Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew 16:18:
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.
Hebrews 3:3-6:
For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
by so much as He that built the house hath more honour than the house.
For every house is builded by some one;
but He that built all things is God.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
but Christ as a Son over His house;
whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness
and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.
In the same book, Hebrews 11:10:
For he looked for the city which hath the foundations,
whose Builder and Maker is God.
And verse 16:
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.
First Corinthians 3:9-15. Our brother read it this afternoon.
For we are God’s fellow-workers:
ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building.
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.
And finally, 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.
We have been considering before the Lord this matter of the spiritual house. First of all, we mentioned that God, even before He created, had this very thing in His heart. He wanted a house, and that is the reason why He created the universe.
Not in the sense that He created the universe to be His house, because the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. The heavens are His throne, and the earth is His footstool. So what He created was not His house. But then, why did He create? We find that He created man.
So, brothers and sisters, God is not after a physical house. If He were after a physical house, He could easily create it for Himself. God is after a spiritual house, and this spiritual house is made up of the man whom He created.
He wanted to dwell among men. He wanted man to be His dwelling place, His home. And that is the eternal purpose of God.
In the book of Hebrews, we are told, “Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of our confession firm to the end.” In 1 Timothy 3:15, we are told that God’s house is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
So, in a sense, we can see very clearly what this house, or this home, is that God is after from eternity to eternity. It is His church. We are His house, if we hold fast the boldness and the boast of our confession to the end.
So, brothers and sisters, it is of tremendous importance for us to understand what this house is. We are involved in it. We are to be that house. And, of course, we want to know: what is the meaning of this house?
Yesterday morning, we shared together a few meanings of the house of God. We went through the Bible, picking up some illustrations to illustrate the meaning of God’s house. We will not go back over them again, but let us mention them.
The house of God means the union and communion of God and man in Christ Jesus.
Unworthy as we are, we are like Jacob. Holy and righteous is our God, and yet it is His desire to come to us. It is His desire that we may be joined to Him and have communion with Him. Now, how can it be done? It is through the ladder, our Lord Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, the first meaning of the house of God is the union of God and man in Christ Jesus, and communion.
Then we find that when God commanded Moses to build Him a tabernacle as His dwelling place, why did He want that dwelling place? Because He wanted to communicate with His people. He wanted to speak to His people from the mercy seat, between the two cherubim.
And not only that, He also wanted us to speak to Him. He desires fellowship. He desires communication. And are we giving Him that?
Then we find in the heart of David the desire to build a temple for God. It is a place of rest. Brothers and sisters, since man sinned, God has lost His rest. He has been seeking, searching, looking for fallen man. He is longing to rest.
But as we mentioned before, unless we first rest in the finished work of Christ, we will not be able to give Him that rest.
Then, in Solomon, we find that he built a temple—not because he believed that God would literally dwell in that temple, but because he believed that God would put His name there. God would commit Himself there. He would listen to the prayers of the people who prayed in that house or toward that house.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the church?
For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Our Lord Jesus has committed His name to the church. And because of this, how much we need to be committed to that church.
Finally, we mentioned the remnant who returned to rebuild the temple. They did it out of pure love. So what is the church? The church is a house of love.
Now this evening, we would like to consider together before the Lord this matter of the building of God’s house.
It is really eye-opening when you read the Scriptures. You find that whenever the house is mentioned, the word build is used. Or, to put it another way, the house is to be built; it is not to be created.
Our God is the God of creation, but He is also a great Builder. By His wisdom and power, He created the heavens and the earth. But He built His church by giving His own Son.
So, brothers and sisters, you do see that the building of the house is a greater work than the creation of the universe. In creating the universe, God used His wisdom and His power. He was not, in a sense, personally involved.
But in building His house, you find that He is so involved Himself that He even gave up His own beloved Son. The cost is so much greater. Why? Because the house is so much nearer and dearer to His heart.
Brothers and sisters, we admire His creation, but do we admire His house? We love His creation, and we enjoy His creation, but how much do we really love His house?
He gave everything for that house in giving His own Son. And, brothers and sisters, if this is the case, do you think we can give too much for that house? Do you think that in giving to that house it will be too much? If it cost God everything, if you love the house of God, it should cost you.
This matter of the building of God’s house is found throughout the Scriptures. It is found in type even from the very beginning. In the book of Genesis, we find that God created man in chapter 1. God created man in His own image, after His likeness; male and female created He them.
Now, that is the creation of man. But when you come to the actual work of creating man in chapter 2, you find that God took the earth—the dust, the red earth—and formed it into a body. He breathed into that formed body the breath of life, and the Bible says that man became a living soul. Adam was created.
Then God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” So you find that God brought all that He had created, all these living creatures, one by one, to Adam. I personally feel it was a process of elimination.
God said that it was not good for man to be alone. He needed a helpmeet, a counterpart, his life. So God brought all these living creatures to him: the big, the small, the beautiful, the strange. All kinds of animals were brought to Adam, and Adam looked at them.
You know, it was more than merely a task of asking Adam to name the animals. Of course, he named them all. He was a natural zoologist; he did not need to go to school. By naming them, he put them in their specific places. But he could not find his life in any of these animals.
So God put him to sleep. Out of his side, God took something from him. Now, in the original, it says that God took something out of him. We do not know whether it was a rib or not, but God took something out of him and built a woman.
So you see, man was created, but woman was built. Woman was built out of man. God did not take another lump of clay and form the shape of a female and breathe into it so that she became a living woman. God did not do that.
God took something out of Adam and built that something into a woman. Then He brought that woman to Adam. Of course, He woke Adam first. He brought the woman to Adam just as He had brought all the other animals to Adam.
But when the woman was brought to Adam, Adam looked at her and said, “Well, I see myself in her. This is me—bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman.” And the two became one flesh.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know that Adam and Eve are types of Christ and the church.
What is the meaning of building? Now, in studying the Bible, there is a principle called the principle of first mention. Whenever something is mentioned for the first time in Scripture, usually it gives you the basic idea of what that thing is.
According to the principle of first mention, the word build is first used in the Bible in the building of the woman. What is the basic meaning of building?
Building is different from creating. Creating means that you create something out of nothing. There was nothing there—no material, nothing—and God simply used His word. He spoke a word, and it was done. In other words, He created the whole universe out of nothing. That is creation.
But building is different. Building is taking something out of the original creation and building it into something. That is the basic idea of building. Apply it to Christ and the church.
God said, “It is not good for him to be alone.” Even before the foundation of the world, in eternity past, if we may say so, there were God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—the Triune God. They were self-existing and self-sufficient.
In eternity past, the Father looked at the Son. He loved His Son so much. He said, “It is not good for My Son to be alone. I will give Him a helpmeet, His counterpart.” God had that thought even before He started creating the universe.
And that is the reason why He created man. But unfortunately, man fell into sin. Since that time, God was looking for that man who could be His Son’s helpmeet, His Son’s counterpart, just like His Son. But He could not find one.
So finally, He had to send His Son into this world. Do you know why our Lord Jesus came into this world?
The Gospel of John is the Gospel that gives us the inner meaning of the life of Christ. Why did God’s Son come into this world? In the other Gospels, you find that He came to seek and to save the lost. But if you read the Gospel according to John, you get into the inner meaning—you get into the very mind of God.
You find that God sent His Son into this world for one purpose: to seek for His bride, to look for His counterpart. He was on earth for thirty-three years. He looked everywhere, but He could not find His life, His counterpart.
So finally, God put Him to sleep. But His history was different from Adam’s. When God put Adam to sleep, there was no sin in the world yet. Sin had not come into the world. Adam’s sleep was a peaceful sleep.
Not only that, the operation was painless. No blood. No blood.
But with our Lord Jesus, it was different. Man had sinned dreadfully. So the Son of God, the Son of Man, had to bear our sins in His body. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. Brothers and sisters, it is a mystery. We do not understand it.
We can understand something of our Lord’s rejection by men. We can understand something of the attack of the enemy, of Satan, when our Lord was on the cross. In other words, we can understand the first three hours of our Lord’s crucifixion, because during those first three hours He suffered at the hands of men and the powers of darkness.
But we cannot understand the last three hours. At midday, the sun hid its face. The earth turned into darkness. Why? Because God made Him sin for us. All our sins came upon this spotless Lamb of God—pure and spotless. He was made sin.
And because He was made sin, God, the righteous One, departed from Him. So our Lord cried out, “My God, My God.” He did not say, “My Father, My Father.” He had sweet fellowship with His Father through eternity, and when He was on earth there was uninterrupted communion.
He always pleased the Father. He did the things that the Father wanted. The Father was always with Him. He always saw the Father’s smiling face. But during that time He could only say, “My God, My God.” Why? He stood on our ground—a corrupted, defiled, sinful, rebellious creation.
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
It was painful.
But thank God, before He gave up His spirit, He said, “It is finished.” The work is done. He has borne our sins in His body on the tree.
But then you remember: because the next day was the Sabbath, the Jews would not allow any body to remain hanging there, because to be hung on the cross was a curse. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two robbers because they were still alive, in order to hasten their death.
But when they came to our Lord Jesus, they saw that He was already dead. To make sure that He was dead, a soldier thrust a spear through His side. Out of His side came blood and water.
Read John 19. John was there. He saw the spear pierce Him. He saw what came out, and he saw the blood and the water. He bore testimony that what he saw was true, that you may believe.
Why did John state this so emphatically? What is the meaning of that? It is because there you find that God put our Lord Jesus to sleep—unto death. And out of Him, God took something: blood and water.
Now, I do not know. Some people say that it was the last drop of blood still in His heart. He shed all His blood, and there was still some remaining in His heart. They say He died of a broken heart, and the blood separated into blood and water. But anyway, you find that something was taken out of His side, from His very heart.
Blood to atone for our sins; water to give us life.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find that out of the body of our Lord Jesus, God took blood and water; and with this blood and water, He built the church.
If we remember this: blood to atone for our sins, water to give us life. It is only when our sins are atoned for and we have His own life that we become the material with which He builds the church.
It comes out of Him. Therefore, He can say, “This is Me.” What is the church? The church is Christ in His corporate expression. The church is the expansion of Christ.
He looks at the church and says, “This is Me—My flesh, My bone.” And because of this, the church can be united with Him in one spirit. He built the church.
Well, we mentioned Jacob. Jacob thought that if God would bless him, give him food to eat, clothes to wear, and lead him safely and peacefully back home, then he would make God his God. He would use the stone which he had used for his pillow, set it up, and say, “This stone shall be the house of God, and I will give one tenth to Him.”
Jacob thought that if God blessed him, then he would serve God. He would build God a house. Actually, he built God a monument, not a house, because a pillar is a monument; it is not a house.
He would build God a monument, and he would give God one tenth. In other words, to show his gratitude, he would serve God with his work and his service. He thought that was the way of building the house of God.
But you know, God would take hold of Jacob, this original thing, and transform him into Israel. And with Israel, He would build His house.
The same thing is true with the children of Israel. God redeemed them out of Egypt. And you know, not only were they redeemed—their women, their children, their cattle, their sheep—all these were taken out of Egypt. But more than that, before they left Egypt, they spoiled Egypt of her wealth.
Egypt was a very wealthy nation at that time. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they had gold, silver, and all these precious things with them. Our brother mentioned that they became a free people—not only a free people, but a wealthy people.
Now how were they going to live their lives? How were they going to use their wealth? They could easily have lived a very comfortable, luxurious life and enjoyed themselves, because they had all the wealth.
But, brothers and sisters, God asked them for a heave offering, a love offering. They were to offer what God had given them to build the tabernacle.
You know, it would have been very easy for God to drop a tabernacle from heaven. In a sense, when Peter was in a trance on the roof, perhaps he was hungry and thinking of food when he prayed, God gave him a vision: a great sheet coming down from heaven, full of four-footed creatures and creeping things. The voice said, “Rise, kill, and eat.”
Surely God could easily have dropped a tabernacle from heaven and said, “Now I am going to dwell among you.” No. That would be creation, not building.
So God said, “Out of what I have redeemed, out of what I have given you, you give again. And then, with that, build the tabernacle.” That is building.
So you see, the basic idea of the building of the church is that you take something God has already given, and then you build it into the house of God. That is the concept.
Now, who is the Builder? Our brother has already stolen my message. I just want to re-emphasize it, that is all. You already know it.
Who is the Builder? The Lord Jesus said:
I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The church is so precious to our Lord that He cannot commit the building of it to anyone other than Himself. He said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” He is the Builder—the only Builder, the only One who can build that house, God’s house.
Many people can build, but He is the only One who can build a house for God to rest in. He is the only One able to do that. Nobody else can do it. You cannot do it. I cannot do it. None of us can do it. The angels cannot do it.
“I will build My church.”
In Hebrews, it is said that Christ should have more honour than Moses, just as the builder of the house is more honourable than the house. Here you find that Moses is the house, and the Lord is the One who builds Moses.
In Hebrews 11, you find Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They wandered in the promised land as strangers. If they wanted to go back to their homeland, Ur of the Chaldees, they could have done so. Even Haran was available to them. But they were looking for a city with foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.
God has prepared for us a better city. This is the city you find in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22. That is God’s house: God and man dwelling together in unity for eternity.
Now, who is able to build that house except God Himself? God cannot trust anyone else to be the architect of that house. No architect has the wisdom to draw the design. He cannot trust anyone else to construct it. No construction company in the world can do this job. God alone is the Builder.
Now, brothers and sisters, we cannot emphasize this enough. Because we find in Christianity today, often out of good intention, that we are trying to build God’s house.
We have been trying for almost two thousand years. And what do we get? We get the Tower of Babel, not the house of God.
Therefore, I hope that tonight there is none among us who has a secret desire to build the house of God. You had better give it up.
Today, we hear a lot about church planters and church builders. But what they build is the Tower of Babel—to spread their names, not to give God rest.
We cannot build. Do not try it. God is the only Builder. He designs it, He builds it, and He does everything in it.
But then, brothers and sisters, you may challenge me and say, “Did I not read at the very beginning some Scriptures that tell us we are the builders?”
Our brother already mentioned this afternoon so thoroughly. Paul said, “We are God’s fellow-workers, and you are God’s husbandry and God’s building.” Paul said, “I am like a wise master builder.” Some versions say “a wise architect”; some say “an expert builder,” or “a master builder.”
But, as a matter of fact, if you try to put it more properly, probably what Paul means is, “I am a wise chief foreman.”
Paul said, “I laid the foundation, even Christ Jesus, and there can be no other foundation but Christ.” Then each one of you—remember, he wrote to the Corinthian believers, and to all who call upon the name of the Lord, so we are included—each one of you must pay attention to what you build upon it.
If you build with gold, silver, and precious stones, or if you build with wood, hay, and stubble, one day fire will appear and test what you build. If you build with gold, silver, and precious stones, the fire will glorify it, and you will receive a reward. If you build with wood, hay, and stubble, it will be burned, but you will be saved—barely saved.
So you are building. Every day we are building. Every day you are putting something into the building.
Then you look at Ephesians 4. You find that all the different members of the body work together, are fitted together, and work according to the measure God has given to each for the building up of itself in love. In other words, we are all involved in this building work. No one is exempt, unless you are not of the Lord. If you are of the Lord, you are involved in that building.
Now, how are you going to reconcile these two opposites? I think there is one passage that can solve that problem, and it is found in Philippians 2:12-13.
So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work,
for His good pleasure.
Now, indeed, the Lord Himself is the only Builder. But how does He build? He first works in you, that you may work out with fear and trembling.
Do you see this picture? It is not that you have an idea of what the house of God should be like, and so you draw up a blueprint. You are not the architect. You do not give the concept.
God is the Architect. He is the One who has the concept of the house of God. He is the One who draws the blueprint. But He works this in you. By revelation, He reveals it to you. As you receive that revelation and understand, He works it out of you.
So who is working? Who is building? He builds. He builds in you and through you. After all the work is done, all you can say is, “He has done it.” You have not done anything, because all that comes out of you is what He has worked in you.
The same thing is true not only with the blueprint; it is true with the whole process of building. Everything that is put into the house of God, He first works in you, and then it works out from you with fear and trembling.
All the materials, He first works in you, and then you give them back to Him with fear and trembling. All the power, He first gives to you, and then He works it out from you.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God. He wants us to work together with Him, but actually He does all the work. Yet He lets us share the glory.
I always remember that story. One day, a father was going to move a heavy table. The father was strong, so he began to lift the table. A little boy said, “Father, let me help you.” So the father said, “Good, I need your help.”
He allowed the boy to hold one of the legs, and together they moved the table. As a matter of fact, the boy put more weight on the table. So the father bore not only the table but also the boy. Finally, he moved the table, and the boy said, “Father, we have done it.”
That is what it is. How He stoops and honours us. And that is the reason why, after everything is done, we have to go back and say, “We are but unprofitable servants.” He is the Builder.
Now, brothers and sisters, if only tonight we can remember this, it will save us lots of headaches—not only you, but your brothers and sisters as well.
Now, how does God build? We need to go into some of the building processes, because that is how the house is built.
God created man with the idea of building man into His house. But unfortunately, man did not obey God. Man did not follow God. Man did not eat of the tree of life.
If man had eaten of the tree of life, he would have received that uncreated, divine life into him. Thus, he could have been united with God in life, and from that life he could have been developed into a house.
But unfortunately, man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man declared independence from God. Man fell into himself. Man became flesh. His spirit died. He lost contact with God. Man became a slave to sin, to the enemy, and under the bondage of death. Satan held that bondage over man.
So, brothers and sisters, when God looked at this material, could He take it up and build His house? The clay was marred before it became a vessel. There was no way to repair it.
We are always thinking of trying to repair it, reform it, beautify it, decorate it, and add something to it. Then, we think, it will become something for God. But God looked at man and said, “What can I do with it? I cannot do anything with it. I cannot build My house with this kind of material—polluted, defiled, unclean.”
The holy God cannot dwell in that which is unclean. So the first thing God had to do was to send His beloved Son into this world to accomplish the work of redemption.
God did not throw man away completely and say, “Well, this is finished. I will create another kind of man—perhaps a kind of man without a free will—so I can build him into My house.” God could not do that, because God is a God of free will, and for free will to dwell in no will would be no union and no counterpart.
Yet you find that God is something marvelous. I do not remember who said this—perhaps it was Moody—but someone said, “God will take the castaways of the devil. What the devil casts away, God says, ‘I will have it.’”
And that is what it is. We are a bunch of nothing—worse than nothing. And God had to do a tremendous work. Whenever you think of redemption, you see the heart of God.
He should have thrown us away, but He could not. He loves us. So He had to give us His Son. Christ had to die for us in order that He might give us a new life.
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
the old things are passed away;
behold, they are become new.
But all things are of God.
So, brothers and sisters, you do not know the cost that God paid in building His house. The first thing is that He had to do a work of redemption. He had to bring in a new mankind, a new race, a new creation—a people whose sins are forgiven, who are righteous in the sight of God, and who have His own life.
The building material of God is man—but not just any man, not the kind of man that we naturally know. God builds with man, but it is a new man: a man born from above, a regenerated man, a man with God’s life in him.
That life in him, that new creation, is the building material. You are not the building material. I am not the building material. It is the new creation in you. It is Christ in you. It is the life in you that is the building material.
That is the reason why, when Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Christ said to Peter, “You are Peter”—a stone. “You are a stone. Formerly you were dust, or clay, but now, on your confession, a new element has entered into your life. You have now become a living stone.”
So, as we come to the Lord, first of all we find that from dust we are turned into stone.
How is the Tower of Babel built? It is built with brick. And brick is made by mixing earth with straw. That is how the Tower of Babel is built.
But the house of God is built with stone—living stones. The life of God is the building block.
Our problem is that we say, “What is the church? The church is the gathering of believers. The church is a gathering of you and me, and that is the church.” Well, that is just the problem of the church. The problem of the church is because of you and me.
We try to come in and build with wood, hay, and straw. Instead of letting the life in us be the building material, we come in with our human nature, our own glory, our own energy, and our own work, and we say we are building the church. That is the trouble.
You have to build with gold, silver, and precious stones. It is Christ in you; it is Christ in me, the hope of glory. You have no hope of glory, and I have no hope of glory. The hope of glory is Christ in you and me.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the church? The church is Christ in His corporate expression. The Christ in you and the Christ in me are built together. These stones are built together, and that builds the church.
Anything that is you and anything that is me has to be separated by the cross before it enters into the church. Whenever we try to bring anything of ourselves into the church, remember: we destroy the church; we do not build the church.
That is the reason why the church is an awesome thing. We need to build it with fear and trembling.
Not only that, we find that when the Lord builds with stone, these are not just stones; these are precious stones.
When you read of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, you find that these are precious stones, not merely stones. Sometimes we think that, as long as we are saved, God simply builds all these saved ones together into His house. Then you build a nursery—all babies, weeping here, crying there, and every day there is self-centredness.
At midnight, if a baby is not happy, he cries. If you do not cater to his desire quickly enough, he gets angry. Well, guess what you have today? Not just stones, and not merely babies in Christ. God builds with precious stones.
Now, how can stones be turned into precious stones? You find that precious stones are compounds. Different elements lie deep down in the earth, in darkness, for centuries, under great pressure and heat. Eventually, certain elements are combined together to become a precious stone.
This precious stone is different from another precious stone. Brothers and sisters, God builds with precious stones. Yes, our Lord Himself is a precious stone—not merely a living stone, but a precious stone.
What is that? That is character. Simply having life is not enough. This life has to develop and grow into character. When life follows its natural nature, it becomes character.
Every life has a nature, but if you follow that nature long enough, it becomes character. If you do not follow that nature, it does not become character. It remains in an immature stage.
We have too many babies in the church. On the one hand, that is good; we love babies. But on the other hand, it breaks our Father’s heart because we are always in the stage of receiving, receiving, receiving—self-centred.
Everything is for me. God is for me. Christ is for me. Everybody is for me—me, me, me. How can you build the church, God’s house?
My brothers and sisters, character building is painful. That is why I always feel that, if God saves me, He should rapture me to Himself right away. Why leave me on this miserable earth, passing through all kinds of temptations, trials, testings, and many failures?
Why? Because He wants you to be a precious stone. He wants to develop character in you through trials, through pressure, through darkness, and through heat, so that the different elements of His divine life may come together in a special way and become character.
Peter is one precious stone. John is another precious stone. But they all manifest Christ—not Peter, not John—and yet Christ is manifested in Peter’s individual character.
All the character of Christ must be developed within us. So much suffering. Suffering is good.
But then, brothers and sisters, it is not just a matter of precious stones displayed in a museum for people to look at and admire, perhaps hoping that they could have them. That is not God’s purpose.
God’s purpose is not merely to create spiritual giants that He can display to the world. What use is that? It only brings spiritual pride to you. God is too practical for that.
So you find that it is important for these stones to be developed into precious stones. Every stone is a precious one, with a different combination of the nature of Christ in a special way. You have it in one special way, and another brother has it in another special way.
There is an individuality that God loves. Even in eternity there is individuality. Peter is always Peter, even though he is a different Peter from when he was a rough man. He becomes a precious stone, but he is still Peter. There is an individuality there, and it is precious.
Brothers and sisters, you are you, and God wants you to be what He wants you to be. He does not want you to be somebody else. He is developing you in an individual way. He loves it, and I hope you love it too.
But, brothers and sisters, individuality is something that will continue into eternity; individualism must be dealt with.
In other words, you are still one precious stone, but that precious stone has to be fitted together and joined together with other precious stones. You cannot maintain your individualism and say, “No, I am going to stand here alone as a specimen of all the wonderful work of God.”
That is not God’s purpose for you. It is not for your glory; it is for His glory. So you find that these stones have to be fitted together. Now, that is the problem.
The more precious that stone becomes, the more difficult it is for it to be fitted with another.
When you quarry precious stones from the mine, you have to do a great deal of work on them. When you take them out of the mine, you do not see their beauty or lustre. They are covered with earth and all kinds of elements. You need breaking, cutting, and purifying work to take off all the things attached to the precious stone.
The same thing is true with us. Even though the Lord is working within each of us and developing each of us as precious stones, brothers and sisters, you find that we still carry with us a big load of all kinds of things. Right?
We still have the world upon us. We may still have some sin. We still have some weights upon us. We still have our flesh. We still have the self. Brothers and sisters, all these things need to be purified.
That is the reason why you find in Ephesians 5 that the Lord loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
So, brothers and sisters, the cross has to work in our lives to purify us from all those things that we carry with us. Do you not find sometimes that there is just too much dross in you? Do you accept the working of the cross in your life?
The cross is not only an objective truth; that is the foundation. But on the foundation of the cross of Christ, which we believe, we must allow the Holy Spirit to apply the cross through our daily life.
He will enlighten us. He will show us where the dross is. He will show us what needs to be purified. His word will divide the soul and the spirit, the joints and marrow, and let you see, “This is soul, not spirit.”
The soul has to be purified. The world has to be purified. Your flesh has to be brought to death. Yourself must be denied. Brothers and sisters, this work of the cross has to go on in your life in order that you may be fitted together with one another.
More than that, even though all this dross is purified, brothers and sisters, you still cannot fit with one another. You need to be cut, sawn, chiselled, and smoothed according to the brothers and sisters who will be built to your right, to your left, below you, and above you—according to God’s wisdom.
Here is a big piece of precious stone. But to fit in with another precious stone, the corners—and even some parts of that precious stone—have to be cut away in order for it to be made into the house.
Some brothers and sisters are too big to be cut. They are too big to be built with brothers and sisters. They want everybody to become like them, so they can occupy a place larger than God’s design.
Even the gift that God has given to you needs to be dealt with. Do not say, “This is given by God. It is a spiritual gift.” Look at the Corinthian church. Even gifts have to be regulated, that everything may be done decently and in order.
Think about it. It is not because God has given you a gift that everywhere you go you use it. Brothers and sisters, sometimes your gift has to be hidden for a while, laid aside for a while. It is not the time to use it. It must be used according to the proportion of faith.
What is wrong with our spirituality? Brothers and sisters, oftentimes your spirituality frightens your brothers and sisters away. You want to measure everyone by your spirituality. Therefore, when you meet a brother or sister, all they receive is condemnation. You judge them.
You need to be cut. Sometimes God may even take away your spiritual strength. God has to break you down. He will make you pliable in His hand, that you may be fitted together with your brothers and sisters.
We are told that when the temple was built, all the stones were quarried from the mine. It was discovered under Mount Moriah that the masons went into the mines and cut the stones according to the pattern. There was a plan.
Every stone in the temple was already planned, and every stone was numbered. All these stones were cut in the mine, in darkness.
So when they were transported up to Mount Moriah to be put together, 1 Kings 6:7 says:
And the house, when it was in building,
was built of stone made ready at the quarry:
and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house,
while it was in building.
All these stones were put together quietly, without making any sound. There was no need for further work—no hammering, no sparks, no fire. They were simply put one to another, and they fit so beautifully because every one was cut according to measure, according to one another.
Brothers and sisters, much of God’s dealing with us is more than personal. Personally, you may not need these dealings, but because God wants to fit you with brothers and sisters, you have to go through all these things.
A shoulder must be cut. A corner must be cut. Some roughness must be chiselled, and even sawn.
So, brothers and sisters, God has a place for you in His house. It is already labelled. You are number so-and-so, and you will be put in a certain position—only you, nobody else.
And next to you will be another number. God has already arranged the numbers, and according to that arrangement He is sawing you, cutting you, chiselling you, and smoothing you. How patient the Holy Spirit is, but how impatient we are.
All these works have to be done in darkness, in a hidden place, in your private closet. If this work is not done, what you will find is that when all these stones are put together, you will hear lots of sounds of hammer and iron, lots of sparks.
That is what you have now, because you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to complete His work in your life.
We need one another. I cannot do without you. You cannot do without me. The Lord cannot do without any one of us. And that is the house.
It is an awesome and dreadful place, but it is the gate of heaven.
Brothers and sisters, what I am trying to say is simply this: the building of God’s house is not a comedy.
It is most precious in God’s heart, and hopefully it becomes very precious to our hearts. God spent everything for that house. Are we willing to spend all that God has given us? Actually, we have nothing; it is all given.
But are we willing to put our whole being in His hands and let Him do whatever is necessary to make us fit to be put into the place He has ordained for each one of us?
And when that house appears, that is what you find in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22: the holy city, the New Jerusalem; a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; a bride suitable to the Bridegroom, in union forever, reigning in glory.
Brothers and sisters, this is the purpose of God with you and with me. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
Dear Heavenly Father, we acknowledge that human words are so inadequate. Even our understanding is so limited. We are not really able to enter into Thy heart, Thy mind, and Thy love.
We really are not able to feel how Thou dost feel concerning the house, the rest that Thou art seeking. But Lord, we pray that in Thy mercy and grace Thou wilt at least give us a glimpse of it.
We pray that Thou wilt touch our hearts. Give us at least a heart for Thy house.
Lord, we do acknowledge that when we see what our flesh really is, to us it is dreadful—dreadful to all flesh. But Lord, we want to commit ourselves to Thee for that house. Do whatever is necessary in each one of us. Do not let us go.
Remember, tonight we have committed ourselves to Thee and to Thy house. Thou art faithful. Perfect Thy work to the praise of Thy glory.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.