians 3:11, we read:
For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Here is our foundation: a sure and certain foundation. No one can undo it. It has been laid by God, and the building has got to take place on that foundation.
The basis of all God’s building work is that foundation, which is Jesus Christ. The basis of all our fellowship is Jesus Christ.
So may I ask you one very simple question: what is the foundation upon which you are meeting together? Wherever you meet—whether it is in homes, whether it is in a hall, whether it is a large meeting or a small meeting—what is the foundation?
Is it something less than God’s foundation? Or is it something more than God’s foundation? If it is less than God’s foundation, God will not fill it. If it is more than God’s foundation, God will not fill it. It must be exactly on the foundation of God.
What is the foundation of God? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the foundation of God.
The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2:
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
That is my basis. I am not going to discuss Peter’s party, or Apollos’ party, or the exclusive party, or my own party, which I am afraid has been formed around things.
The apostle Paul says, “I am here to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” If there are people here who say they belong to Peter’s party, I ignore that. They are my brothers and sisters. I refuse to say, “You belong to Saint Peter’s.” I am here to know Christ.
If there are people who say they belong to Apollos, that Apollos’ teaching ministry comes from the centre—no, no, no. You are mine, and I am yours, because you are in Christ. That is the foundation of God.
Even those who say, “We are the church—the exclusive. We are Christ.” Then we put a little rope around and say, “Now the rest of you are outside because you are a bit unclean. When we have inspected you, we will get you in, if we feel you pass the test.”
Oh, says the apostle Paul, that is narrower than God. All these others are still in Christ. God has not rejected them. They are still in Christ.
They have put more to the foundation. Their foundation is Jesus Christ plus Peter’s teaching, Jesus Christ plus Apollos’ emphasis, Jesus Christ plus Paul’s revelation, or Jesus Christ less the party of Apollos, Peter, and Paul. None of it is such.
The foundation is Jesus Christ. That is the basis.
Our basis must not be teaching. Our basis must not be methods. Our basis must not be technique. Our basis must not be personalities. Our basis must not be tradition. Our basis must not be experiences as such.
The teachings may be biblical. I have known companies divide on small details about whether we are going to go through the tribulation or not. If the Lord had wanted to clear up this problem, He could have given us a very clear chapter on whether we would go through the tribulation or not. But He did not.
Why? Because He wanted to keep us in a state of expectancy, so that we were on our tiptoes. Any time the Lord might come. The whole emphasis of the Word of God is: watch and pray. Watch and pray.
Do not get all absorbed with whether we are going to go through, whether we are going to go before, whether we are going to go during, whether it is going to be a partial rapture or a complete rapture, or the rest of it. Watch and pray.
Of course, we have our own feelings about these matters, but they are not causes for division. If someone speaks in tongues, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. If it is the real thing, I am not going to divide on that.
Someone speaks in tongues. People sometimes come around and say, “They speak in tongues at Richmond.” Evidently that is the most terrible thing in the whole wide world. When they ask us, I always refuse to answer. So what?
Actually, we do not have a lot of it publicly. But “forbid not to speak with tongues.” It is of God.
There are many other things too. You cannot just cut a line because they are out. “You have been baptised again? Out.” You cannot do it. Has God received them?
The extent of our fellowship is found in Romans 15:7:
Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.
How did God receive you? How did God receive me? He received you as a sinner saved by His grace. That was the minimum. That is how He saved you. That is how He saved me.
He did not save me by saying, “Now, you are going to go right off. I will tell you, you really are going to see this, and if you do not see that, it is not right.” No. The Lord received a little weak cry.
I prayed the most unscriptural prayer in my case that it is possible to pray. I said, “Oh God, if there is a God, will You please do with me what You did in somebody else?” That was a very unscriptural prayer, and God saved me.
So if God receives me on that basis, cannot you receive me? You say, “No, no, no, we have got to be careful.” Very well, then I am in a most extraordinary position: the God of all heaven has received me, and you, who have been saved by the same work that saved me, will not receive me.
What can we do?
It also says, of course—this whole part of Romans is about this—in Romans 14:1:
But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples.
That is how my version puts it. More modern versions have, “not to disputes over doubtful matters,” or “not for the investigation of his conscience.” Oh, wonderful words. Do we not investigate one another’s consciences?
“Does he smoke? Oh, I will give him a little tract on lung cancer and smoking. Is he worthy? Oh my word. We will get so-and-so along, invite him to supper. We will get so-and-so along and get her to give her testimony.” All arranged beautifully to be spontaneous.
The poor person is there nearly dying a million deaths while we investigate their conscience. God has not raised this problem. God has not raised it, but we are. Before the Holy Spirit even as much as breathes, we are blowing like a gale on them.
Or we say, “Now look here, have you come into this experience? Have you come into that experience? My word, it will change your life. You have got a habit.”
Why do we not let God do His work? Why do we not love one another? Why do we not receive one another? Why do we not care for one another?
The most helpful people I have ever known have been the people who received me just for what I am in the Lord. Then I found what freedom was, because you do not feel you are being manipulated. You do not feel you are being pushed and pressurised. You are just yourself, and you can grow in the Lord.
When the problem comes, you go to those people and ask them. Or when they do speak, you are thankful for it. How lovely real fellowship is.
The apostle Paul puts it again in Philippians 3:15:
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you.
He is not going to argue about it.
Now, he talks about some things that would have put him, honestly, if they were not in Scripture, out of many fellowships. How can you talk about winning Christ when he is already saved? How can you talk about this out-resurrection from the dead? That sounds dangerous. And attaining to it—do we not all get raised willy-nilly? What is he talking about?
These things would have put him out if they were not in Scripture. No wonder all the churches in Asia turned away from him.
But he says, “I am not going to argue about this matter. Those of us who are going right on with the Lord, we are thus minded. And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you.” I will leave it to God.
Only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
If God has dealt with you about worldliness, never go back on it. If God has dealt with you about something, certainly never go back on it. Walk according to the rule whereunto God has brought you.
But do not expect someone else who has just come in—do not try to propel them onto your rules. Do not do it. Let them go. Let them grow.
Sometimes, you know, with those of us who are older, the best way for the cross to work in us is to take our hands off another life. There is so much flesh in those of us who are older in the Lord, and we do not even realise it. We think we are doing the work of God, but, my word, our clammy hands get on some poor young believer, and there we are trying to manipulate them and push them and engineer them.
Now someone will say, “Then are we not to care for one another?” Of course we are to care for one another. We are to love one another. But I want to suggest that if we really loved one another, we would not manipulate one another.
If we really prayed for one another as much as the Lord cares for us, then I think we would have a tender sensitiveness for one another. We would receive one another as the Lord receives.
What is this foundation? Christ. I am in Christ. He is in Christ. She is in Christ. Do we all have tailor-made Christs? No.
Have I a Lutheran type of Christ, and has he an Episcopalian Christ, and has another a Methodist Christ, and another a Brethren Christ? No. There is only one Christ. He is neither Catholic nor Protestant. He is neither Lutheran nor Episcopalian. He is neither Brethren nor exclusive. He is the Christ, and we are all in that Christ.
Then he says, “Ah, the Christ lives in me.” And another says, “That is extraordinary—He lives in me.” And she says, “Well now, I am making a discovery: He lives in me also.”
What has happened? We are all in the one Christ, and the one Christ is in all of us. Here is our foundation.
This is the foundation for our gathering together, whatever it is: small meetings, large meetings, home meetings, meetings in halls, or whatever it is. Our foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to find one another in Him and to love everybody who is really born of Him.
It is inclusive of everyone born of God and exclusive of everyone who is not. That is our foundation.
May the Lord help us. May we know what it is to find that in the mount of the Lord it is provided. It is all provided in and through the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ.