We continue our consideration of the implications
of those few words from the book of
Ezra from which we have read this evening
in chapter six and verse three.
The answer which came back from Darius to
that letter, let the house be built.
We last night occupied our time with a
consideration of the eternal conception and decision of
God regarding a house.
We sought to show that although the Bible
deals with many particular and clearly defined matters
there is one object which is inclusive of
them all and that is the divine purpose
and intention to have a habitation on this
earth.
That habitation has many symbolic titles
or names in the Bible.
We do not stay now to call them
all to mind.
But perhaps the most common of those symbolic
titles of this habitation is the house of
God.
It is but a symbolic title.
To our mentality the very word conjures up
certain ideas.
But our time last night was occupied in
seeking to arrive at the divine idea.
Now there is a progressiveness of revelation of
this matter in the Bible and as we
proceed with that, with the development of that
revelation we are led to see that this
is not a thing at all.
It is not a building as we understand
it.
It is not a place but it is
a people.
And a people in vital organic union with
God's Son, Jesus Christ.
That is where we arrive as we pursue
this matter of God's habitation.
Now at this time we are going to
consider the continuous controversy and conflict in relation
to this habitation of God.
It is a matter of very simple evidence
that we are not through the first three
chapters of the Bible before we meet all
the elements of conflict and controversy.
And from then onward, right the way through
the Bible, those elements of conflict and controversy
are rarely absent.
The book is just full of them until
we reach the last two chapters and the
conflict ceases.
The controversy is settled.
And that forever.
But as we pointed out last night, the
center of the consummation and the final issue
is the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them.
And be their God.
And they shall be his people.
The end which has been the occasion of
this tremendous conflict from the beginning.
But if we look closer
into this matter, we shall find that it
is invariably related to just one thing.
It is most impressive.
It is always focused upon this one thing.
That is God's place in this world.
And that in a people for his habitation.
That's as we say the bone of contention.
The focal point of all the trouble.
That is the issue there at the beginning
in the garden with the first pair.
It's far too beautiful and happy a scene
to behold God walking with men and talking
with men and having very blessed fellowship with
men in a scene of peace and rest
and order.
It is far too beautiful a thing to
go unassailed.
Somehow, a situation must be set up which
would drive God out and break in upon
that fellowship and if possible, end it.
At least suspend it.
That was the issue there.
Many things may circle round that.
But it is just this God here in
conditions of fellowship with men.
It's the point of the trouble in the
first family.
A family in a holy and sacred fellowship
with God is something that will not go
unassailed.
And so we find the family thrown into
this state of conflict and one brother murders
the other.
It's the whole point in the history of
a chosen nation.
In all it's varied phases and stages of
life and history.
It's the point when that chosen nation was
in Egypt.
What was it that God intended?
Well, it's found in his challenge to Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, let my people go that
they may serve me.
And we know from the later history what
that meant.
God in the midst of a people.
And the great controversy and conflict in Egypt
was born of this sinister realization that if
that happens, God will have what he has
ever set his heart on.
And that must be frustrated.
That's the point.
They get into the wilderness.
That is, God gets them out to be
his people for his dwelling.
But as they are in the wilderness, congregated
at the foot of the mountain, and Moses
goes up into the mountain, note, he is
going to receive the pattern of the tabernacle
in which God will take up residence in
the midst of his people.
For that tabernacle, there will be the need
at least of some gold in the great
symbolism of the divine nature.
That has been brought out of Egypt.
And while Moses tarries in the mountain, what
happens?
Again, there enters in this challenge to the
divine purpose.
And the gold is stolen from God and
made into a calf to be worshipped in
the place of God.
All apart of the one long story.
And it goes on in their history.
When they are through the wilderness and in
the land, Solomon builds the temple.
God takes up his residence.
But before, just before that temple was going
to be brought in and built, another terrible
thing happened.
It is said, then Satan stood up against
Israel and provoked David to number the people.
Many of you know the story.
The numbering, of course, was just a bit
of vanity.
Vanity.
The vanity of the human heart.
Counting heads.
Being able to say, what a great people
I have got.
And what a great king I am.
And even a man of the world who
had very little, if any, spiritual perception.
Joab saw through it and urged the king
not to do it.
But he insisted.
And then he had to meet God.
Result, the devastation of the nation.
Till, as the plague swept over the people,
mowing them down, David at last met the
angel of the Lord, and the angel of
the Lord met him in the threshing floor
of Ornan, the Jebusite.
And that became the site of the temple.
But, what a contesting, what a controversy over
this habitation of God, all the time.
Well, the temple is built, and when the
nation has come to the very peak of
its development, along this line of God's habitation,
the very builder of the temple itself defaulted.
And made an alliance with that which was
another God, outside of Israel.
So it is not long before the nation
is split in two, and the swift movement
downward takes place, and the Lord leaves the
temple.
The end of that movement is a way
into Babylon.
Temple, Jerusalem, forsaken of God, people in captivity.
After 70 years, a remnant returned and restarted
to build a temple.
And the story is told in these twin
books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and what books
of conflict they are.
Here it is again, it is as though
something said, no, never, if we can stop
it.
If you look at the last verses of
the fourth chapter of the book of Ezra,
you will see, so the work ceased.
Well, that is how the Old Testament closes.
The New Testament opens.
As we saw last night, God comes to
his consummate realization along two lines.
Firstly, becoming incarnate in his Son, Emmanuel, God
with us.
But, his very presence raises the bitterish controversy.
On this very point of the temple, it
all centers in and circles around this temple.
And you know, the charge which brought him
to his death was, he spoke about the
destruction of the temple.
He said, destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it again.
In their blindness to his true spiritual meaning,
they interpreted it as meaning that this great
temple was to be destroyed.
Of course it was.
But that brought him to his death.
Stephen took up that matter a little later
on and quoted these words about the temple.
God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
And from that point the rage and storm
broke upon him.
See the focal point of it all?
Most significant.
And when the personal Christ, sown like corn
of wheat in the ground, died has risen
in the corporate form of the nucleus of
his church.
This is the habitation of God in reality.
But what a storm breaks upon it.
Oh, it's the signal for new outbreaks of
this terrible antagonism.
Dear friends, that is the root of all
the sad tragic history through the centuries of
divisions and controversies and conflicts and schisms and
contentions amongst Christians.
One, one object and focal point is, God
is not going to have this dwelling if
it can be prevented by any means whatsoever.
This must be stopped.
There is no greater menace to the kingdom
of darkness than a people after this kind
to which God commits himself because they provide
him with the ground for being there, just
being there in blessed fellowship.
We believe that we are living in the
end time.
And as the end draws near, in spite
of all the talk and the efforts for
unions and affiliations and so on, the spirit
of suspicion, fear and misunderstanding intensifies.
It intensifies.
The atmosphere of Christianity is impregnated with this
kind of thing.
That the last little thing will suffer division
if possible.
The differences are multiplying all the time.
As we get near the end, the end,
what is it?
Well, we have mentioned it this evening.
Why are there so many differences and controversies
in the realm of interpretations of Christian relationships?
Well, it is just this one thing.
You may say it's because of this or
that or some other thing.
You may put it down to one of
the many hundreds of things that make for
division.
But let us get right to the root
of the thing and the heart of the
thing.
Every one of these things which may be
the pretext is related to this one all
-inclusive and all-governing thing.
It is related to a spiritual relatedness of
the people of God to provide him with
that which has been in his heart from
all eternity.
A habitation, a presencing of himself with men.
That is the heart of it.
All this sad and terrible history and story
is related to the corporate.
The beginning, a man and his wife.
Corporate.
Two brothers.
The race.
Twelve brothers.
Twelve sons of Jacob.
Twelve tribes.
The pattern of the tabernacle.
And so on.
It's always centered in this corporate idea to
either prevent it or to wreck it if
it has any semblance of being present.
Ever and always the point of attack has
been the people of God in heavenly fellowship
with God in their midst.
Well, we have to look at the significance
of this.
What does it signify in the first place?
Well, surely it signifies so clearly the existence
in this universe of a force and system
that is hostile to this idea.
That is antagonistic to the realization of this
divine purpose.
This is not a natural thing.
You may, if you like, say well it
was because of this or that or something
else.
And often there seem to be and do
seem to be good human and natural reasons
for it.
But get behind all that.
You find that it is all issuing from
this sinister realm hierarchy which is antagonistic to
one thing.
And it is this one thing.
We speak about the church militant.
What do we mean by the church militant?
Well, our ideas are usually objective when we
speak like that.
We think of the church making assault upon
heathenism, upon paganism, upon worldliness, upon vice,
upon bad social conditions, upon suffering and its
causes.
That is perhaps what we mean by the
church militant.
But however true that may be and right,
the fact is that the church militant finds
its campaign sabotaged from the inside.
Defeated before it starts to fight.
Indeed it cannot fight as a corporate whole
because it is already crippled on the inside.
Crippled by its divisions.
Crippled by the absence of this one related
corporate life.
Inexpression.
Yes.
The enemy has subtly got on the inside
of things and weakened and paralyzed the church
militant.
Some of you are perhaps familiar with a
story in the life of Spurgeon.
The students of his college were preaching their
trial sermons before him.
One young man chose Ephesians 6 for his
subject.
And in a great attempt at eloquence and
impressiveness he pictured the warrior and the armor.
And himself was taking it up.
At last fully clad in great boldness he
stepped forward and said, Now where is the
enemy?
Mr. Spurgeon cupped his hands and said, Inside
the armor!
Well, that's an old story.
But it's very much to the point.
Very much to the point.
The church is not moving like a mighty
army.
It is not true that like a mighty
army moves the church of God.
It is not true that it is terrible
as an army with banners.
Satan has seen to that and given the
denial to that.
The lie.
What is the point?
We've got to take account of something more
than the human factors and the natural elements.
I'm not wanting to open the door for
an inrush of demonism or demonology.
But perhaps we've swung too much the other
way in our fears.
We have either got to accept the Bible
or reject it.
We've got to settle that.
And if we accept the Bible, if we
take it as it stands, we have got
to accept this act of a great evil
spiritual hierarchy surrounding this world, unresting,
ceaseless invigilance and activity, watching for any opportunity
and any ground that it can use against
this one thing, the absolute oneness of God's
people to provide him with a habitation suitable
to himself.
We've got to recognize that great system and
take account of it and really take it
into account.
There it is.
There seems to be some strange dullness, numbness
over the church in this matter which itself
may be significant.
Who does not amongst Christians know, for instance,
Ephesians chapter 6?
Probably most of us could quote it.
Our wrestling is not with flesh but with
principalities and powers and world rulers of this
darkness and hosts of wicked spirits in the
heavens.
Who does not know that in words, in
language?
But dear friends, who has really been stung
into the realization of what that means for
the church?
Into the recognition of the fact that that
word is the summing up of the greatest
revelation of the church that has ever been
given to mankind.
Up to that the apostle moves with his
great unveiling of the church in its past
eternal election, in its heavenly vocation, in its
walk here with God and in its coming
eternity purpose.
Through all that he moves up to this.
Yes, yes, but, but while that is true,
while that is God's masterpiece, the greatest thing
ever conceived, it is the one object of
countless hosts of evil spirits in their inimical,
their antagonistic interest and attention.
You see, fanaties and powers, world rulers of
this darkness, hosts of wicked spirits have one
thing that thereafter, and it's the destruction of
that church, the dividing of that church.
We, I say, are strangely numb in the
presence of such a revelation.
We are not stung alive to the recognition
of what that means.
If all this is true, you're going to
have very great difficulty in arguing your way
out of this if you're so disposed.
I say the Bible from the first chapters
to the last is full of this very
thing, this continuous controversy and conflict centered in
this one thing, God having a habitation for
himself in a people.
If this is true, dear friends, we've got
to adjust ourselves, take a new attitude over
this matter and face the fact that these
evil forces are not just concerned with the
whole sum total of the church to split
it into so many sections.
They, these evil forces, are not
just concerned with the whole sum total of
the church to split it into so many
sections.
They will not stop at the last two.
They began with the first two and they
will pursue their evil purpose to the last
two believers to get in between.
And if that is true, I say we
have got to adjust ourselves to this that
any division, any breaking up of fellowship is
not to be put down finally to some
human or natural factors.
They may only be the pretext or the
occasion but behind there's something very much more.
We're involved in a terrible warfare over this
matter of relatedness far, far beyond our power
of overcoming or coping with it.
There you see is where the words in
this great letter come to our rescue as
the apostle prays that he would grant him
to be strengthened with might by his spirit
in the inward man.
Now unto him who is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think according to the power that worketh in
us unto him be the glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus unto all ages
forever and ever.
I say we've got to take account of
these forces and adjust ourselves to the matter
in a new way in the realization of
what it is that is happening and not
put everything down to second causes but to
get behind them the primary cause in that
other evil realm.
God is holy the place of his dwelling
must be holy if this is the work
of Satan it's unholy it's the touch of
evil therefore God cannot commit himself the work
of the enemy must be cast out God
is one God is one he will not
commit himself to that which divides him cried
the apostle to the Corinthians is Christ divided?
and I think there was a tone of
shock in his interrogation unthinkable unthinkable Christ
is not divided therefore he cannot commit himself
as one God to division we divide God
the Holy Spirit is one spirit there is
says the apostle one spirit there are not
so as many Christs and as many Holy
Spirits as there are believers we do not
have a personal and private Jesus or Holy
Spirit we only have him and them in
common and there is no other way of
having the Lord now we've got to find
the key we've got to find the key
to this oneness this unity and in this
very letter to the Ephesians the apostle speaks
about it as the unity of the spirit
the unity of the spirit you see our
oneness our unity is not first an intellectual
thing that is that we have threshed out
truth and matters of procedure and after a
great deal of discussion and argument we have
arrived at some measure of agreement and now
we are one does not begin there that
is not the basis of our oneness at
all even in evangelical truth we don't arrive
at oneness intellectually by argument we do not
arrive at it by an enterprise a common
undertaking or piece of work this needs to
be done and we resolve to unite to
do it the history of the work of
God surely is the history of how that
kind of thing can break down and does
not go through when it meets the forces
of evil no we are not one in
that way we are not one by sentiment
by, may I use the word smarmyness nice
talk closing our eyes to wrong that is
wrong being sentimental that is not the basis
of oneness it is not a oneness by
ideals and certainly not a oneness of pretense
what is it?
it is as the word here says the
unity of the spirit that is of the
Holy Spirit I have just said that there
are not as many Holy Spirits as there
are believers we were all baptized in one
spirit into one body says the apostle now
then this oneness is twofold first of all
it is basic and then it is progressive
it is basic by our sharing of a
common life oh that we made more of
that fundamental reality we know it is true
we have only got to be scattered over
the world where you meet one Christian in
a hundred thousand and the thing becomes very
real very real oh what a thing it
is to meet a Christian you don't raise
ecclesiastical questions forthwith doctrinal questions and so on
you just find that you've got something in
common if you'd only keep on that ground
what a long way you can go it
is something in common you know it without
being told we know a believer a true
believer anywhere in the world without introduction the
introduction is inside it's fundamental we share one
life we have one holy spirit dwelling in
all that is the basic reality of oneness
if only we would make more of it
but then it is progressive it is progressive
that is it grows, it develops, it proceeds
and progresses by living in the spirit by
a life in the spirit a life governed
by the holy spirit within us dear friends
though this has been said many times it's
a point for very great emphasis if only
you and I personally really lived the life
under the government of the holy spirit inside
what a big difference it would make you
see he is the spirit of truth and
if he is governing our spirit and our
inner consciousness as born again children of God
indwelt by the holy spirit if you and
I got a false notion about another one
it would not be long before we knew
it in our own hearts that the holy
spirit does not agree with that notion we
take on a false report a false rumor
we hear something about somebody and take it
on and it may be though apparently true
and might seem to come from the most
authentic and trustworthy source it might still be
false we can know it in our hearts
by the holy spirit and that spirit governing
will be a safeguard against some division, some
strain, some broken fellowship which ought never to
be because it is founded upon a lie
a beautiful lie it might be you see
what I mean you ought to spend much
time with that but oneness, fellowship is progressive
on the basis of a life in the
spirit and you and I as God's people
are called to live in the spirit and
to walk by the spirit to know the
inner instruction and teaching of the spirit to
know the voice of the spirit takes a
long time to learn in fullness or any
great measure but it's a great reality which
ought to begin with our new birth that
we have a new consciousness of values of
things that differ of right and of wrong
of what we ought to do and ought
not to do how we ought to speak
and how we ought not to speak all
this ought to be born with us at
our new birth and it ought to grow
and grow and grow only so will this
other evil kingdom be destroyed only so will
its works be countered only so will the
church be terrible as an army with banners
only so will God find the place that
he is seeking where he can commit himself
and abide and make himself known time is
gone for this evening though the ground is
not by any means fully covered but it's
enough it's enough there's a great battle on
and that battle is not just the battle
of different conceptions and interpretations presentations of Christianity
behind all is a battle between a great
intention of God and a counter-intention of
a great faith may God help us to
have our eyes open to this and to
be very clear cut as to where we
stand in this fight