Where On Earth Does God Live?

Okay, I got a short time and a lot of cut a lot to cover.

Just a quick testimony.

My life has been overwhelmed by grace.

Nothing has changed my life more than understanding or getting a revelation of grace.

It's really getting a revelation of the finished work of Christ for me.

It's really what it is.

And there's so much to discover in the Word about this until you'll spend the rest of your life in that discovery process.

Matter of fact, you're going to spend the rest of eternity in that discovery process of all that Jesus died to give and Jesus died to do.

So the word is filled with it.

Matter of fact, the word itself says that God is filled with grace.

Did you know that God was full of it?

He is.

He's full of grace.

John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Without Him was not anything made that was made.

He skips a few verses and said, And we beheld His glory.

The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of two things.

They saw Jesus, and in the seeing of Jesus, they saw God.

The glory of God reflected in Christ.

And when they saw God as He is, they saw two things.

They saw what?

Grace and truth.

They saw grace and truth.

God is filled with grace and He's filled with truth.

Alright, now let me give you some fine print on this message today.

I'm going to ask you to concentrate through the first part of it, through the first, well, nearly all of it.

I'm going to ask you to concentrate.

At the end, you're not going to have to concentrate.

Alright?

All of this leads to a conclusion.

And the conclusion of this will change your life.

I want you to leave today with one.

It's a simple truth, but it's profound.

One simple, profound truth.

And in order to get there, I'm going to have to take you through a pattern that exists in the Word.

Now, the title of the message today is Where on Earth Does God Live?

And what we're going to see is a pattern of the dwelling places of God on earth.

Alright, let's just jump in 1 Kings chapter 8.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

Look in verse 12.

It says, And Solomon said, The Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick cloud.

I have surely built thee a lofty house, and Solomon was building the temple, a place for thy dwelling place.

Now look in verse 26.

Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be confirmed, which thou hast spoken to thy servant, my father David.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth?

Behold, heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain thee.

How much less this house which I have built?

Now obviously he's referring to the temple.

But God has chosen to express his life and express his presence on earth.

Does it mean that earth contains all of God in any measure?

But the manifested presence of God, the reality of the presence of God, has always been a part of the earth's presence.

Where on earth does God live?

We're going to look at four dwelling places today.

Alright?

We're going to look at God's primary house.

We're going to look at his pattern house.

We're going to look at his perfect house.

And then we're going to look at his permanent house.

Those four things.

And you're going to see this pattern all the way through the Word of God.

Now, right off the top, I want you to understand something.

Remember this.

God will not live in a dirty house.

He will not dwell in a dirty house.

He will not dwell in a desecrated house.

He will not live in a house that is tainted with sin.

He will not live there.

He cannot live there.

It's a violation of his nature.

God destroys anything that has sin attached to it.

If he brushes up against it, it ceases to exist.

God will not live in a dirty house.

Heard a story one time about these fraternity boys in college, and they found this goat wandering around.

They decided to adopt the goat as their mascot for their fraternity teams.

Then they got to thinking about it.

We don't have any money.

Where are we going to keep this goat?

So they got to think we're going to have to sell the goat or get rid of it or give it away or something.

And so they're having a meeting talking about what they're going to do with the goat.

And one of the boys said, I'll tell you what we'll do.

I'll just take the goat up to my room in the fraternity house and he can live in my room.

Another guy says, Well, you can't do that.

And he said, Why not?

He said, Because of the smell.

He said, That won't be any problem.

The goat will get used to it in a little while.

Now listen, fraternity boys will live in a dirty house, but God will not live in a dirty house.

Keep that thought in your mind.

Now, I want you to think about this first of all.

Look at God's primary house, his first house.

Genesis 2.27.

And his first house was Adam.

Genesis chapter 2, verse 7.

Genesis 2:7

Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

So God created Adam, and he created him a house of three rooms.

Adam was created body, soul, and spirit.

Just as you are.

Out of the dust of the ground, God formed Adam, his body.

He had physical life.

He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

The nostrils, the breath of God means the spirit of God.

Ruach is the Hebrew word.

So Adam became a living spirit.

He had spiritual life.

And then it says he became a living soul.

He had soulish life or emotional life.

That's why it says in Thessalonians 5.23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved, complete without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your body, soul, and spirit be preserved, fully and totally and wholly at the coming of Jesus.

So this house was a house designed.

First of all, it was designed with three rooms: body, soul, and spirit.

With his body, Adam knew natural things, roughly the world beneath him.

With his soul or his psyche, he understands psychological life and emotional life.

He understands fellowship with other human beings, those sorts of issues.

And with his spirit, he knows God.

He has spiritual life and he's a spiritual being.

So, when his or my body is right, I am what?

When my body is right, I'm what?

I'm healthy.

When my soul is right, I'm what?

I'm happy.

Y'all are not tracking on this side.

These people over here are.

When my soul is right, I'm happy.

When my spirit is right, I'm what?

I'm holy.

When everything is right with me, I am healthy, I'm happy, and I'm holy.

Adam was a house of three rooms body, soul, and spirit.

Now, Genesis 3.6 says something.

I want you to see not only a house designed, but it was also a house desecrated.

Genesis 3.6 says, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also her husband with her, and he ate.

You understand what happened when they ate of the forbidden fruit, right?

What did they do?

What do we call that?

We call that sin.

They sinned, they rebelled, they went against God.

It was a house, first of all, designed by God, but secondly, it was desecrated by sin.

Adam defiled his temple with sin.

So it became a house desecrated.

As soon as the house becomes desecrated, it then quickly becomes a house desolated, meaning that God moves out, God leaves, God separates himself from Adam and Eve.

And he did that.

As a matter of fact, he put guards against his own ability to come and to be with them.

He separated himself, and in that desolation, God just baptized them in his absence.

God moved out.

It was a house designed, a house desecrated, a house desolated, and fourthly, Adam was a house destroyed.

And you have a pattern that will continue all the way through the Word.

God destroyed the house.

Genesis 2, 17 says, For in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely what?

Die.

And that's what spiritual death is.

That's what death really is, is separation from God.

Thanatos is the Greek word.

So Adam died spiritually.

Now, this death of Adam, let me just explain it just for a moment.

When Adam sinned, and the Bible says that he died, did he die that day or not?

Well, yes, he did, but no, he didn't.

Here's how it works.

In his spirit, he died.

He was separated from God.

He experienced spiritual death.

He died immediately in his spirit.

He died progressively in his soul, and he died ultimately in his body.

What the word really means is dying you shall die.

The spirit of death came into Adam's life.

And that's where physical death ultimately came from.

Spiritual death happened immediately.

Every person in the universe today, every person in the world today is a part of the spiritual life of God, or they are spiritually dead, incapable of responding as they are to the Spirit of God.

That's why Timothy says, or Paul says to Timothy, he says, a natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God.

They are foolishness to him.

He cannot respond.

So Adam died.

It was a house destroyed.

So you see that pattern all the way through the word.

The second house, not only is God's primary house, the second house is his pattern house.

The pattern house is the temple or the tabernacle.

As a matter of fact, the tabernacle came before the temple.

But the temple was built exactly according to the same pattern.

It has an outer house, an inner house, and an innermost dwelling place.

Those three areas in that house, just like Adam: body, soul, and spirit.

The temple is based upon outer court, inner court, holy of holies.

Exactly the same pattern.

A house of three rooms.

The outer court of the temple corresponds with the body.

In the outer court, that's where sacrifices were made.

That's where blood sacrifices were offered.

At the brazen altar of sacrifice, for example.

Our bodies is where sacrifices are made for us.

We are to present our bodies as sacrifices to God.

That's what the New Testament says.

The inner court corresponds with the soul.

It's a place of fellowship.

It's a place of the first place in the temple of supernatural light, really.

A fellowship with God.

The inner court represents our what?

Our spirit.

Our spirit life or spirit man.

That's where God dwells.

And the glory of God came to dwell in the temple.

In those days, if you wanted to walk up to somebody and say, you know, where does God live?

They would say, He's right over there in that building.

He's right there.

I wouldn't suggest you go over there and talk to him, but he's in there.

That's where he was, in the inner court.

So, the temple was a house designed by God.

As a matter of fact, he said, pay attention that everything in the temple is built according to pattern.

He commanded Solomon to build everything exactly as he said.

Every piece of clothing that the priest wore, every piece of furniture, the wood in it was exactly cut even, in exactly the manner that God prescribed.

Everything in it, it was one big object lesson, is what it was.

It was a house designed.

Secondly, it was a house desecrated.

Matthew 21, 13, in the New Testament, Herod's temple is spoken of.

And he said this to them It is written, Jesus said, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a robber's den or a den of thieves.

God designed it, they desecrated it.

As a matter of fact, that's just the tip of the iceberg of what was done in the temple.

God designed it, they desecrated it.

Now remember the pattern.

God designs it, man desecrates it, then it's desolated.

Meaning God leaves or God moves, God moves out.

Matthew 23, 38, Jesus says, Behold, your house has been left unto you desolate.

Talking about the temple.

Now before he said, My father's house shall be called a house of prayer.

You've made it a robber's end.

Now he's saying, your house has been left unto you desolate.

God wasn't there anymore.

He didn't dwell there anymore.

He wasn't around it anymore.

So Sabbath after Sabbath, they trudged to the temple, keeping a godless Sabbath in a godless temple.

Now think about that a moment and translate it to modern times.

I won't go into that, but I'll let you think about that.

God had left.

God wasn't there.

His absence was manifest.

God was gone.

They kept going, but he was gone.

They had religious services, but he was gone.

They offered sacrifices, but he was gone.

He simply wasn't there.

It's your house now, not mine.

And then it was a house destroyed, not only desolated, but destroyed.

Designed, desecrated, desolated, then destroyed.

They said to Jesus, look at all these stones.

You remember that?

And he said, I tell you, there'll not be one stone left upon another.

And in 70 AD, Nero totally demolished the temple.

There's absolutely not one stone left upon another.

And Jesus prophesied that.

The temple has never been rebuilt in Jerusalem.

And again, that's something else I'm not going into, but that's a whole study in itself.

It was a house destroyed.

God will not live in a dirty house.

He will not live in a desecrated house.

Third pattern here, third house here is the perfect house.

God's perfect house, a dwelling place on earth.

And his perfect house was Jesus.

The perfect house is Jesus.

John chapter 2, verse 19 says this.

John 2:19

The Jews therefore said, It took 46 years to build this temple, and you'll raise it up in three days.

But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

Jesus Christ was a house designed by the Father.

He was a perfect house.

He was perfect in his body, he was perfect in his soul, he was perfect in his spirit.

Absolutely no sin.

He was a house designed, but he was also a house desecrated.

2 Corinthians 5.21 says, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself.

Behold, John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

So Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself willingly, and the perfect Son of God, the perfect Lamb of God, became sin that we might become something else.

We who were sin, Jesus took sin that we might become someone else.

The perfect Lamb of God became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

So he was a house desecrated.

And then he was a house desolated.

You remember his prayer on the cross?

What did he pray?

A house desolated.

God left.

God withdrew.

The father left.

The father cannot live in a dirty house.

Even if that house is his son.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Now, if God had ever been tempted in any way to contradict his own character and accommodate sin, he would have done it for his only son.

But God cannot live in a dirty house.

And then Jesus not only was a house designed, a house desecrated, a house desolated, he was also a house what?

Destroyed.

He was a house destroyed.

And suspended between heaven and earth on the cross.

The Bible says that he gave up his spirit.

He was spiritually, physically, and emotionally dead.

God won't live in a dirty house.

God won't live in a dirty house.

And you'll never understand grace until you see it against the backdrop of what it cost God to get it.

You'll never appreciate it until you understand what it costs the Father to extend it.

You'll never understand grace nor appreciate it in the fullest extent until you understand how magnanimous and great God is toward you.

Now listen, God won't live in a dirty house.

Primary house is Adam, the pattern house is the temple.

The perfect house is Jesus.

Now let's look at his permanent house.

His permanent dwelling place on earth.

You're looking at it.

You're looking at it.

Right here.

I'm God's permanent house.

And so are you if you know Jesus.

I am God's permanent dwelling place on earth.

1 Corinthians 6.19 says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you're not your own?

John 14, 16, Jesus said, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter, another like me, who will abide or live in you, be with you, abide with you forever.

Forever.

Your body became the temple of the Holy Spirit when you received Christ, when you were born again.

And the promise is that the comforter will be with you forever.

The Spirit of God will dwell with you forever.

I'm God's permanent house.

God will not live in a dirty house.

And I'm God's permanent dwelling place on earth.

What's your conclusion then?

It's not going to take any thought, really, for this.

No deep revelations.

It's just the truth.

God will not live in a dirty house, and I am God's permanent dwelling place.

What's your conclusion then?

What conclusion do you come to?

What is the natural, normal conclusion that any thoughtful and thinking human being will come to?

God will not live in a dirty house.

God will not live in a dirty dwelling place, and I am God's permanent dwelling place on earth.

What's my conclusion?

I'm not dirty.

I am not dirty.

I can have a dirty thought, but I'm not dirty.

I can do a dirty deed, but I'm not dirty.

I can have an evil action, but I'm not evil.

Don't you get this?

Don't you get this?

Don't you understand that this is a permanent, this is a uh an absolute, unchangeable situation for you.

It's something that God did.

He fixed you so he could live in you forever.

And he will not live in a dirty house.

That means you're fixed forever as clean.

It's almost beyond belief that I'm not dirty.

I'm not dirty.

I'm not dirty.

Isaiah one eighteen says, though your sins are as scarlet.

They shall be white as snow.

Hebrews ten he says, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

You remember, but he doesn't.

See, being righteous isn't an activity.

It's not an action on your part, it's a state of being.

Being clean is your state of being.

You can do something wrong, but you aren't.

Wrong.

You weren't a mistake.

It's all done from God's end of things.

Though your sins be crimson, they shall be like wool.

Meaning that the blood of Christ has cleansed you of your sins.

You and you, if you know Christ, are in a perpetual, eternal state of cleanliness.

You're clean.

You're accepted.

When God sees you, he doesn't see you as sinful.

He sees you as holy.

You're as holy as Jesus is holy.

You're as clean as Jesus is clean.

And that will change your life.

Now let me ask you, does hearing that kind of thing make you want to run out and sin a bunch?

Does it?

Just can't wait to get out of here so I can send some because it's not going to be laid to my account.

Now, see, if that's the way you think, I seriously doubt whether or not you know Jesus.

That's honest truth.

Because in one, in one in whom the Spirit of God dwells, these new creations in Christ that we have become.

Jesus didn't come to modify your behavior, it came to make you a new creation in Christ.

You're a different human being.

You aren't what you were.

You're new.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

And these new creations in Christ, do not think anymore about what I can get away with.

This is the foundation of our passion for Christ and loving God.

And it captures our hearts, and we're overwhelmed with his grace, and we find ourselves crying at the hottest times and overwhelmed with joy at the other odd times.

You understand?

It gets all different.

You don't have to pump up your passion for Christ.

If you'll get grace, if you'll understand the finished work of Christ and begin believing it, you'll never lie for passion for God ever again in all of your life.

You won't have to stir that within you.

You'll hear a worship song and not for joy.

Issues concerning salvation, issues concerning security, issues concerning spirituality.

All those issues are there for you to discover.

Okay, one thing I want you to take away with you today.

What is that?

Three words.

A contracted word, but a contraction.

What is it?

Let's put it in the other sense.

It's not that I'm clean, but I'm not dirty.

I'm not dirty.

I'm not dirty.

Stand up, let me pray for you.

The body of Christ.

The temple of God.

Right here before us.

The dwelling place of God on earth.

God will not live in a dirty house.

That means that we're not dirty.

Lord, I pray you'll bless these dear ones with revelation.

That they'll wake up some morning soon.

And know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Lord, I finally begin to comprehend the finished work of Christ on my behalf.

Lord, I pray that they might begin waking up with a sense of well-being because of the work of Christ in them.

That they'll begin to appreciate more deeply than ever before the great gift that we've all been given.

And the genius behind the gift, and the power behind the gift, and the great sacrifice behind the gift.

And the great love that the gift surely testifies to.

And those that don't know you, Lord, I pray that today they might come and say, Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Savior.

I commit my life to you.

I ask you to come.

Dwell in my mortal body.

Come and change me.

Open my heart to you.

I ask you to cleanse me of my sin.

Draw them to yourself, O Lord.

Bless your people now, Father.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.