Let us read 1 Corinthians 1, beginning at verse 1.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
that in everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What a word to the church at Corinth, of all places.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
Now, if I were to ask you this evening, very simply, at the beginning of this time: why are you at Halford House? Could you tell me? Why are you at Halford House? Come on—someone tell me.
One answer is, “God wanted you here.” Another is, “You found the Lord here.” Some were saved here. Quite a lot of you were saved here, were you not? Others said that the Lord brought them here; that they found more truth according to the gospel in the New Testament than in other churches; that they could grow spiritually and help others.
Others spoke of finding life here rather than spiritual suffocation; of belonging to Christ and not to a church; of learning about themselves; of wanting to do something together with others; and of finding a home here.
Well now, I think we can sum up these answers—most of which are false—under just a few headings. I fully expected them, and I am awfully glad you all made the blunders to start with. Now we are all in the boat together.
The first reason is friendliness and fellowship. Under that title come quite a number of the answers we have had. You come here because you find friendliness and spiritual fellowship, and therefore you prefer to come here rather than, say, to an Anglican church at the hill, an assembly across the river, or a free church in the centre of the town, because you get more fellowship here than there.
Another reason, which I did not hear from anyone but which we will put down lest there be some who feel it, is the freedom of the Spirit. Some people say, “I come to Halford House because it is less organised. I do not like the organised type of churches—too liturgical, too suffocating. I feel there is a freedom.”
Of course, we have a long way to go, but there is a freedom of the Spirit there. That is another reason.
A third reason is the measure of Christ. This is a very spiritual reason. Under it we must put two things: spiritual life and spiritual food.
In other words, you come here because you find more of Christ here than elsewhere—or, at least, that is how you feel. It is a subjective thing. Someone else might not feel it. But you feel that in this company there is more of Christ, more spiritual life, and more spiritual food. Therefore, you come here.
That becomes the basis of your gathering. You belong to this company because you feel there is more of the Lord here. If you find another company with more of the Lord, perhaps you are off. If you can find more spiritual food or more spiritual life, you will leave and go where you find something more.
A fourth reason is that you were saved here. That is quite a good reason. You were saved here, and therefore you do not know anywhere else; actually, you feel this is your home.
The last reason is the will of God.
Those five reasons cover all but two of the answers we have had. In other words, two of the answers were correct. These five cover the general reasons why people are in this place or that place.
If you think of it, on any of these grounds you could be in a Baptist church, a Congregational church, an assembly, the Salvation Army, the Quakers, the Pentecostals, the Strict Baptists, the General Baptists, or the state church. You will go where you can get fellowship.
If there is more fellowship in St. Mary’s than in the gospel hall down by the railway sidings, you will go to St. Mary’s because there is more fellowship, more friendliness, and a nice circle of people who are cosy, friendly, and warm.
We must be especially careful with this matter of the will of God. We can use it in a very subjective and altogether wrong way. Our deceitful hearts can say, “I am here because it is the will of God.” But when I fall out with a brother, suddenly it is no longer the will of God that I should stay here.
There is a collision with someone, and immediately you discover that it is the will of God to move on somewhere else. You have a fire escape. When things get too hot, you use the fire escape and you are out. The fire escape is “the will of God.”
I do not mean that this is the will of God; it is precisely what it is not. But we all brush things over with the term the will of God.
If we really understand, as Ephesians 5 says, what the will of the Lord is, we are trapped—absolutely trapped. Yet we can use the will of God in a falsely subjective way, not knowing our deceitful hearts, in order to escape trying brothers and sisters, or others with whom we simply cannot get on.
All these points are important, but I want to say here and now that not one of them preserves the unity of Christ. Not one of them—not even the measure of Christ—preserves the unity of Christ.
Theoretically, it ought to. Where there is most of the Lord, there should be the greatest appreciation for the oneness of Christ. But is that always the case? Often, when there is a measure of the Lord, we become very superior and think that we are the elite. Our very understanding of the measure of the Lord makes us divisive.
This is the whole point: the ground of the church, the basis for our fellowship together, is the preservation of the unity of Christ—the preservation of the unity of the Spirit.
We have got to discover the basis of our fellowship. All these things may be right as additional things, but they are not sufficient as a basis for gathering together. Why? Because will we stay together?
Within ten years, we might all have said farewell to one another on these points—certainly on the first three and the last one. We could all have said farewell to one another.
The question is not merely, “Why are you at Halford House?” The question is: why do we gather together in the manner in which we do here in this company? Are we absolutely clear as to what the objective of God is, and what basis God commits Himself to?
It troubles me greatly when I hear people speak about coming into “the house of the Lord,” or speak of these premises as “the house of God.” That is quite wrong.
This house may be a sign; these bricks and mortar may be a sign. But it is not the house of God. It never was and never will be, however precious the sign and what it signifies. The bricks and mortar are not the house of God.
It troubles me greatly when I hear people speaking of this as “the fellowship.” I realise it is hard to find some word by which we can describe the company in which we are, but the fellowship is unfortunate because it is quite unbiblical.
The word fellowship is never used in the New Testament as “the fellowship.” That is why we do not have the definite article before the words Christian Fellowship. We do not call it the Christian Fellowship. You see on the headed paper and on the stone outside simply, “Christian Fellowship.” It is not a title; it is a description.
It is better, if you want to use a good biblical word, just to call it the company. That is a biblical word. Peter and John, when they were released, went to their own company in Jerusalem.
Because of the confusion among us, we have felt led by the Lord to embark once more upon this matter. We took it up some years ago, in the late 1950s. Now we want to look at it again and trust that the Lord will use these times to make us clear, old and young, as to what His objective is and the basis to which He will commit Himself in these days.
Why has the Lord so remarkably and amazingly led us and provided for us, setting His seal upon our history in so many ways? Not that we are anything in ourselves. I never tire of saying that we must be the biggest collection of dumb clucks in the world—saved dumb clucks! Nevertheless, we are but a collection of fools, and the Lord has done something for us.
We have an amazing story of the Lord’s faithfulness, provision, and leadership in minute ways as well as large ways. Why has the Lord so singularly committed Himself? What lies at the root of it? Should we not ask ourselves what it is that the Lord is seeking to do, and why?
Are we just another non-denominational evangelical church—a kind of undenominational evangelical church with a minister in normal clothes, called “Mister,” and an assistant minister with a full-time job at University College? Is that the kind of group we are?
Or are we a more informal and less organised fellowship, catering for the needs of lonely people in a highly urbanised society—people who do not get what they need in a normal evangelical church, and who come here for a cup of tea, some fellowship, and a homely surrounding?
Do not get me wrong. There is such a thing as fellowship. Fellowship is the hallmark of the true church, and love is the power of the true church. The fact of feeling at home can be altogether spiritual, because God is at home and therefore you are at home.
Let us not despise the person who says, “I feel at home; this is my home”—provided it is because God is at home. God dwells not in bricks and mortar, not in the place, but in the company.
Are we a kind of evangelistic mission, seeking to reach needy men and women, with an emphasis on juvenile delinquents? God has singularly blessed us in that matter. Or are we a company of Christians emphasising some particular aspect of truth, or some particular experience of the cross or the Spirit which we feel to be vital?
Or are we a group of Christians called together to support and uphold a particularly anointed ministry? Is that what we are? Then we become a people centred in a ministry, and because the ministry is entrusted to one person, centred in that person.
Let us imagine that a leading evangelical minister or leader approaches us and asks, “Why do you meet separately? Why do you not join one of the sound and keen denominational churches which abound in your area?”
Or he might say, “If you do not like denominationalism, why do you not join one of the churches that is interdenominational in character and outlook? Why have you set up a separate entity? Why not throw in your lot with some other cause of God nearer to your way of looking?”
“If you do not like interdenominationalism because you feel it is a halfway house, why not join a non-denominational place? There is one just across your garden, there since 1736—the oldest free church in Richmond. Why not throw in your lot with them?”
“If you do not like organisation, why not join the Quakers? Why start some new group? Or why not go to the Open Brethren and join them? Are they not the same as you—no membership? Are you an Open Brethren assembly which allows sisters to take part?”
“You are, whether you like it or not, an evangelical company. Why do you not join the Richmond District Evangelistic Council? Why do you stand apart? Why do you not join the World Evangelical Alliance? Surely you could find your place amongst them.”
“If you do not like the World Evangelical Alliance, what about the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches? Is that not up your street? Is that not your cup of tea? Are you not an independent evangelical church?”
Now, do you know how you would answer? You must understand that none of the answers we have considered will hold water.
If you say, “There is fellowship here,” he may say, “Go and put some fellowship into the other place. You are just a selfish person, saying, ‘Me, me, me. I go there because I get this. I go there because it is friendly. I go there because I get spiritual food.’ Get up and do something for others for a while. Provide some spiritual food for others.”
If you say, “I was saved there,” he may say, “That is good. The Lord overrules mistakes. But perhaps your place is to go into these other groups and help them.”
We need to be able to answer these questions clearly. What is the justification for our meeting separately? What is the basis of gathering? Why are we here?
Friendliness and fellowship, the measure of Christ, spiritual life and food, freedom of the Spirit, having been saved here, and believing it to be the will of God—these answers may be good to us up to a point, but they do not bear the searching scrutiny of the Spirit of God.
What is the problem? Before we can answer the question, “Why am I at Halford House?” we have to look at the problem confronting us.
In New Testament days, there was not the complex and intricate problem which we face as children of God today. Through the preaching of the gospel, many people were saved throughout Judea, Samaria, and then throughout the Roman Empire.
As people were saved and born of the Spirit of God, they were simply gathered together in each locality where they lived, as the family of God. You were either in the family by spiritual birth, or you were not in it. It was as simple as that.
Every believer in a locality belonged to the family. There may have been only two, but they were the family there; they represented the family of God in that place. There may have been only two Christians at first in Antioch, but they were the family of God in Antioch.
Your family may be large or small; that is not the point. It is a family. There may be only two members of your family in Birmingham and twenty in Exeter, but the two in Birmingham are no less your family. They are your kith and kin.
In the first century, wherever the gospel went, men and women were saved through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Word of God. They were gathered together simply as children of God, called the ekklesia—the called-out ones—the church of God.
Jew or Gentile made no difference. When they became children of God, they were Christians: Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. There was no more Jew and no more Gentile—only Christians.
The family of God in each place consisted of those who were born of the Spirit of God and excluded everyone else. In the New Testament there were never two churches in one locality—never. There was only one church in each locality.
The church at Jerusalem, though it numbered at one point at least five thousand people, was never called “the churches at Jerusalem.” Even though they met from house to house because they could not all break bread together, it remained the church at Jerusalem.
Let me show you this from the Word of God. In Acts 2:41-42 we read:
They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Three thousand souls were added in one day. There was no place in Jerusalem that could take three thousand people. So Acts 2:46 says:
And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.
They met together in the temple courts for the reading of the Word and for prayer, but for the Lord’s Table they broke up into groups and broke bread from house to house.
Acts 6:1 speaks of the number of disciples multiplying. Acts 6:7 says:
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Then Acts 8:1 speaks of “a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem.” Though it numbered many thousands, it was still called the church in Jerusalem.
Acts 4:23 provides an interesting sidelight:
And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them.
Peter and John came to their own company. That reveals that the church in Jerusalem had been broken up into smaller groups, and even Peter and John, as apostles, had their own company. Yet the church at Jerusalem was never divided into churches.
Of course, this raises questions about cities such as London, New York, or Los Angeles. We cannot be legalistic and say that there must be only one gathering for millions of people. The Holy Spirit is able to apply and interpret principles for the twentieth century. But the principle remains: one church, one place.
The church at Corinth might have been spiritually poor, rent with faction, and carnal in its ways and character. Yet it was still the church at Corinth. It was called sanctified in Christ Jesus, and one can scarcely imagine people expressing less sanctification.
We are not saying that the Holy Spirit does not want to change the whole situation. Of course He does. But we are speaking about the basis upon which the Holy Spirit commits Himself.
The church at Jerusalem might have been legalistic, hidebound, and lacking in full vision, but it was still the church at Jerusalem. The church at Thyatira might even have had a Jezebel in it, but it was still the church. The church at Laodicea might have been wealthy, knowledgeable, active, spiritually blind, poverty-stricken, and naked, but it was still the church at Laodicea.
It was the one church. This is a very important point. Some years ago I heard a little statement which I have never forgotten: Never try to understand the church through the churches; always seek to understand the churches through the church.
The church is one. It is absolutely one. It is indivisible because it is Christ. There is only one church. The name of a locality attached to it simply indicates that you happen to be resident there.
When I go to New York, I am not a member of the church in Richmond visiting the church in New York. I am in the church. There is only the church. When I am here, I am in the church; when I am in New York, I am in the church in New York. What I am when I am in a plane, I do not know!
If you were in Antioch, you were in the church at Antioch. If you moved to Jerusalem, you were in the church at Jerusalem. If you moved to Ephesus, you were in the church at Ephesus. If you moved to Rome, you were in the church at Rome.
If you went from Jerusalem to Antioch, you were simply a member of the family. You were not a member of the Jerusalem church visiting another entity; you were a member of the family. It was not so many little molecules, so many little entities with circles around them. It was one church, divided only by the fact of where you lived.
Today we have a very different situation. In any given locality, and especially this one, there are any number of churches. I know one small Danish town in the north of Jutland with thirty-six churches.
We have national and state churches, denominational churches, interdenominational churches, non-denominational churches, sectarian groups, and exclusive groups. Some exist only for the propagation of certain aspects of truth. Some seek to bring people into certain kinds of spiritual experience. They call it “the testimony.”
Others see themselves merely as a means of reaching unsaved people—an evangelistic agency. Thank God for that. Some are unsound and erroneous, using the name Christian merely as an appendage, while in actual fact they have no part with Christ at all.
Other groups are sound but dead. You step in and feel the lifelessness of it. You may hear a good message, sound enough that you cannot pick holes in it, but it is lifeless.
Others still have a measure of real life and real power, and that makes us more confused than ever. If they were all dead, it would be a simple proposition. But when we find groups full of life and power, and the Lord still blessing, saving, and educating there, what are we to do?
These groups are generally built, in some measure, upon the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, rather than upon the unity of the Spirit.
There are two unities. Ephesians 4:13 speaks of arriving at “the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” That is something to which we are progressing.
But Ephesians 4:3-4 tells us to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. You cannot keep something you have not got. If you want to keep a dog, you must first have a dog! You cannot keep a non-existent dog.
The very fact that we are told to keep the unity of the Spirit means that we already have it. Every child of God is born into the unity of the Spirit. But the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God is something toward which we are progressing.
Nearly all these groups have made the unity of the faith the basis of fellowship. “Have you seen the matter of baptism? Have you had it? If not, you cannot have fellowship. You can come to the meeting, but you cannot be right in it.”
“Have you had the second blessing? Oh, you have not had the second blessing? Sorry—we will do our best to get you into it. But until then, you cannot participate.”
“Do you believe this? Do you believe that?” You are investigated to determine exactly what you believe. You can sit at the back, but you are not permitted to take part until you have come into that experience, followed that method, or accepted something else.
That is the way most of these groups are built: upon the unity of faith. Yet none of us will ever see eye to eye over everything until we are in glory. Then we shall all see eye to eye—at last.
When we put a circle around ourselves, we have a membership. Then we give the right hand of membership, and you are either in or out.
Many of you young ones may never have noticed what lies behind the congregations you visit. You sit and listen to the speaker, and that is all right. But you do not know what lies behind it.
In many places you would not be permitted to take part at the Lord’s Table unless you had been confirmed or undergone a certain ceremony. In many groups, you would not be permitted to take the Lord’s Table unless you had been baptised by immersion as a believer.
That is what we mean by groups being built upon the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, rather than on the unity of the Spirit.
You may have been saved only an hour ago, but if you were saved an hour ago, you have the unity of the Spirit. Thank God for that. You may be spiritually like a little newly born baby, uttering your first cry, but you are in the unity of the Spirit because you are born into God’s family.
The basis is as simple as this: if you are in the family, you are in with us. We cannot help it. We may not even like you, but what can we do? God has brought you to birth; we have to accept the fact.
So we receive one another as Christ received us. How did Christ receive me? He did not receive me as a fully fledged, devoted servant of the Lord. He received me as a miserable sinner.
A miserable thing who could not save himself and could not do a single thing for himself. God accepted you as a sinner saved by His grace. That was the lowest level on which He could bring us in: saved by grace.
Now you and I are to receive one another on the lowest common denominator: sinners saved by grace. Are you a sinner saved by grace? Then, my dear brother and my dear sister, we belong together. You may not like it, but we are together.
Christ received me as a sinner saved by grace, and He received you as a sinner saved by grace. You must accept me as a sinner like this; I must accept you as a sinner—not as a wonderful apostle, prophet, teacher, or gifted child of God, but as Christ received me.
That undercuts a great deal of the trouble we have in fellowship, does it not? So many of our reservations about one another arise because we are addicted to receiving one another on another basis than the one on which Christ received us.
There may be someone in this room who has been a child of God for fifty or sixty years, walking with the Lord all those years. And there may be someone here who has just been saved. Do you know that he has as much right to be here as you have?
It is not because someone has gone on for so long with the Lord that the Lord now finds them acceptable. He still accepts them on the same basis on which He first received them: sinners saved by grace.
The situation we face is tragic, because we have rent the unity of Christ by membership and by many other means. We have put little circles around certain numbers and said, “We are the elite,” or, “We are the agreed ones on this,” or, “We see this,” or, “We have experienced that.”
All are welcome to come and sit in the meeting, but only some may partake. We are always out for an increase in our membership—if people will go through the right channels.
I remember when I was first saved. I thought I was in the family of God. My pastor, when I was a Baptist, approached me and said, “Is it not about time you joined the church?” I was horrified. I said, “But I thought I was in the church.”
He said, “Of course, my dear boy, you are in the church, but we live in the twentieth century. We have to have a certain amount of organisation.” I could not work it out. I asked him to show me the Scriptures where believers joined the church, but he could not.
I went through the procedure. Two people came to see me at home separately, listened to my whole history, wrote it down, and then took it back to the church. The whole church had to vote, and I was admitted on a two-thirds majority vote.
You laugh, but that is Baptist church procedure. Think of the poor thing going through all that when he is simply a sinner saved by grace. They are seeking to protect themselves, of course, but it can cut out those whom God has saved and possibly include some who are clever enough to pass the investigation.
The membership of the true church of God is the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Humanly viewed, the situation is hopeless: hopeless division, hopeless contradiction, and in many cases hopeless rivalry. Even when we sit under a banner declaring that we are all one in Jesus Christ, those who have been on the inside know the rivalry that goes on behind the banner.
Added to our confusion are the World Council of Churches and the Second Vatican Council. We have people who are not born-again believers preaching and teaching the vital importance of unity. On the other side, we have born-again believers justifying traditional division.
I heard a bishop give a magnificent address on John 17 and Ephesians 4. I was sick inside, because I thought, if only some of our evangelical leaders could give the same message. It was the right message amongst the wrong people.
Then, in this town, at our annual evangelical convention, a very well-known and blessedly used brother came and spent the whole evening justifying traditional division among Christians.
That is the hopeless situation we face: the wrong people preaching the vital necessity and importance of Christian unity, while the right people justify traditional divisions.
We are told that so long as we do not allow the middle wall of partition to get too high, we can shake hands over the top. But that middle wall of partition is a wall which Christ paid His blood to abolish.
I think it is a terrible thing to speak of allowing a middle wall to remain when our Lord Jesus Christ has done away with it at such tremendous cost.
We hide in the fact that we have united in interdenominational evangelistic campaigns and gatherings such as Keswick. We say, “Is that not good enough? Is there not an expression of Christian unity?”
But is it biblical? Is it what the Lord really wants—that for one week out of a whole year we gather together, shake hands, hold a united communion service, and then all return to our various little groups? Is that New Testament?
Here is the answer, in a few sentences. We believe that the Lord will never admit defeat over His original purpose concerning His church.
Let me say it again: the Lord will never admit defeat over His original purpose concerning His church and its expression and function on earth during this age.
There are many evangelical scallywags who hide in the thought that something is being done in an invisible, ethereal realm which no one can see. They tell us somehow or other that something is happening “up there,” and that the church is without spot or blemish. But is this wholly biblical?
The Lord will never admit defeat over His original purpose concerning the church and its expression on earth during this age. The church expressed in time and locality is the workshop of God for the universal church. If the Lord cannot get that, He cannot get the materials He needs for the eternal building.
Let us look at Matthew 16:18:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
What does the Lord mean? Looking at the situation today, we must say honestly before God that the gates of hell appear to have prevailed. What did the Lord mean? Does He not suggest that He will never admit defeat?
It is unbelief on our part that sides with Satan and says, “It shall never be.” We need the spirit of faith to rise up in us so that we say, “This thing is going to be, and hell cannot stop it.”
Why? Because our risen, God-given Head is the One doing the work by the Spirit. That is what we stand for.
Ephesians 5:27 says:
That he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Has He given up that purpose? Is He going to let it go?
What about 1 Corinthians 1:9?
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Was there ever a more hopeless situation than Corinth? Immorality, carnality, lawsuits, divisions, factions, and the exercise of gifts like so many babies—so that even unsaved people coming in said that they were mad.
Would you not have been tempted to leave them altogether and start something new? But did the apostle Paul say, “Those of you who say, ‘I am of Paul,’ you are the people who have seen it. You must leave this mess and start something again based on the teaching the Lord has given me”?
He never did. He said, “God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son.” Do not you do it.
If God could do it with Corinth, do you not think He can do it with this mess in the twentieth century? Do you think God is now unfaithful? To what have you been called? To what has every child of God been called? Have we not all been called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord?
Therefore, is it not just as true that God is faithful? He will see the thing through.
I am only mentioning this tonight. In the coming weeks we shall take it up and look at it more clearly and with greater simplicity.
Isaiah 46:10 says:
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
We believe, therefore, that before the Lord Jesus comes, if only in a remnant, there will be an expression throughout the earth of His original purpose and concept. His purpose in and for the church in this age will be carried by His grace to a glorious fulfilment and consummation.
My scriptural basis for that is Revelation 19:
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
The bride hath made herself ready. What is the point of the book of Haggai? Is it there for archaeologists? That dusty little book, all about building, construction, recovery, and completion of the house of God, is there for us.
It helps us understand what it means when God says:
And I will shake all nations;
and the precious things of all nations shall come;
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.
Away with the idea that the church is going to end as some bankrupt, vacuous, empty wreck. That old counterfeit prostitute who rides upon the scarlet beast may end as an empty old wreck, but the bride will not.
If only in a remnant, even a tiny remnant all over the world, the Lord is going to do this thing.
That is why we have Zechariah 4:
Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain:
and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings of, Grace, grace, unto it.
The headstone is Christ. The house will be built absolutely according to the plan and the design, so that the headstone is fitted into its position.
That means the cooperation, in utter devotional faithfulness, of every child of God. My dear friend, you have got to get your loyalties clear.
People speak much about loyalty—loyalty to this, loyalty to that team, loyalty to this servant of the Lord, loyalty to that servant of the Lord. What do they mean?
I have only one loyalty, and it is to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have got to be sons of Levi in this matter. We have to take the sword and destroy everything else in utter loyalty to Him.
We have got to go through. We have got to go through. But do not fear, because the Lord is going through. That is the whole point: He is going through.
Do not start fighting as if we have to barge our way through the whole thing like a spiritual bulldozer. What we need is faith. The Lord has done it. All He needs is for people to rise up and say, “This thing shall be.”
Why? Because of the finished work of Christ; because of Pentecost, it shall be.
If the early church was glorious, the latter church will be more glorious—not because it is more universal or greater in number, but because it has come at greater cost.
What is needed is that people rise up in faith and say, “This thing shall be,” and it shall be because the Lord has done it. Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit He will do it.
The Holy Spirit, blessed be His name, is the dynamite of God. He will blast a way through, if only there is faith in you and me.
We are not trying to put something over or trying to get something done. It is too costly, is it not? We would rather have a nice life in the country, retire to the twittering birds and sunsets, than be in this business.
But thank God, the Lord is in this thing, and He is going to do it. That is why we are here.
My friend, rub all those other reasons out. Forget them. Here is the one and only ground: you are here because you are in Christ. It is as simple as that.
If you want anything else, it becomes Christ plus: Christ plus baptism; Christ plus a second blessing; Christ plus tongues; Christ plus the Second Coming; Christ plus this experience or that experience. No. You are here simply because you are in Christ.
That is all. That is the ground. You are in Him and learning Him. Therefore, we are not going to be divided; we are going to stay together.
So long as you are in Him, and I am in Him, and we are living here in Richmond, we are together. If you do not like me, go and live in Edinburgh! That is the best way out of it. You can still be in Christ, but you will be parted by five hundred miles.
But while we are here in Richmond, and while we are in Christ, we are together. We have got to find a way through it. May God help us and help us to understand a little more what will be.
Beloved Lord, we need Thee. We all need Thee. Oh, we pray that Thou wouldst give us some real spiritual enlightenment as to what we are doing here.
O Father, only Thou canst do that. Wilt Thou, by Thy Spirit, really translate into our hearts and minds the truth that we have been speaking about this evening?
Lord, make us clear as to why we are together, clear as to what Thy objective is. Oh, help us in this thing, and do it, Lord, for Thy name’s sake.
Thou art going to do it, we praise Thee, Lord. What Thou art going to do, whether with us or with some other company, Lord, Thou art going to do it in the end. Praise be to Thy name.
So, Lord, together we bow before Thee and look to Thee, that in all that lies ahead there may be more and more for Thyself in us all as we go on together. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.