The Temple of the Holy Spirit – There Is Freedom

Realize this.

2 Peter 3 9.

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Amen.

In our new lives with Christ as a temple of the Holy Spirit, we experience life abundantly, and that is what God desires for all of humanity.

This morning, I want us to turn back to 2 Corinthians 3, which is what I opened up this message with.

2 Corinthians chapter 3, which is the passage that Paul talks about in verse 12, a prophet by the name of Moses, who you know.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Moses, the story of Moses and his wandering and leadership through the uh with the Israelites to the wilderness, to the promised land, we see Paul shows us what has been made available to us in the Spirit through Jesus Christ.

We're gonna go to verse 7, verse 7 in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

And in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 7, and we're gonna go all the way to verse 11, it says, But if the ministry of death engraved in letters of stones came with glory, but if the ministry of death engraved in letters on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

2 Corinthians 3:7

For if the Spirit of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.

For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

Can you say amen?

Some of you are saying, Pastor Stephen, I've probably read that ten times, and I have no idea what it's talking about.

And that's okay.

You continue to read.

And when the Holy Spirit wants to give you revelation, he will.

That's the way the Bible works.

And there's other things in there that unless you read other portions of Scripture, you're not going to understand that face value.

But in this passage, Paul is recounting the time, and many of you know the story where Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai, and God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.

You know the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone, which would serve as the foundation of the law that would lead to community with God.

We know there was separation because of the Garden of Eden, but now through the law of Moses, we can kind of get to a place of community with God.

Although it wasn't really something that man could live up to.

Their obedience to the law of Moses, if they followed all of the instructions written in it, they would be allowed to be recipients of the blessings of God.

They had to follow every letter of the law in order to be recipients of the promises of God.

But we know that that was just the beginning of God's redemptive plan.

That wasn't his eternal plan.

If we look back in Exodus chapter 34, let's recount the story, starting in verse 29, and we're going to hop around here.

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

But it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain, that's the Ten Commandments, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him.

So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him.

Then in verse 33, when Moses had finished speaking with him, he put a veil over his face.

Can you say veil?

He put a veil over his face, but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take off the veil until he came out.

And whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel, what he had commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone.

So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.

So we see, imagine, the power of God is so glorious, the power of God is so glorious that Moses needed to put a veil over his face because it shone so brightly.

If you look at the scriptures in between, I know I skipped around, but the scriptures say in that same passage that the Israelites, could you imagine, were even afraid to come close to Moses.

There's something going on, there's a glory that is shining forth because of his encounter, and we can't even come close to it.

We are afraid.

They couldn't come close to the glory of God.

But notice this so when Moses is standing in front of the people, he has a veil on his face, but when he goes back to speak with God, he uncovers his face and is able to speak with God.

And the glory that Moses experienced was only a glimpse of what we what would be revealed through Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Eventually, this glory reflected on Moses' face, Scripture says, and Paul points it out, eventually it would fade.

But there was something special that was coming.

Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, this time in verse 12.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech.

And we are not like Moses.

Can you say, and we are not like Moses?

Paul is saying this, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away.

But their minds were hardened.

For unto this very day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted.

Because it is removed in who?

Christ.

But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.

And then read this in verse 16.

But whenever somebody turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

The veil is taken away.

How does this apply to us today?

Let me simplify it for you.

Before you gave your life to Jesus Christ, could you imagine there was a veil over your face?

There was a veil over your face.

Just like the Israelites, there was a veil that separated us from them, even the reflection of God's glory.

We could not come near.

The prophet Moses couldn't even withstand, if you read, even seeing the backside of God, his face was glowing.

Even a glimpse of God's glory, Moses' face was glowing, and the Israelites, could you imagine the Israelites, God's very chosen people, were afraid of the reflection of God's glory on Moses' face.

You and I before Christ, we were so separated from God, it was as if there was a constant veil over our faces.

And I believe that there are still too, too, too many people walking around with a veil over their face.

They cannot experience the presence of God.

They cannot have revelation of who God is.

They cannot experience the glory of God.

Not only can they not see the glory of God, but there is a fear, just like the Israelites, who were afraid to even approach Moses.

But when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, what does it say?

And we read it a couple times in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

But whenever somebody turns to the Lord, what happens?

The veil is taken away.

The veil is lifted.

Amen.

How is this possible?

How is it that at one point the veil is there, and after the moment of surrender, the veil is taken away.

And it's because what we've been talking about.

When you repent and give your life to Jesus Christ, at that moment your sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit takes residence within you, and you become what?

You become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

At that moment you give your life to Christ, the Spirit takes residence, the veil is lifted from your eyes.

And in verse 17, and this is important because it flows right into it in chapter 3.

It says this, now the Lord is the Spirit.

And I want you to read this with me because this is important.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

We're going to read it again.

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is.

But we all with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of God, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.

We read that before.

Say it again.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is.

You know what that means?

When the Holy Spirit took residence in your life, when the Holy Spirit took residence in your life, every chain, every addiction, every stronghold, everything that you felt trapped or stuck in, that veil that was over your face, when the Holy Spirit stepped into your life, it was released by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

Our mindset goes like this: oh, the Spirit of the presence of the Lord has filled the sanctuary, and so I step in, and now I can experience the freedom that comes into it.

And I'll dance and I'll sing, and then when I go back outside, I'm back to my old way because that's not where the spirit is.

You get something messed up within you.

A wrong theology, a wrong mindset that the Holy Spirit would dwell in temples made by human hands.

It's not scriptural.

The Holy Spirit lives inside of you, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you.

The Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

You have freedom.

Right in here.

All the chains, all the things that would prevent you from experience the glory of God.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

Where once there was a veil and you were deprived, and I like that word, you were deprived.

You were deprived from experience, because you needed it.

You need to experience the glory of God, and if you're not, you're depriving yourself of it.

But yet, where there once was a veil, that veil, when you surrendered to the Lord, that veil was taken away, and you are free to experience what you were created to experience.

And what are you created to experience?

Freedom.

And I love the word that Paul uses the veil was taken away because this is something, this is not something that you could do on your own.

Do you see this?

The veil was what?

Taken away.

You didn't take the veil off.

The veil is there, and you needed somebody to take it away.

You could not do this on your own.

Those chains that held you captive before Christ, you could not do that on your own.

Those addictions, those things that constantly tear at your life and bring death, all of those choices that we're making, that we're so trapped in the world's way of doing things, and all it really does is produce death upon death upon death and destruction.

You couldn't lift that off your own.

You couldn't take that off on your own.

I think of my baby boy, Perry.

He's a three-week-old baby boy now.

Can you believe?

Nine pounds, two ounces.

He was born 6'6, and mama's feeding him pretty well.

If you've ever raised an infant before, you learn early on how to swaddle a baby.

How many, how many know how to swaddle a baby?

Anybody?

Moms know what I'm talking about.

Dads, you might know.

But when you swaddle a baby in a blanket, back when we had Emera, I found it, it was treasure.

And I I mean, we're blessed to have phones.

Those of you who were having infants a while back, you didn't have the cameras and all that.

So a nurse comes in and she does the swaddle on the baby, and it was a beautiful swaddle.

It was excellent.

And I said, Can you do that again so I can record it?

And so I recorded it, watched the swaddle, and so me and Claudia, I I should say, I'm not gonna say that.

So me and Claudia, me and Claudia started watching, and I started practicing it.

And I tell you, I got a good swaddle.

First baby, second baby, third baby, we're in the baby for baby, we're in the hospital for baby Perry, and I did a swaddle.

It took me a second because we were two years out, but I did it, and then the nurse comes and say, Who did this swaddle?

Yeah.

I was pretty happy.

But why do we do the swaddle?

Because when you do the swaddle, you want to do it nice and tight.

It's like a burrito.

You don't want the burrito spilling out all over the place.

But you tie him up nice, I mean you swallow him up nice and tight because you want his arms down, right?

Because if uh their fingernails are long, they'll start scratching their face.

And a lot of them just like that feeling of being nice and secure and warm.

But if the s what happens is, especially with baby Perry, if is I wrap him up and he starts to wiggle.

And eventually, Claudia will say, He's getting out, and like you'll see a hand start to get out, and a hand start to get out.

And when you unravel that swaddle, it's like his hands just go.

Because he wants to be what?

Free.

But he can't be free without his daddy coming along and untying that swaddle.

And that's the way we are before Christ.

We're trapped.

You cannot be free.

There is a veil over your face, you don't even know what's going on in life.

All of the things that are going on in the world, guess what?

You're gonna get messed up big time if you don't encounter Christ.

But when you encounter Christ, there's a freedom that takes place, and that veil that is there is taken away through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's as if your arms go up and you are free.

Something that you could not do are do on your own.

The problem that we have is that the Holy Spirit comes in and breaks the chains, unravels the swaddle, and you know what we do?

We sit there in bondage.

We sit there as if Jesus never died on the cross for us.

We sit there still operating in the stress of yesterday.

We still use the same coping mechanisms that were only meant for the people who are dying.

You know what happens?

The Holy Spirit has come into our lives, and for some strange reason, we're still hopeless.

You know what we're still doing?

I'm trying.

I'm trying, just doing my best.

I'm trying, and you never truly break free from all which you were saved from through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Yet, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

And the Holy Spirit is living inside of you.

So what should be going on inside of you is what?

Freedom.

It's time to begin living in the freedom of the Spirit and to experience the full glory of God in your life.

Some of you have been living in change and they've already been unlocked.

Some of you have been living in addiction and it's already been unlocked.

Some of you have been living in death's mode, but yet you've already been free.

You want to live in the misery.

When you get in a glimpse of the glory of God, you truly realize that you are on an assignment for Christ, and everything else is so secondary, sometimes meaningless.

John 8, verse 31.

John 8:31

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been enslaved to anybody.

How is it that you say you will become free?

Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

Now the slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son does remain forever.

So if the son sets you free, you you really will be what?

Free.

Notice it says, and I think it's important when you look at the construct of this and the verbiage that's used.

Who is he addressing here?

The Jews that had believed.

He's addressing people who had believed.

How is it that they were still enslaved?

Jesus replies by tying sin to slavery, and those who are in sin are enslaved to it.

But when the Son sets you free, you are freely, you are really free.

So stop living in sin.

You no longer need to be enslaved to it.

Now some are gonna say, well, Jesus hadn't died and resurrected from the grave yet, and that's fine.

But we read last week when Paul writes to the believers in Rome, he tells them, stop living according to the flesh, for if you continue, you are going to die.

What does it say in Romans 8 verses 12 through 15?

Romans 8:12–15

Can you put that up there, Azure?

So then who?

Brothers and sisters, we are under, we are under obligation not to live, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you are living in according with the flesh, you are going to die.

Remember this.

But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will what?

Live.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of God.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, Abba Father.

Why do I read this?

Who is he addressing?

He's addressing the brothers and sisters of Rome.

But yet, even believers can find themselves in prison.

Even believers can find themselves in a prison, yet Jesus has already unlocked the door.

Not only did Jesus unlock the door, but Jesus took off your chains himself.

And not only that, he walked over the door and he opened it and he said, Come on, will you follow me?

But for some reason, we're still sitting in that jail cell, still enslaved to sin, enslaved to the flesh, and counting our days until death row.

That's what we're doing.

But where the spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And for some strange reason, you can't let the chains go.

Well, I'm telling you this morning, it's time to let the chains go.

It's time to let them go.

The chains of bitterness, it's so meaningless.

You're on an assignment for Christ.

The chains of unforgiveness, so meaningless.

You're on an assignment for Christ.

You've been freed from all of that.

The chains of sadness all the time, the chains of just a negative outlook on life.

The chains of being just a mean, rotten person.

But yet you've given your life to Jesus Christ.

But you can't let go.

For some reason, we're still sitting in it.

It's time to open our eyes.

The veil has been taken away.

And the spirit wants to lead you into all truth.

The spirit wants to shake off the rigor mortis that is starting to set in.

Because you've been sitting in chains for too long.

It's time to walk out of that prison cell because you are free.

Realize that the temple, as the temple of the Holy Spirit, realize this.

You carry peace.

You carry truth, right?

Because we know the Spirit is peace.

The Spirit is truth.

You carry wisdom.

But can you imagine this?

As you walk about your job, about your daily business, about your family problems, about your church, about your work problems.

Can you imagine that you carry freedom with you?

You carry freedom.

You know what that means?

As people start to try to and try to put chains on you, I'm free.

I'm free.

It can be family members, it can be spouses, it can be bosses.

A lot of times they just they need to they need to go to bed and go to sleep and wake up.

Or they need to be prayed for that a fresh revelation of the Holy Spirit would stir inside of them.

But as it pertains to me, I'm free.

I'm not going to be chained down by all of this nonsense.

I'm free.

I'm being transformed into the image of Christ.

I'm free.

The doctor gives their reports and all these different things.

I'm free.

Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

If you're free this morning, or maybe you're ready to step out of that.

Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you.

For this reminder this morning.

A reminder this morning of what has been placed inside of us.

And I know, God, that you've been revealing this to us, this topic for a few weeks, for months now.

But God, today you had it, we would be reminded that the Spirit brings freedom.

The Holy Spirit that you sent to us to be living and moving inside of us, God, it brings freedom.

God, things that they haven't been able to let go, things, God, that have been released, because we know that your blood has the power to release all of it.

For some reason, God, we've been sitting in those chains as if they haven't been broken.

God, we're sitting in that cell as if the door is not open, and you're not standing there saying, Will you get out of there already?

I already gave my life for you.

God, I pray right now for those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ, I pray that there would be a stirring of freedom inside of them.

God, of unleashing, God, a shaking up all that rigomortus, all that still, all that stillness, God, it would begin to move in the name of Jesus.

Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

All over my body, God, there's freedom.

God, for those who have not given their lives to you.

God, that they may have a veil over their face.

God, I pray that this will be the moment where they say, God, I'm sorry.

For all the mistakes that I've made.

Whether in intentional or unintentional, God, I'm sorry.

I want to live my life the way it was created to be.

And that's in your hands, God.

I give my life to you.

Remove all that stuff that doesn't belong there.

Place your spirit inside of me.

I believe in your Son Jesus Christ who died on a cross so that I could be free.

So that I could be forgiven.

So that I could experience the fullness and the glory of God that so many people for generations they were afraid of it.

But God, I step into it in boldness because I'm free.

I give my life to you, God.