This, truly, is a mercy. Were it not for having "the law and the testimony" of the Scriptures, what should we be? Where should we go? What should we do? Ten thousand jarring voices fall at times upon the ear, and each voice seems to speak with such authority. What darkness! What confusion! What perplexity! If one is not well taught and grounded in the Word, the danger of being drawn away or sadly unhinged is eminent. One man tells you, "This is right!" Another tells you, "That is right!" A third tells you, "Everything is right!" And a fourth will tell you, "Nothing is right!" About the question of church position, some go here! Some go there! Some go everywhere! And some go nowhere!
Now, under such circumstances, what shall we do? All cannot possibly be right. And yet surely there is something right. It cannot be that we are compelled to live in error, in darkness, or in uncertainty. Where is this safe and blessed path? Hear the Divine reply: "There is a path," authenticated by God, though "no fowl knoweth it, and the vulture's eye hath not seen it; the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it... Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:7-8, 28).
Let us, therefore, in the fear of the Lord, in the light of his infallible truth, and in humble dependence upon the teaching of the Holy Spirit, proceed to examine the matter before us. May we have the grace to abandon all confidence in our own thoughts and the thoughts of others. May we whole-heartedly and honestly yield ourselves up to be taught only of God's Word.
* Its Statement of Fact
Now, to get into this grand and all-important subject, we must first make a statement of fact, and second ask a question of inquiry. The fact is: God's assembly does exist on the earth today! The inquiry is: What is that assembly?
First then, the fact. The existence of God's assembly on earth is a fact. This is surely a most important fact. God has in fact an assembly on the earth. I do not refer merely to any human organization, such as the Greek Church, the Church of Rome, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, or to any of the various systems which have emerged from these. These are framed and fashioned by man's hand and carried on by man's resources. I refer simply to that assembly which is gathered by God the Holy Spirit, centered around the Person of God the Son, and has worshipful fellowship with God the Father.
Hence, if we are governed by the spirit of the world, we will desire to exalt man, seek to commend ourselves to the thoughts of man, and aim to gain self-serving goals and soul-ensnaring expediencies. Consequently, we might as well abandon our search for any true expression of God's assembly. We should merely take refuge in that form of human organization which most fully commends itself to our considerations or convictions.
Perhaps, our object is to find a religious community where the Word of God is read or where the people of God are found. if so, we may quickly be satisfied. It would be ahrd indeed not to find one or both of these objects in any section of the professing Christian body.
Moreover, we might merely aim at doing all the good we can without any question about how we do it. In our ambitious undertaking, our motto might be per fas aut nefas -- "right or wrong," we will do anything to advance our goals. Consequently, we will say that, "Sacrifice is better than to obey, and the fat of rams better than to hearken." Surely, from this perspective it is worse than vain for us to pursue a search for God's assembly. Why? Because the assembly can only be discovered and approved by one who has been taught to flee from ten thousand flowery pathways of human expediency. Such a one will submit his conscience, his heart, his understanding, and his whole moral being to the supreme authority of the Scripture's "Thus saith the Lord."
In other words, the obedient disciple knows such a fact as God's assembly. He will also be enabled through grace to find it and to know his place in it. The candid student of Scripture knows full well the difference between what is founded, formed, and governed by the wisdom and the will of man, and what is gathered, focused, and governed by Christ the Lord. How vast is the difference! It is just the difference between God and man.
But we may be asked if Scriptural proofs can be given to show the fact of God's assembly on earth. At once, we will proceed to furnish these, for without the authority of the Word, all statements are utterly valueless. Therefore, what says the Scripture?