Definition of an assembly

Thank you for coming tonight. It's good to see you all present. If you were here last night, you'll notice that you have an outline of last night's meeting, and of course the value of it is that it will help to refresh your own memory, because it is only an outline, but as you look at it, it may help to refresh your mind about the various things that we dealt with last night.

We were speaking, of course, about the great value of the truth of the one body, and I would have to confess that we only handled it very minimally. I said very, very little about it. We spent a great deal of the time in the meeting speaking on the principles of interpretation, which of course are necessary and important for all that we see in the subject that we are looking at, gathering unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to read tonight three passages, one of them we read last night. Matthew 18, first of all, and verse 15 again. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.

If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.

But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in hell. Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered together unto my name or in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Now another passage that is just as familiar to us, Acts chapter 2, verse 41 of Acts 2. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, for a final reading tonight. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and sothe the knees our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

Call to be saints with all that in every place. Let us call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. And it is my prayer that God will bless to us his word and give us understanding in it.

Our subject tonight is a simple description of an assembly. And I trust you all have two sheets, because the one sheet is really an outline of last night, and the second sheet is a very simple outline of what we are going to look at tonight. So the second sheet that deals with the meeting tonight begins with two, a simple description of an assembly.

But before we look at our subject for tonight, we really have to go back and pick up where we left off last night. If you look on the back of the sheet that has the outline of the meeting last night, you will notice that we dealt with the purpose of God in this age. The great text of Acts 15 and 14, I said last night, is one of the most important verses in the New Testament dealing with God's purpose for this present age.

And it is very important because it affects all our attitude toward the world, whether we understand that God is going to improve this world, or whether we understand that this world is doomed for judgment, and out of it God is taking a blood-bought people. And of course we do understand the latter to be the case, that God is using the nations of men to take out of them a people for his name. I wish we had spent more time last night on the body of Christ, but we didn't have the time to do it, and I'm reluctant to go back to it tonight too much, because our subject tonight is more than enough to do for this meeting.

But it is one of the greatest truths of the New Testament, as you'll see in the outline, because it is formed of every true believer who has been saved since the Holy Spirit of God came down on the day of Pentecost and formed the body. And everyone who has trusted Christ from that day until the Lord Jesus comes in the air for his blood-bought people is part of that church, the body of Christ. And of course Ephesians chapter 1 calls it the body of Christ.

It is one of the great subjects of the Colossian epistle. In the Ephesian letter it is not only a body, but it is a building. And then finally at the close of the Ephesian letter you'll know that it is a bride.

But that great truth of the one body, made up of all true believers, is positional. Now when we talk about a truth being positional, we mean that it is not affected by human experience. It is not affected by how much I appreciate it, or do not appreciate it.

In other words, there are people who are truly saved and are going to be in heaven forever who are not living in the good of their eternal life. There are people who are really saved who do not even know at this moment that they can never perish. Some of you may question that fact, but I have met such people.

And they were in ignorance, or rather they had been deceived by false teaching. I would say that when people are truly saved, and the word of God is pointed out to them clearly, that the normal experience is that the spirit of God shows them from the word of God that they actually have eternal life. But you see, positional truth means something that is mine, because God declares it so regardless of my experience of enjoying it, or appreciating it, or even entering into the good of it at all.

Now, every true believer is in the body of Christ. Some of them are not even aware of that fact. But it doesn't change it.

And last night at the beginning of the meeting we sang a hymn. I made no comment about it at the time, but I would have to confess that I actually did not intend to sing the third verse of the hymn we sang last night. And I can't say this, I'm thankful I can't say it about very many hymns in the Believer's Hymnbook.

This is in the supplement, of course, but the third verse of number 449 is absolutely unscriptural. It speaks about the church being rent asunder by schisms and by heresies distressed. But you see, the subject of the hymn is the church that the Lord Jesus built.

We read last night in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So Satan and all his power, or evil men and all their sin, can never mar or change in any way that church. It's spiritual truth.

It is positional truth, unchanged by human failure. So I hope you understand that. That's very important to understand, because there's a vast difference between that spiritual truth of the one body and the very practical truth of a local assembly.

On the outline we have next the church as a mystery, and that's the great truth of the Ephesian letter, particularly of Ephesians chapter 3, where you have the church in the thoughts of God before the world began. And although it was never mentioned in the Old Testament, yet very clearly it was God's great intention for this age. It was God's eternal purpose.

Verse 11 of Ephesians 3 speaks of that eternal purpose, which is, of course, the glory of Christ. But it is the glory of Christ in Ephesians 3 in the church, which is his body. And that church that was in the thoughts of God was the theme of the revelation that was given to Paul and other apostles as well, and then it's the theater where God is displaying his many-faceted wisdom.

There is a great danger of making too little of the truth of the one body, because it is a very precious truth. And while it is spiritual and positional, yet it is truth that we can enjoy. And if we enjoy it, it will certainly affect how we treat other believers.

Because every believer in this world is as much a fellow member of Christ as each one of us here. And when we meet fellow believers who truly know the Lord Jesus, there is a bond, there is a union that is not like anything else in this world. It's a great blessing to have such a union with Christ and such a union with fellow believers, wherever they may be found and wherever they go on Sunday.

Because, you see, true believers are linked to the Lord Jesus as fellow members of his body. They are fellow partakers of Christ. They are fellow heirs of the inheritance.

And we are joined to them because we are wrapped up in one bundle of life with the Lord Jesus. But tonight our subject is the local assembly. And now we have come to something very practical.

I read three passages tonight, and they are very familiar to us. And what I have to say tonight will likely not for most of you be very new. But I trust that God will bless it to us, because those of us who know it constantly need to be reminded.

And we take too much for granted. For there are many who come into assemblies through the years who we think understand all about why we gather as we do, who may not truly understand it from Scripture. It's surprising to me how many times Christians say, I understand what we do and that it is carrying out the word of God.

But whenever it is challenged, I find it very difficult to show from the Bible just why we meet as we do. And therefore, all of us need this as a reminder, including the speaker. And my own soul has been refreshed as I have started anew to go over these precious truths these last few days.

Now, we read in Matthew 18 the first mention, the first description of an assembly in the Bible. Last night we spoke about the law of first mention. And the law of first mention and the law of total mention have a great deal to do with our subject tonight.

Matthew 18 is the first mention of an assembly, the first description of an assembly in the Bible. And if you remember last night, I said that the very first mention of a great truth of the Bible usually contains the truth, the basic vital elements of that truth in a very simple form. The truth may be developed very much throughout the rest of Scripture, but at the first mention of it, you have some very precious things that are the vital things that are linked to that truth.

And so it is in Matthew 18, the first description of an assembly gives us basic, vital truth, so that Matthew 18 and 20 is to the assembly what that text is to the gospel. And I'll try to point that out to you very simply as we go on tonight. Then we read in Acts chapter 2, and in Acts 2 we have the first example of an assembly.

It's the pattern. And it is not the pattern of some Jewish church. It is the pattern for all time.

And I think we can show you that clearly. So Acts 2, verses 41 and 42 are the first example, the first pattern given to us of a New Testament assembly. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, of course, you have the first epistle to an assembly, addressing an assembly and describing the order and functions of an assembly.

Now, Matthew 18, being the first mention of an assembly, is vital. And perhaps because it is so vital, it has been attacked. I'm a little surprised at some who attack Matthew 18.

I'm surprised that they would attack it. I find it very difficult at times to obey the scriptural warning about judging motives. And we should judge ourselves about that.

It's very easy for us to say, I know why they're doing it. And we need to be very careful that we are not guilty of judging something we do not know. But I have been very much surprised at the number of attacks there have been in recent times against this truth.

Now, in most of our gospel halls, in most buildings where assemblies meet, and some assemblies do not meet in gospel halls by name, but in most assemblies where believers meet, Matthew 18 and 20 is hung on the wall. And that is true in this building. Matthew 18 and 20 is on the wall of this building.

For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, in my name there am I in the midst of them. Now, how important is it? Well, because it is the very first mention of this truth in the New Testament, it contains in itself some of the most precious, vital truths related to an assembly. If it was the only verse we had, of course we would have very much more to know.

But what you have in Matthew 18 and 20 is developed for us through the New Testament, and very particularly in 1 Corinthians and in 1 Timothy. But I have found that those who attack the verse have really given us a great deal of ground for preaching from it, because sometimes this sort of thing sticks in your mind better and fastens upon your heart better than if it had never been attacked. And so you'll notice in the outline for tonight objections to using Matthew 18 and 20 as a description of a local assembly.

And here's the objections that are commonly made. It does not contain all the truths for assembly function. Certainly it does not.

That charge is true. Matthew 18 and 20 does not contain all the truth of an assembly. Not at all.

But what we usually say to such a charge is, the verse that is behind me, that I've already referred to, is the gospel. And I doubt if anyone here in this meeting tonight would deny that those 25 words are the gospel. It has been called the gospel in a nutshell, and all who preach the gospel love to preach it.

Mr. Paisley, who has preached in this hall, who has had gospel meetings here, actually preaches John 3.16 every week when he is preaching the gospel. That means that if he has five or six weeks of meetings, then he preaches from John 3.16 five or six times during that series of meetings. And I would believe that's a very good practice.

A man asked me, Lord's Day, if he told me he was going to visit a young man of 17 who was dying with cancer. And he said, I would like to know how to approach him about his soul. How will I speak to him? And of course, I told him very simply that what I would do would be to sit down with him and not begin by telling him that he's a lost sinner going down to hell, but to begin with the lovely truth of John 3.16. And when he is telling him that God so loved the world, then you can point out to him, there is no reason God should love the world, for we are sinners and guilty and vile, and he loved us in spite of all our sin and guilt.

And when you come to shall not perish, you can point out that without Christ, you're sure to perish and go down to hell. But you see, John 3.16 is the gospel, and yet John 3.16 does not contain in it some of the cardinal truths of the gospel. For instance, in John 3.16, there is not a word about depravity, and yet that's one of the greatest doctrines of the Bible, that mankind is depraved.

There's not a word in it about repentance, and yet anyone who preaches the gospel without preaching repentance is failing to preach it all. There's nothing in it about justification. Justification is one of the greatest gospel doctrines in the Bible, but there's not a word in John 3.16 about justification.

And I could go on for there are many other things that are not in John 3.16, but John 3.16 is the gospel, and Matthew 18 and 20 is the assembly, in the very same way. So a verse does not contain all the truth to be an expression of the truth, and Matthew 18 and 20 is a lovely expression of the truth of an assembly. Now, the second objection is on your paper.

No assembly existed when the Lord spoke these words. Now, that looks like a very innocent charge, but let me explain to you what the people mean who say that. They actually think that the church that is mentioned here, which is the word assembly, as we told you last night, there's nothing wrong with the word church, but it is used in two wrong ways in the religious world.

It is used for a big organization, or it is used for a building where people go on Sunday. And it is used neither one of those ways in the New Testament. So they say, of course, this is an assembly, but it's an assembly of Jews meeting in a synagogue.

Is that right? Do they have any grounds for saying that? Well, I would say they have absolutely none, for the simple reason that this word is never used for a synagogue. It is never used for such a gathering of Jews. It is used three times in Acts 19 for a secular assembly, which was the government of the city of Ephesus.

But it is never used for a Jewish synagogue. In fact, the word that is used for a synagogue, synagogue itself actually means a gathering together. It means to come together with.

That's the meaning of synagogue, which is our English word synagogue. But it is never, never in the New Testament is it ever used, this word, ekklesia, ever used for a Jewish synagogue gathering. Now, of course, that wouldn't be the reason why I say that that charge is false.

The reason is simply this. The Lord was speaking to his own about the time when he would be leaving them. Am I sure? Yes.

In Matthew's gospel, chapter 11 and chapter 12, the king is rejected. Matthew 11 is one of the most solemn passages in all the gospels. It is in that chapter where the Lord Jesus speaks of those cities and towns where he had done so many mighty works and they had rejected him.

And he spoke about the wrath of God that would come down upon them. And he said it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for those Jews who had been exalted to heaven with privileges, as the city of Capernaum was, and would be brought down to hell in the judgment of God. In chapter 12, he turned away from those Jews who rejected him.

And in chapter 12, you have the king turning toward the nations. And, of course, in that chapter you have examples of Gentiles who were brought into blessing when the Jews had refused the blessing of God. When you get to chapter 13, you have those parables, seven of them, that tell of the mystery aspect of the kingdom of heaven.

And if you look at those parables carefully, every one of them have one leading aspect. The king is absent. Matthew 13 describes the time when the king would be absent.

At the close of them, the king comes back. But those mystery parables of the kingdom of heaven are for this present time, as you surely know when you read your Bible. So, you see, the whole context of Matthew's gospel is now teaching for when the king has returned to heaven.

He has gone back to the place from which he came, and he is giving instruction for the time of his absence. So Matthew 16 introduces the great subject, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And Matthew 18 introduces the great subject of the local company.

And if you would say, how do you know that the church in Matthew 16 is the large thing and that the church in Matthew 18 is the local from the context? And last night we pointed out the great importance of understanding every scripture from its context. And of course, just as in John chapter 14, when the Lord Jesus said, I will come again, remember those wondrous words that are usually read at a funeral, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. And if I were to say to you tonight, what do you understand from John 14 and 3? I will come again and receive you unto myself. What do you understand about that? Every believer would say, I understand from that that the Lord Jesus is personally coming back again and he's going to take me and all his blood-bought people to be with himself.

How do we know that? We know that because of the teaching of the epistles. You see, we actually understand John 14 in the light of 1 Corinthians 15 or of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And that is perfectly right. Because in the New Testament we have a development of teaching.

So that what the Lord Jesus began to do and to teach, the Holy Spirit of God through the apostles continued. And so we understand the words of the gospels in the light of what the Holy Spirit has revealed in the epistles. The same is true of Matthew 18.

We understand this passage in the light of what is revealed throughout the epistles. The third objection is, it is a personal matter and not church fellowship. Now this is very important to us.

And this particular fact that it is a personal matter is true. But the only trouble is with that objection, or it's not a trouble to us but to those who make it, that it ceased to be a personal matter when it was brought to the ears of the church. It began as a personal thing, and I'm just going to leave that there because that clock is racing.

It began as a personal offense. The word is an offense, a trespass. A brother had sinned against his brother.

One man, a believer, sinned against another man, a believer. And the man who was sinned against went to the man who had offended him, who had committed a trespass against him, and told him personally, face to face, his sin. He wouldn't hear him.

He took two or three more with him. The two or three he took with him must be men he had confidence in. And later on you learn that they were men that the assembly, the local church, had confidence in.

And while no elders are mentioned in Matthew 18, those are the kind of men that the Holy Spirit of God makes overseers. And to my mind I have no difficulty about the two or three. They were men in whom the assembly had confidence.

And that makes it very important. Because you see, the two or three were taken along to be witnesses, and the man who had committed the trespass still refuses to acknowledge it. And then the matter is taken to the church.

If he will not hear thee, tell it unto the church. And then, these words are very solemn, if he will not hear the church. If he refuses to bow to the judgment of the local church, the man is then excommunicated.

Now, that I know is a blunt statement, but I haven't time to deal with it further. Actually what happens is, heaven has already made the judgment. And what happens in the assembly on earth is, that they just carry out the divine decree.

That's really what it amounts to. Men do not make the decrees. Not even elders make the decrees.

Assemblies don't make the decrees. God makes the decree, and earth carries it out. And that's the significance of those words.

Whatsoever thou shalt bind, having been bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose, having been loosed in heaven. Now really, the whole subject is this.

It's hypothetical. But the subject is that a man has been guilty of straying. A trespass.

He's like a sheep that has gone astray. And if you look in Matthew 18, you'll find that that's the subject that just precedes verse 15. It's about a shepherd who goes after a sheep that has gone astray.

Now really, that's what this is all about. A man has gone astray. And some shepherds go after the man to recover him.

That's the subject. I know the recovery fails in this case. But you see, the fact is that what began as a personal matter has become an assembly matter.

That's the important thing. And then the fourth objection is, this is a case of discipline. How can you make a case of discipline to be the first teaching about a local church, a local assembly? I know this is humbling, but isn't it amazing that the first time you have an assembly ever mentioned, in fact the first man who is ever mentioned as being in an assembly is guilty of a trespass.

What is the Lord telling us? This is what he's telling us. That anything that we have anything to do with, anything that we, who are only sinners after all, though cleansed and forgiven, redeemed by blood, anything that we have to do with will be marked by our sin. So the very first time an assembly is ever mentioned, there is sin there, there is failure there.

Does that mean then that this is not truly teaching for an assembly? That only confirms to me that it is. You see, the first epistle addressed to an assembly is an epistle of correction. 1 Corinthians was written to correct what was wrong in Corinth.

It is the epistle of the local church. It is the epistle of the local assembly. And it was written to correct what was wrong.

And there is no company. There is no assembly. And never has been.

Whether it was not wrong. I hope you know that now. Because if you really do, it will keep you from discouragement.

And you will understand that anything that man touches, he mars by his own sin. But all you say, it is only in our day. And I can tell you of many little companies today that are struggling, that are poor, that are weak.

And yet among them, Satan has done a terrible work. I am getting them at odds with each other. I am causing offenses to be unconfessed.

And sometimes little companies are destroyed. And sometimes large companies are destroyed by such things. But all you say, that is just characteristic of our day.

That was not so in the beginning. It was so in the beginning. Do you know that in those early days of power and freshness, when it tells us, with great power, gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Do you know what immediately follows that? A man by the name of Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, come and stand before Peter, and drop dead at his feet, because of sin. Do you know how the next chapter of the Acts begins? And in those days of power and freshness, there was a dispute among the disciples. You see, men fail.

And to me that is humbling, but at least it makes me understand, that there will be failure still. And the very first time the Lord ever talked about an assembly, there was failure. So we certainly are not gathered to one another.

We are not gathered to Christians. And Christians fail. But we are gathered to the Lord Jesus.

And He never fails. So I learned from Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20, that the simplest expression of a local assembly is, where two or three are, gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. And I think this lovely verse, coming at the close of a matter of discipline, really tells us this.

This was a gathering of two or three in an assembly. Two or three didn't make up the assembly. It was a gathering of two or three in an assembly.

And they were shepherds. How do you know that? Well, read the context of verses 15 to 20 of Matthew 18, and be sure you don't change the subject, for the Lord didn't change it. He's actually dealing with a shepherd who goes after the one that is strayed.

Yes, it is shepherds. And they are meeting together for a matter of discipline. And they are meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And the Lord's presence is guaranteed to be there. Now, the way to understand it is this. The smallest gathering of an assembly is the elders' meeting.

That is still true, that is true in Acts 20, it is true in the New Testament, and it is true today. It should be the only segregated meeting of the assembly. In other words, there should not be women's meetings, there should not be young people's meetings, there should be assembly meetings.

But there is one meeting of an assembly that is a segregated meeting, and that is the elders' meeting. And I would take it that Matthew 18 and 20 is literally an elders' meeting, a meeting of shepherds. And the Lord's presence is there.

And if the Lord's presence is there at the smallest meeting of the assembly, then I'm absolutely certain that the Lord's presence is at every meeting. In fact, I don't have to go by anything I feel or think about it. I have the very clear truth in 1 Corinthians 5 and 4 that whenever the believers gather together, the Lord Jesus is there.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together with my Spirit, Paul says, and the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. So now, we can look at this verse and try to understand its meaning. I know it's familiar to us all, but it is one of the most precious statements in all the Bible describing an assembly, because it sums up for us, in very simple language, just exactly how an assembly meets.

And I think you all know that, first of all, you have a very simple form of the verb to be, where two or three are. And I take it that that means it's a meeting, where two or three are, they have met together. Just as we have met together here tonight, two or three are.

And so, here is a company of believers met together. And it could be only a company of two or three, but there are a good few more than two or three here tonight, but we are met together at this particular time. And I think that our simple practice of calling this a meeting is really lovely.

Don't ever be ashamed of calling it a meeting. It isn't only that we meet together. We come to meet with the Lord Himself.

And that is the idea of where three are. They have come to meet with the Lord. Of course, the next part of the verb is really entirely different.

It is not a simple present tense of the verb to be, but it is a perfect participle. Having been gathered, as Mr. Newby translates it, is quite correct. Having been gathered.

Because it is in the passive voice. And that means that these people didn't just happen to gather themselves to form an assembly. It means that they were moved upon, they were acted upon by the Holy Spirit.

And He is the gatherer. And if we had time, we could show that very clearly from many other New Testament passages. So that an assembly has been gathered by the Holy Spirit in past time.

This assembly was gathered many, many years ago. And it isn't true that the assembly is meeting at all times. But the assembly has been gathered in the past.

And there are present results from that gathering. For the assembly is still meeting together. And that seems to me to be the simplest way of explaining Matthew 18 and 20, where two or three are.

There was a gathering that took place in the past. And this present meeting tonight is based upon the fact that there was a gathering by the Holy Spirit in the past. It has still present results now.

And we are still meeting together. And we still gather unto His name. And He has promised, there am I in the midst of them.

There is the authority of His name here. Just as there is in 1 Corinthians 5 and 4, the authority of His name. And that authority is a great authority.

For He said, you remember at the close of this gospel, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So there is no higher authority than His blessed name. The authority of His name is the authority of our gathering.

We gather in His name with His divine authority. Of course there is here the uniqueness of His name. And I'm going to come back to that in a moment.

There is in this passage the attraction of His name. And let me tell you that it means that every other name is excluded. For where two or three are, having been gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Now, there are two little words in this verse. And they are both the same in our King James Bible. In is found twice.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And as most of you know, those two words are different. The second word at the close of the verse, there am I in the midst of them, simply means that the Lord is in vessel.

That expression is found about seven times in the New Testament. And it literally means that He is the gathering center. And around Him, and the idea is of around, even the idea of a circle around, gathered around the one who is in the midst.

And that is most precious truth. But the other time that in is found in this verse, it has the idea not only of in, which is the sphere of His name, but it has the idea of motion toward. That is the idea of into His name.

And into His name is what I've already referred to, the authority of that blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are gathered into His name in the sense that He has all the authority. He is the Lord over His people.

But then we are gathered unto His name. And unto His name is the thought of the attraction, that He is the one who draws us. Now it's remarkable that the Spirit of God has put so much meaning into so few words, or two or three are, gathered together unto, motion toward, attraction, authority, uniqueness, no other name like that blessed name.

I was impressed today as I looked at these words. Could it actually be that the Lord of heaven and earth the one who came to earth to bleed and die and rose from the dead and ascended back up to the glory, that He actually deigns to take His place where the two or three are gathered unto His name. That's staggering.

The presence of the Lord is real. He actually comes into the company and takes His place in the midst. All our conduct, all our behavior in that gathering should be in the light of the fact that the Lord is present.

We are in His presence. What reverence there ought to be. No wonder David wrote that the Lord is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him.

So there's a uniqueness about that name, that worthy name by which we are called. There's a uniqueness about it and we should never take away from that uniqueness. You see, in Christendom, people have said we're not denying the name of the Lord Jesus.

We take that name. We are Christians. We take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we just happen to have a second name, another name. You know, it isn't my habit to mention those other names. New Testament truth.

They believe in baptism by immersion for believers. And we believe that. We believe that that is important.

It is a public confession of being linked with the Lord Jesus in His death and burial and resurrection. And these people believe that baptism is a true experience for true believers. And therefore they have called their organization Baptist.

But could any believer really say that the ordinance of believer's baptism is so high and so holy and so important that it is worthy of displacing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? A few years ago here in Jackson, I had a number of sessions with local clergymen. And these kind of conversations went on every time we met together. And I would have to say that those men, every one of them, and they were prominent men in this community.

They are men who take the position of being pastors over the largest congregations in the Jackson area. And those men all said, we know that what you are teaching is correct. But... And then they would have their own reasons why they couldn't practice it.

And this was one subject that came up again and again. And they said there is no name fit to be put beside the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. No other name is worthy of being put beside His name, much less displacing His name.

There are other well-meaning people who said, we believe in a certain form of government and an assembly, a government of elders. And the word elders in the New Testament is presbyteros. And they said, we believe in an elder government, a body of elders ruling in a local church.

And we believe that so strongly that we are going to call ourselves presbyterians. And that's where they got the name presbyterian. But would anyone here suggest that the way an assembly is governed by a body of elders is a more important truth than the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? Others said, we believe in a rule of bishops, and we're going to call ourselves episcopal.

And that's where they got the name episcopal, from bishop. And so actually they were saying, we believe in a rule of bishops or a rule of overseers actually, and we're going to call ourselves by that name. Others said, we believe in a congregational rule that the whole congregation rules the company, and we're going to call ourselves congregational.

Do you see where those names came from? Now would anyone here ever think for one moment that those names are worthy of displacing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? No, if you were a Christian, you could never profess such a thing. Because there's no name fit to be put beside that name. His is the name of every name.

Philippians 2, verse 11 tells us, there is no name fit to be put beside that blessed name. Those second names then are dishonoring to His name. In fact, the man in the Corinthian letter who said, I am of Christ, was as wrong as the rest, and it's true.

But if you look carefully at what he said, you'll understand why he was wrong. He said, I, I am of Christ. Not this company.

Not these believers in the assembly. But I. I am better than they are. I am distinguished from all of them.

I am of Christ. And did you notice he didn't say, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that important? In 1 Corinthians, that is of paramount importance.

Because that is the epistle of the Lordship of Christ. But the name of the Lord Jesus Christ brings every believer into submission and subjection. It brings every believer in on the same basis.

Under His authority. Under His Lordship. And that's what it means to gather onto His name.

But being correct does not make me spiritual. You know, that warning is always necessary. Did you know that many people who are most correct can be most unspiritual? Whenever the Lord addressed the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2, there wasn't anything wrong with their conduct.

There wasn't anything wrong with their labors. There was nothing wrong with the work they were doing or how they were doing it. In fact, they worked to exhaustion.

But the Lord looked into their hearts and He said, I have this against thee. Thou hast left thy first love. And that's tragic.

Because the epistle that Paul wrote to the Ephesians closes with these words, Blessed be everyone who loves our Lord Jesus Christ incorruptibly. Or grace be unto everyone who loves our Lord Jesus Christ imperishably. But here were believers who had everything outwardly right.

But the Lord saw that their hearts were cold toward Him. And let me speak to my heart and to yours tonight. It's possible for us to gather according to these divine principles and to have everything outwardly right.

And yet, the lack of appreciation for Christ, to have displaced Him in our hearts as the one who has the preeminence in all things. And without that, everything else can have no meaning. In fact, it's to that assembly at Ephesus that the Lord said, lest I come unto thee quickly and remove thy lampstand out of its place.

So, the externals are necessary. The people who say it doesn't matter what I am outwardly, it's what I am inwardly that counts, that's nonsense too, because I can't see what is inward. Only the Lord can see that.

There must be the external right. There must be the heart right too. And that's something of the meaning of this expression.

Unto the name. Unto His name. Owning His absolute supremacy.

Bowing to His absolute lordship in the gathering. Acknowledging this is His assembly. This belongs to the Lord.

This doesn't belong to any man. This is His. Belongs to Him.

And I'm gathered unto Him. Now the time has gone very quickly and I have not touched on many of the subjects that I plan to touch on tonight. That's one of the reasons for giving you an outline.

I'm not going to even mention to you what is in the section of your paper, what is an assembly. That is a definition of an assembly with the scriptures mentioned and I trust it will be a help to you. Sometimes we mention about the Schofield Bible.

In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 1 there is a note at the bottom of the page of the Schofield Bible. And that note describes an assembly. And it gives a very excellent definition of an assembly.

And I would say it's quite scriptural. There may be one or two expressions there that I wouldn't be too happy to use but for the most part it is an excellent description of a local assembly. And yet the man who wrote that, Dr. C.I. Schofield was a lawyer who actually became a congregational clergyman.

And where he went, they did not practice what is in that note. So it shows you that many men know far more than what they practice. And what you have in your outline is really just a scriptural outline of an assembly.

There are terms used for an assembly. You'll notice at the bottom of your outline there are terms used. And those terms, six of them are found in 1 and 2 Corinthians.

The other four are found in Acts, 1 Timothy, and Revelation. Each one of them is very significant and each one has its own particular meaning. And it may be if the Lord spares us in nights to come we'll go back to some of those particular aspects of an assembly because we will be dealing with the assembly in the nights to come.

And so we will try to go back to those various terms, descriptive terms that are used for an assembly. But let me just say tonight in closing, there are ten terms here, ten expressions for an assembly. Church of God, Tillage of God, Building of God, Temple of God, Body of Christ, Chaste Virgin, Little Flock, House of God, Pillar of Truth, Golden Lampstand.

Those are descriptive terms for an assembly. But it would be totally wrong to take any one of those terms and say this is the name we call ourselves. Completely wrong.

There is one name that has been called upon us, that worthy name by the which you are called. It is the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the name that unites all believers.

Every other name divides. Every second name divides. There is but one name in which we are together.

Where two or three are. Having been gathered together onto my name, there I am in the midst of them. Shall we pray?