“Ye Are the Temple of the Holy Ghost”
By Parrish Lee
September 9th,
2012
Click here to download printable sermon
notes in pdf format.
Exodus
25:1-9 …let
them make a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them…
As we
take up our message today, we have Moses and the Children of Israel—not
too
long removed from coming out of Egypt by way of the Red Sea, and God
has called
Moses up to Mount Sinai (Now, FYI, saints, this is before they got
impatient
and made the golden calf). Now,
there
were many things God said to Moses on the Mount, but we want to focus
on this
little part right here: in
Verse 2, God
said, speak to the people, that they bring me an offering; from
everyone with a
willing heart, for the building of His house.
In Verse 8, And let them make me a sanctuary; that I
may dwell among
them. So, Almighty
God told these people
to prepare a place for Him so that He could dwell with them. What an incredible
statement: God,
omnipotent, al knowing, all powerful,
ever-present and never-changing, wants to dwell with some people. I don’t know about you,
but sometimes I just
want to get way from people… As
we
continue on to Verse 9, we see that it wasn’t going to be made just any
old
way; it had to be according to how God said it was going to be made,
according
to the pattern of the Tabernacle.
(There’s a handout that goes with
this—HANDOUT)
The first thing that
one came across upon entering the Tabernacle was the Altar of Burnt
Offering. On this
altar were the meat sacrifices burnt
in remembrance for their sins.
Something
had to die in order for sins to be forgiven.
The second
thing was
a bronze laver (or basin). This
was for washing. It
was very important to wash before coming
any farther in to the Tabernacle.
It was
placed before the tabernacle of the congregation.
This represents us cleaning ourselves when
coming to God.
Altar of Incense:
This altar burned incense night and day and
filled the holy place with a sweet smell.
On the Day of Atonement, the horns were sprinkled
with blood. This
represents our prayers and praises.
The Table of Showbread: This had twelve loaves of
bread, one for each
of the tribes of Israel. They
had to be
taken down and replaced with new loaves every Sabbath day. This represents our
fellowship with God.
The Golden
Candlestick: This,
of course,
represented the light of God (also known as the Spirit of God) lighting
our
way.
The Ark of the Covenant: This ark housed the Ten
Commandments, Aaron’s
rod, and manna. This
represents God’s
covenant with us. And
on top of the Ark
was the mercy seat. This
represented us
being with God.
Point 1: We are
the temples
Someone could say, “That was way back
then in the olden days, that’s all played out.”
Well, I’ll just say this—that might be the world’s
point of view, and
some people in the world’s view but what they should do is ask God what
is His point of view.
1
Corinthians 6:19-20 …know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…
Point 2: There
is a pattern
It is important to realize that God
doesn’t accept just any old offering—it has to be in accordance with
God’s
ways. I remember
once when my work was
giving out these free senior citizen packets, and I thought, “Who do I
know
that’s old? It
would be a shame not to
give this free thing to somebody.
Oh, I
know, my mom.” So I
buttered it up and
tried to make it seem like I was thinking of her—and she saw right
through
it. She waited for
me to be there when
other people were around and opened up and said, “Look at what my son
got me.” She made
sure to expose my folly by bringing
it out for all to see. Oh
yeah, then I
was embarrassed, and I never gave her anything un-heartfelt and
unworthy
again. How many
people like getting
something that was re-gifted? It’s
so
much better when you don’t know. It’s
so
much better when you know someone took the time and effort to get you
something
that they want you to have. Of
course,
how many of us have ever re-gifted something ourselves?
I guess I’d better leave that one alone.
Titus
2:7
In
all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works…
I have a little sidebar about this
pattern of good works. Recently,
while I
was talking with a co-worker that I’ve known for years, a lady who I’ve
only
casually known joined our conversation.
As it gravitated to activities that I don’t
participate in, she turned
and said, Parrish seems like the type to stay away from that stuff. I told her Parrish works
very hard at being
the type to stay away from that stuff.
Parrish makes up his mind every day.
Saints, I have found that sometimes just having a
good habit of doing
the right thing can keep you from doing the wrong thing.
Point 3: God
cares about our Temples.
1
Corinthians 3:11-17 …Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God…
God cares what we put inside and on
the outside of our temples. Whatever
it
is shall be tried by fire. Which
brings
me to my last point:
Point
4a: There
are things that don’t belong in my house.
Colossians
3:8 …anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Now, could you imagine this stuff in
God’s house? the Tabernacle? The
Bible
had warned the priests how they come before Him lest He smite them. Guess who the priests are
now?
Galatians
5:22-24
…love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness,
Templerance…
Could you imagine the Temple or the
tabernacle without those things? These
are things that belong in our house; along with praises, offerings,
fellowship
and (most of all) the presence and the light and the mercy of God.
2
Corinthians 5:1
…if
our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God,
an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This is not the last Temple that our
spirit will inhabit.
1
Corinthians 13:12
For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…
Sermon
notes by Pete Shepherd
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