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The
Church Vs Babylon
Acts said they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost. Ephesians the 4th chapter,
Let’s look at these scriptures---tells us the same
thing. The 4th chapter and the 11th verse said, “He gave
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints”---not the defecting---“for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God”---when do you have a knowledge of the
Son of God? –“unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ, that ye be no more
children.” Now here we are dealing with a fact of
newborn babes and men and women that have become mature
Christians. Read it. “Till we come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure o f the stature of the
fullness of Christ, that we be no more children.”
What do children do?
“Tossed about and carried with every wind of
doctrine---with the sleight of men and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the
truth in love, may grow up.” Paul said, when he was a
child, he spake as a child, but when he became a man, he
put away childish things. The Church, the body of Christ,
is made up of “the mature”---they are no more
children, tossed about with every wind of doctrine. They
have grown up unto Him, which is the head. Most(?) try to
show a glorious head, a powerful head, and a poor little
shriveled body. Paul said the church was made up of people
that had grown up unto the fullness of Him. They were
filled with the fullness of Him, and had become as
powerful and glorious as the Head was, of whom the whole
body fitly joined together and compacted by that, which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love.
Go back to Ezekial---I
haven’t time, but when Ezekial wanted to know what was
the matter with the bones laying out there and why they
were in the shape they were in, he said, “we are cut off
from our parts.” You know the Word, a little prophesying
or preaching brought the bones together, and when God got
the bones together, He blew upon them the breath of life
or the spirit of God and it raised up an army for God. You
know that’s a type of the church in this very day and
age. We need some prophesying to bring the thing together.
He said in this 13th verse, “unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ.” Eph. 1: 23, said it
is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Just a few thoughts:
Nowhere is the church (ecclesia) the congregation of God;
presented as dislocated, or scattered in lost confusion.
God’s people were there, (dislocated etc.) but the
church, never. God’s people wandered on the mountain,
but the church, never. Now look out! He didn’t say, come
out of her, my church. Come out of her, my people, that I
might have the church. We could give an illustration of
may kinds. This will be one, that I’m sure you’ll
understand. We could go to the Ford Motor Company
tomorrow. I’ve been there. They will take you up through
and show you the various bins and there are wheels and
fenders---it might be different now, since they’re
building the bodies together, but anyway, up the assembly
line, you will see every part that it takes to make a
Ford, but I would like to see you get in it and drive it
off. It is all there, you can say, “there is a Ford”.
Some will say, “Well, I’m part of the church,”---and
down here in Babylon somewhere. Sure, I believe you are,
if you are a child of God; if you’ve taken up your cross
and willing to follow Christ, I believe you’re a part of
it. Brother, if you ever take a ride in that Ford, it will
take a mechanic, that knows what he’s doing, to put the
pieces together, put the gas and the oil in her, blow the
horn, and let you have her---and away you go!
Even so, the Word says,
parts of His body, the members of the body were scattered
in the various cages of Babylon. Jesus Christ the master
mechanic, is gathering them out and assembling them
together, and oiling her up with the Holy Ghost and
sending her on her way. Now, to help lift maybe some
confusion from your mind---it’s one thing to be “born
in Zion”, and another thing to “come to Zion”. The
87th Psalm says, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more
than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Why? Why, because,
over the gates of Zion it says, Holiness unto the Lord,
and that’s something that all the dwelling places of
Jacob---that was a standard they could never reach.
“Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. I
will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know
me;” If you ever get an experience with God, God is
going to tell you about that harlot condition down there.
What was Rahab? She was the harlot down in Jericho when
God sent His people down. What was Jericho? It was a type
of Babylon. What did it take for the city to fall? They
had to march around her seven days and seven times the
seventh day and blow the trumpets. Brother, Babylon is not
completely down yet. We’ve got to march around her seven
days and in this seventh seal age, go around seven times
and preach the whole message. God will save every harlot
out of there---if you’ll take faith just like Rahab did,
and believe the Word and come out of her. Rahab had to
come out of Jericho or she would have fallen with the
city. I’ll make mention of Rahab, and Babylon. Praise
God, I thank God that God still has some people, that will
make mention of these things.
I’m glad that God has
still got some Rahab’s down in Babylon that will hear
the message from God and flee the city for their lives.
“Make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me;
behold Phillistia, and Tyre, with Ethopia, this man was
born there.” What are you talking about? “Behold
Phillistia, and Tyre and Ethopia, this man was born
there.” When you are born in Ethopia, you are an
Ethiopian. When you’re born in Phillistia, you are a
Phillistian, but listen to what He said---this man was
born there. When you’re born there, it makes you a
citizen. “But of Zion it shall be said, this and that
man was born in her;” it takes in every nation! Your
nationality has got nothing to do with it. This is a
spiritual birth. Now, you may have been born “at a
sectarian altar”. That might have been where you
received your salvation, down in Babylon. But if when you
were born there, you were born AT the altar, but if you
were truly born again, you were born IN Zion. You might
have been born at Babylon, but you were born in Zion.
Go little farther. “The
highest himself shall establish her, and the Lord shall
count”---we have a secretary. If you want me to, I’ll
go read you the minutes of the first meeting. Acts the
second chapter, “The Lord Himself shall count.” Talk
about a door, that man cannot open and man cannot close,
right here it is! We cannot swing “this pearl”
(entrance) to our own fancy. “The Lord shall count, when
He writeth up the people, that this and that man were born
in her.” Now, it is one thing to be born, in Zion and
quite another thing to come to Zion. You may have been
born again, down in Babylon, and you were born in Zion,
but it is another thing, after you get mature in the
things of God, and get big enough, where you can
understand the Word of God and see that you were born in
Zion and it is there, where you belong, to pick up your
belongings and come on back to Zion.
The Hebrew letter was
written to a people that had come to Zion. They were
actually there, assembled together, under the sound of his
voice. Lots of people have been born in Zion, but they
don’t know it. And God has a message: come on out of
her, my people. I illustrate it this way: My little Terry
was born last Labor Day---he is an American citizen,
because he was born in America, but he doesn’t know it.
As soon as he get’s big enough, I’ll get it across to
him. People have been born in Zion all over the country,
and world. That old second beast, my friend, using the
very Word of God, and working a deception might reach out
and grab the people and get them to join a church. They
think because they found God there, that’s where they
belong, but, God would lead them and let them grow up to
the place, where they get an understanding of God’s
eternal Word---that when they were born again, they were
born in Zion---that they did not belong down in Babylon
and they need to pick up their things and come on back to
Zion where they belong.
[ Note: I want to make it
clear: Zion, Babylon and being born again, are all
SPIRITUAL! Yes, there is a literal/physical aspect to it!
However, the spiritual is the MAJOR “lesson”---and the
literal/physical is the MINOR “lesson”! It is
possible, logical and practical to understand that all
born again and mature be assembled together in spiritual
Zion. However, I believe ya’ll, can understand, that
it’s not possible, logical and practical for all born
again and mature, to be literally/physically assembled
together in one or several geographical locations.
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