[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. It's good to be here. This morning, I'm going to talk about the temple of God.
[0:16] You know, it's interesting. Devotions ended up in John. And here Jesus said, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
[0:37] You know, God has always desired to live, to dwell with his people. In the New Covenant, in the New Testament times, in our day, God comes to live in us when we're born again, and he dwells in our heart by the Spirit of God.
[1:01] And that is where we want to go with this this morning, but I want to go back, and I want to look at the Old Testament, and we'll work our way through.
[1:23] But in all of this today, remember that we are the temple of God.
[1:34] Our bodies are the temple of God, and we'll go there, we'll read that, and Corinthians, and various places. We are the temple of God, but in Old Testament times, and we'll go back, let's start in Exodus.
[1:56] In Exodus, Moses had received instructions from God to build the tabernacle, and to build the Ark of the Covenant, and God had given him the Ten Commandments, the two tablets of stone.
[2:17] He put those in the Ark, and some various other things. And then in Exodus 29, In Exodus 29, we have here, let's start in verse 38.
[2:35] Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar, two lambs of the first year, day by day, continually. So they were to offer these two lambs every day, continually.
[2:53] The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, the other lamb thou shalt offer at even. And with the one lamb, a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hen of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hen of wine for a drink offering.
[3:12] And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, in the evening, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
[3:31] This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you, and speak there unto thee.
[3:47] Notice what God is saying. He's saying here, as you continually do this evening offering and sacrifice, then I will meet you there.
[4:00] I will meet you there at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and there I will meet you and speak there unto thee.
[4:10] There was God's desire to dwell with his people and to walk with them. You know, and if you will, if you notice, in Exodus 33, you know, the children of Israel, they had been rebellious and so on, and God said that his presence can't go with them lest he would consume them.
[4:43] But in verse 14, well, Moses said, well, let's just read 14 and 15 here. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
[4:57] And he said unto him, Moses said to God, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. You know, Moses knew that he needed the presence of God, but God had withdrawn because of their rebellion.
[5:16] But because of Moses' intercession, they came, God came, and he said, Yes, my presence will go with you. But now let's notice here what Moses says in verse 16.
[5:31] You know, this verse, I know it's in the Old Testament, it's in Exodus, and all of that, but let me just say like this, this verse, this verse, I believe, even in our day, it applies.
[6:14] It, you know, how, you know, we hear people talking about living a separated life, and, and, and all of that, to be separated from the world, and, and, and so on.
[6:27] But how are we separated other than this, in a right way? If the presence of God is with us, if he dwells in our heart, and everywhere we go, we, we have God in us, doesn't that make us different from everyone else?
[6:54] Doesn't that make us different from all the people out there that do not have God? And thus, it makes us a separated people.
[7:07] You know, and, and, where is it? Titus says, he, that God has separated us a peculiar people. And this is what is the difference.
[7:20] Is God being with us. God with us. the evening sacrifice, and I will come, and I will meet you there, and I will be with you.
[7:41] Now let's go, let's just, I don't know, we don't want to spend a lot of time here, but, you know, King Solomon, it was in David's heart, King David, to build a temple for God.
[7:56] And, God said, you have been a man of war, you've shed much blood, but I'll have Solomon, Solomon, your son, can build this temple.
[8:09] And, you know, God gave King David all the plans, and, and how he wanted this built. Just like he gave Moses, the plans, and, and, and, and this, he specified to him how he wanted, the, the tabernacle there, in the wilderness to be built, and, and, and all of that.
[8:34] And, and so, God gave this plan, to, to David, and David gave it, to his son, Solomon. And, I just want to pick out a few things.
[8:50] We, we, we don't have time to, to read a lot of this. Maybe we'll start in, in 1st Kings 6.
[9:10] They will read there. I'm just talking about the temple, and the plan of it. And it came to pass, in the 480th year, after the children of Israel, were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, over Israel, in the month Sif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
[9:36] And the house, which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof, with threescore cubits, the breadth thereof, twenty cubits, and the height thereof, thirty cubits.
[9:49] And the porch, before the temple of the house, twenty cubits, was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits, was the breadth thereof, before the house.
[10:02] And the house he made, and for the house he made, windows of narrow lights. And against the wall of the house, he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple, and of the oracle, and he made chambers round about.
[10:21] The nethermost chamber, was five cubits broad, the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad, for without, in the wall of the house, he made narrow rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened, in the walls of the house.
[10:41] And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone, made ready, before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house, while it was in building.
[10:57] And, you know, just, just look at this, here in verse seven, the house, when it was in building, you know, they, they, they got these stone, already out, out in the quarry, they, they, they fitted these stone, and they made them just perfect, to fit into this house, and to take their place.
[11:20] And we'll point back to this later. But, you know, so there was, there was no sound of a hammer, or axe, or any tool of iron, heard in the house, while it was building.
[11:36] Why? Because this was a holy house. This was to be the habitation of God. And so, there was no tools heard, in, in, in the house, while it was in building.
[11:54] Now, I'm not sure, I didn't look up how big this house was. We read it, you know, in cubits. But it was not a small building.
[12:07] In verse 22 here, in 1 Kings 6, he says, and the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house.
[12:20] Also, the whole altar that was by the oracle, he overlaid with gold. You know, we can't comprehend, I can't, all the, the wealth that was put into this house.
[12:38] You know, it's just mind boggling. But also look at, the price, of the church of Jesus Christ today.
[13:03] it cost heaven, our Lord Jesus, to come, and to buy us back.
[13:16] We are much more precious in his sight than gold. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[13:26] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, when they dedicated the temple, here we have Solomon, and he has a long prayer, but I just want to pick out one verse here, in 1 Kings 8, in verse 27.
[13:50] But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built it.
[14:06] How much less can this house that I have built it contain God? He is such an awesome God. The heaven of heavens cannot contain him.
[14:18] But now listen, but now listen, now look. Today, he comes and he dwells in the hearts of his people, to those who will humbly walk with him.
[14:31] Will God indeed, will God indeed live in this house? God did make his presence known in that place.
[14:48] And the children of Israel went up to the temple for many years, for many centuries even. And then the temple was destroyed. Why? Because of the disobedience, the children of Israel, and going into idolatry.
[15:01] I want to look, I want to read one, one more verse here.
[15:20] I missed it. You know, God said in, in 1 Kings 7, No, it's not.
[15:36] It's in the Chronicles. Okay. In 2 Chronicles, we have much the same account.
[15:49] And, then in chapter 7, here we have that verse that we all know so well.
[16:07] The Lord had appeared to Solomon by night. And, he said, I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
[16:24] It's in chapter 7, verse 12. If I shut up heaven, that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
[16:54] Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
[17:15] Now notice what God promised here. And, you know, we might wonder, you know, all those centuries when, you know, that there wasn't a temple there, and all of that, and we'll talk a little bit about that.
[17:35] But God here, he came to Solomon, and he promised him, that he would hear their prayer, and he says, I have chosen now this place, that my name will be there forever.
[17:55] You know, and, we don't understand everything. We don't know how it all is today. I, you know, being over there in Jerusalem, it was quite interesting.
[18:10] But, you know, and having, having a Jewish guide for, a few things that we did there.
[18:23] The one time, they brought out something very interesting. You know, we wonder why. We wonder why the, the Jewish people, why they go, to pray there, at the Western Wall.
[18:41] And, they go there, and they, you know, every Sabbath, every, every Friday, every Friday night, they will go there.
[18:52] And it's just, thousands and thousands, of, of, of people there. there. And, they're on the outside of the Western Wall. Well, remember, God promised, that his presence, will be there, perpetually.
[19:11] We just read that verse. He promised that to Solomon. Well, this guide, brought out a verse, in Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 9.
[19:23] It says, behold, he standeth, behind our wall. And, they interpret that, as saying, that the divine presence, is behind the wall.
[19:34] It is still there, today. And, remember, God had promised, that, he will put his name, there, perpetually. You know, I don't know, what all that means.
[19:49] But, I just thought, I'd bring that in, because, that is, I believe, one of the reasons, the Jewish people, go to that wall, and they pray.
[20:02] You know, it's so sad, that, they have rejected Jesus. But, you know, it's, well, that's just how it is.
[20:27] Well, many years, after the, well, maybe we can just read that verse. The temple was destroyed.
[20:38] In 2 Chronicles, we'll just get it here, in the end of, it's in chapter 36. when Nebuchadnezzar had taken over Jerusalem, and, and, and, all of that.
[21:02] But, it wasn't until, it wasn't until they rebelled, and he came back, that he then, destroyed the temple. And in, in verse 19, well, it talks here about how they, they came, and they slew the young men, and, well, they killed a lot of the people, and carried some off captive.
[21:32] And they took all the vessels of the house of God, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king. And then, verse 19, and they burnt the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
[21:53] Now, that was, that was King Nebuchadnezzar. And, he came, and he destroyed, he destroyed that temple.
[22:05] Well, Ezra, Ezra came, some years later, he had the burden to come, and to rebuild, the temple.
[22:16] The temple. He came, and he rebuilt the temple, and, they had much problems in rebuilding it, opposition, and, you know, today, as we build the temple, and maybe we'll, you know, when we get to the New Testament, we'll look back to this.
[22:44] You know, remember, that today, we are the temple of God, and not only are we the temple, but we are building the temple of God.
[22:56] We are co-labors with God, and we are building His temple, to the honor and glory of God. And how do we do that?
[23:07] It's by, by spreading the gospel, and, and, helping others, into the kingdom, and, and, to, to go on with, with Christ, and so on.
[23:20] We are building the temple of God. But they had much opposition, and, sometimes, we have much opposition today.
[23:34] But here in one, I just want to read this. these men had come, and they challenged those that were working, and, and they asked them, you know, how, how can you, by what authority, you, do you build this?
[23:55] And they gave the answer, we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house, that was built at these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded, and set up.
[24:11] But after that, our fathers had provoked the God of heaven under wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.
[24:27] But in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus, made the decree to build this house. You know, and then we also have the prophet Haggai.
[24:45] He was, there was with Ezra, and he prophesied during that time, you know, and Haggai, he has a quite interesting prophecy here.
[25:19] I don't think we'll spend much time with it. Maybe some other day we'll, that could be a message in itself. But he talks about, you know, he's rebuking the people for not building the temple of God.
[25:37] And he challenges them, and he says, you know, consider your ways. You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough.
[25:48] You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there is none warm. He that earneth wages, earneth wages, to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.
[26:01] And he challenges them to build the house of the Lord. He says, this is, this is why. This go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
[26:22] Ye look for much, and lo, it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of hosts, because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
[26:39] You know, this would be a good lesson for us, to have our priorities in the right place, and to put first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
[26:56] Where are we laying up our treasure? Is it in heaven, or is it on earth? You know, the temple here, the building of the temple was being neglected.
[27:07] Why? Because people just, it didn't have to be done, and so they just all went their own way, doing their own thing, and building their own houses, and lands, and so on.
[27:24] But God wanted his temple to be built, and today God wants his temple to be built. Yes, he does. Yes. So in Haggai chapter 2, verse 3, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?
[28:09] And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? You know, here they were building this temple, and they didn't have all the riches, and the gold, and the materials that Solomon had.
[28:30] So they built it what they could. And here he asks the question, isn't it in your eyes as nothing compared to Solomon's temple?
[28:43] But notice what he goes on and he says here, and I believe, I believe that these verses are a prophecy of the temple that we are building today.
[28:54] So let's start reading. Start reading verse 6.
[29:08] Haggai 2, verse 6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.
[29:20] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
[29:31] The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts.
[29:43] And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. You know, though outwardly that house was as nothing, I believe the Spirit of God came upon the prophet Haggai, and in his mind's eye he saw a temple in the future that would be much greater than Solomon's temple.
[30:08] And that is the temple that we are building today. Now let's go. It says, I will fill this house with glory.
[30:22] Are you filled with the glory of God? Jesus said, if we will love him, and we will keep his commandments, he and the Father will come, and they will make their abode with us.
[30:40] Amen. The glory of God in our hearts, in our church, everywhere we go, the glory of God.
[30:51] That is his will. That is his desire. It's to fill his house with glory. And we are that house today. In Zechariah.
[31:05] In Zechariah. Chapter 6. Verse 12. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch.
[31:20] And this is Jesus. Whose name is the branch. He shall grow up out of his place. And he shall build the temple of the Lord.
[31:32] Even he shall build the temple of the Lord. And he shall bear the glory. And shall sit and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a priest upon his throne.
[31:44] And the council of peace shall be between them both. Jesus will bear the glory. You know, as we have him on the throne of our heart.
[31:57] And we walk in the spirit of God. His glory will work through us. His glory will be upon us. He shall bear the glory. That is, I believe, that as he directs and controls your life, then his glory will work through you.
[32:17] His glory will work through you to those round about you. When you go out, when you go out into this world, you go out on your job, you, everywhere you go, then the presence of God will go with you.
[32:32] That is his desire. That is his will. That is what he wants. Why? That the world can see that you are different. And what makes you different is you have God in your heart.
[32:50] Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
[33:10] Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
[33:29] He is building his temple. Jesus, the chief cornerstone, and the apostles and prophets, they're the foundation. And he builds us into this temple to be a holy habitation of God Almighty through his Spirit.
[33:49] You know, Peter talks about us being lively stones, living stones, that, you know, I had to think of the stones for Solomon's temple.
[34:01] Stones made ready to fit into the temple. And we are lively stones fitted and made ready to put into this temple that we will fill our spot, that we will be the people that God wants us to be, that we will be the person God wants us to be.
[34:22] We will fill our place in his kingdom and know that his grace is upon us. Might we not receive his grace in vain, but might we walk with him in the power of the Spirit of God and fulfill all that he has for us.
[34:41] Stones made ready, lively stones in this temple, this holy temple of God Almighty. a building fitly framed together.
[34:55] You know, we all have our place to fill. Corinthians says, we, to the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man.
[35:05] It's given to all of us, to every man. And, and with the Spirit of God, we have the work, we have a work to do, we have a gift, we have the gifts of the Spirit, we have the presence of the Spirit of God, and he has given us a work to do.
[35:26] Will we be faithful in doing that work, or will we neglect? 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 4, to whom coming is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
[35:54] He's talking about Jesus. He was, he's a stone that was rejected by the builders. He was rejected by the builders, but it didn't matter.
[36:05] God chose Jesus, and he sent Jesus. He was disallowed indeed of men, but he was chosen of God. Ye also, us, today, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
[36:41] It is only your reasonable service to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God that are acceptable. Yes. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
[37:06] Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.
[37:29] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
[37:45] He has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Why? That we would show forth the praises of Christ, the praises of our God out to those in darkness.
[38:00] He has called us out of darkness. Why? That we can minister to those who are still in darkness, and we can help them out of that darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[38:14] well, Jesus, here he is, he says that the builders rejected him, but he is, he is to us, he is precious, he is precious, even though the builders, the Jewish leaders, they disallowed him, and they refused him, but even so, even, even, even, even, that, that didn't change anything.
[38:45] Jesus still became the head of the corner. He is the chief cornerstone, but to those who reject, to those who, who do not believe, he is a stone of stumbling.
[38:59] He is a rock of offense. You know, the Jews, they still stumble over him. They still refuse him today. They still, they still, they're still looking and praying for the Messiah to come.
[39:19] You know, they were there praying at that wall, and I'll just inject this. I, we, we, we stood there watching for a long time, and I thought, no, I won't go in there.
[39:32] Well, there was, the crowd was thinning a little bit, and three of us decided to go. We went all the way in, and we touched that wall. I pray that God would open their eyes and their hearts to the truth of Jesus, the Messiah.
[39:54] Amen. He's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Why? Because they're disobedient. Why? Because they rejected Him.
[40:05] But He is still, He is still the chief cornerstone. He is still the Messiah. He is still our Savior. It doesn't matter who rejects Him.
[40:17] He is still the Son of God. We are a chosen generation. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation.
[40:29] We are a peculiar people. What makes us a peculiar people? It's because we have God living in our hearts. That's why we are a peculiar people when we go out into this world.
[40:47] That ye should show forth the praises of Jesus, the one who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
[40:58] That we would show forth the praises and the power and the glory of our Lord. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. 1 Corinthians 6.
[41:19] Verse 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.
[41:33] For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You know, He didn't just buy us that our spirit can be saved, that our soul does not need to go to hell, but He bought our body.
[41:56] He bought our soul and our spirit. He owns us and He wants us to glorify God in our body. That means that when we walk this walk, that our body, the things that we do in the flesh as human beings will bring glory to God.
[42:20] We are bought with a price. Remember, remember the gold in the temple and all of that and how without they didn't even know what it cost.
[42:33] They didn't even know the value of the gold and all the riches that they used in the temple to build it and all of that. We don't know.
[42:46] You can't put a price tag on our redemption. You can't put a price tag on our Savior. Hallelujah. We are bought with a price.
[42:59] We are bought with a price. We are not our own. We've been bought by the blood of Jesus. There's nothing more valuable than the blood of Jesus.
[43:14] We are. Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Yes. Hallelujah. 2 Corinthians 6. Start in verse 14.
[43:40] Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? what communion hath light with darkness?
[43:52] What concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.
[44:06] As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
[44:17] Therefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
[44:34] Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[44:49] We are the temple of God. Therefore, let us not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
[45:03] You know, we need to walk in a way that will not draw us away, that will not contaminate us, that will not defile us, that will not defile us.
[45:20] There's many things, there's many things that will defile us if we allow it. What concord hath Christ with Belial?
[45:37] You know, many people, they want to have one foot in the church and the other foot in the world. It doesn't work that way. There's no fellowship between Christ and the devil.
[45:49] You can't have both. It's either one or the other. We are the temple of God. God said He will dwell in us and He will walk in us and He will be our God and we can be His people.
[46:11] God He will be His people. There's no greater promise than that. Hallelujah. God Almighty that we can be His people, that He will live in my heart, that He will empower us to walk this walk and to work for Him, to be His men and to be His women in this dark world.
[46:35] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Then He admonishes us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[46:51] Our bodies are bought with a price. Let us glorify God. Yes. Yes. Romans 12, 1 and 2.
[47:04] I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[47:22] Present our bodies a living sacrifice. Jesus said, take up your cross daily and follow Me.
[47:33] You'll remember remember those verses we read in Exodus about the daily sacrifices. They sacrificed one lamb in the morning and another one in the evening.
[47:48] And God said, I will meet you here and I will speak with you. I believe that as we lay down our life, as we give our body a living sacrifice to Him, He will come.
[48:10] He will meet us. He will dwell in us. And He will lead us. He will talk to us. He will lead us. He will use us.
[48:21] Yes. present our bodies a living sacrifice.
[48:34] Holy. And then we're acceptable to God. And that is only our reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[48:52] To be transformed by the renewing of our mind. That new mind that we receive when we're born again. Transform. You know, many people try to reform.
[49:07] They try to reform. They try to change their life and live a better life and stop those bad habits. But reforming, reformation does not work.
[49:18] It takes a transformation a new life in Christ. That is the life that He will come and He will live in us. He will be our God and we can be His people.
[49:42] 1 Corinthians 6, 3. 1 Corinthians 3. Verse 9. You know, this chapter He starts with, He's talking about, you know, how the people say, I am of Paul and I am of Apollos and so on.
[50:07] let's start reading in verse 6. Maybe we should just read this. Verse 4.
[50:18] For while one saith, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man?
[50:34] I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
[50:51] Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God.
[51:06] Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building, according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder.
[51:17] I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereabon. And now he's talking about building the church, he's talking about building this temple that we've been talking about.
[51:38] We are laborers together with God, building the temple of God. Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereabon.
[51:52] For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
[52:24] If any man's work abide which he has built thereabon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
[52:37] Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
[52:57] let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
[53:19] Verse 16, know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. So we are the temple, and we are building the temple of God, we are laboring with God, bringing in others that they might be a part of the temple of God, and we are building this temple, and you know, we labor together.
[53:45] Here were people in this chapter, oh, I'm of Paul, and you're of Apollos, that's not as good, Paul, he's the better one, and so on, and so forth, you know, we labor together in the kingdom of God, and it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who gets, you know, who gets the credit or whatever, it's all for him, it's all for God, it's all for Jesus, Paul said, but God that giveth the increase, he that planteth isn't anything, he that watereth he's nothing, but God giveth the increase, yes, verse 17, we are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in us, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall
[54:47] God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are, are we keeping our temple holy, or are we allowing it to become defiled, you know, there's many things out there that will defile us, they will defile us, and we must keep this temple, we must keep this temple holy, yes, why, because it is the temple of God, it is the temple of God, we are the temple, we are building the temple, he lives in us, he lives in us, 2 Corinthians 6, 1, says, we then as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain, you know, we're born again, we have the grace of
[56:06] God upon us, we have the spirit of God within us, and he beseeches us that we've not received this grace in vain, are we allowing his grace, are we allowing his spirit to work through us, are we allowing him to have his way, are we allowing him to use us, to use us in his kingdom, to use us to build his kingdom, God?
[56:41] Yes, Peter says, good stewards of the manifold grace of God, good stewards, are we good stewards of what God has given us?
[56:56] Yes, let's pray. gospel yes, let's pray ago.