Will you please turn to Ephesians? We are reading from Ephesians 3:1-12.
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—
if so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward;
how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,
whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;
which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
to wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel;
whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all 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:
in Whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in Him.
And will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew 16:18—just one verse. This is what the Lord said to Peter:
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.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy faithfulness. Thou hast brought us to this last day of ministry. Thou hast been faithful and gracious and merciful to us.
Dear Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt reveal all that is within Thy heart in Christ Jesus to us. And by Thy grace and by Thy Spirit, we may be brought into that mystery.
O dear Lord, do not allow us to be outside of what Thou hast had in Thy heart through the centuries. We pray, Lord, that by Thy grace revelation will be given to each and every one of us, that we may know what is the mystery of God and what is the mystery of Christ.
We commit this time into Thy hand. We look to Thy Spirit to reveal Thy mind to us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we want to thank God for bringing us to this last day of ministry. My assignment is The Mystery of God and the Church. So far, I have not mentioned the church, but by the grace of God, we are going to do that this morning.
Anyway, we have heard together that even before the foundation of the world, God, by His own will, had a mystery. It has been hidden in His heart throughout the centuries, and yet that is what He is working towards. But now, to the apostles and the prophets, God has revealed the secret to us. So you can see how important that mystery is.
And the mystery is that, in the fullness of time, all things will be summed up in Christ. That is the meaning of all things. That is why God created all things. It is not just for these things; it is for His eternal purpose that concerns His Son.
In other words, we find that God’s eternal purpose is to bring all things to Christ Jesus. All things were made to manifest something of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, nothing in the mind of God is to exist for its own sake. Everything, including men, was created for Christ.
And thank God, in spite of all the rebellions of angels and men, God has not changed His purpose. We mentioned how, because of the failure, God sent His only begotten Son into this world to be a man.
He is the Man of God’s own heart. He is to demonstrate to us what man is in the mind of God—how He emptied Himself of all His glory and came to take upon Himself a bondslave’s form.
Outwardly, He was a perfect man. Inwardly, He had the mind of God. So we find how our Lord Jesus came not only to demonstrate to the world what kind of man God created, what kind of man God desired.
How He denied Himself in all things. He said, “I cannot do anything by Myself.” Even though He could do many things, He said, “I cannot say anything by Myself. My time is not My own; it is the Father’s. Not My will, but the Father’s will, be done.”
And this is the life of our Lord Jesus. This is the life that God, when He created man, meant man to be.
And not only that: if He had come to this world just to demonstrate what kind of man God had been looking for, then you find that on the Mount of Transfiguration He could have gone right from the mount to heaven. That would have been His rightful exit, because He had pleased God in all things.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus refused to ascend to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration. If He did, there would be only one Man in heaven, and we would all be hopeless and helpless.
But our dear Lord Jesus was ready to go down from the mountain, with His face towards Jerusalem. And there He was crucified—not for Himself, but for us.
Brothers and sisters, we thank God for saving us. But remember, this is not the end of your salvation.
The end is that we may be used of God to bring all things to the feet of our Lord Jesus. And to do that, it has to begin with us ourselves. How much of us is not of God?
And how, in our life, we have to allow the Spirit of God Who dwells within us to show us where we are, that we may be able to take up the cross and follow the Lord Jesus. And that is to bring all things in our life to the feet of Christ Jesus.
So, you know, first of all it has to be done in each and every one of us, in order that God’s purpose for man may be fulfilled. And that is what we have been sharing during the past two times.
And this morning we would like to share on this matter of the church. Now, brothers and sisters, no person, however spiritual he may be—not even Paul—can bring all things to the feet of Jesus.
So, you know, no individual is big enough to contain all the fullness of Christ and also to manifest His fullness. And that is the reason for the church.
You know, when our Lord Jesus came into this world the first time, what was the purpose of His coming? When you read the Gospels, you will be surprised that it seems as if throughout His life He met people who were crippled, blind, or even dead. Why?
It is because our Lord Jesus, as we find in the Gospel of John, came to find His bride, to find His counterpart. But when He was in the world, all He found were the sick, even the dead. And that is the reason why He had to save us first, in order to have His counterpart.
Toward the end of His ministry, He was rejected by the Jews, and He retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi. There was a Gentile city, and it was during that time that He asked this question: “Whom do men say that I am?”
And His disciples, of course, would only give Him the good news. As a matter of fact, there was much bad news about Him, but His disciples would not bring that bad news to Him. They would only bring the good news, saying, “You are John the Baptist coming back to life. You are Jeremiah, because You wept. You are Elijah, the sent one of God. And some say You are the prophet.”
This refers to Deuteronomy 18:15, where it says God will raise up among you a prophet, and whatever he says, you have to obey. If you do not, you will be required of it. The Jews were expecting that God would send that prophet to them, and they said probably Jesus was this prophet.
Now, all these recommendations were good. Now, to the Chinese here, if one day people say, “You are Confucius coming back to life,” what would be your reaction? Probably you would say, “Oh no, I’m not worthy.”
But with our Lord Jesus, after His disciples gave Him the best comment they could possibly think of, the Lord was not satisfied. So He asked His disciples, “People do not know Me, but you who have followed Me these years, who have been with Me these years, you ought to know better. Whom do you say that I am?”
And Simon Peter—he was always the one who started speaking—came and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”
So far as Your person is concerned, You are the Son of God. So far as Your ministry, Your work, is concerned, You are Christ—that is, the One sent by God to accomplish a definite task.
And when Peter acknowledged, confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus commented, “Simon Bar-Jonah, this was not something men could say. This was revealed to you by My heavenly Father.”
In other words, the Father revealed the Son. And now the Lord Jesus continued to say, “Peter, thou art Peter. I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
For the first time, our Lord Jesus mentioned the word church, or assembly. Actually, this is what He came for. But at last He told us what He was after.
“You are Peter,” a stone, a little rock, a little stone—not a massive one. “But I will build My church upon the rock,” which is a massive rock. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Now, our Lord Jesus was playing with words, because Peter means a little stone, a piece of stone. But He said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” The rock is the massive rock.
But, you know, the Roman church misunderstands it. They think that the church is built upon Peter. They consider Peter as the foundation of the church.
Now, if that is the case, immediately afterwards, when our Lord Jesus shared with His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, He would be rejected, He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead, you do know what Peter did.
He took hold of the Lord and maybe shook Him a little bit, and said, “No, Lord, that shall never happen to You.”
On the one hand, it seemed that he loved the Lord so much that he did not want the Lord to suffer. But it showed that Peter was afraid of suffering for God’s sake. He was thinking of himself: What if his Master should be crucified? What would be the result for the disciples?
But our Lord Jesus looked through the whole thing. So He turned around and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan, because thou art not thinking the thoughts of God, but the thoughts of men.”
Brothers and sisters, the church is built upon Christ Himself. It is built upon the confession of Christ. And that is the reason why He came into this world: He was looking for His bride.
And, of course, in Matthew 18:15-17, the word church is mentioned once again. When your brother sins against you, what will you do? You may just say, “Well, I will suffer for it.” No, that seems to be good enough, because according to the Old Testament, it is an eye for an eye. But here you are able to let him go.
But no, the Lord said, you have a responsibility to love your brother. When you see your brother is in error, what will you do? You have to restore him.
You have to go and speak to him and try to convince him. And if he does not listen, your responsibility is not ended. You have to get two or three persons who are respected by him to go with you and tell him, persuade him.
If he does not listen, you tell it to the church. And if he does not listen to the church, then to you he will be like a Gentile. But you have to treat him as a Gentile—that is to say, you still have to try to restore him. That is love.
So, brothers and sisters, these are the only two occasions when our Lord Jesus mentioned the word church. And yet this is the very purpose of His coming. Why? Because our Lord Jesus is the fullness of God.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. He is so full that no one person is able to experience all His fullness and to express His fullness. He is way beyond anybody. It takes the church—many people, even numberless people—in order to be His bride, to be His counterpart, to express Him, and to be joined to Him.
So, brothers and sisters, this is what our Lord Jesus comes for: the church.
The church is not a building at one of the corners of the main street. You know, sometimes when we are talking, we are pretty careless, or we really do not understand.
Sometimes, you know, when it was raining, you brought your umbrella to the meeting. But after the meeting was over, the rain was over, so it is very easy to forget your umbrella. And when you realize it, what will you say? “I forgot my umbrella in the church.”
Now, if you really know what the meaning of the church is, you cannot leave your umbrella in the church. You can leave your umbrella in the place where the church meets, but you cannot leave your umbrella in the church. Why? Because the church is not a place. The church is the assembling of the saints.
To give a little history of my own: I was brought up in a Christian family. My father was a Methodist pastor, and I always considered the Methodist Church as my church.
But thank God, after I was saved, gradually the Lord began to show me what the church is. The church is a gathering of the saints meeting together under the name of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together into My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Dear brothers and sisters, how are we different from the fraternities and gatherings in the world?
Because we gather together into the name of our Lord Jesus. And the name is not just a word; it is a reality.
To be under the name and into the name of the Lord Jesus, you have to take Him as the Head. You have to allow Him to have full authority over your life.
So when God’s people come together, they meet together in the name of the Lord Jesus. They have to put themselves under the authority of the Lord Jesus, allow the Lord to be the Head of the church, and the church is His body.
You know, there is a verse in 1 Corinthians 12:12. If you turn to it and read it:
For even as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ.
Now, if you are very careful in reading the Bible—oftentimes when we read the Bible, we are careless—but if you are very careful when you read this verse, you will have a problem. Why? Because the description and the definition do not seem to agree.
The description is, “Even as the body is one and hath many members.” Now, we know about that. Just like our own body: you have only one body, but you have a number of members. You have hands, you have feet, you have all these members, and every member is important.
So he said the body is one and has many members. But in spite of the many members, there is only one body. No one member is big enough to be the body. We are members one of another in the one body.
Now, when this description is given, what would be your definition? You would say, “So also is the church,” because this is what the church is. The church is one body but has many members.
But here in the Scripture it says, “So also is the Christ.” Now, what does it mean? What is the Christ? The Christ simply means Christ. But how are you going to explain it?
Many years ago, in the sixties, we had a conference called Wabana. It was held between the three cities of Washington, Baltimore, and Annapolis, so it was called Wabana. In the sixties, we had a conference. Brother Sparks, Brother Fromke, and myself were the speakers.
And one year I was speaking on this, and I tried to make the people understand. So I was going to use a formula. But, you know, Brother Sparks—if you know him—he was so spiritual. Nothing could be put into a formula. He was so heavenly that nothing could touch the earth, because he said if it touched the earth, it changed.
But before him, I was going to use a formula. So I asked his permission and his forgiveness first. I said, “I am going to use a formula. Suppose, in the world, there are only three Christians, and they are the best. Now whom do you think these three persons would be?”
Maybe you would say, “Well, it is Peter, it is John, it is Paul.” Probably we would consider these three persons the best Christians. And they were.
And suppose the church were composed of just three men. Now, what is the church? We all know the church is not just Peter and John and Paul. When these three persons come together, they do not form the church. Even though they were very spiritual, they were so different.
So we would say, “Well, what is the church? The church is Christ in Peter, plus Christ in John, plus Christ in Paul. You get the church.” So I said, “Well, is that the church?” Many people lifted up their hands: “Yes, this is what the church is.”
But, you know, as long as Peter is there, he wants to be the head. John is there; he was quiet, but inside he was deep. And Paul, of course. Even though Christ is there, these three persons are also there.
Christ will never be divided, but these three persons will be divided. So that is not the church.
I think probably our concept is that the church is Christ and I, the church is Christ and you, and when we are together, that is the church. But, brothers and sisters, myself and yourself are all the problems. As long as we are there, there will be problems.
So what is the church? The church is Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus Christ in John minus John, plus Christ in Paul minus Paul, equal to the church. And everybody said, “That’s right.”
Even though outwardly it seems that we are gathering together as the church, that is the reason why you have so many problems in the so-called churches today. Not because Christ is there, but because you are there.
Somebody is looking for a perfect church, and we usually tell him, “Well, if you want to find a perfect church, where you get there, it is no longer perfect.”
So, brothers and sisters, what is the church? The church is Christ Himself. It is He without you and without me. That is to say, how much we need to be dealt with; how much we need the cross to work in our lives.
Everything that comes out of ourselves will destroy the church, the testimony of the church. Everything within us has to be dealt with by the cross. And that is the reason why the Lord said, “You have to deny yourself and follow Me.”
Brothers and sisters, God’s eternal purpose concerning Christ is to be fulfilled through the church. First, the church itself has to bring everything under the feet of Jesus. And then the church is to manifest the fullness of Christ, to be the testimony of Jesus in the world. That is what the church is.
But unfortunately, we know what we are, and church history tells us what has happened. Even during the first century, if you read the Book of Acts, it is a glorious record of how, within a short period, the gospel had been preached from Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the end of the world.
And yet, when you come towards the end of the first century, you find John, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, exiled to the island of Patmos. And there, on the Lord’s Day, he heard a voice.
He turned around to look at the voice, and he saw seven golden lampstands, with One like the Son of Man in the midst. Then you find our Lord Jesus sending, through John, seven letters to the seven churches.
And to all these churches, even to the church in Philadelphia—when you read the description, it seems almost perfect—and yet there is the call to overcome.
So, brothers and sisters, the last call to the church is the call to overcome. That is to say, because the church has failed, God is calling for overcomers, for those who are standing with the Lord Jesus, for those who are willing to deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord.
The call to overcome, brothers and sisters, is the last call to the church. So it is the calling that has come to each and every one of us. What does the Lord require of you and of me? He is calling you and me to overcome.
Not only to overcome the world, because it is our faith that overcomes the world, but even to overcome ourselves; and furthermore, to overcome Satan, the enemy of God.
Brothers and sisters, this is the last call. He is calling you and me today to be overcomers.
To overcome the world: love not the world, nor the things of the world. Because, so far as the world is concerned, we were crucified. So far as I am concerned, the world is crucified. That is the testimony of the apostle Paul. It has to start with our own selves first.
And then we have to overcome ourselves. How can we overcome ourselves? For instance, no matter how strong you are, are you able to lift up yourself? You cannot.
We have to learn to be delivered from ourselves and allow the Lord to be all and in all to us.
And we need to overcome our enemy. As you find in Revelation 12:11, it says:
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
That is to say, they are willing to lay down their self-life. So, brothers and sisters, this is the last call. The Lord is calling for overcomers.
And, you know, when you read the Book of Revelation, when you come to the end, you would be surprised that in Revelation 19 it describes a marriage, the marriage of the Lamb. But then in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, there is another description of a marriage.
Now, are there one marriage with two descriptions? No, because these two marriages are a thousand years apart.
That which is described in Revelation 19 is the beginning of the millennium. That which is described in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 is the beginning of eternity. So there will be a difference of a thousand years.
Now, who is the bride in Revelation 19? And who is the bride in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22?
In Revelation 19, you find the bride is represented by the overcomers of the church, because they have been given clothes, bright, white, clean clothes. That is the wedding garment.
Because if you turn to Psalm 45, in the description of the bride, you find she will be clothed with two garments. One, she will be clothed with a golden garment; and the other, she will be clothed with an embroidered garment.
Now, the gold garment represents Christ our righteousness. You know, we cannot stand before God because we have sinned. But when we are clothed with Christ as our righteousness, we can boldly stand before God. Christ our righteousness—that is the golden garment.
But when you read on in the next verse, you see that she is clothed with an embroidered garment. Now, what is that? That is the righteousnesses of the saints, as we find in Revelation 19:8: “the righteous acts of the saints.”
Not only Christ our righteousness, but also the righteousnesses of the saints. In other words, it is an embroidered work.
Who is the One who does the embroidery? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit Who dwells in us—He is so patient. In our life, He uses stitch after stitch to stitch Christ into us.
It is a little bit painful, that is true. But when it is done, is it beautiful? And this is called the righteousnesses of the saints. And this is our wedding garment.
So, brothers and sisters, this is what the Holy Spirit is doing today in our lives. Sometimes we feel a little bit painful, but we can bear and forbear, and allow the Holy Spirit to stitch Christ into our life.
These are the righteousnesses of the saints. So this is the first wedding. But where are the rest of the Christians?
When you read Matthew 25:1-13, the ten virgins—the five foolish virgins—when they arrived, the door was closed. They were left outside.
Now, what does it mean? It means that during the millennium, God’s purpose cannot be defeated. We may fail, but God cannot fail.
So people who do not overcome today, do not think because you are saved, forever saved—true, you are saved, forever saved—but you have to be saved to a glorious state, to be like our Lord Jesus. That is the purpose of God, and God’s purpose cannot be defeated.
So if you try to defeat God’s purpose today, He will still try to make it up and allow you to be conformed to the image of Christ, because that is His purpose. And when will it be done? During the millennium.
You will have no part in the millennium, reigning with Christ. You will be outside weeping—that is, regretting. You will be disciplined until you are made to be like Christ.
So when you come to Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, you find the foundations of the holy city, New Jerusalem. There are the names of the twelve apostles. In other words, all we who have accepted the ministry of the apostles concerning Christ, all will be in that city.
So we are saved, forever saved, but there is a process.
So, brothers and sisters, not because of the suffering of the cross that you have to bear in this life, therefore give up. It is the best opportunity God has offered to us.
Do not wait until the millennium time, when you are outside weeping. Even though eventually we all shall be like Christ and shall reign with Him for eternity.
So, brothers and sisters, this is what we find in the Word of God, and may it encourage us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we thank Thee because Thou lovest us so much. Thou lovest us to the uttermost. Thou wilt not allow us, even if we ourselves do not, and yet Thou wilt not.
We thank Thee that Thou wilt save us to the utmost, until Christ becomes all and in all to us. O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy mercy, everlasting mercy, and grace. We worship Thee in Thy precious name.