The local assembly, the special presence of the Lord — Frank Sona

The Lord’s Special Presence and the Meaning of Worship

Now tonight we're going to look at the subject of, I want to look at Matthew 18 and verses 15 through 20 in their context, but I also want to put that within the context of the special presence of the Lord, the authoritative presence of the Lord Jesus, and how that differs from the omnipresence of the Lord.

And so we're going to turn to several passages, the first one being in John chapter 4. John chapter 4, verse 21, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

It is significant that this is the only time in the Bible where worship is linked with the Father. Ye worship, ye know not what. Now he's speaking in reference to the Samaritans, as opposed to the Jews.

We, that is we Jews, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Now did you notice the difference between those two lines?

The line that preceded it and that line. If you'll notice, go back, the hour is coming, right? The hour cometh, it's not there yet, it's not there yet. Jerusalem was still the center. The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

It's not here yet, but it's coming. Ye worship, ye know not what, but we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

That has always been true. God has always desired worship in spirit and in truth. It's not something new. God never said in the past, well you can worship me in spirit, but if you want to let go of the truth, that'll be okay.

And he never said, now as long as you have the truth and your heart's not in it, that's not true. That statement has always been true. In fact, God has at times in the past, actually rejected the worship of the nation, even though they did it in form correctly, but their heart was far from Him.

So one thing, in the one line, the Lord Jesus is referring to that which was to come. When there will be locations, apart from Jerusalem, all over the world, and those companies will be centers of worship, and they will worship in spirit and in truth.

So in one statement, He is removing it from the central place of Jerusalem. But He is not abdicating the fact that there will not be a place. There still will be a place. But it will always be in spirit and in truth.

For the Father, verse 23, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

That is an absolute necessity, or God will refuse that worship. You say, well, doesn't it, as long as you're sincere, isn't that really all that matters? I mean, God, you know, nobody's perfect. That's the thinking that is not from the Bible.

As long as you're sincere, how many people are going to heaven because they're sincere? Nobody. They have to have the one who is the truth. How many people does God accept worship from who are in error?

Is that worship? Even though they're sincere? If a person does what they want to, you see, the fact is, who are we worshiping? Who is receiving the worship? It's God. And so it's not a matter of what we want to give, what we want to do, it's what God demands.

It's what God requires. And that worship must be in spirit and in truth. Now let's go over to Hebrews chapter 13, and then we will turn to Matthew chapter 18. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 13. Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.

You are in the book of Hebrews in your Bible study. And so, am I correct? I think, right? Okay. So, as he sums up, the writer, of all these arguments, of all these statements that are very masterfully done, as he takes Old Testament events, truths, even personalities, he is going to center them all at the point of attraction, the point of direction, will be him, Christ.

He is the reason that they are to leave all that, because he is the fulfillment of that. He is the drawing, the magnet. And so he ends this book with this statement. Now let's go over to Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 and the Government of God

Matthew chapter 18 and verse 15. Now this is very interesting. Before we start reading this, you will understand that the Lord Jesus is speaking about something before it ever came to be. The church was not yet in existence.

But so important is this subject that he is introducing it. And it's interesting that he is introducing it in the Gospel of Matthew. And it's only in the Gospel of Matthew. And Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

And the Kingdom is the government of God. The administration of God. And that's why it appears in the Gospel of Matthew. Because what is going to happen is the King, who is basically the government of God, the government is centered in the King, so that where the King is, the Kingdom is.

So he's leaving to go back to heaven. But he's saying that where two or three are gathered together, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but there am I in the midst of them. And he is linking now heaven, as we'll read this here, with earth in a synchronous, parallel as it were, associative authority.

And he's saying you have every authority to do what you're doing because the Kingdom of God is established with you. You are the administrative point on earth for me. And my presence, though I am in heaven, is also with you, strategically, specifically with you, as you carry out my government.

It is the gate of heaven. And so when you go to the Old Testament, the first mention of house of God is in connection with the gate of heaven. The gate was the place of administration. The gate was the place where business was contracted.

The gate was the place where public demonstrations of authority were displayed before the town. And so when you wanted to do significant business transactions, when there was something official that had to be done, it was done in the gate.

The assembly is house of God, which is the gate of heaven. Now keeping that in mind, we'll read the Lord's words. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.

It's a fault. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. End of story. It's done. That will be wonderful. 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. It's obvious that the church is larger than the man and the two or three witnesses. The church is not two or three. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen and a publican.

Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind 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. Now it is interesting that in this case the name of the Father is as well associated with what the Lord Jesus is saying in verse 19.

There has been administration up to this point. Everything that is being done, though, is ultimately linked that the Son may receive worship, that the Father may be glorified. So there are divine persons that are brought together here in this passage.

But it is significant that it is the Son, the presence of the Son, in the midst of these people. These two or three. Now, when we look at this subject, I'm just going to give you three headings. I want to notice when it comes to the assembly, the local assembly, number one, its existence is relational.

Its existence is relational. It's relational to the one in the midst. The very existence of an assembly depends on the Lord Jesus being in the midst of his people. If he is not in the midst of his people, there is no gathering unto him.

And so its very existence is relational. When an assembly is first formed, what is happening? People who are saved are drawn to the person of Christ. They are drawn to him as the gathering center. We don't gather to each other.

We gather unto him. Genesis 49, that sweeping statement of prophecy there as Jacob lines up his sons, but unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And Hebrews 13, let us therefore go forth unto him so that everything is in him.

The assembly exists because of him. Its existence is relational. Its emphasis is scriptural. Its emphasis, the things that we do, how we gather, the activities, the events, all of it, we have one book alone to guide us.

And nothing else. We reject everything else. And this book, the Bible, the Word of God, must become absolutely paramount for everything that we do. So its emphasis is scriptural. And lastly, its evidence is practical.

So there will be a practical outworking in all that we're doing that will display the truth in the lives of God's people. And that is called testimony. And the importance of testimony of what we show.

The Assembly as Representation, Reflection, and Restriction

And we'll look at a few examples of that and the importance of that. The gathering center. The gathering center exists basically, if you go to any particular time, and we went over that, we went back to the tabernacle, we went back to the Garden of Eden, and we looked at different pictures of gathering centers.

But it exists for representation. So that God is going to be represented there by that company in that gathering. Therefore, it's incumbent upon us to represent Him correctly. It's not a matter of what we think God is like.

It's not a matter of what we want God to be like. It is a matter of what God is as He unfolds it through His Word. It's not only a place of representation, it's a place of reflection. Because the gathering, and now I'm going to limit it now to the assembly, the assembly should be a place where not only the Lord manifests Himself, but where we as well learn more of Him.

Where we can reflect on Him, and we can enjoy His presence, and enjoy who He is in appreciation. It's a place for reflection. It's a place of restriction. Because there are things that we will read, and discuss not only tonight, but in nights to come, where they are mutually exclusive with the world around us, and with carnality that can be within us, and the flesh, and so on.

So there are restrictions. There are, yet people say, wait a minute, are you telling me there's rules? Yeah, yeah, there are rules. Very clearly, there are rules. You say, well, wait a minute, isn't that legalism?

No, no, that's legalism. That's not legalism. There are clear rules, and there are consequences to breaking those rules. And I think it is incumbent upon leadership of an assembly that when individuals want to apply for fellowship, they should be made aware that there are things you can be put away from the assembly for.

And there are restrictions, and that if you want to maintain the fellowship that you would like to be part of, if you do those things, you will be denying the truth of this fellowship. And what we are, and what we do.

Yeah, there are rules. Very clearly, we're given a number of times in the New Testament, the will of God is, the will of God is, the will of God. So we're not left with any question on a number of things.

And then not only is there restriction, but there's responsibility, commitment. You members of the gathering, the assembly, the fellowship must be willing to shoulder responsibility. That is the only way the assembly will work.

It's not a matter of what can I get out of the assembly. It's what can I bring to it? What can I be in it? And that is another distinction between our homes, we were bringing out that yesterday, between our homes and between the assembly.

There are people that sometimes think that, you know, well, the assembly really is, it should be no different than my house. And I can act that way in my house, and I'll act that way this way. I don't want to be a hypocrite.

I'll talk this way. I'll dress this way. I'll act this way. And they have failed to see the distinction and the dignity of what the assembly is by the presence of the Lord in the midst of his people. We looked at one difference yesterday, even in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, as the apostle Paul writes to them, because they were taking the Lord's Supper and turning it into a common meal.

And he says, what? Have you not houses to eat and drink in? When you come together, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. This is not while you're coming together. This is not something secular that you do every day and three times a day.

This is something sacred that you do once a week. And when you come together, it is the Lord's Supper. And the idea there is it is the Lordly Supper, that the supper takes character from the Lord. That's one distinction.

There's other distinctions there. Your house, your house alone. We stock our houses, we stock our pantries, and we have a store so that we go home to get. We go home to get, so that everything's ready.

You want to make a meal, you want to enjoy this, you put your feet up and you do it. This is your house, and you go there so that you can get, you have everything arranged and so on, right? When you come to the house of God, and I'm using that title for assembly, when we are gathered in assembly, it's not a stockpile, it's not a warehouse, it's not something where we pull stuff off the shelves that's kind of been there and we're ready to fix it.

No, it's something where we bring what we have already prepared. So there's a distinction there. There's a number of other ones too, and we'll go over those in the nights to come. I remember I told this story, and John will remember this, but I remember Brian Crawford, he's known to some of the Christians here.

We were going back to restrictions, and how it's not our house, and how we can't do what we want to do. It's really what we want to do, because it is the auspices of the kingdom, the government of God, it's under his government.

Brian and I were traveling, we were crossing the border one time, and in fact we were going to have meetings with Marian, and Brian says, I always get stopped, I always get stopped. He says, I don't know why, but I said, look, I'll drive, I'll get us through, don't worry.

I'm American. So we go up to the border, and they ask us questions, and I started telling them, and they said, well, what are you going to do? And I said, oh, we're going to do, I said, we're going to meet some friends, I said, we're going to also do whatever, we're going to meet with this church, I said, in Marian, Iowa, and he says, oh, what are you going to do there?

And I said, well, you know, whatever they want us to do, really, kind of. I said, if they want us to move chairs, we'll move chairs. If they want us to preach, we'll preach. I said, whatever work they have for us.

He says, oh, that's great, okay, wonderful. He says, here's a slip, go inside. I was like, what did I do? Well, I learned later on that it was the one word I said, work. Don't use the word work, because that's a flag.

Anyway, we went inside. We're sitting there for about a half hour. Brian is very nervous, and he's going like this, if you know Brian, and he's kind of getting, he says, I told you, I told you. I said, just be quiet, just be quiet.

So we, finally, he calls us over. He says, okay, he says, now remember, we're on the American side. So he looks at Brian, and he points to me, and he says, him? He says, we don't care about him. He says, he can do whatever he wants here.

He's an American. He says, you? He says, you're the one we have our eye on. So Brian gets all defensive, and he says, hey, wait a minute. He says to the immigration officer, he can't do whatever he wants here.

He can't do whatever he wants. And I'm looking at him, like, you know, we want to get through here. What are you doing? So I look at him, and I said, Brian, shut up. And the immigration officer turned to him, and he says, yes, Brian, shut up.

He went like that. The point is this. This was my country. This was my government. And I knew what my government expected of me. No, I couldn't do whatever I wanted. There were restrictions. And the man was saying, you belong here.

You know what to do. You don't belong here, and you're not familiar. God expects us, as members under his government, to know how we should behave. To know what we should do. And the truth is, we can't do whatever we want.

If an immigration officer could tell us that, how much more the God of heaven. And so when it comes to this gathering, it is the special presence of the Lord that makes it so different, that makes it so unique.

I wish I remembered that this platform was so tiny. I have to put some notes here. It's very narrow here. But let's go over the order again, for the sake of younger ones. Saved, then baptized, then added to the fellowship of a local assembly.

So the first thing is saved, because you can't do a thing for God until you're saved. You have no life in you. You have no ability to please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But then comes baptism.

Once a person is saved, they're baptized. And by baptism, you are saying that you have died. And it's no longer you that lives, but Christ lives through you. And the life that you now live, you live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you.

So it's literally the life of the Lord Jesus Christ living through you. You've died. Your desires. Your will. Your rights. People say, I have my rights. I have my rights. No, no. No, you don't. Not as a Christian.

It's all about his rights now. It's all about his claims over you. It's all about his will for you. It's not about what you want now. You've been bought with a price. It's a very high price. Therefore, you ought to glorify God in your body and soul, which are his, right?

You belong to him, spirit, soul, and body. What did they say of the Lord Jesus? Away with him. That's what the world said. Away with him. We will not have this to reign over us. And in the measure that you have him reign over you, the world will say the same to you.

Away with him. We don't want this. Because you will make him known. So if you're very friendly with the world, and if the world is very friendly with you, you need to ask yourself, am I really living a godly life?

Because the Bible says, yea, they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So this special presence, omnipresence, people say, well, isn't the Lord everywhere anyway? Isn't he everywhere?

I mean, whether I go out there, whether I go up the street, I walk in the convenience store, I go to Walmart, I go to the feed store, the Lord is there. He's everywhere. So what makes the assembly? How can you say he's there in a real way?

I remember talking to someone, in fact, they were in a denominational system. And I was trying to explain to them, because they were asking me where I went, and I tried to tell them. And I said, well, we just gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only.

I said, he is our gathering center, and that's why. It's the only name we gather unto. And he took offense at that. He said, well, who do you think we gather to, the devil? I said, I'm not saying that.

I said, but you do have another name. You take another name. And by taking another name, you are adding that to his name. And you are literally diminishing his authority, his supreme, singular authority.

And that goes hand in hand with his presence in the midst of his people. So this special presence, how does it work? Personally, I don't understand why people don't understand. I think it's very easy, really.

In fact, I'll give you an illustration. I'll give you several. But the first one is this. You as a believer. Okay, 1 Corinthians 3 says that the assembly is the temple of God. The spirit of God dwells in you.

So that the spirit of God dwells in you as the temple, the assembly. And as an assembly, the Lord Jesus says he dwells in the midst of the assembly. People say, I don't understand that. Well, now you as a believer, doesn't the spirit of God live in you?

Isn't he in you in a distinct and different way than he is in the world, right? I mean, he's everywhere. The spirit of God is everywhere. But in a special, unique way, he has taken up residence in your body.

And he dwells in you. Not in the same way that he dwells in the world. And that dwelling of God, in fact, actually all three persons of the Godhead are said to dwell in the believer. John chapter 14, he says, my father will come and make his abode with you.

He says, I will come and make my abode with you. And the spirit of God, he dwells in the believer. And that dwelling of God in you makes you a very unique vessel, a very unique person. He enables you.

He empowers you so that you can do things that unbelievers can't do. And that the spirit of God dwells in you uniquely, different than he dwells and is in the world in his omnipresence. Israel understood it, didn't they?

They understood the presence of the Lord, the special presence of the Lord. Because the God who is everywhere, and they knew that, David wrote that, if I make my bed in Sheol, he says, God is there. If I go here, he says, God is there.

But they knew in a special way that when that cloud, when that pillar cloud that evidenced his presence was over the tabernacle, that God was uniquely among his people. In fact, they knew that too, even in the ark.

They wanted to bring the ark into battle. It represented a special presence of God. Isn't God everywhere? Sure, they knew that. Why do you read in Genesis chapter 3 that Adam and his wife, they hid from the presence of the Lord?

Didn't they know that God was everywhere? Genesis chapter 4, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Numbers chapter 14, they disobeyed God, the children of Israel. And Moses tells them, do not go up.

God is not among you. You will not win this war. Do not go up. He's not among you. You say, well, how can you say that of a God who fills the universe? Because in a special way, his special presence that enabled them to defeat the enemy was not there.

It was not. He was not with them in his administrative, authoritative, special presence. And the Bible says, the word of God says, not only is he present, but he is in the midst. And that's important.

Because you see, God is funneling down this truth. He's distilling it down to an even greater, if I can say, a more complex, clear truth that not only is the Lord Jesus with his people in a special way, he's actually in the midst of his people.

And that is a very significant word. When the veil was torn, was rent in half, it was rent in the midst. It wasn't rent in the corner. When you have the midst of something, when the Bible tells you about in the midst of, it's that there's being singled out something for special attention.

That it's to grab your attention so that you will look. This is what God wants you to see. And sometimes it's even used of what things people want them to see. Remember the Lord Jesus, he set a little child in the midst of them.

They set a little child. Why? Because he was going to use that little child as an object. Listen, he was drawing the people's attention to the little child. You remember the woman in John chapter 8, when they took her in the very act of adultery, and it says that they set her in the midst.

So that they were making her an object, an example. And every eye was drawn to this woman. And in the same way, God is saying this, I want every eye, every heart, every soul, in this assembly, drawn to the attention and attraction of the one in the midst, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the very reason for the assembly's existence. He is the gathering center. And this is what his presence, authoritative, administrative, special, unique presence, in the midst of the assembly, gathered to his name, makes that company unique in the entirety of this world from every other company.

There is no other company that can make that claim apart from those that are found under the truth of gathering the way the New Testament says. God has given us the pattern. I'm not saying that it's called a gospel hall, and I'm not saying it's called this and it's called that, but I am saying this, companies of people that meet in reverential fear, and respect and obedience to the word of God, under the conditions that are set forth in the New Testament in that pattern, breaking bread once a week, elder government, acknowledging the truth of headship, the cover heads of the sisters, the uncover heads of the men, receiving those individuals who have been baptized into the fellowship of that assembly, a fellowship that breaks bread once a week, that there is the clarity of the emblems, that there is the carrying out of New Testament truth, the apostles' doctrine, and there's a divine planting.

There is a uniqueness about every such company that is found in no other gathering in the world. And my dear brother or sister, if you have failed to see that you are missing what the assembly is, you are missing what God, not this preacher on this platform, but what God wants you to see in that company, what the Spirit of God has drawn you to that company for.

It's different, the special presence of the Lord is different, number one, because of the position of the Lord. So we've said that, it's in the midst. It's different as well, it's a special presence because of his preeminence among the people, not just his position among the gathering, but his preeminence among the gathering.

Now listen, yes, the Lord is everywhere. And you'll forgive my triteness in using this expression, he is in Walmart tonight, but he is not preeminent there. He is in the world, he is omnipresent, but he is not preeminent in the sense that he's not given the place of preeminence.

The Bible says this is man's day. The Bible makes it clear now, there's the God of this age. But the Bible does also make it clear, the New Testament makes it clear that in contrast to outside there, to what is called the without, that there is a within.

And in that sphere of the within, the fellowship of a local assembly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is the beloved Son of God as Lord in the midst of his people as the preeminent one.

So there is a dignity, there is a distinction about this company that has found itself in no other company in the world. I'm not saying there aren't other companies like it, oh there are. But this is the conditions, these are the criteria, this is where he is.

So because of his preeminence, so he is not preeminent while we move among unbelievers as well as individual believers who are living in sin, or are not carrying out the doctrine of the apostles doctrine, or have gathered to his name.

So he is omnipresent but different and distinct from the preeminence that he is in a local assembly. And it's different as to the purpose, that's the third reason. The purpose of the assembly as a collective testimony to gather is to display the Word of God, the person of Christ in testimony for him.

And there are things that we can carry out that no other company can carry out, nor can individuals carry out. And there's another line of distinction between what you do in your homes and how you conduct yourselves in your homes, and what we do when we come together by his authority, his commissioning.

It is sanctuary of God, temple of God, and we have authority to carry that out, carry out administratively his authority. You remember that the apostle Paul, when he, in his unsaved days, he went to Damascus and he had letters in his hand, letters of the high priest, letters to carry out by their authority what he was going to do, right?

He had letters. That's what we do, a little bit different. We have letters. And when we gather together, we have letters, we have New Testament letters that are put in our hands and in our lives and in our gathering to give us, we are commissioned with divine authority of the one in the midst to carry out administration for God in a dark world as light.

That is what the assembly is. That is what we are. So obviously, if we are acting as the government of God, and I'll make some distinctions about that in one moment, but I'll make one more point. If we are acting as the government of God with Christ as Lord in the midst authorizing us, it's not a casual get-together of a few believers.

It's not a matter of a few Christians just coming together to read their Bibles. Talk about Christ. Let's talk about Jesus. It's not something that literally is brought down to ground level. That's how the world operates.

Now, this is an elevated place. Can I say it? This is the headquarters of heaven on earth. It's the White House without any scandals, should be at least. You know, they said of President Reagan, I know there's been some other president.

I have to tell you, I take my hat off to President Reagan. Clinton changed a lot of things. I'm not going to talk politics, but I will say this. When President Reagan was in the Oval Office, he said he would never dare take off his coat, wouldn't even remove his coat for respect to the office, for what he represented.

If we came to the assembly like that, with respect, with reverence, for what we are, for who we represent, for what we have been commissioned to do as the government of God on earth in the assembly, recognizing the distinction from what we are when we come together, even as to what we are when we're not gathered together.

You are in fellowship with other believers 24 -7 when it comes to the assembly. You are in assembly fellowship 24 -7. But there are specific times when we gather together, the gatherings of his people.

And in the Old Testament, Israel recognized that. Say what you will about them being a picture, and this is the Old Testament, but there was something. You know what those meetings were called when they came together?

Holy Convocations. Holy Convocations. The trumpet was blown, and they came. There was something important going to happen. There were feasts, and they came. God was among them. Jehovah reigned. And when they came, there was a hush about the people.

There were times you read of when the people came together to hear the voice of God, and whether it was raining, and the rain was pouring down, and they came with their little ones, and they came with the families, and it was a quietness.

They opened the word of God. You know what they recognized? We are the people of God. This is assembly of God. It's the congregation of God. It's not a club. You've got a lot of clubs in the world. You've got the golf club.

You've got the social clubs. You've got the chess club. You've got the soccer clubs. This is not a club. It is the congregation of God gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, uniquely, singularly.

This is not to be our plaything. This is not to be our casual coming. This is the truth that the Lord is in the midst of his people, his special presence. Now, when we look at these three points, let's just go through them.

Its existence is relational to the one in the midst. I remember a number of years ago, I don't think I've ever told this story, but we were talking about our kids tonight, and it reminded me again of it.

I remember when they were little, we actually, I remember the two boys and the girl, actually my oldest boy and my daughter, were in the living room, and they were in there. And my one, the middle boy, he started to go outside.