I'd like for you to turn with
me tonight to First Corinthians chapter 1. And I'm going to be using verses
30 and 31 is my text. My subject. The house that God built. We say, Preacher, there's no
mention of the house in your text. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. You won't find
the word. You won't find it in all of chapter
one and all of chapter two. The house and the building of
it's not mentioned until chapter three, where he says four. Four, now he's reaching back
to all of chapter one, all of chapter two, and what he said
thus far in chapter three. Four, he said, we are labors
together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. The word house is used often
in the scripture. You'll find it in many places
in the scripture. In 2 Timothy, I thought this
was particular interest to me. He's talking about in 2 Timothy
2, I'm sorry, in verse 20. In the first part of that chapter,
Paul's talking to them, to this young minister, Timothy, and
he's telling him the danger of false teachers. And he uses the
strongest of terms. They'll eat as does a canker.
They're a cancer. They're a cancer. You get this
in your midst and you can't get rid of it. It has to be cut out.
It's an awful thing. And he don't want to discourage
this young minister. He just wants to warn him. And he tells him, in a great
house. I don't have a great house, I
just have a house. I mean, it's great to me. But
in a great house, who has a great house? God does. This is a great house. He told
David, he said, would you build a house for me? The heavens can't
contain me. What are you gonna build for
me? In a great house, if God has
a house, it's a great house, isn't it? But he said in a great
house, there's vessels of honor and there's vessels of dishonor.
So don't let these guys get under your skin too much. They're in God's house. in God's
house. In this sense, he's talking about
the entire scheme of all things. He's talking about this great
house. What does that take in? It takes in everything. It takes in the whole universe. Creation, civilization, history,
present day activity, It takes in the whole scheme. This great
house. When our Lord was about to leave
this world, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house. Now listen,
how big is his house? Is this his house here? Huh,
just a little piece of it. In my Father's house are many
mansions. I go to prepare a place for you
in a great house. Oh, what house is he talking about?
He's talking about that great house, that house that takes
in everything that is. In Hebrews chapter one, Paul
tells us, But in these last days God has spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, now watch this,
by whom also he made the worlds. Not this world, worlds. What's that include? Farther
than you can ever imagine. How far out is the Hubble telescope?
Rex and I thought about this going down. As far, ever how
far it is, it's way out there. And as far as it can reach to
see, it looks the same as it did the first time they turned
it on. How big is this universe? It's as big as God. Huh? He made all things. Through his son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, he made this great house. And
this house encompasses all things. In Colossians chapter one, Paul
tells us that Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, this man whom the
Jews rejected, hated, despised, tortured, hung on a cross, and
laughed at him while he died. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus Christ, he said, is the image of the invisible God. I saw God. If you didn't see
Christ, you didn't. He's the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created,
which are in heaven, which are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him,
now listen, and for him. And he's before all things. He's
the builder of the house. In the beginning, John said,
was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And there was nothing created
apart from his hand. God has built a great house,
a house for the glory of his name, and he built this house
by his son. And consider this man, Jesus
Christ, That's what he said, consider the apostle of our faith. You consider him. You better
consider him. He's God's son. We better kiss
the son. He's the son of God. He was counted
worthy of more glory than Moses. Now listen, inasmuch as he who
hath builted the house hath more honor than the house. He built
the house. This great house that we can't even take in, we can't
even imagine. The size of it, the scope of
it, the length of it, the depth of it, we can't even, there's
no words to even describe it. It just goes on forever, it encompasses
everything, this great house. He's the builder. Now listen
to me, he's also the building. He's the builder, he's the building,
he's the site on which it's built, and he's the foundation. Not only that, he's the master
of the house. You call me master, you do well,
for so I am. But here's what I want you to
see. There's things in the house. There's things in the house.
I had my house down in Taylor, Arkansas. Things that were given
to me, things that I purchased, and things that I made. There
is in God's house too. There is in his house. God gave all things to his son,
didn't he? He made everything that is, and
he purchased. Everything that is. I had some
things in that house used for a time. When time was over, Yvonne
and I took them out to a burn pit and set them on fire. We'd
burn them up. I didn't need them anymore. I have other things that I'll
keep and maintain for a while longer. And then I'll get rid
of them. And I think I have some things
that my children may take and cherish. just the same way I did. And so I preserved those things.
God's house, it's a great house, it's a house of purpose, a house
with design, a house that takes in everything that is. All right,
in this house are vessels, some to honor, some to dishonor. And
these vessels are not by accident, none of them. They all have something to do
with the honor of the builder, who God. On the vessels of dishonor,
he's appointed a less honorable function. A lot of difference
between an oven in the kitchen and a pot in the bathroom, isn't
there? A lot of difference in these
vessels and why they're there and why they're being maintained.
Scripture said that God endures these dishonorable vessels fitted
to destruction. He endures them. They're not being maintained
so they can have a chance. Salvation ain't about chance.
He endures them, he uses them. Vessels upon which he'll show
his wrath, Paul said, and make his power known. But there's
also vessels in this house that are called vessels of mercy.
aforeprepared unto glory. They were shaped, cut out, set
apart for his glory. And upon these, he says, he'll
make known the riches of his glory on these vessels. Isn't that something? They're
purposely made and appointed a place in God's house to be
seen of all who enter in. And it's these vessels of which
I hope to talk about tonight. The work of salvation as it's
communicated to us, the faith whereby we receive it, and the
life we live as the result of it, is often called in the scriptures
a house. Moses was faithful over all his
house. And he tells us in 1 Peter 2,
5 that we are lively stones, spiritual stones, living stones,
if you will, being built up a spiritual house. People. Who are they? I don't know. I
don't know. Only way I know them is the way
Paul knew them. I know your election of God.
Our gospel came not to you in word only. Came in power, came
in the Holy Ghost, came with much assurance. In Hebrews chapter three, verse
six, he said that Christ, unlike Moses, who was a servant over
the house, he was the head of that house. In Hebrews three,
six, he said that Christ is a son over his own house, whose house
are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm
unto the end. And then in Matthew six, These
are all scripture references to what I'm talking about. This
giving of faith, the life we live, having been given that
faith. And in Matthew 7, he said, whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine. What did he say? You know what
Christ preached? He preached Christ. That's what
he preached. That's what he preached. He preached
himself. In Matthew 7 he said, whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I liken him unto
a wise man which built his house on a rock. And this is the house of which
Paul says we labor together with God. I have five things I want
us to see in my text and in this simile that I've given you of
the house that God built. The first thing I want you to
see is consideration. Boy, we don't like that word
in Sovereign Grace Churches. Oh, he's talking about decisions. Well, you're not born of a decision,
but if you be born, you'll make a decision. Is that right? You can't do anything without
making a decision. You can't do anything without
some consideration. In verse 26 of 1 Corinthians
chapter one, before he gets to my text, he said, for you see
your calling brethren. Here's some things to consider.
You see your calling brethren. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are. Why? He tells you right here that
no flesh is glory in his presence. Before any building takes place,
there's some considerations to be made. First of all, who God
is. Who's running things? Who's dictating
the terms? Who sits on the throne? Paul said, I know what you're
gonna say to me. He was writing Romans chapter
nine. He told those Romans, I know exactly what you're gonna say
to me. Why doth he find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And here's what he told him. Nay, but, O man, who art thou? Who do you think you are to reply
against God? Here's the consideration. Who's
on the throne? Whose book is this? Whose terms
are these? Who's running the show? Who's
the creator? Who's the Lord? Whatever it is that we build
in a spiritual sense must be to his glory and not ours. We're fellow laborers with God. We're not our own and we're not
left to ourselves, thank God. There's considerations in this
thing of spiritual house building, who God is, what's his purpose,
what's the means he intends to use. What kind of materials? Where? When? A lot of considerations, isn't
there? And I'll tell you another consideration,
the cost. Which of you intending to build
a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost? You know what that scripture's
really talking about. It's not talking about to see if you got
enough money to build a tower, it's to show you that you don't.
That's what that scripture's all about. You count the cost,
you'll find out you ain't got what it takes. It takes Christ.
And in him we count the cost and he can pay the bill. He can
finish the tower. Considerations, and then secondly,
where to build. Religion encourages you to build
with what you have. Start with what you have. What
do you have? Nothing. Nothing. They say build on the flesh.
Pour your footer on man's good ground. Now my friend, you don't
want to build there. You don't want to build there.
You don't wanna build on man because there's nothing beneficial
in man to build on. In Matthew 7, our Lord warns
about building on the shifting sand of man. He said, there's
storms coming, there's floods coming, and your house ain't
gonna stand if you build it on the sand. But know this, that
house gonna be tested. God's gonna prove what's his
house and what's your house. That's exactly right. Why? Because he's gonna get all the
glory. You cannot build on man, you
cannot build on this world. John said, all that's in the
world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life is not of the Father. You don't wanna build
on that. And you cannot and must not build
on worldly religion. The religion of this world's
anti-Christ. Contrary to Christ, opposite
of Christ. And therefore, whosoever heareth
these things of mine, and doeth them, I liken him to a wise man.
He ain't gonna build on those things. He's gonna build on the
rock. Upon this rock, he said, I'll build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against me. When the spirit of
grace interacts with the sinner and he begins to see the necessity
of the shelter, he seeks and finds out where to build. What
am I gonna base this salvation on? What am I gonna base this,
I can't, I can't base my righteousness on mine, mine's filthy rags.
I can't build on this flesh, it's nothing but sand. My house
in Taylor, the whole city of Taylor, Arkansas built a frog
pond. It just, you can go out in the
spring, take a shovel. I've been out there going to
plant flowers. I'll take a shovel full out, three quarters of that
hole where I just took that dirt out will fill with water. Ground
water, right up to the top. Try to build on that. And I've
been jacking that old house of mine up. It just, it was all
over the place. You can't build on that. Can't
build on that. We build our house on Christ. Now listen to me. Why am I telling you all this
about this house? Because the house you build is
the house you have to live in. That's why. We gotta live in
it. We gotta live in it. If I build
in a dump, I have to live in a dump. If I build down in Sodom,
I have to live in Sodom. If I build a house on this flesh,
this flesh is just flesh. That's all it's ever gonna be.
Not gonna improve with age. If I build on the flesh, I have
to live in the flesh. Now, if you're gonna build a
house for your soul, you need a safe and productive place to
build it. Satan and the religion of this world have convinced
the whole generation that anybody can build a house for his soul.
And salvation is a house for your soul. And it's not a matter
of merely being disappointed down the road. Huh? I built houses in the past down
the road. Man, I wish I'd have done this. I wish I'd have put
this here. I wish I'd have swung that door
the other way. This is not a matter of being disappointed down the
road. This is a matter of the ruination of your soul. If the house goes, the soul goes
with you. Third thing I see in this that
we need is to find somebody that God has enabled and gifted to
build. Paul called himself, and you
couldn't get him in any other situation to say this, but he
had to say it in 1 Corinthians 3, as a wise master builder. God gifted these apostles. They're
master builders. You better find somebody that
knows how to build. I had a friend of mine build out here in Junction
City. And he come, and he wanted me to build his house, and I
priced it, and he got this big lump in his throat. I think I'll
build it myself. I said, okay. Went on about my
business, and I don't know, six months went by, I got a call.
I know you're busy, but could you meet me out here on the building
lot? He said, I got some questions
for you. I said, okay. So I went out there,
And he's just pacing. I got out the truck and I said,
what's the trouble? He said, man, look, he had a foot of water
under that house. And I said, well, don't let that
scare you. I said, just put you a pump down
there and pump the water out and then put some plastic over
that thing. We'll get grain in. He said,
I didn't put no gravel under it. Oh, man. Now you're gonna have to take
a little kid's wagon and a rope and pull that gravel a little
wagon at a time and dump it up on that house in the mud. Find
somebody who knows how to build. You see what I'm saying? I've often been reminded by men
when I talk about the necessity of gospel preaching. I'm reminded
by men, the Bible said, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord be saved. Well, I'm happy it says that. And I know that
it does. And it don't just say it there,
it says it in a few other places. And I'm happy about that. However,
most who point that out to me don't know the four questions
that Paul asks after he makes that statement. How you gonna call on him in
whom you have not believed? This calling, this coming, this
believing is accompanied by these four things. How are you going
to call on him in whom you have not believed? Calling on God, not just spitting
out words in the air and allowing God to translate them. Those
who call on him know who he is. They may not know everything
about him, but they know he's God. The God you called on, was he
sovereign? Did you leave things in his hand
knowing that he's sovereign? Could you come like the leper
and say, Lord, Lord, that's a strange word in religion, Lord, if you
will, who you say that to, a sovereign? You make me whole. You can make me see. Was he sovereign? Was he unchangeable? God never
changes. He never changes. There's a fellow who's a member
of my church now, but before he was, he called me one day,
and he said, I listened to this message you was preaching, and
he said, problem is there's no preachers
up here. And I said, well, why are you
still there? You reckon God's gonna make an
exception because you're in a place where there are no preachers? God don't change. He don't change. He don't change in his purpose.
He don't change in his will. God don't change. Well, what about these gifts?
Well, what about them? What's it say in James chapter one?
Every good gift, every perfect gift, cometh down from above,
comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
not even a shadow of turning. He's unchangeable. This God we
called on, is he unchangeable? Have I cried from my heart? Lord,
I know you're gonna save somebody. Could it be that I'm one of them?
He's unchangeable. He ain't changing. Is the God I called on omnipotent,
all wise, everywhere present? Is he running things? Is he just a figurehead on the
throne or does he actually run things? Calling on God is just not spitting
words in the air. Now listen to this, here's what
John said. He just keeps saying, and we
know, we know, we know. Believers aren't ignorant. They
know the truth. John said, we know that the Son
of God hath come and hath given us an understanding, now listen,
that we may know him that's true. Do we? Well, how you gonna call
on him in whom you have not believed? Secondly, he asked, how shall
you believe in him of whom you have not heard? Faith comes by
hearing. Somebody told me not long ago,
he said, Peter said that we're born again by the word. I said, yeah, I know he did,
but did you read the other two verses? This is the word, he
says in verse 25 of 1 Peter 1. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. Preaching of the cross is to
them who are perishing foolishness, but unto us that are being saved,
now listen, it's the power of God. The very power of God. And nobody's gonna build this
spiritual house apart from gospel preaching, it ain't gonna happen.
And I'll tell you something else about this spiritual house. When
somebody's building, there are sounds that accompany the building. It gets quiet, you better go
check on your men. There's something going on. You
can hear it. I can hear the machinery. I hear that hoe mixing that mortar. I hear that hammer hitting those
nails. I hear that saw. There's noise
going on. The preaching of the cross. is
the knowledge we need to hear. And then thirdly, Paul asked
this question, how shall you hear without a preacher? How shall you hear without a
preacher? I'm gonna get sideways of you
right now. The word of God is not a preacher. They had the Word. They had the
Word before Christ came. They had the Word before the
Gospel was manifested as it was in Christ. They had the Word
of God. And I'm not taking anything away
from the Word of God. The Word of God Christ said,
you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they that testify of me. What's the problem? You won't come to me that you
might have life. Why not? Because God ordained
that that should happen through a preacher. Now that's just so. That easy opening in? He was
sincerely seeking the Lord. He'd been to Jerusalem, he'd
been through the feast days, he did everything that everybody
told him to do, and he came away as ignorant as he was before
he went. And he's riding along in the chariot, and he's reading
the book of Isaiah, which was transcribed by hand on a scroll. Just a few had it, and he was
reading it. And he knew there was something
precious about it, but he couldn't understand it. And Phillip said, you understand
what you're reading? Oh, I've never been so happy
in all my life. But that preacher asked me, do you understand what
you're talking about? You know what you believe, huh? Do you understand what you're
quoting? Oh, my soul, how shall I except
a man tell me? Come right up here. Sit right
here. Oh, don't you know that Ethiopian
drink that in like sweet honey? Riding along in that chair, hearing
those precious words. This is talking about Christ.
This is talking about the Son of God coming as your substitute
and representative, dying on a cross, living for your righteousness,
dying for your righteousness, being raised from the dead for
your justification. Oh, my soul, his heart began
to just ache. And he began to tremble. And
then he said, I believe. Oh, and then they spent six months
trying to get him baptized. Oh, no. Uh-uh. Soon as he saw water, he said,
what doth hinder me? Huh? That's when God works. That's why I'm talking about
the house that God builds. Does he use men? Sure he does.
Does he use his word? Sure he does. But it's God. I plant polished
waters, that's what I do. I throw some seed out there,
another comes along and waters it, but God gives the increase.
There's not going to be a house without him. It's his house. How are you going to hear without
a preacher? God's purpose, three things in the building of his
house. The Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Gospel
of God. Huh? Uses all three. Well, don't he make exceptions?
Uh-uh. No, he don't. How shall you hear? Somebody said, well, I get tired
of you asking that. I ain't asking that. The Holy
Spirit's asking that. And if he asks it, I reckon it's
okay for me to ask it. And then lastly, he said, how
they gonna preach except they be sent? I tell you what they're
gonna do, they're gonna go out there and blabber. They're gonna
go out there and talk, they're gonna rehearse doctrine, they're
gonna do this and they're gonna do that, but they can't preach
unless God sends them. I tell you who you want in this
pulpit, somebody God sent. You can find plenty of Calvinists,
man, this country's full of Calvinists. But you need a man that God sent. Over in 1 Thessalonians chapter
two, Paul said, I thank God for you. He already told them that
he knew his election. He said, and I thank God again
for you. Because when my gospel came to me, you received it not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
the gospel of God, and it came to you. It was sent to you, he
was sent to you, the means was sent, it was all sent of God. How shall they preach? Now, I
tell you, you might not like these things. Most people don't.
You may not believe it. Most folks, they just won't do
it. And you may not submit to it.
The vast majority won't do that. But the Bible said it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Listen to this. Paul went up
to Pisidium, and there's a little place up there in that territory
called Antioch. And he went up there to preach.
There's two Antiochs. This one was up in Pasadena.
He went up there to preach, and he quoted half the Old Testament
to them. I mean, he went all the way back
and just, all the way through. And then he said, through this
man, through this man that I just told you about, through this
man, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Huh? Why are we so opposed to that? Oh. And then fourthly, if the Lord
be pleased to build this house, this house of faith, he'll send
you a man that's gonna tell you how it's done. How's it done? believe on the lord jesus christ
and that's it but first of all you don't really and he don't tell you why i can't
they don't tell you what he did and they don't tell you where
that he's on trial and they don't take the label the scripture said that the jews
despised what he had to say, even after he quoted an Old Testament
scripture telling them that that's what they was going to say. He
said, be careful, don't, don't, you don't want to be among these
that he prophesied about. And they did the exact thing
that that prophesied that they do. They rejected the truth.
And he said, seeing you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, he said, I turned to the Gentiles and he quoted them that
Old Testament scripture about the Gentiles. And here's what
it says, they was glad. We're all Gentiles, we ought
to be glad. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. What'd they believe? They believed
what Paul preached concerning the person of Jesus Christ. And then lastly, we're talking
about building this house. Build what you need. Don't build what somebody else
tells you to build. Build what you need. You don't build a thatched hut
to protect you from a hurricane. I've been down in Yucatan and
I've been out in the jungles and I've preached to those natives
out there and the other day when that hurricane came it went right
across where I preached. And I know where them folks live.
They live in a thatched hut. with a grass roof. Every now
and then, if a man has enough money, he can put a corrugated
tar paper roof on his house, but that's it. And he's out in
this jungle and a hurricane comes through. Build what you need. Build what you need. What do
you need? Christ in you. The hope of glory. I go to prepare
a place for you. He's the place, isn't he? If
he goes on my behalf, I have a place, because he's the place.
Is that right? He's the place. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in
him. An Arminian preacher told me one time in a meeting that
our good works were sending up material to build our house in
glory. Have you ever heard that? I used to hear it all the time
in these Armenian churches. What foolishness. Christ is our
house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and
rejoicing of the whole firmament of the angel. All right, let me give you a
little illustration. Imagine yourself to be born in deepest,
darkest Africa. Just think about it. out in that
jungle. I watched a documentary on pygmies
the other day. It was just unbelievable. Disconnected
from society, no schools, no technology, no churches, no hospitals,
born in an old hut with a dirt floor. You could come up and
take your hand like that and stick it between the sticks on
the side of the hut tree. When it rains, it leaks. When
it blows, it comes through the cracks. Insects and predators
come and go as they please. The environment inside is the
same as it is outside. Your house offers very little
comfort, very little protection from your enemies. Whatever you
eat in this house, you had to hunt for or climb a tree and
gather it. And because of tradition, ignorance,
and geography, I'm left in this jungle to live out my days. Each
day when I wake up, I wake up to the realization that today
is going to be exactly the way it was yesterday, and the day
before, and the day before that. It's never going to change. No way out. No hope of anything
any better. And I wake up every day to it. But then one day, in the providence
of God, a man comes right where you are, right where you live,
right down on your level. And he stoops over and he looks
in that hut, and he said, I know you don't know who I am, but
my father, who's rich beyond your wildest dreams, has seen what you're suffering.
He's seen your agony. He's seen the curse. He knows
exactly what you go through every day. And by his mercy and compassion,
my father has built you a house. And after a few more kind words,
he said, if you'll follow me, if you'll follow me, I'd like to take you and show
you that house. Huh? Oh, I want to do that so
bad. If I could, I'd take you by the
hand. I want to show you that house.
That's the purpose behind this message. I want to show you this
house, this great house, this glorious house. And they go through the jungle
and all the hardships, the vines, the thistles, the mud, and the
predators, and the insects. And then in a few days, they
pass through this thing and spread those wide leaves, and there
is a house like you've never seen before in your life. That
house is made out of white marble. It's sitting in this clearing,
and there's a waterfall behind it, and a pool of blue water
right out the side of it, pristine water, 20, 30 feet deep, and
you can see the bottom. And it's sitting there in the
grandeur of that great mountain, and he leads you up, and he just
goes right through the door. You're allowed to pass right
through, it has a door. The hut didn't have a door. He
opens the door and he takes him in and he looks around and he
can't believe his eyes. It's nice inside this house. It ain't like it is out there
in the jungle. The temperature in there is perfect.
The environment in there is perfect. The house has a slate roof on
it impervious to fire and rain. windows to see in and out. The
temperature inside, perfect. And then he shows him the pantry. I love a pantry, don't you? He
opens up his pantry and there's enough food in there to last
him a lifetime. He just lays his bow and arrow
down. He's not gonna need that. Everything you can imagine enough
to last him a lifetime. And then he goes and he peers
into the bedrooms and there's beds in there with covers that'll
cover you up and especially suited for weary sinners. The house, all of a sudden he
noticed the house is fully staffed. It has butlers and chefs and
maids and servants. And he asked the son about it
and he said, He said, in this house, all the work is done for
you. Huh? It's done for you. Come mealtime,
a table set with everything your heart could desire. Oh, and to wash at the end of
the day, a pure pool of water. In the closet, you come out of
that Pool, and you're looking for something to put on, you
look in that closet, it's full of white linen. Soft to the touch. Fits you perfect. On certain days, teachers come and teach everybody
in the house. Show you things that you've never
imagined. Show you things that I have not
seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. The house, you look out the window
and you see these, look like men from GLAAD, you know, mighty
men guarding this house. Ain't nobody coming in this house.
You don't have to worry about your enemies. Anybody want to go back to the
hut? They went out from us, but they
weren't of us. Had they been of us, they no
doubt would have continued with it. All right, so if all the
work is done for them, what on earth do those who live in the
house do? First thing religion does, give
you something to do, ain't it? What do these people do? All
the work's done for them. What are they to do? Well, they
spend their days being thankful to God who built the house. Huh? That's what they do. Is there
a day goes by that you don't thank God for the food you eat,
the air you breathe, the health that you have, whatever it is? They spend their days being thankful
to God. They spend their time telling
everybody they see what a gracious man it was that built this house.
They spend their days calling every passerby. They sit out
on the porch, and every time somebody comes by, they say,
hey, hey, come on in here, let me show you this house. You're
not gonna believe what's in this house. Come in here and look. Oh, they spend their time remembering
him who made this house a reality. This is the house that God built. Now here's my text. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that gloweth
Let him glory in the Lord. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
call you, deliver you, guide you, and bring you into the Lord's
house. Amen. Thank you.