1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,080 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,280 As I was saying, you know what, I wasn't sure exactly how to 8 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,520 proceed because we were in the middle. 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,560 We hadn't quite gotten to the middle of a message last week, 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,920 but then had to stop the message where it was. 11 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,640 And so I was just trying to seek the Lord's wisdom on what to do. 12 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,800 And really, I feel the best way for us to proceed this evening 13 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:43,760 is to go ahead and, well, start back from the beginning. 14 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,160 Because I don't know really how much anyone remembers from the 15 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,280 sermon last week or where we were. 16 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,160 And so I've gone over it again and kind of made some changes 17 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,480 here or there. But at the same time, I think 18 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,440 that we need to start back from where were if you were, if you 19 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,840 were here rather last week. And you say some of this sounds 20 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:01,480 familiar. Well, praise the Lord, you 21 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:02,960 remember some of it from last week. 22 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,760 But at the same time, I do think it's best for us to just start 23 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,400 right back from where we were, which is in First Corinthians 24 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:13,480 chapter #3 and in saying that for first Timothy chapter 3, 25 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,040 verse 15 says, But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how 26 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,800 thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is 27 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,920 the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 28 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:25,560 truth. And there are many places in the 29 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,360 Bible where church is called the House of God, isn't it? 30 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,360 In fact, we are reminded that this is not our house. 31 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,520 This is not Rivero's house. This is not your house. 32 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,160 This is God's house. And it's good for us to remember 33 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,200 that once in a while because it helps us to know how to behave 34 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,040 ourselves within the house. And well, we know that in life, 35 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,040 when you're in someone's house, you follow those people's rules, 36 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,760 don't you? If the the kind of family that 37 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:51,960 wants you to take your shoes off when you go in the house, you 38 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,640 make sure you have the socks on that don't have holes and you 39 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,280 take your shoes off when you go to their house. 40 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,880 You know, if you go to someone's house and you know they want to 41 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,840 serve you a meal and you say, well, can we bring something and 42 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,280 say, no, please don't bring anything. 43 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,840 We have everything provided, you know, well, this is their house. 44 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,760 And so I'm going to follow their rules because this is what they 45 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,440 desire. Well, here in God's house, we 46 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,160 can't do anything but what well, God wants us to do. 47 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,560 We behave ourselves in a way that God would desire us to 48 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,520 behave ourselves. And that's one of the reasons we 49 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,400 call this God's house. Well, in our text tonight, we 50 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,200 see something that is a reminder that in some ways is even more 51 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,440 powerful than simply calling this the House of God. 52 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,480 And certainly, again, that is a biblical term to call this 53 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,280 church the House of God. But we're given a reminder of 54 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,360 what's really at stake when we come to church. 55 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,920 We're given a reminder of why church is really so important 56 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,800 when we look at our text because we're going to find that not 57 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,120 only could we literally call the church the House of God, but we 58 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,800 can also call it this as well, the temple of God. 59 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,560 Now we don't often call our church a temple, do we? 60 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,160 In fact, that we don't say that we're going to temple on Sunday. 61 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,080 We say we're going to church. We there are churches that used 62 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,440 to be called Baptist Temple. We mentioned last week that 63 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:07,280 there was Holbrook Baptist Temple that is now Lighthouse 64 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,120 Baptist Church. I interned in Missouri years ago 65 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,840 at a church called Holden Baptist Temple, a town, 2000 66 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,000 people. But we could call this tonight 67 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,400 Liberty Baptist Temple and still be biblical. 68 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,640 And there's a reason why that term is so important. 69 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:26,200 There's a reason why that term is good for us to understand and 70 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,120 use. And there's a reason that it 71 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,600 shows us why what we do here is so vitally important and why 72 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,640 being in the temple of God, why being in the House of God, why 73 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,720 being in church is so important. It really all comes from 2 74 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,880 verses. So as we continue our study of 75 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,440 First Corinthians chapter 3, we're to read verses 16 and 17. 76 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,040 And it says this, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 77 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,720 God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. 78 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,640 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. 79 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,120 For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 80 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,640 Now as we get into our message this evening, and we'll see 81 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,600 first of all, tonight as we if you have your prayer bulletin, 82 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:09,880 you can write this down on the back of your prayer bulletin. 83 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,920 First of all, we see the privilege of church, the 84 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,240 privilege of church. Now, just to go back and 85 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,079 reiterate something that we talked about last week. 86 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:20,839 You might have a little bit of confusion here. 87 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:25,080 You say, pastor, I thought when we talk about the temple of God 88 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,640 is specifically in First Corinthians, isn't that talking 89 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,680 about our bodies being the temple of God? 90 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,840 But you're saying that in this verse, it's actually talking 91 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:35,440 about the church being the temple of God. 92 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,840 And my answer to you is that's absolutely correct, that the 93 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,320 Word of God does refer to our bodies as being the temple of 94 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:43,920 God. But at the same time, I believe 95 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,120 the context here in First Corinthians chapter #3 very 96 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,720 clearly is talking about us assembling together, us being a 97 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,200 local church, that in this assembly that we comprise the 98 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,440 very temple of God. And the way that I want to kind 99 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,360 of show you that is keep your space there, but go just a 100 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,400 couple pages over to 1st Corinthians chapter #6. 101 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,840 So turn to 1st Corinthians chapter #6 and verse #19. 102 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,560 Now you may very likely be familiar with these verses. 103 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,520 These are great verse. I can't wait to get to these. 104 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,160 You're in our study several months from now. 105 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,800 I think this will be good, but look at what it says First 106 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,440 Corinthians 619 What know ye not that your body is the temple of 107 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,200 the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye 108 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,320 are not your own, for ye are bought with the price. 109 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,920 Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which 110 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,680 are gods. I believe right here in this 111 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,720 text, it is showing us that yes, your body is the temple of the 112 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:50,720 Holy Ghost. Now, why is that important? 113 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,680 Well, it's important because when we use the word temple, the 114 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,120 word temple literally means a dwelling place. 115 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,640 That's what it means. That's why when you were to go 116 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,040 to the Old Testament, you found that the temple that was built 117 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,960 by Solomon, that temple was a location where God had dwelled, 118 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:09,840 not that God didn't dwell other places. 119 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:12,800 We know God is omnipresent. We know He's everywhere, but God 120 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:17,680 had deemed himself to be able to be there in front of the people 121 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,480 of Israel. There in that temple. 122 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,880 It was called the temple. It was the dwelling place of 123 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,040 God. The ark of the Covenant was 124 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,400 there, the physical representation of God. 125 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,280 It was the temple. It's where God dwelled. 126 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:31,960 If you just want to put it in his most basic terms, the temple 127 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,560 is where God dwelt. Well, let me ask you, are you 128 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,080 saved this evening? All right, So make sure you're 129 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:38,120 awake. All right, that's good. 130 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,840 If you're saved this evening, guess what the Holy Spirit we 131 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,040 just covered this Sunday morning, He dwells within you 132 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,480 The moment you got saved. I mean, the second you got 133 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,080 saved, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. 134 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:52,520 He's the earnest of your inheritance. 135 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,880 He's the down payment of eternity in heaven that lives 136 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,920 within you this day. If you know Jesus Christ your 137 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,160 Savior, meaning what? That you are a temple of God in 138 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,480 the sense that your body is the temple of which God resides, 139 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,400 that you have God himself living in you. 140 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,760 And again, I mentioned on Sunday, I'll mention again 141 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,600 tonight, we can't get over that. We can't allow ourselves to get 142 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,720 to the place where it's commonplace that the Holy Spirit 143 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,320 lives within us, that the God of all creation lives within us. 144 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,800 So we are the temple of the living God. 145 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,240 But yet I would also submit to you that in First Corinthians 146 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:35,880 chapter #3 we also see that it calls the body of the church the 147 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,640 temple as well. Now I gave you a little bit of a 148 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,960 tutorial last week, but I actually have a visual for this 149 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:43,840 week. When we look at our King James 150 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,040 bottle. You ever hear people say this? 151 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,120 You know, you can't read that old King James bottle. 152 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,400 There's these and thou's and ye yees and all these things. 153 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,560 And, and listen, I understand that that can sometimes be a 154 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,120 little bit of a hardship, but it's not quite as difficult as 155 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,040 often times people make it out to be. 156 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:04,520 And understanding what thee and thou and ye and you are in the 157 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,320 word of God helps you to make sure that you're reading the 158 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:09,320 Bible, you're reading it in context. 159 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,840 You're making sure you're understanding who certain things 160 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,800 are written to. Well, what we see is the word 161 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,880 the and thou is singular. You know where you find a lot of 162 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,360 these and thous in epistles like first and Second Timothy and 163 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:24,120 Titus. Now, why would that be? 164 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,560 Because Paul is talking to one man. 165 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:28,800 He's talking to one man specifically. 166 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,919 And that one man, Timothy, or that one man Titus, he is going 167 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:34,880 to tell them the things that they need to do. 168 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:36,440 There's going to be a lot of these and now's there. 169 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,039 Now, how do you remember this? And we saw this last week. 170 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,640 We saw that at that letter T, What's there's one line on top, 171 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,200 isn't there? That one line on the top of the 172 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,320 letter T reminds you that it is a singular word. 173 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,760 It is a singular in the sense that it's talking to one person. 174 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,840 The word ye and you is plural. And we see that because, well, 175 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,160 look, there's two lines on top, isn't remember I remember I said 176 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,720 this last week that we could do this, but we can't do this, this 177 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,600 or this, right? OK, but this, there's two lines, 178 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,160 right? Those two lines remind us that 179 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,480 it is plural. Now go back to verse #19 it says 180 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,960 what? Know ye not that your body is 181 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,680 the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have 182 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:21,720 of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. 183 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,760 Therefore God glorify God in your body, in your spirit, which 184 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:27,520 are gods. Those words, those ye words. 185 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,600 There are telling us that he is talking in the plural and he 186 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,000 said, well pastor, I thought you said this was talking about our 187 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,720 body, right. He is giving a command to the 188 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:40,040 church plural that they are to take care of their bodies in a 189 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:42,720 way that is honoring to God in the singular. 190 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:47,400 It would be as if me saying you as a church, you ought to pray 191 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:50,840 you as a church you ought to, I'm talking corporately to 192 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:53,200 everybody, but I'm talking to you singularly. 193 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,200 And so he's saying, hey, you church, listen up, take care of 194 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,520 your bodies. By the way, we're not just 195 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,600 talking about bodies like hey, make sure you eat right. 196 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,200 Make sure you exercise. Remember, bodily exercise 197 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,320 profits little. We love that Bible verse, don't 198 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,640 we? But we do know this, listen, 199 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,720 that you got to take care of yourself spiritually because 200 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,120 therefore glorify God in your body, in your spirit, which are 201 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,320 gods, meaning this you don't belong to yourself. 202 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,800 That you have been bought with a price. 203 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,440 And so he is telling all of them, listen, glorify God in 204 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,840 your body. Now go back to first Corinthians 205 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,600 chapter #3 and we'll stay here. The context of that is, hey, you 206 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:34,200 all, you take care of yourself spiritually because God dwells 207 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,520 within you. Now, all chapter of chapter #3 208 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,960 and I know not everyone was here for all of chapter 3. 209 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,320 He's talking to the church corporately. 210 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,160 He says this, you are carnal. He says this, you are weak. 211 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,840 He says you are fleshly. You're doing the things that you 212 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,640 want to do instead of doing the things that you ought to do. 213 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,280 He says, I want to talk to you like you're mature Christians, 214 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,800 but I can't. I want to give you strong meat. 215 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,600 I want to give you a porterhouse steak, but all I can give you is 216 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,040 milk because that's all you spiritually can handle. 217 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,960 And so he talks about them constantly, constantly as a 218 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:08,760 group all throughout the chapter. 219 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,400 And then we get to verse #16 and he says, know ye not that ye are 220 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,320 the temple of God? In the context here, don't you 221 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,360 know you all are the temple of God? 222 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:19,960 And there's no mention about a body. 223 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:21,920 There's no mention about an individual. 224 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:26,200 It's all corporate. You all are the temple of God 225 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:28,600 and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. 226 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:30,880 So what does that mean to us tonight? 227 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,840 Well, the privilege of the church for us this evening is 228 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:38,600 this, that we as a body of believers are the temple of God 229 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,360 and that the Spirit of God dwells within us tonight. 230 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,640 Yes, the Spirit dwells within each of us as believers, yes, 231 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,160 but also he dwells within us corporately. 232 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,800 Listen, whatever the count is for the attendance tonight, 233 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,680 Dave, I know made the count. I'm not asking you for it right 234 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:55,640 now, I'll check it later. But I do know this. 235 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,040 We could rightly count one more. Why? 236 00:11:58,120 --> 00:11:59,560 Because the Lords amongst us tonight. 237 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,320 Then that ought to make us excited, that ought to make us 238 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,720 thrilled that when we come here this evening that the Lord is 239 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:10,040 amongst us. And this idea isn't just 240 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,640 something that's supported here, it's support in other Bible 241 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,200 texts as well. Ephesians chapter 2. 242 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:19,400 Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all 243 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,640 the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy 244 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,160 temple in the Lord, in whom you have builded together for 245 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,600 inhabitation of God through the Spirit. 1st Corinthians 2 or 246 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,000 rather first Peter chapter 2 verse 5, ye also as lively 247 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,560 stones are built up into a spiritual house, a holy 248 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:42,000 priesthood to OfferUp sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus 249 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,520 Christ. You know, this is not an Old 250 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,480 Testament temple. We don't have to offer 251 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,280 sacrifices in the Old Testament way anymore. 252 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,720 Why? Because Jesus Christ is our 253 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,880 sacrifice. He is the one perfect sacrifice 254 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,120 for our sin. And thank God for that. 255 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,480 But I will tell you this, this evening in the New Testament 256 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,240 time that we live in here, First Corinthians chapter #3 we see 257 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,640 this, that when we come together, listen, it says that 258 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:11,320 we are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells with us. 259 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,480 And it's interesting that Paul says this, know ye not? 260 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:17,880 And he starts that phrase kind of like saying, don't you know 261 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,120 this already? Shouldn't you know that the 262 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,440 Lord's already amongst you? Shouldn't you know that He wants 263 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,520 to work within your midst? And again, He's pointing out 264 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,200 their spiritual immaturity that it talks about in verse #1 But 265 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,160 he says you are the temple of God, the temple meaning the 266 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,640 dwelling place. And you could even go back to 267 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,320 the Tabernacle, which was different in form but not in 268 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,240 function. In the Tabernacle, that movable 269 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,840 temple, if you will, that move from place to place throughout 270 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,600 the wilderness, and then from place to place in the promised 271 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,840 land until the temple was built. But that's where the presence of 272 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,720 God was. It was the dwelling place. 273 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,360 Again, not that God only existed in that place, He's omnipresent, 274 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,960 but God chose this as his dwelling place for man to 275 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:08,520 recognize and for man to honor. The Tabernacle, the temple, it 276 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,240 was the place where God dwelt. It was a place that was special. 277 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,000 It was a place that was different. 278 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,760 Listen, you didn't act in the temple like you did in your 279 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:19,520 home. You didn't act in the temple 280 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,360 like you did in the market. No, no, you understood that the 281 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,760 temple was special. You understood that the temple 282 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,720 was different. And again, I'm not drawing 283 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,680 drawing an equivalent to our church and the Old Testament 284 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:31,680 temple. But I will tell you this, that 285 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,320 the Lord dwells amongst us here tonight, and that makes this 286 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,480 church a special place. And that makes God's churches 287 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,080 that preach the word of God a special place because the Lord 288 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,040 dwells among them and dwells among us as well. 289 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,560 And the fact that this is the God's temple reminds us that 290 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,600 God's presence is literally with us. 291 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:58,800 The Spirit of God dwells in you. Now listen, I've already alluded 292 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,240 to this, but does God dwell everywhere? 293 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:05,680 Yeah. Could I even put it this way? 294 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:14,200 Does God's is God within? Let me make sure I make sure I'm 295 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,320 reading this to make sure I'm saying this the way that I want 296 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:25,520 to say it. Is God at an Islamic mosque in 297 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,600 the sense that can they keep him out from being everywhere? 298 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,720 No. Is he in it? 299 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,120 He is not. Is there anywhere where God is 300 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,360 not allowed to be? If he is not allowed to be a 301 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,320 certain place, then, well, he's not God. 302 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,560 But is he working in the Islamic mosque? 303 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,080 No. Is he at work in the Hindu 304 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,520 temple? Is he at work in the false 305 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:57,680 practitioners or the false gospel? 306 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,480 No. What it says here is that He is 307 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:07,160 in US, He's dwelleth in you, meaning this, that He is 308 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:11,680 promising us and empowering an intimate relationship, that He 309 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,440 wants to work with us. You know he's at the Islamic 310 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:15,360 mosque. You know what he's doing? 311 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,520 He's working against them and they're false gospel. 312 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,360 Oh, he's at the Hindu temple, but he's working against them. 313 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,440 Why? Because He wants to draw all men 314 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,440 unto him, the only true God, not the false gods that are out 315 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:28,800 there. No, I know some of you get 316 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:30,840 worried for a second or thought I was trying to trick you. 317 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,120 No, no, I'm not trying to trick you. 318 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,400 I'm not sure, but I'm saying this. 319 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:37,440 Listen, you think the Muslims can kick God out of any space? 320 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,280 I don't give them that much power and neither should you. 321 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,320 Do you think any false religion can kick God out? 322 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,680 Or any atheist that says God's not welcome here? 323 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,520 Do you think God says, well, I guess, I guess I better leave 324 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:53,320 this space. Not my God, not the God of the 325 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,640 Bible, but is God working in them and through them? 326 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,280 No, no, God's working in opposition to them. 327 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,640 Why? To try to bring them to him. 328 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,920 But God is with us tonight, and he's not just here in the sense 329 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:12,640 that he's everywhere. He's in this room to intimately 330 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:16,240 work in this space. This is why this is so 331 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:21,200 important. When the Bible is opened, people 332 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:26,920 can get saved. And if it was up to me and my 333 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,840 bumbling ways, nobody would come here. 334 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,920 Nothing would work, nothing would grow. 335 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,800 In fact, I probably could push people away from the gospel. 336 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:41,520 But listen, it's the Spirit that changes lives and it's the 337 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,040 Spirit that's amongst us. And we have the privilege of 338 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,440 being in a place where, where God wants to work. 339 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,920 And listen, I think sometimes we get down on ourselves like, 340 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,320 well, you know, we're, this is a metal building. 341 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,640 It's a rented facility. Well, we're a small church and 342 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,440 all the things that that maybe you've said before, and I've 343 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,320 said them before too, and times of discouragement or times of 344 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,440 not think, well, well, what can we do around here? 345 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,080 Well, we don't have much. We can't even park people around 346 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:08,520 here the way we want to park people. 347 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:10,360 We can't even fit people in here. 348 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:11,680 Sometimes the way we want to fit people. 349 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,600 There are churches, they have hundreds and hundreds that are 350 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,280 preaching false gospels and look at us and you can get a little 351 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,520 bit discouraged about it. But listen, do you realize that 352 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,320 when you walk into this building that the Spirit of God dwells 353 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,240 amongst us, that we don't have to hold our heads down and say, 354 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:29,440 well, what could happen around here? 355 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,360 Somebody's life could change. What could happen around here 356 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,520 the the next great revival could take place. 357 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,000 That comes from what happens here. 358 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,480 We think, well, that really can't happen. 359 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:42,080 Well, listen, we were just talking about this before 360 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:43,280 service. I don't know that there is a 361 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,480 worldwide revival left in us anymore. 362 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:46,800 I don't know this, but I know this. 363 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:49,840 There can be revivals for individuals and lives and that 364 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,240 people can get saved and the Lord's hand hasn't. 365 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,000 Listen, as long as the Lord hasn't returned yet, there's 366 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,560 time and God can work in this building and people can raise 367 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,000 their hands and people can get saved and things can change. 368 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,480 Why? Because of us? 369 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:10,320 No, I mean, in spite of us, but because of him and he's here. 370 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,560 Well, you know, I go to a small church and maybe you've said 371 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,440 that to somebody for that. You're already apologizing 372 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,240 before they come. Like the guy that said once, 373 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:18,440 well, that's the colt in the trailer. 374 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,600 You know, it's, it's like, listen, it's not a trailer, all 375 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,040 right? And it's funny that I took 376 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,040 offense to that part and not the cult part because we're not a 377 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:28,520 cult either. But you know what I'm saying? 378 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:30,880 But it's like the, this is not a trailer. 379 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,280 You can't pick it up and hitch it and go anywhere. 380 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:41,040 Listen, the Spirit of God's with us and the power that is 381 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:46,120 available to us is unbelievable. Listen, whatever you think the 382 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:49,640 big churches have, unless I'm not against big churches, as 383 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,160 long as they preach, right? Thank the Lord when churches 384 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,320 grow and they preach right? But there are some that aren't 385 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,400 preaching, right? And that's why they grow. 386 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,800 Listen, we don't have to look sorry for ourselves. 387 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,640 We don't, you know, what do you have to offer in your church? 388 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,520 Well, we got singing. We have preaching. 389 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:12,880 Well, tell me about your programs. 390 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,400 We have kids programs on Sunday morning. 391 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,760 What else? We have singing. 392 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:25,160 Did I mention the same part? And we have preaching and we 393 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,760 kind of get down on ourselves a little bit, kind of like, well, 394 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:33,440 who are we or what do we have? We are the temple of God, and 395 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,680 there's power. There's power not because of us, 396 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,520 but because of Him. And the early Church understood 397 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,880 this. They expected things to happen. 398 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,520 And listen, I understand that that there were miracles that 399 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,400 took place during that time because God was still was still 400 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,760 in the process of authenticating the speakers who were preaching 401 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,680 because there was no completed word of God. 402 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,800 The 66 books that we have here, like there was there wasn't that 403 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,120 in the book of Acts. And so God was authenticating 404 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:02,680 some of those preachers through miracles. 405 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,320 I understand that. But listen, although God may not 406 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,080 work in that same visible way that we would see during those 407 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,800 times, God still very much at work today. 408 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,680 You say, pastor, did miracle cease? 409 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,680 I didn't say miracle ceased. God's doing miracles today. 410 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:19,960 Look at this, someone gets saved. 411 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,560 That's a miracle. If someone we pray for here on 412 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,400 Wednesday night comes and walks down the aisle on Sunday or 413 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:27,880 catches me at the door and says I need to get saved, they bow 414 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,960 their head and trust Christ, that's a miracle. 415 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,040 When a marriage is restored because of what happens in the 416 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,880 House of God, that's a miracle. When a family comes and heals, 417 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,200 that's a miracle. When when, when people drop 418 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:46,360 awful sinful lifestyles and end up following Christ, that's a 419 00:21:46,360 --> 00:21:49,120 miracle. That's a miracle. 420 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,080 And that happens in this building. 421 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,400 That happens in this room. Listen, you can't afford to miss 422 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,200 it. You can't afford to not be a 423 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,120 part of what God's doing. Well, yes, you're saying that 424 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:03,120 because you're the pastor. You're saying that because you 425 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:05,760 think, you know that everything revolves around your church. 426 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,920 No, no, I'm saying that because everything revolves around him. 427 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,360 And if we want to see change in our lives and we want to see 428 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:15,080 change in our cities and we want to see change in our nation, 429 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,400 listen, it's got to start in the House of God. 430 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,320 It has to start with us believing that God can do 431 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,000 something in the temple of God. That's not just the House of 432 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:29,480 God, but He is with us. Man, it's awesome that God put 433 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,880 us here. He placed us here. 434 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,280 We first Corinthians 12, we'll get there like in a couple years 435 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,800 or so, I don't know. But First Corinthians 12, he 436 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,560 fitly framed us together. He put us together to do the 437 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,280 work. He's called us a bunch of 438 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:50,400 nobodies, but in Jesus Christ that we're somebody because of 439 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,240 who he is. That's a privilege. 440 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:54,040 And that's the privilege that we have. 441 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,880 Oh yeah, right there. The privilege of the church. 442 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:02,760 But in saying that, with that privilege comes a lot of 443 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:08,240 responsibility. We love the privilege, but the 444 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,120 privilege does bring responsibility upon us. 445 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,120 And that's the next verse. And so as we look at that, we 446 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:14,640 see the protection of the church as well. 447 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:25,320 Look at verse #17 if God is a holy God, then his temple is to 448 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,840 be holy as well. Be holy because I am holy. 449 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:30,640 Well, pastor, I just don't believe. 450 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,440 You know, once you get saved, it's important that you live a 451 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,280 holy life. You know, I could see how you 452 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,760 could arrive at that conclusion if you discarded the whole 453 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,120 Bible. But there's no way by reading 454 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:42,440 the Bible you can come to that conclusion. 455 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,600 Because if we're the temple of the Holy Ghost, well then we 456 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:55,160 need to be clean, not perfect. But when we do sin, you know, 457 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,960 faithful and justice, He forgive us our sins that cleanse us from 458 00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,720 all righteous. We confess it before the Lord. 459 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,200 We get it right. But look at what it says in 460 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,560 verse #17 if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God 461 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,640 destroy. For the temple of God is holy. 462 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,400 Which temple you are. He says this. 463 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:15,840 I want to remind you who you are. 464 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,080 You're the temple of God. You need to be holy. 465 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,280 And God takes that holiness seriously. 466 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,680 Listen, if I could put it this way, we're not to drag mud into 467 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,600 his house. Say, oh, pastor, so you just 468 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,200 expect everybody that goes to church should be perfect. 469 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,320 And if I expected that, then we'd all have to leave, 470 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:43,760 including your pastor. Listen, this is not a museum for 471 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:45,440 Saints. It's a hospital for sinners. 472 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,680 You need to be able to come here when you're running low. 473 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,000 You need to be able to come here when you're running on empty. 474 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,840 You need to be able to come here when you're not right with God. 475 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,440 But why do you come? So that you have the purpose of 476 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,080 getting right with God. You know, we want everyone to 477 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,040 come because we want them to get right with God. 478 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,240 But we do realize that once we are, once we know Jesus Christ 479 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,880 as our Savior, listen, church works a lot better when we're 480 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,160 all right with God. It would do us a lot of good, 481 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,560 myself included. Instead of wait until the 482 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,480 invitation to confess what's not right with the Lord, maybe we 483 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:26,040 should confess it before we get to church to make sure we're 484 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,720 right. And if we're not? 485 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,600 So you say, well, pastor, if I'm not right, I should stay home. 486 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,240 No, we want you to be here. But we love you enough to tell 487 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,000 you we want you to be right with God. 488 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:41,640 We're not going to sugarcoat the word of God to try to make you 489 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,880 feel better. We're also not going to kick you 490 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,440 when you're down, but we will tell you this, We'll tell you 491 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,880 this, that getting right with God is the best thing that you 492 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,640 can do for your life, whatever your situation is. 493 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:55,840 Why? Because this is a holy place. 494 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,000 And again, I want to be so careful in how I present this 495 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,440 because I want people to know that whatever situation you're 496 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,640 in, in life, if you're down, you're discouraged, you're 497 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,480 hurting, you're in sin, you need to be in the House of God 498 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,320 because this is where change happens. 499 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,880 God wants you to be here. Please don't mistake what I'm 500 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,720 saying, but I'm also saying this, maybe we shouldn't be so 501 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,480 casual with that which God is called holy, that maybe we 502 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,880 shouldn't be so casual within ourselves of that which God 503 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:27,200 calls holy, and that this is a special and a sacred place. 504 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,360 This Church of Corinth, listen, they were a mess. 505 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:33,760 We've only seen a little bit of it so far. 506 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:35,880 We know the fractions. We know fighting. 507 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,080 It's only going to get worse. We're going to find out in 508 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,560 chapter 5 some of the lewd and despicable things that are 509 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,760 happening. And it just keeps going on and 510 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,840 getting worse as the chapter as the book goes along. 511 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,640 But you know what's interesting to me, as bad as this church 512 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,280 was, he didn't say that you should be the temple of God. 513 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,040 He said you are the temple of God. 514 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,600 He reminded them of their calling. 515 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,000 He reminded them of who they were in him. 516 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:08,360 And so please don't misunderstand me. 517 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,560 You know, we want to make sure that everyone comes to the House 518 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,240 of God and gets what they need from the Lord. 519 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:17,840 We want to make sure that we don't ever give off the 520 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,520 impression that if someone's struggling with their faith, if 521 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,440 someone's struggling with sin, that they are not welcome in the 522 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,840 House of God. Man, we want you to be here and 523 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,160 we want you to get right with God. 524 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,080 But I also want to say this, that there is a thought process 525 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:36,720 today of you know what, let's just be like the world so more 526 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,480 people can come to church. And I believe this text shows us 527 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,320 that is the exactly wrong way to reach the World. 528 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,240 Well, listen, you want to reach the World, you got to be like 529 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,080 them. I would submit to you, the Word 530 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,080 of God says that if you want to reach the World, you have to be 531 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:57,680 different, not like the world. Even as a church, I want to be 532 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,080 careful that we say, well, you know, we just want to make 533 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,520 people feel comfortable. And so we don't really want to 534 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,640 talk about these things and we don't want to cover these 535 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:08,440 subjects and we don't want to, you know, listen, just whatever, 536 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,480 it's just, you know, whatever. We're just glad people come and 537 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,080 we are glad people come. But I will say this. 538 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,680 Do you know what ought to mark a true New Testament church? 539 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,840 You know, what ought to be the difference? 540 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,360 What really ought to make us to stand out as that? 541 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:26,360 When people come in these doors, they're more loved here than 542 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:28,600 they are any other place on earth. 543 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,280 They ought to be more loved with the love of Christ than they are 544 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:34,480 anywhere. That doesn't mean we don't 545 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:36,480 preach on sin. That doesn't mean we don't 546 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,040 preach on righteousness. That doesn't mean we conceal the 547 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:40,560 gospel. No, we do all those things. 548 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,880 But the minute they walk through those doors, they should say, 549 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,720 wow, this is different. This isn't like going to the 550 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,760 gym. This isn't like going to the bar 551 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,000 room. This isn't like going to the 552 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,680 social club. This isn't like going somewhere 553 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,280 else. This, this is different. 554 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,480 What makes it different? The Lord's here and the Lord's 555 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,120 working in these people. If we want to be different, 556 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:03,760 that's the way we need to be different. 557 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,560 That when someone walks through these doors, they feel the 558 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,560 Spirit of Christ and they feel the Spirit of Christ working 559 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,200 through us to be able to show them Jesus Christ. 560 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,400 The Lord protects his church. I think of the temple, really 561 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,320 the Tabernacle. Nadab and Abaihu offered what 562 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:28,160 the Bible called strange fire. I believe they were drunken. 563 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,120 There could be many explanations for what it was. 564 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,080 I know this. What they were doing in the 565 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,840 Tabernacle was exactly opposite of what they were called to do 566 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,920 as priests. That is unarguable. 567 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,920 They died. I think of the early Church. 568 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:46,000 I think of Ananias and Sapphira. They gave an offering and the 569 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,400 fact of the matter was that they did not have trouble because 570 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,560 they withheld part of the offering. 571 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,560 I don't believe they were required to give the entire 572 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,960 amount of the sale of the land to the church. 573 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,480 But what they did in front of the whole church is they lied 574 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,440 about it not just once, but twice. 575 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,720 And the Bible says he lied to the Holy Ghost and what 576 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:06,680 happened? They died. 577 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,800 Now, I certainly, I'm not saying that any type of consequences 578 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,200 are going to take place in our church or any other church 579 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:15,320 today. That's not for me to say. 580 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,320 But I will say this, the word of God says this. 581 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:23,760 There are grave consequences when someone does something to 582 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,720 harm God's church. And I'm not trying to be 583 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,600 cultish. I'm not trying to be weird here. 584 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,200 I'm not saying that that I am some kind of leader that can 585 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,240 never be questioned or can never be talked to. 586 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,800 I certainly hope that you all have been around me enough to 587 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,480 know that I want to have dialogue and I do want to talk 588 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,760 with people and I'm willing to talk with people to disagree 589 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:44,200 with me. I'm very glad to have all those 590 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,240 things. But I will say this, that God 591 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,480 makes it clear that He protects His church. 592 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,000 Why? Because it's His church. 593 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,920 We don't bring in bad doctrine. We don't bring in our own ideas. 594 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,160 We don't bring in our own thought process. 595 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:04,040 That includes the pastor. I've said before, if I end up 596 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,320 coming and changing my doctrine from this church, you all have a 597 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:13,440 responsibility to fire me. Some of you a little excited 598 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,920 about that. Now think about it was expecting 599 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,040 that many amends at that part necessarily, but no, if my 600 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,480 doctrine changes and listen, there are churches where this 601 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,200 happens. I can give you example after 602 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,640 example where the pastor just gets older and he's tired of 603 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,960 fighting. He's tired of of contending for 604 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,400 the faith and just wants to go with the flow because he's just 605 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,680 tired of the whole thing. And just, well, maybe if I just 606 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,160 preach a few flowery messages, everybody will be happy. 607 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,080 You know, listen, we all have a responsibility to say this. 608 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,600 This is God's church and we have to protect it. 609 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,680 And if we don't, God does and he says so right here. 610 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,840 But that brings us to the thought that I really, I want to 611 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:54,880 mention to you tonight, I really don't want to leave with you 612 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,160 tonight, which is this. And I mentioned a few moments 613 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:01,680 ago that we should be serious about what God calls sacred man. 614 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:04,760 I love having fun at church. I do. 615 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,600 If you can't, if you can't smile or laugh at church, I mean, you 616 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,240 got a problem. You know, we ought to be able to 617 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,000 be joyful here, right? I mean, if you can't be joyful 618 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,400 in church, where can you be joyful? 619 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,200 But I will say this, it's a serious place in the sense that 620 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:27,360 lives change here, your life can change here, my life can change 621 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:29,640 here. And anytime those doors open, 622 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,520 and anytime the Word of God is open and the Spirit of God moves 623 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,760 amongst us, there's the potential that someone or 624 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,400 someone's life could change, not just for this life, but for 625 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,720 eternity. And that ought to excite us. 626 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,400 They ought to excite us that we're not just here just patting 627 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,560 ourselves on the back and having a good time, but that. 628 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,440 But no, what happens here has real eternal consequences 629 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,440 because the Lord's amongst us. So we should be serious about 630 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,320 the fact that his power makes this place unlike anywhere else 631 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:01,240 on the planet. There's no place like God's 632 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,320 church. There's no place like it. 633 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:06,360 We should be serious about our attendance. 634 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,800 Why? Because God's with us, the Bible 635 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,440 says even more so as we see the day approaching. 636 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,520 There's some wonderful articles in the Baptist Times, if you had 637 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,000 an opportunity to grab them, about why it's important that we 638 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,280 have the services that we have because it's so helpful for us 639 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,760 to be able to be here and to grow and to learn. 640 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,880 It's so much more that, listen, we don't need less Bible now. 641 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,200 We need more with what's going on in this world. 642 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,080 You think we need to retreat from where we are as believing. 643 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:35,920 No, we need more of the Bible, not less. 644 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:41,240 Be serious about holiness in God's church. 645 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,440 Again, not looking for people to be perfect, not telling you that 646 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,800 if you don't have the unless you have everything figured out, not 647 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,000 to come to church because if that was the case, nobody ever 648 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:54,480 go to church. But saying this Lord, is my 649 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:56,760 heart tender enough when I come in the House of God that if you 650 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,680 point out anything to me that's not right that I'll confess it. 651 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:05,280 That's a good place to start or show me the wicked way within 652 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,120 me. Psalm 51, Just show me the 653 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,320 wicked way. I'll be glad to confess it. 654 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:14,000 We ought to be serious about supporting His church. 655 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,760 It needs support. The Bible calls on us and our 656 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:21,480 tithes and offerings. If you're a member of Liberty 657 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,440 Baptist Church, again, not to harp on this, I've mentioned it 658 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,840 before, but God's called us to support this effort so that we 659 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,320 can go and do the things that God has called us to do. 660 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:34,480 We ought to be serious about bringing other people to it. 661 00:34:35,199 --> 00:34:37,600 I've loved the visitors that we've had now for months. 662 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,320 I would was counting it up in the the book, the record book 663 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,800 that the the guys keep out of the last 16 or 17 weeks, we've 664 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,239 had visitors every week. But I think two or three. 665 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:48,520 That's great. Let's keep bringing people to 666 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:49,159 church. Why? 667 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,600 Because it's unlike any other place on earth. 668 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,080 Is the church perfect? Yes. 669 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:03,080 No, no, wait, no. That wasn't in there. 670 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:06,880 You know why this church isn't perfect? 671 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,360 One reason I know the pastor. This church isn't perfect. 672 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,480 In fact, if the church was to be perfect, we'd all have to 673 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,520 evacuate. It's not. 674 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:18,840 I would tell you this. It's special. 675 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,120 And why is it special? The Lord's with us. 676 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:24,320 Doesn't matter if there's metal. It doesn't matter if it's 677 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,840 rented. It doesn't matter if it's big or 678 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:27,160 small. Is the Lord here? 679 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:30,600 Then, man, we're in good shape. I'll leave you with this 680 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,280 presidential airplane, Air Force One. 681 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:36,960 You know, when we think of Air Force One, we think of that 682 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:41,080 Boeing jet with the white and the blue, that that's what we 683 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:42,840 think of when we think of Air Force One. 684 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,480 But technically, that in and of itself is not the only Air Force 685 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,040 One. I don't know if you're aware of 686 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,360 this, but Air Force One is the call sign for whatever airplane 687 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,280 the president happens to be on. So it could be that jet, which 688 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,960 typically it is nowadays, but I was doing a little bit of 689 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:06,000 research and I saw that back in the 60s, Lyndon Johnson, LBJ, at 690 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:12,080 times would fly on a prop plane from Austin to his cattle ranch 691 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,360 in Texas. And every time he was in that 692 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,880 little tiny plane, it was called Air Force One. 693 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,880 And I think Air Force One. I don't think of a prop plane. 694 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:28,120 I think of that jumbo jet where basically everything can take 695 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,600 place in just that one little place in the middle of the sky. 696 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,120 But what makes the place, what makes the plane special, if you 697 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:42,600 will, is not what the plane was made of, but who was inside the 698 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:47,680 plane. I look at 800 Washington St. 699 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,080 You know what I see? I see cracks in the concrete. 700 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:55,640 I see weeds that I can't kill no matter how hard I try. 701 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,880 The entire summer. I see places where water seeps 702 00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:02,680 in at every rainstorm, just about. 703 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,920 I see carpet that probably should have been replaced about 704 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:13,400 12 years ago. I see classrooms that aren't 705 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:14,920 everything that I've wanted them to be. 706 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,480 I see a kitchen that has a breaker that goes off every 707 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:20,360 single time we use the microwave. 708 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:25,960 But I also see this a special place where God is. 709 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:32,280 Why? Because of this, because of him, 710 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,920 listen, don't, don't discount the importance of church. 711 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:39,320 He's here with us. This is not just the House of 712 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,440 God. It is the temple of God, which 713 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:43,720 is a derivative of the title House of God. 714 00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:48,000 But He dwells in us. He's not just here like he's 715 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,480 everywhere. He's here and he's intimately 716 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,200 and actively working among us. And that ought to thrill every 717 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:58,440 single one of us and cause us to serve Him. 718 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,040 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of 719 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,960 Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing 720 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,440 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 721 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:13,040 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 722 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,840 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 723 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,680 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 724 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:21,880 grow in His Word.