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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-fitzpatrick/gathering-to-jesus-name/
Genesis 49, please. I'd like to try and trace the truths of gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis 49, verse 10, please. On the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh or the Peacebringer come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
I'd like to ask you a question, simple one. When were you saved? I'd like to ask, of course, the other one. When did you find out from God, unto him shall the gathering of the people be? I link that as an illumination from God, just like so great salvation.
Many years ago, we had a little five acre farm in Jervis, Oregon. And we had a couple sisters come down from Vancouver and Linda invited them over for dinner. And so one of them said, you know, I got in the assembly because my sister coached me.
She says, I was really nervous to talk to the elders. And she says, I'll tell you what you do. When they ask you why you want to come in the assembly, you just quote to them Matthew 18 and 20. And you tell them that's where I want to be.
She says, I did that. She says it went excellent. But she said it was a number of years later when I really learned the truth of unto him shall the gathering of the people be. I think of a dear elder in Connecticut.
He's with the Lord now. He was a third generation Christian, you might say. And he said difficulties came. And so I decided I was going to go somewhere else. And then he said I began to do some thinking.
And he says it wasn't until then that I realized there's no other place to go. So I want to just trace. I'm going to start in the Old Testament. Now I know the church is not in the Old Testament. So don't get the heebie-jeebies or nervous there, Brother Murray, or anything like that.
You know what I mean? But you'll find in the Old Testament they gather to a place. And you'll find in the New Testament we gather to a person. And that the person alone is the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'll just read Genesis 49 and we'll move on with a few verses.
We've read it already. The scepter shall not depart from Judah till a lawgiver come. And until Shiloh come, unto him shall the gathering of the people be. This is your first mention you find in the word of God of gathering to the Lord.
Now return to the book of Deuteronomy, please. And chapter 12. And you're going to find if you read through Deuteronomy, we won't take time, of course, to look at all the verses, that there's a number of divine places, instruction, where God has given instruction where to gather and how to gather.
So Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 5. Notice, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there. Notice it's not my place of choosing. It's not your place of choosing.
It's where God has placed his name. I remember a dear Christian one time told me, says, I would love there to be an assembly in Santa Monica, California. I like the beach. I like the climate. And I think I would move there if there was an assembly there.
Well, surprisingly, I was told there was one there many years ago, but it closed. It's not the place of our choosing. And my beloved brethren, we'll go into an area, preach the unsearchable riches of Christ with a desire to see souls saved, teachable the truths of God, and assemblies planted.
It doesn't always take place. It has to be the place where God chooses. Verse number 11. Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose, not your choice, to cause his name to dwell there.
Hither shall you bring all that command you, your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your heathen offerings of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow unto the Lord. Verse 14. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings.
Verse 21. If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far, then there's divine instruction. Verse 26, the last part of the verse, just to keep the phrase moving there, unto the place which the Lord shall choose.
Nehemiah chapter 1. Nehemiah chapter 1. And just the last part of verse 10 for the sake of time. Nehemiah 1 and 9, I apologize. Yet will I gather them from hence, and I'll bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
That was Nehemiah 1 and 9. Book of Psalms, please. The fifth psalm on verse 11. Psalm 5, verse 11. But all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them never shout for joy, because thou defendest them.
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Now you might wonder why I read that verse. But I want to mention that there's no two-name system ever found in the word of God. When I was filling out college applications, you were supposed to put on there your religion.
My mother wasn't saved and couldn't understand it. And so she says, what are you going to put on there? You're not this, you're not that. What are you? I says, I'm a Christian. And I'm a Christian gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
She says, well, that doesn't make any sense and it's not going to work on a college application. You've got to be a something. She says, everybody's a Christian unless they're a Jew or an atheist. Of course, she didn't understand what so great salvation is.
But I just want to mention there's no two-name system found in the word of God. We are Christians, we're saved by His matchless grace, and we gather unto the lovely man of Calvary that loved us and gave himself for us.
And we live in an age today, they don't understand it. They're not reading the word of God, you might say. So I just want to mention, do not try to fit your Christianity to what the world does or Christianity does, but fit it to what the word of God says.
And don't be ashamed to be gathered unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the truth that's found in the word of God. Now, over in 2 Thessalonians, please, chapter 2, thumb you over in the New Testament there.
The Old Testament, as we mentioned, they gather to a place. In the New Testament, we do not gather to a place, but we gather to a person, and that person is none other than the one that loved us and gave himself for us at the cross of Calvary.
2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1. Now we beseech you, behoove you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto one another. Oh, it doesn't say that. By our gathering together unto Him.
He is the magnet that draws us, He will be the magnet that will hold us. And let me just ask you, can you remember the first time you found out that the Spirit of God impressed upon you from the word of God, unto Him shall the gathering of the people be?
That this is where I belong? We do not just gather because of truth. First day of the week, we break bread, and we have a prayer meeting and so on, but the gathering is unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not just gather on doctrinal truths, but we gather unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ outside the camp of all systems and sects of men. Could I say it carefully? We're considered odd ducks at times because we don't fit in what goes on in the streets out there, but when you come to the word of God, it's the pattern that's found.
Now let's look at Matthew chapter 18 and 20 because oftentimes I have found that this scripture is not understood. And so I'm going to break in at verse 15 because you have to have the context if you're going to understand any subject.
And of course, as our Bible scholars would teach us, begin at the first mention and look at all the mentions that are found in the word of God on that subject. So Matthew chapter 18 and verse 15 is actually the beginning of the contextual subject concerning verse 20.
Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. And 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.
Let me just make one little comment. What is a witness? A witness is somebody that has seen or heard something themselves. It's not somebody that's told me something. And so it eliminates a lot of problems sometimes in the Christian assembly life, if you want to label it.
A witness is somebody that's seen it or heard it with their own ears. And so here he says, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. And if they shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.
But if they neglect to hear the church, let them be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily or truly, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall find on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
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 in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I want to first mention that the local assembly is not just two or three believers. I want to mention that local assemblies, as I weave in the word of God, are planted in the gospel. Souls are saved, teachable to the truths of God, and gathered unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No scriptural assembly starts with just two brothers, as I weave in the word of God. And notice as you work through this little account here, some of you would be far better at arithmetic. I never had calculus, but I did have some of the other subjects.
But it's not just two or three believers. There's two believers with a technical difficulty amongst themselves, you might say. And then there's two or three witnesses. So if my arithmetic's right, we're up to about five.
And then it says, tell it unto the church. Now you would remember in Philippians chapter 1 -1 that the local assembly consists of deacons, it consists of elders, and it consists of the saints. And so this has become an assembly problem.
This has become a difficulty. And what it is, it doesn't say, but it's not the grounds of just two or three believers that we come together. I had a Bible study one time in Eagleville, California, where we had meetings in Cedarville, the neighboring town.
Different ones were in the home, and one of them says, you know, the Lord Jesus is in our very midst right now. Well, I says, where did you get that from? Oh, I says, I've been reading Matthew chapter 18, where two or three are gathered together of my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I says, top of the class for reading, but let's go over the portion and see what it really means. Is it just two or three believers sitting in a house, having a Bible study, there am I in the midst of them?
No, it's not the context at all. It's where God has placed his name, and you find here as you weave in the word of God, it's where two or three are there having been gathered together. It's a perfect passive participle.
A past act with present continuing results. Now, I haven't asked my beloved brethren here when the assembly started in England. They could tell me. That was the beginning of the assembly when they gathered outside the camp unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's to be with present continuing results. It's a divine place. The Lord Jesus Christ is in our very midst. And so there's reverence. There's holiness. There's respect. It's not a Sunday school picnic.
It's not a social time. It's not a time the believers all should be our friends labeled how you want, but we don't come to meet with one another. We come to meet the Lord that's in our midst, and he's the magnet that's going to hold us.
And so, let's just say Brother Scott and I have a little difficulty, not that we do. That wouldn't be anything to hinder us from coming. We'd want to make it right, but the magnet that draws us is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have dear ones today. Well, I'm going to go somewhere else. Well, where are you going to go? There's no other place biblically to go to, to be in, to fellowship, if you want to develop it, other than a local assembly gathered unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank God for everyone that preaches the gospel and the life that they have and they carry on. But notice as you leave here, this is a divine place. It's for divine testimony, and testimony is making God look great in the eyes of the world.
My mother, who wasn't saved, she might have been on her deathbed, I can't say. Died quickly at sixty-two. She says, called me Johnny, I don't know why, my name's John, but she says, where you go, everybody's so happy, and they stay around and they talk and they're so friendly, and she says, you know where I go on Sunday?
We shake hands with the preacher, we don't know anybody, and we go home. She says, it is so different where you are. And then she says, the believers, they take care of you. I had difficulty in one of my subjects in school.
And you know who tutored me? Every Saturday morning at his house, one of the elders. You know who took my mother's funeral? At Father's request, I want Mr. Gordon, who tutored you every Saturday morning to help you with your grades, take Mom's funeral.
I backed off completely as to any suggestions, who should take it, or what should be done. It was the one that had love for their son. You know, we've got so great salvation in his brother Scott, that I maybe can't smile and jump around as much as he can, you know, being a little older, but it's so wonderful to know him, whom to know is life eternal.
The lost and the perishing, that we might be able to tell them, and those that are not gathered up, that we might have a desire to teach them the truths of God, that they might find out, unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Notice as you look at this verse here, we said it's a divine testimony. It's a divine separation. We don't have Bible studies with the other churches. We don't have women's Bible studies. I don't want to offend you.
All the meetings of the assembly, everybody feeds together. And the pattern in the Old Testament was the shepherds had the lambs and the sheep and everybody all around them to feed, and that's the pattern that's found in the Word of God today.
I'm sorry if you believe otherwise. I don't know this part of the country, but a pattern that's found in the Word of God cannot be improved upon in any way, shape, or form. It's a divine fellowship, and it's a divine separation.
Separation is to preserve us and to keep us. Evil communications corrupts good manners. Bad doctrine will never help us grow in the things of God. A little lad was asked a question one time, Sonny, can you tell me what bad doctrine is?
Glad you didn't ask me. I wouldn't even know how to spell the word. He says bad doctrine is when the doctor gives the wrong medicine to the patient. Well, it's pretty close, maybe. But notice as you look in this little verse here, it's a divine authority.
This is where the Lord is. And as a divine person we gather unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now some of you probably have ESO in the computer. And I decided one day to look and see what the word in means.
Because I never realized it had more than one meaning. Because in Strong's concordance I never looked it in to see all the meanings of the words. And could I just say that your younger generation today, you've got such study tools.
I can remember for conferences and Bible readings and spending days and days with Vines and Vincents and Robertsons looking up words to see what they mean and at the click of a mouse why in no time you can have instantaneous meanings of words so quickly.
So I decided one time I would look up what the word means. And it says for where two or three, of course there's more than two or three if you read the context, are gathered together in my name. That first in is a point of time reached.
It's a different word in the original than the second in. On the second in is a fixed position of rest. There am I in the midst of him, midst of them. Granny was asked one time by the younger ones in an assembly, Granny, you've got a few aches and pains and we notice it's a little difficult for you to kind of move but how come you're in all the meetings of the assembly and we're younger ones, we don't always come to all the meetings.
She says, well I'll tell you what the little secret is, it's very simple. She says where your heart is your feet will always follow. That's quite true. And if you understand from the word of God and have had the illumination from the Lord, this is not just a place but this is the place where he has placed his name.
It will put in your heart a desire to be where he is and a desire to be at the prayer meeting and a desire to remember him and a desire to adjust the schedule as much as possible to be at the meetings to honor the Lord.
I was an aircraft mechanic in early days, the Lord allowed it to eliminate the draft or a draft deferment but then I wondered what I should do because you couldn't make all the meetings because people like to fly.
Well I quit, took a construction job,.
Less pay, no benefits and it never lacked. Them that honor me, I will honor. That little extra overtime, that little extra time on the grain, I'll be careful in what I'm saying. You put the Lord first, he's no man's dad and you'll never mind.
Where the two or three are there having been gathered together in my name, it's more than two or three, there am I in the midst of them. Hebrews 13, there's a little poem called out, the man with garments died, I knew his voice, my Lord the crucified, he showed himself to me and oh I could not stay, I had to.
Follow, had to.
Obey. It cast me out this world when once it found that I within my rebel heart had crowned, the man it had rejected, spurned and slain whom God in wondrous power had raised again. And so as we without the camp, my Lord and I but oh his presence is sweeter than any earthly tie from which I counted later than his claim, I'm out, not only from the world but to his.
Name. I trust that the local.
Assembly will be very precious.
To you and you realize this is where the Lord is.
And that God will put in our hearts all the journey in the Christian life, days of ease, days of difficulty, that we forsake not the gathering of ourselves together, that we come where he is and he'll give us a song in our hearts and praise in our lips.
When I was saved they used to teach us, and I don't know if it's true or wrong and only all the brethren can tell me, but they said the spiritual barometer of an assembly is the prayer meeting at times.
It'll show the core of the amount of interest that believers have in the work of God in that area. True or false, I couldn't tell you but I'm so thankful that God showed me in younger days unto him, so the gathering of the people is.
It's nothing like being gathered unto his name, realizing he's with us, he's in the midst, and if God be for us, who can be against us? So I trust the few little verses.
Will produce study in the will of God and appreciation.
Unto him, so the gathering of the people is.