Address—C. Hendricks
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Expressions in the hymns we.
Associated with Him, all the paths already trotted was His path, and now we're associated with Him in that blessed path. God is our Father and our God, even as He was to Him. It's His path that we're on. Let's pray. I just want to read 2 verses very quickly. One's in Matthew 16, just part of a verse.
And one in Matthew 18.
Part of verse in the Matthew 16. Part of verse 18.
The Lord says upon this rock.
I will build my church.
Matthew 18.
Verse 17 part of the verse. Tell it.
Unto the Church.
It's interesting that the Gospel of Matthew, which is very Jewish in character, is the only one of the four gospels that mentions the assembly the church.
And I'd like to trace.
With the Lord's help, the.
Chapters that lead up to these chapters that we know so well.
There's been a good deal of late written on Matthew 1820, much of it very erroneous.
When we see the events that lead up to the chapter and the unfolding of the truth, it helps us so much to grasp the the import of what the Church is and what it replaces and so on.
In the economy of God. Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew, Chapter 12.
Verse one. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn.
And his disciples were in Hungary, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, the disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath.
Notice but he said unto them.
Have ye not read what David did when he was in Hungrid and they that were with him, how he entered into the House of God and did eat the showbread?
Which was not lawful for him to eat.
Neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests.
They get quickly turned back. We're coming right back here, but to First Samuel 21.
We'll see.
The condition of David.
When he did that.
In First Samuel.
21.
Verse one. Then came David to Nob, to a Himalaya the priest, and a Himalaya was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? Well, he was fleeing the wrath of Saul who had tried to kill him, and it was intention, his intention to kill him. So we see here David is in rejection.
Saul knew that David was going to become king. He even says so, but he hated him. David was near to Saul son Jonathan.
And David sent out to a Himalaya the priest, The king hath commanded me of business, and so on.
Now verse 3 Now therefore, what is under thine hand? Give me 5 loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
Priest answered David and said there's no common bread undermine hand, but there's a hallowed bread.
If the young men have kept themselves at least from women and so on. And so he ate that bread. And this is now let's go back to Matthew 12. This is what the Lord refers to. He refers to David doing this, which was not according to the law, which was irregular, but everything was irregular at this time. The true king was.
Being usurped by another.
And he was fleeing. He was in rejection. Well, that's what we've got set before us in this chapter, the rejection of the Lord Jesus. He was the true King, the Messiah, and he had come to his own and they were in in rejection of him at this time.
The next thing we read, he goes into the synagogue, verse 9.
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There's a man with his hand withered.
And they asked him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? He had just said that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
And they ask him, is it lawful that they might accuse him?
And the Lord.
Says, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, And if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not lay hold on it, and he lifted out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. So he said to the man, Stretch forth thy hands. And then we read in verse 14, The Pharisees went out and held a counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
When Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself.
From thence, verse 15 in great multitudes followed him, and he healed the mall. He charged them that they should not make Him known that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Now he speaks of the Gentiles, and that's what was about to come in. That's what that's the new order of things that he was going to introduce.
He was going to bring the Gentiles into blessing. Israel rejected him and so the door is going to be open to the Gentiles again, he says.
He shall not strive nor cry, Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised Reed shall he not break, And smoking flak shall he not quench.
Till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name.
Shall the Gentiles trust?
Well, that was in their own prophecy. That was in their own prophet. The Old Testament scriptures spoke about the Gentiles coming into blessing.
And they were looking for.
The Kingdom to be set up in power and glory, and for them to be set free from the ******* of Rome without a fit moral state at all. And that was not possible. Their state was deplorably bad.
They were interested in themselves and in their station, in their position.
And they didn't know the time of their visitation.
The people were amazed verse 23 and said is not this the son of David?
Now when the Pharisees heard that, that angered them, that stirred up their anger, they didn't like to hear something like that. And they said this fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beals above the Prince of the devils.
Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. In every city or house divided, its sense against itself shall not stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall then his Kingdom stand? If I buy Beals above cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
They were casting them out by the Spirit of God. But then he says, But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God.
Then the Kingdom of God is come unto you.
Many talks about entering into the House of the strongman, spoiling his goods. The strongman is Satan and the Lord entered into the strong man's house which was this world.
He's the Prince of this world.
And he spoiled his goods. He set free those that were captive to Satan and in ******* and in slavery to the devil. He healed those that were oppressed and sick, and he preached the gospel to the poor.
He goes on to say.
He that is not with me, verse 30.
Very important.
Is against me.
And he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
He was going to commence a new work gathering souls from outside of Israel.
But to himself.
And he sets that before us. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
Shall not be forgiven unto men. They had attributed the power of Christ in casting out demons, which was the power of the Spirit of God. They said That's Beelzebub.
The last testimony that God has to man is the Spirit of God.
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You have the Father, you have the Son, you have the Holy Spirit.
And he's looking on here and the stage is being set here for the introduction of the new order of things when the Spirit of God would come.
And he would form the testimony.
Form the body and inhabit the house.
And dwell here, the divine Person on earth. Tremendous truth never happened before.
All the Spirit wrought in the Old Testament, and then he came upon various ones, and they spoke, and then he was withdrawn.
But not so in the present day. Spirit of God comes upon one, seals them forever.
Forever never be taken from them. Well, this is all in view here.
He goes on to say either make the tree good and his fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. The tree is known by his fruit. The tree was corrupt.
The first man represented by Israel.
Corrupt. There's only one miracle the Lord did that wasn't a blessing. When he cursed the fig tree, He said let no fruit grow on thee, henceforth forever. There is no fruit that will ever be produced by the flesh man after the flesh. That's what Israel was.
In type.
Fruit from the first man.
Then he says, O generation of Vipers, verse 34, How can ye, being evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And then I must pass on. I can't cover all these verses. I have much to cover.
Verse 38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
He answered and said, an evil an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah's death and resurrection. That's the sign that he would give to this evil and adulterous generation, his death and resurrection. That's what would be the.
The foundation for the new order of things that he was going to bring in.
For as Jonas was 3 days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation. You see, this generation is judged here. It it actually wasn't carried out until the cross.
They were still going on until the cross, but here you see it in principle.
Their hearts were made-up. Get rid of him. Kill him.
And they did carry it out when God allowed it.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. Behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
They didn't know who was in their midst. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation.
And shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, they were purged of idolatry. They'd been taken captive, the Jews to Babylon, They got their fill of idolatry there. They were not idolaters. When the Lord was here on earth, the unclean spirit of idolatry had gone out of the man.
They walk through dry places seeking rest and find none. Then he saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out and they found it.
Empty, swept and garnished no more of that evil that once characterized them.
But what is the last state of this people? Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, And they enter in and dwell there in the last state of that man. That man is Israel. The last state of that man is worse than the first.
Even shall it be also under this wicked generation, that wicked generation of Christ rejectors.
And they're still in that state. Israel over there is not in belief of the Messiah now. They still reject Him.
There's still that wicked generation.
Now we come to a very significant passage. While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren. His mother would represent Israel, his brethren the Jews.
His mother and his brethren. What he was connected with by nature's ties.
And they say unto him, Desiring to speak with thee, they stand without.
Desiring to speak with thee, but he answered, and said unto him That told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren.
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For whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother.
He disowns the natural relationship that he had with Israel. They had rejected him. That was coming to a close. He was about to introduce a new dispensation where those that would be in relationship with himself would be on the ground of doing the Father's will.
Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, this is a spiritual relationship now.
Not something visible, not something that Judaism was characterized by a religion suited to man after the flesh, but now that which was vital and real and spiritual and invisible.
Whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. So that chapter 12 is the setting aside of Israel the judgment against Israel. It actually was carried out at the cross.
But this is the picture. And now notice how the truth flows the same day when he disowns nature's ties.
Went Jesus out of the house, out of the House of Israel.
And sat by the seaside, the Gentile nations is about to bring the Gentiles into blessing.
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat in the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Now, all that we're reading here was before his death and resurrection, all this would be accomplished, founded on his death and resurrection couldn't be instituted until after he had died and risen again. But the truth of it is here.
He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, A sower went forth to sow.
Now that's an entirely different thought.
Than a king reigning in righteousness.
Which is what the Jews were looking for. They were looking for their Messiah to come and establish the Kingdom down here, Make them the head, no longer the tail.
Deliver them from the yoke of Rome.
But they weren't in a fixed state of soul to receive their Messiah.
And so they missed it all.
They missed it all and now the Lord takes the character of a sower sowing seed. Seed that produces fruit, fruit bearing seed.
Beautiful the Word of God, and this is what characterizes the dispensation in which we are living.
God has changed his ways of dealing. That's what dispensation means. It's it's a house order, the way God orders his his affairs in his house.
Completely different today.
We see in Matthew 12 The passing away of the dispensation of the law and the bringing in of the dispensation of grace those that are in relationship with Him on the footing and the ground of doing the will of the Father. Now that's grace.
So he goes out of the house, sits by the seaside, the Gentiles, and he tells them a sower went forth to sow. And what is he sowing? He's sowing the word of God, the seed of the word of God. This has been going on now for 2000 years.
The sower, the Lord Jesus has been sowing the seed. He's not raining. He's not a king reigning in righteousness. He's in rejection. He's been sent back to heaven with a message. We will not have this man to reign over us.
But he had something better in store for us, us gentiles.
And this is what we're looking at.
Some fell by the wayside, some fell upon Stony places, some fell among thorns. Verse eight. Other fell into good ground.
And brought forth fruit. I'm looking into the faces of the good ground.
My beloved brethren.
Who have received that word and have passed from death to life.
The good ground brought forth fruit. 7 hundredfold brought forth fruit. The seed has the capability of producing that fruit.
Someone hundredfold, some 60 fold, some 30 fold, different measures of.
Fruit bearing He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The disciples come to him and said, verse 10. Why do you speak to them in parables?
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He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
And now we have in this chapter the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom of Heaven is that sphere that owns Christ.
Lord and King, during his rejection, he's been sent back to heaven. The Jews didn't acknowledge him. They didn't receive him as their Messiah.
They rejected him.
And so now he has a Kingdom, but it's in an entirely different character.
Down here since he's been rejected.
He's a sower now, not a reigning king, and there's fruit produced.
Well, we didn't go in. I don't have time to go into and we know these passages to the details of this chapter. I'm trying to give an outline of the development of things.
It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath, whosoever hath faith.
That's what links us, that's what connects us with Him, That's what enables us to appropriate the blessings that He has for us. To Him shall be given, and He shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not.
From him shall be taken away, even that he hath.
Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled a prophecy of Isaiah, which saith By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see.
And shall not perceive heart of this people. This people's heart has waxed gross. Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed less than anytime. They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. And now he turns to his disciples, and he says, But blessed are your eyes, for they see. Beloved could say this to each one here that has had his eyes open and knows the Lord.
US. Blessed are your eyes, for you see. You're not blind any longer. You were. We were all once blind in our sins, but now we see. And your ears, for they hear. Now we can hear His voice and respond to it and do the will of the Father as He tells it to us.
Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them.
And they hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower, And then he explains it. And then in verse 24, another parable putty forth unto them.
The Kingdom of heaven is like to a man which sowed good seed in his field. This time the seed is.
The children of the Kingdom, and the children of the wicked one, The enemy came in, and it says in verse.
25 While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. What Matthew 13 is, is a picture of Christendom.
It's the first one of the seven parables is the sower. It's general. It's the general part of it and the result of his sowing.
Sowing the seed fell by the wayside on Stony ground among farms and then good seed producing fruit. But the result of the sowing which has gone out now for 2000 years almost.
Has produced something.
And that's what the rest of the chapter is about.
The second, third and 4th tell us what what has been produced externally and then the last three more what has been produced internally.
That's just a general outline.
So there's the sowing and there's the children of the Kingdom, the children of the wicked one. And they say, well, the, the, the wheat and the tares. And they say, should we go and, and weed out the tears? And he says, no, don't do that because you'll, you'll make a mistake. It's what we have in Second Timothy 2. The Lord knows them that are his. We can't tell who is wheat and who is who are the tares in this mixture of things.
So close together and they look so much alike until they mature. And we might make a mistake and we might cut down some of the wheat. So let both grow together until the harvest.
And so that's what we have today. That's what Christendom is. Christendom simply means Christ's Kingdom.
It's the Kingdom of Heaven in mystery form.
Sphere of profession.
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Verse 31 Another pair putting forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.
Which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches of it.
So here you have this this little beginning, this little insignificant seed, the least of all seeds, and it grows into the greatest of herbs. That's Christendom started with such a small beginning. 120 in the upper room.
The Spirit of God came upon them just a small beginning. We have many more here at this conference than the numbers where the church began. But now it's gone everywhere, everywhere. And the the birds of the air.
Many of them Speaking of evil things, evil demons, and so on. Evil doctrines and influences can lodge in the branches. So Christendom is a vast system of things, all under the umbrella of the name of Christ.
Some good, some wheat, some cares, and then the next thing he says in verse 33, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. So we learned from these that there's going to be the wheat and the tares growing together until the harvest.
It started very small. It's grown to be a vast system.
Christianity.
Wedding everywhere. This is the Kingdom of Heaven in mystery form.
It's not the assembly as such.
But it's we're a part of this.
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world, not Judaism, not the enclosure of Israel any longer. That's Old Testament. Now the true shepherd of the sheep has entered into the sheepfold. He's called his own sheep by name and LED them out. Out of Judaism into what? Into Christianity.
That's what we have pictured here.
Now let's turn over to chapter 16.
There are very many interesting things, and I would strongly suggest that you don't, in your private reading, skip over 14 and 15 very interesting chapters and they they also reinforce this outline that I'm giving you. But there simply isn't enough time to cover all that.
Chapter 16 starts with what we had in Chapter 12.
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him, that he would show them a sign from heaven.
He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red in the morning. It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas.
Left them and departed.
His disciples were come to the other side forgotten to take bread. And the Lord says, take heed and beware of 11 of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
And they didn't understand, as they often didn't understand his words.
And he says, O ye of little faith, why reason ye in your hearts, because ye have no bread. Do you not understand? Neither remember the five loaves of the 5000, and how many baskets he took up? Neither the seven loaves of the 4000, and how many baskets he took up. How is it that you do not understand? I didn't speak it to you concerning bread. That she should beware of Levitt, but that she should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Their doctrine, their teachings.
Then understood how they how he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now we come to this very well known portion.
Verse 13.
This is the first mention.
In the gospel of the church, it's found here. It's the church in its universal character. Christ is the builder. Not only is he a sower in this present day in the Kingdom, but he's a builder in the church. He's a builder.
When Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man am? He takes the title Son of Man and he says after going through all this, verse 20, he charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
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Because he had been rejected as such.
He had been rejected as the Messiah, the Christ. Now he takes the broader title that.
Is his relationship to all men, not just to the Jews now, but to the Gentiles as well, because they're going to be Gentiles saved and brought into this church that he was going to build.
So he says, Who do men say that I, the Son of man, AM? And they came out with some very deficient answers. And Peter comes forth and says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now that's the confession that forms the foundation truth upon which Christ builds his church.
Wonderful.
And the Lord pronounces him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
So he got this. It's a revelation from his father.
I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. The rock was the confession that Peter had just rendered. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Says I will build my church, my assembly, the gates of Hades really is shall not prevail against it.
All the power of the enemy cannot prevail against it, because the Church is going to exist.
In the resurrection life of Christ, after he had died and then raised again.
And as we were singing now he praises in the assembly. He has gone forth into resurrection. He is there. He wasn't here yet when He spoke these words, but He's looking on to that day when He would build that church as the Risen 1 and he would put into it those two who were risen with him and took part in his resurrection life.
And so he gives Peter a new name, Simon. He says, Thou art Peter.
And upon this rock I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Satan can't touch the life that we have in Christ. We cannot touch it.
He can touch our testimony and try to rob us of our joy fellowship that we have with the Lord, but He cannot touch the life that is ours.
That is secure.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
And then it says of Peter. Peter was to be a.
Special instrument in the Lord's hand in the church.
In an administrative capacity, he says, I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. This fear of profession, some real, some not real, wheat and tears growing together. I will give 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.
So Peter has a special.
Responsibility administratively to bind.
And Toulouse.
Connection with the Kingdom.
You see, if you read the book of Acts, you see Peter carrying that out. He admitted the He admitted the Jews in Acts 2, he admitted the Samaritans in Acts 8, in the Gentiles in Acts 10. He pronounced against the hypocrisy and the deceit of Simon Magus and so on. He exposed them. There was this power that he had that he carried out in the early church.
Now he's spoken about the church, something that was still future, he says I will build it. He wasn't in the process of building it yet.
I might just make this comment that those that translated our King James Bible did not understand the truths that I'm presenting to you this afternoon.
How do I know that? Because they think the church was in the Old Testament.
They stated over and over again in their notes, at the top of pages and at the head of chapters, the Church doing this and that. They didn't realize that the Church, even when the Lord was on earth, didn't exist yet.
Those that would compose it existed as his Jewish disciples, but they hadn't been brought yet by the power of the Spirit into the assembly that took place on the day of Pentecost.
But here the Lord is introducing the subject. He's Speaking of the assembly that he was going to build.
Founded upon the truth of His Person, He is the Christ, the Son.
Of the living God.
Something had to happen in order to effect this new assembly. And so he says in verse 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. Now that's the foundation for the assembly being formed, those that say that the church began with John the Baptist.
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As many Baptists do in that.
Have the foggiest idea what the church is according to the mind of God. They never say such a thing. The church is only in relationship to Christ as the risen man.
Have His resurrection life and we're connected with him in resurrection after He's been rejected. Here we are following and associated with a rejected Savior.
And the reason why Christians are so engaged in.
Politics and earthly things down here as they don't apprehend what I'm trying to set before you from the word.
What is the true character of Christianity? What is our path? The same path that he tried, but our association with Him is not when he was here a man on earth. It's after he died and rose again and has gone to heaven. Our association with Him is there and our life is there.
The risen life of Christ. So he tells them, I must die, I must suffer, I must be raised again. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, This is the same man that the Lord had just said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona?
Now he misses, totally misses, the mind of God.
A true believer may do that. There are many Christians that do not understand the true character of Christianity, and so they they pursue things which are not in keeping with the economy, with the dispensation that we find ourselves in.
Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Now he meant well.
He didn't want the Lord, he wanted to despair the Lord, these sufferings, that death.
Lord took him and began to rebuke him.
He turned and said unto Peter, Excuse me, Get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me.
For thou savers, not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. So that's the first truth we learn.
The assembly was to be founded. The second truth, the 1St is to be founded upon the person.
Of Christ, the Son of the living God.
The second grand truth is it's to be founded upon His death and resurrection. And the third is that we are in association with Him in rejection too. So he goes on to say in verse 24, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself.
Take up his cross and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. And I notice here's something that you don't get in the Old Testament, verse 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
He talks about the soul Now Israel when they talked about salvation it was from their enemies round about them getting deliverance from their enemies.
But now he's talking about something that is inward.
Our souls. Peter speaks of the salvation of the soul.
And then he speaks of that coming glory, the end of the chapter. The Son of a man shall come in the glory of his Father.
They may have thought, with all he was setting before them, what about the Kingdom?
What about those all those prophecies in the Old Testament that speak of a king reigning in righteousness?
The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Handfuls of corn on the top of the mountains. The parliament should overtake the Reaper. They shall not hurt or destroy all my holy mountain. The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What about all those scriptures?
A little child would play on the whole of the cockatrice.
Light and the lamb will lay together.
They will not hurt or destroy all my holy mountain.
Well, he gives them a little picture of that coming Kingdom at the end of chapter 16. The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to His works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. That has puzzled many, but I believe the first verses of the next chapter explain that they saw a picture of the millennial glory, His official glory as King Messiah.
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Says he was transfigured before them. Peter, James and John takes them up into a high mountain and he was transfigured before them.
Verse 2 of chapter 17 And his face did shine as the sun. His raiment was white as the light.
There appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. And then Peter makes another blunder. He says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let's make 3 tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.
You had to learn that this was not.
In keeping with the mind of the Father at all.
While he yet spake, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.
When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid.
Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid.
When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus. Only this is assembly truth.
That.
It applies now that the assembly has been established is what I mean.
See No man save Jesus only.
How foolish we are when we set up a man, any man, no matter how gifted.
And speak too much of that person.
They saw no man save Jesus only.
I love those 3 signs that brother Steve had for the Sunday schools, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
That's what we need to have before us, that blessed one.
As they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying television to no man till the Son of man be risen again from the dead man with his lunatic son and the Lord. They couldn't heal him.
And the Lord healed him.
And he says this kind can come forth by nothing. Tells them over and over again.
Now notice the last verses Interesting. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute?
He saith yes, and when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented him saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?
Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers?
Peter saith unto him of strangers.
Jesus saith unto them. Then are the children free?
He was the king.
Yes, he was in rejection.
And they were, as it were, the children of the king. They didn't have to pay.
You don't take taxes from the royal family.
Take it from the citizens.
And we're part of the royal family. But he says he accepts his rejection, and so we accept it too.
Notwithstanding lest we should offend them.
Go thou to the sea and cast in hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up.
And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money that take and give unto them for me and thee.
And so Peter learned that.
Though we are positionally free because we are children of the king.
We are in rejection with him.
And so we pay.
Now we come to Chapter 18.
At that time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
That question shows where their hearts were.
Something like when they were walking along, the Lord was on his way to the cross, and the disciples were arguing, and among themselves who should be the greatest?
Same kind of a question, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? This sphere, this Kingdom of heaven that you've talked about, Lord, it's heaven ruling on earth in the hearts of those that are His.
Not the Kingdom established in power and glory yet, but still he has subjects to that Kingdom.
That are here on earth, you and me that want to act on the word of God.
And so he answers their question. Verse 3 Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same as greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, he tells them first.
You can't even enter the Kingdom without conversion and becoming as a little child. And then if you really want to be great in that sphere.
You have to be humble like the little child.
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We all want to be great. That's our nature, our old nature.
But the little child?
What a lesson sets this little child before them.
Those who are, who are weak and feeble, who cannot defend themselves.
Who are in constant dependence upon someone else to.
Meet their needs, minister to them.
All through the conference we see babies and we see how totally helpless they are.
Totally dependent on mother and father to care for them, to feed them, to clothe them.
To meet their every need.
We're dependent on another. We're here in the scene where he's been cast out. We're going through an enemy's land.
This is not our home.
This is not our home.
And when things happen that are contrary to nature's likings, we get all upset and disturbed.
Some of us have gone through severe trials.
But our home is ahead.
And we have to lean upon Him who sustains us all along the way.
Just like a child.
Then he speaks about receiving verse five. One such little child in my name.
How do we treat those that are of little account in the assembly? It might be 50 years old but they just got saved.
They're just a little child in the Kingdom.
Or maybe they come in with poor clothes and they're not.
Trained and educated and not of our social strata.
A little child.
One of no account. One who's never made his way in this world. One who's never made name for himself. One whose.
Just a little child.
James talks about that. In other words, he said, rich man comes in and you say, oh, sit down here.
And a poor man comes in, in the bad clothing and that while you sit there in the back.
And he says you've become judges having evil thoughts.
The Lord loves.
The little ones, they have their representative in heaven, for in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father.
And it is not the will of your father that one of these little ones should perish.
And he speaks very severely. We don't have time to go into all these verses of.
The seriousness of causing to stumble a little child.
Causing to stumble a little child, someone that may not be up to your measure of understanding.
And we lay a burden upon them which is beyond their years.
Spiritual years.
We know what that is in the natural world.
We don't feed steak to our babies.
Give the milk what is needed, what they can handle.
Then we nurture them along.
Bring them up.
Woe to you.
To the world, he says, because of offenses. Verse 6 he says, Whoso shall offend, cause to stumble, cause to turn out of the way, caused to miss the path.
What a solemn thing, what a terrible thing, what an awful thing to be a leader in division.
To lead these sheep out, these lambs out.
From the only place where they can really be fed and nourished and cared for. Awful.
Don't know anything worse than division.
It's the first thing Paul mentions to the Corinthians.
May God keep us from ever being.
A leader.
To mislead little ones.
Young people.
Those that don't know why they're doing what they're doing, they don't understand the issues.
They are following some leader whose so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me.
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Thy hand offende, cut it off. Thy foot offende, cut it off. But now I offend thee, pluck it out.
And then he says in verse 10, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.
I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven.
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What you get in this chapter are the moral features of those who are.
In the Kingdom.
And then right in the midst of the chapter.
You have some verses about the assembly, the church.
Verse 15. I have to read verse 14.
It is not the will of your Father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gain thy brother. That's the energy of grace seeking to gain your brother.
He will not hear thee. Take with thee one or two more. That's from the local assembly. There in that place, Matthew 16 is the church universal that Christ is building in 18th chapter. It's the local assembly.
That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. Tell it to the assembly, the local assembly. You can't tell it to the church universal. You don't have access to the church universal. And this isn't the mind of God to tell it to all these different assemblies surrounding us. Tell it to the local assembly. That's what he's talking about.
And.
If they will not hear the church. If he neglect to hear the church.
Let him be to thee as an heathen man and a public.
So the one that was trespassed against is given instruction. Now how he should look upon the one that has done this if he won't listen to the entreaties?
Of two or three, and then finally the assembly itself.
So what we have here is the administration committed to the twos and threes gathered to the Lord's name.
The administrative responsibility to.
Remit and retain sins to bind and to loose.
So he goes on to say in verse 18, Wherefore verily I say unto you, Now he churned. He changes from the singular to the plural.
He's talking now to the assembly.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In the light of this passage, a tremendously important passage because it's the.
It's the first ones that deal with the church. It's the first one that deals with the church local.
Matthew 16 is the church universal, the first one that deals with the church local. The Lord says you have the authority because I'm there in your midst to bind into loose. So it's the final Court of Appeal.
That's what it is.
And then access to the throne again I say to you that if 2 of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
We have the promise, the assurance from the Lord Himself.
That the Assembly has authority, by virtue of his presence there, to bind and Toulouse.
And to communicate with him to receive answers.
For where two or three are gathered together unto my name.
There am I in the midst of them.
This is not a voluntary association of Christians.
It's not Christians getting together and saying we'll get together and meet and gather to the name of the Lord Jesus, but it's the work of the Spirit of God.
It's the work of the Spirit of God as the gatherer, just as much as the salvation of a soul is the work of the Spirit of God to bring a soul out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Matthew 1230 He that gathereth not with me scattereth.
He's the gatherer.
He died that he might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
That was the purpose of his death, not just to save our souls individually, but to gather us together.
Around himself.
And this is that. This is the first passage in the New Testament that treats of this tremendously important passage.
You cannot overestimate its importance.
And it's important that we have a right understanding of it. But the assembly wasn't brought to view until Israel is set aside. That's what we've been looking at in the development of truth in Matthew's Gospel.
Now here's the assembly.
And those that are trying to tell us, well, that's Israel. That's nonsense. Israel is set aside at this point.
This is the new thing that he was about to introduce, founded upon his death and resurrection.
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And if you follow the line of teaching through Matthew, you will never be deceived to believe the lie that's being promoted out there.
You'll understand it's a that doesn't fit.
That doesn't fit where it occurs in Matthew.
And then he talks at the end of the chapter about forgiveness. How often shall my brother trespass against me and I forgive him? Seven times, Peter says.
The Lord says 70 * 7.
No limit. We are in the Day of Grace.
During the Day of Grace.
And so then the end of the chapter says the 10,000 talent debtor, he was forgiven.
Showing grace and then he had someone that owed him only 100 pence. He wouldn't forgive him. Threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. That puts him in the category of being a wicked servant. Doesn't mean he wasn't saved.
This is not looking at eternal salvation here. This is looking at governmental things, administrative things.