Address—J. Hyland
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Speak to the New Testament, and I just want to say this concerning the Word of God, that we need to see these things in the light of God's Word. The subject of the church is one that's been misconstrued through the through the ages. It's one that has been propagated in a false way, and so we need to see these in the light of Scripture. It doesn't matter what my thoughts are concerning the Church. It doesn't matter what the thoughts of great theologians and philosophers are. What matters is what God says, and the Word of God is as applicable today.
As when it was pinned by divine inspiration so long ago. And you know, we need to see whatever.
A subject we take up whatever line of truth we need to see it in the light of God's Word, and we need the whole counsels of God. You know, I am saddened sometimes to talk to real children of God and find that they are setting aside parts of the word of God. And sometimes you talk to individuals and they say, well, the Old Testament is not really applicable. Or I even talked to a brother recently and he said, well, he said I only read the Gospels because he said I don't believe the epistle.
Important as were once considered. Well, you know, I would just say this. In the word of God you have two things. In the New Testament, you have the doctrines of Christianity and the principles brought out, and in the Old Testament you have the illustrations. I'm not very good at putting things together with my hands or working with my hands, but recently I bought a bookcase and when I buy things, I try to avoid buying things that say on the box some assembly required.
But I bought a bookcase that needed to be assembled, and so I brought it home and I had put together several bookcases.
And so I didn't even pull the instructions out-of-the-box. And I worked at that bookcase. I got the back nailed on. I even got the little plastic things that go over the screws and I went to insert the pegs for the middle shelves. And I found that I they were on the outside. I had put the bookcase together completely backwards. And I had to take time and take it all apart again and reassemble it. Why? Because I didn't read the instructions. And you know, sometimes when you buy something like that, there will be written instructions and I'll buy something and I'll struggle along with the written instructions trying to figure it out. And usually my wife will come along and pull another paper out-of-the-box and say here's a diagram, why don't why don't you try this?
It might help you. And what happens. The diagram helps us to understand the written instructions. Now, brethren, God has given us both. He's given us the written instructions in the New Testament, and we have the illustrations in the Old Testament. And we're going to draw on those illustrations as we go along because it says in Leviticus that we can bring forth the old because of the new. Those stories in the Old Testament, if we didn't take them up in the light of the New Testament, the revealed truth that we have, they'd just be interesting stories.
And historic facts. But we take them up in the light of what we have in the New Testament and they help us to understand. You see, God is speaking about spiritual things in the New Testament and he illustrates them so that we can relate to them and understand and enter into what he has for us. Because he doesn't want this to be a great mystery and something that we can't grasp, something that we can't, shall I say picture. And so we can see in the Old Testament the illustrations when the Lord Jesus was here. That's why he spoke in parables. He knew that he when he was speaking to men at the sea fishermen.
That they knew what it was to go out and cast the net into the sea and pull out a rod of fishes. He knew that farmers knew what it was to go and sow seed and have some come up in various ways and in various places. He knew that shepherds would understand the care of of sheep, and so he illustrated the truth in that way.
And we're going to find that the truth of the Church is illustrated for us in a way that we can understand.
Well, let's introduce this subject by turning over to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11.
Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who have made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, or to make in himself of Twain one new man so making peace.
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And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. We'll stop there for now. Will I have a chart here? Because sometimes if we have a visual aid, it helps us to relate to what we're Speaking of. And I don't profess to utilize charts as some can, but I know when I was younger, if a brother came through and he had a chart, often I would get something out out of the message. And so I have a very simple chart here. I have two circles.
An upper circle and a lower circle and if I were to were able to separate these two circles on the chart.
We would find in the upper circle we have the Jew and in the lower circle we have the Gentile.
Now there was this very clear distinction in the Old Testament, and that's what Paul is referring to here as he writes to the Ephesian brethren. Now you have to remember that as he writes to the Ephesians, they were Gentiles who had been saved. That's why he speaks of them once being outside the covenants of promise and strangers to God and without hope and without God in the world. Because in the Old Testament God dealt with a particular nation that is from the time of the call of Abraham.
Now before the call of Abraham, God dealt with particular individuals. There was Adam in the garden.
There was Abel, there was Methuselah, there was Enoch. There was Noah. He dealt with particular individuals, but then he called Abraham out of her, the Chaldees. Abraham answered that call by faith, and God told him that because of his faith he was going to bless his seed and build of him a great nation. And that's exactly what happened. And the Jewish nation sprung out of Abraham. He was the father of that nation.
And we find that they go down into Egypt, his descendants, Jacob and his descendants. They go down into Egypt, and there they become a great nation under the ******* of sin. A little picture of what we were by nature. But then God redeems them by the blood of the Passover lamb. He brings them to the Red Sea. He opens the sea they go through and they look back, and they see their enemies dead on the seashore, and they have complete deliverance. And then God gave them.
The law and God bless the Jew in every way possible that he could bless them under that system of things. In the Old Testament, he gave them the promises. His oracles, as it were, built a hedge around them. In fact, it says in Isaiah, it says what more could have been done in my vineyard than that which was done. He gave them every advantage. You know, people talk about environment today, an advantage. And I know our environment affects us, but there was the best sample of humanity.
Put in the best of environment, what did it prove? That man left to himself, couldn't take one step towards God. That that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And it says there in Isaiah, what more could have been done in my vineyard than that which was done? When I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. There was no fruit for God. But we find that those who were outside the nation of Israel, they were considered Gentiles, they were dogs. And a Jew was steeped in this tradition.
Now, I don't mean that there weren't those of the Gentiles that were brought in by grace in the Old Testament, because we have individuals that were brought in, such as Ruth the Moabites and Rahab the Harlot. In fact, they were blessed so that they were even in the royal line of the Lord Jesus when he came to this world. But particularly, God was not dealing with individuals from different nations, He was dealing with a nation. Now, when the Jews were saved in the New Testament, it was very, very hard for them to accept.
That if they were going to now be blessed, they had to come in the same way as a Gentile. Because for generations they've been told that the Gentiles were afar off and that there were they weren't to take them in and they were to be careful. And when they went in to drive out their enemies out of the land, they were to completely drive them out. And that was one of their sins, that they never did drive their enemies completely out. And now to find that God was not dealing with them as a nation.
But he was he was dealing with individuals out of every tongue and people and nation.
It was very, very hard for a Jew to accept this. In fact, I believe that that's why in the book of Hebrews, where the apostle writes to Jewish brethren those who had been saved, he takes up every segment of the old order of things. Because even for a Jewish believer it was hard to set aside that order of things that had been established by God and that was all good and proper in its place. And so very patiently, for 13 long chapters, the Spirit of God goes over these things. He takes up Moses and Aaron and the ironic priesthood and the worldly sanctuary and the.
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Sacrifices, he says. Yes, they were good and proper in their place, but then he sets them aside and says now you have something better.
They were only pale reflections. They were only feeble foreshadows of what was to come. And what was that? It was Christ. And 13 times in that book you have the word better as he sets the old aside for something better, something better in Christ. But, you know, it's interesting, just as a contrast to read the book of Galatians, because in the book of Galatians you have Gentiles who are putting themselves not back under the law. They were never under the law to begin with.
That law was not given to the Gentile. It was given to the Jew. And here were Gentiles that were putting themselves under something that never was intended for them. And does he take 13 long chapters to patiently explain things? Oh, no. The language is very severe. He rebukes them very sharply for putting themselves under something that was never originally intended for them at all. Well, we find now that as I brought this circle together in Christianity, now there's something brand new.
Now I want to make that very clear because as I spoke of dispensationalism, you know, there are those who will say, well, when man failed a test, when man failed under a covenant, well, God just built upon that. He didn't. He didn't set that aside and just built upon it. And you never find that in Scripture when man failed under a dispensation, because I believe a dispensation is simply this a time frame in which God tested man under certain circumstances.
And God tested man first of all in innocence in the garden. He tested him under conscience.
He tested him under human government. He tested him under promise. Finally he tested him under the law. And when man failed the test, God ended that dispensation and introduced something brand new. Now the Lord Jesus said concerning Christianity and what he was introducing, he said, do men put new wine in old bottles, or do they sew new cloth on an old garment? No, man didn't have the capacity in himself to take in these truths.
That's why the Lord Jesus said to his own in the upper room that there were many things that he wanted to tell them. But he said they couldn't contain them because the Spirit of God had not been given in, that Christ had not died, been risen and ascended and glorified. But he told them that when the Spirit came, he would guide them into all truth. And so God introduces something brand new, and the truth of the church is something brand new. Now God tested man in the Old Testament.
And showed that man left to himself was ruined. Showed that anything that depends upon man always breaks down.
And so he sets that all aside and introduces something that doesn't depend on you and I. It depends on Christ. It depends on the work of the Lord Jesus that he accomplished when he satisfied God as to the whole question of sin and those just demands and claims. And so the church introduced in Christianity is something that is brand new. It's not a remake of Judaism. You know, sometimes when we make something and it doesn't turn out exactly the way we like it.
Or after a while it gets old. What do we do? Well, maybe we if it's a chair, we take it to the upholsters and we have it reupholstered. It's it's done over. Or we have a piece of furniture. I know when I was married I bought several pieces of second hand furniture and I took them and I had them refinished and they looked like they were brand new, but they were the same old furniture underneath. No, God doesn't do that. He sets something aside and he brings something in that's brand new. Now I brought these circles together and put the church in the middle.
I put a cross here because Paul reminds them in Ephesians that the position they have been brought into.
Is because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary and because of that precious blood, as he says here, He's made peace through the blood of His cross and brethren. I trust we never lose sight of this because when we get home to glory, we're going to have on our lips as the theme of our eternal song the precious Blood of Christ. We're going to sing unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. We'll have nothing else to glory in in that day.
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And Calvary is the ground of every blessing that you and I possess apart from it. God has no blessing for man. And you know, even in the Old Testament, when God blessed man, how could he bless him on the grounds that his son was going to go to the cross? As soon as man sinned in the garden, God announced the blessed news that the woman's seed would bruise the head of the serpent. And I know he had to bring in judgment and drive Adam and Eve out of that garden because of their sin.
But He blessed them, He clothed them, and He blessed many in the Old Testament. How? Why did he do it?
Because he was looking forward to Calvary, and every blessing in this dispensation rests on Calvary. We look back and we rest on it, and may we never tire of speaking and of singing and of hearing of the work of Calvary. David said he never wanted to forget the pit from whence he was digged. And Lord, stay morning when we come together it's a fresh reminder of what he has done for us. And here in Ephesians, where he opens the mystery of the church, he brings out what?
What the Church is to Christ.
He goes back and he reminds them of the basis of this blessing that they have been brought into.
Now from the Spirit of God is very careful in the word in the New Testament to show that.
There's only one church. And to show that God is not dealing now with a particular race of people, but it's when we sing the eternal song in that coming day, we're going to sing as those who are redeemed out of every people and tongue and family and nation. And so we find that, he says here the middle wall of partition is broken down. It's gone now. This was prophesied so beautifully in the Old Testament in connection with Joseph.
Because Joseph is one of the most beautiful types of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. And it says of Joseph, Joseph is a fruitful bow by a well, even a fruitful bow whose branches run over the wall. What is that wall? It's that wall of Judaism. But you know, the Old Testament types, they always break down. They always fall short in some way. And it used to bother me when I read the tights and see the way they broke down. And yet I believe where the tight breaks down, it only illuminates what we have fulfilled in the New Testament.
And you know, it says the branch just run over the wall. But you know, in Christianity, the wall, they don't only run over the wall. The wall has been completely removed. And now you and I, who were once strangers once, there was no blessing for us. Now we can come by way of the cross and we can come into the closest relationship that's possible. It's a relationship that Abraham, who was the friend of God, didn't enjoy. It's a relationship that the children of Israel.
Who knew Jehovah as the one who dwelt with them? They never enjoyed this relationship that you and I have been brought into. It's the closest possible relationship, and it's the closest relationship that man has ever been brought into in any dispensation.
Now I would just say this too, that the church is heavenly in its character and in its calling and that's what Ephesians brings brings before us. In fact, in Ephesians we're already seen as seated in the heavenlies. And I just want to make this very clear before we go on, because we find that Israel, their blessings were connected with this world. In fact it says in Matthew 25 concerning their blessings. It says they were from the foundation of the world.
Because their blessings were connected with this world, and they will be blessed in that way in a future day. But it says here in Ephesians that our blessings, we were chosen before the foundation of the world. Now, brethren, the Spirit of God is very careful in the New Testament to detach us in every way from this world. In fact, so careful is the Spirit of God to bring out this truth that Paul received much of this.
Revelation.
In this world, but caught up to the 3rd heaven, where he heard unspeakable words that it was not lawful for a man to utter. And so careful is the Spirit of God to guard this truth, that in Revelation 5, where it speaks of that time when we will reign with Christ, it says we reign over the world. You see, the Spirit of God is careful to detach just in any way from this world to disconnect us. So there is no thought of our goals, our aspirations.
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Being in this world and brethren, I trust we realize this as we go on because we're told in Peter that we are to have the character of strangers and pilgrims. Now you know, sometimes when I quote that verse, I say pilgrims and strangers, but it doesn't say that. It says strangers and pilgrims and scriptures tremendously accurate. And I believe that if we don't have the character of a Pilgrim that are of a stranger, that is one who doesn't belong.
Then we're not going to have the character of a Pilgrim, one who's just passing through. And there needs to be that realization with us that, first of all, we don't belong to this world, we're part of the church, we're part of this heavenly company. And secondly, as we have that realization in our souls, it will give us the character of one who's just passing through. If I visit a country and I no longer feel I'm a stranger and I settle down in that country, that I'm not one who's passing through.
I don't have any thought of leaving that country. And so we need to have those two things before us, and we need to grasp in our souls, brethren, the truth of the imminence of the Lord's return. You know, I was struck in reading church history to find that as soon as the apostles, and particularly the apostle Paul, who brings out the heavenly calling of the Church, as soon as he passed off the scene, the church lost sight of their heavenly calling. They gave up Paul's doctrine.
And what did it do? Well, they just settled down in this world, and they began to be involved in all its politics and the social aspect of this world and the religious aspect. And they lost sight of their heavenly calling, and they lost their character of strangers and pilgrims. And what is it that's going to give me this character? It's the grasp in my soul of the nearness of the Lord's return. You know, it says everyone would have this hope in him.
Purifies himself even as he is pure. That is in the measure in which I enjoy in my soul the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. In that measure, it will have a purifying effect on my life. You know, I think of Daniel so often in this connection because Daniel stood before the greatest king of his day, King Belshazzar. And Belshazzar said, if you can interpret the writing on the wall, I'll give you 3 things. I'll give you a gold chain, I'll give you a scarlet robe and I'll make you third ruler.
In the Kingdom. And Daniel said to Belshazzar, give thy rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the interpretation thereof. Why did he say that? Well, brethren, why would he want to be third ruler in a Kingdom that was already under judgment? Daniel knew from the writing on the wall that the Kingdom was divided and given to another. Secular history tells us that while Daniel stood there before that king, the enemy was already receiving the city. And scripture itself tells us that that very night was King Belshazzar slain and his Kingdom given to another. And Daniel knew this. And why would he want to position just for a few hours?
As he realized that the Kingdom was about to pass away, and brethren, everything down here is about to pass away.
It's under judgment. We're going to leave it all behind. But I don't mean that we don't. We despise the temporal mercies that God has given us, and God has given us many, and we're to be faithful stewards of that which has been committed to us. But we need to realize that the things that are are seeing are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. We need to realize that the elements are going to melt with fervent heat. And just like poor Lot, you know, Lot is a picture of a true child of God whose goals were centered in this world, and Lot lifted up his eyes only as far as the well watered plains of Jordan.
Only as far as the horizons of this world. Quite a contrast between he and Abraham, who later on lifted up his eyes. But he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and God blessed him in that way. But Lot chose that which was for present advantage. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. He lived right in Sodom, and then he was involved in the politics of that city. And what happened? He had to be dragged out of Sodom. Now I want to be careful in using these Old Testament illustrations, because every true child of God, every member of the Church, is going to go at the rapture in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and so on.
But you know, I wonder if in in the picture some of us are going to have to be dragged out of this world. We've built our whole aspirations and goals in this world. And poor lot, he sought live to see it all destroyed. He had to leave it behind. Well, what a sad history we need to have before us the truth of the Lords coming, that we keep things in the proper perspective. And I would just say this too, in Leviticus 25, what was it that put place the proper value on the things that the children of Israel bought and sold?
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It was the nearness of the Year of Jubilee because when the Year of Jubilee came, everything had to be returned to its original owner. In other words, if a man bought a field in the 49th year, well, he obviously didn't pay very much for it because in one year he had to give it back. And So what is going to place the proper value on the things you and I have?
It's the realization of the nearness of our jubilee, the nearness of the Lord's coming when he's going to give that shout and call us home. And brethren, I believe we're just moments away from that time when we're going to meet our blessed Savior, what we need to have that character. Now I would like to turn over to Acts Chapter 2.
What I would like to do for a few moments now is to go back to the birth of the church to see when it was formed. It's always good to go back to the beginning of something, and this is what we have here in the book of the Acts. Before I read a verse in chapter 2, I'm going to read one in chapter one.
And verse, chapter one and verse 15. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of his disciples and said the number of the names together were about 100 and 120.
And then just passed down to Chapter 2, verse one and when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
They were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with with other tongues, as the Spirit gave the moderates.
What we find here in Acts 2, The birth of the Church on the day of Pentecost.
But I read this verse in chapter one because here you find the believers gathered together. They have been told to remain at Jerusalem till they were given power from on high. And the Lord had told them that when he went back to the Father, he would send down the Holy Spirit. Now I would just say this too, before we go on, that as we go on to speak of the of the Church, we're Speaking of the collective aspect of things. Now there are two things given to us in Scripture. There's the individual aspect of things and there is the collective aspect of things.
Now we have in Scripture much concerning our individual responsibility, our individual position, and but we also find that there's much concerning the collective aspect of things. And that's what we're taking up when we take up the truth of the church. And there's always a special blessing connected with the collective aspect of things in Christianity. And I'm saddened that many have lost sight of the collective aspect of things. They think of their the individual enjoyment and the their individual position and standing.
But I say we're going to find that there's a special blessing connected with the collective side of things. And when you have a truth concerning the individual aspect of things, there is always a comparable truth connected with the collective aspect of things. And we're going to see this as we go along. Now, what you have here in Acts One, we're 120, about 120 individual believers now. That's what you had up until the day of Pentecost in the Old Testament. There were those who had faith, there were those who were righteous.
In the Gospels, there were those who had faith. There were those who followed the Lord. They were individual believers. But something took place on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God came down, and not only did the Spirit of God indwell each individual believer, but he came to dwell in the collective aspect of things because there was a new unit formed, and the Spirit of God connected those 120 believers into a new unit.
I trust I don't speak irreverently when I use the word unit. I sometimes find the English language a little hard to fail, sometimes to give these thoughts. But I brought the circles together and we have this new unit now in the middle, the Church that was formed on the day of Pentecost. So the Spirit of God came down, and our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. Every one of us that's saved here, but not only is our body the temple of the Holy Ghost, but the Spirit of God dwells in the church.
Now let me illustrate it this way. Well, suppose I have 120 beads up here on the table and you have no problem to recognize that we have 120 individual bees but the day of Pentecost. Now, you know, there's a lot of talk today about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I believe that the holy, the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place once on the day of Pentecost, because when the Church was formed on the day of Pentecost.
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The Spirit of God, from there on in the Acts, is very careful to guard the truth of there being only one church, just one. Now one is God's number, and unity is his desire. 1 Lord, one faith, 1 Baptism. And I say the Spirit of God is careful to guard this truth. And so the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost, never to be repeated. But I do want to say this, and I don't want to take away from what I've just said.
Later on in Acts 8 when you have the Samaritans brought in because here it's Jewish believers, and then you have the Samaritans brought in, in Acts 8 and in Acts 10 you have the Gentiles brought in. There wasn't a repeat of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but if I can put it this way, a little extension of it because the Spirit of God was didn't want to give any indication as to there being a Jewish church or a Gentile church or a Samaritan church.
Or even a Jewish Gentile church with a hyphen. I say the Spirit of God is very careful to guard their the truth that there's one church. We are going to see it when we go on to speak of the aspect of the body. There is one body. And so the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost. And then it says, and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Now we'll go back to the illustration of the necklace.
Suppose I obtained some more beads at a future date. Well, what do I do? I untie that necklace and I add those beads to the necklace. But you wouldn't say I made a new necklace. I just added to the present necklace. Now, that's what the Lord has been doing ever since the church was formed. He's been adding, perhaps in these days, not in great numbers, but he's been adding to the church that was formed on the day of Pentecost, you know.
Albert Cahill, who most remember. He was sitting in the office one day of a well known clergyman in the town of Smiths Falls where we where I live and where he lived. And you know that they got talking about these things and this man he knew where Albert attended. He said to him, what church do you belong to anyway? Oh, he said, brother. He said I belong to the same church you do. Well the man was very surprised and our brother Albert said, isn't that so all he said. I know what you mean.
He said, you mean the Church in its broad aspect. And Brother Albert said, is there any other, is there any other? And you can trace through the acts and you'll find this truth very, very carefully guarded and maintained. Well, my thought is to go on and to speak of different aspects of the church, because it's brought to us in different lights and we'll flip the chart in a moment or two, but it's brought to us in different lights. We're given different characteristics of the Church.
I want to say this, that as we go on to speak of these things, I trust, brethren, that this will be more than just.
A list of truths from the word of God and that which we can enumerate in a mental way and give mental and verbal assent to.
But I trust that as we go over these things, they will be fresh and that they will touch our hearts and that we will see what our responsibility is in connection with the position we have been brought into. Now I'm going to make a statement that I will probably repeat, but if we get nothing out of these talks, I want us to remember this.
And that is that when God brings me into a position of blessing and gives me light from His word as to that position that he brought me into, there's always responsibility connected with it. And when I carry out my responsibility in connection with that position He's brought me into, that's when there's joy and happiness. That's when there's fruit and power in my Christian life now.
It says no man goes to warfare at his own charges. If God gives us responsibility, then he always provides everything that's needed. In fact, it tells us in Peter we've been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness. God has given us everything We need to be first of all the possessors of divine life and enjoy it, and then to enjoy the position and the place we've been brought into, and to carry out our responsibility in connection with that place.
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You find this again illustrated in the Old Testament when they went into the children of Israel, went in to possess the land of promise. Joshua meets a man over against Jericho, and he goes up to that man. The man had a drawn sword, and he says, art thou for us or for our enemies? But he says, nay, as captain of the Lord's host, am I come. In other words, as they went in to enjoy their inheritance, there was going to be warfare. And if we're going to enjoy our position and our inheritance and that which we have in Christ.
It's going to be, there's going to be warfare, not carnal warfare like Israel, but spiritual warfare. We have any Ephesians, but you know, as they went in to possess that land, they had the assurance that there was one who was going before, who was going to fight for them. And as long as they realized that he did, he did go before so that they could enter into the enjoyment of these things. There was a great victory in Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. They didn't even have to lift a finger because they had a sense of this one who was going before and a sense of dependence. But then they came to AI and they said, well, it's just a little city. We don't even need to send our whole army. We can go up and take it.
Although I taught them that if they were going to enjoy their inheritance, if they were going to come into the good of these things, they had to realize that it was only through the One who was going to fight for them, the captain of the Lord's host. And so it's only through Christ and the Spirit of God indwelling us that we're going to enter into the enjoyment of these things and go on in the good of them. And so I just say we need to let these things speak to our hearts, speak to our consciences, because these truths were not written merely for our heads.
I know that the mind is the channel, but the mind is not to be the dwelling place the higher it is the dwelling place. And brethren, when I get these things down into my soul and I enjoy them there, that's when they're going to have a practical effect on my life. That's where the joy and the power and the fruit comes as I go on in the enjoyment of the position that he's brought us into. Now there is a day coming when we're going to enjoy these things fully and we're going to no longer see through a glass dimly, but face to face it says, now we know in part, and now we prophecy in part.
Brethren, he doesn't want us to have to wait until that day to enter into the enjoyment and the good of these things. He wants us to have a happy pathway. He wants us to enjoy all these blessings that he has for us. And they're all there. They're all theirs in ours, in Christ. Why is it we so little enjoy them sometimes?
Because we don't let these things touch our hearts and speak to our consciences, we don't let the word of God have a practical effect in our lives. Now just for a moment where I'm going to flip the chart and the litter gives this subject and then go on with it another night, Lord willing. Now I have drawn on this chart a large outer circle put in the center of the church and we're going to look at the church in different aspects. Now I would say that it probably would have been better to draw 7 circles in this chart.
Because I believe the church is brought to before us in seven different ways. But I have categorized two of these ways for the sake of space on this chart and we will talk about that. We go along, We're going to take up the aspect of the building and we find when we take up the aspect of the building, it's taken up in two different ways. There is the temple and there is the house and we'll speak of that. Going to look at the aspect of the church is the body. We're going to look at it as the bride.
Going to look at it as the city. We're going to look at it as the Candlestick.
When we take up the subject of the bride again, we're going to look at it not only as the bride but as the lamb's wife. So we have we're going to look at 7 aspects really, of the church. Now, I want to make it very clear that as we look at these different aspects, one in no way takes away from the other. That's why I've drawn this large outer circle, because we're Speaking of the same thing and I know nothing about precious jewels. But if you hold a die, a cut diamond up to the light and you turn it slowly, you'll see the light reflected through it in different ways.
And I'd like us to think of it in that way. As we look at the church and we look at these different aspects, it's like we're turning that cut diamond and we're looking at it in different, in a little different light. And in each one we're going to see that he brings before us a very real place of blessing, but a very real responsibility in connection with it.
Now, when we take up the subject of the church, it's found in one of three contexts. In the Word of God, the word the word church appears. I think it's 122 Times, but over 120 times in the New Testament, and it's always in one of three contexts. That is, sometimes it's every believer from the day of Pentecost when the church was formed until the Rapture when the church is taken safely home to glory.
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Sometimes it's in the aspect of every believer that's alive on the face of the earth at any one given time, and sometimes it's in the aspect of the local expression of these things, the church, the local church or the local assembly. Now the word church as we find it in the scripture would probably have been more correctly translated assembly or called out ones is what it literally means. Now I'm not sure why the translators chose to use the word church instead of assembly.
Perhaps to satisfy the one under whose auspices they were doing the translation, because they seemed to favor terms that were acceptable in the ecclesiastical circle of their day, they instead of using the word overseer, they would use the word Bishop. They would use the word Deacon. They use the word church instead of assembly, perhaps to satisfy King James, under whom they were, they were under whose offices they were working. But nevertheless the words are interchangeable.
And we're going to find as we go along that we may interchange them and I trust as we go along and look at these aspects, but the picture will not be too clouded.
Because we're going to perhaps go from one to another to exercise us concerning the broad sense of things, to exercise us concerning the local expression of these things. Now perhaps before we close, we'll turn to Matthew 16. We're going to start with the aspect of the building.
Matthew 16 and verse 18.
And I say unto thee.
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Well, this is the first mention of the church in the word of God. And as dear brother Irvin Clawson told me one time, he said if you want to really understand the truth, he said go back to the first time it's mentioned in the word of God. Because there God sows the seed as to the meaning of that truth, what he's bringing out the main thrust of it. Now you have to go on to other scriptures to find the truth illuminated and brought out and and you'll get other applications. But the seed of that truth is the first time that it's mentioned in the word of God.
And here we have the subject of the Church introduced by the Lord himself. That's why he speaks of it here in the future tense, because the Church wasn't to be formed till the day of Pentecost. But the Lord Jesus introduces this, this truth.
Now, I would just say this too, that in the Gospels, and this again is why you need a balance in Scripture. In the Gospels you get the seed of every truth that's later developed in the epistle. The seed of every truth that is later developed in the Epistles is found in the Gospels sown by the Lord Jesus himself when he was here, and here he sows the seed concerning the church now.
If we were to just go by this scripture, we might be confused like Christendom is today.
Because I don't believe that what the Lord was referring to here was that he was going to build his church upon Peter. And yet, if this scripture was all we had to go by, we might wonder if that isn't what the Lord was Speaking of. But we're going to go to the Epistles, perhaps another night, and we're going to see how that the Lord brings out.
Spirit of God, that he was not going to build his church upon Peter. But I believe what the Lord Jesus was Speaking of here was that confession that Peter had made earlier in this chapter. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And on that confession the Lord Jesus said that he was going to build his church. And I like what it says. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know, I used to read that statement in the Psalms of the foundation. Be shaken.
Can the righteous do? And I used to wonder about that. Well, I like the answer to that in Second Timothy 2. It says nevertheless the foundation of God standeth. Sure. And you know, it's very beautiful to see the context in which that's written. If it was written in First Timothy, will I say, of course, because that's the House of God in order. But in Second Timothy there's complete ruin because man fails in his responsibility. He's built a lot of wood, hay and stubble. And yet there where there isn't even a clear distinction between that which is real and that which is unreal.
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That which is profession and true believers. Right in the midst of that, he says the foundation of God. Stand assure. Thank God he didn't build his church upon Peter. Thank God, the church, the foundation of the church, the cornerstone was not committed to some human because there would be complete failure and ruin. And doesn't this give us confidence? Brethren, we're going to stop now. We'll go on with this a little bit, but I would just say this. Doesn't this give us confidence in a day when everything is being shaken and a day when men's hearts are failing them for fear and a giving up of the truth and all these things?
And things that men once trusted in and found confidence they're finding, are not as secure as they once were. I don't suppose that there's anything man desires more than security. He spends his whole life trying to build some kind of security. But all you and I have been brought into a wonderful position of security.
Something that even the gates have held themselves cannot shake. Something that Satan himself and all his adversaries can never, never touch. The Church of God. Well, we'll go on to develop this subject of the building another evening. But you know, before another evening comes, we may be safe home in the glory and come into all the good of it. And you know, I'm glad there's a day coming when we won't be governed by time and clocks and we'll have all eternity to go over these things, and we won't have the physical limitations that we have now.
But we'll just see him face to face, and we'll delve into the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oh, let's look on brethren. We're going on to something far better. David said I had fainted, except I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord and the land of the living and the this is the land of the dying. But you and I are going to the land of the living. Well, what a hope we have. Shall we pray?