Sunday Evening, February 8, 1976 — Richmond, Virginia
Ministry through Stephen Kong
We do thank the Lord that we are here together in His presence. I would like to read a few passages from the Scriptures.
Who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount.
See that thou make all things according to the pattern which hath been shown thee in the mount.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly:
wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God;
for He hath prepared for them a city.
According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation;
and another buildeth thereon.
But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
each man’s work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire;
and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:
but he himself shall be saved;
yet so as through fire.
Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy;
for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye.
Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it:
except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
Our Father, we have read high words. And now we do ask that Thou wilt breathe upon Thy Word and make it living, real, and operative to each of us.
We ask Thee to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know Thee; that we may know Thy mind; that we may know what Thou art doing; that we may know what we are doing; and that we may do Thy will.
We just commit this time into Thy hands and ask Thy blessing, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have read a number of passages, and you will notice that in all these passages one thought runs through all of them. That thought is the thought of building.
Yet you will find, in some passages, that the Builder is God. The Builder is Christ. In other passages, you will find that the builder is you and me.
God is building. The Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” God is the Builder of the city which hath foundations. God Himself is building.
Yet you will find that we also are building. A foundation is already laid, which is none other than Jesus Christ. Then each of us is building upon that foundation. We are building the temple of God, the house of God.
Are we building the same building? Or do we build something different from what God is building? May we say that what God builds and what we build are actually one building, one thing? But are they really the same? This is something that we would like to fellowship about this afternoon.
After Peter confessed the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said, “Thou art Peter; thou art a stone. I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The Lord said, “I will build.” He Himself undertakes the work of building the church. Even though all the gates of Hades are open, they cannot prevail against what the Lord has built.
In other words, what the Lord is building is so perfect that Satan can find no flaw, no loophole, nowhere that he can prevail over it.
But immediately after the Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock,” He began to share with His disciples how He would go to Jerusalem, be killed, and on the third day be raised from the dead. Immediately, you remember Peter. Out of his good heart, he took hold of our Lord and said, “No, Lord. Do not do that. Be kind to Yourself.”
The Lord had just said, “Thou art Peter; thou art a stone. I will build you, with others of course, upon a foundation which is your confession.” But only a few minutes later, you find the gate of Hades as if it had prevailed over Peter.
But thank God, it prevailed over Peter, yet it did not prevail over the church that Christ is building. Immediately, you find the Lord saying, “Get thee behind Me, Satan. Thou art a stumbling block unto Me.”
The Lord is building with Peter, yes; but the Lord is building with Himself in Peter, not just Peter. The gates of Hades can prevail over Peter, but they can never prevail over the Christ who is in Peter.
Our Lord Jesus is building His church with nothing but Himself. It is Himself in Peter; it is Himself in you; it is Himself in me. As we break the bread, you have a portion and I have a part of that loaf. You have a part of Christ; I have a part of Christ.
It is with that part of Christ in all of us that He is building His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Why? Because the church that He builds is nothing but an expansion of Himself.
Whatever the Lord builds, whenever He builds, it is always perfect. There can be no spot, no wrinkle, nor any such thing; but it will be a glorious church, presentable to Himself.
Can you imagine that the Lord is building His church and He builds something wrong? He builds it imperfectly, so that it has to be corrected and changed? Can you imagine flaws and loopholes for the enemy to attack and even to prevail? It cannot be.
Whatever the Lord lays His hand upon and builds, it has to be perfect. It needs no alteration, no adjustment. It is perfect and complete, and the enemy cannot prevail against it.
Let me go even a step further. The Lord said, “I will build My church.” That is in future tense. The Lord is going to build. He has to deal first, probably, with Peter, and then with other living stones. So far as we understand, the Lord is still building His church today.
Then in Ephesians 5, you find that one day, after He has purified His church by the washing of water with the Word, it will become a glorious church and be presented to Him as His bride.
So, in one sense, we say that the Lord is now building, now purifying, now working, until the church becomes a glorious church fit to be presented to Himself as His bride. But that is only in relation to us, because we are human beings and He is working with us.
Therefore, you find that time and space factors are involved for us. But so far as God is concerned, He is forever now. There is no past; there is no future. It is always now.
In other words, when God conceives a thought, it is already done.
Even before the foundation of the world, God conceived a thought concerning a mystery, and that mystery is called the mystery of the Christ. It is the church. Even before the foundation of the world, God conceived in His mind the church.
When was that church completed? It was completed the moment He conceived the thought. It is as good as done. Why? Because God is not restricted, limited, or circumscribed by time or space.
In Hebrews 11, you find that Abraham was waiting for the city which hath foundations, the city of which God is the Architect and also the Builder. Even Abraham, in his time, was waiting for that city.
Was it because the city was not yet built, and therefore he had to wait? Not at all. Immediately after that, in verse 16, we are told that God is not ashamed to be called their God, because He hath prepared for them a city. He hath prepared it.
So far as God is concerned, that city with foundations is already present. Abraham was not waiting for God to complete that city; he was waiting for us. He would not be completed without us.
Actually, Abraham was waiting for us, not waiting for God to complete the city. The city was as good as already completed. Dear brothers and sisters, I know probably it is a little difficult to comprehend, but that is the truth.
So far as we are concerned, there is always a time factor and a space factor involved. But with God, He is eternal. He is forever now. Because of that, when God conceives something, it is done. It is done.
When God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle, God said, “See that thou make everything according to the heavenly pattern that I have shown thee on the mount.”
In other words, the tabernacle that Moses built was built according to the pattern in heaven. There was a pattern in heaven, and Moses was building according to that pattern.
Now the question is: did the tabernacle Moses built come first, or did the pattern in heaven exist first? Of course, if Moses built according to the heavenly pattern, then that pattern must already have been there in heaven.
What Moses built was just a representation and a shadow of the reality that is in heaven. There is a reality in heaven. There is a tabernacle in heaven. There is a pattern in heaven.
That reality in heaven existed even before the foundation of the world. It is there—always there. One day God told Moses, “Now you build a tabernacle on earth,” and that tabernacle was according to the heavenly pattern because it was only a representation and a shadow of heavenly things.
Brothers and sisters, with God there is a reality, and that reality exists. With God, it is there. Whenever God conceives a thought, whenever God purposes a purpose, it is already there, full and complete.
So far as God is concerned, it does not take time to complete it. It is complete. It is perfect. It is complete. That is reality. That is spiritual reality, and spiritual reality is eternal.
It is according to that reality in heaven that Moses built the tabernacle on earth. Why? Because it was but a representation and a shadow of the heavenly reality. God’s word to Moses was, “See that thou make everything according to the pattern, as I have shown thee on the mount.”
The tabernacle that Moses built was made with gold, silver, linen, wood, and all kinds of things. But this was but a shadow. The physical is but a shadow, but a representation. The real thing is in heaven—not with gold and silver and wood and stone as we see today, but with a spiritual reality that God has in heaven.
Moses was to build everything according to the pattern. Why? Because if he did not, he would commit the sin of misrepresentation. The sin of misrepresentation is a great sin in the sight of God.
You remember that once Moses misrepresented God by getting angry. The children of Israel had no water. They cried, complained, and murmured. God told Moses to take the rod from before the ark, go to the rock, speak to the rock, and water would come forth.
But Moses was provoked in his spirit. He went to the rock and smote it twice with the rod. He scolded the children of Israel and said, “Ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?” Moses committed the sin of misrepresentation. He misrepresented God, and he was not allowed to enter into the promised land.
Thank God, Moses built the tabernacle just as he was shown the heavenly pattern, to the minutest details. There was no misrepresentation in the tabernacle, and the shadow was the exact shadow of the reality in heaven.
You know, brothers and sisters, we are all building. We are all building. The foundation is already laid, which is none other than Jesus Christ.
We have believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior, as the Christ, as the Son of the living God. The foundation is already laid in each one of us. After we are saved, we are all building upon that foundation.
Not in the sense that each of us is building his own house. Actually, we are building one house together: the temple of God. You are building on the same foundation; I am building on the same foundation; and actually we are building the same house.
We are building together. Paul is like a foreman. Actually, “master builder” or “master architect” is not exactly the right expression, because God is the Architect. Paul is a foreman, and we are laborers. We are all laboring together, building the house of God upon that foundation.
Now, when it comes to us, time and space are involved. We are all building upon that foundation, but the thing is: be careful how we build upon that foundation.
Several things are involved. Number one: how can we build rightly if we do not see the reality? In other words, if you want to build, you have first to see the pattern.
If you do not see the pattern, how are you going to build? You have to build according to what you think it should be, and of course that is guesswork. Probably nine times out of ten it will be wrong. The chance is very slim that you will build what the pattern really tells you.
So first of all, you need to know what the pattern is.
The second question is: what materials are you using? You may use gold, silver, and precious stones, or you may use wood, hay, and stubble.
Gold, silver, and precious stones speak of that which is of God. Gold speaks of the nature of God. Silver speaks of the redemption of Christ. Precious stones speak of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Or you may build with wood, hay, and stubble. These speak of the nature of man. Man is like wood, like trees. The glory of man is like grass, which soon fades away and withers. The work of man is like straw.
So you can build upon the foundation with that which is of man and not of God.
Number three: when you build, where do you build? You may build a partition where there should be open space. You will be building in the wrong place.
If you are building in the wrong place, even if the material is right, it has to be torn down and corrected.
Lastly, you may build so independently that you are not thinking of the other parts of the building. You may build very diligently and with the right material, but when it is finished, it cannot fit with the other parts of the building.
So you find that lots of problems are involved. When God builds what He builds, there is no problem, because whatever God builds is perfect—not only perfect, but complete. But when it comes to our building, you find that we have lots of problems.
Are we building the same building, or are we building different buildings? I think this is something that we really need to consider before the Lord.
Sometimes I wonder: will God ever be able to have a church, a holy habitation, something that really satisfies His heart, in which He can dwell forever as His eternal home? Will God ever be able to have such a thing?
The more you know about Christianity today, the more you know about yourself, the more you know about what we are doing here on earth, probably sooner or later you begin to wonder: will God ever be able to have what He purposed even before the foundation of the world?
Recently I have been asked this question in different places where I travel. People ask, “Will God ever get what He wants? Is there any hope? There does not seem to be any possibility.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, may we be comforted with the thought that God already has it. You are afraid that God may not be able to have it, but thank God, He already has it. It is already there.
There is a reality which is already there. It is always there with God. Do not be fearful for God. It is there.
Now the problem is not with God; the problem is with us. We are supposed to build the same building. But what has happened? What has happened?
As the sun rises, it begins to shine upon a substance and casts a shadow on the earth. When the sun rises higher and higher until it reaches its meridian, where is the shadow? The shadow disappears in the substance.
You know, this is what is happening today. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, we read:
For now we see in a mirror, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.
We see now through a dim window. Some translations say, “through an opaque glass.” It is a semi-transparent glass. In old days they did not have transparent glass as we have now, so they used a kind of opaque material, or even metal, to reflect an image.
Here Paul says that we see through a dim window, obscurely. When you see through a dim window, you see somewhat of an outline, but you see only dimly—not too clearly.
But if you receive more light, and when you have full revelation and full light, then you see the real thing.
Another passage is 2 Corinthians 3:18:
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as from the Lord the Spirit.
First, there is a reality in heaven. It is always there, always perfect, and already complete. Brothers and sisters, we need to grasp this, because if we do not, we have no anchor—no anchor.
Everything will seem to depend upon us. But no, everything depends upon God. With God there is a reality, and that reality is ever present, full and complete.
So far as the church that God conceived in His mind before the foundation of the world is concerned, dear brothers and sisters, it is already there, full and complete. God already has it. That is the reality, and that is something we have to grasp.
But how do we see that reality? We need light. That is the second thing: we need light. As light shines upon the reality, it casts a shadow.
Strictly speaking, what we profess to see is probably the shadow of the reality. We say we have seen the purpose of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, we have seen something. We have seen that God has a purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the ages, and that it concerns the church—an eternal home for God and man.
But have we seen the reality? Probably all we see is the shadow of that reality. We see it dimly, and because we see dimly, when we build, we build vaguely.
There are many places where we do not know how to build and what to build because we do not see. But as the light continues to shine, and when the light comes to its full meridian, then, thank God, the shadow disappears in the reality. It is real. It is real.
Oftentimes, brothers and sisters, we are playing with a shadow. As little children, we often play with a shadow. We try to catch our shadow and step on it. Sometimes I wonder whether we are playing with a shadow.
There is a reality there. The light has come. Dimly we see something; maybe it is just a shadow. We are playing with that shadow, and we are building accordingly.
That is the reason why, when we build, it cannot be perfect. We make lots of mistakes. We cause lots of problems. We have to be corrected, torn down sometimes, and rebuilt. Why? Because we see dimly.
We need more light. As more light is given, then we come closer to the reality in our building, until, by the grace of God, one day it disappears in the reality.
A month ago, I was asked to speak to a group of Chinese believers. They gave me a topic. Sometimes, when people give me a topic to speak on, I am not that free. The topic was, “The Perfect Church.”
How was I going to speak on that topic? I waited before the Lord and said, “Lord, where is the perfect church? I cannot find it on earth. How am I going to speak on the perfect church?”
The Lord said, “The perfect church is there in heaven. It is always there.” Even though on earth you cannot find the perfect church, in heaven it is always there.
The most perfect church that you can find is the church in Philadelphia. Of the seven churches, five churches were reproached by the Lord. One church was not reproached, but only one church was praised with no reproach, and that was the church in Philadelphia.
If you want to find a perfect church, the church in Philadelphia is the most perfect church. But even to that church there was a warning. The Lord said, “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.”
Yes, you have your crown now, but you may lose it. There is a danger of losing it. Nothing is perfect, brothers and sisters, wherever human hands come. Nothing is perfect.
If you are looking for a perfect church on earth, forget about it. You will not find it. I have seen some perfectionists wandering all over the world trying to find a perfect church with which to identify, but they cannot find it. It is nowhere on the earth.
But that does not mean that it does not exist. It always is there with God.
What we are doing here is this: “See that thou do everything according to the pattern that hath been shown thee in heaven.”
One day, the shadow will disappear in the substance. Even though today it is as if we are playing with the shadow, be careful how you play with it.
How we need, first of all, for the Lord to give us more light. Do not say, “I have seen it all. I have known it all.” No, we have not. Today we are just looking through a dim window, vaguely. Even when we behold the glory of the Lord, it is as in a mirror.
But thank God, even so, we are transformed. We are transformed. The Spirit of God is working. But, dear brothers and sisters, how we need to be humbled before God.
If anyone thinks that he has seen fully, he is deceiving himself. The light has shone, no doubt about that. It shines on the reality, and it has cast a shadow on earth. We have seen something.
But, dear brothers and sisters, how we need to be humbled before God and ask the Lord to give us more light. We need more light. We see an outline, like what you see in a shadow, but even that outline is not complete.
We need to ask the Lord to give us more light. With more light, we may be able to see more. The shadow begins to shorten and shorten and shorten until it fades in the reality. Actually, brothers and sisters, that is what is happening.
So the first thing we need before the Lord is always to be humble and open, asking the Lord to give us more light.
The Lord gives grace to the humble, and He resists the proud. There is a real danger for people who have seen something. If we are totally blind, there is no way for us to be boastful. But if we can see a little bit, that is the danger.
We are like that man whom the Lord healed. When the Lord first touched the man, the man said, “I see.” But what did he see? He saw men moving around like trees. He saw dimly. He needed the second touch of the Lord.
With that second touch, he saw men as men, no longer as trees. Sometimes we thank the Lord that He has given us some light, and we say, “Oh, praise God, I see.” But, brothers and sisters, we are like that blind man who does see, but sees dimly.
It is the shadow of the reality, yes. Something real is there, but it is just the shadow. We need the second touch of the Lord. We need more touches from the Lord, that we may see the shadow begin to shorten and the substance begin to appear, until we really touch the reality.
That is something we need to be very careful about.
Number two: how we need to be faithful to whatever is shown. If we are not faithful to what has already been shown, how can God give us more light?
The reason why we do not receive more light is not because God does not give light. It is because God is waiting for us to be faithful to the light that has already been given.
If we are faithful to the light God has already given us, then He will give us more light. So, brothers and sisters, the second thing is that we need to be faithful to the light which has already been given. Are we faithful?
Number three: we need to be careful as to how we build upon the foundation. With the vision that is given, are we building upon it with gold, silver, and precious stones—things that come from God—or are we building with what comes out of ourselves?
The fire will test it. Now, the fire in 1 Corinthians 3, we believe, is not a physical fire. The fire in 1 Corinthians 3, we believe, is God Himself, because God is a consuming fire.
In other words, at the judgment seat of Christ, everything will be measured by God Himself. Christ will be the rod to measure everything. If it does not measure up to Christ, it will be burned.
Even though a man is saved, he may be barely saved—barely saved.
How we need to live every day in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. Brothers and sisters, one day we who are the Lord’s will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
It is true that we will not be judged on the issue of eternal life or eternal death. The judgment is already passed. The judgment of the great white throne—the judgment of life and death—is already past so far as we are concerned, because Christ was judged in our stead on Calvary’s cross for us.
Therefore, anyone who believes in the Lord has passed out of death into life, and that judgment is already passed. We will not be judged before the great white throne.
But that does not mean there will be no judgment. As the family of God, one day we shall all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. It is not a throne; it is a seat—a bema, a lifted place where the head of the family judges the members of the family.
As the family of God, we will all appear at the judgment seat of Christ, and we will be judged and measured. We will either receive reward or suffer loss.
That is why today we should not wait until that day, because if we wait until that day, it is too late. Today, we should live in the light of the judgment seat of that day.
If we live today in this manner, then we will not be judged at that time. In other words, it is already judged today. How we need always to be before the Lord and let the Lord judge us today with the light of the judgment seat of Christ.
That is the manner in which we should build. There is no guarantee that what we build will not be torn down. No guarantee. We may think that we are building according to the pattern, but when we have more light, we may see that we are not.
We need to be adjusted. We need to be corrected. Some things need to be torn down and rebuilt. But, dear brothers and sisters, if we build in this manner, you will find that, so far as human beings are concerned, by the grace of God we can build as close to the reality as possible.
Until one day, it disappears in the reality.
There is something that I do not know whether I should share or not, because I am not too sure about it. Well, I will lay it out, and if I am wrong, please correct me. It is just something; forgive me.
I wonder whether we can put it this way. Oftentimes we use these two terms: “universal church” and “local church.” Actually, in the Bible you do not find these two terms. The church is the church.
But the Bible does show us that the church has two aspects. That is true. For instance, in Matthew 16, the Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Of course, you think of the universal church.
The Lord Himself is building the church universally, with living stones throughout all the ages. He is building all these living stones into the universal church upon Himself. It is so triumphant that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. That is the universal church.
But what are we building? What are we actually involved with? Are we building the universal church? May I say that we are building the local church? I wonder whether that is correct.
We are limited by time and space. We are actually involved in the building of the local church. Sometimes we think we are building the universal church, but then we are hanging in the air. How are you going to build the universal church?
When you come down to earth, when you come down to time, what are we building? We are building the local church. Is that not true?
We are building together: fitly framed, rightly joined, exhorting one another, loving one another, bearing one another, helping one another. We are building that house. It is the local church that we are building. That is practical.
If we say we are building the universal church and we do not lay our hands upon the local church, what are we building? Nothing. Nothing.
That is the reason why the local church is so essential. You are not able to build the universal church. Christ builds it. God builds it. He builds the city with foundations. He does not entrust that to you and me. He does it Himself.
What we are actually working on is the building of the local church. It is in the local church that you find so much imperfection, because we are building. It is so imperfect. It needs to be corrected and adjusted all the time.
But thank God for one thing: whatever we build in the local church that is according to the heavenly pattern, one day you will find it there.
When the local church has disappeared, the universal church is manifested. You find this in Revelation 2 and 3: seven churches in Asia, local churches.
There you find the Lord dealing with these local churches to see whether they really have the right testimony of Jesus. The Lord is disciplining, exhorting, and encouraging. You find all kinds of imperfections and all kinds of corrections. How we need to repent. That is the local church.
But when you come to the end of the book of Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, what do you see? You do not see the seven lampstands anymore. The local church disappears. Why? Because it is absorbed into the universal church.
You see the New Jerusalem as a giant lampstand. The twelve foundations are the base of the lampstand. The city is that lampstand. The Lamb is the lamp, and God is the light.
That is the city that God has prepared for us. We see it manifested only in the future, but so far as God is concerned, it is already there. It just waits to be manifested. That is all.
Brothers and sisters, is that not a tremendous responsibility—to see how we build in the local church? How careful we must be.
Because if we corrupt the temple of God, God will destroy us. By that, it means that we will not be able to reign with Him for a thousand years in the kingdom, even though we are saved for eternity. It is tremendous, brothers and sisters.
Thank God that we are not just sitting here passively, saying, “Well, God builds, so let Him build. We are not involved. We are doing nothing. It is better that we are not involved, because if we are involved, we will just spoil it.”
Brothers and sisters, that is not it. It is true, God is building, but we are building too, and it is the same building. Whether it will eventually merge into one or not is a big issue, and that concerns us very much.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, my burden this afternoon—actually, it is just a burden within me—is this: what are we doing here?
We are building. We need more light. We need to be very careful. We need to be very humble before the Lord. We need to look to the Lord, that whatever we build may one day be found in that building which God has prepared for us.
In other words, the shadow will disappear in the reality. I think probably that is what it amounts to. May the Lord have mercy upon us. Shall we pray?
O heavenly Father, we do rejoice in Thy presence, because whatever may happen on earth, that reality before Thee is always there. Even Satan cannot touch it. It is complete. It is perfect.
O, we need more light, that we may build according to the heavenly pattern and may be found in heaven when it shall appear. Deliver us from being proud of ourselves, from being self-conceited.
O Lord, keep us always open and humble before Thee. Allow us to live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ, that we may be very careful, very faithful, and very practical.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. So we just give ourselves to Thee and ask Thee to guide and lead us in such a way that nothing—O, nothing—may be lost.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.