June 23, 2025 • 44 mins
What if you were told that you are literally the dwelling place of God? Not metaphorically, not symbolically, but truly and actually? That's exactly what the Apostle Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
This message takes us on a profound journey through Scripture to uncover what it really means to be God's temple. Starting with Solomon's literal temple in the Old Testament, we discover how God placed His name, eyes, and heart there—but also how that physical dwelling was eventually destroyed because people stopped valuing their relationship with Him.
The revolutionary truth revealed in the New Testament is that God's temple is no longer a building but us—both individually and collectively as believers. This isn't just theological jargon; it completely transforms how we should understand ourselves and our purpose. You're not just someone who goes to church; you are the church. Every aspect of your existence is now sacred space.
But what does it mean to live as God's temple? The answer is refreshingly simple yet profoundly challenging: we come to Him. Not to a building, not to a set of rules, but to a person—Jesus Christ. Through faith (trusting Him) and humility (acknowledging our need for Him), we grow as living stones in God's spiritual house.
This teaching challenges the common misconception about "the fear of the Lord." Far from cowering in terror, having the fear of the Lord means valuing your relationship with God so highly that you treat it with appropriate honor and respect. It's like being entrusted with a priceless work of art—you don't take that responsibility lightly.
Whether you've never known what it means to have your burden of sin lifted, or you're a believer who's wandered away from walking in holiness, the invitation is the same: remember who you are in Christ. The temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's sermon is called A Deep Dive into the
Temple and the Fear of the LordA deep dive into the temple and
the fear of the Lord, and we'recontinuing our Bible study
through 1 Corinthians 3, verse16 and 17 is where we're at
today, so let's pray and thenwe'll get started right into our
(00:22):
study.
Father, please open our heartsand our minds to understand the
things that have been freelygiven to us and the truth about
who you are and our relationshipwith you and all that Jesus
Christ has done for us.
We love you, but not nearly asmuch as you love us.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
(00:44):
Amen, amen.
Thank you, guys, for divinginto the word of God with me.
God is intense.
It doesn't mean he's camping,it means this sermon might scare
you.
Oh, that was a boo.
I got a boo on that.
Well done, nate, thank you.
This sermon might scare you,and actually I hope it does a
(01:07):
little bit.
It's not for wimps, but Ilooked around and I was like
there's no wimps here, so we canhandle it Right.
Laura, absolutely.
Our God is light and in him isno darkness at all.
So if you think about, when yougo into your kitchen, you turn
on the light.
Do you have to yell at thedarkness for it to leave?
No, it just leaves, becauselight and darkness cannot be
(01:32):
together.
Why?
Why is God so intense?
It's because he cares deeply.
He doesn't just let things go.
Everything is accounted for andperfect with God.
Anyone have a experience inaccounting.
You're an accountant.
Accounting is the opposite ofhow my brain works.
(01:55):
So my wife does all thefinancial, everything for us and
our family.
She takes care of me because Ihave.
My brain does not work that way.
I'm like if I need it, I buy it.
I don't understand the problemhere, but my wife is very much
asked the question why do weneed it?
Tell me, why Give me ajustification?
(02:17):
And then do we have the money,which I never thought of that
question.
So with God, everything isaccounted for and perfect and he
loves us.
There's no good enough with God, it has to be perfect.
There's no, almost there.
There's no darkness mixed inwith the light, and this is
actually great news for us.
(02:38):
Okay, because we get to enjoyhis presence and his love with
total assurance and peace, withno fear that there's going to
sneak in some darkness or some.
You know, there's nothing thatwe have to be worried about with
our relationship with God.
But it's not good for us if wewant to hide our sin or, worse
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yet our sin or, worse yet, claimthat we deserve to live the way
we choose, with no regard tohis will and his holiness.
So that's dangerous, and it'sdangerous even for us to live
that way, because God you knowthat's called grieving the Holy
Spirit.
When you choose to just say, Iknow that you love me, but I'm
(03:26):
going to track dirt into yourbeautiful house, that grieves
the Holy Spirit.
It's not about breaking rules.
It's not like God is up therewith just tons of rules.
It's about breaking hearts.
God has a heart and our livesmatter deeply to his heart.
He cares more about your lifethan you do.
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God desires purity in theinward life of men Because he is
pure and he wants to be unitedand have fellowship with you,
and so he desires purity in ourlives.
Now he's done the work ofmaking us pure in Christ, but we
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can sully ourselves with sinand with the world.
He wants to dwell in us andwith us.
He is pure.
So we have to be pure and weare pure, but again, we can walk
in ways that that get us dirty,like when you're out on the
beach with your brand new whitesandals and you didn't know that
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there was black tar everywhereon these beautiful.
Well, I knew, but I didn't knowbecause I hadn't experienced it
.
So my excuse is it.
So my excuse is yeah, I was agood example of sin.
Sometimes we don't act likewe're pure, okay.
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Sometimes we don't believe thatwe are pure, so we choose to
walk in our own way, choosingour own actions, and so what
happens is we don't act like whowe really are, which is pure.
So let's read our text and seewhere it goes.
It says do you not know thatyou are the temple of God and
that the spirit of God dwells inyou?
So Paul asks a rhetoricalquestion, saying don't you guys
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know this?
This is like basic.
If anyone defiles the temple ofGod, god will destroy him, for
the temple of God is holy.
Which temple you are?
So Paul says don't you know?
Do you not know?
We have to know that we are thetemple.
It's vital to understandingwhat real life is all about.
(05:41):
Real life is not about enjoyingyour life.
It's understanding you're thetemple of God and you live with
God.
Real life is not about retiringor doing what you want.
It's about this connection.
This is what real life is allabout.
And he says if you defile this,god will destroy you, because
you are holy and we're going todeep dive into this today.
(06:04):
You, because you are holy andwe're going to deep dive into
this today.
So get out your scuba gear,because this won't be surface
level.
But, like I said, I know youguys can do it.
I know you can do it.
So let's start by going back tothe Old Testament to investigate
this temple thing and discoverwhat God says about this temple.
So it's important as we studythe Bible, that you understand
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that the Old Testament,everything written in the Old
Testament, was written for us.
Even though we live in NewTestament times, the Old
Testament was written for us andit's written for us to
understand all the things thatJesus changed and how Jesus's
life is available to us.
So the Old Testament is vitalto study.
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Even though we don't live underthat old covenant that God made
with Israel, we live in a newcovenant that we have with Jesus
and it's very vital tounderstand that.
So we can only understand allthat Jesus did for us in in the
gospel of grace by seeing theOld Testament through these
(07:08):
grace glasses.
So the way to study the Bibleis to understand what Jesus did
first, and then you lay that,you kind of put those glasses on
, and then you can understandwhy the Old Testament says the
things that it says.
And then you can understand it,Because if you just read the
Old Testament you're like, wow,we should do human sacrifices
again or whatever.
Okay, and those things are notwhat they seem for today.
(07:32):
All right, so let's, we're goingto go to 1 Kings, chapter 9.
So we're going to dive in.
I'm going to read you nineverses out of 1 Kings.
It says, when Solomon hadfinished building the house of
the Lord and the king's houseand all Solomon's desire which
he wanted to do, that the Lordappeared to Solomon the second
time as he had appeared to himat Gibeon.
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And the Lord said to him I'veheard your prayer and your
supplication that you have madebefore me.
I have consecrated or dedicatedthis house which you have built
to put my name there foreverand my eyes and my heart will be
there perpetually.
So this is about 1,500 yearsbefore Jesus came, the Jews
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built the David came and thenDavid's son, solomon, wanted to
build a house for the Lord, sohe built the temple that has
since been destroyed, wasdestroyed after Jesus came, but
it's that same temple Now.
God says.
Now, if you walk before me, asyour father David walked, in
integrity of heart, inuprightness, to do according to
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all that I've commanded you, ifyou keep my statutes and my
judgments, then I will establishthe throne of your kingdom over
Israel forever, as I promisedDavid, your father, saying you
shall not fail to have a manover the throne of Israel.
But if you, or your sons at all, turn from following me and do
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not keep my commandments and mystatutes, as I have said before
you, but go and serve other godsand worship them, then I will
cut off Israel from the landwhich I have given them and this
house which I have consecratedfor my name.
I will cast out of my sight.
Israel will be a proverb and abyword among the peoples.
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And as for this house, which isexalted, everyone who passes by
will be astonished and willhiss and say why has the Lord
done this to the land and tothis house?
And they will answer Becausethey forsook the Lord, their God
, who brought their fathers outof the land of Egypt and
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embraced other gods andworshiped them and served them.
Therefore, the Lord has broughtall this calamity on them.
So just a few things I want topoint out from that narrative
that we just read.
First of all, the design wasgood.
The design was for their good.
God had a plan to bless them.
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He's like you, serve me,worship me and guess what?
I am going to supernaturallyprotect you, help you.
It's going to be great, but thebetter something is, the more
severe the consequences are formessing it up.
You don't give a Lamborghini toa first-time driver with a
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learner's permit, right?
They can't even go the rightway in Mario Kart.
You're not going to entrustthem with a quarter million
dollar sports car.
You don't let people messaround with priceless works of
art.
You might have saw the articlethis week.
(10:55):
As you were reading thearticles, I'll read it to you.
Tourist caught on camerasmashing crystal studded Van
Gogh chair at art museum.
Did you guys read this?
You saw it.
Good job.
Security footage capturedculprit fleeing after crushing a
Swarovski covered chair atItaly's Palazzo Maffei on June
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15th, just seven days ago.
And it goes on to say a touristwas caught crushing the chair
by trying to sit on it and takea selfie, and he did crush it.
They were able to put it backtogether, but the museum is like
the nightmare of every museumhas become our reality.
The chair was described asbeing extremely fragile.
(11:43):
This irresponsible gesturecaused serious damage to the Van
Gogh chair.
They said A relationship withGod is more valuable than
anything in this world, and whenwe understand this, it's called
having the fear of the Lord.
Have you guys heard that termbefore?
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The fear of the Lord?
Have you guys heard that termbefore the fear of the Lord?
Now, the sad thing is, whenmost of us grew up, hearing that
it was a way for people to tryto control you say you should be
afraid of going to hell and bydoing the wrong things and
breaking my rules.
That's how it was explained tomost of us.
But that's not the fear of theLord.
So we got hurt, we got churchhurt by people who took this
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term and said I want you tobehave a certain way, even if
it's fake, because I want you tobe afraid of acting a different
way.
God never chooses to motivateus by fear, but the fear of the
Lord is very real, and it isthis where you consider your
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relationship with God, yourconnection with God, of such
great value that you treat itwith the honor and respect that
it deserves.
You're not out there doingwheelies in your Lamborghini.
Your relationship with God isreal and important.
It's very real, and that iswhat the fear of the Lord is.
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It's not you should be afraidof God, it's you should be
afraid of breaking God's heartbecause you value him.
How many times did he say inthat text they would leave me,
they would abandon worship of meand worship other gods.
That broke his heart.
It wasn't about him beingpossessive you're my people.
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No, he's saying you're mypeople, I love you, I give my
life for you, I care about you,and that relationship is what
he's being taught about here.
So let's see what happened withSolomon.
Do you guys think he kept thefear of the Lord?
No, anyone read the story.
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Okay, let's see.
This is fun.
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, or1 Kings, chapter 11, it says
but King Solomon loved manyforeign women there's his
problem right there as well asthe daughter of Pharaoh, women
of the Moabites, the Ammonites,the Edomites, the Sodonians, the
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Hittites and from the nationswhom the Lord had said to the
children of Israel you shall notintermarry with them, nor they
with you.
Surely they will turn yourheart after other gods.
Did you see that God's notracist?
He doesn't say don't marry thembecause they're a skin color.
He says their culture iscommitted to a different God and
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if you marry them, you willlove them, and so you will want
to take their God as your God,and it will mess up our
relationship.
That's what's going on here.
So that's why he disallowedthis intermarriage with these
other nations.
Solomon clung to these in love.
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Oh, solomon was very loving tothese women.
Yeah, that's what screwed uphis life.
We'll see.
And he had 700 wives, bro,princesses and 300 concubines
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and, as you could guess, hiswives turned his heart away.
They turned away his heart fromthe Lord, for it was so, when
Solomon was old, that his wivesturned his heart after other
gods and his heart was not loyalto the Lord, his God, and as
his father David.
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For Solomon went after Astaroth, the god of Sidonians, after
Milcom, the abomination of theAmmonites.
Solomon did evil in the sightof the Lord and did not fully
follow the Lord as his fatherDavid.
Then Solomon built a high placefor Chemosh, the abomination of
Moab, on a hill that is east ofJerusalem, and for Molech, the
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abomination of the people ofAmmon, and he did likewise for
all his foreign wives who burnedincense and sacrifice to their
gods.
So the Lord became angry withSolomon because his heart turned
from the Lord, god of Israel,who had appeared to him twice
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and had commanded him concerningthis thing, that he should not
go after other gods.
But he did not keep what theLord had commanded.
Therefore, the Lord said toSolomon because you've done this
, you've not kept mycommandments, my statutes, which
I have commanded you I willsurely tear the kingdom away
from you and give it to yourservant.
Nevertheless, I'm not going todo it in your days, for the sake
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of your father, david, I willtear it out of the hand of your
son.
However, I will not tear thewhole kingdom.
I will give you one tribe forthe sake of my servant, david,
and for the sake of Jerusalem,which I have chosen.
So Solomon got messed up becausehe loved other things more than
God.
He didn't treasure hisrelationship with God, he didn't
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have the fear of the Lord.
We cannot live that way.
We're not designed to live thatway.
See, the problem is we thinkit's the path of life that we've
discovered.
Oh, I'm happy when my wivesaren't nagging me about building
these high places and work toworship the things they love.
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I'm more happy when they stopnagging me.
Okay, but that's not what ledto happiness.
We think it's a path of life,but it leads only to death, and
God has tried over and overagain to tell us to follow his
way, but we think we know better.
So we choose to love otherthings more than God, and that
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is called idolatry Idolatry.
So now we're puttingdefinitions to all these church
words that we've heard and lookat how idolatry.
So now we're puttingdefinitions to all these church
words that we've heard and lookat how idolatry ends up.
Solomon is devastated, he's sad, he regrets living the way that
he does, and his kingdom, hislegacy, is now messed up, ruined
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.
You might think that's the endof the story, but God is
actually way more patient andfull of second chances for all
the people that he loves, whichis really great news.
So look at 2 Chronicles 36,verse 15.
It says and the Lord, god oftheir fathers, sent warnings to
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them by his messengers.
So his people go on and theykeep living their lives and God
sends warnings to them by hismessengers, rising up early and
sending them.
We call these the prophets inthe Old Testament.
So God would speak to a prophetand the prophet would go and
speak to Israel because he hadcompassion on the people.
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God doesn't just leave them andsay, fine, you don't love me,
I'm going to take my ball and gohome.
No, he pursues them because heloves them.
He had compassion on his peopleand on his dwelling place.
That's the temple that we'restudying here.
But they mocked the messengersof God, despised his words and
scoffed at his prophets untilthe wrath of the Lord arose
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against the people, and theretill there was no remedy.
So he brought against them,against the king of the
Chaldeans, who killed theiryoung men with the sword and in
the house of their sanctuary andhad no compassion on their
young men or virgin, on the agedor weak.
He gave them all into his handand all the articles of the
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house of God, great and small,the treasures of the house of
the Lord, the treasures of theking and all his leaders, all
these he took to Babylon untilTrump bombed them.
Just kidding, that wasyesterday.
Babylon is never mind.
Oh, he ties current events inso well, sorry.
And those who escaped from thesword he carried away to Babylon
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.
They became servants to him andhis sons until the rule of the
kingdom of Persia, to fulfillall the words of the Lord by the
mouth of Jeremiah.
So here we see the destructionof the temple.
Okay, because Solomon'sdisobedience and the country
just followed his example, goddestroyed his temple, and it
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happened because they didn'thave the fear of the Lord.
And you know who the peopleblame every time God's judgment
comes.
God, you know who we blameevery time something bad happens
in our lives.
God, mostly.
Every time we say stuff likejust let me live my life, you
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can't tell me what to do,instead of understanding that we
were bought with a price.
You are not your own.
You are the temple of God.
You were dedicated to God'sservice and to him, to love him,
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to be the thing that loves himmost in this earth.
We're not talking aboutunbelievers here, okay.
This temple talk.
What we're talking about todayis only for people who believe
in Jesus.
You are God's dwelling place.
God loves you and he desiresfor you to love him and serve
him.
Of course, unbelievers don'tfollow the Lord, but we should.
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We are his people.
So now let's turn our view tothe New Testament and see how
the New Testament writersdescribe the church as the
temple of the Lord In Ephesians,chapter two, 2, verse 19,.
He says now, therefore, you areno longer strangers and
foreigners to God.
You are fellow citizens, withthe saints and members of the
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household of God being built onthe foundation of the apostles
and prophets, jesus Christhimself being the chief
cornerstone.
What's this building?
He's talking about the templebeing the chief cornerstone.
What's this building?
He's talking about the templeIn whom the whole building,
being fit together, grows into aholy temple in the Lord, in
whom you are also being builttogether for a dwelling place of
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God in the Spirit.
So God tells us that ouridentity is that we are his
temple, you are citizens withGod, you are saints, you are
part of his family.
These are identity words.
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When you think of yourself, doyou think of yourself?
I'm a citizen of God's kingdom,I am a saint identified with
God and holy for him, and I'mpart of his family and we're all
built on Jesus.
It's what he did is the onlything that matters in our church
, in any church, and we all fittogether perfectly as we grow
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into his temple.
Why does God do it this way?
Because so the spirit will havea place to dwell.
God's spirit Now is Godeverywhere.
Yes, that's called omnipresence.
God is everywhere.
He sees everything everywhere.
Okay, but God chooses to dwell,which is a different level of
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his presence, and he chooses todwell in.
Everyone is a different levelof his presence, and he chooses
to dwell in everyone that callshimself a believer.
That is a true believer.
The Spirit dwells with us, andso God desires to build the old
temple man, it was fancy, it wasspecial, and we are no less.
We are fancy, we are special.
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So how do we interact with this?
What do we actually do Today?
It's 2025.
It's June 22nd 2025.
How do we interact with this?
Well, peter says this in 1Peter, chapter 2, verse 4.
It says coming to him.
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Let me start that over Comingto him.
Those three words are soimportant.
What am I supposed to do?
Coming to him as to a livingstone, rejected by men but
chosen by God and precious youalso as living stones, are being
built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
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spiritual sacrifices acceptableto God.
Through Jesus, we are built upand grow as the temple as we
come to him.
You don't get built up as youcome to church.
You build up as you come to him.
You don't get built up as youcome to church.
You built up as you come to him.
You don't get built up as youfollow the rules.
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You get built up by coming tohim.
This is an active thing.
You choose to come to himInstead of coming to someone
else, choosing something else.
You choose to come to himInstead of coming to someone
else, choosing something else.
You choose him.
How do we come to him?
I hear you all asking thatquestion.
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Well, how do I do this?
I want to do this.
I know you want to do this, sohow do I do it?
Faith and humility is the way wecome to him.
I call it F and H Faith andhumility, faith and humility.
Faith and humility.
We have to come to him in faith, saying Jesus, I'm going to
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trust you.
Whatever the situation is, I'mgoing to trust you.
And then we come in humility,saying Jesus, I need you.
So if you can take that step tosay Jesus, I trust you and
Jesus I need you.
So if you can take that step tosay Jesus I trust you and Jesus
I need you, and the next stepis what do you think?
Jesus, I trust you, jesus Ineed you, and we repeat that,
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and no matter what the situationis, that is how we come to him
and how we are then built up.
Jesus is able to take anyone whocomes to him and make them
exactly what he wants them to be.
The purpose of us being thetemple is so that we can serve
God and love him and be hislight to this world.
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Those are the spiritualsacrifices it's talking about.
God does want you to serve him,but he doesn't want you to do
it on your own or by tryingharder.
Watch me, go and serve God.
He never says do that.
He says come to me and I'll doit through you.
Your job is to be coming to meover and over.
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What do I do tomorrow morning?
Come to me.
What do I do tomorrow night?
Come to me.
What do I do when things arebad?
Come to me.
What do I do when things aregood?
There you go.
This is not that hard.
Why does he want us to servehim?
Because he is worthy to beloved and served.
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God is worthy.
Sometimes I see a movie and I'mlike that movie was great, you
should see that movie.
And so I go around tellingpeople I loved this movie, you
should see this movie.
Why do you want me to see thatmovie so bad?
Because it's good, exactly itis worthy to be watched.
Why do you want me to see thatmovie so bad?
Because it's good, exactly itis worthy to be watched.
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Maybe it'll speak to your life,maybe it'll change your life, I
don't know.
But I tell you what it was goodartistry, it was good filming.
It was good cinematography.
It was good writing.
It had qualities that areworthy for me to watch and say
that was good.
Well, god is like the infinitelevel of all those things.
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He is worth our time, he isworth our attention, he is worth
our lives being poured out asofferings to him.
But how does that happen?
Not anyone can serve him.
You have to be the holy temple,you have to be coming to him.
And how does that happen?
Not, anyone can serve him.
You have to be the holy temple,you have to be coming to him.
And that describes arelationship.
It doesn't describe a building.
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Again, the temple is not abuilding.
The temple is people who have arelationship with God.
And a lot of people think theyhave a relationship with God,
but they just go to a buildingand they fake it and they're
like I'm a Christian because Igo to church every Sunday.
You're like tell me about yourrelationship with God.
I go to church every Sunday.
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Tell me about when you come toGod.
I come to church on Sundays.
You're not getting me.
A relationship with God hasnothing to do with the place you
are.
It's where you're coming to.
What happens when we refuse tobelieve?
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We are God's temple, becauseyou are God's temple, you are
holy, but we man, a lot of us,refuse to believe that.
In Acts, chapter 4, verse 32,this one's crazy, okay.
So the end of Acts, chapter 4,the church is just getting
started and God is teaching thepeople about how different the
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church is from the Old Testamentand this crazy thing happens.
So it says the multitude ofthose who believed were of one
heart and soul.
Oh man, this is a beautifulchurch we have being established
here.
Everyone loves each other.
It's awesome.
Neither did anyone say any ofthe things that he possessed was
his own, but they had allthings in common.
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So their love was so legit thatthey were just like it's not my
house, it's our house, it's notmy car, it's our car.
And with great power, theapostles gave witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
This was new life that theworld had never seen before, and
great grace was upon them all.
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I mean the church is justrocking.
This is like maybe two to threeto five years after Jesus has
risen.
I mean it is just rocking rightnow, taking over the world.
Nor was there anyone among themwho lacked, for there were all
their possessions of lands orhouses.
Those who had lands or houses.
They sold them and brought theproceeds of all the things that
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were sold and laid them at theapostles' feet and they
distributed to each one who hadneed.
Okay, so they were just lovingeach other, selling things they
didn't need.
And then it says this andJoseph, who was also named
Barnabas, so we know him laterby the apostles, which is
translated son of encouragement,a Levite of the country of
(31:16):
Cyprus, having land, sold it andbrought the money and laid it
at the apostles' feet.
Okay, so things you need toknow.
Cyprus was like Beverly Hills.
If you had land in Cyprus, youwere filthy, stinking rich.
And so if this guy, joseph, whowe'll call Barnabas because
(31:37):
that's his nickname, if Barney,had land in Cyprus, he was rich
and he sold this land for a lotof money.
And it was common knowledgethat he came and brought it and
everyone was like, oh mygoodness, look at all the poor
people we've fed, look at allthe good that was done.
And everyone was like man,barney is awesome.
(32:01):
Look at what God is doingthrough Barney, barney is great.
So look at chapter 5.
But a certain man named Ananias,with Sapphira, his wife, sold a
possession and they kept backpart of the proceeds, his wife
also being aware of it, and thenthey brought a certain part and
laid it at the apostles' feet.
Okay, nothing wrong with that,except when you tie it to what
(32:27):
happened before we find out.
What is going on really is thatthey wanted to appear like they
were as generous as Barney.
But Peter said Ananias, why hasSatan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and kept backpart of the price for the land
for yourself?
While it remained, was it notyour own?
(32:48):
And after it was sold, was itnot in your control.
Why have you conceived thisthing in your heart?
You've not lied to men, but toGod.
Ananias and his wife Sapphirahave chosen to not.
What are they missing in theirlife?
They're missing the fear of theLord.
(33:10):
They're missing the fear of theLord.
They wanted to serve God like apart of the temple.
They wanted to be a part ofthis beautiful new temple that
God was raising up in the world.
But they did not want to bepure.
They did not have the fear ofthe Lord.
(33:32):
And it's not that they didn'tgive all the money, because
that's not what Peter questionsthem on.
He says you lied about how muchof the money you were giving
because you wanted to live alife comparing yourself to
Barney.
That's their problem.
They wanted to compare theirself with another Christian
(33:54):
because they wanted the glory.
And who's supposed to get theglory in the temple?
God right.
To get the glory in the temple?
God Right.
Then Ananias, hearing thesewords, fell down and breathed
his last.
So great fear came upon allthose who heard these things and
the young man arose and wrappedhim up and carried him out and
(34:16):
burned him, buried him.
This is a first youth groupactivity.
I just came up with that.
That was funny.
Now it was about three hourslater when his wife came in not
knowing what had happened, andPeter answered her hey, tell me
(34:36):
whether you sold the land for somuch?
And she said yes, for so much.
And Peter said to her how is itthat you agreed together to
test the spirit of the Lord?
Look, the feet of those whoburied your husband are at the
door and they will carry you out.
Then, immediately she fell downat his feet and breathed her
last, and the young man carriedand found her dead and carried
her out, buried her by herhusband.
(34:56):
So great fear came upon all thechurch.
Great fear came upon all thechurch.
Great fear came upon all thechurch and all those who heard
these things.
So Ananias and Sapphira did nothave the fear of the Lord.
They thought the temple wasabout getting credit and earning
points about how they lookedamong people.
Make sure you wear a dress,make sure you wear a tie, make
(35:20):
sure you don't talk about thedirty things that you've done
this week.
But it's not.
The temple of God is aboutholiness.
So does that mean you have tobe perfect to come to church?
No, in fact, the church is theperfect place to come when you
screwed up.
In fact, the church is theperfect place to come when you
(35:42):
screwed up, because the churchis here to tell you here is
grace for you, here is whatJesus has done for you, here is
blood to wash away the stainthat you have got in your life.
In fact, it's already forgiven.
Come and remember who you are.
You know, like Mufasa, remember, remember who you are.
(36:06):
Lion King reference second weekin a row.
The church is about holiness,not that just God is holy, but
God has made us holy too, Truthand righteousness in the heart,
and that we get this withcomplete surrender to God and
his will, not to earn points,but because of love, because God
(36:29):
loved us and he shared his lifewith us.
He shared his holiness with us.
Now let's just refer back toour original text that we read
as we've deep dived into thetemple, and I want to read it
again to us 1 Corinthians 3,verse 16.
Do you not know that you arethe temple of God and that the
(36:53):
Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone defiles the temple ofGod, god will destroy him, for
the temple of God is holy.
Which temple you are.
What is Paul trying to teach us?
What is Paul teaching you?
(37:16):
The fear of the Lord.
I'm sure that if you havelistened to these words today
and you've considered them, thatGod's Holy Spirit is working in
your hearts and lives, youmight have come in and
(37:36):
participated in all kinds ofevil things.
You might have screwed up thisweek really bad.
The church is where you need tocome, but not to hide those
things.
And I don't need you to standup and say I did this Because
it's not my eyes that I don'tneed to know.
(37:59):
I can.
You can tell me if you want,but I don't care.
I will tell you what Jesus saysabout it.
If you confess your sin to theLord, he's faithful and just to
forgive all sin, all you canwalk away right now clean and
(38:20):
pure in God's sight and you canlive in that forever.
It's scary Because if we choosein this moment to say yeah, no,
thanks.
That's scary Because God is nota joke.
(38:43):
If you're not holy, you'reunholy.
And that's scary Because you'vebeen separated from the only
source of good and life, becausesin separates us from God.
So we have to know that we'reholy and that is offered to
every single person in heretoday.
(39:04):
Jesus loves you and Jesus becamea man for you.
Jesus died on the cross foryour sin and he offers that
forgiveness to any person whowill say please me, please
forgive me, I want to be holy.
Come and live inside me andchange me and make me holy.
I cannot change myself.
That's how you begin arelationship with God and you
(39:25):
know how you grow in arelationship with God.
Keep saying I cannot changemyself.
But, jesus, I'm going to lookto you, I'm going to trust you
and I'm going to keep learningwhat you have done for me and
who I am.
In you you are the temple ofGod and the spirit dwells in you
(39:47):
.
That's what Paul teaches ustoday.
So you won't be happy livingyour life, because it's not just
your life anymore.
That's the crazy thing God doesin the gospel.
He says your life and my lifeare unionized, we are put
together, and so I love doingthe things you love because I'm
(40:10):
part of you.
So if you love gardening, thenGod loves gardening through you.
If you love racing, god lovesthat too.
But also the things God lovesyou love, and God loves
righteousness in all things, andso God will.
(40:32):
You will grieve.
Your own soul, your own spiritwill be grieved if you choose to
participate in sinful things,and that's what happens and we
preach.
Jesus alone is our life.
He saved us, he offered it tous, we accepted it and then we
(40:53):
walk and live in him.
He is our life.
Would you all bow your heads andclose your eyes with me today?
Would you all bow your headsand close your eyes with me
today?
There may be people in heretoday that have never
experienced the great joy ofhaving the burden, the backpack
(41:16):
weighted down, with our sinfulburden on our back, lifted up by
a friend.
And if you're out here todayand you would like to be
forgiven of your sin, and ifyou're watching online and the
Spirit of God is knocking on thedoor of your heart and he's
(41:38):
speaking to you and saying youare my child, I did this for you
.
If you choose to respond todayand say Jesus, I believe that
you died on the cross for my sin, that you're offering me
forgiveness today and I ask youfor it, give it to me, know that
(41:59):
God is moving that in yourheart.
That's not your own idea.
And you can respond right nowsaying Jesus saved me.
And now, if you've been a childof God and you've been wandering
and you've been hiding thingsand you know that you have not
(42:20):
been the holy temple of God, thecomfortable place for the
Spirit of God, but you'vebrought dirty things into your
heart and into your soul and youwould like to know and remember
that you are pure and that youare holy, you have every right
to enjoy a pure relationshipwith God right now and just say
(42:43):
God, thank you for the cleansingof Jesus Christ in my life.
I believe that I am still pure,even though I have participated
in things I shouldn't, eventhough I'm committed to things I
shouldn't be.
I choose you and I don't evenhave the strength to know what
comes in the next five minutes,but I choose you and I need you.
(43:05):
Jesus is here for you alsoright now, and he is moving in
your heart right now.
Jesus, we need you.
Jesus, we trust in you alone.
We don't deserve to be yourtemple, but we are your temple.
(43:26):
We don't deserve for you torest and rule over us, but we
believe and we accept that yourest in us and you rule over us,
and we gladly surrender andsubmit to the Lord of the
universe, the King of all hearts, jesus Christ, our Lord and
(43:48):
Savior.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
Today's sermon is called A Deep Dive into the
Temple and the Fear of the LordA deep dive into the temple and
the fear of the Lord, and we'recontinuing our Bible study
through 1 Corinthians 3, verse16 and 17 is where we're at
today, so let's pray and thenwe'll get started right into our
(00:22):
study.
Father, please open our heartsand our minds to understand the
things that have been freelygiven to us and the truth about
who you are and our relationshipwith you and all that Jesus
Christ has done for us.
We love you, but not nearly asmuch as you love us.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
(00:44):
Amen, amen.
Thank you, guys, for divinginto the word of God with me.
God is intense.
It doesn't mean he's camping,it means this sermon might scare
you.
Oh, that was a boo.
I got a boo on that.
Well done, nate, thank you.
This sermon might scare you,and actually I hope it does a
(01:07):
little bit.
It's not for wimps, but Ilooked around and I was like
there's no wimps here, so we canhandle it Right.
Laura, absolutely.
Our God is light and in him isno darkness at all.
So if you think about, when yougo into your kitchen, you turn
on the light.
Do you have to yell at thedarkness for it to leave?
No, it just leaves, becauselight and darkness cannot be
(01:32):
together.
Why?
Why is God so intense?
It's because he cares deeply.
He doesn't just let things go.
Everything is accounted for andperfect with God.
Anyone have a experience inaccounting.
You're an accountant.
Accounting is the opposite ofhow my brain works.
(01:55):
So my wife does all thefinancial, everything for us and
our family.
She takes care of me because Ihave.
My brain does not work that way.
I'm like if I need it, I buy it.
I don't understand the problemhere, but my wife is very much
asked the question why do weneed it?
Tell me, why Give me ajustification?
(02:17):
And then do we have the money,which I never thought of that
question.
So with God, everything isaccounted for and perfect and he
loves us.
There's no good enough with God, it has to be perfect.
There's no, almost there.
There's no darkness mixed inwith the light, and this is
actually great news for us.
(02:38):
Okay, because we get to enjoyhis presence and his love with
total assurance and peace, withno fear that there's going to
sneak in some darkness or some.
You know, there's nothing thatwe have to be worried about with
our relationship with God.
But it's not good for us if wewant to hide our sin or, worse
(03:03):
yet our sin or, worse yet, claimthat we deserve to live the way
we choose, with no regard tohis will and his holiness.
So that's dangerous, and it'sdangerous even for us to live
that way, because God you knowthat's called grieving the Holy
Spirit.
When you choose to just say, Iknow that you love me, but I'm
(03:26):
going to track dirt into yourbeautiful house, that grieves
the Holy Spirit.
It's not about breaking rules.
It's not like God is up therewith just tons of rules.
It's about breaking hearts.
God has a heart and our livesmatter deeply to his heart.
He cares more about your lifethan you do.
(03:48):
God desires purity in theinward life of men Because he is
pure and he wants to be unitedand have fellowship with you,
and so he desires purity in ourlives.
Now he's done the work ofmaking us pure in Christ, but we
(04:10):
can sully ourselves with sinand with the world.
He wants to dwell in us andwith us.
He is pure.
So we have to be pure and weare pure, but again, we can walk
in ways that that get us dirty,like when you're out on the
beach with your brand new whitesandals and you didn't know that
(04:33):
there was black tar everywhereon these beautiful.
Well, I knew, but I didn't knowbecause I hadn't experienced it
.
So my excuse is it.
So my excuse is yeah, I was agood example of sin.
Sometimes we don't act likewe're pure, okay.
(04:57):
Sometimes we don't believe thatwe are pure, so we choose to
walk in our own way, choosingour own actions, and so what
happens is we don't act like whowe really are, which is pure.
So let's read our text and seewhere it goes.
It says do you not know thatyou are the temple of God and
that the spirit of God dwells inyou?
So Paul asks a rhetoricalquestion, saying don't you guys
(05:18):
know this?
This is like basic.
If anyone defiles the temple ofGod, god will destroy him, for
the temple of God is holy.
Which temple you are?
So Paul says don't you know?
Do you not know?
We have to know that we are thetemple.
It's vital to understandingwhat real life is all about.
(05:41):
Real life is not about enjoyingyour life.
It's understanding you're thetemple of God and you live with
God.
Real life is not about retiringor doing what you want.
It's about this connection.
This is what real life is allabout.
And he says if you defile this,god will destroy you, because
you are holy and we're going todeep dive into this today.
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You, because you are holy andwe're going to deep dive into
this today.
So get out your scuba gear,because this won't be surface
level.
But, like I said, I know youguys can do it.
I know you can do it.
So let's start by going back tothe Old Testament to investigate
this temple thing and discoverwhat God says about this temple.
So it's important as we studythe Bible, that you understand
(06:27):
that the Old Testament,everything written in the Old
Testament, was written for us.
Even though we live in NewTestament times, the Old
Testament was written for us andit's written for us to
understand all the things thatJesus changed and how Jesus's
life is available to us.
So the Old Testament is vitalto study.
(06:48):
Even though we don't live underthat old covenant that God made
with Israel, we live in a newcovenant that we have with Jesus
and it's very vital tounderstand that.
So we can only understand allthat Jesus did for us in in the
gospel of grace by seeing theOld Testament through these
(07:08):
grace glasses.
So the way to study the Bibleis to understand what Jesus did
first, and then you lay that,you kind of put those glasses on
, and then you can understandwhy the Old Testament says the
things that it says.
And then you can understand it,Because if you just read the
Old Testament you're like, wow,we should do human sacrifices
again or whatever.
Okay, and those things are notwhat they seem for today.
(07:32):
All right, so let's, we're goingto go to 1 Kings, chapter 9.
So we're going to dive in.
I'm going to read you nineverses out of 1 Kings.
It says, when Solomon hadfinished building the house of
the Lord and the king's houseand all Solomon's desire which
he wanted to do, that the Lordappeared to Solomon the second
time as he had appeared to himat Gibeon.
(07:54):
And the Lord said to him I'veheard your prayer and your
supplication that you have madebefore me.
I have consecrated or dedicatedthis house which you have built
to put my name there foreverand my eyes and my heart will be
there perpetually.
So this is about 1,500 yearsbefore Jesus came, the Jews
(08:21):
built the David came and thenDavid's son, solomon, wanted to
build a house for the Lord, sohe built the temple that has
since been destroyed, wasdestroyed after Jesus came, but
it's that same temple Now.
God says.
Now, if you walk before me, asyour father David walked, in
integrity of heart, inuprightness, to do according to
(08:45):
all that I've commanded you, ifyou keep my statutes and my
judgments, then I will establishthe throne of your kingdom over
Israel forever, as I promisedDavid, your father, saying you
shall not fail to have a manover the throne of Israel.
But if you, or your sons at all, turn from following me and do
(09:08):
not keep my commandments and mystatutes, as I have said before
you, but go and serve other godsand worship them, then I will
cut off Israel from the landwhich I have given them and this
house which I have consecratedfor my name.
I will cast out of my sight.
Israel will be a proverb and abyword among the peoples.
(09:29):
And as for this house, which isexalted, everyone who passes by
will be astonished and willhiss and say why has the Lord
done this to the land and tothis house?
And they will answer Becausethey forsook the Lord, their God
, who brought their fathers outof the land of Egypt and
(09:51):
embraced other gods andworshiped them and served them.
Therefore, the Lord has broughtall this calamity on them.
So just a few things I want topoint out from that narrative
that we just read.
First of all, the design wasgood.
The design was for their good.
God had a plan to bless them.
(10:11):
He's like you, serve me,worship me and guess what?
I am going to supernaturallyprotect you, help you.
It's going to be great, but thebetter something is, the more
severe the consequences are formessing it up.
You don't give a Lamborghini toa first-time driver with a
(10:34):
learner's permit, right?
They can't even go the rightway in Mario Kart.
You're not going to entrustthem with a quarter million
dollar sports car.
You don't let people messaround with priceless works of
art.
You might have saw the articlethis week.
(10:55):
As you were reading thearticles, I'll read it to you.
Tourist caught on camerasmashing crystal studded Van
Gogh chair at art museum.
Did you guys read this?
You saw it.
Good job.
Security footage capturedculprit fleeing after crushing a
Swarovski covered chair atItaly's Palazzo Maffei on June
(11:18):
15th, just seven days ago.
And it goes on to say a touristwas caught crushing the chair
by trying to sit on it and takea selfie, and he did crush it.
They were able to put it backtogether, but the museum is like
the nightmare of every museumhas become our reality.
The chair was described asbeing extremely fragile.
(11:43):
This irresponsible gesturecaused serious damage to the Van
Gogh chair.
They said A relationship withGod is more valuable than
anything in this world, and whenwe understand this, it's called
having the fear of the Lord.
Have you guys heard that termbefore?
(12:04):
The fear of the Lord?
Have you guys heard that termbefore the fear of the Lord?
Now, the sad thing is, whenmost of us grew up, hearing that
it was a way for people to tryto control you say you should be
afraid of going to hell and bydoing the wrong things and
breaking my rules.
That's how it was explained tomost of us.
But that's not the fear of theLord.
So we got hurt, we got churchhurt by people who took this
(12:28):
term and said I want you tobehave a certain way, even if
it's fake, because I want you tobe afraid of acting a different
way.
God never chooses to motivateus by fear, but the fear of the
Lord is very real, and it isthis where you consider your
(12:51):
relationship with God, yourconnection with God, of such
great value that you treat itwith the honor and respect that
it deserves.
You're not out there doingwheelies in your Lamborghini.
Your relationship with God isreal and important.
It's very real, and that iswhat the fear of the Lord is.
(13:14):
It's not you should be afraidof God, it's you should be
afraid of breaking God's heartbecause you value him.
How many times did he say inthat text they would leave me,
they would abandon worship of meand worship other gods.
That broke his heart.
It wasn't about him beingpossessive you're my people.
(13:39):
No, he's saying you're mypeople, I love you, I give my
life for you, I care about you,and that relationship is what
he's being taught about here.
So let's see what happened withSolomon.
Do you guys think he kept thefear of the Lord?
No, anyone read the story.
(14:01):
Okay, let's see.
This is fun.
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, or1 Kings, chapter 11, it says
but King Solomon loved manyforeign women there's his
problem right there as well asthe daughter of Pharaoh, women
of the Moabites, the Ammonites,the Edomites, the Sodonians, the
(14:23):
Hittites and from the nationswhom the Lord had said to the
children of Israel you shall notintermarry with them, nor they
with you.
Surely they will turn yourheart after other gods.
Did you see that God's notracist?
He doesn't say don't marry thembecause they're a skin color.
He says their culture iscommitted to a different God and
(14:49):
if you marry them, you willlove them, and so you will want
to take their God as your God,and it will mess up our
relationship.
That's what's going on here.
So that's why he disallowedthis intermarriage with these
other nations.
Solomon clung to these in love.
(15:09):
Oh, solomon was very loving tothese women.
Yeah, that's what screwed uphis life.
We'll see.
And he had 700 wives, bro,princesses and 300 concubines
(15:34):
and, as you could guess, hiswives turned his heart away.
They turned away his heart fromthe Lord, for it was so, when
Solomon was old, that his wivesturned his heart after other
gods and his heart was not loyalto the Lord, his God, and as
his father David.
(15:55):
For Solomon went after Astaroth, the god of Sidonians, after
Milcom, the abomination of theAmmonites.
Solomon did evil in the sightof the Lord and did not fully
follow the Lord as his fatherDavid.
Then Solomon built a high placefor Chemosh, the abomination of
Moab, on a hill that is east ofJerusalem, and for Molech, the
(16:18):
abomination of the people ofAmmon, and he did likewise for
all his foreign wives who burnedincense and sacrifice to their
gods.
So the Lord became angry withSolomon because his heart turned
from the Lord, god of Israel,who had appeared to him twice
(16:39):
and had commanded him concerningthis thing, that he should not
go after other gods.
But he did not keep what theLord had commanded.
Therefore, the Lord said toSolomon because you've done this
, you've not kept mycommandments, my statutes, which
I have commanded you I willsurely tear the kingdom away
from you and give it to yourservant.
Nevertheless, I'm not going todo it in your days, for the sake
(17:01):
of your father, david, I willtear it out of the hand of your
son.
However, I will not tear thewhole kingdom.
I will give you one tribe forthe sake of my servant, david,
and for the sake of Jerusalem,which I have chosen.
So Solomon got messed up becausehe loved other things more than
God.
He didn't treasure hisrelationship with God, he didn't
(17:23):
have the fear of the Lord.
We cannot live that way.
We're not designed to live thatway.
See, the problem is we thinkit's the path of life that we've
discovered.
Oh, I'm happy when my wivesaren't nagging me about building
these high places and work toworship the things they love.
(17:45):
I'm more happy when they stopnagging me.
Okay, but that's not what ledto happiness.
We think it's a path of life,but it leads only to death, and
God has tried over and overagain to tell us to follow his
way, but we think we know better.
So we choose to love otherthings more than God, and that
(18:13):
is called idolatry Idolatry.
So now we're puttingdefinitions to all these church
words that we've heard and lookat how idolatry.
So now we're puttingdefinitions to all these church
words that we've heard and lookat how idolatry ends up.
Solomon is devastated, he's sad, he regrets living the way that
he does, and his kingdom, hislegacy, is now messed up, ruined
(18:39):
.
You might think that's the endof the story, but God is
actually way more patient andfull of second chances for all
the people that he loves, whichis really great news.
So look at 2 Chronicles 36,verse 15.
It says and the Lord, god oftheir fathers, sent warnings to
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them by his messengers.
So his people go on and theykeep living their lives and God
sends warnings to them by hismessengers, rising up early and
sending them.
We call these the prophets inthe Old Testament.
So God would speak to a prophetand the prophet would go and
speak to Israel because he hadcompassion on the people.
(19:25):
God doesn't just leave them andsay, fine, you don't love me,
I'm going to take my ball and gohome.
No, he pursues them because heloves them.
He had compassion on his peopleand on his dwelling place.
That's the temple that we'restudying here.
But they mocked the messengersof God, despised his words and
scoffed at his prophets untilthe wrath of the Lord arose
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against the people, and theretill there was no remedy.
So he brought against them,against the king of the
Chaldeans, who killed theiryoung men with the sword and in
the house of their sanctuary andhad no compassion on their
young men or virgin, on the agedor weak.
He gave them all into his handand all the articles of the
(20:10):
house of God, great and small,the treasures of the house of
the Lord, the treasures of theking and all his leaders, all
these he took to Babylon untilTrump bombed them.
Just kidding, that wasyesterday.
Babylon is never mind.
Oh, he ties current events inso well, sorry.
And those who escaped from thesword he carried away to Babylon
(20:34):
.
They became servants to him andhis sons until the rule of the
kingdom of Persia, to fulfillall the words of the Lord by the
mouth of Jeremiah.
So here we see the destructionof the temple.
Okay, because Solomon'sdisobedience and the country
just followed his example, goddestroyed his temple, and it
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happened because they didn'thave the fear of the Lord.
And you know who the peopleblame every time God's judgment
comes.
God, you know who we blameevery time something bad happens
in our lives.
God, mostly.
Every time we say stuff likejust let me live my life, you
(21:23):
can't tell me what to do,instead of understanding that we
were bought with a price.
You are not your own.
You are the temple of God.
You were dedicated to God'sservice and to him, to love him,
(21:43):
to be the thing that loves himmost in this earth.
We're not talking aboutunbelievers here, okay.
This temple talk.
What we're talking about todayis only for people who believe
in Jesus.
You are God's dwelling place.
God loves you and he desiresfor you to love him and serve
him.
Of course, unbelievers don'tfollow the Lord, but we should.
(22:06):
We are his people.
So now let's turn our view tothe New Testament and see how
the New Testament writersdescribe the church as the
temple of the Lord In Ephesians,chapter two, 2, verse 19,.
He says now, therefore, you areno longer strangers and
foreigners to God.
You are fellow citizens, withthe saints and members of the
(22:30):
household of God being built onthe foundation of the apostles
and prophets, jesus Christhimself being the chief
cornerstone.
What's this building?
He's talking about the templebeing the chief cornerstone.
What's this building?
He's talking about the templeIn whom the whole building,
being fit together, grows into aholy temple in the Lord, in
whom you are also being builttogether for a dwelling place of
(22:54):
God in the Spirit.
So God tells us that ouridentity is that we are his
temple, you are citizens withGod, you are saints, you are
part of his family.
These are identity words.
(23:14):
When you think of yourself, doyou think of yourself?
I'm a citizen of God's kingdom,I am a saint identified with
God and holy for him, and I'mpart of his family and we're all
built on Jesus.
It's what he did is the onlything that matters in our church
, in any church, and we all fittogether perfectly as we grow
(23:37):
into his temple.
Why does God do it this way?
Because so the spirit will havea place to dwell.
God's spirit Now is Godeverywhere.
Yes, that's called omnipresence.
God is everywhere.
He sees everything everywhere.
Okay, but God chooses to dwell,which is a different level of
(23:59):
his presence, and he chooses todwell in.
Everyone is a different levelof his presence, and he chooses
to dwell in everyone that callshimself a believer.
That is a true believer.
The Spirit dwells with us, andso God desires to build the old
temple man, it was fancy, it wasspecial, and we are no less.
We are fancy, we are special.
(24:21):
So how do we interact with this?
What do we actually do Today?
It's 2025.
It's June 22nd 2025.
How do we interact with this?
Well, peter says this in 1Peter, chapter 2, verse 4.
It says coming to him.
(24:41):
Let me start that over Comingto him.
Those three words are soimportant.
What am I supposed to do?
Coming to him as to a livingstone, rejected by men but
chosen by God and precious youalso as living stones, are being
built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
(25:05):
spiritual sacrifices acceptableto God.
Through Jesus, we are built upand grow as the temple as we
come to him.
You don't get built up as youcome to church.
You build up as you come to him.
You don't get built up as youcome to church.
You built up as you come to him.
You don't get built up as youfollow the rules.
(25:27):
You get built up by coming tohim.
This is an active thing.
You choose to come to himInstead of coming to someone
else, choosing something else.
You choose to come to himInstead of coming to someone
else, choosing something else.
You choose him.
How do we come to him?
I hear you all asking thatquestion.
(25:47):
Well, how do I do this?
I want to do this.
I know you want to do this, sohow do I do it?
Faith and humility is the way wecome to him.
I call it F and H Faith andhumility, faith and humility.
Faith and humility.
We have to come to him in faith, saying Jesus, I'm going to
(26:08):
trust you.
Whatever the situation is, I'mgoing to trust you.
And then we come in humility,saying Jesus, I need you.
So if you can take that step tosay Jesus, I trust you and
Jesus I need you.
So if you can take that step tosay Jesus I trust you and Jesus
I need you, and the next stepis what do you think?
Jesus, I trust you, jesus Ineed you, and we repeat that,
(26:37):
and no matter what the situationis, that is how we come to him
and how we are then built up.
Jesus is able to take anyone whocomes to him and make them
exactly what he wants them to be.
The purpose of us being thetemple is so that we can serve
God and love him and be hislight to this world.
(26:59):
Those are the spiritualsacrifices it's talking about.
God does want you to serve him,but he doesn't want you to do
it on your own or by tryingharder.
Watch me, go and serve God.
He never says do that.
He says come to me and I'll doit through you.
Your job is to be coming to meover and over.
(27:20):
What do I do tomorrow morning?
Come to me.
What do I do tomorrow night?
Come to me.
What do I do when things arebad?
Come to me.
What do I do when things aregood?
There you go.
This is not that hard.
Why does he want us to servehim?
Because he is worthy to beloved and served.
(27:42):
God is worthy.
Sometimes I see a movie and I'mlike that movie was great, you
should see that movie.
And so I go around tellingpeople I loved this movie, you
should see this movie.
Why do you want me to see thatmovie so bad?
Because it's good, exactly itis worthy to be watched.
Why do you want me to see thatmovie so bad?
Because it's good, exactly itis worthy to be watched.
(28:06):
Maybe it'll speak to your life,maybe it'll change your life, I
don't know.
But I tell you what it was goodartistry, it was good filming.
It was good cinematography.
It was good writing.
It had qualities that areworthy for me to watch and say
that was good.
Well, god is like the infinitelevel of all those things.
(28:26):
He is worth our time, he isworth our attention, he is worth
our lives being poured out asofferings to him.
But how does that happen?
Not anyone can serve him.
You have to be the holy temple,you have to be coming to him.
And how does that happen?
Not, anyone can serve him.
You have to be the holy temple,you have to be coming to him.
And that describes arelationship.
It doesn't describe a building.
(28:47):
Again, the temple is not abuilding.
The temple is people who have arelationship with God.
And a lot of people think theyhave a relationship with God,
but they just go to a buildingand they fake it and they're
like I'm a Christian because Igo to church every Sunday.
You're like tell me about yourrelationship with God.
I go to church every Sunday.
(29:07):
Tell me about when you come toGod.
I come to church on Sundays.
You're not getting me.
A relationship with God hasnothing to do with the place you
are.
It's where you're coming to.
What happens when we refuse tobelieve?
(29:30):
We are God's temple, becauseyou are God's temple, you are
holy, but we man, a lot of us,refuse to believe that.
In Acts, chapter 4, verse 32,this one's crazy, okay.
So the end of Acts, chapter 4,the church is just getting
started and God is teaching thepeople about how different the
(29:52):
church is from the Old Testamentand this crazy thing happens.
So it says the multitude ofthose who believed were of one
heart and soul.
Oh man, this is a beautifulchurch we have being established
here.
Everyone loves each other.
It's awesome.
Neither did anyone say any ofthe things that he possessed was
his own, but they had allthings in common.
(30:13):
So their love was so legit thatthey were just like it's not my
house, it's our house, it's notmy car, it's our car.
And with great power, theapostles gave witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
This was new life that theworld had never seen before, and
great grace was upon them all.
(30:34):
I mean the church is justrocking.
This is like maybe two to threeto five years after Jesus has
risen.
I mean it is just rocking rightnow, taking over the world.
Nor was there anyone among themwho lacked, for there were all
their possessions of lands orhouses.
Those who had lands or houses.
They sold them and brought theproceeds of all the things that
(30:55):
were sold and laid them at theapostles' feet and they
distributed to each one who hadneed.
Okay, so they were just lovingeach other, selling things they
didn't need.
And then it says this andJoseph, who was also named
Barnabas, so we know him laterby the apostles, which is
translated son of encouragement,a Levite of the country of
(31:16):
Cyprus, having land, sold it andbrought the money and laid it
at the apostles' feet.
Okay, so things you need toknow.
Cyprus was like Beverly Hills.
If you had land in Cyprus, youwere filthy, stinking rich.
And so if this guy, joseph, whowe'll call Barnabas because
(31:37):
that's his nickname, if Barney,had land in Cyprus, he was rich
and he sold this land for a lotof money.
And it was common knowledgethat he came and brought it and
everyone was like, oh mygoodness, look at all the poor
people we've fed, look at allthe good that was done.
And everyone was like man,barney is awesome.
(32:01):
Look at what God is doingthrough Barney, barney is great.
So look at chapter 5.
But a certain man named Ananias,with Sapphira, his wife, sold a
possession and they kept backpart of the proceeds, his wife
also being aware of it, and thenthey brought a certain part and
laid it at the apostles' feet.
Okay, nothing wrong with that,except when you tie it to what
(32:27):
happened before we find out.
What is going on really is thatthey wanted to appear like they
were as generous as Barney.
But Peter said Ananias, why hasSatan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and kept backpart of the price for the land
for yourself?
While it remained, was it notyour own?
(32:48):
And after it was sold, was itnot in your control.
Why have you conceived thisthing in your heart?
You've not lied to men, but toGod.
Ananias and his wife Sapphirahave chosen to not.
What are they missing in theirlife?
They're missing the fear of theLord.
(33:10):
They're missing the fear of theLord.
They wanted to serve God like apart of the temple.
They wanted to be a part ofthis beautiful new temple that
God was raising up in the world.
But they did not want to bepure.
They did not have the fear ofthe Lord.
(33:32):
And it's not that they didn'tgive all the money, because
that's not what Peter questionsthem on.
He says you lied about how muchof the money you were giving
because you wanted to live alife comparing yourself to
Barney.
That's their problem.
They wanted to compare theirself with another Christian
(33:54):
because they wanted the glory.
And who's supposed to get theglory in the temple?
God right.
To get the glory in the temple?
God Right.
Then Ananias, hearing thesewords, fell down and breathed
his last.
So great fear came upon allthose who heard these things and
the young man arose and wrappedhim up and carried him out and
(34:16):
burned him, buried him.
This is a first youth groupactivity.
I just came up with that.
That was funny.
Now it was about three hourslater when his wife came in not
knowing what had happened, andPeter answered her hey, tell me
(34:36):
whether you sold the land for somuch?
And she said yes, for so much.
And Peter said to her how is itthat you agreed together to
test the spirit of the Lord?
Look, the feet of those whoburied your husband are at the
door and they will carry you out.
Then, immediately she fell downat his feet and breathed her
last, and the young man carriedand found her dead and carried
her out, buried her by herhusband.
(34:56):
So great fear came upon all thechurch.
Great fear came upon all thechurch.
Great fear came upon all thechurch and all those who heard
these things.
So Ananias and Sapphira did nothave the fear of the Lord.
They thought the temple wasabout getting credit and earning
points about how they lookedamong people.
Make sure you wear a dress,make sure you wear a tie, make
(35:20):
sure you don't talk about thedirty things that you've done
this week.
But it's not.
The temple of God is aboutholiness.
So does that mean you have tobe perfect to come to church?
No, in fact, the church is theperfect place to come when you
screwed up.
In fact, the church is theperfect place to come when you
(35:42):
screwed up, because the churchis here to tell you here is
grace for you, here is whatJesus has done for you, here is
blood to wash away the stainthat you have got in your life.
In fact, it's already forgiven.
Come and remember who you are.
You know, like Mufasa, remember, remember who you are.
(36:06):
Lion King reference second weekin a row.
The church is about holiness,not that just God is holy, but
God has made us holy too, Truthand righteousness in the heart,
and that we get this withcomplete surrender to God and
his will, not to earn points,but because of love, because God
(36:29):
loved us and he shared his lifewith us.
He shared his holiness with us.
Now let's just refer back toour original text that we read
as we've deep dived into thetemple, and I want to read it
again to us 1 Corinthians 3,verse 16.
Do you not know that you arethe temple of God and that the
(36:53):
Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone defiles the temple ofGod, god will destroy him, for
the temple of God is holy.
Which temple you are.
What is Paul trying to teach us?
What is Paul teaching you?
(37:16):
The fear of the Lord.
I'm sure that if you havelistened to these words today
and you've considered them, thatGod's Holy Spirit is working in
your hearts and lives, youmight have come in and
(37:36):
participated in all kinds ofevil things.
You might have screwed up thisweek really bad.
The church is where you need tocome, but not to hide those
things.
And I don't need you to standup and say I did this Because
it's not my eyes that I don'tneed to know.
(37:59):
I can.
You can tell me if you want,but I don't care.
I will tell you what Jesus saysabout it.
If you confess your sin to theLord, he's faithful and just to
forgive all sin, all you canwalk away right now clean and
(38:20):
pure in God's sight and you canlive in that forever.
It's scary Because if we choosein this moment to say yeah, no,
thanks.
That's scary Because God is nota joke.
(38:43):
If you're not holy, you'reunholy.
And that's scary Because you'vebeen separated from the only
source of good and life, becausesin separates us from God.
So we have to know that we'reholy and that is offered to
every single person in heretoday.
(39:04):
Jesus loves you and Jesus becamea man for you.
Jesus died on the cross foryour sin and he offers that
forgiveness to any person whowill say please me, please
forgive me, I want to be holy.
Come and live inside me andchange me and make me holy.
I cannot change myself.
That's how you begin arelationship with God and you
(39:25):
know how you grow in arelationship with God.
Keep saying I cannot changemyself.
But, jesus, I'm going to lookto you, I'm going to trust you
and I'm going to keep learningwhat you have done for me and
who I am.
In you you are the temple ofGod and the spirit dwells in you
(39:47):
.
That's what Paul teaches ustoday.
So you won't be happy livingyour life, because it's not just
your life anymore.
That's the crazy thing God doesin the gospel.
He says your life and my lifeare unionized, we are put
together, and so I love doingthe things you love because I'm
(40:10):
part of you.
So if you love gardening, thenGod loves gardening through you.
If you love racing, god lovesthat too.
But also the things God lovesyou love, and God loves
righteousness in all things, andso God will.
(40:32):
You will grieve.
Your own soul, your own spiritwill be grieved if you choose to
participate in sinful things,and that's what happens and we
preach.
Jesus alone is our life.
He saved us, he offered it tous, we accepted it and then we
(40:53):
walk and live in him.
He is our life.
Would you all bow your heads andclose your eyes with me today?
Would you all bow your headsand close your eyes with me
today?
There may be people in heretoday that have never
experienced the great joy ofhaving the burden, the backpack
(41:16):
weighted down, with our sinfulburden on our back, lifted up by
a friend.
And if you're out here todayand you would like to be
forgiven of your sin, and ifyou're watching online and the
Spirit of God is knocking on thedoor of your heart and he's
(41:38):
speaking to you and saying youare my child, I did this for you
.
If you choose to respond todayand say Jesus, I believe that
you died on the cross for my sin, that you're offering me
forgiveness today and I ask youfor it, give it to me, know that
(41:59):
God is moving that in yourheart.
That's not your own idea.
And you can respond right nowsaying Jesus saved me.
And now, if you've been a childof God and you've been wandering
and you've been hiding thingsand you know that you have not
(42:20):
been the holy temple of God, thecomfortable place for the
Spirit of God, but you'vebrought dirty things into your
heart and into your soul and youwould like to know and remember
that you are pure and that youare holy, you have every right
to enjoy a pure relationshipwith God right now and just say
(42:43):
God, thank you for the cleansingof Jesus Christ in my life.
I believe that I am still pure,even though I have participated
in things I shouldn't, eventhough I'm committed to things I
shouldn't be.
I choose you and I don't evenhave the strength to know what
comes in the next five minutes,but I choose you and I need you.
(43:05):
Jesus is here for you alsoright now, and he is moving in
your heart right now.
Jesus, we need you.
Jesus, we trust in you alone.
We don't deserve to be yourtemple, but we are your temple.
(43:26):
We don't deserve for you torest and rule over us, but we
believe and we accept that yourest in us and you rule over us,
and we gladly surrender andsubmit to the Lord of the
universe, the King of all hearts, jesus Christ, our Lord and
(43:48):
Savior.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
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