Will you please turn to Ephesians, Chapter 3? We will read from verses 9 through 11.
And to enlighten all men as to what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages hath been hid in God, Who created all things;
to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God,
according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And He is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.
We speak wisdom, however, among them that are full-grown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought;
but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:
which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:
but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not,
And which entered not into the heart of man,
Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.
But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Dear Lord, as we gather here this morning in Thy precious name, we believe that Thou art in our midst. We wait upon Thee.
We ask, Lord, that Thou wilt open our hearts, that our hearts may all be turned towards Thee. Unveil our faces, that we may behold Thee, the glory of the Lord, and be transformed and conformed to Thy precious image.
Lord, we acknowledge that without Thy Spirit’s revelation, we are totally lost. But we praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thy Spirit is moving. We ask that Thy Spirit will lead us into Thy truth, and we want to give Thee all the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I believe that we all know that the theme of this conference is taken from Matthew 16:18. Our Lord Jesus said:
Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Now, brothers and sisters, I think to many of you this is not only a familiar verse, but you are familiar with this whole matter of building the church.
A few days ago, as I was thinking on this matter, Isaiah 66 came to me. Will you please turn to it? Isaiah 66. We begin with verse 1.
Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool:
what manner of house will ye build unto Me?
and what manner of place for My rest?
For all these things hath My hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord:
but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.
“Tremble at My word.” That is the word that the Lord seems to speak to me.
We are so familiar with this matter of the church, or the building of the church, that somehow we think that we know it all. We do not tremble at His word. But the Lord said He looks upon those who tremble at His word.
I believe, dear brothers and sisters, if by the Spirit of God we are really led into Matthew 16:18, I wonder, how can we not tremble at His word?
These are wonderful words, but these are terrible words too. The Lord said, “I will build My church.” Is He building us? Are we really in that building? Where are we?
Are we working, cooperating, yielding, allowing Him to work in our lives? Or are we resisting, rebelling, hindering, delaying His marvelous work? The more I think about this matter, I tremble.
So, brothers and sisters, my prayer is that we will not look upon this theme as common, as something with which we are so familiar. But let us have a contrite heart. Let us be afflicted in our spirit, wait upon the Lord, and let the word of God speak to each one of us, to search us, to deliver us, and to bring us into the reality of His word.
Brothers and sisters, Matthew 16 is a great chapter. It is the word of God. Our brother Kenny already mentioned last night that in this chapter you have the two greatest revelations that the world has ever known.
The Father in heaven reveals His Son. There is no greater revelation than that. The Son reveals the church to us. That is the second greatest revelation. The whole Bible speaks of these two things: Christ and the church.
Great revelations. But, brothers and sisters, how much are we in the revelations of God? How much do we really know Christ?
The natural man never knew Him. It is the heavenly Father Who reveals Him, and it pleases the Father to reveal His Son in us. But how much do we allow Him to reveal His Son? He knows what is the place of God’s Son in our lives. Is He all to us?
I think this is something that we need to really humble ourselves before the Lord.
What the Son desires is the church. But do we really desire the church as the Son desires? He says He is building it. Are we in that building process every day? Where are we? I think these are very important questions that we have to ask.
We look to the Lord that during these few days God will open our understanding and give us a fresh, new, deeper revelation of that which is in the heart of God, which is in the heart of our Lord Jesus. Then we may love what God loves and desire what He desires.
Oh, pray. So, dear brothers and sisters, I hope that during these few days we will pray continuously before Him, that by the grace of God we may be led into these precious words.
My responsibility is to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, on this matter of who is the builder of the church.
I think it is so simple; it is self-evident. Really, there is no need to talk about it. We all know about it. The Lord Jesus said very clearly:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.
Who can build the church of God except God Himself?
In Hebrews 11:10, Abraham looked for the city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.
Psalm 127:1 says:
Except the Lord build the house,
They labor in vain that build it.
So, brothers and sisters, I think it is crystal clear. In this matter of the building of the house of God, God Himself is the Builder. Our Lord Himself undertakes the building of His house, and nobody else can do such a work.
Now, it is true: when you read 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul says, “I am a wise master builder. I laid a foundation.” And there is no other foundation that man can lay but Jesus Christ our Lord.
He also says that we who are of the Lord, we are all builders. We are all engaged in this building work. So, brothers and sisters, who is building the house of God? God? Are you? Who is building it?
When Paul talks about himself as the master builder, it is because he has the believers in view. So far as the believers are concerned, as the Corinthian believers are concerned, they are all builders. May we say they are all laborers, and Paul is a master builder.
But when you think of Paul’s relationship where the Lord is concerned, then you discover what Paul really means is that he is a foreman. Our Lord Jesus is the Master Builder, the real Master Builder, and Paul is under Him as a foreman. We, under Paul in a sense, labor in that work.
Do you think you are building the house of God? Not to say that many times we are building a different house. We do not realize that we are building the Tower of Babel.
How can we build the house of God unless we allow the Lord to build in us, and then through us? So who is really building the house of God? God Himself. You cannot build. I cannot build. Man cannot build.
It is such a glorious, marvelous building. I hope, as we go on, we will discover more and more that this is a building nobody can do but God.
Now, when you think of a builder—I came from a builder’s family. My grandfather was a builder, my uncles were builders, my elder brother was a builder, but I know nothing about building.
Builders, they build a house. But in our modern idea, probably we limit the builder just to the process of building.
In other words, you may have an idea that you want a house. You have a general idea of what house you want, but you do not have the technical knowledge. So you engage an architect, and you ask the architect to design a house for you according to the instructions that you give him—just some basic principles of the house you want.
The architect, with his technical knowledge, will draw a blueprint, putting your ideas into that blueprint. Then you ask a builder to come and build it according to the pattern that the architect has drawn.
So, in modern times, a builder probably is rather limited in his application. But I believe when you come to this matter of God being the Builder of the house of God—He, the Builder of the New Jerusalem—the idea is more like a modern developer.
You know, in our time we have people who are developers. They have an idea. They look at some needs in the market, and they look for some locations that would be good to build on in order to fit that need.
In that developer’s office, they will have architects there, and they will put the idea into a blueprint. They even have the finances for it. They are prepared to finance it, and they will build a house. After they build it, they will sell it to other people.
But so far as God as the Builder is concerned, it is more than that. You will find that God is the Builder in the most comprehensive sense. He is the One Who gets the idea. He is the One Who draws the blueprint. He is the One Who gathers the materials. He is the One Who finances it. He is the One Who builds it. And He is the One Who owns it and dwells in it.
Now, that is the meaning: God is the Builder of the church.
For these three morning sessions, we would like to look at God as the originator of the building of the church. Then we will look at God as the planner of the building of the church, and finally God as the constructor of the building of the church.
Now, whose idea is the church? Who first conceived this thought?
When you turn to Ephesians 3, it is very clearly stated that even before the ages—that is, before the foundation of the world, before the creation of the heavens and the earth, before there was anything, before there was time and space—God, the eternal God, purposed a purpose in His Son.
Now, it is tremendous, brothers and sisters. Just think of that. Before there was time, before there was space, before creation, even in eternity past, God conceived an idea. He conceived that idea for His Son, in His Son. Now, that must be a wonderful idea.
When you open Genesis 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But remember, that idea of the church was already there. That idea was conceived even before the beginning of the heavens and the earth.
Or put it another way: when God created the heavens and the earth, for what purpose? Why did He create the heavens and earth? Were all the heavens and the earth the purpose, the end, of God’s work? No. He created the heavens and the earth for something in view.
God so loved His beloved Son. God is love. Brothers and sisters, those of you who are parents, especially grandparents, know how you love your children; you know how you love your grandchildren. You want to give everything to them. You want to satisfy their hearts. You are willing to sacrifice yourself for your children or for your grandchildren.
But this is human. Think of the divine. Think of God, Who is love itself. God loves His only begotten Son.
It all begins there. Because He so loves His begotten Son, He wants to do something for His Son. He wants to please His Son, to satisfy His Son. It is out of that that He created the heavens and the earth.
So the heavens and the earth do not exist by themselves. We remember in Revelation 4, it says, “By Thy will they were created.” Now, what is Thy will? Thy will is to give the heavens and the earth, and all that are in them, to His beloved Son as a gift.
Now, if someone could give you Richmond as a gift, how would you feel?
But not with God and with His Son. Even though God created the heavens and the earth, and all that are in them—the angels and all the other things—His Son was not satisfied.
There is something in the heart of His beloved Son: a longing for a companion, something that could answer to Him, something like Him, something that can fellowship with Him, something that can be united in one with Him, something that can enjoy all things with Him and to whom all things can be given with Him—a helpmeet. That is what He wants.
And, dear brothers and sisters, the heavenly Father knew about it. So before the foundation of the world, even before God created the heavens and earth, God already had that idea: “I am going to give My Son a life companion, His counterpart, His helpmeet. That will be My supreme gift to My Son.”
The heavens and the earth are only complementary, secondary, not primary. But there is a long way to go. It takes all of time to accomplish this.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do you now understand what the church is in the heart of God?
When God created man, He created man in His image, according to His likeness. Now, brothers and sisters, we must ask the question: why?
When He created the heavens and the earth, He spoke the word, and it was done. But when He created man, there was a counsel among the Godhead: “Let Us create man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Now, why?
Is it not because of this one reason: that God wanted man to be so transformed that they could be the counterpart, the helpmeet, of His beloved Son? That was God’s supreme gift to His beloved Son. God had that in view.
But unfortunately, man, instead of obeying God and taking the tree of life—because without divine life he can never accomplish God’s purpose—instead of doing that, he was tempted, he fell into sin, and he took the forbidden fruit. He was driven out of the garden of Eden.
So, dear brothers and sisters, did God give up? No. He continued to work. You remember our Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” God has one work to do.
Sometimes you wonder: why is it that during the life of our Lord Jesus on earth, He mentioned the word church only twice?
Once was in Matthew 16:18. While He was rejected by His own people, He retreated to the border of a Gentile city, Caesarea Philippi. Then He raised this question to His disciples: “Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?”
After Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord Jesus said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, thou art blessed, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.”
God the Father revealed the Son, and on the basis of that revelation, the Son further revealed what was in His heart: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” What a revelation!
The second time He mentioned it was in Matthew 18. “If thy brother sin against thee, go to him. Try to recover him with love. If he does not listen, take one or two others and go together, trying to convince him, to rescue him. If he will not listen, then tell the church.”
You know, our Lord mentioned this word church the second time during the time when the disciples—the twelve disciples—were arguing among themselves who was the greatest. That was the occasion.
Why did our Lord only mention the word church two times? If the church is so important, if the church is in the heart of God even before the foundation of the world, if the church is what our Lord Jesus came to this earth for, why is it that He did not mention it many, many, many times?
Now, if something is very dear to your heart, the center of your heart, you cannot hide it. You will talk about it. You will dream about it. Even in your dreams, you will be talking about it.
But why is it that this matter of the church, so important to God, so important to our Lord Jesus, was a mystery in Old Testament times? In New Testament times, when our Lord was on earth, He did not mention it until towards the very last. Why?
Because there was so much work to be done. God is working in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, God Himself, conceived this idea of the church.
Now, it is very true: even though God had never come out to speak plainly what was in His heart, yet He could not but drop hints here and there throughout history.
As a matter of fact, when you turn to Genesis 2, you will find there is already some hint there.
After God created Adam, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him.” Now, brothers and sisters, whose idea is that?
In Genesis 1, we are told that when God created man, His concept of man was male and female, because He created them male and female. But He first created Adam.
Because Adam was only half of the man, there was another half missing. So God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him.”
Then you remember how God brought all the animals before Adam. Adam looked at all these animals and gave them names. You know, names describe something. So Adam gave names to all these animals, but he could not find his like there.
There were beautiful birds, dogs, cats, all these pets, or even gorillas. Adam could enjoy them. He could look at them and say, “Oh, this is a dog; this is a cat.” But he could not find his like—something that answered to him.
God knew it. You know, the reason why God brought all these animals before Adam was the law of elimination. It would be very sad if Adam looked at the gorilla and said, “That’s it.” He would never be happy afterwards.
Brothers and sisters, it is God’s idea. Even though Adam felt lonely, even though Adam felt incomplete, he had something empty, but he did not know what it was. He could not find it anywhere in all these living animals. No one could answer to him, but God knew.
So, brothers and sisters, it is God’s idea: “I will make him a helpmeet.” The idea comes from God, not from man.
We all know that Adam in the Bible is a type of Christ. Eve is a type of the church. When you come to Ephesians 5:32, it is said:
This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church.
So you see, the idea is already there. The idea comes from God; it originates from God.
The same thing is true when you think of the tabernacle. After God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them to Sinai, and there He declared His will to the children of Israel.
After He gave them the law, then in Exodus 25 He said, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” Whose idea is that? It is not Moses’ idea. It is not Aaron’s idea. It is not the idea of any of the other children of Israel.
It is God’s idea. God said, “I want to dwell with you. Build Me a sanctuary.” So the whole idea came from God, not from man.
Now, maybe you say David had the idea to build a temple. You know, David lived in his palace, and he talked to Nathan and said, “How can I live in a palace, and God’s ark is in a tent? I cannot stand it anymore. I want to build Him a temple.”
It seems as if the idea came from David. No. The Bible says David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew God’s heart. So it begins in God’s heart, and somehow God impressed upon the heart of David that idea of a temple. David only spoke out God’s heart.
So you find that everything comes from God. The whole idea comes from God, not from man.
I think this is very important. It is important for us to realize that the whole concept of the church comes from God.
You know, unfortunately, in our minds, because of the church that we know today, it is the product of history. It is the idea of man. So we lose that clarity that the whole concept of the church originates in God.
If we can see this, brothers and sisters, it will make a great difference.
In Colossians 1, you find the relationship of our Lord Jesus with His gracious Father within all creation and with the new creation. When you come to the new creation, it is said, “He is the head of the body, the church.”
The head of the body, the church. Now, what is the head to the body? Ephesians 1:23 says Christ is the Head of the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
In other words, the body is the fullness of the Head. If you do not have the head, there is no body. The body serves the purpose of containing the fullness of the head and manifesting the riches, the glory, of the head. So without the Head, there is no body.
That is the reason why, if we do not have the revelation of the Father concerning His Son, we will never be able to enter into the revelation of the Son concerning the church.
No Christ, no church.
He is the beginning. Everything begins in Him. Everything comes from Him. And He is the firstborn from among the dead.
Now, what does that mean? It means that the church is on resurrection ground. The church is not built on natural ground. The church is built on resurrection ground. Our Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life, the firstborn.
In other words, He has the sovereignty and the priority. All who are to be in the church have to be born from above in resurrection life. That is quite a church.
Then, if you turn to 1 Corinthians 2, brothers and sisters, we often quote the first five verses of that chapter. The apostle Paul said to the Corinthian believers, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Brothers and sisters, how we boast that we know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, thank God, this is the foundation. But is there anything to be built on that foundation?
Beginning from verse 6, Paul said, “But we speak wisdom among them that are full-grown.” With the Corinthian believers, they were babes in Christ. With babes, you can only talk to them of Jesus Christ and Him crucified—in other words, the basic gospel truth—because without that, there is no foundation to build upon.
But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, after you accept Him, the Crucified One, then when you grow up—perfect in Scripture means grown up, mature—when you are growing up, there is a wisdom in a mystery that we talk about.
In other words, you go back to God’s purpose. There you see that God has prepared for those who love Him things that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and no one has ever conceived in his mind. It is concerning our glory.
Brothers and sisters, what is that? That is the church, the glorious church that the Lord is building.
This is the work of God throughout the ages. This is the work that our Lord Jesus came to do. And this is the work that He calls us to work with Him, by Him, and for Him.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this matter of the building of the church is very, very important. I do pray that first of all we will focus our thought on the Lord Jesus.
Do not think that because this is God’s work, we should rise up and do it. You cannot. He is the Builder, the Originator of the church. So we have to give Him the first place and yield ourselves to Him, allowing Him to work out His purpose.
Heavenly Father, we do acknowledge the importance of this matter of the building of the church, the house of God.
Dear Lord, we want to tremble at Thy word. It is such a glorious, tremendous work. It serves such a glorious purpose, even to satisfy the heart of Thy beloved Son.
O Lord, forgive us for our complacency. Forgive us for our presumption. Forgive us for our negligence. Forgive us for obstructing Thy work.
Lord, bring us to a place where we will be reduced to zero and allow Thee to do the work, because Thou alone canst do it. We worship Thee. In Thy precious name. Amen.