House of God

First Timothy chapter 3 verse 14, Paul writing to Timothy, these things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God and the pillar and the ground of truth. I take it when Paul wrote to Timothy in first Timothy he is dealing with house of God conditions.

When he wrote in second Timothy, he was writing about an individual path of faithfulness. Now an individual path of faithfulness is very important to each and every one of us in assembly fellowship and house of God conditions are very important to each one of us as well in the day and age that we're living, the end of the age of the day of grace. So when you're reading in first Timothy, you're reading about principles for God's called and equipped shepherds.

God called, God equipped, God enabled shepherds in God's assembly. They're all equipped ideally, they're all enabled to deal with the sensitive matters that seem to come up in the assemblies of the Lord's people in the day and age that we're living. You're also reading about qualities of God called, God equipped, enabled servants.

I take it when God calls an individual to do something, He equips that individual to do it. Don't just call him to do it and then just leave him on his own. But He enables that individual to do whatever it is that He called him to do.

And equips that individual with spiritual gift which is over and above natural ability. If you can play the piano, great, that's natural ability, it's not spiritual gift. But when He calls an individual to serve him, He enables him to do that, He equips him to do that, and He gives him spiritual gift to accomplish what it is He's called him to do.

Now this isn't necessarily spectacular gift. It's not what we're looking for, spectacular gift, but recognizable gift. Gift that is functional.

Gift that is useful. Gift that is edifying. Gift that is unifying.

Not gifts for division, but for unity, for the building up of the people of God, for the building up of the assembly of the Lord's people. That special place in this day and age that you and I are living in and we can be thankful to God that we are in assembly fellowship. Now to the outside world it might look like small potatoes, but I imagined in the days when the tabernacle was pitched in the desert, that was a bit of a strange looking place too.

But it was absolutely beautiful when you got on the inside of it. And God's assembly is absolutely beautiful when you get on the inside of it. Might not look like much on the outside, some halls have a tendency to get a little bit run down, but beauty of the gold is on the inside because that's the presence of Christ.

So first Timothy deals with divine order in God's assembly. Deals with conduct, deals with character, deals with care, and it deals with caution. And all our subjects that are stressed and they're vital, they're absolutely important for the spiritual health and the spiritual harmony of God's assembly.

And that's what's ideal. A spiritually healthy assembly, a spiritually holy assembly, an assembly of the Lord's people that are moving in harmony and happiness one with another. We're a called out company.

And we're called out by the clear clarion call of the gospel. And we're gathered around God in the wilderness. And we're here for a purpose.

And one of those, first and foremost, I take it is worship. I think that's why God saved you brother, is to be a worshipper of God. Sister as well.

Brethren audibly, sisters silently. And we're here to walk. And we're here to work.

And we're here to witness for God according to His will. So if we're going to know His will in relation to worship and our walk and our work and our witness, then we'll have to get into the Word of God. Because that's the only place we're going to find the will of God, is in the Word of God.

God's assembly is important. And it's precious in His eyes. I hope we can get a grip of that.

That it's not just another place. But this is something that is very, very important and very, very precious in the eyes of the Lord. It's the gathering center in this age.

It's the place of the name. And the name is linked with a person. Just like your name is linked with you.

And it's the name, the person of Christ that gives us the authority for what we preach and what we practice. It isn't something the brethren dreamt up long ago in their minds it would be a good way of doing things. But the authority for what we preach and practice in the assembly of the Lord's people.

I'm not talking about denominations. I'm talking about God's assembly, which is very, very unique in the age that we're living. And the authority for what we preach and practice is, this is, this is the place of the name.

The place of the person. So when you leave the place of the name, you leave the place of the person. And the precepts that are associated with the place of the name.

I take it this text tells me at least that this is house of God. The pillar and the ground of the truth. The assembly of the living God.

House of God. I take it that means this is God's household on earth. The assembly.

It's not an organization meeting in a place made up of bricks and a place made up of boards and stained-glass windows and all the ornaments that some places have. But it's a living organism that functions for the pleasure of God. That's what every assembly should be doing, is functioning for the pleasure of God.

And I mentioned it's not an organization. It's not governed by organizations or by organizing, but by divine order. That's based on the Word of God.

Organization is based on the mind of men in the things of God. And when you start organizing, brethren, then you have to keep on organizing. And there's never any end to organizing.

It just goes on and on and on. I'm very thankful for the brethren in Stout, for the brethren in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, different places where they allow the Holy Spirit of God to do what the Holy Spirit of God is supposed to do and that is to regulate in the conferences. That's divine order.

Organization is when one particular man or maybe a group of men decide who they're going to invite to the conference and what subject those individuals are to preach on when they come to the conference. Brethren, that's organization. This is divine order.

This is what's right, as far as I can see. In Acts 11 and verse 22, you read a verse of Scripture. Tidings of these things came to the ears of the church.

Have you ever seen ears on any of these buildings in the neighborhood here in town? Are there ears on them? Well, you've got ears and I've got ears. So I take it the implication is that it is people, persons, who make up this house of God. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5, it's made up of living, lively stones, not dead bricks.

And you've never seen ears on dead bricks, but you have on lively stones. I take it this makes it suitable, a suitable residence or a suitable habitation for the Spirit of God. To do what the Spirit of God does, resides, not only resides in every individual believer, but he resides in the assembly of the Lord's people and he regulates in the assembly.

When I come to a meeting, I don't have my finger in the hymn book on my favorite hymn to give out in the assembly meeting. Because if I come with my finger in the hymn book to give out that particular hymn that I just dearly love to sing, then that kind of bypasses the regulating work of the Holy Spirit of God. I think it's interesting in my mind at times I'm kind of slow on my feet at times.

Other times I'm not. But I don't give out too many hymns and I could tell you the reason why. It's kind of a thing I got stuck in my head.

Because when I first came into the assembly of the Lord's people, I sat by this one particular lady every Lord's Day morning. I don't know how that happened. And she'd always punch me in the ribs with her elbow like this.

And she had her hymn book like this and she'd go like that. Well, I wouldn't make a move. I'd sit there like a stone.

So I kind of got that still in me. Where you better sit like a stone or you're going to get punched in the ribs. Anyways, I have noticed this, and maybe your brethren have too, that if you have a hymn that you kind of have an urge to give out and you don't give it out, another brother will stand up and give it out.

That's the regulation of the Holy Spirit, as I see it. We're a company of people who can substantiate our existence from the Word of God. We can prove it.

We can prove that we actually exist as a house of God, house of the living God, the assembly of the Lord's people. We can prove our existence from the Word of God. And I just, I'm not a gambling man, but I bet you no one else can.

In other words, what we have today, brothers and sisters, is divine approval. God approves of what we're doing, of what we're preaching, of what we're practicing in the assembly. God approves of that.

We don't necessarily claim the presence of the Lord, because that's what all the denominations do. At least the ones that I've run across. They claim the presence of the Lord.

But you know, based upon Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20, and I have no problem abusing that verse, the Lord declares His presence among us. He's making the declaration, not you and me. He's making that.

He says, where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I. Who says that? He says it. So He declares His presence in the midst of a scripturally gathered company of the Lord's people. Christendom makes that claim.

And there is a difference between Christendom and God's assembly. Because we're not part of Christendom. No, we're not.

We are not part and have no part with Christendom. That great amalgamation of denominations with a zillion different names and a zillion different doctrines, in many, many different ways of doing things, we are not part of that. We are uniquely different than any part of that amalgamation of Christendom.

We're set apart, we're separated from all denominational air. Get a hold of that. Because denominations run rampant with air.

I'm not mad at them. Not in no way at all am I mad at them. And I was saved among them.

I was saved in an independent Baptist meeting up in Galesville, Wisconsin. But I didn't stay there very long, because I could see clearly what they were practicing was contrary to the Word of God. And so I went searching for God's gathering center in this age, and I didn't even know where to start.

Until I saw an ad in the paper that said, we preach Christ crucified, bring your Bibles, and no collections. I thought, wow, that's a strange sort of a place. But it was the right place.

It is not just a good place to be. It's the only place to be. I say that without fear.

I'll fear anyone in this room to make that comment, or anybody outside of it, for that matter. God's assembly is the church, the assembly of the living God, and over against that are buildings built with dead bricks, with lifeless idols, who don't speak. They even have gods that don't speak.

Oh, I'm thankful I have a God that speaks. Talks to me through His Word. And why would any individual, especially people that have been raised up in gospel halls, been in assembly fellowship, and leave and go to these denominations, and it happens all over, and far, far too often, and they must not be well-read enough to know that they are associating themselves with a system that God is going to judge in a future day.

Now why would anybody want to be linked up or associated with a system that is under the judgment of God? Not necessarily the people in it, for there are people that are saved within that system, that are truly saved and born again. But the system itself is going to be judged in a future day, Revelation chapter 17. Now if God's assembly is so, so important that the Lord is here, then isn't it important enough for you and for me to be here? Is that fair? Is that a fair statement? If He finds the assembly of the Lord's people that important, that He wants to be here, and He's here at every meeting.

Did you know that? Even the Wednesday night Bible study. So why is it that we're not at the Wednesday night Bible study? He's here. So if He's here, why aren't we here? We're all here, right? Every Wednesday night, verse 16, the pillar, the ground of truth.

I take it that's divine doctrine. As a pillar we are recognized, or responsible, and we're recognized too, but we're responsible to hold, not only hold the truth, but hold up the truth. And if we're going to hold up the truth, we need to hold to the truth, and not give ground.

Not move away from what we've been taught down through the years. We've been taught correctly, brethren. Young brethren, I'm not going to pick on you, but I'm going to say young brethren, because it's young brethren that have brought it to my attention that the old brethren didn't know what they were talking about.

I never knew that. And you know something? I don't believe that. Not even to this day.

We were taught correctly by the older brethren that are gone now. They're in the glory. I remember the first time I ever came to Stout, I was right up there in that window.

That plexiglass wasn't there then. That was back in the day when, you know, you didn't have all these rules and regulations that you have now. And I remember Sidney Maxwell standing right down there preaching.

And I can practically remember every, I'm getting old too, remember everything that he preached that day. And I was a young believer and hadn't been saved very long, and when I was saved, I had a heart like a swinging brick, and my tongue was hanging out of the belt, probably about halfway down. I was just like a bird in a nest, with my mouth wide open being fed by birds on the telephone wire.

Wonderful. Pillar in the ground of truth. Upholding the whole truth.

To compromise truth over contentions. We don't compromise truth over contentions. We don't compromise truth over the kinfolk.

We don't compromise truth over the cry for change. That great cry that seems to be coming up in the day and age that you and I are living in. Change.

I take it as the ground of truth, we have the responsibility to support and defend the truth in a light-rejecting world. To preserve, preach, practice the truth, and to bear reproach for the sake of the Savior. Who was more than willing to leave the heavens of glory and the peace of the Father's side, and come into a world where He is despised and rejected, and go all the way to the cross of Calvary, and there suffer, bleed, and die on behalf of a world of sinners lost and ruined by the fall.

And now we have the wonderful, wonderful privilege to be linked up with Him in His rejection. You know, the truth of God's assembly won't be preserved by giving ground. It's not going to be preserved by introducing new methods.

It's not going to be preserved by abandoning the old paths. It's not going to be preserved with new carts. Modern, more casual methods.

Tell me, where would you find in the Word of God where God or the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit of God were ever casual? We're not going to replenish the numbers by taking shortcuts. That's what our brethren are doing here. They're preaching the gospel.

That's how the numbers in God's assembly are replenished, is through the preaching of the gospel. But the assembly is not going to be replenished if we take shortcuts to the gospel. Shortcuts to salvation, shortcuts to service.

The psalmist reminds us in Psalm 127, Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. There's a little phrase that I've been hearing of late. In fact, I was in a, what is affectionately called a testimony meeting at a conference.

And it wasn't here in the Midwest. Thank the Lord. Two young men got up and they told their testimony.

And I was waiting to hear how they got saved. I heard their life history. I heard all about high school and kindergarten and all the rest of it.

And I was waiting to hear the punchline. You know, it only takes just that long to tell how God saved you, because that's how long it takes for Him to save you. You don't have to go into your life history.

Well, that's what they did. And when they got to the end of it, they told us how they were saved. And both of them had the same story, one after the other.

They gave their heart to Jesus. Well, I thought to myself, where in the Word of God do they read where God is asking sinners to give Him anything? Because sinners don't have anything to give God. They can only take.

And God isn't in the business of taking. He's in the business of giving. But what disappointed me maybe more and equally was that those stories that were quite questionable in my mind were accepted by the majority seemingly and acceptable.

I couldn't quite wrap my mind around that, and I still can't today. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not giving your heart to Jesus.

In Genesis 35, Jacob is seen returning to Bethel, the house of God. And he told his household something. In verse 2 he says, Put away the strange gods from among you.

Be clean. Change your garments. Do you know what they did? They gave up the strange gods.

They gave up their earrings. It wasn't hard for them to do that. You know how hard that is? You just take them out of your ears.

And the necklaces. And the brooches. It's not hard to give up.

It's not hard to take them off. They just take them off. It's just like quitting smoking.

If anybody in the room is a smoker, and you're having trouble quitting smoking, you know that's a possibility. You know how to do that? Quit buying them. Real simple.

You know what Jacob did with these strange things, these earrings and so on? He took them and buried them under the oak. You know why? Because they had no place in Bethel. There was no place in Bethel for the earrings and the garments.

And that's like the assembly of the Lord's people. In every household, in your household, in my household, there's limitations. And there's boundaries.

I don't care if you're an adult or a child. There's limitations in my house, the house that I live. There's boundaries in the house that I live.

There's limitations and boundaries in the house that you live as well. And there's limitations and boundaries in the house of God as well. There is appropriate deportment in the house, in the assembly.

And it's necessary for a healthy, an assembly of harmony, spiritually healthy, harmony, holiness. The end result of that is happiness. Happiness.

Certain things should stay at Calvary. Certain things should be buried beneath the tree. We can't do any old thing we want to because God requires suitable dress.

He requires suitable deportment in His house just like you do in your house. So why are we dressing down? That's what the world does. You don't believe that? Go to Walmart.

And sit down on one of those benches where us old guys sit. And you just watch the people come in and you watch the people go out and you'll see what dressed down means. There's no way we want to copy that.

I'll tell you, I tell my wife Janie, I says, are there no mirrors in Oklahoma? She says, what do you mean? I said, don't people have a mirror alongside the door and check the mirror before they leave the door and go down to Walmart's? She wouldn't answer me. She's a dyed-in-the-wool okie. So she didn't know what I was saying.

She just grinned. We are to be clean. We are to be changed morally, socially, financially, materialistically, mentally.

When we're saved, those changes take place automatically, don't they? Dressed neatly, deported nicely. Who do we have for an example of those things? Elders in God's assembly. They have a ministry of character.

And we copy that character. When I first came into the assemblies, I didn't know how to dress. I'd never had a suit on outside of a Navy suit and an Army suit.

But I mean as far as a civilian suit, I never had one on. When I come into God's assembly, I thought to myself, how am I supposed to dress? And I looked at these men that were recognized as overseers and I goes, ah, not hard to figure that out. Dress like they dress.

Because they have a ministry of character. The world doesn't dictate our dress. So perhaps in some measure we need to retrace our steps back to divine standards of the house of God and make a place for the altar.

One of these three brethren mentioned that this morning. Do you have an altar? Do you take time to sit down with your children and your wife and read the Word of God? You don't have to read a whole book. Read a chapter.

If you can't read a chapter, read a half a chapter. Or read something with them. You say, I don't have time.

I've got to get to work. Make time. There isn't a one of us in the room that has time.

You've got to make time. And it will be well worth it. And find a grave for the trinkets, the earrings, the necklace, the brooches.

1 Peter 3.3 Here's a reference. 1 Timothy 2.9 So your argument isn't with me if you're not in agreement with that. Your argument is with the Word of God.

We can make an adjustment insofar as our dress and deportment is concerned. And we can stand for the truth. And we really need to stand from the truth and not move away from it.

So that we might continue to be an effective witness in this world. I'll leave you with this, brethren. Let us rise up and go to Beth-El.