Episode Transcript
<time>0:00</time>
<p>You're listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert ministries. For more information on this ministry, is it Lance Lambert that work? Why do we need to abide in Christ? What is the purpose of dwelling in the house of the Lord? What do we do after we are ones who dwell in the house? Do we have more prayer meetings and Bible studies? Do we begin evangelistic meetings, in this episode lands, shares about our purpose and abiding in the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's listen. Dear Lord, here we are found in thy presence, rejoicing in the because of all our law. how glad we are that die. Well, beloved, is king. And how glad we are law that has brought us into a glorious relationship, an intimate, eternal relationship to him. Now we pray this morning, take a word and make it live to us, Lord, it is the Ministry of thy holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to lead us into all truth. And we ask Lord to gather that now its leader, we know the net for man Brasi, but not the things of thy self father, their foolishness tools, they just, somehow rather cannot be understood. But we praise thee for the Holy Spirit, by whom we know the deep things of thyself. Oh Father, we pray together this morning we may have that spirit of wisdom and revelation given to us all the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, that we might inwardly know what thou has done for us what now our tours and dinners for us. And Lord, we lift up our hearts the for all those who suffer matters not where Lord, we think of our brothers and sisters, behind the Iron Curtain behind the bamboo curtain. We think of others Lord all through the bow them up before the servants have died in lonely places, Lord, support them we play from this little company or die, children may law there be a supply of the Spirit of Jesus to each one. May they be lifted up Lord, we do pray, and oh Father, we cried the in these days of so much disorder, so much break down so much law that is being shaken. May we know increasingly what it is to, to be receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Oh, Father, founders upon the rock we play more and more truly get the rock into us, Lord, that when the final shattering comes, we may find that we are in him, and are safe in him. We ask it together, Lord, now in humble dependence upon myself for the iPad, both speaker and hearer like in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to turn you back to a verse of scripture which I am spoke upon some weeks ago now. It's in Isaiah chapter eight and verse 14. Isaiah chapter eight and verse 14. Now, if I'm to go on with what I've got in my heart this morning, I won't be able to go over much of what we said them, but may I just say this, that this little passage from verse 13 to 15 underlies a whole number of New Testament Scriptures, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and concerning the church. And here is the little phrase that I line want to underline again today, verse 14, and he, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, shall be for a sanctuary. He shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for lack of attempts to birth the houses of Israel, for agenda for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, many will stumble, and fall and be broken and be snap, and be taken fall. It's this really that the Apostle Peter had in mind when he wrote in one Peter and chapter two, one Peter and chapter two. On verse three, he had tasted that the Lord is gracious unto whom coming a Livingstone rejected indeed of men, but with God elect pressures. ye also, as living stones are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, because it is contained in Scripture. Behold, I am Zion a chief cornerstone elect pressures, and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For you, therefore that believe is the preciousness but first such as disbelieve the stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the edit the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense for they stumble up the word being disobedient. Now this is rather wonderful, because what it is virtually saying is that all that God expressed all that God's signified through the tabernacle and temple is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. He, our Lord, Jesus Christ is the meeting place between God and man. He is the dwelling place of God. There we find the fullness of God, fullness of grace, fullness of wisdom, fullness of life, fullness of power, whatever it is, we find all the fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ, for a pleased the father that in him should all the fullness dwell. But we don't just stop there. The glorious thing is that we as living stones quarried out of the same rock of divine nature, are being built together with Christ into a holy habitation, a temple, a home for God in the spirit. Now that I find really quite thrilling, and it's worth the Apostle Peter got pulled over and he says, Christ is the living stone, you have come to him, you also as living stones, quoted out of the same rock, the same substance, the same material, through the work of Jesus Christ, are now to be built together into a spiritual house. And then he changes the figure and says that this spiritual house will be a place where not only the house, but we're also the priesthood that are part of within it sacrifices unto God. So of course, we must say again, the church is not a building. The judge is not a place with a Belfry, or a steeple. The judge is not a meeting place like this. This is not the house of the Lord, it belongs to the Lord. In that sense, it's the Lord's house. But it's not the house of the Lord. We are the house of the Lord. No, no, let's get it right. Jesus Christ is the house of the law. And then him, we become the house of the law. Now when we get it that way round, all kinds of things fall into place. A few years ago when we first began to meet here to say such a thing was considered by many believers to be close on heresy. It was Roman is one of the most violent and vicious cuy. Now I noticed that him then the notes I'm not going to get in trouble for saying this. But in the notes sent out to the teachers in the national festival of light, they're in the magic to do with the church were told to teach all these youngsters coming, that the church is nothing less than Jesus Christ in His people who would have thought someone would have said that 20 years ago praise God for that. That means somehow or other amongst the people of God, light is beginning to dawn in a new way, in this last gray matter of recovering the matter of the Church of God, its nature and its character. Now what is the nature and character of the house of God? It is nothing less than the nature of character of Jesus Christ. Now once we get that clear, we begin to understand what the church is the judges in an institution, it's not an organization. It's not just a society of folks who've got the same kind of experience, or the same kind of opinions, the judge is Jesus Christ. And we have been placed in him, join to him. In one spirit he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit we are as body to a he is as head to body, one person as it were. Now this is not of course, I must say this less. Some visitors here rush away to spread around the country that some terrible error is being taught here. This is not to say that the Lord Jesus Christ loses his Union. character and nature as the Son of God. But the glory of our gospel is not that we're just saved, to sing hymns, to say prayers to read the Bible one day to go to heaven and play a harp. That's not that's not the Gospel. The Gospel is that by the grace of God, what was his original plan for humanity has been achieved through the finished work of Jesus Christ, what was his original plan for humanity, that man might become partakers of the divine nature, might enter into such a relationship with God not as units. But in some living organic union, which means that they have become, as it were, flesh is placed bone in his bone, the two shall become one. And we are told that marriage is just a picture of this one from the Justice woman was taken out of man and brought back to him out of the to become one. So we've been taken out of Jesus Christ, and I've been presented back to him. One day, we're going to sit down to the marriage supper of the lab. Well, now that's, that's enough. Of that, but we must get on with what we've got all we'll start. We'll never get to Psalm 27. But just before we get to Tom 27 look at Isaiah chapter 60. And we've got the same wonderful thing here in Isaiah 60. Of course, we know this is about the Lord Jesus. Verse one arise, shine for thy lightest come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon the old darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples, that the Lord will arise upon the end his glory shall be seen upon the nation shall come to the light and kings to the brightness of the rising. And then in verse seven, all the flux of kiddush will be gathered together onto the the Rams of Nebbiolo. Minister unto the day shall come up with acceptance on main altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Now in verse 13, the glory of Lebanon's will come on to the The third way the pile in the box three together to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet, Laureus. Now, if that isn't a prediction of the nature and character of the judge, what is I will make the place of my feet glorious. Where is the head, the head is right hand of God the Father, where are the feet this morning, praise God, here they are. Here or wherever else, the people of God truly gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. There you find the body, you've never found feet on ahead, you find feet on the body. And so wherever the people of God have found truly gathered together, in the name of Jesus Christ, wherever you find a measure of being built together, wherever you find a measure of understanding as to the character, nature of the church, then glory starts to touch other lives, people coming in, since the glory of the law, touch the guardian of the law. Now glory isn't all just excitement. I think it's sometimes thought in some circles, that only when there's terrific amount of excitement and so on, is there any glory present, not so at all. There were times when the glory of the Lord so filled the house of the Lord, in the old days that no one could go in, they couldn't even lift up. It was a real Mennonite Quaker meeting. They couldn't lift up their, their eyes from before. riveted to the ground, they were by just a sense of the glory of the Lord. And God, there are other times when the glory of the Lord causes us to dance and to sing, and clap our hands, and to be joy. But let's understand that the glory of the Lord is not just excitement. Now I want you to turn back to Psalm 27. Last week got there, Psalm 27. And I want to read verse four, to six. One thing have I asked to the law, that when I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the law, and to inquire in his tempo, or in the day of travel, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion, and the cover of His tabernacle will he hide me, he will lift me up upon a rock and now shall not had been lifted up above mine enemies round about me. And I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing. Yeah, I will sing praises unto the Lord. What a wonderful Psalm, Psalm 27 years if I if we only took those few verses, and that's all we're going to dwell upon this morning, you'd never realize that the Psalms all about war. Whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when evildoers come upon me to eat a flesh, even mine adversaries, and mypos they stumble and tell though I will encamped against my heart shall not fear the war should rise against me, even then will I be competent? wouldn't think it from this view versus this man knows what all the wars about. That's why he knows what all the antagonism of evildoers about, even when they themselves are not conscious of what, what the means lasted. The point of the whole battle is this sanctuary. This being built together in Christ is being built up into Christ, that is the whole objective of the enemy, to destroy it, to destroy it, to stop it, or hinder it paralyze, somehow rather, to divide the people of God to alienate them from one another, and by still doing paralyze the work of God. Now, you know, straight away I'm sure that a passion of the psalmist heart is quite clear, one thing now I think it's a marvelous matter to be a person of one thing. Jesus said, if the eye be single, thy whole body is full of light. And he went on to say that you cannot serve God and mammon. Now the place he told us to make things of map now this is interesting, because there are those who would have nothing to do with mme which is awful commerce. That's all at mammal is commerce. Oh, those who would say wouldn't soil their hands were in like that usually. or nothing to do with money through De Luca. And touching the like that. The Lord Jesus said, Make friends of the Imam of the van right now what on earth did he mean then when he says in one place? Is this one of the much talked about? contradictions in the Bible? One thing he says, You cannot serve God and mammon. The next minute, he says, may fables of the mammoth of unrighteous No, not at all. The Lord Jesus is talking about priorities. You cannot equally serve God and mammon. You cannot have two masters, you must have a symbol. And the symbol AI is a top priority. What is the top priority? Here? It is one thing have I asked that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the law? all the days of my life? Oh, someone says, Now just wait. Doesn't that mean you could get church conscience? Yes. If you look upon the churches, that thing. You just think of it as an institution, an organization, some Society of peoples and congregation of believers, got an Old Testament conception of the church is all special days, special people, special places and everything else. Then, of course, there's a danger. You you effectively put the church in place of Christ, Bertie, once you see that the church is Jesus Christ, then you understand what the psalmist was getting it. One thing have I asked one thing that I have I asked that, well, I see God that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And he immediately goes on to the first great objective of dwelling in the house of the Lord. Now I'm going to put it in New Testament terms, abiding in Christ abiding me and die in you. That's the most important first lesson any believer can learn, abide in the law, abide and remain where God has placed you. You haven't got to try and get in there are some Christians who sort of feel they've got to try and get in there spend the whole time fighting to get him you know, these are all I feel somehow I'm I'm not there. It's a lie. You are there may be the enemies effectively put a wedge between you and the law. That's got to be taken away. But you must always remember that once you're a believer, you only return to where God's placed you. however far you wondered, you returned where God has placed you in Christ, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. What what to do, Dad nice services. No Oh, well to listen to God Bible studies No. Work, it must be something that must admit prayer meetings? Of course no. Well then, of course, How silly of me evangelistically surfaces? No. Then what is the bajo the beauty of the law? now with more of us, we're beholding the beauty, the law, this will be a different place. If I was beholding the beauty of the Lord a little more, maybe I'd beat it. Can any person see the Lord in His beauty and not be changed? What did it do to Daniel, he fell down as one dead and felt corrupt and evil, a great sickness. That's what it did to him. What happened to his ego, he had exactly the same guy that he had to be sort of put back on his feet by a kind of miraculous touch from the Lord. What happened to john, he fell down as one dead. to behold, all this app comes that that is amongst our show. Other people have got this familiarity with divine thing. This thing here we can throw our way to our handle things that are holy and sacred, as if they're secular and profane. The very first thing that is matter of the church is that it is a very dwelling place of God Himself. What you can do in other things you cannot do with the churches. The whole beauty, but just wait, we mustn't just talk about the beauty of the Lord as depicted here for holiday. It's not. When Daniel saw the Lord, he saw the most glorious, they've had the most glorious revelation of the law, whereas he kills all the Lord. His whole revelation was one of glory. When john saw the Lord, it was a tremendous vision of one who was absolutely supreme and full of love, fear not. I am the first on the last, I became dead, the whole I am alive forevermore. And I had the keys of death and hell. Fear not. words of love, words of compassion, words of grace, to behold the beauty of the law. That is what the church is all about. It's not a technique, it's not a method is not a set of principles. The church is the place where we buy all the beauty of the Lord. It's all the many aspects of our Lord Jesus Christ of his character, of his work, obvious person. Can any single believer see them all? No, it needs us all. Now I've seen something of the Lord, I'm thankful to say by His grace alone, but some others have seen something I haven't seen. If you just take what I've seen, you've only got a certain amount. But we when we put it all together, we've got the simplest believer here, has seen something of the Lord's law, and beauty show. And somehow the way the Lord comes to you, the way he deals with you, the way he lifts you up, the way he speaks to you, the way he gently lead you on, you have your own original experience, you have beheld the beauty of the Lord in an original way. The beauty of the law, to behold the beauty. Now, I believe that really leads to worship. Now there is an idea that worship is just tanking. That's not. If we want to be absolutely theologically correct, thanking the Lord is not just worship, Thanksgiving, pray. Worship is somehow another, perhaps the most comprehensive word, but it's more than that. It's also the most profound. Sunday, sometimes you can worship the law without a single word. So great, or how I love that the times where it says in the Old Testament, and they bow down their heads to the ground, and worship, not a word. There was such a sense of the beauty of the War of the glory of the Lord, that the bow and in that one act that More worship than a million words. It was expressed in a complete base, a complete surrender. I think to behold, the beauty of the Lord is to lead us first one knowledge of ourselves as one dead as one corrupters. One empty is one few times. And then Lord Jesus. Out of that comes worship. Has anyone ever worship the Lord who thinks a lot of himself? When? If you think a lot of yourself, and your own ability and your own resources, do you ever really worship the Lord? No, we all worship starts when a person is so broken up, God has to put them together. And that's why you find they fall down as one dead, they didn't get up again. God had to say to an angel, Gong, get him up. Or the Lord Himself came and touched him and set him on his feet. He was in peace, he lost his own self sufficiency, his own resources, God, put him back on his feet, and then worship again. But we must go on if we're going to go through anything at all this morning. The second thing is to inquire in his temple, to inquire in his tablet in his day, but I think some of the modern versions put meditate in his temple, or reflect in his temple. And here is another whole realm is not only to behold the beauty of the Lord, to come to worship. But the church mean is a place of inquiry. Well, we could put it this way. We It is a place of direction and understanding. I have no more. Although some who may find it hard to believe, through my brothers and sisters, that many great preachers, sometimes negatively, sometimes positively. Sometimes I've seen someone make a mistake can I have so the Lord showed me something. I watched that person made the mistake. I've watched the Lord lift them up. I've watched the Lord, take them on. And I've learned sometimes others have learned through me, watching me make a mistake. And the Lord lifting me up, and taking me up, you look, we learn to love other systems. One of the things that amazed me is when times we've sought the Lord for direction about some better, some simple saint that you wouldn't look twice at in the street. Now Forgive me, everyone, I don't want to cause a riot has come up afterwards and said, dump very nervously. God, I think the Lord may have given me a word. Well, and they've read it out. And it's come like a shock from him. In our early days, here again and again, as to how we learn the value of the body of glass. We found that God was no respecter of persons. Sometimes he took the simplest person and threw them came on Water Wisdom. And the whole thing was I understood the situation over here we we've spent hours talking about Venice being way and this person's come, and they themselves don't understand it. Now, that's the priceless part of it. They themselves don't understand what the words all about, really, except the Lord's given it to them. That's the body usually we know what it's about. They don't why did God give it to us? We would have understood straight away I don't know. I don't know the Lord. You see, it's the body that it might be 10 put together, all parts of it some inside some outside. It's all interrelated in such a way that it's dependent one upon the other in a way to inquire and his don't we need direction. The church is not a dictatorship. But it is a place of direct. It's where the Lord directs are aware that direction we receive in the law, we test out in our brothers and sisters. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts it says arbitrate in your heart are between your A, B and B it's something about Yes, it's about the one body isn't it? To which otter you recording one body? I always thought possible. The apostle Paul has a phrase that slipped out you know it was such a quick person and a phrase that slipped out that I don't think so. What he was what he was saying was that the peace of God arbitrate in your heart you'll know which way to go by the peace of God. But remember, tested out with your brothers and sisters all Be careful, everyone, especially if you've had a real experience of the Spirit of God. Be careful of doing things on your own bat. God's told you to go to Timbuktu. And then the British Consulate to fly you back. It happens again and again. All the silly things people do, they don't share. Some people are fine to share because they think that things will sit on them, thank god if they do sit on us, to save us from from doing the wrong thing, if we really want to know the will of God, we will mind the same saying this or that to inquire in his temple, or the Lord Jesus Christ, the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may come into him as it were, and inquire in and then very simply, in verse five, on the day of travel, he will keep me secret in his pavilion in the cupboard of His tabernacle, he will hide me covering, covering, oh, it's a wonderful thing to know the fellowship of the church. It's the fellowship of Christ, you know, not always does the Lord directly cover that he covers us by one another. What a wonderful thing it is, when people spot that you're in danger, or people spot that there's a name say anything, but they play. And those are covered. Sometimes when we're older than the Lord, we see a young believer, making a very real mistake. Now we can go to that person and hammer them they can understand what on earth will adapt, they can understand what the mistake is in any way. They haven't got that amount of knowledge to understand why they're making that mistake. Why is a mistake, we can only plead Christ as the trespass offering. Sure enough, you'll see that one come through because someone has covered that one. You understand? What if you don't leave it, and it will come in the end, but there's covering. You see, in the day of travel, he will keep you secretly in his portfolio. In the cupboard of His tabernacle, the cupboard is the hiding place, the secret place, the cupboard place, like the inner reset. He will hide. Can anyone be covered who's out of sorts with his brothers and sisters? danger Can you be hidden in the cover of His tabernacle, when you've fallen out with another believer? cup, I just pass it off. And then in verse, last part of verse five and verse, the first part of verse six, he will lift me up upon a rock, and now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Victory. It says, it's a bad thing, the person's alone. Two are better than one it says in Ecclesiastes, he is for if one falls, the other will pick him up. Three fold cord is not easily broken. You and me and the Lord Jesus Christ, a three fold cord is not easily but that's the wonderful thing about victory, isn't it? You can always depend upon it, that there will be times or when a number of us are down. But thank God, a number of others are up. And those who are help those who are down to well, the tide is when we're all down at the same time. And thank God whom are on top at the same time. Bye. But the fact of the matter is that there is in the fellowship of Jesus Christ, there is victory. We are more than conquerors through him that love does. Now again, may I just say something I heard that balances. Not around teaching at all, but sometimes an excess, an extreme, or those who tell us that we should know anything about nakedness or peril or saw or hunger, for they point out to us that in the Word of God, the Lord has promised to provide promise to deliver promise to preserve and all this is perfectly right. But the wonderful thing is we have a paradox here in Romans chapter eight. The apostle Paul says no, in all these things, way more than conquerors through him or absolutely literally, in Him who left us in these thing, The apostle Paul got the secret when he said, I know how to be a bass. Now I know how to about, I know how to be in want, and I know how to have full. Now Believe it or believe it not, it's sometimes harder to about then to have nothing. For when you have nothing, you've got to trust the law. But when you've got a lot or you can trust yourself I could illustrate that but the tired times gone by my own experience. But the fact of the matter is, there is victory. Now he will lift me up upon a rock, now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. And lastly, and I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy, I will sing gay, I will sing praise to the Lord here, then his contribution, praise, Thanksgiving, contribution, I will offer in His tabernacle, sacrifices and joy. Now this word joy in Hebrew is just shoutings. And it's the same word as trumpet. I will I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of trumpet sound. When it does your heart good when someone really does praise the Lord, I don't mean the Russian just noise. But when it's obviously coming from their heart to open your eyes and looking Ma, it does my heart good to see that he's really got through or she's got ways and contribution, I will sing, yay, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Not just to one another, unto the Lord. Well, he shall be for a sanctuary. I think it's the most wonderful thing to be in Christ. And to know that that blyde which is this sector, or the City of God, again, another way of putting all the temple below, however you like to put it, the body of Christ. The wonderful thing about it all is this union with him. So that we are in him and he is in. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us right in in inexperience in practice, the work of the Holy Spirit to keep us and preserve us together. Because it's one thing to look at everyone's lovely people, it's another thing to have to really live with them all. And get down with work together as a team and take the knocks on the rubs and all the other things. And then someone comes in looking at and and you feel on top or something like that. I mean, the point is that it's easy to talk about these things easy to speak at the theaters. It's not so easy when it comes to the practice. We need to know the law as the preserver as well. The keeper of the sanctuary, one who has it well becomes a wall of fire round of that as well we think of them together. Now, dear Lord, we do need divine enlightenment to really understand what we've said this morning. But we pray that they will be mightily at work in and through the word Lord, to open our eyes to see just the nature and character of the church, to see the Lord Jesus for our sanctuary, as the temple as the tabernacle. And may we, beloved Lord, yield ourselves to the walk to the work to the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, in this building operation, this building program of building us together in Him. May Lord come to pass that in every part of this nation, and Europe, maybe those companies die, children that building work going on amongst I know, Father, we ask it together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May you learn to behold the beauty of the Lord. May you know the deep deep love of Jesus</p>
