is not that I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Temple That Will Not Be Destroyed. In Luke chapter
21, verse 5, we read, and as some spake of the temple, how
it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts. He said, the Lord
Jesus said, As for these things which you behold, the days will
come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another
that shall not be thrown down. Now this is speaking of the temple
that was 46 years in building. and everyone else was impressed
with this temple. Many parts of it were plated
with gold. It was kind of a shock and awe
of wealth and grandeur. And it was supposed to have housed
the furniture of the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the
various pieces of furniture that were in the Old Testament tabernacle.
Now I doubt that but it made that claim at any rate. And it
did have the veil of the tabernacle there because when the Lord died
the Scripture says the veil was rent from top to bottom. This
is a miracle that took place when the Lord died the veil of
the tabernacle was rent from top to bottom. From top showing
us it's the Lord's work and now the way into His presence is
open through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But at any
rate, they were so impressed with this temple, the Jews in
other lands were told to pray for it. It represented the presence
and the blessing of God. It was a revered building and
the architecture amongst the most dazzling in the world. Men love buildings that produce
all. And surely this temple did that. The disciples even were so impressed
with this temple. And then the Lord's reply was,
what you see is going to be leveled to the ground. There won't be
one stone left upon another. And He was actually giving a
prophecy because in 70 A.D. this took place. Titus came through
the Roman general and completely leveled Jerusalem and the building
was completely destroyed. The Lord said this would take
place and everything He says takes place. Now this temple
that men had such a high opinion of It was leveled to the ground. Have you ever been in a religious
edifice of some kind, maybe in a big cathedral, and you just
felt a sense of awe and a sense of worship and a sense of the
presence of God? Well, if you have, that didn't
come from the living God. That came from the God of this
world. The God of the Bible cannot be contained by buildings. Now, there is a temple that will
last. It's not a man-made edifice,
but there is a temple that will, in fact, last. You see, the believers,
all Christians, are the temple of God. The church is the house
of God, and this is the temple that will last, that will be
forever. A man-made temple is never going
to make it, but this temple will be forever. Now I'd like to read
from three different passages of Scripture regarding God's
temple. The first one I'd like to read
from is found in Acts chapter 17. Now I love this passage of
Scripture. If you could follow along in
your Bibles you would find it helpful. But in verse 16 of Acts
chapter 17, now while Paul waited for them at Athens, His spirit
was stirred in him, because he saw the city wholly given to
idolatry. Now this was the intellectual
capital of the world, Athens, Greece, and Paul saw that it
was wholly given to idolatry. Therefore, verse 17, disputed
he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons,
and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then
certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered
him, and some said, what will this babbler say? That was their
opinion of Paul, a babbler. He seemeth to be a setter forth
of strange gods, gods we've never heard of. We've never heard of
a god whose character is like the one Paul describes, because
he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. the person
and work of Christ, Jesus, who he did, who he is, the resurrection,
what he accomplished in his resurrection, the complete salvation of all
of God's elect. That was his message, Jesus and
the resurrection. So in verse 19, they took him
and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this
new doctrine whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest certain strange
things to our ears. We've never heard anything like
this. We would know, therefore, what these things mean. For all
the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in
nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." So
much for these philosophical minds. Then Paul, verse 22 of
Acts chapter 17, then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and
said, I perceive that in all things you are too religious,
too superstitious. And that word superstitious is
the word quite often translated religious. Here's what y'all's
problem is. You're too religious. And I think
superstition is a good word to describe most people's religion.
It's superstition. It's not based upon the word
of God. It's superstition. Now, here's why he said this.
Let's go on reading. He said in verse 23, Now here's
what they were trying to do. They were trying to cover all their bases. Worship this God, this God, the
other God, the other God. They had all kinds of idols and
places of religious homage. And they're covering their bases
just in case I missed one. Here's this idol to the unknown
God. I want to make sure I give homage to everybody, even if
I don't even know him. So to the unknown God. Now look what Paul says, he says,
whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Now here he begins to declare
the living God. In verse 24, God that made the
world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." Now, here is
where Paul begins. God. Not trying to prove His
existence, but God, the Creator. Creation tells us that God is. He's the Creator. He spake this
world into existence. He created you. He created all
things. And He is Lord. of heaven and
earth." Now, the Lord is the one whose will is done. The Lord
is the one who is in control, absolutely sovereign. That's
God. He's the Lord. That means you're
in His hands. He's your Lord, whether you know
it or not. You are in His hands, and He can do with you whatever
He's pleased to do. He's God. That's how Paul presents
Him. He's the Creator, and He's the
Lord, and He doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. He who cannot be bound by time
or space cannot be confined to a man-made temple. So much for
our temples, they don't tell us anything about the character
of God. He says in verse 25, to these
heathen, is what they were, they never heard the Gospel, but he
says, neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed anything. seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things. Now, God is not worshipped with
men's hands as though he needed anything. You see, God is utterly
independent. He has no needs. He does not
need me. He does not need you. We need him. God is absolutely independent,
self-existent, glorious in holiness, sovereignty, with no needs. He's not worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything. When people, when preachers make
some kind of appeal like God needs you, no He doesn't. No
He doesn't. You need Him. That's the truth. Now let's go
on reading. Neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and
all things. And he hath made of one blood all nations of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation."
Life, the day of your birth was determined. The day of your death
has already been determined. You can't add a second to it.
It's all in God's purpose. Where you're going to live, what
you're going to do, He's in control of. You're in His hands. The last breath you took, He
gave to you. And here's why all this is so
in verse 27, that they should seek the Lord. If happily they
might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from
every one of us. purpose, my one purpose is to
seek the Lord. For in Him we live and move and
have our being, as certain of your poets have said. For we
also are His offspring. For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is
likened to gold. or silver or stone graven by
art and man's device. All religious symbolism is wrong.
It's idolatry. I don't care if you're using
a cross, you make an idol out of that. All religious symbolism
is wrong. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
to change your mind about who God is, who you are, and how
God can be known. Because He hath appointed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance to all
men, in that He raised him from the dead. Now God does not dwell
in temples made with hands. Where does He dwell? Now the
next scripture I want to look at is found in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 66 beginning in verse 1. Thus saith the Lord,
the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house that you build me? And where is the place of my
rest? What kind of house can you build,
he who cannot be contained by space, he who cannot be limited
by time, the infinite, incomprehensible God of glory? He says, are you
going to build a building for me? Now, there is a temple that
he does dwell in, and it's not a man-made edifice. In 1 Corinthians
3, verse 16, we read concerning the church, you, are the temple
of God. We read in 2 Timothy 3.15, or
1 Timothy 3.15, I'm sorry, that the church of God is the house
of God. That's his house. That's his
temple, his people, every single believer. And here, Isaiah describes
who these people are, what this temple is comprised of. Listen
to this next verse. He says in verse 2, for all those
things have mine hand made, these things that you're trying to
do for me and build me a building, I'm in control of everything.
And all these things have been, saith the Lord, but to this man
will I look. Now you listen real carefully.
This is who God says he looks to. This is who God dwells in. This describes every single child
of God. To this man will I look, even
to him that is poor. and of a contrite spirit and
trembles at my word." Now, this is what the church is made of.
People who are described as poor, contrite in spirit, and they
tremble at the word of God. Now, to this man, will I look
for my dwelling place? I don't read here of any elevated
rank. No peculiar office, nothing about
priests or clergy or genius or special education or religiosity
is mentioned, nothing like that at all. This is not what we expect. He dwells in a temple made of
a man who is poor and contrite and trembles at his word. Poor. destitute of all merit."
Now see if you fit this description. Someone who is poor has nothing,
nothing with which he can commend himself to God. He has absolutely
nothing of his own. He's absolutely destitute of
merit. He has no good works. He has
nothing to rely on of his own. Not only is he devoid of merit,
he's devoid of all strength. He has no spiritual strength
at all. Listen to this. I can't do what I ought to do
any more in the future, any more than I could in the past. I'm
void of all spiritual strength in and of myself. If I do repent,
it's because He caused me to. If I do believe, it's because
He caused me to, because I understand the salvations of the Lord. And
I am poor. Did not the Lord say, blessed
are the poor in spirit? For theirs is the kingdom of
God. This is the man that God dwells
in, the man who is poor. It's only the empty heart that
He will fill. It's only the poor in heart that
have any appreciation of His perfect righteousness. He is
only all to those who in themselves are nothing. And this is God's
dwelling place. This is God's temple. Next, contrite, crushed and broken
over my sin, hating my sin, taking full responsibility for my sin,
but hating my sin. I see no purity in my heart.
What do you see? All I see is sin. I hate that,
but that's all I see. Somebody says, well, how could
you be saved if all you see is sin? It's the new heart that
sees that. It's the pure heart that sees
that. If you don't see that about yourself it's because you've
never been born again. You're never even born from above.
If you're born from above you'll see these things. You'll understand
these things about yourself and you'll be contrite before God
because of your sinfulness and your utter inability to be anything
but sinful. And the third mark of God's temple
is He trembles at God's Word. He's poor. He has nothing to
recommend Him. He's contrite before God over
his sin and he trembles at His Word. Now what I really think
about God, what I really think about the Lord Jesus Christ is
seen in how I respond to His Word. Now listen to me. I don't go to the Word of God
to try to prove what I believe. I go to the Word of God to find
out what to believe. You see, the Bible is God's revelation
of himself. The scripture claims divine inspiration,
perfection, and infallibility. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. That's what the Bible says about
itself. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now, somebody says, well, how
could you have a book that men haven't doctored and we don't
really have the Word of God left? Men could take it this way, leave
this part out or add something to it. How can you believe it's
actually the inspired Word of God? Well, I believe God created
the universe. And if he has the power to create
the universe, he has the power to leave a revelation of himself. And all we know of God savingly,
and there's some things you can know about God just through common
sense, but all we can know of God savingly is from the scriptures. And the scriptures tell us who
he is. And every believer has a reverence
for the Word of God. The God the Bible speaks of,
the eternal God. the all-powerful God, the sovereign
God, the holy God, the just God, the great God. We tremble at
the revelation the scriptures give concerning the eternal God. Now, the Lord says, this is the
man that I look to, he that's poor. This is my temple, not
a building you've made me, but every individual who is poor. and contrite in spirit, who trembles
at my word." Now, the third scripture I would like for us to look at
is found in 1 Peter 2, where we read of God's building and
God's temple. Beginning in verse 4, Peter says,
to whom coming, as unto a living stone. Disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious. To whom? Coming. Now that's about
as good a description as you're ever going to find of a child
of God. He's someone who is always coming to Christ. He comes to
Him the same way He came to Him at the very first, as a needy
sinner needing His mercy. We come to Him for everything.
We come to Him for grace. We come to Him for forgiveness.
We come to Him for acceptance. We come to Him for mercy. We
come to Him in our great need. I love what our Lord said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And that's what a believer's
always doing. He's always coming to Christ.
You say, what's it mean to come to Christ? That's what faith
is. Faith is that which comes to Christ for all things. I come
to him for everything. To whom coming as into a living
stone, not a dead stone, but a living stone. Disallowed indeed
of men, but chosen of God. How precious this living stone
is. Verse 5, you also as lively stones,
as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, God's house,
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Now the only reason they're acceptable
is because they're presented by Jesus Christ, our great high
priest, but they're accepted by God. Verse six, wherefore
also it's contained in scripture, behold, I lay in Zion. This is
God speaking from Isaiah 28. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Now, if you believe on Christ,
you'll never be put to shame. You'll never be confounded. And
let me tell you why. Because if you believe on Christ, you
stand just before God. You are justified. You have no
sin. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You have the perfect righteousness
of Christ, and you'll never be confounded. Now, look what he
says in verse 7. Unto you, therefore, these are
these living stones that are built on Christ to make this
spiritual house. unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. And this I know. If a man believes,
he finds Jesus Christ the Lord to be precious. Precious in all
things. Precious as my only Savior. Precious as the only way I can
come into the Father's presence. Precious as my surety. Precious
is the one who stood responsible for my salvation and said he
would do it all. Oh, to you which believe he is
precious. Precious in his righteousness,
preciousness in his intercession, precious in his grace. Oh, to
you which believe he is utterly and completely nonstop precious. That's the hallmark of a believer.
And to you which believe, He is precious. But let's go on
reading. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and of a rock of
offense. This house of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
that is embodied in every believer, this is mysterious, I know it,
but it's glorious. He, this chief cornerstone, is
a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to them which stumble
at the Word. Now, if somebody stumbles at
the Word, they don't bow to the Word, the Word, they've never received
it. You see, the Gospel is offensive to the natural man. And I've
said this before, I'm not worried about offending men, I'm worried
about not offending men. Because if I do not offend them,
I'm not preaching the Gospel. And look what he says, a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at
the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. God
appointed them to this. That seems to say God appointed
them to this. It doesn't seem to say it, it does say it. The
Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. Now, I don't claim to understand
all that, or all the implications of it, but whatever God says
in His Word, we bow to. We're fine with whatever God
does. Whatever He does is holy, and right, and just, and we trust
Him. So these people who stumble at
the Word are appointed to this, but, verse 9, but you, this living
temple, this temple that will last forever, you are a chosen
generation. people that God chose and gave
life to. You're a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. Every believer is holy. Christ
is their holiness. And you're a peculiar people,
a purchased people, a people purchased by Christ himself.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins, that you should show forth the praises of Him
who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Now,
let me ask you a question. Does your salvation show forth
only His praise? Does He get all the glory and
none goes to you? Are you a trophy of His grace?
I know this. When I'm in heaven, I'll know
the only reason I'm there is because of Him. not because of
anything I've done, not because of anything I've not done, but
only because of him. Verse 10, which in times past
were not a people, but are now the people of God. This is his
temple, which have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy. Now this is the temple that will
last, the church of the living God. I've heard it said, All, the only thing that will
last is what is done for Christ. Everything else will be swept
away. I take issue with that. The only thing that will last
is what Christ has done. And the desire of every believer
is to simply be found in Him. I want to be found in Him to
this extent that all God sees when He sees me is Jesus Christ,
His beloved Son, me being in Him. Now, all these man-made
religious edifices, whether small and humble or large and with
great grandeur, they're all going to be thrown to the ground, they're
not going to last. All that will last is what He
has done for you. And if He's done something for
you, you are the temple of God. To request a copy of the sermon
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