God’s Temple: The Dwelling Place of the Spirit of God, 3/22/26

The chapters for today or the verses for today

is verses 16 and verse 17. 1 Corinthians 3 verse

1 Corinthians 3:16

16 and 17. Do you not know that you are the temple

of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will

destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which

temple you are. Let's bow before the Lord and

ask for his grace to be with us and the illumination

of the Spirit. We pray, Father, today that you

would be with us as we look into this word. We

ask, O Lord, that you would give us the right

words to say, that you would help us, Lord, to

expound this passage in the way that it ought

to be. Lord this is a wonderful passage we pray

that you would open it up to us from your word

for your word speaks life to us Lord and so we

pray that you would breathe life to all of this

congregation Lord through your word as it is

read and preached even now Lord we thank you

for this opportunity and we ask Lord that the

words of our mouth might be pleasing in your

sight we pray this in Jesus name amen You are

the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells

in you With these startling words Paul switches

from writing in third person about the minister

of God in verses 1 through 14 And he speaks directly

to the Corinthian Church the word you hear is

The similar to our word y 'all is you all you

plural? It is to the Corinthian Church and thus

it is to us as we have been given the word of

God. He declares to them that they, the corporate

body of believers, are a building, a temple wherein

God dwells and is worshiped. The temple that

he speaks of, is a garden temple. Remember just

a few verses before he said, you are God's field,

you are God's building. It is reminiscent of

the Garden of Eden and of Solomon's temple, which

included gardens as well. But Paul has something

even much more glorious in mind. Remember how

Jesus spoke of the wisdom of Solomon, but then

he said, indeed a greater than Solomon is here,

Luke 11 verse 31. And so indeed here again, something

Luke 11:31

greater is here. So that we want to look not

only at this passage, but at others in the Old

Testament and New Testament that will help us

to understand the glory, the majesty, the holiness,

and the grandeur of this temple of God. But first,

what is a temple? There are various words used

in the Bible to refer to a temple, such as the

word sanctuary, or the holy place, or the tabernacle,

which was a transportable temple, and the dwelling

place of God. After the crossing of the Red Sea,

the escape from Egypt, and the destruction of

Pharaoh and his armies, the song of Moses is

sung with praises for God's salvation and deliverance,

and they sing, verse 17 and 18 of Exodus 15,

you will bring them in and plant them in the

mountain of your inheritance in the place, O

Lord, which you have made for your own dwelling,

the sanctuary, O Lord, with your hands have established.

the Lord shall reign forever and ever. Now God

gives much greater detail in Exodus 29 verse

Exodus 29:43

43 as he speaks about the tabernacle of meeting

and the altar. He says, there I will meet with

the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall

be sanctified by my glory. So I will consecrate

the tabernacle of meaning in the altar and I

will consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister

to me as priests. I will dwell among the children

of Israel and will be their God. So we see again

that this temple and this tabernacle was a dwelling

place of God where God meets with his people.

A temple then is this place. It's a place where

God dwells. It's a place filled with his glory

and with his spirit. It's a place where the people

of God worship him and where God speaks to them

and he blesses them. Now after the fall, sacrifices

are offered at this temple as well in order to

purify the people so that they can meet with

God. In this full sense, the Garden of Eden and

Adam are both types of a temple. Before the fall,

God creates the heavens and earth as a sacred

place where He rests and He rules. The Garden

of Eden in that sense functions as the original

sanctuary. God walks there. Genesis 3 verse 8.

Genesis 3:8

He is present there. The garden has an eastward

orientation and there are rivers flowing out

and precious stones and trees and a priestly

role for Adam He is to serve God there and to

tend and keep the garden Tending by the way that

word for in Genesis 2 for tending serving and

keeping are the same verbs that are used for

priests in the Tabernacle and temple later on

in the Old Testament Now Adam as well in one

sense is a temple because in him God forms him

from the dust of the earth and then what does

he do? He fills him with the breath of life and

that word breath is like spirit. He and spirits

him in this way. He fills him with the breath.

life and man becomes a living soul and then the

Lord God comes walking in the garden of the cool

of the day and what does he do he wants to have

fellowship with Adam and Eve but after Eve is

deceived and Adam rebels against the commandment

of the Lord that fellowship is broken and they

hide from God And then, as Jeff Taylor puts it,

the fall is actually a detempling. It is the

withdrawal of the glory presence of God, and

it is the collapse of the first sanctuary. The

temple of God is corrupted. The presence of God

departs, and man dies a spiritual death, and

he is expelled from the garden. While the details

are not recorded during this pre -Sinai time,

God does instruct them on how to make sacrifices

and he delineates between right sacrifices and

wrong sacrifices which we see with Cain and Abel

where Cain's sacrifice was not acceptable to

God and Abel's was. He gives them the wisdom

to do so in light of the fall. He makes provision

for sin so that man could walk with God again

and men begin to call him the name of the Lord.

Enoch walks with God and Noah finds grace in

the eyes of the Lord. But it is not until the

children of Israel, this is almost 2 ,000, 2

,500 years later. It is not until the children

of Israel are led from Egypt. They are then baptized

in the Red Sea and they come to Mount Sinai where

we then see the plans revealed to Moses for a

corporate place of worship, of the worship of

God. A place where God dwells that is filled

with the glory cloud again, his spirit, and where

priests are called to minister. The first is

a tabernacle. As I mentioned, a portable sanctuary.

so that he could dwell among his people again.

And then that tabernacle exists for a number

of years, actually a good number of years, until

finally David's son Solomon is given permission

to build the temple. It has a holy place and

the most holy place, which they are a perfect

cube where God's glory dwells above the ark.

And the purposes are atonement sacrifices. God's

presence is seen in the Shekinah glory cloud

that fills it. We see that in Exodus 40 verse

Exodus 40:34

34 and 35. And there is a covenant relationship

between God and his people where they worship

him and receive forgiveness and blessings and

food. Hear these words from Exodus 40 verse 34.

Exodus 40:34

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting

and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And Moses. was not able to enter the tabernacle

of meeting because the cloud rested upon it and

the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Same type of experience we again see when the

temple was dedicated in second Chronicles 5 verse

2 Chronicles 5:13

13 and 14 There was so much music and there was

singing and there were singers and there was

priests and the glory of the Lord came down on

it and the sacrifice was lit by the fire from

the Lord and The the place was so filled with

the glory of the Lord that the priests were not

able to minister in that temple Now As I said

two weeks ago, Paul in this passage is depicting

the Corinthian church and all Christian churches

as a part of this end time temple. The temples

that were built back then were destroyed. And

so what does God do? Does he raise up another

building in a particular location after he destroys

the temple? No, he does not. Instead, the Christian

church gathering together in congregations is

the new temple, which is why he looks to them

and he speaks directly and he says, y 'all are

this temple. You are this. temple of the Lord.

And the Spirit of God dwells within you. This

is that which was prophesied in Malachi chapter

Malachi 1 · chapter mention

1 and verse 11. For from the rising of the sun,

even to its going down, my name shall be great

among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall

be offered to my name, and a pure offering for

my name. shall be great among the nations, says

the Lord of hosts. This is the temple described

in the latter part of the book of Ezekiel, where

in chapter 47, the water flows out from underneath

the threshold of the temple toward the east,

and those waters bring healing, not just to the

immediate land, not just to the immediate people,

but to all the nations. of the earth this is

that temple having laid this foundation then

for understanding the context of this incredible

statement now let's look at the at each aspect

of these verses number one do you know that you

are the temple of do you not know that you are

the temple of god and that the spirit of god

dwells in you Secondly, if anyone defiles the

temple of God, God will destroy him. And thirdly,

for the temple of God is holy, which temple you

are. So first of all, the church is God's temple

because the Holy Spirit now dwells in it. Verse

16. Ezekiel again prophesied of a time... that

would come when God would put His Spirit in His

people and that His Spirit would dwell with them.

Hear the prophecy from Ezekiel 36 verse 25. I

Ezekiel 36:25

will put my spirit within you and cause you to

walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments

and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land

that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my

people and I will be your God." This was prophesied

by various prophets throughout all of the Old

Testament. And now Paul says, this is happening.

This is it right now. This is your experience.

This is a reality. for you in the Christian church.

Now it's prophesied in many places also. The

Gentiles would be brought into the church and

become part of God's people. Gentiles were the

non -Jews. Sometimes they're called Greeks, but

other times Gentiles, and that is spread over

through all of the world, all of those who were

not God's chosen people, the Jews, God's chosen

people at that time. Now this happened this happened

as many Jews and all of the Jewish leadership

Rejected Christ when Christ was on earth They

put him to death and all the walls though with

the death of Christ All the walls between Jew

and Gentile are then swept away There is now

a new people of God and this new people of God

consists of both Jew Gentile. We see this in

Ephesians chapter 2 when Paul expounds on it

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

wonderfully. Therefore remember he says that

you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called

uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision

made in the flesh by hands that at that time

you were without Christ being aliens from the

Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the

covenants of promise having no hope without God

in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who

were once were far off have been brought near

by the blood. Christ for he himself is our peace

he has made both one and has broken down the

middle wall of separation having abolished in

his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments

campaigned in ordinance so in ordinances so as

to create in himself one new man from the two

thus making peace and that he might reconcile

them both to God in one body through the cross

there by putting to death the enmity this is

descriptive of the new temple the new temple

of God the spirit that once filled the physical

tabernacle in the temple now dwells and fills

the people of God and at the initiation of this

on the day of Pentecost tongues of fire come

and rest on the heads of those assembled as the

Spirit comes. This is reminiscent and echoing

the temple dedication where, as 2 Chronicles

7 says, fire came down from heaven and consumed

the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the

glory of the Lord filled the temple. And so what

do we see? We again see the fire, but this is,

as it were, tongues of fire on everyone's head.

Filling them with the spirit, cleansing them.

Now Jesus himself is the cornerstone of this

new temple. We see that in a number of places

in the New Testament. At the cross, at the time

of the cross, when Jesus died, there was a veil

that separated the most holy place in the temple.

Nobody could go into the holy place except the

high priest once a year. But when Jesus died,

this... veil actually tore apart. No man was

there doing it. In fact, it couldn't be done

in the way that it was woven. It was so tightly

woven together. It could not just be pulled apart.

And so rather here we see the power of God at

work and that veil is torn asunder. And now all

who are believers in Christ Jesus can go into

the most holy presence. They become the temple

instead of being barred from the most holy place.

Indeed, we enter the holiest place of the temple

boldly, Hebrews says, verse chapter 10. Therefore,

brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest

by the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way

which he consecrated for us through the veil

that is his flesh and having a high priest over

the house of God let us let us draw near with

a true heart in full assurance of faith having

our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience

and our bodies washed with pure water therefore

The church, indwelt by the same spirit, becomes

the new temple, as stated in our passage today.

This is the new building, as stated in Ephesians

Ephesians 2:19–22

2, verse 19 to 22, and indeed we are all living

stones of this temple, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse

1 Peter 2:4

4 and 5. Going to the Ephesians passage, he says,

now therefore you are no longer strangers and

foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints

and members of the household of God, having been

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone

in whom the whole building being fitted together

grows into a holy temple in the Lord. in whom

you also are being built together for a dwelling

place of God in the Spirit. This is temple language.

As throughout the whole Bible, God dwells with

his people and his people love and worship him.

Now we could go to the passage in Peter in first

1 Peter 2:1

Peter 2 verse 1 and 10 This is this is just a

glorious passage. We come to him as a living

stone We are then as living stones being built

up a spiritual house the holy priesthood to offer

up spiritual sacrifices Acceptable to God through

Jesus Christ. You are a chosen generation. You

are a royal priesthood You are a holy nation.

You are his own special people so that you might

proclaim his praises. In the times past you were

not the people of God but now you are the people

of God. This is the passage in 1st Peter chapter

2. Let us go and going back now to 1st Corinthians

3. Let us take note of the context of this passage.

What is the context in which Paul tells them

that they are in the temple of the Lord? Well

what was happening at the church in Corinth?

What was Paul writing to them about just before

he says they're the temple of God? There were

factions, there was envy, there were strife,

and there were divisions. Some of them were teaching

the wisdom of the world instead of Jesus Christ

and him crucified. For as the temple of the Lord

is holy and the church is that temple, Then is

what he's saying we should ought to live together

and worship God with love for one another, with

the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of the

peace, in the bond of peace. And we should not,

we must not succumb to dividing and devouring

and biting each other and making factions and

divisions among us. By their factions, they were

corrupting and defiling the temple of God. And

by our actions, we can do the same. So we must

beware. We must be mindful. We are the temple

of God. We cannot get into these kind of biting

and devouring and envy and factions. That's the

immediate context here. The temple of the Lord,

Christ Church, must be maintained in a place

of protection, of love, unity of worship and

a biblical and godly order now the old temple

was divided up amongst orders as ordained with

God as ordained by God with each doing their

own part and all together in the worship of God

the families of the Levites were divided into

different courses and with various responsibilities

there was priests There were singers. There were

those who handled the sacrifices and helped in

the slaughter of the animals. There were those

who baked the bread or handled the utensils.

So also is God's temple today. And we should

not be jealous one of another and not be divided

into factions with one another, but we must recognize

the various gifts. and the parts that God has

given to us all and then live in peace together

in a holy unity in the worship of God. The orders

for this new temple are set forth in various

books of the New Testament. We've already looked

at some of them. We're going to be looking a

lot more as we go through the book of 1st Corinthians.

But God sets up leaders. God gives gifts that

are distributed to many different ones among

the saints. And all of these gifts in this order

must be encouraged and maintained and upheld.

Excuse me. But the most important of all is that

the presence of the Holy Spirit must be in this

temple. That is most important. Remember the

glory cloud that filled the temple as a visible

symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit? Remember

Adam who received the breath of life? A temple

without the Spirit of God is only an empty shell.

It is a caricature of what it ought to be and

it has no life in it. It's like the Valley of

Dry Bones described in Ezekiel 37. and then God

calls all the bones together and they form the

various body, the body parts all come together

and they form various bodies, but still they

lay there dead until the Spirit of God comes

and breathes life into them. And so also, must

we rely upon, pray for, and encourage the presence.

of the Spirit of God in our midst. If we do not,

it's like going to one of the many beautiful

and stately European cathedrals or the National

Cathedral in Washington DC. These buildings reflect

the glory of God and their beautiful architecture

and craftsmanship, and they should shout forth

God's praises. But alas, those who meet there,

some of them are not even professing Christians

at all. And some are cold, are lifeless, hard

-hearted, ritualistic, and dead. Some are apostate.

Some are quite liberal in theology and disobedient

to the Word. They are like museums showcasing

what should be there, but is not. The orders

are still there. The form is there. The liturgy

of the service of God in some of them. But there

is no life. No spirit of God bringing conviction

to sinners and comfort to the saints. God gives

many warnings in the New Testament. Through the

Apostle Paul he says, quench not the spirit,

Paul tells the Philippians. And also grieve not

the spirit, he tells the Ephesians. And let all

bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and

evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

Ephesians 4 30 and 31 years later Jesus tells

John in the book of Revelation to write the church

at Ephesus and he says tell them remember therefore

from whence you have fallen repent and do the

first works or else he says these most chilling

words I will come to you quickly and remove your

lamp stand from its place unless you repent This

is a warning to us that we can have the forms.

We can have a form of godliness. We can even

mouth the right words. But if the Holy Spirit

is not burning and is not alive within us and

within the congregation, we are but an empty

shell. Christian believers are fully dependent

on the indwelling Spirit to make them holy and

to be proper living stones of this temple. Secondly,

those who defile God's temple will be destroyed

by God. Paul says in the first part of verse

17. Now the word defile and destroy, they're

the same word. it can mean defile or destroy

or to tear down so it's the same word and in

this it's it's a sense kind of like the the word

in the law what's called the lex talionis an

eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and so forth

deuteronomy 19 and 21 as well as in exodus 21

and others so in other words what god does is

commensurate to the offense you despoil the temple

of god and god will despoil you There are multiple

precedents of judgment on temple defilers in

the Old Testament, and there's some in the New.

In the Old Testament, we look back on, and we

remember the two oldest sons of Aaron, Nadab

and Abihu. I don't know, it seems from the context

that maybe they were drunk or had too much to

drink. because there's a prohibition against

priests being drunken right after this occurrence.

So we can kind of infer that that might be the

case. Anyway, they offered strange fire to the

Lord. It was fire that had not been sanctified.

It was not from the right place as God had spelled

out to them. And so they offered this strange

fire and boom, they were dead just like that.

They had to be carried out. And God told Aaron,

don't even mourn for them. Don't weep over them.

You do the service that God has given to you.

This was judgment on those who defiled the temple.

There was another one. It was a man named Uzzah.

And the Ark of the Covenant that belonged in

the Tabernacle through the sin of the Israelites

had actually been carried out to battle and was

taken captive by the Philistines. The Philistines

had all sorts of trouble with it and we're not

going to get into all of that. But they finally

decided to bring this back. It was a period of

time they decided to bring it back to Jerusalem

where it belonged or to wherever the Tabernacle

was. I'm not sure if it was in Jerusalem then

yet or not. But anyway, instead of carrying it

by priests, which the way there which was the

way it was supposed to be done and which God

had instructed them they put it on a cart and

the cart went through a big pothole or something

like that and it tipped and the ark started to

sway and this man Uzzah reaches out with his

hand as an unsanctified man and he touches the

ark and again what happens boom he's dead just

like that and so they fear and they set the ark

down and there it remains in the house of Obed

-Edom I think it's for three months and then

David brings the ark back at an appropriate time

and they do it the proper way we see priests

and people defiling the temple which led to the

Babylonian destruction and this is in 2 Kings

25 and 2 Chronicles 36 and Jeremiah 7 and Ezekiel

8 through 11 but I'll just summarize with these

words from 2 Chronicles 36 verse 16, the priests

2 Chronicles 36:16

and the people, they mocked the messengers of

God, they despised his words, and they scoffed

at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord rose

against his people, till there was no remedy,

and they were carried off into judgment. God's

own warning in Ezekiel 24 and 21, he says, I

will destroy the sanctuary because of uncleanness.

And that's what happened. The temple then was

destroyed. So that was the first temple. The

second temple then began to be built under Zerubbabel

and then it was added to much over a period of

time and eventually became known as Herod's temple,

the temple that was there and still being built

in the time of Jesus. And what does Jesus do?

Jesus again, look at Matthew chapter 23, chapter

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

24, which we have gone through. Jesus says again,

because of all of the corruption, because of

the evil, what is he going to do? He will destroy

this temple and he will raise up his own body

as the new temple, as the new temple. Now in

the context here again, Paul's been warning against

divisions and jealousy and human wisdom. This

is in chapters 1, 2, and 3 of 1st Corinthians,

which we've been looking at. These are not minor

sins. They are acts of temple vandalism. That's

what's going on here. They are vandalizing God's

temple in what they're doing with their factions.

False teachers or divisive leaders who tear down

the unity built on Christ, the only foundation

are in the act of destroying the temple. This

actually sets the stages which we'll get to in

chapter 5 when the incestuous man was to be delivered

to Satan for what? For the destruction of the

flesh so that he might be saved. So we see this

kind of setting the stage there. What was he

doing? He was destroying God's temple by his

actions and they refused to rebuke him or to

remove him from the Christian assembly. Rather

they were accepting him and even delighting in

what he was doing and living with his father's

wife. Another way to defile God's temple is to

introduce idolatrous worship into it. Now many

times, idolatrous worship included sexual immorality.

This kind of defiling worship was quite prevalent

in this time. It happened in a lot of the pagan

religions that were extant in the various places

where God was raising up churches. But we see

how this even came into some of the churches

in Asia, again, when we see Jesus giving them

warning and revelation. to the seven churches

of Asia. Chapter 2 verse 14 to Pergamum he says,

I have a few things against you because you have

there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam who

taught Balak to put a stumbling block before

the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed

to idols and to commit sexual immorality. There

were some in Pergamos or in Pergamum who said

this or who were doing this and encouraging people

to commit sexual adultery probably is a part

of worship. This again is clear to the church

in Thyatira because there he says, nevertheless,

I have few things against you because you allow

that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess

to teach and to seduce my servants to commit

sexual immorality. to eat things sacrificed to

idols and I gave her time to repent of her sexual

immorality and she did not repent indeed I will

cast her into a sickbed and those who commit

adultery with her into great tribulation unless

they repent of their deeds Paul says here if

anyone defiles the temple of God God will destroy

him this is a sober word of warning Number three,

God's temple is holy, therefore you are holy.

The temple is a place of worship, as we mentioned,

and therefore we must understand how to worship

a holy God and in a holy place. Now in order

to understand this more fully, we're going to

turn to the book of Isaiah chapter six, where

Isaiah sees the Lord God Almighty seated on his

throne. This is very instructive for us Hear

the word of the Lord in the year that King Uzziah

died. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne High

and lifted up and the train of his robe filled

the temple Above it stood seraphim each one had

six wings with two He covered his face with two

He covered his feet and with two he flew and

one cried to another and said holy Holy, holy

is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full

of his glory. And the posts of the door were

shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and

the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe

is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of

unclean lips, and I dwell on the midst of a people

of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the

King, the Lord of hosts. then one of the seraphim

flew to me having in his hand a live coal which

he had taken with the tongues from the altar

and he touched my mouth with it and said behold

this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken

away and your sin is purged we get an understanding

of the holiness of god as we look at this passage

about the holiness of god and the undumbness

of man without christ in need And when we come

and we have sins and our sins need to be purged.

I'd like you to note immediately the majesty

and the glory of God's temple. For He is high

and He is lifted up. The train of His robe fills

the temple. This is like the glory cloud of the

Tabernacle and Solomon's temple filled with the

presence of God by the Spirit. And this shows

to us that an understanding of being the temple

of God is we must see God as sovereign, as high,

as lifted up, as ruling over all, and before

whom the earth shakes. And we must see our own

sin and desire it to be taken away. We see that

in the imagery of this. But then we also notice

that above the throne in the temple stood the

Seraphim. What are the seraphim? Well, they're

ministers of God. They are fiery, holy angels,

for so the word means. They are fiery, holy angels

who hover over the throne. This then makes sense

of Psalm 104 verse four, where he says he makes

his ministers a flame of fire. Ministers and

angels to the same words that are used. He makes

his angels, he makes his ministers a flame of

fire. And what happens with these seraphim? If

you can imagine these children as you think about

this, these glorious, huge, angelic beings, well,

they have six wings on them, and with two of

them, they cover their face, and with two of

the wings, they cover their feet, and with two,

they fly. So imagine these fiery... angels of

God flying around in the temple room of God,

hovering over the throne. And then we're going

to see what one of them does in just a moment.

And all the time as they're doing this, they

cry out three times, holy, holy, holy is the

Lord God of hosts. As R .C. Sproul said, we don't

hear of the other attributes of God in this same

way. We think of God as just, but we don't say,

we don't hear in the word of God, God is just,

just, just. Or love, that God is love, love,

love. But with this we do, God is so holy that

it's described in these words, holy, holy, holy.

So incredible is our God. So holy is he. And

as they cry this out in this glorious throne

room of God, the posts of the door of the temple

start to quiver and to shake as the voice of

the angel cries out, and then the house is filled

with smoke. And in this temple, overcome by the

glory and the majesty of God, Isaiah cries out,

Woe is me I am undone Because I'm a man of unclean

lips and I dwell on the people in the midst of

a people of unclean lips For mine eyes have seen

the king the Lord of hosts then one of these

fiery creatures the seraphim They flew to him

and they have a hot coal from the altar and then

he touches Isaiah's mouth and he says this has

touched your lips and so your iniquity is taken

away and your sin is purged. Now we take all

of this imagery that I just described and now

we think of it that we are the temple of God

and that God's spirit dwells right here with

us. Then as we worship God in this holy temple

we must have clean hands and clean hearts and

worship God in spirit and in truth. I'm reminded

of these words after Paul describes this glorious

or the glorious state of the Church of God in

Hebrews chapter 12. He then says in conclusion

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

of that passage, he says, therefore, since we

are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken,

let us have grace by which we may worship God

acceptably. How do we worship God acceptably?

With reverence and godly fear. Do we understand

why now as we look into all of these passages

in the Old and New Testament and we see the glories

of the temple of God and it's residing right

here for dear congregation, you are the temple

of Almighty God and his spirit dwells here with

us. Do we get the picture of how Paul says, the

temple of God is holy and you are this temple.

Therefore, you are holy. You are hagios, a most

holy thing, a saint of God. Brothers and sisters,

then let us live and act in a way befitting our

station and calling. Therefore, in the congregation

and the assembly in our bodies, understand who

you are. Understand who you are and that you

are created for worship and for fellowship with

God and with his people. And so, in the assembly

of God's people, in the congregation, in God's

temple, we should live, we should act, we should

speak, and we should dress in a holy manner with

reverence toward God and love for one another.

This means not living together with envy, strife,

division, and factions, as I already mentioned.

This means that the Word of God must be spoken.

It must be preached. It must be sung and prayed

with the power of the Holy Spirit. The worship

of God is to be done in good order and not with

babblings and confusion. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians

14 and verse 40, that in the public worship service,

let all things be done decently and in order

and in first timothy chapter two verse nine and

ten the women are admonished to be adorned in

appropriate clothes that are well arranged beautiful

seemly and modest with propriety and moderation

and not to be ostentatious or to flaunt their

wealth or their bodies this is also part dwelling

in the temple that God has made and has given

to us all is to be done in the recognition that

we are God's temple and God's temple is holy

and therefore we are holy I'd like to wrap this

up with just a few a few applications first of

all I want to set something straight right now

because right now If you read the news media

at all, there's a big conversation going on about

the rebuilding of the third temple on the Temple

Mount in Jerusalem and that somehow this fits

into the war against Iran. I would just like

to say categorically that the belief that a third

temple must be rebuilt is a false and a wrong

interpretation. It is in no way in mind in this

passage or in my sermon today. The new temple,

the third temple, if there is such a thing in

that way is the Church of Jesus Christ. That

is the temple of God. The Roman Emperor Julian

the Apostate attempted this. He attempted to

rebuild the third temple as a building. But the

Roman historian Marcellinus records this. He

says, although this alpius pushed the work on

with vigor, aided by the governor of the province.

Terrifying balls of flame kept bursting forth

near the foundations of the temple and made the

place inaccessible to the workmen. He continues,

some of the workmen were burned to death. And

since in this way, the elements persistingly

repelled them, the enterprise was halted. That's

what happened when somebody tried to build the

third temple. So, do not take part, dear brothers

and sisters, in hoping for the rebuilding of

a third temple. It is here and it is Christ's

Church. Secondly, this also shows forth the importance

of the corporate worship and that we are regular

in attendance and we're part of it. We are part

of the temple of God. We are the temple. And

so we need, we are urged throughout the passage

of scripture, we are to make sure that we are

there, that we don't forsake the assembly, that

we don't forsake the gathering, but that we worship

God in a corporate manner. Of course, we all

know that we're all to worship God singly and

in our homes, but there's something about the

corporate gathering, the temple that is the temple

of God that is different than simply staying

at home and worshiping God there. Pastor Joseph

Spurgeon makes this observation and I heartily

concur with this. He says, as the temple of God

is built, we do this in corporate worship together

on the new Sabbath day. the Lord's Day. Brethren,

he says, I say this to reinforce that the Lord's

Day in gathering together is very important and

should only be missed on rare occasions of sickness

or travel, in which case seek out another faithful

church to attend. The apostles, under the authority

of the risen Lord, consistently gather the church

on the first day of the week. Under the old covenant,

God tied the Sabbath to the completion of the

old creation. and to Israel's redemption from

Egypt in Deuteronomy 5. Under the new covenant,

Christ ties the day to his resurrection and the

new creation. The moral principle of Sabbath

remains, one day in seven, holy to the Lord.

Let us gather together as the people of God.

This should be very important for us and in our

lives. Thirdly then, church, You have a glorious

and a wonderful inheritance. Those who teach

and preach in this temple of God must make sure

that they teach and build up the congregation

with the wisdom of God and not the foolishness

of men or man's wisdom. The congregation, though,

you all have a part to play in this as you are

the ones who affirm the calling and the qualifications

of your ministers. For Paul warns Timothy of

the time that will come. when those who hear

will not endure sound doctrine, but according

to their own desires, because they have itching

ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers,

and they will turn their ears away from the truth

and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4, 3

and 4. Let it not be so among us, but brothers,

and sisters, the congregation, let us embrace

our status and calling as the temple of God.

With wise and godly ministers and as faithful

members of the household of God, let us use our

gifts in service to the Lord. And again, I go

back to Hebrews 12, 28. Therefore, since we are

receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let

us have grace. by which we may worship God acceptably

with reverence and godly fear for our God is

a consuming fire. Let's pray.