Where God Lives

We're going to be in Exodus chapter 36 in our Bibles, Exodus chapter 36.

Exodus 36 · chapter mention Exodus 36 · chapter mention

And the title of the sermon today, if you're taking notes, is Where God Lives.

This is sermon number 92 through the book of Exodus.

We have been working verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and we will cover verses 8 to 38 in Exodus chapter 36.

Exodus 36 · chapter mention

We've been working through the series.

I've titled Leave in the Darkness, where we watch Moses lead the people of Israel out of darkness into the light, out of slavery under the hands of Pharaoh, into the promised land.

Really not away from a relationship worshiping pagan gods, into a relationship worshiping the true God, worshiping Yahweh.

And as you know, the story of Exodus, the story of Moses is very colorful, very, very beautiful.

So many different things within the stories to look at and to really preach from.

And so it's been a joy week after week just looking at the text from a different angle and seeing what the Lord has for us.

Again, sermon number 92.

We are almost done.

We will wrap this thing here, I'm imagining, uh, within a couple weeks, said every pastor, right?

Uh just Exodus chapter 40, we will land this thing.

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

Heard of a story, maybe you heard of this one.

Three contractors were touring the White House, one each from New York, uh, one from one from New York, one from Missouri, one from Florida.

And the guard said, We need a rare fence redone.

Uh, why don't you give me your bids on this fence and we'll get it going?

So the Florida contractor he measured and he said it's gonna be 900 bucks, okay?

400 materials, 400 crew, and 100 profits.

The Missouri contractor measured and said it's gonna be like 700.

I think I'm gonna do it 700 with 300 materials, 300 for the crew and$100 profits.

The New York contractor, he he didn't measure anything.

He just said 2,700.

So you didn't even measure.

How did you get that number?

He says, easy.

1,000 for me, 1,000 for you, and we hired the guy from Missouri to do it.

Thank you.

Well, I didn't think it would work, honestly, but this worked.

Today before us is the building project of the tabernacle, a building joke uh for a building project chapter.

And we will watch them literally start to build the tabernacle before us.

A lot of details.

Um, but I want to ask you this question this morning before we dive in.

Where does God live?

Where do you think God lives today?

Now I'm not asking where God is.

God is everywhere.

David asked, Where can I flee from your presence?

Uh and the answer was nowhere.

This is Psalm 139.

But that's not my question.

My question is, where does God live?

Where has he chosen to make his home, to really unpack his bags, uh, to be met, to be dined with?

And that question has been something the human heart and of course the church has been asking since the Garden of Eden.

Every religion on the earth is searching for God's address per se.

People climb mountains, they light candles, they travel to shrines, asking all the same thing, where can I find God?

They go on these pilgrimages to try to find God.

And here in this chapter, we we see a chapter full of curtains, uh full of hoops and clasps and uh the boards and the molding of silver and gold.

And here in the middle of it, God answers the question.

And his answer, I think, will will surprise you as we look at the whole of the Bible to see where God is today.

We're in Exodus chapter 36.

Exodus 36 · chapter mention

We'll read uh from verse 8.

Uh let's stand for the reading of God's word.

We always stand for the reading of God's word to pay honor to him and to remember whose word we're reading.

Not my words, they all belong to him.

We stand to honor him and to remember his word.

Exodus chapter 38, take a look at verse 8.

Exodus 38 · chapter mention

Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze from the mirrors of the serving of the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

Then he made the court.

I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter.

I'm looking at that, I'm like, now I know this is part of the construction detail, but I'm definitely two pages over.

Sorry about that.

Exodus chapter 36, verse 8.

Exodus 36:8

Some of you were looking at your translations like he's got a new translation.

Another one.

No, here we go, verse 8.

And all those wise at heart among those who were doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material with cherubim, the work of a skillful designer, uh, Bezalel made them.

The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits.

All the curtains had the same measurements.

Uh he joined five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he joined to one another.

He made loops of blue, and on the edge of the outermost curtains in the first set, he did likewise on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set.

He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set.

The loops were opposite each other.

He made fifty clasps of gold and joined the curtains to one another with the clasp, so that the tabernacle was one unit.

Then he made the curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle.

He made eleven curtains in all.

The length of each curtain was thirty cubits and four cubits, and the width of each curtain, the eleven curtains had the same measurements.

He joined five curtains by themselves, and the other six curtains by themselves.

Moreover, he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtains that was outermost in the first set.

He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set.

He made fifty cloths of bronze to join the tent together so that it would be a unit.

He made a covering for the tent of ram skin dyed red, and the covering of porpoise skin above.

Then he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood standing upright.

Ten cubits was the length of each board, and one and a half cubits with the width of each board.

There were two tenons for each board fitted to one another, thus he did for all the boards of the tabernacle.

And he made the boards for the tabernacle twenty boards for the south side, and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two tenant tenons, and two bases under another four board for its two tenants.

Then for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side he made twenty boards, and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one board, and two bases under another board.

For the rear of the tabernacle to the west he made six boards, and he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear, and they were separated beneath, but were together at their completion at the top.

At the first ring, thus he did with both of them for the two corners.

And there was eight boards with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under every board.

Then he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and the five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the rear side of the west, and he made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end.

He also overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

More moreover, he made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen.

He made it with cherubim, the work of a skillful designer.

He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold, and their hooks of gold, and he cast four bases of silver for them.

And he made a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and of purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver.

And he made its five pillars with their hooks, and he overlaid their tops and their bands with gold, but their five bases were bronze.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for these blueprints.

Very intricate, very detailed, very precise.

And you have given it to us to know and see and understand that this was just not thrown together.

But you had specific reasons and a specific way that you wanted the tabernacle to be built, the tent of meeting that you would dwell in in the middle of the camp.

And we ask God that as we look at these details, as we analyze the big picture of all of this, of what you're up to and what you're doing, that we would find where you dwell, where you live, where you desire to be, and we would see every detail.

We ask it now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Pastor Josh, why would you do that to us?

Um, because you probably wouldn't do it on your own.

Uh when you get to this chapter, you're like, bunch of details, next.

Um, but when you're forced to work through it and just hear me rattle like that, um, you're like, geez, that's intricate.

That's very detailed.

Um, every single piece and the way it came together, and God stacking the D.

He literally, this is not some made-up story.

Like, if it was a made-up story, we would we would have left this out.

This is a waste of time.

Uh, but it is actual blueprints written thousands of years ago from history of what God was telling his people to do in the building of the tabernacle.

And you remember we looked at it our last time together, the importance of the designers.

A little context for you.

After the golden calf in chapter 32, Israel nearly lost everything, but God forgave them, and Moses, we know, interceded, and the people got a second chance.

Last week we saw, or last time together in the text, we saw Bezalel and Hoalab called and gifted men, and we watched the people give so generously that Moses actually had to tell the people to stop giving.

Do you remember that?

Can you imagine a pastor saying that to his church?

Stop giving.

We're actually not going to call for any offering whatsoever ever again, because you have given above and beyond to which we don't even know what to do with.

Now, we see in the text that the hammers actually started swinging.

And here's what I want you to notice about this construction project is that chapter 36 is almost word for word repeated of chapter 26.

Now, why in the world would God repeat the blueprint?

He's doing it again here in 36 because the people actually start building it.

So the blueprint is given in 26, but actually says that he and the craftsman start doing the work of the intricate details.

Same curtains, same loops, same class.

And why would God repeat this?

Again, the repetition is the message.

He's trying to speak about every detail.

He told them how to do it.

Now they're walking in obedience and actually doing every detail of it.

Amazing.

That God would say to do something, and then people actually do it exactly as he says to do it.

Point number one, if you're taking notes, God's house is built God's way.

God's house is built God's way.

Look at verse 18 to 19.

That text there, we see 10 curtains of fine twisted linen woven with blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim worked right into the fabric, 50 loops on the edge, uh, 50 loops on the other edge, 50 cloths of gold to join them together, and then 11 curtains of goat's hair, 50 more loops, 50 cloths of bronze, and then ram skin dyed red, and the tougher outer covering that goes over the whole thing.

As we're looking at these loops and all of them, I no doubt know that some of you might have drifted off around the loops.

But don't miss out on what's happening here.

Back in 32, Israel decided to worship God their way.

Uh they melted down their jewelry and made a calf, and they worship that calf as God, and it ended in disaster.

Um but four chapters later, the same people build exactly what God said down to the last loop, not 49, 50 to be exact.

Every single one, they they melt down their jewelry and their precious things, and they build something exactly as God has would tell them to do with the gold given to them by God.

Not a golden calf now, now a tabernacle for God's glory.

They're walking in obedience.

And this is a nation that has learned something the hard way that God gets to decide how he is approached, and they say, Whatever you say, Lord, we want to do.

Notice those inner curtains with the cherubim stitched in them.

When a priest stood inside the glow of the lampstand, inside the tent, he looked up and saw an angel wings against blue fabric.

It was like standing in a little piece of heaven's throne room.

And that's what God was building: a place where heaven would meet earth, where we would touch ground, where God would actually dwell.

They would get a glimpse of his throne room.

God hasn't changed.

He still cares about the details in our lives today.

We tend to think obedience matters in the big things.

Don't murder, don't steal, don't cheat on your spouse.

But God also cares about the loops and the clasps of your life.

How you talk to your kids, what you do with your eyes, whether you keep your word with someone, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Jesus said in John 14, 15, if you love me, you'll keep my commands.

Let me add it.

If you love me, you'll love to keep my commands.

Not some of them.

Say, Lord, I want to walk in all your ways.

I love you, Lord.

You've been so good to me.

Walking with you is a blessing, not a cursing.

You've come to give me life.

I want to walk with you in every detail.

It doesn't mean we get every clasp right.

It doesn't mean we get every loop right.

But that the desire of the heart is to bless him in every detail of our lives.

Allow it to get personal for us.

Where are you building your life from?

What instructions are you using to build your life?

What blueprint do you go to?

Um, have you said about the blueprints?

Well, it's close enough.

About the instructions given by God, the command.

Well, my life, it's close enough.

It's kind of in that general area.

You know what I mean?

It's like when you build a bookshelf and you there's like 20 pieces over there after IKEA, you're like, what are the what are those?

What are those for?

Who cares?

You put the books in it, the whole thing collapses, you know what I mean?

I missed the part.

Remember, obedience isn't legalism.

Legalism tries to earn God's love.

Legalism adds to God's law.

Obedience simply responds to God's commands.

Obedience responds to God's call.

Legalism is adding to God's law.

Don't you know?

I spent a thousand hours in prayer this month.

Thank you very much.

How much did you pray this month?

I not only obey God's commands, but I obey my own commands, and I think you should obey my commands.

You should pray a thousand hours like me, and then you'll be holy.

Oh, legalism.

Adding to God's law.

No, God just requires obedience.

And obedience is a heart surrendered to Him.

It says, Lord, I want to obey you in every clasp and every loop of my life.

I want to give it all to you.

Help me to walk in your ways.

Israel didn't build the tabernacle to get to God to get God to love them.

He had already rescued them out of Egypt and He had forgiven their sin for the golden calf.

They built it because He loved them and was forgiving and generous and gracious, and they wanted to be near to their God.

They didn't do it because they had to, they did it because they wanted to.

And that's a bummer if we're like, I gotta walk in obedience because I have to, you're missing the whole thing.

Still acting like a child.

That's what children do, right?

I have to obey my mother and father.

No, but as you grow up and you become a mother and father, you realize, like, no, no, I'm doing this because I love you and I'm trying to get you to walk in the right way.

It's a blessing for your life.

If you listen to your mom and dad, it's gonna go well for you.

The same is true for us with the Father.

I don't do walk in obedience because I have to, I do it because I want to, Lord.

I know it's just gonna bring great blessing into my life.

Hebrews chapter 8, verse 5 talked about this, that they served in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven.

Hebrews 8:5

For when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God gave him this very warning.

This is Hebrews chapter 8, the New Living Translation.

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

For when Moses is getting ready to build the tabernacle, God gave him this warning.

Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on this mountain.

He's like, Be careful, do it according to what I said.

I'm doing something here.

But in 1 Samuel 15, verse 22, Samuel replied, What is more pleasing to you, Lord?

1 Samuel 15:22

Your burnt offerings and sacrifice, or your obedience to his voice?

And then he said, Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

God asked us to walk in his ways, and instead we walk in our ways and then bring a sacrifice to cover our sins.

Like, I'm not gonna do obedience, I'm just gonna sin a lot, and then I'm just gonna bring a sacrifice to cover it up.

It's very interesting.

Why don't we just walk in obedience?

Let that be the offering, let that be the gift to God.

Instead, we walk in disobedience, and then we bring Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world over and over and say, Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

And God is gracious and he's good.

But you hope that all that forgiveness and grace would produce just something simple.

Instead of pulling the sacrifice card over and over and just say, Lord, I love you.

Here's my offering.

I give you my life of obedience.

I want to walk with you.

And again, it's not a burden, it's not a bad thing to do that.

You actually receive all kinds of blessings just in walking with them.

You don't create all these problems for your life.

Just listen to the Lord.

It's amazing.

He says, Walk with me.

And you think it would be a treacherous, difficult, you know, overwhelming thing, and it's just gonna cause everything, you know, bad in life if you do the thing of obedience to God, submission unto God, and it actually ends up being a blessing for your life.

Tiny deviations matter, especially when the whole point is to see the glory of God clearly.

In April 1990, NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope, a$1.5 billion machine designed to give us the clearest look at the universe in history.

The first pictures came back blurry.

They spent$1.5 billion and launched it.

And the first pictures came back blurry.

Engineers discovered the main mirror had been ground to the wrong shape.

How far off was it?

About 2.2 microns at the edge.

That's roughly 115th the width of a human hair.

Fifteenth of a human hair smaller than a human hair.

A mistake that could never be seen with your eyes, left the most expensive telescope ever built, nearly useless, until astronauts flew up to fix it in 1993.

1.5 billion on the project, it doesn't work for three years.

It is the small seeds, though.

It is the small details.

And as you walk, the longer you walk with you know, when you first come turn to the Lord, life is just oftentimes such a mess.

You're just like, um, I don't even know where to begin.

There's so much trash everywhere.

Like, God, my life's a mess.

Um, I'm just gonna turn to you.

And that's the best thing you could ever do.

You don't clean up your life and come to God.

You come to God and He will clean up life, no doubt.

You just turn to Him, that's step one.

But as you've been walking with the Lord for a little while, um, really details definitely matter.

And you can see the details of your heart and the variation in your mind.

And watch how just one degree off on the compass could send you in a completely wrong direction.

One bitter, one bitter thing in our hearts can literally send us the other direction.

John 10.10, Jesus said, The thief has come to tell you and to teach you that he's gonna steal from you, kill you, and destroy you.

But Jesus says, I have come to give you life and to give you life and that abundantly.

In Jeremiah 7.23, God says, Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people.

Do everything as I say, and all will be well with you.

God's like, I created life.

I made the game board.

I know it.

I'm telling you, play according to my ways, and you will win.

If you do not, it will not go well with you.

It's very simple.

Even a child can understand.

But adults, we do gymnastics, we we do all kinds of twirly things to get ourselves out of just walking with the Lord.

We have all kinds of mental gymnastics we'll pull off.

Justifications and why, and this and that, and all the reasons we stack and convince ourselves, self-deceive.

It's simple.

God gave details about building the blueprint of his house, and he wants it exactly the way that he has said it.

He doesn't want anything else.

Use the jewelry, build it correctly, exactly as I said it, and it will go well.

Use the jewelry for other things, you're gonna be worshiping other gods.

It's not gonna go well.

Point number two, if you're taking notes, the veil kept us out, but Christ has welcomed us in.

Verse 20 to 34 describe the skeleton of the building, uh, forty-eight upright frames of acacia wood, about fifteen feet tall, each one standing on two bases of silver, and the whole thing overlaid with gold.

I mean, unbelievable amounts of gold.

We talked about it last time in the text.

And this was a building made to be taken apart and carried over and over.

This tabernacle would be set up and torn down.

It was this giant, amazing tent.

When Israel moved, God moved with the tent.

He wasn't a distant deity sitting on a far mountain or up on some planet.

He was camping with his people in the wilderness and going with them in the tent.

The Hebrew word for tabernacle is Mishkan.

It simply means a dwelling place.

And God was saying, I'm moving into the neighborhood.

I'm going to dwell with you.

I am going to dwelling place with you as you dwell in your tents.

Then come verse 35 and 36, Bezalel weaves a veil, a thick curtain of blue and purple and scarlet, with cherubim on it, hung on four pillars of gold.

Uh, behind that veil was the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant sat.

Remember, the mercy seat was the lid, two giant cherubims, solid gold on them.

And um, I wonder what the Ark of the Covenant was worth, to be honest.

This thing's solid gold.

Uh, no wonder everybody wanted this thing.

Um, but you pushed back the lid, the mercy seat, and you saw the Ten Commandments, you saw a bowl of manna, and you saw Aaron's rod that budded almonds.

Um, but this holy place where the ark sat, uh, there was a hard truth about this veil.

Um, nobody was allowed to go in there, and I mean nobody, not you, not me, not even the regular priests, only the high priests once a year on Yom Kippur on the Day of Atonement could enter, and they could only enter by blood, and they had bells around the bottom of their robe, and they had a rope tied to their leg, uh shaking so that everybody could hear when they entered, lest they be struck dead for the sins of the people, the bells would ring, and uh, if the bells stop ringing, then they were dead.

Just pull the rope, you'll drag the dead body out.

How many priests died in the Holy of Holies?

Do we have recorded?

We have people touching uh the ark and bringing strange fire and being put to death for that, but we don't have any recorded place of people actually being struck dead on the Day of Atonement.

Pretty amazing.

It's a grace, for no doubt God should have trucked dead many high priests.

Those cherubim on the veil.

Um, the last time that we saw cherubim in the Bible at this point is they are stationed at east of Eden with flaming swords guarding the way back to God.

Genesis chapter 3, verse 24.

Genesis 3:24

So the cherubim, the last time we saw them, Adam and Eve have been kicked out of the garden, and the cherubim are standing there, guarding the entrance of God.

Interesting, the cherubims are now standing there on the veil, on the mercy seat, guarding the entrance of God, and no one is allowed to go in there.

It's the same message: God is near, but sin will keep you out.

That's what was happening in the middle of the camp.

So Israel lived with this strange tension in their camp.

God lived among them, but they couldn't actually go in there and meet in his holy presence.

Pretty crazy, huh?

Fast forward 1,500 years, and John the Apostle opens his gospel with this, John chapter 1, verse 14.

John 1:14

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Greek word for dwelt means to pitch a tent, to tabernacle.

The word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

John's speaking about Jesus being the tabernacle in flesh.

Jesus is God's tabernacle in a human body.

Notice Jesus never set up the tabernacle again.

Instead, he was the tabernacle.

God's tabernacle in the gospels again was the Lord Jesus.

When the religious leaders asked for a sign to let them know that he was the Messiah, Jesus said this in John 2, verse 19.

John 2:19

Jesus said to them, Hey, destroy this temple.

And in three days I will raise it up.

And they said, The temple took 40 years to build.

You're not going to raise it up in three days.

And it says, the temple he was speaking about was his own body.

Jesus is the tabernacle.

Jesus is the temple.

His body is the temple where God dwells.

And then the cross at the moment Jesus died, Matthew tells us the veil of the temple, the veil of the tabernacle was torn from top to bottom, Matthew 27, verse 51.

Matthew 27:51

Not bottom to top.

As if man could have taken their little scissors or their little dagger and like tried to cut the thing open.

No, no, it says that God ripped it from top to bottom, the word rent.

Rent.

He rent his clothes, as the old prophets would do.

Hebrews says we now enter the holy place with confidence.

Hebrews 10, 19, by the blood of Jesus through the veil, that is his flesh that was rent.

Amazing picture.

Jesus is the door into the tabernacle of God.

Jesus is the way to meet God.

They couldn't just walk into a meeting with God then in Moses' day.

They had to go through sacrifice.

And they could only do it once a year.

But now we walk through Christ.

The veil is gone.

And so, church, we shouldn't be living outside the veil.

We shouldn't be acting like the veil is still there.

As if you can't meet with God.

Some of you might be loving God from a distance.

You admire Him.

You respect Him.

You come to church, but you've never actually walked in to talk with Him.

The door is open.

Jesus is the door.

You don't need a special priest.

You don't need a pilgrimage.

You don't need a perfect week of no sin.

Isn't that wild?

I gotta get ready to meet with God.

I'm gonna try not to sin for three days.

And I fasted too from my phone.

You don't have to do any of that.

Isn't that amazing?

You mean I can just stroll into God's office anytime I want to, yes?

Any time you want to come home, you can come home.

And there will be a party waiting for you.

Isn't that amazing?

You see, the enemy in our own flesh tries to convince us we can't go home.

But it's not true.

You need Jesus.

And if you have Jesus, you can enter through him anytime you want.

You pray to God the Father through the Son, through Jesus.

And if he's done the work and declared it to you, you can come to him anytime you want.

You can even go to God.

God, can I talk to you?

He says, Yeah.

You might even say, Well, why do I even get to talk to God?

And you can even answer your own question.

It's because of Jesus.

Lord, I come to you because of Jesus.

I'm only talking to you today, not because I've been a good boy.

I'm talking to you today because of what Jesus has done.

I come to you on behalf.

Can I step into your office because of Jesus?

Yes.

Every time.

Wow.

Thank you.

During the Civil War, people lined up outside Abraham Lincoln's office for hours.

Generals, senators, office seekers all waited their turn to go and talk to Mr.

Lincoln.

Historians tell us his young son Tad would barge right past all of them and burst into the room sometimes in the middle of the cabinet meeting.

And nobody stopped him.

Why?

He wasn't a better man or a better boy than any of the generals.

He was the president's son.

That's why.

In Christ's legacy, that's you.

You don't come to God because you earn the meeting.

You come to God because you've been adopted as a son or a daughter.

You're in the family.

Galatians 4, 4, but when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, Abba Father.

Now you are no longer a slave, but God's own child.

And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

You get the inheritance.

Again, the Son of God came to seek us where we are in order that he might bring us to be with him where he is.

Matthew Henry said, God's presence with the man in his house, though it be a cottage, makes it a castle and a palace.

Point number three, and finally, so where does God live?

Go back and catch the phrase that keeps showing up.

Verse 13 says that the curtains were joined with clasps.

So the tabernacle was one unit.

Verse 18 says it again with the bronze clasp.

Verse 31 through 33 describes the bars of acacia wood running through the rings on the frames, and the middle bar that ran the whole length end to end, holding every board in line.

So this thing all basically folded together like a Lego set, like it basically all clicked together and everything locked.

It's really a beautiful picture.

Forty-eight separate boards, dozens of separate curtains, uh, on their own, just lumber and fabric, but brought together, uh barred together, standing on a solid foundation, they became one dwelling place for God.

The tabernacle comes together with all these pieces and becomes this dwelling place for God.

The Hebrew word there is Echad.

The same word in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 6:4

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Shema Israel Adonai Erohenu Elohonai Echad.

The one.

God's house reflects God's ultimate unity, all of it coming together as one.

What does this mean?

God's building project and this picture doesn't necessarily just stop with the tent.

Again, you have to look at the mysticism and the connection here from the tabernacle attent to the temple, to Jesus being the tabernacle and the temple, and it going one step further.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, do you not know, church, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Wild.

In Ephesians, he says, we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 22.

Ephesians 2:22

The apostle Peter calls us living stones in 1 Peter 2, 5.

And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.

What's more, we know that we are told we are also his holy priests.

But did you catch that?

God dwells in the tabernacle, all these pieces being built together, then the temple, all these things furnished and brought together, then he dwells in Christ.

And finally, we are the temple of God.

We are the tabernacle now.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you, church?

Not this building.

You know what this building is?

I don't know if you looked around, but there's a basketball hoop right there.

Um this thing turns into a basketball gym after we fold this thing up.

Do you know where the spirit of God dwells?

Not in these walls, it dwells in you.

And when the church comes together, the Spirit of God dwelling in us, all of the parts and pieces coming together in unity and in one, one body, one temple, one picture of Christ, one place, the Spirit of God fills us.

Unbelievable.

God doesn't live in a tent of goat hair anymore.

There was a picture.

Paul says, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6 19.

You wouldn't drag garbage or sin into the temple of God, into the Holy of Holies.

What he's saying is, don't drag it into your life or your mind or your marriage or any area of your life.

If you are actually the temple of God, would you bring sin into the temple?

You bring the bag of garbage, you know, that's leaking all the things from the party the weeks before, it's like, where are we going to throw this bag?

Just throw it in the temple.

We would not do that.

So why would we bring that into our lives, Paul is arguing?

If you look at yourself as a temple, the tabernacle of God in which God dwells, you think differently about bringing all of these things into your life, into your eyes, into your ears, into your body.

You think about it completely different.

If the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Second, we see this picture of togetherness.

A single board lying in the sand isn't a tabernacle, it's a board.

You can't be the dwelling place of God all by yourself, disconnected from his people.

And somebody here maybe needs to hear this.

You got to stop being a loose board.

Stop being a stone sitting over there in the corner, sitting in a pile of rubble, not being used.

You're the temple, you are the tabernacle of God, you are to be linked in.

You're one of the pieces of the temple of the tabernacle, of the body of Christ.

Of Christ who is the tabernacle, who is the temple.

And we are to get clasped in, we are to join in.

And we do it through fellowship, we threw it through through discipleship.

We do it through serving together.

We do it through one running together, helping, loving and serving one another, running together in Christ.

Let someone else hold you in line when you start to lean away from God's presence.

Let another stone, as Peter would say, it living stones, hold the other stones in place.

Let Christ be the cornerstone.

Look at the person sitting next to you.

That person is a part of God's house, God's temple, God's tabernacle.

Be patient with them.

They're still under construction, you see?

Still under construction, yes.

But so are you.

Why is it we expect everyone else to be a finished product except ourselves?

Isn't that wild?

We're all under construction.

Furthermore, think about the patience of God for his dwelling place in a people still under construction.

Hey God, where do you dwell?

In those people.

Those people?

That building looks like it's falling over.

Yeah, I know.

Ephesians 2.19.

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.

You are citizens along with all of God's holy people.

You are members of God's family.

Verse 20, together we are his house.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, and the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself.

We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

Nail in the coffin.

Our love for one another, our holiness, our joy, that is the flag waving to the world that God is here.

It tells our neighbor that the king is here.

C.S.

Lewis in Mere Christianity, he said, You thought you were going to be made in a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace.

He intends to come and live.

In himself.

God's not building a little cottage.

He's building a palace in his people that he intends to come and live in.

He intends to come and live in himself.

The breast Christians we have among us are only Christians in the making.

They are by no means finished products.

Christians may not see eye to high, but they should always walk arm in arm.

We've got to cheer each other on.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

You can go in the world and experience all the things.

You just come into the church and it should be different.

We have to pull together.

In closing, where does God live?

In a tabernacle?

In a temple?

No, he chooses to live in us.

Is that beautiful or what?

He lives in us, so let's keep his home clean.

And welcoming many into our home to come and worship him.

The question that matters most this morning is: has God moved into your house?

You can admire the tabernacle from the outside your whole life and never walk in.

Jesus tore the veil so that you could come home, so that you could come in.

Not by fixing yourself up first, but simply by trusting in him.

That's what the cross is all about.

Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection on the cross was to pay for the sins of the earth that have stopped them from entering into the presence of God.

And Jesus on the cross ripped the doors open and said, You can come in now.

Your sins forgiven.

Just believe on me.

You haven't done that today, I want to pray for you that you would repent of your sin.

You turn away from running away from God.

You turn to him with all of your heart.

I'm going to pray for us now that we might do that.

Let's turn to him now.

Lord, we love you.

We turn to you now and we thank you for the work that you have done.

Wow.

Where does God live?

In his people.

God, keep our homes clean.

Forgive us for bringing garbage into the home, into the temple.

We ask, Lord, that you would do a deep clean on this place.

Send in the maids, send in the angels.

Do the deep clean on us.

Purify our hearts.

Let us be as gold, pure gold.

Refine us.

And Lord, I pray for those here today, maybe who have never called upon the name of the Lord to be saved, that as they call upon you now, as they say, Jesus is Lord of my life.

Jesus is King of my life.

Jesus is a savior of my life.

Jesus is my God.

I submit to his ways.

That they would turn away from sin and they would turn to you with all their hearts.

And you'd help them walk with you from this day forward all the days of their life.

I pray for everyone who is chanting that in their hearts, who is asking you to help them, that you would meet them, Father.

You'd bless them.

You'd fill them with your spirit.

You'd make home in them.

And they would find rest in you.

And they would invite others to come and worship you.

Bless our church, Lord.

Bless these people.

Help us to be a warm home, a reflection of your spirit to the city.

And that we would invite many in to come and meet with you.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.