Will you please turn to Matthew 16? We will read from verses 13 through 18.
And when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is?
And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.
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.
Please turn also to Ephesians 2. We will begin with verses 19 through 22.
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone;
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.
First Peter 2, verses 4 and 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.
And finally, Hebrews 3, verse 6:
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.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, our hearts are most grateful that Thou hast gathered us together these days. We thank Thee for crowning the day at the Lord’s table. Truly, Thou art the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Everything comes from Thee, through Thee, and unto Thee. May glory be all unto Thee.
As we continue in Thy presence, Lord, we want to ask Thee if Thou hast a last word for us. We pray that our hearts are still open, softened, and tender before Thee.
We pray that our love continues, that we may give back to Thee all that Thou hast given to us. Dear Lord, we want Thy heart to be satisfied. We want Thee to have what Thou dost desire most to have.
Continue to work in us until Thy heart is fully satisfied. We commit this time into Thy hands and ask Thee to bless it. In Thy precious name, we pray. Amen.
We do thank the Lord for bringing us to this last meeting of this conference. Indeed, God has made the impossible possible.
We thank Him for gathering us together from all corners of the world, and for joining us together into one spirit, one soul, one heart, and one love.
We are here not only to consider together a theme. We are here to demonstrate the reality of the house of God.
Truly, as we come to the Lord, we are built up together into a spiritual house—a house for Him and for us. He has made us a holy priesthood.
We are not only those for Him to dwell in; we are also those who will serve Him with our whole hearts. We do thank Him for giving Himself to us in such a way that we may be able to offer Him back to the Father. These will be our acceptable sacrifices.
This morning, we will speak on the building of the house of God.
When God created the heavens and the earth, He did it all by Himself. None of us were there at that time. God, all alone, by His wisdom and power, created all things in heaven and on earth.
He did not consult anybody. He did not ask the help of anyone. He did it all by Himself.
In the new creation, in the house of God, He works on a different principle. Instead of working all by Himself, He calls us to work together with Him. He wants to work in us and with us.
Actually, in working this way, it gives Him more problems than He should have, but it pleases Him to work in this way. He refuses to build His house alone. He wants to build it together with us.
But, of course, we understand: actually, the work is done by Him. Yet, He first does His work in us in order that we may be drawn to work together with Him in the building of the house of God. For this, we are most grateful.
Our Lord Jesus retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi. We know that Caesarea Philippi is a Gentile city.
Now, why is it that our Lord Jesus should withdraw Himself to the border of a Gentile city? Because it was a time when He was rejected by His own people.
But while He was in Caesarea, He asked His disciples a question: “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
Of course, His disciples tried to give Him the best answers. They had heard a lot, but they would not report to the Lord all the bad reports. They tried to say everything that was good.
They told the Lord Jesus, “Some say You are John the Baptist—John the Baptist come to life again. Others say You are Elijah, the great prophet. Some say You are Jeremiah, because You are a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Others say, ‘You are one of the prophets.’”
They meant the prophet prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy, that one day God would raise up from among the brethren a prophet, and whoever did not listen to Him would perish.
All these were good reports. These reports would more than satisfy anybody, but they did not satisfy our Lord, because the world does not know Him.
So our Lord turned to His own disciples, who had been with Him for more than three years. The Lord said, “But who say ye that I am?”
Simon Peter, as usual the spokesman of the disciples, said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Thou art the Anointed of God, the One sent out by God to accomplish a mission that nobody else could accomplish. So far as Thy person is concerned, Thou art the Son of God, the beloved, only begotten Son of God. So far as Thy work and Thy ministry are concerned, Thou art the Christ, the Anointed One of God.
And when our Lord heard this, He said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, thou art blessed, because flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee. It is My Father Who is in heaven Who has revealed it to thee.”
Dear brothers and sisters, our knowledge of the Lord Jesus has to come from the heavenly Father. Flesh and blood may know Him as a great prophet, but the Father in heaven alone can reveal the Son in us.
We thank God that one day it pleased the Father to reveal His Son in us. Without that revelation, all we can know of the Lord Jesus is that He is a good man, a great man, probably the greatest of men.
But, brothers and sisters, we thank God that it pleased Him to reveal His Son in us. We know that He is the Christ. We know that He is the Son of God. Because of this, we are saved and born again.
On the basis of the revelation of the Father, our Lord Jesus began to reveal something more to us. Without the revelation of the Father concerning the Son, we would never be able to have the revelation that comes through the Son to us.
So our Lord Jesus began to reveal something more. The Lord said, “Thou art Peter.” Thou art a stone.
You remember, brothers and sisters, the first time Simon came to the Lord Jesus is recorded in John 1. His brother Andrew brought him to the Lord Jesus, and the Bible says the Lord looked at him.
The word looked is a very strong word. It means that our Lord looked him through. The Lord looked into him and said, “Thou art Simon, but thou shalt be called Cephas,” which is Peter.
And Peter means a stone. Originally, we are all dust. We are all made of dust. We are all of earth; that is our nature.
But when we come to the Lord Jesus, we are transformed from dust to stone. He puts a new life into us, a new nature into us, to develop a new character.
You remember, in 1 Peter 2, our Lord Himself is a living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious with God.
Now, as we confess Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, that faith, that confession, that revelation, brings us from dust to stone. We receive the same life from our Lord Himself, and we begin to have His same nature so that we can be transformed and conformed to His own image.
So, brothers and sisters, we thank God that by the revelation of the Father and our confession to the Lord Jesus, we all become stones—living stones.
“Upon this rock,” our Lord said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Here you find that our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church,” but He will build it upon a rock. We know that a rock means a massive stone.
Upon this massive rock, the Lord will build His church with many living stones. The rock is the foundation of the house of God, and all these little stones are the materials for the building of the house of God.
Of course, the rock refers to our Lord Himself. The rock refers to the confession of our Lord Jesus, that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The rock refers to His person and to His work. He is the foundation of the house of God.
You remember the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. He said that he was like a wise master builder. Actually, the Chinese is better: he is a foreman, not a master builder.
He laid the foundation of the house of God, and he said there is no other foundation that anyone can lay but the Lord Jesus Himself. So our Lord is the foundation of the church. He is the rock.
Thank God Peter understood this very well, even though we find in this world many who have misunderstood. Some say that the church is built upon Peter.
No. If that were the case, you would find that before the building began, the foundation had already shaken. You remember when our Lord began to reveal to His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, that He would die, and that on the third day He would be raised from the dead.
What did Peter do? Out of his good heart, he laid hold of the Lord—perhaps he shook the Lord a little—and said, “Lord, forbid it. Thou shalt never go to the cross.”
Our Lord turned and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan, because thou art mindful of men and not mindful of God.”
Peter could not be the foundation. Our Lord Himself is the foundation. Thank God Peter understood it well, because in 1 Peter 2 he said that as we come to the Lord, as we come to the living stone, we all become living stones, and we are built up together into a spiritual house.
Peter himself was to be built into the house, and all of us who are living stones are to be built into that house.
Our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Who is the builder? Who is the master builder? None other than the Lord Himself.
The house of God is so heavenly, spiritual, and glorious. It is to be the habitation of God in the Spirit. It is to be the resting place of God, and it is also to be our eternal home.
If you realize what a house this will be, who will be the builder? Truly, there is only One Who is able to build such a spiritual house.
The Lord said, “I will build the church.” He is the architect. He is the engineer. He is the builder.
Brothers and sisters, today we hear people say, “We are church planters. We are going to the world to plant churches.” But, dear brothers and sisters, remember: unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. That is Psalm 127.
We may be able to build many other houses. We may be able to build even palaces. We may be able to build great empires. But the Lord alone can build that spiritual house. Unless He builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
This should be a warning to us. The Lord said, “I will build My church.”
This house is the church, because it is the called-out ones gathered together. The Lord said, “Where two or three are gathered together into My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
With the presence of the Lord among His own people, with the people gathered together unto His name—that is, putting ourselves under His authority—you have His church.
The church belongs to Him. It comes out of Him, and it goes back to Him.
Sometimes we hear people say, “This is my church. This is my church that I am responsible for.” But let us be warned: the church belongs to the Lord alone.
If it is His own work, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. As we look into Christianity today, it seems as if the gates of Hades have prevailed against it. Why? Because this is man’s work; it is not the work of our Lord Himself.
We thank God that amid the so-called churches today, that which is unshakable may remain.
Here you find our Lord Jesus, for the first time, mentioning the word church. Our Lord came into this world for this very purpose.
When we read the Gospel according to Luke, we may get the impression that the reason our Lord came into this earth was to seek and to save the lost. Truly, that is what He did. We were the lost, and our Lord came to this earth to seek us and to save us.
The Gospel according to Luke is the gospel of the forgiveness of our sins, the remission of our sins.
But, dear brothers and sisters, of the four Gospels, only the Gospel according to John gives us the deep meaning of the coming of the Lord, because John always goes back to the beginning. He always goes to the source.
Our Lord did come to save the lost. That is very true, but that is the beginning; that is not the end.
According to the Gospel of John, He came as a Bridegroom. He came to seek for His bride.
He came to this earth because He had to find His bride. He had to make His bride. He had to call people out of the world and gather them unto Himself. He has to build His wife.
That is the reason for His coming, because the house, the church, is His wife. Today it is His body; one day it will be His bride, when this body is fully grown.
So the real reason for His coming is to build the church. We can see how important this is.
Concerning the building of the house of God, we would like to go back to the Old Testament. As our brother mentioned last night, the Old Testament gives us pictures; the New Testament gives us the word.
We have the word, but we need to go back to the pictures, because the picture gives us more detail. With visual aid, it helps us to understand.
It is true that the Old Testament is a shadow, but on the other hand, it is a picture and is easier for us to understand. So, how does the Lord build His church? We go back to the Old Testament pictures and learn some principles from them.
When God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them to Himself at Mount Sinai. We have already mentioned that He gave them the law so that they might be sanctified.
Then God began to reveal His mind to the people. He said, “Make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
Here you find that God did not give them a sanctuary. God said, “Build Me a sanctuary.” But how were they going to build it?
First of all, in Exodus 25, God said, “Let the people bring an offering unto Me,” a love offering: gold, silver, brass, wood, and all these materials.
Brothers and sisters, you remember that the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. They had been slaves for hundreds of years. Now, a slave owns nothing. A slave does not even own his own life.
As slaves in Egypt, they were destitute. They had nothing that they could claim as their own. So where did all this gold, silver, and precious material come from?
You remember, when God sent Moses to Egypt, He told Moses, “I will deliver My people out of Egypt.” When He did that, the children of Israel asked the Egyptians, their neighbors, for gold, silver, and all these things.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they asked their neighbors for all these precious things. The Bible says they spoiled Egypt.
God is righteous, because the Egyptians had enslaved laborers for hundreds of years without any wages. So God not only delivered them, but gave them all the wages of the past.
When God delivers a people, His deliverance is so complete. Not only men, but also women and children went out. Pharaoh said, “Let the men go,” or, “Let the children stay behind.” But no, all would go.
Not only men, women, and children, but even all the cattle and sheep went out. And all the wealth of Egypt was given to them by God.
Now God said, “Give Me a love offering, whoever’s heart hath prompted him.”
Brothers and sisters, He gave us everything. When He asks for a love offering, He says, in effect, “If you want to hold it back as your own, thinking that you are the owner and possessor of it, you may do so.” But those things do not belong to you; they are given to you by God.
God wants a willing sacrifice. Out of the abundance of His grace, He asks us to give Him back something.
This is the way of God. When you come to the building of the temple, you remember David wanted to build God a temple. He was not allowed to do it, and yet David prepared all the materials for the house of God.
In 1 Chronicles 22:14, David said, “In my affliction I have prepared abundantly for the house of the Lord.”
In other words, in all the wars in which David engaged, he separated the spoils for God.
Also, in 1 Chronicles 29:2-3, he said:
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver.
Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.
Out of his affliction, according to all his power, out of his affection for the house of God—this is how the house of God is built.
Now, if this was true in Old Testament times, how much more true should it be in the reality of the New Testament?
Brothers and sisters, that is the reason you find Romans 12:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
In Romans 1 through 11, we are told of all the manifold mercies of God: how He saved us from death, how He delivered us from our sins, forgave our sins, delivered us from the power of sin, gave us His Holy Spirit, and sanctified us.
When you read Romans 1 through 11 and consider all the mercies of God, what should be our response? “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.”
Our love offering is not gold and silver, because we are not building a physical building. Our love offering is ourselves—this body that has been redeemed by a great price.
We do not belong to ourselves. We are bought with a price. We are not our own. We have no right to live for ourselves. We belong to Him.
Yet God will not force us. If we want to live our own lives with all that He has given us, like the prodigal son, we could do that. He will not force us.
By His love and by His Spirit, He prompts us. He wants us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and this living sacrifice is material for the building of the house of God.
How can our Lord Jesus build us into a spiritual house? Remember, to be saved alone is not enough. We have to consecrate our lives to Him.
We have to give our right, as it were, to Him. Actually, we have no right. The right belongs to Him. He wants us to give up what we consider to be our rights so that He can work in us and with us.
The reason why the house of God is not built, and why it is so delayed, is because those who are redeemed still hold themselves back. They do not give themselves completely as a burnt offering to God.
We say that consecration is the beginning of our Christian experience. The Lord cannot do anything with you until you present your body a living sacrifice. Then you find that the Lord will begin to work to build His house.
In the Old Testament, after the Lord called the people to bring the love offering, He called certain people to come and work with the materials.
In the case of the building of the tabernacle, you find in Exodus 35 and the beginning of Exodus 36 that God called Bezalel and Oholiab, these two men.
These two men were filled with the Spirit. God gave them wisdom and understanding to work with all these various materials.
Together with them were all those who had wise and understanding hearts, all those who were moved to come and work. These people came together to work with the material, under the direction of Moses.
Again, when you come to the building of the temple, the same principle is found. Solomon was a man of wisdom, and tens of thousands of people were gathered to build the temple.
Brothers and sisters, when you come to the reality—the building of the church, the house of God—you find that the master builder is our Lord Himself. But He does not build all by Himself. He calls us to come and work under Him and with Him.
He gives us wisdom and understanding, not according to our human wisdom, human knowledge, or natural ability. He gives us spiritual gifts. He gives us spiritual grace. With all these, we are able to work under Him.
That is the reason you find in Ephesians 4 that after our Lord ascended on high, He gave gifts to men. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints.
These ministers of the word of God are the gifts of God to the church, because the church is built with the word of God. But their work is to perfect the saints. They are not the ones who directly build the church; they build indirectly.
Their work is to mature the spiritual life of the saints, because the word of God will nurture us. On the other hand, they equip the saints and help them to develop their gifts. Then the whole body will minister one to another.
It is the body ministry. All the members of the body are gifted in one way or another by the Holy Spirit. All who have received grace from God minister together and work together.
As we work together, the Bible says in Ephesians 4:16 that the body builds itself up in love. We love one another. We encourage one another. We supply one another. Through such fellowship, the church is built.
You find also that all these materials that are to be built into the house require much work. You do not just take the raw materials and place them there. You have to make them suitable.
There was much beating in the Old Testament tabernacle. The gold had to be beaten and beaten and beaten into a beautiful form, such as the golden candlestick. Much work had to be done to the material.
The same thing is true with the temple. These massive stones had to be cut from the quarry. In the quarry, they were chiseled according to the pattern, and every stone was given a number.
Then, when these stones were transported, they could fit one to another. The Bible says that during the building of the temple there was no sound of iron and no sound of hammer, because everything was done in the quarry.
When we come to the building of the house of God today, are you surprised that the Holy Spirit has to do much work in your life?
There is much cutting to be done, much chiseling, much smoothing—much work of the Holy Spirit through the cross upon our lives.
Without the cross, there can be no church.
Not only individually must we bear the cross, but in order to fit us with our brothers and sisters, there is much cross-work to be done.
The Lord is not building a monument. The Lord is building a house. That is why there is much work to be done.
But thank God, if everything is done according to the pattern, when it is finished, the glory of the Lord will fill the house.
Brothers and sisters, it took less than a year to build the tabernacle. It took seven years to build the temple. It took probably around four years to build the second temple. King Herod enlarged it for forty-six years.
But how many years has the house of God been built? For two thousand years already, our Lord is still building His house. Can you find any house on earth that takes so long?
What does it tell you? On the one hand, it tells you that it is a house that God builds. This is no man’s work. It will be a glorious church. It will be eternal. That is why it takes so long.
But, on the other hand, does that say anything to us? We have delayed the finishing of that house.
How anxious our Lord must be to enter into His rest. How anxious He wants us to enter into rest. But we do not understand. Our hearts are not one way. We do not cooperate.
How skillful are His hands to make material into something special. If only we would put ourselves completely in His hands.
Let us pray, “Lord Jesus, do this work with me, that our Lord may enter into His rest.” We will not give ourselves rest until the Lord can rest among His people.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for these days. We thank Thee for the fellowship of the saints, for giving us Thy word, and for all that Thou hast bestowed upon us.
Dear Lord, we pray that all these will not be in vain. By the working of Thy Spirit, we pray that Thou wilt turn them into eternal value.
Bless all Thy people wherever we go, until the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, may be ready for Thy return.
Before we depart, I believe I can represent all the brothers and sisters from abroad. We are very thankful for the brothers and sisters in Singapore.
We thank you for your love. May the Lord bless you.