↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording)
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When the Israelites escaped from Egypt and lived in the wilderness, God commanded them to build a tabernacle(a tent of meeting). The Israelites offered sacrifices to God in the tabernacle. They also met God in the tabernacle. And then, God allowed Solomon to build a temple. In 957 BC, Solomon built a large and beautiful temple. This was the first temple. From then on, the Israelites offered sacrifices to God in the temple rather than the tabernacle. Unfortunately, Solomon’s temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 BC. Then, the second temple was rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah in 349 BC, and was completely destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD. Up until now, there is no temple.
If so, where do we Christians, God’s people, worship now? We worship in the church, the body of Christ. It might be said that the tabernacle was replaced by God’s temple in 957 BC, and God’s temple was replaced by the Church in 70 AD.
We are all born with the sin committed by Adam, the original sin. We are born sinners. In other words, we have Adam’s DNA within us. The thing is that we all have genes that make us selfish and self-centered. We were born as slaves of sin, and we (live as slaves to sin. Then, we were freed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we became free from slaves.
Sinners cannot have fellowship with God. Slaves cannot have fellowship with God. Only righteous people can have fellowship with God, and only free people can have fellowship with God. We have become righteous and free through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Now we can have fellowship with God who created heaven and earth. Through whom? That’s right. It is through Jesus Christ.
The reason why God saved us is because He wants to have fellowship with us. One condition for having fellowship with God is “holiness.” If we’re not holy, we can’t have fellowship with God. Thankfully, the moment we confess our sins and believe in Jesus as our Savior, the blood of Jesus Christ completely cleanses our spirit, soul, and body. But as we live in this world, we get dirty again.
That’s why we come to the church to worship God, so that our spirit, soul, and body can be clean again. That’s how we stay in fellowship with the holy God. It is so true that we’ve been made completely holy once and for all by the blood of Jesus Christ. In fact, we’ve taken a spiritual bath. We don’t need to bathe spiritually anymore. But we still need to wash our hands and feet and face spiritually every day to stay holy. That’s why we read the Bible everyday, try to be filled with the Holy Spirit every single moment, repent of our sins everyday, and pray without ceasing. These are four specific ways we can stay holy.
In the Old Testament, we know that God dwelt in the temple. Of course, God is everywhere, and we can worship Him anywhere….
The temple was divided into three sections: the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. Of these three sections, the Spirit of God dwelt in the Most Holy Place.
The Israelites could enter the Courtyard. Interestingly, the Gentiles were also allowed to enter the Courtyard. We call it “the Courtyard of the Gentiles.”
But, the Gentiles were prohibited to enter the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. And only priests and Levites among the Israelites could enter the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. In particular, only the high priest among the priests could enter the Most Holy Place once a year. Every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place and offered sacrifices for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire people of Israel. Anyone other than the high priest who entered the Most Holy Place was subject to death.
But now, anyone who believes in Jesus can enter the Most Holy Place and meet God directly. Amazing! Even if we meet God, we will not die. Only the sins within us will be killed. Thanks to the precious blood of Jesus. In the Most Holy Place, we can have fellowship with God. We no longer need a high priest. Why? Because Jesus is our High Priest.
Interestingly enough, the Bible says that our bodies are also temples of God. Let us take a look at 1 Corinthians 3:16. It says. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you.”
Brothers and sisters, you are God’s temple. This is a tremendous truth. Since you are spiritually a temple, you also have the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place.
So where is the Courtyard? The Courtyard is your body. And your body is in charge of your five senses(sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch). Where is the Holy Place? The Holy Place is your head. And the head is in charge of your intellect. Where is the Most Holy place? The Most Holy Place is your heart. And your heart is in charge of your spirituality.
Brothers and sisters, are you building your own temple well? Is your body, the Courtyard, healthy? What about your head, the Holy Place? Is it as sharp as the double-edged sword? What about your heart, the Most Holy Place? Is it as pure as the driven snow? We should build our own temple, strong and beautiful. This is a task we must do throughout our lives.
Brothers and sisters, if you build your temple well, unbelievers will come to you. They want to come close to you. They want to be friends with you because your temple is strong and beautiful. They can hang out with you at the Courtyard level. They can have friendship with you just at a shallow, superficial level. But sadly unbelievers cannot come into the Holy Place, where your soul is. They cannot have friendship with you at the Holy Place level. They cannot have fellowship with you at a deep level. All of all, unbelievers cannot come into the Most Holy Place, where the Holy Spirit and your spirit live together. They will never have fellowship with you at the deepest level.
But if unbelievers come to faith in Jesus, then they can come into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. They can share God’s word in the Holy Place. They can have fellowship with the Holy Spirit in the Most Holy Place. Finally you can have spiritual conversations with them.
Will you alone be God’s temple? Shouldn’t unbelievers also be God’s temple? Their temple is completely destroyed because of sin. Instead of letting unbelievers tread only the Courtyard, shouldn’t they also enter the Holy Place and learn God’s word? Shouldn’t they also enter the Most Holy Place and experience the Holy Spirit? Brothers and sisters, let us help their temple to be rebuilt! Let us help their temple to be restored!
Let us pray.
↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording)
(If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS)
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