Please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 16. We will read from verse 13 to verse 19. I will read it in English first, and then my dear brother will read it in Spanish.
Matthew 16:13-19
Now 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-jona: 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.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Please turn to Matthew, chapter 18. We will read from verse 15 through verse 20.
Matthew 18:15-20
And if thy brother sin against thee, go, reprove him between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established.
And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.
Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father Who is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Dear Lord, again we thank Thee for gathering us together here this morning. We thank Thee for Thy precious Word, because Thy Word is living and operative.
Lord, enable us to open our hearts to Thee, that Thy Word may fall upon good ground and produce fruit unto Thyself. We want Thee to be glorified in the midst of Thy people.
We pray that Thy will be done among us, as it is in heaven. We are ready to give Thee all the praise and the glory. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God that we may gather together again this morning.
Yesterday, we mentioned the Patmos vision. We see the apostle John, who was exiled to the island of Patmos. There, on the Lord’s Day, while he was thinking about the churches in Asia Minor to whom he had ministered before he was exiled, suddenly he heard a voice from behind. He turned and saw a heavenly vision.
He saw the vision of seven golden lampstands, which represent the seven churches in Asia Minor—the churches to which he ministered before he was exiled. In the midst of the seven golden lampstands, he saw One like the Son of man.
It is a vision of the heavenly work of our Lord. While He was on earth, He was the Apostle of our confession—that is, He was sent by God to accomplish a work. It was the work of redemption.
While He was crucified on the cross, His word was, “It is finished.” In other words, He finished the work that the Father had sent Him to do. We know that this is the work of redemption.
Then our Lord ascended, and here we see the work of our Lord Jesus in His ascension. So far as the preparatory work was concerned, it was already done. He had preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, demonstrated the power of God in healing, and finished the work of redemption.
Now He is in heaven to continue the work of God. God works until now, and the Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” There is a tremendous work that God has been doing, and this is the work that our Lord Jesus Himself is doing.
So far as we are concerned, we think that the works of God are many. But so far as God is concerned, His work is only one: the work of preparing a bride for the Son.
Here we find our Lord Jesus in heaven. He is the High Priest of our confession, making intercession for us. He is ministering to the churches until the church is built.
At the end of the Book of Revelation, we find the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is the consummation of all the works of God throughout time.
The apostle John knew the Lord Jesus well. As a matter of fact, probably no other person knew the Lord while He was on earth as John did. But so far as the ascended Christ is concerned—so far as the ministry of the ascended Christ is concerned—John was not too familiar.
But there on the island of Patmos, he was given a vision of what the Lord was doing in heaven. He saw that the Lord Jesus Himself was ministering to the churches.
Brothers and sisters, it is very important for us to know this heavenly ministry of our Lord Jesus. We need to know Him as our High Priest, because without knowing Him as our High Priest, we will not be able to live a real Christian life.
We need to know the Lord Jesus’ ministry toward the church, because without His ministry in heaven toward the church, the church can never be built.
What did the apostle John see? He saw the vision of Christ in the midst of the churches. It was a tenfold vision of Christ.
He saw One in the midst of the lampstands, like the Son of man. Why is it that the apostle John said, “One like the Son of man”?
We know that when Christ was on earth, He called Himself the Son of man. Even though He was the Son of God, He came to earth as the Son of man, the beginning of a new race of manhood.
We remember the prophet Daniel. In Daniel 7, he saw a vision. He saw the Ancient of Days, God sitting on the throne, and millions upon millions of angels serving Him.
Then he saw One like a Son of man led to the Ancient of Days, to God, and He received dominion and a kingdom from the Ancient of Days. Of course, we know that One like a Son of man refers to our Lord Jesus.
But Daniel’s vision was given before the Lord came to this earth, so Daniel also said, “One like a Son of man.” Here in Revelation 1, He is also called One like the Son of man.
Why is it so? It is because, as the Son of man, He was humbled. He came as the Lamb of God. But now He has ascended. Even though He is still the Son of man, He looks so different. He is no longer in His humiliation; He is in glory.
This One who was like the Son of man was clothed with a garment reaching to the feet. When you read this, immediately you know that this is a priestly garment. A priest would wear a long garment.
Then you find that He was girded around His breast with a golden girdle. In the Orient, people wear long gowns. When you are going to do work, you have to gird yourself—that is, the long gown must be girded up so that you can work.
But here the girdle is not for girding up the long garment. The golden girdle is around His breast. This tells us that, so far as the work of redemption is concerned, it has been done. The work has been finished.
What is He doing here? He is girded around His breast. In other words, out of His heart of love, He is applying His finished work to us.
His head and His hair were white like white wool, as snow. We know that white hair is supposed to represent wisdom. Unfortunately, some who have white hair may not have wisdom. They should. But our Lord Jesus is full of wisdom; indeed, He is wisdom itself.
His eyes were as a flame of fire. In other words, His eyes are so penetrating. He looks not only at us, but into us.
You know the story. When Simon Peter first saw our Lord Jesus, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that our Lord Jesus looked at him. The word “look” there does not mean a casual glance. He looked into him very deeply.
Simon was speechless. Naturally, he was very eloquent; usually, he was the first one to speak. But there he was completely silent, because the Lord looked at him and knew him thoroughly.
Brothers and sisters, the look of our Lord Jesus is penetrating. Everything is naked before Him. That shows that He knows everything.
His feet were like fine brass, as if burning in a furnace. We know that brass in Scripture always represents judgment. You have the brazen altar and the brazen laver. His feet carry with them the sense of judgment. What His eyes see, His feet judge—that is to say, He treads upon it.
His voice was as the voice of many waters. In other words, His voice was mighty, full of power and authority.
In His right hand were seven stars. We are told that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The word angel here simply means messenger. There may be heavenly messengers, the angels, or there may be earthly messengers—those who are responsible for the churches.
Our Lord Jesus’ right hand holds these stars. In other words, He holds these responsible people, and He gives them the ability to fulfill their responsibility.
Out of His mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. In other words, when He says anything, it is penetrating. It divides the spirit and the soul.
His countenance was as the sun shining in its strength. The countenance reveals all the riches within Him, because in Him is all the fullness of the Godhead.
While our Lord Jesus was on earth, He was humble as a lamb. Now, when He is in heaven, He is the majestic High Priest toward His church.
While He was on earth, He was preparing materials for the building of the church. Now He is in heaven, earnestly building His church. From the day of Pentecost until now, and until His second coming, He is in heaven working to build His church.
Brothers and sisters, the apostle John ministered to these churches. We know that when he ministered, it must have been very spiritual. He was doing his best to help these churches, because he was a faithful servant of God.
But when he saw that the Lord Jesus Himself was ministering to the churches, when he saw that this glorious Lord was building His church, do you know what his reaction was? He fell down as dead.
Dear brothers and sisters, I often feel that we do not know what the church really is, nor how precious the church is in the sight of God.
Because the church is something precious to God, He wants to give the church as His gift to His Son. Of all the gifts that the Father gives to the Son, He gave the world to His Son; but nothing can be compared with the gift of the church.
God pays much attention to the building of the church, and He will not commit the building of the church to any person. He commits the building of the church only to His beloved Son.
When our Lord Jesus in heaven is building the church, you find that the way He builds is in an absolute way. It is absolute righteousness, absolute love, absolute judgment, absolute discipline, and absolute authority. His words are backed by absolute authority.
When the apostle John realized that, he fell down as dead. Brothers and sisters, sometimes we feel that it is such a glory and honor that we may be used in the building of the house. We may be doing the very best we can.
But when you compare our ministry with our Lord’s ministry, we will fall down as dead. We will be in dust and ashes.
That was the reaction of the apostle John. Then, thank God, our Lord Jesus touched him, raised him up, and showed him Who He was.
The Lord said, “I am the First and the Last. I am the Beginning. I am the living One. I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. I have the keys of death and Hades.”
What a victory our Lord Jesus won on Calvary’s cross! He is building His church on the basis of His victory. The church is a victorious church. It is to be the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. It is to be His instrument in His hand, to clear up all the works of the enemy and to bring all things to the feet of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the church that our Lord is building today.
Now we go back to Matthew 16. As we have already said, while He was on earth, after His diligent ministry, He went through cities and villages in the land of Judea. There He preached the kingdom of heaven and demonstrated His power by healing.
But even so, we find that He was rejected, because the Jewish nation was waiting for a political Messiah, not a spiritual Messiah. So they misunderstood Him, and they rejected Him.
Our Lord retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi, and there He asked the important question: “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” Of course, they gave Him all the best human answers, but all the answers were on a human level.
Our Lord was not satisfied. Then He turned to His disciples and asked, “But who say ye that I am?”
Thank God, Simon Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord Jesus said, “Thou art Peter. Thou art now a small living stone, and I will build My church upon this rock.”
The rock is the confession of Peter. The rock is the work that our Lord Jesus has done on earth. The rock is our Lord Jesus Himself.
Our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” In other words, He will build His church upon Himself, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The Roman church thought that Peter was the foundation of the church. Now, if Peter were the foundation of the church, then we can see how that foundation shook, because he denied the Lord three times. We know that Peter was not the foundation of the church. The Lord Himself is the foundation.
So, brothers and sisters, the church is built on Christ. The church is not built on any human being.
The material He uses to build the church is not natural men and women. The apostle Paul says that in the flesh there is no good thing.
But thank God, He has saved us. He has given His life to us, and we become chips of that rock. We have the same life as His, and He uses that life to build up the church.
Now, you will notice that when our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock,” the word is church, not churches. He said, “I will build My church.”
In other words, the church is only one. It refers to the universal church, from the first person who believed in the Lord Jesus in the first century to the last person who believes in the Lord Jesus, even in our century.
All those saved by the Lord Jesus, all who have been born again, all who have the life of Christ Jesus—God is building us together into one church. So we call it the universal church.
Who is the Builder of that church? It is the Lord Himself. He said, “I will build My church.” Because He is the One Who builds the church, even if all the gates of Hades are opened, all the attacks of the enemy cannot overcome it.
Today we see how many churches are attacked and even destroyed by the gates of Hades because they are the work of men, not the work of our Lord Jesus. His work is so complete and so victorious that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The universal church is one church. The Builder is our Lord Jesus Himself, and the material He employs is His own life in us. It is so powerful and victorious that the enemies are defeated. It is the victorious church. Praise the Lord for what He is doing.
All the spiritual principles of the church are in that universal church. Thank God, we all belong to that universal church. I hope, brothers and sisters, that we are clear on this point.
When you come to Matthew 18, that is the second time our Lord Jesus mentioned the church. Here you can see a difference.
In verse 15, He said, “If thy brother sin against thee.” What does that mean? It means that here you find two believers. They must be living in the same locality, because they are together.
Unfortunately, we still have our flesh. As long as our flesh has not been dealt with, sooner or later these two will have problems.
Think of Adam and Eve. They were supposed to be one. But after they sinned, what happened? Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. Immediately, you find that they were not one.
Brothers and sisters, no two people can be together without any problem, because everyone has his own self, and these selves will conflict with each other.
We are saved. We are brothers and sisters. Yet, if we are close together, because we belong to the church, live together, and serve together, you will find that, unfortunately, one brother may sin against another brother.
If you are living in Peru and I am living in the United States, you have very little chance to sin against me, and I have very little chance to sin against you. I can say, “I love my brothers in Chile,” and you should say, “I love my brother in the United States.”
Why can we love each other? Because we have no contact. Put us together in close association, and sooner or later something will happen.
Now, if your brother sins against you, what should you do? According to the old covenant, if you do one thing to me, I will repay you with the same. But we as Christians cannot do that.
We may say, “All right, I am willing to suffer. I will let you go. I will swallow up my pride. I will forgive you, but I can never forget you.” Do you think that if I act that way, I am a good Christian? I say no.
If your brother sins against you, you go to him and tell him what he has done—not to vindicate yourself, but to try to restore your brother.
Your brother is in darkness, but you are in light. Therefore, you have the responsibility to recover him. You go there not to blame him, not to scold him, and not to vindicate yourself.
You go there with a humble heart: “I love you. I see that you are in darkness. You have done something wrong. You will hinder your life before God. Therefore, I want to restore you.” You go there with tears for your brother.
Usually, if you do that, your brother will break down. But if your brother still will not confess, if he insists that he is all right, is your responsibility fulfilled? No.
The Lord said that you should find two or three witnesses—other brothers and sisters whom your brother respects. You, together with two or three others, go to him and try to restore him, because the witness of two or three is true.
Usually, if you do that, the brother will break down. But if he insists that he is all right, even though his life with God has been damaged, and he will not repent, is your responsibility fulfilled? No.
So far as the love of God is concerned, you still have a responsibility to love your brother. What can you do? You tell the church.
Brothers and sisters, if it is the universal church, where do you go to tell the church? Nowhere. Therefore, this shows that the church has another aspect: the aspect of the local church.
Because we are still living in this body, as long as we are in this mortal body, we are limited by time and space. You cannot be everywhere at one time.
Even when our Lord Jesus was on earth, as the Son of man, He could not be everywhere at the same time. If He was in Jerusalem, He could not be in Galilee, because He had a mortal body.
Thank God, one day this mortal body will become a spiritual body. When that comes, you can be everywhere at any time. But not today.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, you find that there is the local church.
In Matthew 18:20, it tells us very clearly: “Where two or three are gathered together.” First, there is a place; there is a locality. Second, there are two or three—not one. One person cannot be a church. There must be at least two or three.
These two or three are not scattered; they are gathered together. We have already said that the church is a gathering. We need to gather together under the name of our Lord Jesus.
But it is not merely a gathering together. It is gathering together into His name.
There are many fraternities, sororities, clubs, and different groups, but they are not gathered together into the name of the Lord Jesus. Here, two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus.
What does that mean? It does not merely mean using the name of the Lord Jesus in a nominal way. In Scripture, His name means His authority. It means His headship.
When they gather together, they put themselves under the headship of Christ and under the authority of Christ. When they are gathered together in this way, He says, “There am I in the midst of them.” They have the presence of the Lord.
This is the simplest definition of the local church.
Of course, when you read Matthew 18, you find that in that place there are more than two or three. You have yourself, the brother who sins against you, two or three witnesses, and then you tell the church. So you already have more than two or three. That is the local church.
All the spiritual principles embodied in the universal church are to be practiced in the local church.
Brothers and sisters, the way of God’s building is wonderful. How does He build the universal church? He builds the universal church by building the local churches.
That is why, when you read the Book of Revelation, you find in chapter 1 that, in the heavenly vision, it is the Lord Who is building the seven churches in Asia.
He is looking at each church. He is judging. He is supplying each church. He is calling the churches to repentance. He is trying to find Himself in these churches.
That is the criterion. The Lord is not looking at numbers. The Lord is not looking at outward things. He says, “I know thy works. I know thy intelligence. I know how old thou art.” But He is not looking at these things.
What is He looking for? He is looking for Himself. How much of Himself is in the church?
Let me tell you a story. In the United States there was a pastor named A. J. Gordon. He was pastor of a large church in Boston and was very successful.
One day he dreamed a dream. He saw that he was preaching in the church building. Suddenly, he saw a stranger come in, and an usher brought the stranger to the front seat.
A. J. Gordon was on the platform. When he saw the stranger coming, somehow his whole attention was attracted by the stranger.
Then the meeting began. Before he began to speak, there was the choir singing beautifully. There was a pipe organ playing wonderfully. Then he started to preach.
But while he was preaching, he was thinking, “I wonder what the stranger will feel. Will he be satisfied with our choir? Will he enjoy our pipe organ? What will he think about my preaching?”
His whole attention was attracted by the stranger. So he said to himself, “After I finish, I have to meet that stranger.”
Usually, after the meeting, the pastor goes to the front door to greet the people who came. But before he could get to the front door, the stranger was gone.
So he asked, “Who is this stranger?” They said, “Don’t you know Him? He is Jesus. Jesus came to the church.”
When Gordon saw that, the choir had to change, the pipe organ had to change—everything was changed. It was only for one thing: to please Christ.
That was A. J. Gordon’s dream. Brothers and sisters, if Christ should come to us, how would He feel?
There you find our Lord Jesus in heaven. He Himself is serving the seven churches. The only thing He is looking for is Himself.
How much of the work is of Himself? How much of the sermon is Himself? How much of all the activities is Christ Himself? That is the only standard by which He measures His church.
Take the church in Ephesus. Ephesus had a wonderful beginning. The apostle Paul was able to share with them the mystery of God, because they loved much.
But brothers and sisters, when He came to the end of the first century, everything outwardly was going on, but the fire within was gone. They had lost their first love.
Therefore, the Lord told them to repent. If there is no repentance, the lampstand will be removed. It may continue on earth, but so far as heaven is concerned—so far as spiritual reality is concerned—it has been removed.
Brothers and sisters, this is how much the Lord Jesus loves His church. This is how much is required of us.
No wonder even the apostle John—who can compare with him so far as ministry is concerned? His understanding far exceeds ours, and his service was so spiritual. Yet he fell down as dead.
The church is not something to be played with. People today play with the church, but the church is the darling of Christ, the apple of His eye. How much He loved the church! He gave Himself for it.
Here we find that He is building His church. Throughout the centuries, we find that He has been building His churches.
At Pentecost, there were one hundred and twenty. They were baptized in one Spirit into one body. On that very same day, three thousand were added.
But all of them persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. The gospel began to reach out.
Many of the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem had come from abroad for the Passover. They would not go back to their homes; they stayed in Jerusalem because they had such wonderful fellowship.
The Lord raised up persecution to drive them out, and they began to go back to their various cities—not only to Samaria and the cities of Judea, but even to Gentile cities.
There you find that the gospel went forth, not only among the Jews but also among the Gentiles. In Antioch, they persevered in the Lord and were taught for a whole year by Barnabas and Paul.
They became true believers—not only believers, but disciples.
Brothers and sisters, so far as believers and disciples are concerned, every believer is called to be a disciple. The Lord said, “Come, follow Me.” They followed the Lord, and they were given the nickname of Christians.
In the beginning, people did not know what to call the believers. The name they gave to these believers was “the people of the Way.” You remember in the Book of Acts: “the Way” was the name given to the Christians.
Why did they call these Christians “the Way”? Because every nation has its way of life. Americans have their American way of life, and every people has its own way of life.
When I first came to New York, I was meeting with some Americans. Sometimes we were discussing something, and these Americans would say, “This is not our American way of life.”
So I told them, “We are not meeting according to the American way of life. We are gathered according to the Christian way of life.”
These early Christians, even though they were Jews, no longer lived according to the Jewish way of life. Neither did they live according to the way of the Gentiles.
Their way of living had never been seen upon this earth. People looked at them and saw that they were so different from the world. They lived in a different way: a heavenly way, a Christ way.
They met together in the name of Christ. They sang to Christ. They prayed to Christ. They lived for Christ. It was Christ, Christ, Christ. That was their way of life.
Finally, they gave them a nickname: “They are Christians”—Christ-men and Christ-women.
When the name Christian was first given, it was a word of disdain and despising. The world tried to make fun of these people.
You remember the apostle Paul when he was testifying before King Agrippa. Agrippa said, “With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.” He said it in a disdainful way.
The word Christian is used in 1 Peter 4: “If a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.” Praise God for that.
Brothers and sisters, we call ourselves Christians—not Christians plus something else. Christian and something more is why believers are divided.
If you are saved, you are a Christian. You live the Christian way of life. When you meet another person and discover that he is also a Christian, you immediately feel that there is a bond between you and that person.
But unfortunately, people today, even Christians, when they discover that you are a Christian, are not satisfied. They ask, “What denomination do you belong to?” That divides.
Brother and sister, thank God, we are just Christians. Therefore, we are one. This is the will of God.
I remember that in the 1960s I went to Peru. I was invited there to meet a missionary couple from America.
This couple loved the Lord. They lived their lives in service. Half of the year they lived in a boat along the Amazon River, visiting villages and preaching the gospel. The other half of the year they lived on a truck, going through the high mountains.
I was invited to visit them, and I was with them for three weeks. We traveled by boat along the Amazon River, and we rode in the truck through the high mountains.
Before I left, they had a conference in Yurimaguas, a city that can only be reached by air because it is surrounded by jungle. The natives came out of the jungle and came to that place.
Because I was leaving the next day, they asked me to speak at their first meeting. But before the evening, another missionary came from a neighboring place.
We were together for a meal. Before the meal, he began to talk to me. He belonged to the Exclusive Brethren, and I was familiar with what the Exclusive Brethren believed.
When he saw me there, he began to question me. He wanted to know what my faith was. Of course, we were all believers, but he was not satisfied. He was probing me, trying to find out what I believed.
Then he began to ask me a question: “What do you think about the rapture?”
I knew what the Exclusive Brethren believed. They believed that all Christians would be raptured before the great tribulation. But the Lord had shown me otherwise.
So I tried to say, “Well, all believers will be raptured.” But he was not satisfied. He asked, “One time, or more than one time?”
The Exclusive Brethren believe that the church will be raptured together one time before the great tribulation. But unfortunately, when I studied the Scriptures, I discovered otherwise.
When I said that all Christians would be raptured, he again asked, “One time or more than one time?” So I said, “Unfortunately, my interpretation is different from yours.”
Do you know what he said? He said, “You do not believe the Bible.” I said, “Brother, I believe the Bible just as you do. Only we have different interpretations.”
If the Lord shows me otherwise, I am willing to obey. But he insisted, “You do not believe the Bible.”
We walked to the meeting. He walked beside me and said, “If you speak, I will not speak. If you speak, I will not speak.”
Now, brothers and sisters, think of that. He was in the neighborhood, and I was leaving the next day. What should I do?
So I told the brothers. The next day, the ladies came and said, “Why did he not speak?” They had heard the report.
Brothers and sisters, do you see the point? We are all Christians. We are all the children of God. But if we try to force people to see every theological question exactly as we see it, that will divide us.
Are you satisfied with being just a Christian? Thank God, we are Christians, and we meet together in the name of our Lord Jesus.
We do not meet under any other name, but under the incomparable name—the name above every name—even the name of our Lord Jesus. Thank God.
Dear Lord, Thou art worthy. Thy name is above every name, and at Thy name every knee shall bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
How we praise and thank Thee that we may gather together into Thy name, that we may glory in the name of Christian. Praise God, we belong to Thee, and we belong to one another.
We worship Thee in Thy precious name. Amen.