WHAT IS THE HOUSE OF GOD?
[p. 23] WHAT IS THE HOUSE OF GOD?
It is a sad fact, beloved friends, that the subjects that we are most familiar with are often the ones we are the most deeply ignorant about, and perhaps next to a person’s salvation there is nothing more commonly in anyone’s mouth than the church. We are leavened with the incorrect idea of what it is. What is the house of God? If I go to the most learned divine or to the most reputable author, I look for the word and find ‘a congregation where the sacraments are duly administered and the gospel faithfully preached’. That is the definition abroad. Some say, It is a congregation of believers. There is no such definition in Scripture. That only ends in a ‘believers’ meeting’. The best way to set forth what is wrong is to set forth what is right. The first point is, what is the origin of this church? Some would say it was not a new structure, but I have divine authority for saying it is. I am quite aware the word “assembly” occurs in the Old Testament, and that in Acts 7 it speaks about the “church in the wilderness”, but the little word ‘my’ never occurred before. I have positive authority as to the newness of the structure. What was the origin of it? It was in connection with Christ’s own rejection here upon earth. Turn to Matthew 14: 10, “And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison”. There, up to chapter 16: 18, the Lord is educating His disciples for the new structure. I earnestly commend it to your study. Christ was rejected by His own on the earth, and now intimates that He will have a structure on the earth, and that all the powers of hell cannot prevail against it. I must refer to a passage of immense importance - [p. 24] 2 Thessalonians 2: 7: Who is He? The Spirit of God. But where is the Spirit of God? He forms the body. He is not in the body - He dwells in the house. In Acts He filled the whole house where they were sitting. That is what makes the congregation such a solemn place - it is the house of God. I do not believe that we have a sense of the solemnity proper to it. A churchman says, I respect the church. But you make it the walls, I make it the congregation - He filled the house where they were sitting. The Holy Spirit is dwelling here, and the flood of iniquity that is ready to course over this world is checked.
The next point is, what is the material of which it is formed? A child might answer, “living stones”. Quite right. There is a great deal more in a living stone than is generally apprehended. When Peter made the confession, You are the Son of God, the Lord said, You are a stone, “and upon this rock” - Himself, outside everything, a new foundation - “I will build my assembly”. Turn to 1 Peter 2: 5 - “Yourselves also, as living stones”, etc. It is of immense importance for a person to understand why he takes his place at the table. Because he is converted? There must be something more. You do not exactly know how you took your place there. You do not know what qualifies you, what really enables you to fill your place rightly, and therefore you are a very feeble article. You are not there in faith. I do not want intelligence; I want faith. It is faith that actually proves you are a living stone. Turn to Matthew 16: 8 - 10 - “O ye of little faith”, etc. The Lord was educating them. Is He talking about conversion? Conversion is what the Lord did for me, but when I look at a living stone it is my relationship to Him. Where is your faith? How many baskets took ye up? They were in the ship and had forgotten to take bread. Did the Lord give them bread? Not one bit. He throws them back upon what He is.
[p. 25] That is what qualifies me. It is not because there is a nice preacher there, but because the Lord is there. It is not His assembly without Him. I do not call any assembly His assembly but where He is Himself. I may get all the members of Parliament together in this town - it would not be Parliament. “That thou mayest know how... to behave thyself in the house of God”. People talk of going to the Lord’s table, of going to break bread; but where do you hear people say, I am going to the house of God? I have to go through the week, too, with it, because it is the week of unleavened bread. It does not mean that you may know how to behave yourself in the meeting - it means all the week through.
Every truth confirms the foundation truth. Every man, as he advances in truth, has a better grasp of the gospel. It is what I could not explain to any builder, but nevertheless a divine truth, that every brick you put on the building adds a brick to the foundation.
The next point is that it is the “habitation of God through the Spirit”, Ephesians 2: 22. In Ephesians 2 you are taken from step to step until you are brought down here to the habitation of God. There must be more than conversion; people must be put into their place in the house. Paul does not say, I converted a lot of people at Corinth. He planted them - the word is used for ‘a colony’. In Matthew 13 the net was brought to shore. To catch the fish? No - they sat down and selected. That is what is wanted - selection, putting in their place. I believe a deal of mischief has been done by getting people to the meetings. Get them to own Christ - His supremacy, His rights over His own house. Unless they get that they are rickety, they are unhappy, they do not understand what their true position is. Nine-tenths of the teaching is always dwelling on the benefits of the soul, not what they are there for, constituted to be an habitation of God upon the earth. The Old Testament people often put one to shame. “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord”. What has christendom done? They have got up great buildings to make the thing conspicuous. When Christ was exalted at God’s right hand the Holy Spirit came down here to maintain for Christ in the very place of His rejection - but not visibly. The moment you try to get up anything visibly, for man to see, you are going contrary to God. I know much feebleness in testimony has arisen from using human means, looking to the world for some countenance and some help in the preaching of the gospel. The more you adhere to the Holy Spirit the more power you will have. What happened to Paul at Philippi? A man asked him to go there and he met nothing but women at first. A woman proclaims him in a striking way as servant of the Most High God. It was an unclean spirit. He says, “Come out of her”. The whole town rises up - mob, magistrates and lictors - and he is put into prison. The jailer was the man. God’s power shook the place; it shook the jailer, and he was brought in.
The next point is not so easily explained, but I turn first to Hebrews 2: 12. In the house of God is the sanctuary. In the Old Testament it was there the sanctuary was. See Psalm 73 - “until I went into the sanctuary”. That is not your own house. I long “to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary”. What the apostle is setting forth in Hebrews is that they had a better thing in christianity than they ever had under the Mosaic dispensation. They are going to heaven, but they are on earth. Hebrews answers to Numbers. The first day is the beginning of the week. The one who is not eligible for the Lord’s table is not eligible for service in the house of God during the week. The danger is, we limit everything to the breaking of bread. That is the beginning - it is introductory. “In the midst [p. 27] of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. We have Him now in the house.
Now I turn to Hebrews 3 - “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”. He is both, and wherever the High Priest is we can find ourselves. See verse 6 - “Christ as a son over his own house”. It is a wonderful thing to have the blessed Lord in the midst. Turn to chapter 8: 2 - “A minister of the sanctuary”. I want you to apprehend that I have a much greater sanctuary than the Jews had. But you say, Cannot I have the presence of the Lord in my own room? Yes, but not in the same way as in the house. Every believer has entrance into the sanctuary without leaving this room. If he comes in he does so without a spot. There are three parts in Hebrews: firstly the High Priest to relieve me of my infirmities; secondly, I go with Him into the holy place; then I am strong, I am running a race. He is in the sanctuary in all the halo of divine glory. You say, I cannot see it. But I say, do you feel it? It will have a distinct effect upon you - ecstasy - I am lost. I have lost myself - a very good thing to lose. I am outside the greatest favour and the greatest sorrow - I am perfectly enchanted with the presence of the Lord. I quite admit you can enjoy the Lord in your own house; but the Lord can never be the same to you in your house as you would find Him in His house. The queen of Sheba did right - she went to Solomon’s house. I address every ministering brother here: when you speak in the assembly and are really led of the Lord, the truth comes out in an expanse that astonishes you, that you never would have found in your own room. That is the apostolic pleasure of the Lord in making the truth known to the assembly.
A clergyman said to me once, ‘What do you mean by the sanctuary?’ I said, ‘What do you mean by the communion table?’ He knew no one but a [p. 28] priest was allowed inside at that communion table. We are all inside at the communion table now because we are all priests. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter”. I am never out of the light. I am not always walking in it myself. I have a taste of heaven in the presence of the Lord, and that enables me to say, ‘I will go on, I will race’.
The next thing I turn to is the organization, in 1 Corinthians 12: 13. I have dwelt upon the building. There is no union connected with stones; but now I have that which is formed where the living members are all united one to the other and to one common Head. 1 Corinthians 12 alludes to the assembly in function. A stranger walks into this room and listens, and says after the meeting, You have got an organization. Yes, we have. Will you explain it? How did that man give out that hymn? or that brother pray, or give that address? The Head of the body is the Lord of the individual. You have no right to do anything in the assembly but under the direction of the Lord. If anyone does, you have a right to challenge him after the meeting. A brother will say, I gave out that hymn because it was on my heart. That is not a safe answer. A sister might have it on her heart. The hymn to give out is the one for the benefit of the assembly. Organization is like the wise woman in Proverbs - as long as she goes on vigorously the house is in beautiful order. All the activity is connected with the body.
I turn for a moment to responsibility in 1 Corinthians 5: 7. I saw a brother walking badly; I could not remedy it. But you should find someone who could. If a mother has a sick child that she cannot cure, she will look for a doctor. We are bound not to let one bit of unruliness go on in the house of God. “Purge out therefore the old leaven”.
In 1 Timothy 3: 15 we have “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”. I [p. 29] believe the assembly is where we should go to get the time of day. The church is the place to get the mind of the Lord. The only place where truth is is in the house. We ought to take to heart how very little we have set forth the truth that we know. How little have we tried to spread it abroad! What is the object of the house? To tell God’s mind to the world. The gospel has been sounded abroad since my young days, but beyond that I see nothing. Christ’s first coming - Christ’s second coming; between these two things people know nothing. They have no idea of becoming acquainted with Him by the Spirit of God. But how do you help them? Do you ever convey a tract to them? or give them an opportunity of getting one?
May the Lord lead your hearts, not merely to listen attentively now, but to be exercised before Him, that you may know what it is to get to the house of God and that you may understand what a wonderful place it is upon the earth. The person who enjoys heaven most in spirit is the one who enjoys the house of God most, because it brings his heart into unison with it.