Turn with me to the book of 2
Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 6. I'd like to look at verses 16
to 18. We've gone through the book of
2 Corinthians and I stopped right in this area right here and I
just felt this morning that I'd like to just pick up. I'd like
to just look at verses 16 to 18, starting in verse 16 of 2
Corinthians 6. I've entitled this Precious Promises. Precious Promises. The Spirit
of God moved upon a man named Paul, the Apostle Paul, to set
forth some precious promises to God's people. And this is
what he said in verse 16 of 2 Corinthians 6. And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people." The Lord had said that. It says here,
you may have a reference in that 16th verse concerning what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temples of the
living God. As God has said, my Bible's got a reference. to
that portion where he said, I will dwell in them, walk in them,
I'll be their God, they shall be my people. If you turn back
to Leviticus 26, this is what the Lord, Leviticus 26 and verse
12, this is the reference back to that passage of scripture.
The Lord said this back in the Old Testament under the law. He was given instruction. Leviticus
26 and verse 12, here's where the reference is. And I will
walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people. Now the Spirit of God moved the
Apostle Paul to give us some interpretation on that passage
of Scripture right there in Leviticus 26. And this is how the Spirit
of God said to the Apostle Paul, this is what The interpretation
of that is, and it's right here in 2 Corinthians 6. As God has said, I will dwell
in them, walk in them. I will be their
God and they shall be my people. Now here is Paul the apostle
telling us He told us this same truth in 1 Corinthians. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 3,
16. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. He told us that. He's
told us that in the Old Testament under the law. I'm going to dwell
in you. 1 Corinthians 3, 16. This is what he said. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now, the presence of the Lord
was known back in the wilderness. God had promised in Leviticus,
I'm gonna dwell in you, I'm gonna walk in you. What we saw first
in the tabernacle in the wilderness turned to Exodus 25. Where the
Spirit of God was pleased, Exodus 25. Exodus 25, verse 21. This is where Almighty God, as
the children of Israel, walked in the desert, in the wilderness.
This is where God dwelt with the people. Exodus 25, verse
21, thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and
in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee,
and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which
are upon the ark of the testimony. of all things which I give thee
in commandments unto the children of Israel. God Almighty was pleased
he was gonna dwell with the people of God and he was gonna meet
with them right there between the cherubims on the mercy seat,
that top that sat on top of the earth, that's where God was.
And then Almighty God instructed a man named Solomon Turn with
me to 2nd Chronicles. 2nd Chronicles. 2nd Chronicles, chapter 3. Almighty God instructed a man
named Solomon to build a temple. God dealt with them in the wilderness,
there behind that veil, in that holy of holies, right there on
the mercy seat. But then, in 2nd Chronicles,
He was gonna permit a man named Solomon, this was the son of
David, to build a temple. And this is where he was gonna
dwell, gonna dwell in that temple, 2 Chronicles 3, 1. Then Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. where the Lord appeared unto
David his father in the place that David had prepared in the
threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. Now, David was gonna
build a house for the Lord, but God said, no, no, no. No, you're
not, I'm gonna let your son do it. And so he was gonna build
a temple. He was gonna build a temple at
Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, in the same place where God appeared
unto David at a threshing floor. Now, to know what happened, you
know this story, but turn back a little bit farther toward the
beginning of the Bible into 2 Samuel 24. Let me tell you what happened
there. In 2 Samuel 24, David numbered
the people. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against him because he numbered the people. And in 2
Samuel chapter 24, we find out what happened whenever David
numbered the people. 2 Samuel 24 verse 10, David's
heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David
said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly. I've done, and now I
beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of my servant, for
I have done very foolishly. For when David was in the morning,
the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer,
saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer
thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it
unto thee. So Gad came to David, told him,
Senator, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in the
land, or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies,
while they pursue thee, or that there be three days pestilence
in thy land? Now advise and see what answer
I shall return to him that sent me." This prophet, this seer,
came to David and said, Lord sent me. He's gonna give you
a choice. What do you choose for punishment?
David, verse 14, said unto Gad, I'm in a great strait. Let us
fall now into the hand of the Lord. For his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand
of man. Oh, is that not a wise answer? Lord, I don't want to
choose. I don't want to choose that.
Whatever you say, Lord. So the Lord sent a pestilence
upon Israel from the morning, even at the time appointed. And
there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
When the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy
it, the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel
that destroyed the people, it's enough. Stay now thine hand and
the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Aaronah,
the Jebusite. This picture right here, picture
is David's picture of sin against the Lord. This is a picture of
all men, all men, but especially all God's people that fell in
Adam. deserving the judgment of God.
And here, the Lord has instructed his prophet, you go, you go tell
him that I'm angry. And David, being a man that taught
of God, he said, Lord, you decide. You decide what it's going to
take to make amends, to make peace. Lord, you decide. And
he's gonna go to this threshing floor of a man named Onan at
Jebusite, at a place called Orona. He's gonna go there and this
man, we're gonna read this in just a second, this man Onan,
gonna see the king coming. King gonna tell him, he said,
I wanna come here and buy this threshing floor. The purchase
of this threshing floor is a picture, it's a type of the payment the
full payment, what's it going to cost? He tried to give it
to David. David said, no, no, no, no. I'll
pay the full price, whatever it's going to cost for the appeasement
of almighty God. All this right here is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ casting himself into the hand of his
father. Father, if there's any way this
cup can pass for me, nevertheless, nonetheless, whatever your will
is, whatever you choose, Lord, thy will be done. And there was
appeasement made, but that's what's being pictured here, but
listen to the words as we read this. What's it gonna take for
there to be peace wrought before God with God's people, whatever
God demands? And David, I'm sorry, verse 18,
and Gad came that day to David and said unto him, go up, rear
an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Arona, the
Jebusite. And David, according to the saying
of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded, and Arona looked and saw the
king and his servants coming toward him. And Arona went out
and bowed himself before the king and was faced to the ground.
And Arona said, wherefore has my lord the king come to his
servant? And David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee to
build an altar unto the Lord. that the plague may be stayed
from the people. And Aaron said unto David, Let my lord the king
take up all for what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here's
an oxen for the burnt sacrifice, threshing instruments, other
instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Aaron as
a king give unto the king. And Aaron said unto the king,
The lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Aaron,
Nay. I will surely buy it of thee
at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So
David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of
silver. And David built there an altar
unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings, peace offerings, so
the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed
from Israel. All that beautiful picture of
what God Almighty did for his people, putting away the sin
of his people. in the death. There was an altar.
The altar was going to have to be built. There was a price going
to have to be paid. What's it going to cost? Whatever
it demanded. I'll give it to you. No, I don't
want you to give it to me. I'll pay what is due. What did
it cost for the appeasement of God's wrath? It cost the blood
of His Son. It cost it. He paid it. He paid
it in full. So here we see, that's the place. where Solomon was gonna build,
he was gonna build a temple right there where his daddy, where
his daddy bought that threshing floor and paid it. Paid the price on that very spot. But I'll tell you something else
that was amazing to me. It was in a place called Moriah,
that's what scripture says. Back in 2 Chronicles 3, then
Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount
Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto
David in the place that David had prepared the threshing floor
of Onan, the Jebusite. Gonna build a temple right there
on Mount Moriah. Same place that his daddy was,
David. But there was somebody else that was there at that spot
years before. Turn to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. Genesis chapter 22. Verse two. I've come, verse one. Genesis
22, one and two. Came to pass after these things
that God did tempt Abraham. Said unto him, Abraham, he said,
behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
Only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer there a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which
I will tell thee of." That was the spot that Abraham took Isaac. Gonna sacrifice his son, put
him on that altar, bound him, raise that knife, and God stopped
him. He said, don't do the boy any
harm. There was a ram caught in the thicket. He took that
ram. There was that picture of substitution.
Abraham was there. David was there. Solomon was
there. Oh, the beauty of where God is
pleased to meet the well with his people. The Lord Jesus Christ
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God dwelt, God dwelt with his
people. He was the one that came into
this world. God met with him first in the
wilderness. Then he gonna meet with him in
a temple. Solomon gonna build that temple.
He said that this world can't contain him. This building that
I'm gonna build, But then the Lord Jesus Christ came into this
world. Second Corinthians, Colossians, I'm sorry, 2.9. The fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And he came into this world and
he fulfilled all the demand for God's righteousness in him. In
him. That's where God was dwelling. He earned as the federal head
of his people the righteousness that robes his people, he answered
the law's demand for justice, shed his blood, made sin. As he's calling out his elect,
he's taking that heart of stone and giving him a new heart, putting
his spirit, and we find that this precious truth. Now, he dwelt at one time in
that tabernacle, behind the veil, in Solomon's temple, he dwelt
there. And he came, and the Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world. He dwelt, the fullness of the
Godhead was bodily in him. That's where God dwelt, right
there. God was in Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. And now, back in 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians chapter six, looks at this precious truth. Paul,
the apostle, was moved by the Spirit of God to say, For ye are, verse 16, 2 Corinthians
6, 16, ye are the temple of the living God. As God has said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God. What an amazing truth. That Almighty
God has been pleased to make His people, His people, His temple,
A vessel that sees in themselves, that is in their flesh, there
dwells no good thing. I know something about myself. I don't know the depth of me,
but I know something about me. But in spite of what every believer
sees in himself, he sees in his flesh that nothing but sin is
there. But God has promised with the
importation of a new heart, a new spirit, a new man, He births
them from above. And that which is created, made
of God, that which is born of God, it doesn't sin. God dwells
there. Almighty God dwells. You mean in this body? In this what I'm seeing here? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. Here's where the struggle is.
Here's where the war is. I got an old man in me that cares
nothing for God. And God has been pleased with
the importation of a new man, a new nature, that God dwells? How wonderful and mysterious
are these things that God has been pleased to live. And listen to this. I want you
to turn with me to John chapter 14. I read this, I'm going to read
it and we believe it. But I'm telling you, you talk
about mysteriously wonderful. John 14, verse 15 to 17. John 14, 50, if you love me,
keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he shall
give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but you know him. For he dwelleth with you and
shall be in you. Look at verse 23 of John 14. Jesus answered, verse 23, and
said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto Him and make
our abode with Him. You're telling me that God the
Father, the Son, the Spirit of God lives within His people? I say it's Peter. Depart from
me, I'm a wretched man. Lord, the thoughts that I have. Lord, forgive me. Lord, oh, how
wonderful. Here's the positive proof of
the triunity, the oneness of God actually dwelling within
His people and His sheep in regenerating grace Oh, found within this body of
flesh, a body that will continue in this life to be as it is. This body's not gonna change.
I got an old man, it ain't gonna change in this world. It's not
gonna change. It's a body that's perishing,
but a body that's gonna be changed into a new body. Corruption,
that's gonna put on in corruption. But within this body, that's
what Paul said, know ye not, Don't you know? You are the temple
of the living God. You're the temple of God. But this body is going to die. This tabernacle wherein in this
flesh that dwells no good thing is going to be put off. But even
now, and here's the two natures. Here's the old nature that I
can see the new nature that I believe God. In this new man, there's
a new man that has been given the fruit of God's Spirit. There's love, there's joy, there's
peace, there's long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. That fruit that was not born
from me but from God's spirit. John, I mean, Paul was moved
back in 2 Corinthians 6, and I'll wrap this up to say, I will
dwell in them. I will walk in them. I will be
their God. They shall be my people. He's
promised. He's not only the God of, creation
and providence, but it's the God of covenant
mercy, the God of all grace that has promised, you're a special
people to me, you're a peculiar people. I chose you out from
among the nations, the kindreds, tribes and tongues of this world.
I've loved you in particular. I'm telling you, the more a man
or woman taught of God hears these precious truths, the more
mysterious they become. Wonderfully mysterious. But I'm
telling you right now, how is it, Lord, that I could be so
blessed? How is it? That you would choose me? That
you would show mercy to me? that you would extend your compassion
to me, that's your glory. Oh, people, that he's gonna call
out of darkness and he's gonna teach them what he's done, irresistibly
making them willing. They're gonna believe this. Last two verses, 2 Corinthians
6, wherefore, come out from among them, And be you separate, saith the
Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I'll receive you. I will
be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Now, I'm gonna just say something
in closing of these last two verses. That's not a suggestion. What he just said, that wasn't
a suggestion. Wherefore, come out from among them, that's not
a suggestion. Be separate, that's not a suggestion. That's a command. Let me tell you what you're gonna
do. Those that know him, those that he's chosen, you're coming
out. I'm telling you, a man or woman, if God's called, they're
not gonna sit and listen to that which does not honor the Lord. What's wrong with God getting
all the glory? What's wrong with that? He's
gonna get all the glory. I can tell you right now. Every
knee is gonna bow. Every tongue is gonna confess. Everybody that's ever lived in
this world is gonna bow to him. We're gonna bow before the judgment,
or we're gonna bow in the judgment. But we're gonna bow, I'm telling
you right now. These precious promises right
here, How do I know that I can have a part? How do I know if
I have a part in this? I can tell you that the Lord
gives me a heart to believe it, to believe it, and cast myself
upon the mercy. That's not natural. That is not
natural to a sinner, to cast themselves upon the mercy of
God. I'll tell you what's natural
to a sinner, to argue about it. I'm not gonna hear that. I just,
I can't go along with that. You will. You will. You will. Oh, come out from among them
and be separate. Hear that which honors Him. Hear
that which gives Him all the honor and glory and praise for His glory and our good. Amen. All right, Gary.