2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse
16 will have our attention this morning. Now Paul is encouraging
believers to walk worthy of the Lord. To walk in a manner that
does not bring reproach on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. To walk in a manner that glorifies
our Father which is in heaven. Now he's not talking about walking
in a manner in order to obtain salvation. That's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about walking in
a manner that you do not bring shame and reproach on the name
of our Lord. The Word of God teaches us that
we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Turn
over to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, he says in
verse 13, ye are the salt of the earth. You know, salt is
used as a preservative on a lot of things. The reason this world
is still standing is because God has a people in it. That's
exactly why the world is standing. God has an elect people in this
world. Some have been saved and some
are yet to be saved. And I'm confident that when that
last sheep is drawn into the fold, it'll be over. There's
no more purpose for this. No more. But until then, until
that time happens, you, you who believe the gospel, are the salt
of the earth. Now he says here, but if the
salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? You don't
salt salt with salt. It's no good. It is henceforth
good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the
foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hid, and is not to be hid. It's not
meant to be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives
light unto all that are in the house. Now let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven." What's he talking about here
that they may see your good works? He's talking about your charity,
your giving. You know, giving with the wrong
motive is not a good work. It starts with this. It starts
with this. It starts with honesty. That's
why he's telling these Corinthians. Honesty and truthfulness, integrity. That's what a good work starts
with. And that's the work of God. Because the scripture teaches
us all men, by nature, are liars. Couldn't tell the truth. He had
to. The truth is not in us. By nature now, truth is not in
us. You cannot tell the truth. Not without sin being mixed with
it. Brother Todd said one time, the only time we actually ever
really, really tell the truth is when we read the Word of God
and make no comment. We've told the truth. He's saying
here that by our life, we either bring glory to God or reproach
to His name. He says in verse 16, ye are the
temple. Now listen, this is just beyond
our ability to comprehend it with these little feeble minds.
But you're the temple of the living God. We sing that song,
God is in His holy temple, and we automatically think that's
in heaven, and it's so. God is in heaven. But I'm telling
you right now, by the Word of God, God is in His holy temple
here this morning. You're it. You are the temple
of the living God. Now, the temple, first of all,
was dedicated to God. I want to go back over to 1 Kings.
I can't read all this in your readings this week. Take time
to go back to 1 Kings chapter 8 and read this. This is when
Solomon dedicates the temple to the Lord. I'm going to read just bits and
pieces here. To give you an idea of how the temple was dedicated
to the Lord, in verse 12, in 1 Kings chapter 8, Then spake
Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in a thick darkness.
I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place
for thee to abide in forever. And the king turned his face
about and blessed all the congregation of Israel, and all the congregation
of Israel stood. And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father,
and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, Since the day that
I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city
out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name
might be therein. But I chose David to be over
my people Israel, and it was in the heart of David, my father,
to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And
the Lord said unto David, my father, whereas it was in thine
heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it
was in thine heart. Nevertheless, thou shalt not
build the house, but thy son." Now we know here Solomon built
this temple, but who's he really talking about? Who is the son
that really built the house? The Lord Jesus Christ. thy son
that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build thy
house unto my name, unto my name. And the Lord hath performed his
word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David
my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised,
and have built an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel."
Now look over to verse 29. Well, let me read here in verse
28. Because it would take too long
to read all this. Yet have thou respect unto the
prayer of thy servant and of his supplication, O Lord my God,
to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant
prayed before thee today, that thy eyes may be opened toward
this house night and day." You may hear our prayers night and
day. Even toward the place which thou
hast said, My name, My name shall be there. Where is his name right
now? Where is his name? It's in his
church. A Jew. A Jew. That thou mayest hearken unto
the prayer which thy servant shall make for this place. Now,
go over and look at verse 62. And the king and all Israel with
him offered sacrifices before the Lord. And Solomon offered
a sacrifice of peace offerings which he offered unto the Lord
2 and 20,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. That's a lot of offering,
isn't it? So the king and all the children
of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. The temple was dedicated
to God. He gave the order of it, the
instructions of how it was to be built, and that it was to
be built, and it's where God and sinners meet. That's where
the sacrifice was offered, the blood of atonement was shed,
and it was taken into the Holy of Holies. That's where it was
done. It wasn't done just anyplace. It happened here at the temple,
at the temple. And it was separated from common
use, and it was dedicated to the service of God. Follow me with this. Now, in
the same manner, the believer is a temple of God. You are the
temple of the living God. You're chosen of God, loved of
God, built of God. God made you. We did not make
ourselves, it says over in Psalm 100. He made us. We did not make
ourselves. He made us. And God dwells in
us. And we're set apart for his use. I want you to look over in 1
Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. I want to see if I wrote down
the right one. Oh, 1 Peter 2, verse 5. Let me start reading
in verse 1, though. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
and his newborn babe desire the sincere milk of the word, that
ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious to whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. As lively stones,
now listen, are built up a spiritual house. You've built up a spiritual
house. God has built you. God dwells
in you. And holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Where
did all that happen at in the past? There at the temple. The
sacrifices? They came together, they brought
all those sacrifices and worship and all happened there at the
temple. But now you are the temple of God. You're being built up. Look over in Ephesians chapter
2. In Ephesians chapter 2, look
in verse Look in verse 19. Now therefore,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, and whom all the building...
Remember those disciples one time, they walked outside with
our Lord at the temple and they said, look at this. Look at this
temple. Look how beautiful. Look at all
these stones. They were just, they were so impressed with the temple
that was built. And I'm sure it was very impressive.
But now listen, you're the temple. You are the temple of God. And
you're built, it says here, and you're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, and of all the building. You are the building
of God. in whom all the building framed
together groweth unto an holy temple." What are we saying? God's in His holy temple. A holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye also are built together for inhabitation. Brother, listen. God's not in
this building, this building that's made with drywall and
steel. It's not made with bricks, this
one isn't. Wood and all that. God's in you. God's in you. And it's so important
to get to it because the point that Paul's making is this. You
are God's. You are His temple. Now, walk
worthy. Walk worthy of that calling in
whom He also are built together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. That's the believer. That's what's
going on right now. God is building His church, His
temple. His Son is building His temple,
His house that He's going to dwell in forever. Forever. And when this work happens in
a center, that center voluntarily is devoted to the service of
God. And it's a service of love. But Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains me. It's a service of love. And I
tell you this, it's also your reasonable service. That's what
Paul said over in Romans 12, which is our reasonable service. Believer turns from serving the
world and self to serving God. which is a service of love. It
is a service of love. Paul said this over in Corinthians.
We'll go over there in a little bit. He said, You are not your
own. You are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God. Listen now, in your body and
in your spirit, they both belong to Him. with their gods. Now we must understand this.
We must understand that Paul is not saying that we must not
have no contact with the world. He's not saying that. He's not
saying that at all. If we did, we'd have to go out
of the world. He's not saying that we should all move to Tibet
and become monks. He's not saying that. I watched
a program on that Catholic channel, not been too long ago, and they
were showing the life of a monk. Most boring, it's like watching
paint dry. I'm serious, I'm not saying it
to be funny, but it's literally like watching paint dry. They
just walked through the hallway, just quiet. They chopped wood for fire, and
they walked back, and it was just quiet. And that was their
day. Then they'd go do some chants.
And I thought, you've got to be kidding me. That's the life
that God would have us live? He said, go out into the highways
and hedges. He said, now listen. He said,
you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hid. He doesn't save anyone and then
tell them to go make themselves a hermit. That's not the kind
of self... He's talking about being separated
in principles, being separated in our lifestyle, being separated
in what we love and who we love. That's the separation. He's not talking about it, about
just going off to some remote place and getting away from the
world. Actually, it's the opposite. We are to go out into the world. We are to go out there. Like
a light. Like salt. Like salt is a preservative. And light is something you see
by. You go out. Let your light so
shine before me. Don't go in a room and shut the
door and never come out. You're the light. What I'm doing
this morning is light. What I'm doing this morning is
shining. And maybe, Maybe someone will walk out of darkness into
His marvelous light this morning through the lights being shed
here. That might happen. That might happen. Then the temple
was devoted to God. It was devoted. The Lord said,
My house shall be called a house of prayer. How many prayers do you pray
during the week? I mean, the Lord's Church truly
prays. I don't know how many of you
said to me, I pray for you every week. How many of you said that
to me? I pray for you every week. We
pray for one another. We pray for our country. We pray, it's constant prayer. He said, my house is a house
of prayer. A child of God has to pray just
like this body has to breathe. You can't help it. You can't
help it. It's a part of us. It's a part
of us. So Solomon said, O Lord, hearken
unto the supplication of thy people, which they shall make
toward this place. You know, the reason they look
toward that place when they pray, the reason they look toward that
place, because that's where God dwells. That's where he put his
name. Solomon said in one place, the
glory of the Lord filled the house. That's where the sacrifice
and the blood, all of it was there. And they prayed for that
place. When believers, now listen, when
believers are wholly devoted to God, their heart becomes the
place of prayer, praise, and worship. Worship, true worship right now.
is going on in the heart. That's where it's happening at.
It's not floating in the air out here. It's going on in your
heart. If it's happening at all, it's
happening in you. Your heart is devoted to Him,
and when it's devoted to Him, it becomes a place of prayer,
it becomes a place of praise, it becomes a place of worship.
The Scripture tells us, God does not dwell in houses made with
hands. But listen, he does dwell in
hearts made by his hand. I'm looking at a people, and this is what makes standing
here so awesome. I'm looking at a people in whom
God dwells. in whom God lives, moves, in
whom God walks. He said, I'll walk in them. Believe me, you take on a whole
different look when I see you in that light. When I see you
in that light, I see a whole different people. I see a temple where God dwells. God is not impressed with with
the idols and pictures and big buildings and big cathedrals
and you know, you see some of these big impressive buildings
and oh, my soul, they are impressive. You know, the disciples say,
you know, oh, that's just so impressive. The Lord said, I'm
going to tear that down. I'm going to tear that down. Every big impressive building
you look at, remember this, God's going to burn it up. It'll either
be burned up or bulldozed down sooner or later. It'll come to
an end. The house that God is impressed
with, the building that God is impressed with is His church. It's you. The one the Lord Jesus Christ
is building. It's you. There's a lot to do going on
in big impressive buildings this morning. But no worship. No worship. You see these multi-million
dollar buildings. No worship. Not at all. Worship comes from the heart
where God dwells. That's where worship is happening
this morning. David said, Whom have I in heaven
but thee? The disciple said, to whom shall
we go, Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Devoted to Him. Devoted to Him. Then the temple was where God
dwelt. Solomon said in one place, and
I already mentioned this, he said, the glory of the Lord filled
the house. And I read through you, he said,
in this place, my name will be in this place. It's where God
dwelt. That's where you dwell. Where
is that temple now? Where is the temple of God? They
say they're going to build that again over there in Jerusalem?
I don't think so. I don't think so. The temple
of God is this church. It's you. It's you. Now turn over to 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. This is the point Paul is making
to the Corinthians here in chapter 6. Look in verse, let me see where
I want to start reading. Verse 14. And God hath both raised
up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power. Know
you not that your bodies, your physical bodies, you know, he's
talking about these bodies here right now. Know you not that
your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I take then, shall
I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of
a harlot? God forbid. What? Know you not that he which
is joined to a harlot is one body, for two, he saith, each
shall be one flesh? But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that
a man doeth is without the body, but he that commits fornication
sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body,
that one you live in right now, your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost? He dwells in you. He lives in
you. You're the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which you have received of God, and
you are not your own. You're not your own, for your
bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's, which belong to him.
My whole being belongs to him. And in this body dwells the Holy
Spirit of God. And he's saying, be careful what
you do with it. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying to those Corinthians. Be careful what you do with it.
It belongs to Him. It's His temple. He dwells in you. Christ said
over in John 14, look over there, over in John chapter 14. John 14, let's see here, verse
23. Jesus answered and said unto
him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. There's no doubt about that.
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 are the temple of God. You
are the temple of the living God. That's why Paul says back here
in second Corinthians now. Let me go back there and I'll
close. This is why Paul says here in verse 14. You know the history. I believe
everyone here pretty much well knows the history of the Corinthians.
They had a lot of problems. Had a lot of problems. But they
were still God's people. Sinners saved by grace have a
lot of problems, but they're still saved by grace. They're
still saved by grace. But he says here in verse 14,
it's why Paul says this, because you're the temple of the Holy
Spirit of God. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? None. There is no real fellowship,
union, You know, connection between righteousness and unrighteousness.
And what communion has light and darkness? Can light and darkness
dwell in the same room? No, you turn the light on, darkness
leaves. It leaves. They don't, there's no communion.
He says here what, what fellowship and what communion. You know,
if you're going to commune with somebody, you're going to sit
down, you're going to talk, and you're going to go back and forth, and how you doing,
and you know. No, he says they don't have any.
Light and darkness have no communion. And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Belial in the Old Testament was
always referred to a wicked person, but really what he's referring
here to is Satan. He's referring to Satan. What
concord hath Christ with Satan? What communion? What fellowship?
What of anything do they have in common? Nothing. Nothing. What part hath he that
believeth with an infidel? What connection? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? None. There is no agreement. There is no agreement whatsoever. For ye are the temple of the
living God. And this is what he's teaching, telling these
Corinthians back then and us now. You are. And we need to live in the reality
of this. You are the temple of the living
God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them. Now, that's not something that's
going to happen way down the road. That's now. That is now. I will dwell in them and walk
in them. I will be their God and they
shall be my people." Right now, right now. A believer is the temple of God. He's bought with a price. He's
bought by the blood of the Son of God. A believer is not his own. He
belongs to God. He's dedicated to God. He's devoted
to God. God dwells in him. And what I do does matter. That's what Paul
is saying to us. He says it does matter. Because
it will reflect upon my Lord. It reflects upon my Lord. But
when I read that, that just grabbed hold of me. You are the temple?
of the living God. When we think of God in His holy
temple, almost always we think of God being in heaven, in His holy temple. But you're the holy temple. You're
being built up a holy temple. I read that to you in Ephesians.
You're the holy temple. And I pray, I pray that God enables
us to walk in a manner that's worthy of His name.