All right, welcome back again. Notes are available on the back
table. I do see that there's still some
available back there. You can either grab them now or
on your way out. All right, if you're watching
online, hey, welcome to you. Welcome to North Life.
We want to take a moment to invite you to come and be with
us in person. We're at 115 E Main Street,
right in the heart of the old historic part of Gaylord, and
our services are at 9:00 and 10:30.
Watching online is great, but if you're nearby, certainly come
and worship with us in person. All right, if you have your
Bibles, please take and turn them to John chapter 14.
John chapter 14 is in the New Testament.
It's if you're new to the Bible, it's grouped with the first
books of the New Testament, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John. And then axis after that.
It's easy way to find it. So it's about maybe 80 percent,
85% through your Bible. So the book of John is a story,
the story of Jesus when he was here with us, walking, dwelling
among us with his disciples, his teachings and the events of his
life. And so this is John chapter 14.
So John 14 is kind of in the middle of the story of Jesus.
It's before the crucifixion, before his resurrection.
And here he's going to talk about the Holy Spirit and we're
talking about the Holy Spirit in these weeks.
So this is John chapter 14, and I'm going to read to you from
verse 16, verse 17. John writes the words of Jesus,
who says, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another helper to be with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because
it neither sees him nor knows Him.
You know him, for watch this. This is very important in the
context of this message. You know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you. He dwells with you and will be
in you. This morning.
I want to talk to you about the Holy Spirit, and I want to talk
to you particularly about the Holy Spirit dwelling and
manifesting. The Holy Spirit dwelling and
manifesting. Let me pray for us, God.
We've come to honor you with our worship, and our worship is
singing to you. Our worship is just being
together and Kona NIA and fellowship and our worship is
giving to you and now our worship is paying attention to
your word and leaning into your word because it's how we grow.
And so Holy Spirit, we say speak to us, grow us, stretch us in
our understanding of who you are and how to relate and have a
relationship with you. We pray this in Jesus name and
everyone loudly said Amen. I love the language that John
purposefully uses when he's quoting Jesus speaking about the
Holy Spirit. Now last week we started what is
going to be several weeks to come teaching on the Holy
Spirit. And I don't want to go and re
preach last week's message, but we went into great detail about
the fact that Jesus ascends to heaven.
Jesus was prophesied, the Messiah was prophesied.
Isaiah spoke of Jesus coming. He said therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called.
His name will be called Emmanuel, and Emmanuel means God
with us. And we focus on that and speak
of that every Christmas time. But this year, more than even
regular years, we went into great depth, really leading into
the idea that Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel.
And last week I spoke on the fact that that Jesus is God with
us. But he talks about who is going
to come and that will be the Holy Spirit who will not just be
with us, but in US. And, and Jesus, you know, it
would have been confusing to them because they're like,
you're God with us. And when Jesus is like, I'm
going to go away, but I'm going to send the helper, the Holy
Spirit, the comforter, he's going to come.
It would have been confusing them because they're like Jesus,
we like you being with us. But the way that Jesus came to
us, he came as a, you know, God put on human skin.
So He's in one place at one time.
And so Jesus is going to ascend back to be with the Father.
This is the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit now is going to come and He's going to be in
all of us that receive Christ as our Savior.
So this is the plan. Jesus is God with us, but only
with those that He is in the proximity of being with.
The Holy Spirit is going to come and dwell in all of us that
follow Jesus. So Jesus ascends to the heaven.
And last week we talked about now the Holy Spirit dwells in us
and we talked about the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son
and the Trinity last week. If you missed that, please go
back and pick up that message this week.
I must let you know, and this is a big like this is a buffet
message, man, I got a lot. This is like a 7.
Is there such a thing as A7 course meal?
There's a 5 course meal. If there's a 5 course meal, this
is a 7 course meal, right? I've got a lot to tell you and
I'm going to race through it. I'm guilty of listening to books
and podcasts at double speed. So sometimes if I talk fast,
it's because I listen to a lot of things double speed, right?
So I'm going to try not to talk double speed, but I'm going to
fit everything. I did it in the first service.
I'm going to fit everything in, but I've got a lot to connect.
And what I want you to see is that throughout Scripture, there
are there are these, there are these connects that maybe you've
missed when you've read the New Testament.
The the beauty to me of the Old Testament is that God's story
has all of these intersections. And this morning's message
certainly has, has a lot of dots that I'm going to connect.
OK, now I want to explain first to you to make sense of this
message. I want to explain God's
omnipresence and God's manifest presence.
And they're two different revelations, or, you know,
they're the way that God reveals, reveals his presence,
OK, the presence of Holy Spirit. So first you must understand
that God's presence is omnipresent, right?
And what does omnipresent mean? It means that God is present
everywhere at all times. The furthest places in the
galaxies in the universe is wherever you go, God's presence
is there. God is omnipresent everywhere,
and the psalmist in Psalm 139 references this truth. 139 verse
7, the psalmist writes, Where shall I go from your spirit, or
where shall I flee from your presence?
And this occasion he's making the Spirit of God and the
presence of God synonymous. They're the same thing.
He's saying from your presence, from your spirit, they're the
same. And he says, if I ascend to the
heaven, you're there. And by the heavens he would have
meant like the stars and the galaxies in the ancient world,
the heavens are that. And he says, if I make my bed
and say old, you were there, and say, old was like the place of
the dead, If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
The psalmist in this occasion is saying that God is omnipresent.
He is everywhere you can go, as far, far, far away, the depths
of the sea. Wherever you go, God's presence
is there. So God is omnipresent, but not
only is God omnipresent, but he has manifest presence.
And watch this AW Tozer, one of my favorite authors.
You know, the greatest authors have like like initials, right?
So I think so AW Tozer, who passed away in the 60s, I highly
recommended his book called the Pursuit of God.
It's not a hard read. You can listen to it on Audible
or probably YouTube, but it's a, it's a classic written in like
the 50s or 60s. And Tozer says this God is
omnipresent. He's everywhere, but he does not
manifest himself everywhere. God is omnipresent, but he
doesn't manifest his presence. And by God's manifest presence,
what do we mean? What we mean that his presence
is in specific places and moments and people.
It's when God is especially present.
He's omnipresent. He's everywhere.
But you'll see in Scripture and in our lives today, God chooses
to manifest his presence to show up in a unique, special way in
certain places and times and people.
And I'm going to show you that this is a biblical truth, OK?
And then I'm going to give you application for what it looks
like in our lives now. So this guy, CS Caulfield,
that's me, he says this. He says the Spirit of God.
This is what I say. The Spirit of God is not
confined to a moment or place, but the Spirit of God does
divinely manifest Himself in certain moments and places.
I might get CS because my name is Curtis Steven Caulfield, so I
get to adopt CS Lewis's initials as CS Caulfield.
The older I get, I'm just going to grow into CS Caulfield.
We'll see how that goes. OK, so watch this.
So there's the omnipresence of God, and then there is the
manifest presence of God when God shows up in unique ways and
places and times and people. Now I want to show you this
progression that we see and I was recommending again this big
Bible story book by Auntie Wright.
I think it's really wonderful to get the grandness of the story
of Scripture, OK, and how how God reveals himself to people
and how God is redeeming us. That's all in the Bible.
And know that again, the Bible is a story.
It's the story of God saving and redeeming us, OK?
So watch the progression of how God manifests his presence, OK?
We even see it in the Garden of Eden and I mentioned, but I'll
re mention in this context in Genesis 38, it's telling the
story of Adam and Eve after they have sinned, they've eaten from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
They've disobeyed God and they are hiding from God because now
they're full of shame and that watch this first aid of chapter
3. And they being Adam and Eve,
heard the sounds of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of
the garden. Now, the way that Genesis is
written, you get the picture that they were familiar with the
sound of God walking in the garden.
So in the garden at creation, the dawn of time, God is
omnipresent. He's everywhere at one time, and
yet he specifically reveals himself in the garden walking
with Adam and Eve. And they'll they are familiar
with the sound after they've sent and they're hiding, They're
familiar with the sound of God walking in the garden.
So God starts the beginning of the Bible, starts with the idea
that God is omnipresent, but he manifests himself, his presence,
the Holy Spirit manifest and reveals himself in unique places
and times and people from the very beginning.
Now there is a progression of God manifesting himself,
dwelling with his people. And I'm going to kind of cover
the, you know, the big blocks of it.
There are many, many, many, many more stories where I can lead
you to go, Oh yeah, look, that's the the presence, the Spirit of
God manifesting. But I'm going to give you the
big blocks in the Old Testament that are connected to some
passages in the New Testament. OK, So one of the other places,
as the story progresses, God's here in the garden manifesting
his Spirit, His presence, and then another big time, and there
are times in between, but another big block is when God
manifests, reveals his Spirit in the context of the tent.
And what do I mean by this? This is the story in Exodus
chapter 25, one through 9. So the story of the Bible, you
have Adam and Eve, and then you have Noah, and you have Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes of Israel and Joseph and
Moses in Egypt. And then Moses leads the
children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.
At that point in the Bible, in Exodus, you're going to see now
the children of Israel, they're free from slavery, and they're
wandering in the wilderness like the desert, OK.
And out in the desert in Exodus 25, the Lord speaks to Moses,
and what does he say? X is 25 one, it says, the Lord
said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel, that they take
for me a contribution, an offering from every man whose
heart moves him. You shall receive the
contribution for me. This is a wonderful time to see
in the Bible where God is saying, OK, I'm asking for an
offering. And it's if your heart moves
you, your heart moves you, then you should give.
And this is still a picture of giving today to the Lord.
It's like our hearts should be moved to contribute, right?
To give offerings and ties to God's work, right?
So this is what God's saying for those whose hearts are moved to
give, I want you to give to this.
Now watch how specific God gets about what he wants them to
contribute. Verse 3.
And this is the contribution that you shall receive from
them. Gold, silver and bronze.
And watch out specific blue and purple and scarlet yarns and
fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned Rams skins, goat skins,
Acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and
for the fragrant incense. Onyx stones and stones for
setting for the ephod and for the breast.
Peace in verse 8. And let them make me, this is
God speaking, a sanctuary. Watch that I may dwell in their
midst exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the
Tabernacle and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.
Watch. I'm talking this morning about
the Holy Spirit dwelling and manifesting.
And God says to Moses, get this. Get these contributions.
This is the list of things that I'm asking the people to give.
And then he says that I have a plan.
I'm going to dwell in their midst.
OK? So the Holy Spirit is going to
manifest himself in their midst. Remember, Jesus is God with us.
And then I read you at the beginning.
Jesus says that I'm going to pray to the Father, and He's
going to send you the Helper, and you know him because he's
with you and He will be in you. Watch the progression.
God manifests himself in the garden.
He's near. He's walking with Adam and Eve.
But now at this point in the story, God says build me the
sanctuary. And my plan is I'm I'm going to
dwell in your midst. You're going to be near my
presence. I'm going to make my presence
accessible near you and watch this.
I mean this in no way irreverent.
You'll, you'll allow me. This is that when God gives
Moses this list of things that he wants, it's like God's going
to build his living room. He's going to build like his man
cave, right? Guys, you have a man cave.
Some of you like in your man cave, you might have guns or
whatever. In my man cave at home, I have
books and guitars, right? The room that I want to sit in
the home, I've got shelves and shelves and shelves of books and
I love to just sit there and be among my books and study and
read. And then I've got guitars and,
and we have a piano in our, we have a baby grand piano in our
living room. That's what my man cave looks
like, right? And my wife has decorated our
home lovely and beautiful, right?
So God is saying to Moses, here's what I want you to put in
the room that I'm going to manifest or dwell in.
And he gives a very specific list.
Now watch what happens so that the contributions come and they
build this tent that God is going to manifest himself in.
He's going to dwell there. Now, is this the totality of God
in this tent? Of course not.
God is omnipresent. He's everywhere.
But God is going to manifest himself in that unique place at
that unique time, and he's going to allow the people to be near
his presence, the Holy Spirit. Watch Exodus 40 continues the
story. So verse 32, when they went into
the tent of meeting and when they approached the altar, they
washed as the Lord commanded Moses.
I'm not going in the detail, but God gives Moses these rules on
how to now go into this place where God is going to dwell.
And it's only going to be once a year.
It's going to be the high priest after he's gone through all of
these cleaning and cleansing routines, and he's going to go
into this place and he's going to be in the presence of God, if
you will. OK, And eventually I'll get to
it, but Jesus is going to be now the high priest and I'll connect
the dots for you. And so verse 33.
And he erected the court around the Tabernacle and the altar,
and he set up this, watch this. He set up the screen or a veil
or curtain, you might call it, of the gate of the court.
OK, so Moses finished the work that God gave him, very
specific. You can go read more of it.
God gave him very specific ways to build this tent where he was
going to manifest His spirit, His presence.
OK, now watch what happened verse 34.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the
Lord filled the Tabernacle or the tent.
And by glory, we, the Greek word here is Kabat and it means like
weight, the weight of God properly, like in a, in a good
way, the weight of God descended, manifested itself
into this tent, this Tabernacle that is mobile.
Remember, they are, they are nomadic people.
They're wandering in the wilderness.
And so this tent, this Tabernacle is going to be
movable. OK, So the, the what we start
seeing here is that you're going to see that is a synonym to say
the glory of God is also the spirit of God, like the weight
of God and the spirit, Spirit of God, the presence of God, they
all mean the same thing. The presence, the glory, the
spirit, they're interchangeable. OK, so the glory of God
manifests itself in this place that Moses has built according
to the instructions given by God.
Now first Peter is going to reference this in first Peter
414 watch this this idea of of the of the weight of God coming
and resting or coming upon manifesting.
First Peter later says this I read it during our worship time.
If you were insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed
because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
This is why we sang this song this morning.
Come rest on us. It's from that tradition.
God, come rest, rest, rest on us as you did the tent in the Old
Testament, the Tabernacle. God, we're crying out and, and
Peter is referencing this occasion that the spirit, the
glory of God came and rested upon the tent of the Tabernacle
in this Old Testament story. Now Exodus 40 continues how God
reveals himself and, and the way that his dwelling place is set
up. OK, and it's all going to
connect to you and me. It's all going to connect to the
New Testament. So Exodus 40 verse 35 and Moses
was not able to enter the tent of meeting.
Why? Because the clouds settled and
rested on it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.
The glory, the presence, the Spirit of God filled this
Tabernacle that they'd built. And throughout all their
journeys, wherever the cloud, whenever, whenever the cloud was
taken up from over the Tabernacle, the people of Israel
would set out. But if the cloud was taken, was
not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was
taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on
the Tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night in the sight
of all the House of Israel throughout all their journeys.
So watch this. The presence of God, the glory
of God, the Spirit of God manifests itself among them.
They can be near the presence of God, and they follow the cloud.
When the cloud moves, they pick up their tents and their
Tabernacle and they move it to wherever the cloud was, and they
rest there. They're following the glory, the
presence, the Spirit of God. And that's the way that God
leads him and leading Moses and the people of Israel.
Now the Spirit of God is dwelling with them and near
them. But watch them getting close to
the presence of God is restricted because if they get
too close to the presence of God, they literally will die.
Because God is holy and powerful.
He puts his presence there. He manifests His presence there.
It's not the totality of His presence.
God is omnipresent. He manifests himself in the tent
and this meeting place and there are rules.
Now what's what? More details about what's inside
of it. You're going to love this.
Exodus 2517. God's instructing Moses and he
says you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. 2 cubits and half
and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its
breath. Now what is a mercy seat?
Well, the mercy seat was a solid gold cover of the Ark of the
Covenant and once you're the high priest would sprinkle blood
to symbolize that sin had been paid for and judgment had been
covered by God's mercy. So let me break this down for
you even the more if you saw ratings of the Lost Ark, you
might remember the Nazis in the story.
You're trying to find the Ark of the Covenant, right?
And what is the Ark of the Covenant?
Well, the Ark of the Covenant is this box.
It's in the box contains the 10 commandments, the law that God
had given to them. And God is going to give them
instructions more. I'll read it here in a second,
but I just want you to see that it's a gold covering of the,
the, the, the mercy seat is a solid gold covering and it's
over the ark, OK. And the ark contains the 10
commandments and on the gold covering the mercy seat is the
place where God is going to visualize.
He's going to give a picture of his forgiveness.
When the high priest goes in according to God's law, he's
going to go in and he's going to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat
and the blood is sacrificed to pay for our sin.
It's a picture of Jesus coming eventually to give his blood for
our sin. OK, but they go into the mercy
seat. And again, it's not a seat you'd
sit on. It's something that sits on top
of the ark of the covenant. Now watch on chapter 25, there's
more details about what the mercy seat should have.
And watch this. It's so fascinating to me.
Verse 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered
works, shall you make them on the 2 ends of the mercy seat.
Now what a cherubim. Some some of you might think,
oh, a cherubim. You've heard of it.
It's, it's a vague term. Is it an Angel?
Well, no, a cherubim is not quite an Angel.
A cherubim is a heavenly creature that is mentioned often
in the Bible. OK, but angels were angels that
take on human form and they're God's messengers and God's
warriors. They do battle and they show up.
Gideon shows up, Michael show up.
And again when they show up, they have somewhat human form.
And so Gideon goes to Mary and says, Mary, you're going to have
the Christ. You're going to have Jesus.
The angels show up in that way. And we believe that there are
angels right now that are serving us and protecting us.
OK, the angels are that. But the cherubim, on the other
hand, the Bible explains them as this heavenly creature that has
four legs. It has like the legs of a, has
like the body of a lion and it has like a human face, but I
think it has like 4 faces. This is a really strange
creature. And then it has wings.
OK, so the cherubim are gods like servants.
They're heavenly creatures and they protect the altar of God.
They surround the altar of God and they protect the presence of
God. OK, so watch this.
So then the instructions that God is giving to Moses, he's
saying, OK, I want you to make these cherubim on top of the
mercy seat, right? They're going to have their
wings and everything. Make one cherub on the one end
of the mercy seat and one cherub on the other other end.
Have one piece with the Mercy seat.
Shall you make the cherubim on its 2 ends?
The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing
the mercy seat with their wings, their faces, their faces, one to
another towards the Mercy Seat shall the face of the cherubim
be. And you shall put the Mercy seat
on the top of the Ark of Covenant, and in the Ark you
shall put the testimony that I shall give you the 10
Commandments. Then I will watch this.
I will meet with you, I'll manifest my presence from above
the mercy seat from between the two cherubim that are on the arc
of the testimony. I will speak with you about all
that I will give you in commandment for the people of
Israel. Watch, we're talking about God's
presence, that's he's omnipresent.
He's everywhere, but he manifests his presence at
certain moments and places and then people and so hear God
saying, listen, you build the mercy seat.
It's a picture of my forgiveness and it's there to protect the my
commandments. And then God saying there I will
meet with you. He will dwell with he's dwelling
among they're dwelling among them.
But now there's a special place where they get even closer to
the presence, the manifest presence of God.
Now, well, there's a connection with the cherubim that goes all
the way back to the garden. And I've mentioned this, I think
even last week, but I'm going to mention again in this context.
So you get this and Genesis 323. This is after Adam and Eve have
sinned and God is going to cast them out of the garden, not as
punishment. God is putting them out of the
garden because if they stay in Eden, they don't have
relationship with God. They're disconnected from God
because of their sin. So God comes up with a plan to
redeem mankind and that's going to take taking Adam and Eve out
of the garden, out of the presence of God.
And God puts, watch this cherubim to guard the Garden of
Eden. You can see here Genesis 3.
Therefore the Lord God sent him, meaning Adam, out from the
Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
And he drove out the man. And at the East End of the
Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword
that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
So watch this Garden of Eden. God protects Adam and Eve from
his presence, right? Because they're not holy
anymore. They've sinned.
And so God puts them out of the garden and he puts cherubim to
guard the presence of God in the garden.
And then when he gives Moses instruction on how now to build
the mercy seat, what's on it? Cherubim And the cherubim, we're
not just going to be on the Ark of the Covenant.
They're going to show up in another place.
Watch this the cherubim by the way, or again, they're there to
protect the presence of God, to protect us from the presence of
God. The presence of God doesn't need
to be protected from us. We need to be protected from the
presence of God that is so powerful that if we get near to
it, it could lead to our death. So watch what happens.
I love this. Exodus 2631 three 33.
Watch this connection. And this is more instruction.
God, says Moses, then you shall erect the Tabernacle, OK,
according to the plan for it that you were shown on the
mountain, and you shall make a veil, a curtain of blue and
purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.
What did God ask for in the offering?
The contributions? He asked for these things.
Right now they have them. And what is Moses going to do
with them? Well, he is going to build them
and do this veil and watch it says it shall be made with
cherubim skillfully worked into it.
So the chairman were there at the garden to protect the
garden. Then the cherubim are there on
the the images of them are on the top of the ark of the
covenant to protect us from the presence of God.
And then in this vast curtain, this veil that they're going to
build, they're going to build this curtain, not to protect God
from us, but to protect us from the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit that manifest itself in this holy place.
There are cherubim, images of the cherubim sewn into this veil
or this curtain. And verse 32 And you shall hang
it on 4 pillars of Acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks
of gold on 4 bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from
the clasp and bring the ark of the testimony in there within
the veil. And the veil shall watch this,
and the veil shall separate for you the holy pray holy place
from the Most Holy in this occasion.
You see, OK, there are depths to God's holiness, right?
God's near them there. He's the tent is there.
He's manifesting himself there, the Holy Spirit manifesting
himself in this holy place. There's the Ark of the Covenant,
the mercy seat on top of it. And then there's this curtain
that protects them from God's presence that manifests itself.
He's there. He's dwelling with them.
But they need protection, right? And so there is the curtain.
Now there's an evolution that I want to tell you about of God's
manifested presence. And people get confused about
this sometimes, right? I, this might shock you, but I
believe in evolution. Now, I don't believe in
evolution in the context of creation.
I believe in creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. But there are some things that
evolve for me. Music evolves.
People on the, on the worship team know that, man, we don't do
the same song the same way every time.
It evolves. Even songs that I wrote years
ago, they evolved, they change. Don't you love it when you go to
a concert and somebody does the music just a little bit
different than it was on the record?
Why? Because it evolved, right?
And you like that, you're like, oh, that was different than the
record. That's so cool, right?
So music evolved, something's evolved.
Watch the way that God interacts with us, the way that God
manifests his presence. It evolves and people get
confused about this. They get stuck in a certain era
and they get stuck maybe because they've heard this passage in
the Hebrews that where he, Hebrews 13 says Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today and forever.
So some people read this like God's the same yesterday, today
and forever. Well, the character of God, the
character of Jesus is the same. But watch this, We are no longer
we're no longer seeing the presence of God manifested in a
tent that has a cloud on top of it that moves right.
It got us evolved from that type of meeting with us.
And I'm going to get to how he meets with us now, how he dwells
and how he manifests his presence.
But that you've got the garden, the way he manifests himself
there, you've got the tent of meeting and now you are going to
see evolution there. But watch what happens in
Hebrews goes on and says, do not be LED away by diverse and
strange teachings. Some people are going to teach
well. They get in like I love.
If you've been part of our church, you know, probably more
than a lot of teachers of the Bible.
I love connecting the Old Testament to the New Testament.
I just love doing it right because it is.
They're all these connections. But I'm not encouraging us to
get stuck in these old traditions.
God is not manifesting himself in a tent anymore.
And this is true in Hebrew. So watch what Hebrew says and
says, do not be LED astray by these diverse and strange
teachings. For it is good for the heart to
be strengthened by grace. We're in a season of grace now,
not by foods which have not benefited those devoted them.
We have an altar from whom? From which those who served the
tent have no right to eat. Now what does he mean here?
Maybe you've read Hebrews many times and never got this
connection. So the writer of Hebrews is
saying, don't get stuck in old ways, these old teachings.
God has moved on. He's not in the tent anymore.
He's not in the cloud hovering that way.
That's the old way that God interacted and manifested
himself. And so the right of Hebrews says
we have an altar like for us that altars like communion,
right where the blood is, right where we recognize the blood.
And for those who serve the tent, the old ways, they have no
right to eat of communion. They're stuck in the old ways.
God's the same Jesus, same yesterday, today, and forever.
His character, yes, but the way we interact with his manifest
presence has evolved. Now the Holy Spirit has moved on
and no longer is going to manifest in the tent.
So even in the Old Testament, what's the next evolution of the
way that God is going to interact?
Well, this is the story of Solomon's temple.
God is going to give David instructions on how to build
this temple. And what is God?
What is God going to do in the temple?
He's going to manifest His presence, right?
And this is all going to go to what how you and I interact with
the Holy Spirit now, but stick with me.
So this is Solomon. Now, David didn't get to build
the temple. Solomon, his son builds it.
And the story of its dedication is in First Kings 810 through
13. And when the priest came out of
the holy place, a cloud filled the House of the Lord so that
the priest could not stand a minister because of the cloud.
For the glory, remember glory, present spirit or
interchangeable, the glory of the Lord filled the House of the
Lord. And then Solomon said the Lord
has said he will dwell in thick darkness.
The language of God dwelling. Here it is again, God's
dwelling. He's, he's with us.
This is why when Isaiah prophesied Emmanuel, God with
us, He's going to come and he's going to come and dwell with us.
It's all the same language throughout the story.
And then Solomon said, I have indeed built you an exalted
house. Watch.
Solomon's limited in his understanding because watch, he
says, a place for you to dwell in forever.
Is the Holy Spirit going to manifest himself in Solomon's
temple forever? No.
For a while, yes, but God's going to move on even from that.
So the temple's going to be destroyed because of their
disobedience. God's people go awry and the
Babylonians come in and take over in the Syrians.
That's the part of the Old Testament and we're going to
great depths about. But Solomon thought, God, you're
going to dwell here forever. That wasn't God's plan.
Watch what happens. Solomon had good intentions, but
he didn't have the fourth sight to know what's going to happen
in John 114. Now John is writing about Jesus
coming and he says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
See how the idea of dwelt? When John says that they would
have perked up, it's like, Oh yeah, dwelling.
We saw that all throughout the Old Testament.
God dwelt with his people in the garden and God dwelt in the
tent, and then God dwelt in Solomon's temple.
God manifests his presence. He dwelt.
And now John says, watch Jesus, the Word came and he dwelt among
us. Dwelt means more when you have
that understanding. The word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we've seen his glory, the glory of God, the
presence of God, the Spirit of God.
They're all interchangeable glory as one of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Now God is dwelling among us as Jesus.
And last week again I said, well, Jesus ascends to heaven
and now he sends the Holy Spirit.
As we said from the start, Jesus says the Holy Spirit, you know
him because he dwells with you, but he's going to dwell in you.
That's the evolution tent, Tabernacle, garden, way back
here. Then Jesus comes and he's
dwelling with us. But now Jesus ascends to heaven
and he says, I pray to the Father and the Father is going
to send the Helper, the Comforter, and he's going to,
you know him because he dwells with you, but he's going to come
and dwell in you. And that's the language.
Now I have a great question for you.
What happens to this curtain, this veil that protected us from
the presence of God? Maybe you've seen this before.
What? Remember, in the Old Testament,
the temple is destroyed and God's children are carted off to
Babylon, right? And that's Daniel and Shadrach
and Meshach and Abednego, those stories.
So in the New Testament, what happens is King Herod recreates
Solomon's temple. OK?
And it's Herod's temple, and he recreates the curtain by the
instructions that are in the law.
OK, so he recreates and history says that this curtain was as
thick as a man's hand. It's woven.
It's 60 feet tall, 60 feet tall. Now watch what happens.
See, now when you read the story of Jesus, what happens here at
the crucifixion, it means so much more knowing about the
curtain in the Old Testament. So verse 51 and behold, the
curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to the
bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
Matthew points out that the curtain, this veil that was in
Herod's temple because they still had this like this holy
place where God would manifest his presence.
What happens when Jesus's body is torn?
The veil, the curtain is torn from top to bottom.
Matthew says from top to bottom because top to bottom would mean
a man could not have torn it. It is a godly miraculous
miracle. This curtain now is torn and the
holy place where God manifested himself is no longer enclosed by
the curtain and it happens at the tearing of Jesus body.
Now why is the curtain torn? It was not so that the Spirit of
God could get out. It never was about that.
The curtain is torn to signify now that Jesus has taken his
blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat to pay for our sin.
Now the presence of God, we are permitted to get near it, and
not only that now the presence of God is going to dwell in us.
The curtain is torn and watch. Hebrew speaks of this but when
Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have
come the evolution of God's plan then through the greater and
more perfect tent right. The Old Testament God manifests
himself in this tent. Now he's saying Jesus is the new
high priest. He now has taken his blood and
sprinkled on the mercy seat and now there's a new way and it's
it's a greater and more perfect tent.
What is the greater, more perfect tent I'm going to tell
you not made with hands that is not this not a disgrace.
He entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the
blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood,
thus securing an eternal redemption.
And watch this when Jesus says, you know the Holy Spirit, He
dwells with you, but he's going to dwell into you.
What the writer of Hebrews is saying now you're the tent.
You're the tent now. It's a greater way.
You're now the tent where the Holy Spirit is going to manifest
his presence, his glory, his Spirit.
Hebrews talks more about this and know that when the writer of
Hebrews writes, he's writing to those from a Jewish tradition.
So they understand all this language of the tent, the
Tabernacle, the mercy seat. They get it.
All right, We'll get to Ephesians in a second.
Paul writes to the Church of Ephesus.
They're, they're Gentiles. They don't understand the Jewish
tradition, right? But Hebrews is writing to those
who understand the Old Testament.
So watch verse 19. They're four brothers and
sister, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the
blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for
us, through the curtain, that is, through His flesh.
Here's talking about the curtain.
Now we get to enter through the curtain.
Before the curtain kept you out, if you went through the curtain
and you weren't cleansed, then you could die next to the
presence of God. But now it's like, no, now we
get to enter the curtains torn. We get to enter through the
flesh of Jesus that was torn. And since we have a great priest
over the House of God, that's Jesus, let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled
clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. The curtain, the veil
symbolically protected us from the glory of the Spirit, the
presence of God. But when the body of Jesus was
torn, the curtain was torn. And now we get the boldly go
towards the presence of God again.
The curtain didn't let the Spirit of God out, it just made
the Spirit of God now accessible to us.
He was talking more about it verse 14 and chapter 4.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in
every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Watch. Let us then, with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace, the mercy seat, that we
may receive the mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We now get to draw near to the presence of God, the Spirit of
God, the glory of God, and even the more now we are the temple
that the Holy Spirit dwells in. And the New Testament speaks of
this. So now the presence of God, it's
not kept from us. And now, as Jesus said, the Holy
Spirit is going to dwell in US. And what dwell in US?
And what is going to be the language that Paul is going to
use in First Corinthians 316? Again, knowing what you know
about the garden and the tent and the Tabernacle and the
temple and God manifesting there at the cloud, the fire.
Watch what Corinthians says. Do you not know that you are
God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Right, It's the language of dwell from the Old Testament.
In First Corinthians 6, it says, Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have
from God? You are not your own.
We are now the temple where the Tabernacle we were.
God manifests his power, his glory, his presence, his Spirit.
And this is the point in which Jesus says the Holy Spirit, you
know him, He dwells with you, but He's going to dwell, going
to dwell in you. And then First Corinthians, our
2nd Corinthians 6 says this. It says what agreement has the
temple? Who is the temple?
You are the temple of God with idols, for we are the temple of
the living God, as God said, I will make my dwelling among them
and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be
my people. Paul to the Church of Corinth is
referencing again the idea of the tent and the Tabernacle,
God's presence manifesting there.
And here Paul is quoting, and you can see in the ESV and other
translations that this is indented in your scriptures to
show you that this is a quote. And Paul is quoting from Exodus
29 that says I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be
their God. It's the language of dwell.
And Leviticus, God says I will make my dwelling among you, and
my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you.
Picture of the garden, God walking with them.
It's the same picture, right? God dwelling.
It's all through Scripture and it's showing up here.
Now the evolution of the way that God manifests himself is
that He manifests himself in US. Then to the Church of Ephesus.
These are Gentiles that Paul's writing to.
And he says in him, you were also being built together into a
dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Now why is this important? Because I want to show you the
Holy Spirit has been dwelling and manifesting throughout
Scripture. And maybe you thought that, oh,
wow, at the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit
comes in like a mighty rushing wind.
Jesus told his disciples to go and wait for the Spirit of God,
for the Holy Spirit. And so they do.
And maybe you just thought, well, the Holy Spirit was
dormant until Acts chapter 2. No, the Holy Spirit's been there
the whole time, dwelling, manifesting, doing miracles in a
tent and a Tabernacle in a temple.
And now in this new era where we serve God, you are now the tent,
you're the Tabernacle, you're the temple.
And God is being like we're being built together into a
dwelling place for God. So God is omnipresent.
He's everywhere, but he has historically manifested his
presence again in these places and people and times.
And now God wants to dwell in US.
Second Corinthians 3 says now the Lord is Spirit is the spirit
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and we all
with watch this unveiled face. We don't there's no veil no
more. There's no curtain anymore.
Now we have unveiled face beholding the glory, the spirit
of the presence of the Lord and being transformed into the same
image from 1° of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit.
Now I said from the start of this message that that this is
like a big meal. This is a lot.
This is like like a lot, right? And I'm guilty.
Did I say this already? Maybe sometimes I get confused
when I said in the first service and 2nd, but I listen to things
that double speed. Did I tell you that yet?
I did OK, right. So this is a lot man.
This is like, I hope I didn't talk too fast, but I hope that
you just got that God manifests himself in these beautiful,
unique ways. And we're going to talk about
the Holy Spirit for weeks to come.
And, and I want to give you like this just grand truth about the
Holy Spirit, how he manifests, how God dwells in US and the
language of dwelling that's there throughout the, the, the
biblical narrative, the language of dwell, the language of God
manifesting, showing up in certain ways.
And then the expectation is this is that because now we're the
temple and the Tabernacle, the Holy Spirit.
So God wants to manifest himself in us.
We're the temple. Now God is building us together.
And maybe you didn't know that before, like maybe you thought I
got saved. I surrounded my life to Jesus,
and now I have the Holy Spirit. But what does that mean, right?
So it means this, that God wants the Holy Spirit, wants to
manifest, wants to be in you. And that comes with power and
presence. And it should shape our lives.
When we live in light of the fact that we are now the temple,
the Tabernacle, the tent where God's Spirit dwells, it changes
the way we live. And again, maybe you're like,
oh, I'm all about Jesus. Yeah, we are Jesus.
But Jesus, like who? Who is in US?
The language of the theology, the doctrine is that the Holy
Spirit, that part of the Trinity, is in us now.
And when we learn to flow and live out, like, live out that
truth, it shapes the way that we follow God, our expectations.
What do we expect in the Christian life?
Well, when we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit,
it changes us. I want to pray with you.
Let's pray God, we have come to open our hearts to your truth.
This is a lot. And so I pray that you will help
us to absorb Holy Spirit. You can do that.
You can help us absorb all this truth and in the days to come,
let this really settle in. And in the weeks to come, as we
keep coming back to truth about you, grow us and understand what
it means to live life in the Spirit, aware of your presence
in US, God. So grow us.
We pray in Jesus name and everyone said, Amen, Let's all
stand together. Before you go, I do want to say
a blessing over you. Hey, we're going to change.
Move the tables in and we're going to move the chairs around
the table. So if you're available to stay
and help, that would be great. And don't forget 5:00 PM tonight
is our volunteer appreciation and celebration.
Let me say a blessing over you, and now may the Lord bless you
and keep you, and may he make his face to shine upon you.
And may the joy of the Lord that is unspeakable and full of glory
made bound to you. And may the peace of God that
passes all understanding, may it surprise you in the midst of all
of the challenges that life brings.
And then may the mercies of the Lord, in other words, the
forgiveness of God, that's new every morning.
May it be especially new to you now in your mornings to come.
And now may the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart and your
mind. You are salt and you were light.
Go now and be salt and light into the world.
You are blessed. We'll see you again soon.