Address—C. Hendricks
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From Christ, salvation rest to cure, the Rock of Ages must endure. Nor can that faith be overthrown, which rests upon the living Stone. Number 99.
For his friends, Chelsea's name.
And glory and.
Praying.
All right.
Love.
It everything's out of our river.
I want to talk about.
Builders.
The Lord building and man building and the difference.
And the effect of each. Let's turn back to Genesis Chapter 11.
For the first mention of.
Those that hit some building.
Genesis Chapter 11.
And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plane in the land of Shinar.
And they dwelt there and they said one to, another go to.
Let us make us break and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. Notice how this is the first time building is mentioned in the scriptures. Notice how that the building material that man uses is an imitation. It's artificial, it's not the real material. When the Lord builds, he builds with stones.
Living stones, as Peter tells us he is the rock himself that we are.
Stones in that building, but when man builds, he had brick or stone, something manufactured by man.
And slime has a for mortar. This all speaks of of the earth, that which is earthy, that which is of this world, that which is of man, the first man.
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And they said go to let us build us a city. Let us build us a city. Notice that what man builds has man as its focal point. Let us build us a city.
And a tower.
Whose top may reach unto heaven.
And let us make us a name.
Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth, let us make us a name.
Man is always out to absolve himself. This is the first building and everything that man builds.
Self as its center, the central focus here we see it in the very first building that man undertook.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of that builded.
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is 1.
And they all, they have all one language and this they begin to do.
And now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to Let us Go down, and there confound their language.
That they may not understand one another's speech.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city.
That is, God frustrated their plans by giving them confusion of speech.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because there the Lord.
Then founded the language of all the earth.
And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Now this is not normal for God.
The Lord is the Gatherer, but this was a judgment. This was his governmental judgment upon man, because he was. He was leading the Lord out of all his plans. And whatever man builds whatever he puts his hand to has the stamp of self exaltation right upon it that exalts himself. Let us build us a name, make us a city, and a power that may reach to heaven.
And so they were confounded. And so Babylon first mentioned Babylon. Babylon Confusion.
And the last mention of Babylon is found in Revelation 17. Let's turn to it for a moment.
There's much that we could look at in connection with Babylon. There was the Babylon of the Old Testament.
The Jews That was the citadel were you the center of idolatry? And that was where the Jews were carried captive. 70 years of captivity. Babylon headed up by Nebuchadnezzar, the first great gentile world power characterized by idolatry worship of many gods. That which is the direct opposition to the truth that there is one God.
Now in Revelation 17.
Verse 3 So he carried me away. Well let me read verse one. It it starts with where I want to start is come hit her. I will show unto thee the judgment of the great ***** that sitteth upon many waters this great religious system. If a man began building that kind of thing way back there in Genesis 11, and the Lord frustrated their plans, but still whatever man sets his hand to has this character to it.
It exalts. Man, it's poor man. It's making a name for himself.
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
This woman representing this great religious system, so he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.
Into the wilderness. Just hold our place there for a minute and we'll turn over to chapter.
At 21.
Verse 9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hit her.
I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Now this was the real, this was the real thing. Here in the 70th chapter. It was the false church, the harlot, she who claims to be the bride of Christ. And notice he carried me away in the Spirit to a great entire mountain.
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And showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. So the seer views this true bride from a great and high mountain. But back in Revelation 17, verse three, it says he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And it's from the wilderness that he used the false Brad, the harlot, the unfaithful life, if you will. And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, had her seven heads and 10 horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. Oh, these are all the materials that that man would build to exalt himself, Exalt himself, having a golden cup in her hands, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. She's holding that golden cup high and from earth. As you look at it, it looks like gold, and you can't see what's inside. But from a heavenly vantage point, looking down, they'll see what that cup is filled with. What is it filled with?
Full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
And upon her forehead was a name written Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.
So we read in Babylon, in Genesis 11, Confusion he confounded their languages, and now we have the culmination at the end of all the ages.
Of this great religious system professing to be the bride of Christ, the true Church, out of whose communion there is no salvation. It's what they teach.
Out of whose fellowship there is no salvation. Anyone that is not a member of that Church is damned for all eternity. That is their teaching. That really hasn't ever changed.
All in this country, she has taken a much milder stance, but that's what she still holds.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great wonder, not admiration. He didn't admire this woman. He wondered how something that had such a good beginning could have ended up like this.
And the Angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman of the beast that carrieth her, which half the seven heads, and came home.
And at the end of the chapter, verse 18, the woman which thou sawest is that great city.
Which reigneth over the kings of the earth. When John wrote this, there's no question what city that was. It was Rome, and there's no question as to who the woman is. It's wrong.
And then in the next chapter we'll just read a couple verses there. After these things I saw another Angel come down from heaven, had in great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon, the grave was fallen.
Was following and has become the habitation of devils or demons and a hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. She's become the habitation of demons.
Now if you turn back to Ephesians chapter two, we will see the.
The contrast with that in Ephesians chapter 2.
Verse 18.
For through him Christ we both you and Gentiles have access by 1 Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners.
What we're reading of here is what Christ is building in this present day, not what man is building. We've looked at what man has built. We've looked at his beginning in building, and we've looked at the end of it, the end result of it, and what it has turned out to be, an unfaithful harlot and a habitation of demons.
And a hold of every foul and unclean spirit and every hateful bird. But here we see a picture of what Christ is building and what it is called.
Verse 19 Again. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, with fellow citizens, with the Saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. That's the apostles and prophets of the New Testament.
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Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the buildings simply framed together grow it. Here is another building that is being built, that is growing under the direction of the Lord Himself, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. So it's going to issue in, it's going to result in and end in a holy temple.
In contrast with this thing that that man builds, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit, the true church, the habitation of God through the Spirit, that which Christ builds, is the place where God dwells. It is his habitation by the Spirit of God, the Spirit dwelling here on earth in the assembly.
In his house, in this building that he is erecting for God's own Lord.
But what Manville's issues in the habitation of demons?
A hold of every unclean and hateful bird. That's the end result of man's building.
Just let's turn back for a moment to Matthew 16 where we have the first mention of Christ building.
We've just looked at the result in Ephesians 2 of Christ's building.
I'll just read a few verses here in Matthew 16.
In verse 15 the Lord asked his disciples, But whom say he that I am?
But Simon Theatre answered and said, the Ark of Christ, the Son of the Living God. Man's opinion had been expressed, and it fell far short of who he really was. And now Peter gives a beautiful confession, taught him by the Father of Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barkilna, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
He did not learn this in some theological seminary. He did not learn this under the teachings of men. He learned it as a revelation from the Father through the Lord. Jesus is that's the most important truth that any of us can have. To know who he is, and to believe in him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. And when he made that confession, Peter the Lord says, now I can build on that. And so he says, I say unto thee.
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. All the power of the enemy, all the powers of darkness, all the powers that Satan can muster against the Church, will not prevail against what Christ builds. What Christ builds is infallibly perfect.
And the gates of Hades, that is death, can have no claim, no power over the church that Christ builds.
Now let's turn to.
First Corinthians chapter 3.
First Corinthians chapter 3.
And I, brethren, first one could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal.
Even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk and not with meat. These Corinthians came short in no gift. They were gifted assembly. They were endowed with these gifts and quite a prosperous assembly. And yet he speaks to them as being carnal and he has to feed them like like babes.
He says, I fed you with milk and not with meat, for you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying in strife and divisions, are ye not carnal in rock his mouth?
Envying the strife of divisions in an assembly shows that they are they are operating on a kernel human level, not spiritual.
They walked as men, and yet they were not men. They were Christians. Oh, yes, you would say they were men, but no, they were. They were Christians. No.
And yet they were walking as men. For while one saith I am Apollo, and another saith I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?
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Now they weren't literally saying that they were following Paul and Apollos, he says in the 4th chapter, verse six, he says These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your savage.
That she might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. Actually they they were following leaders there at current, not calling Apollos. But he didn't want to name these men, because then he would have been charged with being jealous of their popularity. And so he puts his name and a policy's name there to illustrate the principle of carnality.
In following there and setting up men as their object of adoration and following different leaders, it wasn't they were following fallen Apollo's. In fact they were seeking to to speak against Paul and to discredit his ministry and himself. But he puts himself in here in verse four of chapter 31 far while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo's argue, not Carly.
He was using his name in the policies to illustrate.
The principle of the carnality in following any man.
Who then is Paul now? He actually mentioned the the other man that they were following, or the other men they were following and he had named them. They'd say. Well, he's just trying to put them down, so he puts his name instead.
Who is Paul himself? Or who is Apollo's but ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted Apollo's water, but God gave the increase in every one of you. And speaking to many that know what farming is and know what it is to plant water from his God can give me increase.
So that neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth but God that giveth.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Or we are, it says here, laborers together with God. Literally. We are God's fellow laborers. It isn't that we're laboring alongside of God, but we're laboring alongside of one another, and we're laboring for God. We're his fellow laborers. That's what he's really saying.
We are laborers, fellow laborers with God. Ye are God's husbandry, God's farm, God's cultivated field. That's what that word means. And then he changes the figure He's been talking about someone sowing seed and the Saints where the those that he was sowing the seed among and it was producing fruit.
God gave the increase, and as the word is administered amongst the Saints, the Saints are viewed here as as a cultivated field, a a, a heritage.
My husband husband Excuse me, God's husband, great. And any changes to figure he says Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
Now he's no longer going to, he's switching now from the farm atmosphere of a solar sowing seed in this field and God giving increase and the word of God being presented to the Saints and and to it. They're growing thereby and now it changes to a picture of a building, your God's building so.
Now he's going to give truth founded upon that.
Basis that foundation of God's building.
According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. Here you have Nan building.
In this building that is called God's building.
Another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
Now we saw in the first mention in scripture in Genesis 11 man building.
Van building for his own self Exaltation, Let us build us a city and a tower that they reach to heaven, and let us make us a name and saw.
And all that man does tends to exalt himself.
Now Christendom is a vast arena where a man has been building.
And where Christ has been building, we see that when Christ does the building, everything is perfect.
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It's growing through a holy temple in the Lord. Only true believers are in that building.
That Christ builds. But we are also called here in One Corinthians 3, God's building.
And yet, man is the one that's doing the building. There's a foundation which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ, and that's good.
That's perfect. It can improve on that. But now he says take heed. How do you build on that foundation? And as we look around about us, we see so much that has been built on the name of Christ.
That is not good that exalts man that promotes himself.
That makes him a name.
And does not exalt the name of Christ, one of the things that it says of Philadelphia, it says Thou hast kept my word and not denied my name.
Not denied by name, When man exalts himself, and promotes his own name, and so on, the name of Christ is denied. Well, let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon on this foundation which is Christ. What other foundation can no man lay then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ?
Now if any man build upon this foundation, go.
Silver. Precious stones.
That's all good material. That's all going to stand the test of the fire.
But then, he says, would, Hey, stubble. That kind of material speaks of humanity and speaks of man, and speaks of what characterizes man.
What characterizes Babylon? That which exalts the first man.
So he's talking about the material that is being used in the building.
There's two ways of doing God's building what Christ builds and what man builds.
And what man builds is fallible. It is subject to error.
And we know that much that has been built and is called Christian, it's not according to the word of God. It's not according to the pattern. It's building that will perish. Wouldn't it be a terrible thing to be saved and and wonderful to be saved, But I mean to stand there and find out at the judgment seat that everything that I have been doing.
It's been very depressing.
Because it's exalted the man instead of Christ.
Every man's work shall be made manifest, verse 13.
For the day, the day of manifestation, is coming, and it shall declare it.
Because it shall be revealed by fire. The day of manifestation will be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Notice it doesn't say what how much it is.
But of what sort it is? What is the quality of the work that is being built?
Any man's work abide abide the fire. If it's gold, if it has exalted the person of Christ, His Deity, His Holiness, his sinless humanity, that's going to abide.
Silver is redemptive work. Man can be saved by any other means than the precious Blood of Christ. It exalts Christ's work in His blood. That's going to remain, That's going to abide.
According to the teachings of Scripture, the precious stone speaks of the various glories of Christ and all the beginnings and all His perfections in every situation, in every circumstance.
That's all going to abide. But the wood, the hay, the stubble, it all speaks of that which is perishable and which will not abide the fire.
And a man's building. He has used those kinds of materials all too much. In fact, we can say that of the vast, the greatest percentage of everything that's out there that calls itself Christians has the character of Wood Hayes Stubble.
It might be some grand building costing. It might be some grand building costing millions of dollars to direct the stained glass windows of beautiful organ when I was in visiting my brethren in La Mirada on this trip.
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Put it in. And Peter Jacobson. They took me to see the Crystal Cathedral by Robert Schiller. He's the one that runs it.
All of last magnificent Must cost several million direct.
Every chair in this vast, huge auditorium seating thousands. I don't know how many had a name on it.
You had to buy your seat in order just to be there, cost a lot of money to be a member of that church.
And then as we walk down the pavement, there were these rectangles with the man's name and state on it, and he was born. When he died, he was gone, that he's still living, that wouldn't be put in yet. He'd been a significant contributor. And as you got towards the front of the, the one that configured the most, he had the risk. So on all I said to Dan, I said this is all good things struggle. Is that correct?
With his stomach. Very impressive to the natural man, Very awesome. We went inside and they were tuning this huge electronic organ. One was playing notes of the organ up front, One was upstairs tuning the apparatus, some above just so everything would sound a little bit.
And I understand that that man, Robert Schiller, I don't know him, but.
One man knew him when he was preaching years back in a storefront.
Very poor place.
He preached through gospel.
He preaches the social gospel.
He has. He's acquired success in this world.
Someone said to Mr. Kelly, do you have a mind for the world? Said Richard Pitchworth.
That's the difference. Are we living for man's accusation, for that which man approves of and that which exalts man? The first man always living for the 2nd man, the last ever?
Woodhay and stubble, So much that has been built under the name of Christ is that now these builders that build the gold, the silver and the precious stones and the wood, hen stubble, there they're they're saved all over.
But not all of them are building the right with the right material. Not all of them are building that which exalts Christ in His work, in His glories. But so many are building even true believers, and that's the sad part of it. They're building that which promotes first met.
The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
A reward for faithful service for building according to the precepts of this book.
In two Timothy chapter 2 it says.
Second Timothy Chapter 2.
Verse 15 It says study or be diligent to show thyself approved unto God.
A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
Rightly dividing the word of truth, think of what it will be for one who is spending the pulpit and then a Christian minister and is built, as this man just mentioned, has done vast cathedrals.
Worth millions of dollars and so on.
To stand there if he's the Lords, I don't know. I'm not a judge. The Lord is. The Lord knows under his.
He once preached a clear gospel, I understand, and now he doesn't. I don't know. I'm not to judge that.
But I can judge that what he's doing now is not according to this book, it's not according to this book. And so I stayed clear of it.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, not man approved unto God. They have God's approbation, God's approval. Just think of what will be for many of these men that have spent their whole lives building up a system which is not according to the scriptures.
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Which is largely Judaistic and Jewish in character.
When we are told in the New Testament, let us go forth unto him outside the camp, that camp of Judaism, bearing his reproach, and that could carry over Judaistic principles, and bring them into Christianity, which is what's been done in Christendom.
That Babylon the Great is a mixture of true Christianity and Judaism and.
Of the mixture Confusion, Babylon, the Great, and the cry that I didn't read it, but the cry of Revelation 18, they turned back there. Revelation 18 has come out of her, my people.
That you received not of her place. For our sins have reached the heaven, and God has remembered her with come out of her. God calls us out of anything that is that smacks of man's will and energy in building. And there you see the the full result of it in Babylon the grave.
Wouldn't it be terrible to stand before him and to see everything that I have built?
Go up in this in the fire, I'll destroy. I'm saying that all my works are come.
Nothing as we made that he can say. Well done. What an awful thing for that happen.
Rightly dividing the word of truth.
Every time I speak on this book, I have solemnized going back to verse 15. Three now I have solemnized by the.
That the realization that it's my responsibility to.
Present the truth of this book to rightly divide it, to give the sense not to confound what is Jewish and what is Christian, what is earthly and what is heavenly, what is natural and what is spiritual.
Not to mix those up, as so many do today and true Christians, and we're apartment to do it ourselves. We're not going to get better than our brethren elsewhere that aren't gathered through the Lord's name. Not one bit better.
But the responsibility of everyone of us, whether gathered or not, is to go by this book.
We're never wiser than Scripture.
Of all the things that.
Chapter, Brown said in his ministry. That's the one that I remember. Always remember. We had never wisely switched.
So here you have true believers building, and some of what they build is gold and silver and precious stones, and it's going to abide the fire. And the one that is so built will receive a remark. Well done, thou good and faithful servant enter, valid for the joy of thy Lord. What a wonderful thing to hear that.
Accommodation.
From our blessed master.
But what are those? That if any man's work shall be burned, verse 15, he shall suffer loss. He loses reward.
But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire, or through the fire. It's not the fire that saves him, but he doesn't get burned by the fire. He goes through it, but his works get burned by it, everything that he has done.
Has maybe not everything, but much of it has been burned up.
But then there's a third class in this passage. But before we come to it, he says, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God.
And that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you or among you.
Now this is collective if you turn over to the 6th chapter.
Of First Corinthians we have what is individual.
Verse 19 of chapter 6 What know ye not that your body?
Is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.
For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods.
In this passage it says in verse 13 vote the Lord is.
The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
And it says in verse 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?
And then he reasons upon that, and says, Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of the harlot? God forbid.
Either it is joined to an harlot is 1 flashing, either it is joined to the Lord is 1 Spirit. We have a union with the Lord and Spirit. This other kind of union is a fleshly carnal thing, and the Christian whose body belongs to the Lord and whose body is a member of Christ, is to keep himself pure because of that. And then the most powerful reason is verse 19. What? No, you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God and you're not your natural.
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So that's the individual line of truth. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
You fought with the Christ and going back to the third chapter again in verse.
In verse 16 he says, Know ye not that he this is doing the Saints collectively now, not individually, but ye are the temple of God.
It says in verse 9, dear God's building.
Now he says, Ye are the temple of God, this building which grows to a holy temple in the Lord.
And yet he gives us this building that is built now here in this chapter by man.
He still calls it the temple of the Lord. He still gives it the name that He has put upon that which he has established.
But what Christ builds is perfect. What man builds is fallible, and there's bad materials sometimes put into it which will be burned up. But now he talks about verse 17, a man who is building in the in the house, in the temple that isn't even saved if any man defiles the temple of God.
That's worse than the wood. Hay in the stubble was just of human origin. But this is actually to defile the character of it, to destroy its true character by defiling it him shall God destroy. And that Word destroys the same Word in Greece as the Word defile. The way we destroy something, the true character of the temple is to be violated, to pollute it. And we saw there in Revelation 18 that.
Babylon has become the habitation of demons, holding cages, every foul spirit hold of every unseen holy verdict. That which began as the habitation of God in the spirit under man's building ends up as a habitation of demons.
And so there's this kind of a builder, if any man who filed a temple of God into God destroyed.
For the temple of God is holy.
Which temple he are all the Saints are locally viewed.
As God's temple, God's building.
And then notice he ends this chapter in connection with man's building by referring to the wisdom that man naturally leans upon. He says for the wisdom of this world.
Verse 18. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Let him take the place of knowing nothing.
What he means when he says let him become a fool, that he may be wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
And man's building is founded upon the wisdom of this world. That's the source of it.
The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own crafters.
And these Corinthians, they were saved, and they were very gifted. They were building according to the wisdom of man, the wisdom of man, the wisdom of this world.
And again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. They were doing that they were following their different leaders, their cards.
But no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether pal, or a palace or cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours and your Christ, as Christ is God.
Notice in the second chapter. Let's back up for a moment. When he went to Corinth, he says in verse one. I brethren, when I came to you came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. He could have, he could have dazzled them with.
Excellency of speech and wisdom that would have appealed to their craving after that line of things, because they were operating on a carnal level.
He said. I didn't go into that.
For I determined not to know anything among you. Didn't he know more than this? Oh, he asked you far more than this. But he only said I could. I only knew among you.
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What was it Jesus Christ and Him crucified? They needed to have the person of Christ eclipse any of these men that they were starting to follow, that they were making idols of, that they were following. Whether it was Paul or Apollos or Cephas or whoever. These aren't the ones they were actually following. It was other men that are currently seeking to undermine false ministry.
So he sets Christ before he says, I want you to have Christ before your soul and not man, and Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The crucifixion is the end of the history of the first man. Paul could glory in that In Galatians 220 he said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not either Christ live within me the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
He gloried in the cross which.
Ended his history as a man in the flesh.
And brought him into by the resurrection into association with Christ itself. So he says to these Corinthians that were that were looking after the wisdom, that kind of thing, He said, All I determined to know among you was Jesus Christ and his.
You need to have Christ before your soul and to realize what the cross means.
He says in verse 6. Howbeit, we do speak wisdom among them that are perfect. They weren't perfect, they were babes.
They were fully mature Christians, They weren't adults, they were babes, he says. We do speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to not. But we speak the wisdom of God and in the stream the mystery of Christ in the church contains all the wisdom of God.
So he spoke more than he did to the Corinthians, and he just touches upon it here, but he doesn't develop it like he does in Ephesians.
Where the state was able to appreciate.
Full truth.
Now let's turn to Luke 14.
I'm going to read a passage here in Luke 14 and then one in Matthew 22.
And they're very similar, but they're also different. And the difference?
The differences bring out the difference between master and you get you get Christ building.
And.
In Matthew 16. But in Matthew 22 you have the result of the work of the servants that the Lord sends out. But here.
In Luke 14, it's.
It's different.
Verse.
15 And when one of them that sat at table with him had meet with him, heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall be bread in the Kingdom of God.
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and that many, and he sent his servant at supper time to say to them, that were didn't come. For all things are now ready, and they all, with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused.
And another said, I have bought 5 yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray he hath the excuse. And another said I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came. Notice the servant is always in the single.
The servant here represents the spirit of God. Now he doesn't make mistakes like man does. In Matthew we're going to see its servants that he sends out. And they make mistakes and they do some wrong things. They make mistakes, they build with wrong material. But here everything is perfect.
So the servant came.
And showed his Lord these things, and the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in Hitler, the poor and the maimed, in the halt and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in. Notice that word. Compel. The only one that that can compel someone to receive the gospel is the Spirit of God.
He's the one that draws us. The Father draws us to the Son. The Spirit of God compels.
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The soul to receive the gospel and be saved. We can't do that.
I can preach the gospel. You can preach the gospel. You can't compel someone to come in. But the Spirit of God can't the word of the Spirit.
The Lord said as the servant go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men which were hidden shall taste of my suffering. And notice what it says in verse 18. I didn't comment on it when I read it. I'll comment now. The message is in verse 17. Come, for all things are now ready. The servant says that this is the testimony of the Spirit of God command. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuses. That wasn't one that responded, not one.
Man is so inclined, he's so biased.
Against the Lord that everyone of us would have rejected the gospel unless the Spirit of God had compelled us to come in.
None of us would have chosen Christ if left to ourselves.
That God wanted his house full, and so he sent the Spirit.
He can tell something.
To respond to that message now, let's look at the difference in Matthew 22.
Matthew 22.
Here we have the gospel being proclaimed by His servants.
This one that Jesus answered, and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants.
To call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come.
Again he sent forth other servants saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner, and my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. There's nothing like that, the accounting loop, because they're the servant of the Spirit of God. But here the servants are his messengers, those that he sent forth His apostles, his disciples.
And some are they entreated respectfully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he set forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers that burned up their city. That took place in 70 AD, when the Jews who had rejected the gospel and had mistreated the servants of the Lord.
The Roman armies came down and Jerusalem was destroyed.
Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, and they which were bidding the Jews were not.
Where they go, ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. Now all that we can do as servants is to bid them to the marriage we can't compel them to commit.
You don't read the word compelled here, because we don't have that power. Only the Spirit of God has that power.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good.
When the servant does the work, he doesn't gather any bad.
Only what is of God. That's the Spirit's work. But here it's man carrying out the gospel message and he gathers bad and good. This is what you see in First Corinthians 3, when man is building some of the material that is building and some of what he gathers is not, is not real.
And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. He didn't have Christ as his righteousness.
He came in under a false pretense, and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hit her not having a wedding garment?
And he was speechless then said the king to the servants, Find him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. How are we called? Recalled by the Gospel.
I'm going to read the verse in Second Thessalonians. I think it is chapter 2.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 14.
Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many are called, the gospel is preached to many, and some are gathered in that aren't real.
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That can't happen when the Spirit of God does the Gathering. When he does the Gathering, it's all perfect. But when man does it, he makes mistakes because he's fallible.
He can be deceived. An illustration of that is Simon Megasim Acts chapter 8, who was a sorcerer. And when he saw that the apostles had the power to by the laying out of hands to confer the Holy Spirit, he says he offered them money. He says give me this power, that on whomsoever I lay hand he may receive the Holy Ghost of Peter, expose the hypocrisy of the man and said Thy money perish with me because that was thought that the gift of God could be purchased with the budget that was needed parking lot in this matter. But I heart is not right.
In the sight of God. Repent therefore of this by wickedness, that the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me, for I perceive that thou in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, and that Simon said, Then Simon said, Simon Magus said to Peter, praying for the Lord for me, that none of these things, that stars spoken public mind.
He was one of the bad that had been gathered in by the preachers of the gospel, but he wasn't real. That wasn't the work of the spirit of God. So in Luke 14 you have the servant, the Spirit of God. Everything is perfect. That's what Christ builds. That's what answers to what Christ builds. But in Matthew 22 you have the servants and some of that material, some of those they bring in are not not real. And in First Corinthians 3, some of the material that man builds.
Is not gold and silver star. Some of it is, but some of it just would mean stubble and it's going to be built up. And what does this tell me? What does this tell us, beloved? Is that we have to have this. Certainly we have to see, if we look around about us and say is that of God, does that conform to the pattern of truth presented to us in the New Testament? Is that a true representation of what an assembly is in the Miami Father of God?
And if it isn't, it's something that is built and it won't last. It will be burned up.
And there will be no reward for that kind of Labor. The reward is for faithful service.
It is required in steward for the man who found faithful.
And a man is not crowned except he strives lawfully, except he strives according to the instructions that we have in the word of God. We are not wise to restriction. We have no right to impose our wills and the order that God has shown us in His Word.
We are to be diligent in the scriptures so that we know what His word is, so that we know what His mind is, so that when we know the pattern of the true thing, we can spot the false thing when it's presented to us. OK, that's not a problem.
And if it's not of God, we should stay clear of it.
What is it? What is what Man builds End in Babylon the Great.
And I'm going to read the verse. If you'll turn to Revelation 18, I want you to see it right there.
Revelation 18 And then it was closed.
Verse 4.
And I heard it. I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, this great religious system.
Come out of her, my people, that she be not partakers of her sins, and that she received not of her plagues. For her sins have reached the heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double under her, Double according to her works.
In the cup which he has filled, filled to her double how much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her heart. I see the Queen, and I'm no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, as strong as the Lord God who judges her when we see the end of a thing.
That it's like this comes under the judgment of God. We want to stay clear of it, completely clear of it, and recognize it for what its true character is. How can we?