Habitation of God

Introduction: The Climactic Statement of Ephesians 2

0:05 We come this morning to what, in all probability, will be our last study in the second chapter of Ephesians. You notice I've left a little loophole.

0:18 What, in all probability, will be our last study in the second chapter of Ephesians 2, but I do sincerely trust that it will not be the last time that this chapter is the focal point of serious reflection and meditation because it contains some of the most profound concepts to be found anywhere in all of Holy Scripture and it would be tragic loss for all of us simply to have gone through this gold mine and not to go back and cash in, as it were, on its worth again and again by prayerful meditation upon Ephesians. It's wonderful contents.

1:03 I remind you that as the Apostle brings to a close this section, beginning with verse 11, in which he is contrasting the previous state, particularly of the Ephesian Gentiles, with their present privilege along with Jews as being part of the household and family of God. He does so along many lines, but it's not my purpose to go back over those lines simply to remind you that...

1:31 Beginning with verse 19 to the end, we have this concluding, this climactic statement in which the privileges of the people of God are described under the analogies of fellow citizens with the saints of God, household members of the family of God, and living stones in the Temple of God. And having mentioned the concept of the temple of God, the Apostle then launches in to a rather extensive description of this spiritual temple which God himself is building for his own dwelling place. Thus far we've given careful attention to verses 20 and 21.

Review: Component Parts and Characteristics of the Temple

2:16 Verse 20 gives to us what I have called the component parts of the temple. Its foundation is constituted of the apostles and prophets. That is the doctrine contained in the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. Its cornerstone is Christ himself, Christ alone, and Christ perpetually.

2:42 Its superstructure is comprised of Jews and Gentiles who have been brought into union with Christ by the mighty operation of God the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of the purpose of the Father. And then last week, having taken care, I trust, in our thinking of the basic perspectives regarding the component parts, we looked at the primary characteristics of this temple. Verse 21. The outstanding characteristics are its symmetrical beauty.

3:15 It is fitly framed together. Every stone in that temple fits perfectly. And this is the work of God to make a symmetrical temple. And then we can...

3:27 Considered its vital growth. It is a temple that grows unlike any ordinary man-made structure. This structure is characterized by vital growth, both intensively and extensively. And then it is characterized in the third place by essential holiness.

3:47 It is growing into a holy temple or sanctuary in the Lord. Now we come today to verse 22. And what we have...

The Ultimate Purpose: Habitation of God in the Spirit

3:57 What we have in verse 22 is what I am calling the ultimate purpose for which the temple exists. Now let's use an extended analogy. We've come upon a new building. We get up close to the building and we examine its component parts.

4:15 We see that the foundation is made of 12-inch block, concrete block. We see that the cornerstone is made of polished marble. We see that the superstructure is constructed of wood, frame and brick veneer. We understand the component parts.

4:32 Now we back off and we compare notes as to our impression of that temple. And we agree, I'm sorry, of that building. And we agree that its outstanding characteristics are its massive size, its well-proportioned lines, and its functional design. And we're having a great time discussing the characteristics of it, reminding ourselves of the component parts.

4:55 And then my friend nudges me and says, Hey, my brother, what's the building there for? You say, well, I don't know what it's there for. Maybe it's an office building. Maybe it's supposed to house an office staff for some corporation.

5:07 Someone else says, well, maybe it's a school where little kids are supposed to go in and stretch their brains and learn something. At least that's what schools used to be for. Most schools now are to experience something.

5:19 A learning experience, you see. I won't go into modern theories of education. I'm talking, you see, like an old-timer. I'm dating myself when I say a school is a place, just to stretch your brain and to put into it some facts, reading, writing, and arithmetic.

5:35 All right? Someone else may say, or my friend may say, well, no, no, what I think it is, I think it's a warehouse. Well, you see what our problem is? Though we've been able to agree as to the component parts, the constituent elements, foundation, made of concrete block, cornerstone, polished marble, superstructure, wood frame, brick veneer, though we've been able to agree, as to its primary characteristics, we're still ignorant concerning the ultimate purpose for which it was constructed.

6:08 Now, that would be our problem if we stopped with verse 21 of Ephesians 2. The Holy Spirit has not given to us this detailed description of the component parts, this description of the primary characteristics, simply for us to sit around and talk about how wonderful is this spiritual temple. Everything leads, it's up to and finds its fruition in the amazing concept embodied in verse 22, in whom ye also are building together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. In other words, this statement answers the question for what purpose

6:53 was that building with these three characteristics made up of these three components for what purpose was it constructed? And I confess that after living with this text more or less for two weeks, going to bed with it many times at night, waking up in the middle of the night with the word going through my mind, habitation of God through the Spirit, the only way I know to describe this text, it's a text that draws you near with its beauty, but when you get close to it, it drives you back with its brilliance. And if you ever want to have mental and spiritual fits as a preacher, you wrestle with a text

7:38 that continually beckons you near with its beauty, but when you get close enough to try to work with it, to get it into some kind of preachable form, it drives you back with its brilliance. Now you talk about being between the devil and the deep blue sea. You talk about having mixed emotions. I've had those mixed emotions right up until five o'clock in the morning.

8:01 Five o'clock in the morning. I got up this morning right through until 10.30 when I left home to come here. And so the best I can do is try to set forth what I hope will be some of the beauty that you'll draw near, even though we must fully expect together to be driven back by the brilliance.

Meaning of the Key Words in Ephesians 2:22

8:18 All right? How shall we attempt to understand what God the Holy Ghost is saying? Well, we've got to start with the meaning of the words in the passage. That's the way to start.

8:30 There is no other way. God will not communicate something of the profound mysteries contained in the text if we just mystically lay the Bible next to our temples and hope it'll float in. No, no. We've got to start with the meaning of the words.

8:46 And so I urge you to gird up the loins of your mind and to think with me as we try to understand what the Holy Spirit meant when He said the ultimate purpose for which this temple exists is to be enhanced habitation of God in the Spirit. Well, let's look at the key words. The first key word, of course, is builded together. In union with whom, that is, in union with Christ, ye also, that is, all of you individual Gentiles and Jews, are builded together.

9:23 Now, this is one of those big, long, compound words. And some of you fellows just struggling through some of those Greek words with two or three syllables, you lock into, to this one, it's got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven syllables. And it's a real tongue twister.

9:39 And it literally means to build in along with. And in the context, it is parallel to the word that we encountered in verse 21. In whom each several building or each part of the building fitly framed together groweth. Now the apostle uses the word in whom ye also are builded together.

10:06 Where the emphasis fell in the previous word upon the concept of being fitted in this being builded together, assuming that there is this beautiful symmetry and every block in that building, every stone in that building is properly fitted. He goes on to say, we are builded together in that same perspective as was given to us in the previous verse to become an habitation of God in the spirit. It focuses upon the fact that the work of God in the construction of this spiritual temple is such that everyone included in the fitting together

10:50 is also incorporated into the ultimate purpose. Everyone fitted together is builded together to be part of the purpose for which this temple is constructed. Now that's not true with earthly buildings. Let me illustrate.

11:08 Let's go back to that pretty new building we were looking at about five minutes ago. And we discover after making some inquiry that that building constructed of block, marble cornerstone, wood frame, brick veneer, characterized by its massiveness, its functional design, and what was the third thing? Well-proportioned lines. That that building is going to house the office staff of a large corporation.

11:37 But you see not every part of that building will have the privilege of contributing directly to that intention. Some of the wood in the block have to be the mop closet. They must occupy the very inglorious position of having a stinking mop in front of them all the time. Some parts must be the boiler room.

12:03 Though the overall intention was to house an office staff, not every part of the building is in direct relationship to that overall intention. But look at what Paul is saying here. Every single stone that is fitted into the temple, every single one without exception, ye are builded together for inhabitation of God, and God has no stones that are relegated to the level of a broom closet or the mop closet. God has no stones that are relegated to the level of a broom closet or the mop closet.

12:34 or the boiler room. Every stone shares in this glorious perspective of being part of the dwelling of God. Builded together to be what? The next key word is dwelling or habitation of God.

12:56 Now this word is found only one other time in the New Testament. Revelation 18.2 And in both cases the word which has its root in the verb to dwell describes a permanent place of dwelling. If I take up residence in a place, I am said to dwell there.

13:18 The place in which I dwell is now constituted my dwelling. So I dwell, verb, and the thing in which I dwell becomes my noun dwelling. Now this passage says you are builded together for or into a habitation of God, a dwelling place of the God.

13:48 And the idea of permanence of residence is stamped on the very face of this word and some of the more subtle overtones of course are fellowship, protection, love. Be it ever so humble there's no place like, home, what's home? The place of permanent dwelling. And therefore the concepts of fellowship and love and protection are most prominent.

14:13 Alright? The apostle is saying then that God has constituted this temple the place of his permanent abode. It is the sanctuary made up of all Jews and Gentiles fitly framed and builded together into what is called elsewhere his church. Now then the next key, the phrase is in the spirit.

14:36 Literally in spirit. No article, but the article is not needed in this usage. It's obviously a reference to the Holy Spirit. And I think the best way to understand the phrase is in the words of Hodge to consider it this way.

14:49 You are builded by the spirit into a habitation of God. The spirit is the agent by whom this ultimate intention is realized. In other words, Paul says, if you grasp what I'm driving at, that the ultimate intention of this temple is to constitute a dwelling of God, you must see it as pure Christian supernaturalism from beginning to end. It is by the efficient agency of the Holy Spirit who alone can accomplish this ultimate design.

Significance of God's Dwelling: A Peculiar Covenant Love

15:23 Alright? That's the meaning of the words. Now, secondly, what is the significance of the concepts set forth by these words? Is the apostle speaking?

15:35 Is he saying that the infinite, eternal, thrice holy sovereign of the universe can be localized and given boundaries to his presence and to his being? Look at the text. When he says that you Ephesians are builded together to be the dwelling of God, is he saying that God is confined in some way to the precincts of this temple that he has constructed? Well, the answer is obvious.

16:04 Of course not. This would be a notion entertained at the expense of the whole testimony of the word of God. God says through the prophet, Do not I fill heaven and earth? Solomon at the dedication of the old temple in his prayer said, But will God in very deed dwell on the earth?

16:26 Behold, the heaven of the heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built. Paul on Mars Hill said, The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Therefore, any thought injected into this text that would limit God's presence in a localized and confined concept of deity is both evil and false. That's not what it means.

16:57 Well, you say, But Pastor, it does say habitation of God. What does it mean? And here's the point at which I say I'm driven back by the brilliance. But I can only attempt to share with you what is the fruit of my own thought and study in the word of God.

17:15 I wish it were better. I wish it were clearer. But it's the best I can give to you. And even my father doesn't ask more than that.

17:21 So I give it to you. This concept of God dwelling in the midst of his people is a concept that strikes us on the very first pages of God's revelation, the Holy Scriptures. For you'll remember that though God made the heavens and the earth, there is a peculiar presence and dwelling of God with man, his creature, in a special place called the Garden of Eden. For in those chapters, we are given the distinct impression that God came to Adam in special manifestations of his presence.

18:01 Though God filled the heavens and the earth, from the moment he created them, yet that God, it is said, came and walked in the Garden in the cool of the day. There was a peculiar presence of God with Adam. Now keep that in mind. Shortly thereafter man sins and he's driven out of the Garden.

18:24 And the next time we see God in a visible, manifest way taking up his dwelling among men, we behold him in relationship to the nation of Israel. And you'll remember that after Moses was given all of the details concerning the construction of the tabernacle and the sacrificial system, we read in Exodus 40 and verse 34 these words. Back up to verse 33. Very pivotal words.

18:52 Now you're going to have to tighten your seat belt and hang in there for about the next seven or eight minutes as we go through some passages. There's no way to grasp this unless you do it. So hang in there, alright? Exodus 40, verse 33.

19:06 And he, that is Moses, reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and set up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

19:39 And then the following verses go on to describe this peculiar manifestation of the presence of God who was dwelling in the tents of Israel. Filling heaven and earth, yes. But in a peculiar sense, dwelling among His people. Now turn over to 1 Chronicles.

19:58 And we find a similar expression of God's dealings after the construction of the temple under Solomon. In 1 Chronicles 6. Sorry, 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 6.

20:17 Then spake Solomon, verse 1 of 2 Chronicles 6. The Lord hath said He would dwell in thick darkness. That is, He would be inaccessible. But I have built thee a house of habitation.

20:32 Sound familiar? Build it together for an habitation of God. I have built thee a house of habitation and a place for thee to dwell in forever. And in what sense did God then dwell in that place?

20:50 Chapter 7, verse 1 of the same book. When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house, enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house. And the children of Israel looked on, and the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah was upon the house.

21:20 And they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped and gave thanks unto Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His lovingkindness endureth forever. What do we have? God filling heaven and earth, but dwelling in a peculiar world. In a peculiar way, in the midst of His people, and in a very specially peculiar way, there in the temple.

21:45 So that one of the things descriptive of Zion, the hill of God, Jerusalem, where the temple was constructed, is that God is there. Psalm 132 and verse 13. Psalm 132 and verse 13. For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation.

22:11 This is my resting place forever. Here will I dwell. I have desired it. Think of it.

22:19 God who made the galaxies in heaven and earth, and earth is just one little speck on the rim of one little segment of a galaxy. And He says, I've desired it for my dwelling place. Habitation of God at Zion. Psalm 135 and verse 23.

22:37 Psalm 135 and verse 21. Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, who dwelleth at Jerusalem. There is a peculiar dwelling of God. Now we move into the New Testament.

22:50 We find that thought gathering momentum and finding its expression in these profound words of Christ. In John chapter 2 verses 19 to 21, you remember what our Lord said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. This spake He concerning the temple of His body. Where did God dwell?

23:15 The fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the God-man Christ Jesus. And now holding in abeyance for a moment our text in Ephesians 2, when we find the redemptive purposes of God brought to their completion in the world to come. Notice how this imagery of the dwelling of God is picked up with all of its Old Testament richness, now suffused with its New Testament richness. And we read in Revelation 21 and verse 3, And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them,

24:00 and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself, shall be with them, and be their God. Now, what do we do with all that Biblical material? Is there anything peculiar about the dwelling of God in Eden, in the wilderness, in the tabernacle, in Jerusalem at the temple, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the church in its imperfect state, with the church in its perfect state? Well, it certainly cannot be the visible manifestations of His presence.

24:40 Those differed in all of these varying stages of God's dwelling with His people. But the common denominator of all of this, at least I believe at this juncture of my light and understanding, the common denominator is this. When God is said to dwell in the place and among those with whom He sustains a relationship of covenant love, it is underscoring that very principle. For God to dwell with people is for God to sustain to them

25:21 a peculiar relationship of covenant love. Revelation 21. God is with them, they shall be His peoples. They and they alone are constituted His peoples.

25:35 He shall be with them and be their God, and in that relationship of covenant love He does things for them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, crying, pain, etc. The former things are passed away. Notice the same emphasis in 2 Corinthians 6, quoting from Leviticus chapter 26. This language is brought right out of God's dealings with Israel and applied to the Israel of God in the New Testament, the church.

26:10 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16. What agreement hath a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, I will be their God, they shall be My people. Do you see the emphasis?

26:32 For God to dwell in a given place is for God to enter into a peculiar relationship of covenant love wherever He dwells. Now from the time man sinned, God never entered into that relationship apart from a mediator. Therefore, before His visible presence would come into the temple, there had to be the establishment of the sacrificial system. It was in the context of God dwelling with His people in the midst of the mediator.

27:15 Type and shadow in the Old Testament, no longer type and shadow in the New, so that even in Revelation 21, the vision of God is the vision of God and of the Lamb. Even the Lamb is not lost sight of in the dwelling of God among His people in the eternal state. Why? Because a holy God can never enter into a relationship of covenant love with sinners still left sinning.

The Church as God's Habitation: Corporate Indwelling and Privileges

27:45 There must be the work of a mediator. Now bring that all back to Ephesians 2, and maybe the picture will begin to crystallize. How is it that we are constituted a temple of God, a dwelling of God? Notice the emphasis.

28:01 That is in vital union with Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator, the Christ who in the virtue of His blood, who in the virtue of His intercession presents us to God. It is in union with Him and in union with Him alone that we can ever be constituted a habitation of God by the operation of the Holy Spirit. And now one of the peculiarities of that relationship when God deigns to dwell among His people is that He mediates His own grace to them by the peculiar privileges that are given to those

28:46 among whom He dwells. He dwelt among Israel. What peculiar privileges did they have? Paul enumerates them in Romans 9 and in Romans chapter 3.

28:57 They were given the law. God expresses His mind to those among whom He dwells. He did so by the law. God reveals the way of access to Him among those in whom He dwells.

29:12 He gave the system of the priesthood and the sacrifices and all of these privileges. Now what does this say to us? Oh dear people, may God help us to grasp something of the glory of it. God has constituted us His church, His habitation.

29:29 We are not talking now about the individual indwelling of the spirit of every believer, which is a glorious truth. But the focus of this passage is not upon the individual indwelling of the spirit. That's underscored in passages such as Romans 9. And again in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?

29:52 The emphasis here falls upon this mysterious yet glorious reality. The church, corporate, the people of God, the elect of God, are in a way that I cannot articulate to my own satisfaction. The habitation of God. Does God dwell in me as an individual believer?

30:10 Yes. But in a unique way. He dwells in our midst this morning as a corporate body of His people. He dwells in His church.

30:24 And He dwells among us in a relationship of covenant love on the basis of the work of a mediator. And what does He do? He dispenses peculiar privileges to us. He comes to us with His word.

30:37 Oh, catch the glory that that's the uniqueness of true preaching. It's the God who dwells among us, speaking to us, disclosing His mind, disclosing His heart, unfolding His will for us, coming with rebukes and consolations so that true preaching is taken up into the glory of something bigger. It's God in the midst of His people. Well, I've already anticipated now the third division of thoughts.

Sanctified Attitudes from God's Habitation

31:08 What are some of the practical implications of this? And maybe the teaching will get clearer as we apply. And I would suggest two lines of application this morning. If we get hold of something of what's said here that we as God's people built together by the Spirit are an habitation of God, it should be productive in two lines.

31:33 First of all, it should be productive of sanctified attitudes and then of sanctified actions. If we get hold of this, it will be productive of certain sanctified attitudes. And the first one, and I put it at the top of the list, it should be productive of breathless wonder. Breathless wonder.

31:56 What do I mean by that? Well, I'm trying to describe something of what the Queen of Sheba felt when she heard some wonderful things about Solomon and his kingdom and the glory of Jehovah. But when she came from afar and she was taken through Jerusalem and all of the glory of Solomon's kingdom was pointed out and his wisdom was manifested, it says of that great woman, there was no spirit left in her. She was brought to a state of breathless wonder because there was such a display of glory that her humanity was swallowed up and overcome.

32:36 There was no spirit left in her. Oh, think of it, dear children of God. God has taken the likes of you and me, described in those first three verses of chapter 2, dead, bound, condemned, described in verses 11 and 12, separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of the promise, without God, without hope. That's what we were.

33:04 But look now. Without God in the world, verse 12, have a taste in the Spirit. And I say it ought to be productive of breathless wonder that God has made me part of that which is His permanent dwelling. The tabernacle was not His permanent dwelling.

33:32 The temple at Jerusalem was not His permanent dwelling. But we saw in the book of the Revelation His redeemed ones are. God shall be with them. And when our worship ceases to have something of breathless wonder, it ceases to be true worship.

33:54 Oh, the wretchedness of carnal familiarity with God. Oh, for the return of the concepts of God that will give birth to such hymnody as is expressed in the words, My God, how wonderful Thou art! Thy majesty, how bright! How glorious is Thy mercy-seeking, depths of burning light!

34:23 The little ditties produced by the little ditty God in modern, much of modern Christianity is a far cry from that which sober absorption of a text like this will produce. But it ought to be productive not only of breathless wonder, it ought to be productive of profound gratitude. What were we? Well, we've looked at it.

34:50 What are we now? Why, we're temples. We're stones in the temple of God and we'll be that to all eternity. And why are we there?

34:59 Because there was an eternal design that marked us out before we had any being, Ephesians 1.4. There was the incarnation of the second person of the Godhead. He could not be the cornerstone of the foundation in His pre-incarnate glory.

35:16 He had to become the incarnate Redeemer. He had to go through the agony of Gethsemane. He had to go through the frightening baptism of Golgotha. He had to be drenched in His own blood.

35:30 He had to feel the pangs of hell. For there could be no temple constituted of the likes of you and me. And our hearts ought to be filled with profound gratitude for the eternal design of the Father that marked us out for the gracious work of the Son in procuring redemption for us and the text says habitation of God in the Spirit. We ought to be grateful for the sovereign gracious efficacious work of the Holy Spirit.

36:03 I say when we gather dear people and meditate upon this we are a habitation of God. We are not just a religious club. We are not just some people gathered together to some common notions even Biblical. We have been brought together by the Triune God to be His dwelling place.

36:22 And what a bunch He has brought together. Oh may God fill us with profound gratitude breathless wonder. Thirdly, it ought to be productive of unshakable confidence. If Christ is God and He is and He dwells in the midst of His church His church is indestructible.

36:45 I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Psalm 46 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. Oh some of you timid saints who are all the time trembling like a leaf in the midst of a gale.

37:07 When you hear of upheavals political upheavals in the natural realm and constantly looking over your shoulder wondering if somehow the church will ever make it through. What a basis of unshakable confidence. God is in the midst of her. We've become the habitation of God.

37:29 And the church shall stand until it's seen in its perfected state as we read in the book of the Revelation. But it ought to be productive also of holy fear. You see if God dwells in the midst of His people what God is that? He's the God of Hebrews 12.

37:49 You remember the writer to Hebrews says you have not come to the old types and shadows the mouth that could be touched that quaked that burned with fire year come to Mount Zion unto the city of the living God the place where God dwells unto Jesus mediator of the new covenant unto the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel you're coming to all these things and then he says in verse 28 let us therefore have grace whereby we may serve Him acceptably with reverence and with godly fear for our God is the consuming fire of that dwells among us.

38:29 Is he some little patsy near sighted God? He's a consuming fire. There ought to be holy dread and holy fear in his presence. Paul captures that thought in 1 Corinthians 3 look at it a verse that is so often misapplied it's misapplied to teach a biblical truth it's just teaching it from the wrong passage.

38:59 When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.16 what know ye not that ye are a temple of God? he doesn't use the singular pronoun he uses the plural what know ye not that you people at Corinth collectively are a temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you plural pronoun collectively if any man destroyeth the temple of God him shall God destroy what's the context? the context is the church at Corinth Paul was the wise master builder who laid the foundation which was Christ others have built upon it now some people are shaking that temple that manifestation of the great universal temple

39:43 that has come to expression at Corinth the church at Corinth certain men have coming from without and within and they're seeking to destroy it he says man do you know what you're doing? you're a temple of God God dwells in you you mess around with God's property my friend you better think twice before you ever let your tongue loose in vicious gossip amongst the people of God you destroy the temple with gossip and God will destroy you you better be careful the next time

40:25 your hormones start itching for strange flesh you dally with lechery and immorality you bring reproach to the church of God my friend God dwells in his temple you destroy that temple and God will destroy you the next time you're so desirous of attracting attention to yourself that you're going to concoct original notions and that's usually the pressure behind every heretic he wants the attention that comes with novelty he's not content to say I'm simply echoing poorly and ineffectively but gladly and confidently

41:09 the historic witness of the church no no the heretic has got to get notoriety by his novelty and when men destroy the church with heresy listen my friend the temple of God and it's holy because the holy God of Israel dwells in it well you see you could draw out the applications in terms of the productive attitudes or the production of attitudes that ought to come from this concept but I want to close this morning by suggesting no by announcing that this concept rightly understood will not only be productive of sanctified attitudes it will be productive of sanctified actions and let me suggest just a few number one

Sanctified Actions from God's Habitation: Worship and Preaching

41:53 if we get hold of the fact that we have been builded together by the spirit to be a habitation of God it will be productive of God centered worship it will be productive of God centered worship it will not be entertainment or information centered worship my people does this grip you when you come into this place when you gather to our cracker box on 233 Runnymede that's my new pet name for that building as you sit waiting for whoever

42:36 is to lead us in worship is there any sense consciously whatsoever that when we gather in a way that we cannot articulate with satisfactory clarity but which we can know by faith God is among us the most important thing about every gathering is the presence of God the presence of Pastor Martin or his absence the presence of Mr. So-and-so or someone else when we believe that we've been builded together to be a habitation of God

43:21 what was it that caught to the eye of every Israelite in that old tabernacle it wasn't the priest ministering in the temple it wasn't the priest ministering we read the passage they beheld the glory of God God dwells in that place if we go up there whatever we do with our sacrifice with our offering whatever the priest does it all has meaning because its intent is to lead us into the presence of God and to send us forth with the benediction of having seen God

43:56 we are builded together to be a habitation of God dear people it ought to be productive of the sanctified activity of God centered worship secondly God centered preaching for you'll remember wherever God dwelt one of the privileges of God's dwelling with men was special communications from God to the people or persons among whom he dwelt what advantage hath the Jew Paul says advantage number one to them were given the oracles of God

44:40 and oh how desperately we need to learn this never separate separate the book from its author when the word comes to us in exposition and teaching and application dear people God himself is coming to us in the word why don't you have some dialogue all this one way community my friend you don't have dialogue with down and exchange ideas with almighty God the Lord hath kept silence

45:24 that's what makes true preaching such agony because when the man of God is bent over his Bible he knows I have no right to tamper with the contents I can't adjust it to say something devotional and nice that would have made preaching on this text very easy lot of nice little soupy devotional thoughts but to cry to God and study and scour the books and meditate and pray until you feel Lord what do you intend to say to your people I cannot tamper with that

46:07 you see God centered preaching first of all begins in the heart and perspective of the preacher and then must spill over upon the people we don't come to just confront some notions we come to have the God who dwells among us open up to us more of the terms of his gracious covenant look upon preaching that way God in sovereign grace has come and entered into a covenant of love with you and every time you gather for preaching he says I want to open up more of the terms of my covenant it's provisions it's demands it's perspectives we get hold of this that we're building together to be a habitation of God

Sanctified Actions: Evangelism, Living, and Church Governance

46:52 it will be productive of God centered worship God centered preaching it will be productive of God centered evangelism because essentially what is evangelism evangelism is those among whom God dwells seeking God seeking to get others to come in to the precincts of the place where he dwells I'm not talking about the walls of the church necessarily but as Hugh Martin the perceptive Scottish theologian has so wonderfully stated the call to the unregenerate and the unconverted comes out of the framework of the covenant community those among whom God dwells and it says in the language of Luke 14

47:33 come all things are ready the table is spread come and you see if that's so what do we want people to know above all else that God is in our midst that we have dealings with God and if they're ever to snuggle up to this band of people they're going to have to have dealings with God isn't that precisely what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 of course it's in the context of the peculiar gifts that were manifested and exercised there but the principle is an abiding one he says if the unbeliever comes among you 1 Corinthians 14 25 and you prophesy that is there is the proclamation of the word of God in the sense of the presence of God what will happen

48:17 it says the thoughts of his heart will be laid bare or made manifest and he falling upon his face will call this among you oh dear people what a far cry that is from the average concept of evangelism some kind of a confidence trick accomplished with Bible verses God is among us God centered evangelism it will produce God centered living 2 Corinthians 6 18 through 7 1 look at it if we get hold of this God dwells among us as his people what does that mean

49:02 well he's made us a holy temple well it's only holy people that can hold loving communion with such a holy God therefore he cries out the apostle does in 2 Corinthians 6 14 be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers that doesn't mean just don't marry an unconverted pretty little girl who bats her eyes at you it means do not enter into voluntary intimate associations with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness and iniquity what communion hath light with darkness what concord hath Christ with Belial what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever what agreement hath a temple lay not us same word as we have in Ephesians 2 what agreement hath a soul

49:47 what a sanctuary of God with idols for we collective are a sanctuary of the living God even as God said I will dwell in them walk in them be their God be their people what are the implications of that wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and be to you a father and ye shall be to me sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty having therefore these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God do you see the apostle's implication if God dwells among us

50:31 and that God is holy and he says he is going to walk with us and commune with us and tabernacle among us how can we believe that walk in his presence willfully defiled by sins of the flesh and of the spirit I say if we get hold of this concept or if it gets hold of us habitation of God it will be productive of the sanctified action of God centered worship God centered preaching God centered evangelism God centered living and one further application God governed activity in every facet of the life of the church

51:11 a habitation of God God dwells among us well who is the boss wherever God is there is only one boss that was the Holy Spirit that was the whole issue in the garden Adam dwelt with God and God said in essence this relationship will continue as long as I the God who dwell with you remains in the position of boss right you be boss I go that is exactly what happened from the garden because he would be boss I don't believe it is stretching it to say whenever a church forgets who is boss

51:55 God goes and there is many a church that bears the name Christian church where there is even a semblance of Bible preaching where the spirit of God is so grieved you could go month after month and never know that God was ever in the midst of his people why because the pastor is going to be the boss a little mini pope running the show that is what they taught him in seminary got to be a strong aggressive leader maybe you get some guy who is a big shot in business and because he is a big shot in business he thinks he is a big shot in the church and so you get these smart aleck big shot-itis deacons

52:38 who bully people and steer the church into the channels cut by their own carnal perspectives and then you get some woman who is frustrated because she can't rule her husband and then she starts running the preacher around and the deacons you get insubordinate women and I know these things are real dear people I have been in contact this week with a pastor whose heart is being broken because he has got a few Deborahs who are determined to run the show in Israel how can those things ever go on if the people of Israel of God have grasped this concept of the habitation of God

53:19 miserable to God I dare not use my position as an elder to project my own notions as God dwells among his people you men aspiring to the work of the ministry want something to cut you down to size you just meditate on that for a few minutes today and then you are always in that tension of wanting to run lest you dare infringe upon the boundaries of God's prerogatives and yet you know if you run

54:03 God will deal with you like he did with Jonah because he has put you in the place of leadership not to project your own will but to exercise rule by opening up the mind and will of the God who dwells among his people are you part of that habitation this morning? are you? well look at the text as we close there is only one way to be part of that habitation you have got to get in contact with the foundation and with the cornerstone God never puts anyone into that habitation of his presence

Call to Self-Examination and Seeking God

54:47 apart from building them upon the foundation of apostles and prophets bringing them into vital union with Christ the cornerstone and he does this by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit so my friend every one of us here this morning is either in the condition described at the end of verse 12 without God and without hope or we are in the position of verse 22 part of the habitation of God in the spirit now which are you? are you part of the habitation of God? or are you without God in the world?

55:31 well I am somewhere in between no my friend there is no in between no in between you are either without God in the world or you are part of the habitation of God in the spirit now which are you? there is no no man's land no DMZ if you can still remember what that was no buffer zone between the two either God has mightily wrought upon you by the spirit brought you to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus in repentance and faith you have cast yourself upon him

56:15 by the spirit you have been incorporated into Christ on the foundation of apostolic doctrine and in union with Christ you are part of this glorious temple or you are still out there without God in the world oh my friend you never become part of the temple apart from the activity of the spirit and the activity of the spirit is never known apart from dealings with Christ as he is presented in the gospel if you would be a part of that temple you must seek the Lord while he may be found you must call upon him while he is near child of God is there anything of breathless wonder

56:56 characteristic or characterizing your worship this morning how long has it been since when you went to the place where you pray and I trust there is a place where you pray you found you couldn't articulate words you were driven back by the brilliance of the privilege that is yours in Christ to be part of that temple in which God will dwell forever has there been any breathless wonder has there has there been any profound gratitude is there any sense of holy dread may God the Holy Ghost take

57:40 his own word and that's my confidence this morning that whatever does not satisfy me aesthetically and structurally and homiletically and only God in my own heart knows how much dissatisfies me there I trust at least the main thrust has come through this is why the apostle closed this segment of thought on this tremendous note of glory amazing concepts of the privileges that are ours may the Lord write it upon our hearts by his own spirit let us pray

Prayer for God's Presence and Holy Fruits

58:19 our Father we stand overcome and baffled hardly knowing how to express what our minds think and what our hearts feel when we've stood back and gazed upon the profound mysteries of our salvation in Christ Lord why would you ever seek a dwelling among the likes of us

59:02 yet you have and for this we praise you oh God bring back the element of breathless wonder Lord drive from us all the carnal familiarity oh Lord may the truths we've contemplated this morning be productive of all the holy fruits that we've considered with all our sin and failure as a people we believe we can say to you Lord in your presence knowing that all things are naked and open before you we believe we can say as a people

59:47 we want you to be the one who is known in this place we want you to be the one who is the center of concern in this assembly Lord we want your will to be done with us we want all carnal ambition to be slain we want oh Lord all attraction that centers upon people slain and oh God with all our hearts we long that you will so come among us with power that the most uninstructed soul the most uninstructed sinner who would step within these walls would feel in his heart of hearts God is of a truth among this people

60:31 oh Lord come to us with gracious power come to us oh God by the overflowing work of the spirit that Christ himself in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work may become increasingly known and loved by every one of us who names his name Lord we commit to you your own word we remind you of your promise to Jeremiah I will watch over my word to perform it Lord accomplish all that you've purposed in the sending forth of your word this day

61:15 grant now that your own presence presence will rest upon us and abide with us oh Lord help us not to turn off the disposition of reverent waiting before you simply because the final Amen of the morning service has been uttered but oh may we be enabled by the help of the spirit to sanctify every hour of this day to your praise and to our profit we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen