I have selected Acts chapter
7. So if you would go in your Bibles
to Acts chapter 7. And I'm going to once again address
the subject of the tabernacle. And I've given this message,
this title, The Tabernacle of God. Acts chapter 7 verse 44, I'm
going to get into this sermon preached
by Stephen, a sermon which will cost him his life. He's speaking to the Jewish people
and he says in verse 44, our fathers had the tabernacle
of witness in the wilderness as God had appointed, speaking
unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that
he had seen. Which also our fathers that came
after brought in with Jesus, and that word Jesus is Joshua. I think probably most of you
know that, but if you don't understand that, then you might write Joshua. This is the person who's being
spoken of, which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles. They took the tabernacle
into the land of Canaan with them, which was at that time
in the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the
face of our fathers unto the days of David. who found favor
before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Albeit the Most High dwelleth
not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet. and that is the prophet Isaiah
whom Stephen now quotes. He quotes out of Isaiah chapter
66. Heaven is my throne and earth
is my footstool. What house will ye build me,
said the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? hath not My hand made all these
things." Let's pray before we get into the message. Father, we commit this service unto Your
glory. We seek to magnify our Savior
tonight. That One who is God, the God-Man,
God our Savior, God our Provider, God our Refuge. God who paid for us the price
of redemption, that being the price of His own life's blood. We dare not seek to approach
you on the ground of personal merit or righteousness or goodness. We have none of those things.
But Father, we come to you boldly through the name of and the sacrifice
of and the righteousness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to praise you. We come
to bless you. We come to thank you. To thank
you from the very bottom of our hearts for your everlasting covenant,
love and grace to your people. Thank you, Father, that you included
us in that glorious decree of salvation. And of old, even in
eternity, even from everlasting, our names were written down in
the Lamb's Book of Life. Oh, how we bless your name, dear
Father. for that grace that was given
us in Christ Jesus before He ever made the world. And you
put us in the surety. And in Him, we have always been
safe. In Him, we've always been saved. In Him, we've always been accepted. As is written in Ephesians, we're
accepted in the beloved. Now receive our praise tonight
and our worship. Father, forgive the sinfulness
of it. Forgive the sinfulness of the
preacher. Forgive the sinfulness of the
hearers. Lord, consider our infirmities,
that we're just flesh. And in and of ourselves, there's
no good thing to us. But you have made us to be receivers
of the grace of God. And now we can say by the witness
of the Spirit of truth, God is our Father. The Son of God is
our elder brother. And the Spirit of God is our
comforter. He is our guide. He is our instructor. And He illuminates the pages
of Scripture that we might understand and receive the things of God.
So work now among us. Bless all who are in attendance
here, those who are watching. Give to us to us all, the seeing
eye, the hearing ear, and the believing heart of the gospel
of your free and sovereign grace. Honor yourself and bless us poor
sinners. For Jesus' sake I pray, amen. Where does God dwell? Well, Isaiah, who is quoted by
Stephen, he said, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, actually
quoting the Lord, the Lord said, heaven is my throne and the earth
is my footstool. All of heaven is his throne.
Oh, how great must our God be, if all of the heaven is His throne,
and if this great ball of earth, spinning through space ever since
God created it, if this is His footstool, The hymn writer correctly wrote
and we sang just I think last week, how great thou art. How great in creation. He spake
and it was done. He willed for light to shine and the lights came on. And then He took dust after He
had made everything else. His very crowning creation was
when He took dust. And out of the dust of the ground,
He made man in His own image. And then God breathed into Adam
the breath of life. He who is life gave life to our
father Adam. And then from Adam, he brought
forth Eve. And here we are this evening.
We live only because God provides life for us. He provides daily
breath for us. And at any moment without notice
and without warning, he certainly has the sovereign right to take
that breath away. He is in the heavens. Where does
God dwell? He dwells in heaven. And the
earth is His footstool. Psalm 11 and verse 4 says, the
Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold His eyelids try
the children of men. Heaven is His throne. What kind
of throne is it? It's very interesting to look
through the Word of God and find out the way the throne of God
is described by God Himself. Psalm 47, verse eight, first
of all, it's called the throne of holiness. Holiness. Psalm 47, eight, the Lord reigneth
over the heathen, the Lord sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. He sits on that throne of holiness,
unmoved, and it is an undisputed throne. And from that throne,
He has issued His decrees. He does His will in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And He commands
holiness itself. What other throne is like the
throne of God? It is never stained with injustice. It is never defiled by sin. And the one who sits upon that
throne is never dismayed. He is never disappointed. He
never faces a dilemma. He sits in peaceful serenity. For he knows his own power. And by that power, he will always
exercise and bring to pass his eternal purpose. What God has
purposed, that shall come to pass. He sits upon the throne
of holiness, and everything he does is according to holiness.
It is always the rule of God's actions, absolute, impeccable
holiness. Secondly, he sits upon the throne
of justice and judgment. Psalm 89 and verse 14. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. I had Joe read that passage out
of Revelation and I had him begin back that describes where John
saw the great white throne judgment. And all of those whose names
were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the
foundation of the world will be judged out of the books. Books
that give an accurate record of a man's history, of a man's
sinfulness, of a man's failings, of a man's ungodliness, of a
man's iniquity. And understand this, those who
do not know our God, all they have on their record is just
one sin after another. There is no goodness to any man. In the pages of God's books,
there will not be found among the names of the ungodly, there
will not be found one single good thing that they ever did. They never did anything good.
And they're not good. The Lord looked down from heaven
to see the sons of men. And He said, they're all gone
astray. They're all together become filthy. Filthy means stinking. That's God's appraisal of man's
ungodly condition. Men stink. And at the judgment,
the ungodly, their record will be revealed, and it is a record
of absolute wickedness, ungodliness, and unrighteousness. That's all
it is. But another book is going to
be opened, and that's the Lamb's Book of Life. And in that book,
is written the names of all of the children of God, all of the
elect of our Lord, and all of us who by God's grace are included
in His family, who have been redeemed by that blood of the
Lord Jesus, who have been regenerated by the power of the Spirit of
God. All of us who are His royal family against us, nothing negative
will be found. Oh, how amazing is this salvation
which is of God. Our record is perfect. for we
have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. God the Father made him to be
sin for us, that one who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Christ. It's almost too good to be true,
but it is true. You're made the righteousness
of God. Can you even comprehend that?
We drink iniquity like water. We sin every day. We have a pollution within that
will be with us all the days that we live in this world. And
yet before God, we're made perfect, righteous. We're made righteous
through the Lord, our righteousness. And in that day of judgment,
the sins of God's Judah and God's Israel, they shall be sought
for. None shall be found. None shall be found. The blood
of the Lord Jesus has completely made atonement for all of the
sins of the people of God. And God says, their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more. Isn't that wonderful?
No more. You and I... Perhaps we have
some dark blots in our history and we go back and we think,
oh, I'm so embarrassed by that or this or something else. And I think of men like David
with his adultery and then murder. And yet in the book of God, there
is no adultery. No. There is no murder recorded
against His name. Oh, that marked Him for the rest
of His life, and I'm sure it troubled Him that people would
remember Him, and here I'm speaking of His sins hundreds and hundreds
of years later. But God has no memory of that. That's the power of the blood
of the Lord Jesus. There is no judgment going to
come to David and no judgment coming to me for my sins. Because all of the judgment for
our iniquities fell on our Savior. He bore it all. He bore our sins
in His own body on the tree. No wonder He sweat, as it were,
great drops of blood, as our sins were made to be His. fully
charged to the Savior, made to meet upon His holy head. Isaiah
53, 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him, the Lord hath made
to meet upon the head of the Son of God. The Lamb of God made
to meet on Him the iniquity of all of the sheep. Therefore God
forsook Him, and God punished Him. In the darkness, darkness
greater than the darkness of midnight, the Son of God, His
voice pierced through the darkness. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? Oh, it's because God's holy and because His throne is a throne
of justice and judgment. And then when our debt was paid
in full, the son came back out. The Savior bowed his head and
said, it's finished. And it was done. We were saved. We're safe. made the righteousness
of God in him. In fact, read in Romans chapter
four at the end of the chapter, he was raised again because of
our justification. He justified us by his death. I tell you, the throne of God
is a throne of justice and judgment. And even at the final judgment,
It will not be a judgment that involves mercy. It will be a judgment according
to the rule of justice. And all of mankind, you, me,
everybody else who has ever lived all the way back to Adam, We
will all receive from the hand of God exactly what justice demands,
exactly. You say, oh, well, that's not
good news to me, preacher. Well, it is good news to me because
my sins were laid on the Savior and he bore them away. And God,
in justice, in justice saved me. You see, salvation is not
about God compromising his justice or his righteous demands. That's
not what salvation is. Salvation is God finding the
only way whereby he could be a just God and a savior. And that's through the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a throne of holiness, a
throne of justice and judgment, and bless the name of God, it's
a throne of grace. Heaven is my throne. It's a throne
of holiness, a throne of justice and judgment, and it's a throne
of grace. Let me read you three verses.
You don't have to turn there. Hebrews 4. 14 through 16, seeing
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession for we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. That is the double negative.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. A double negative is to establish
a glorious positive thing. You see, our Savior was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. So let us come
boldly. to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Where am I going to find mercy? Where am I going to find grace?
At the throne of God. There's no grace or mercy to
be found anywhere else. And as a sovereign, he gives
it. He has the right to give it. He has the authority to give
it. and he has the power to cause
you to receive this glorious truth that God is merciful to
you and gracious to you through his darling son. Come boldly without fear of being
turned away, without fear of being rejected. Oh, come reverently, certainly,
but don't hesitate to come. I've heard people say, well,
I'm just not in the proper frame of mind to pray right now. When I get in what I feel like
is the right frame of mind, then I'll pray. That sounds a whole
lot like self-righteousness to me. If there's ever a time that you
need to pray, it's when you feel like, well, I've got to make
myself more fit to come before God. Your fitness is not in yourself. Your fitness is the Lord Jesus. There's your fitness. There's
your meatness to come into the presence of God. You come to
God through Christ. Come boldly. Come boldly. When you feel unworthy and unfit
to come in the presence of God, come on anyhow. Come boldly. The one who sits on that throne
of grace, do you know who He is? He's the everlasting Father
of His everlasting children. Your royalty. Did you know that? Your royalty. The king will always
receive you into his presence. Your father will always receive
his children. Though we be wayward children,
he still receives us. He is our friend who sticks closer
than a brother. And when we come to Him, we may
fully expect to receive grace and mercy. What kind of throne is our God's
throne? It's the throne of glory. Matthew 25, 31 says, when the
Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." His
glory. Can we abide his glory? In the book of Exodus, we're
studying about the tabernacle here recently. And there, when
the children of Israel got to Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai was
where God manifested his glory and the majesty of his person. And they were so fearful, so
fearful, they said, Moses, you deal with God for us. And Moses entered right into
the presence of God, into the Shekinah glory. And he was received. You come on to the throne of
glory. Because you see, in God's reception
of you, through Christ Jesus, he is glorified. That glorifies
his grace and his mercy. And then there's the throne of
his government or dominion. Wonderful passage in Zechariah
6 and 13, speaking of our Savior, He shall build the temple of
the Lord, He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His
throne, and He shall be a priest upon His throne, and the counsel
of peace shall be between them both. The one who sits upon that
throne is both a king and a priest. Our Lord Jesus is that priest,
that great high priest who offered to God the sacrifice that appeased
his wrath, that silenced his justice on behalf of his people. Justice will never accuse us.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. And He sits upon that throne.
And He has absolute dominion over all people, over all things,
over everything. Where does God dwell? Well, He
dwells on His throne. But secondly, He not only dwells
upon His throne, He dwells in Zion. He dwells among his people. Psalm 9 and verse 11 says, sing
praises to the Lord which dwelleth in Zion. He dwells with his church
on earth by his spirit. He dwells with us here this evening.
It's a glorious thing that he's pleased to dwell with a body
of believers. that the God of the universe,
the God who spake all things into existence, that he would
come and meet with and dwell with a group of sinners saved
by his grace. And he meets with us through
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Savior said, where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them. That's one of the reasons I hate
to miss his service. Because the Lord has said, I'm
gonna be with my people. When I gather them together,
and he is the great gatherer, when he draws us in with his
unseen powerful hand of providence. And he causes our feet to enter
in to this house of worship. I have his word on this. He will meet with us. I sure
want to be here then. I don't want to miss the meeting.
with the church of the Lord, the Savior. I don't want to miss
his presence. And of course, there's that well-known
passage of Scripture in John chapter 20, after our Lord's
resurrection. He appeared to 10 of his disciples. Thomas wasn't there, and he came
in, and here were men. They had heard what a couple
of the disciples had said, and a couple of the women had said
about the Savior being raised from the dead. but they were
fearful and doubtful. And He comes among them and He
comes among us and I can almost hear Him say, peace be with you. In the midst of all the troubles
of life for us, all the turmoil, there's so much going on out
there, and so much going on in our individual lives. Trouble
in the family, trouble with the flesh, trouble with sickness,
all of these things. And he comes into our midst and
he speaks to his disciples, to his followers, to his students,
to his pupils. And he says to us, peace be with
you. Thank you, Lord. for whispering
peace to my heart. Nobody can give that peace except
that one who is the Prince of Peace. And he gives a peace that
is called the peace that passes understanding. I don't know how
you can be at peace with all the things going on. Well, it's
not me. It's the Prince of Peace who's
giving me peace. He dwells with his people. Well,
that first time the Lord came and met those ten, Thomas wasn't
there. And after the service was over
a little later in the week, I suppose, the other ten saw Thomas and
said, oh, brother, you sure missed a blessing this past Lord's Day.
Really? Tell me about it. The Master
came. He met with us. He spoke to us. We saw Him. Oh, Thomas, He lives. Evidence that He satisfied God. Evidence that our sins are put
away. And He ever lives, Thomas, to
make intercession for us. Oh, Thomas, you should have been
there. Thomas said, I don't believe He appeared to you. You're not
gonna believe? That's how he touched the print of his nails
in the hand, touched the hole in his side, and Luke includes
touch his feet, the nail prints in his feet. Next Lord's Day,
though, Thomas was there. He wasn't going to miss that
Sunday. And the Savior came in, and he had already used this
salutation to the other ten, but he comes in and Thomas hears
those blessed words. Peace be unto you. Peace be with
you. Be at peace, brethren. And then he goes over to Brother
Thomas. He said, Thomas, believe and see. It's me. And if you don't believe, it's me. See these hands? See these wounds? Put your finger in there if you
want to. He said, see my side where that
spear pierced me? It's really me. Thomas said, my Lord and my God, I want to tell you something.
When He visits us in the sweetness of His grace, we will say, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. How blessed
it is to be here. Thirdly, where does God dwell?
He dwells on His throne. He dwells in Zion among his people. But also he dwells within each
of his children. John 6.56, the Savior said, he
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in him. John 14, 17, Even the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, because he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. 1 Corinthians 3, 16, Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you? And in Colossians 1, 27, Christ
in you. The hope of glory. He's in us. He has come in to us and made
a welcome for Himself. It was none of this knocking
on the heart's door. Will you let me in to come in
to be with you? No, He just makes a welcome for
Himself. He makes you willing in the day
of His power. And you say, Oh Lord Jesus, will
you take up your abode in me? Will you be with me? Me? A sinner? Me? An ungodly man? Me? Wicked by
nature? Will you come in and dwell with
me? And sup with me? And commune
with me? And speak with me? Yes. And He says in all of you who
are the people of God, He says, I'll never leave you. Nor forsake you. that we may
with great confidence say, the Lord is my protector, the
Lord is my refuge. I'm not gonna be afraid of anybody
or anything. This is a day of fear. And I'll give you my two cents
worth regarding the media. I think they wanna keep us in
fear. They don't like good news. They like bad news. Scare you. Let me tell you something. I've
heard the good news of salvation in Christ. And I've heard the
good news, I'm with you always. Don't be afraid. There's no reason
in this world why any child of God should ever be afraid of
anything or anybody. Who is your protector? It's the Lord who says, heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. People are so
scared today. And there are a lot of people
who like that. They like the fact that they keep us scared. Well, our Lord Jesus, He dwells. He dwells with us, with each
of His children. Where does God dwell? He dwells
in Christ Jesus. Matthew 1.23, Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. That little baby that Mary gave
birth to, the Holy Spirit having overshadowed her with His power
nine months before that, that little infant that she gave birth
to, And Joseph said, his name shall be called Jesus. That's
God in the flesh. That's who that is. You see that
young man, 12 years old, going up to the temple, listening to
the doctors, to the scribes, to those who supposedly were
the religious leaders, and asking them questions. You know who
that is? That's God in the flesh right there talking to them. You see Him dealing with Satan
and putting him to flight, answering him according to the Word of
God, that fiend out of hell? That's God our Savior right there.
He dealt with Satan for us. And right after that, our Lord
Jesus showed His power over disease. He's preaching in a house one
day, Man, that house was packed. Nobody could even get in the
door. Four men. Four men had a dear
friend who was sick with a palsy. They brought him because everybody
else was bringing their sick folk to Jesus of Nazareth. They
said, we're going to bring our friend too. And they got there
and they couldn't get in because it was too crowded. Put a ladder
up against the house. climbed up there, got their friend
up there, tore a hole in the roof, and then lowered their palsied
friend down right in front of the Lord Jesus. And the scripture says, when
he saw their faith, he said to the man sick of the palsy, thy
sins be forgiven thee. That's what he said. The scribes
thinking in their own minds, they said,
who does he think he is? Nobody can forgive sin but God
only. And they were right about that.
But what they didn't understand was that's God in the flesh who
just granted forgiveness. I tell you, God dwells in Christ.
Gloria's passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself. The world of God's elect unto
Himself. God was in Christ. See that man by faith as you
read in the Word of God? See him suffering on the cross?
That's the God-man. God's in that man. That's God
and man fused together, as it were. Not half man, half God. One who is altogether God and
altogether man. That's our Savior. Altogether
God to satisfy God, altogether man so he can suffer, bleed,
and die. Our representative. God was in
Christ. No wonder Paul said, and without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. And where did God dwell in the
Old Testament? God said in Exodus 25, it told
Moses, let them build me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
Lo and behold, he's going to dwell with that rebellious bunch. He's going to dwell with them?
Out there in the wilderness? Doesn't he know that they're
going to make an idol and worship a golden calf and break his little
altarpieces? Doesn't he know that? He knows
all things, but he said, I'm going to dwell with them. I'm going to dwell with Him.
Make me a tabernacle. That's where I'll meet with you
and that's where you can meet with me. That's where I'll talk
to you and you'll talk to me. Our Savior. And where will God dwell? Go back to that passage Joe read
to us. Where will he dwell? There's never going to be a time
that he doesn't dwell with his people. Revelation 21. Oh, how glorious
this is. Verse one, and I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem. But it's not a city
the likes of which we could ever imagine. This is a city, the city of God. This is the people of God. coming
down from heaven, coming down from God out of heaven prepared. This is a prepared people, prepared
as a bride, adorned for her husband. What is her adornment? White linen robes. That's the righteousness of the
saints which is given to us freely by the Lord Jesus, prepared as
a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold! Be amazed. This is almost too
good to be believed. Listen up here. Behold! The tabernacle
of God is with men. And he will dwell with them,
not in type, figure, picture, such as that Old Testament tabernacle
was, but he will dwell with them. and they shall be his people.
And God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And he will be with us. This
is Christ Jesus, our Lord. He will be with us and we will
be with him forever. You talk about a story with a
good ending. Let me tell you, the story of
redemption is good from beginning to the everlasting, dateless
eternity that is to come. It's a good story. And oh, how
blessed it is that the tabernacle of God is with us by His Spirit. He's in us. and he'll be with
us throughout the dateless ages of eternity. That'll be heaven. That's what
heaven will be, is to be with our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
pray. Father, thank you for bringing
us to the place of worship this evening. where we can honor you,
make our boast in the Lord, speak of your greatness, speak of your marvelous grace
and infinite mercy, and speak of that one who is the tabernacle
of God. God was in this man, Christ Jesus,
reconciling the world of His people unto Himself. Oh, glorious
and gracious God, hear the thanksgiving of Your children tonight. We're
so very, very grateful for all that You did for us in eternity
past. and all that you did for us 2,000
years ago when your Son came and lived and died and was buried
and rose again the third day for our justification. And thank
you for what He's doing for us now. He's teaching us, encouraging
us, filling our hearts with joy. And thank you for what He will
continue to do for us, intercede for us, receive our petitions,
receive our thanksgiving, and thank you for what He will be
to us throughout eternity. The tabernacle of God is going
to always be with us and we will be with Him. We bless Your name,
Father. And we pray these sayings for
Christ's sake.