our Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Begin reading with verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Keep in mind context, context, and we'll explain that in a few minutes, but who is he talking to? What is he talking about? What is he saying when he said to the church at Koreth, ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, the church, the body of Christ. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. Father, we come this morning Lord, as we dare to approach upon a subject of such importance, keep our minds clear, our hearts pure. May as we look at these verses and many others, may we be challenged and may we understand our responsibility, our duty and also our privilege to be part of your temple, and your body, and your bride. In Jesus' name, amen. In all my years of preaching, I can't remember ever preaching or even teaching a sermon, a whole sermon, just on the tabernacle and temple in the Bible, or temples in the Bible. I think many people have a vague idea of the Old Testament tabernacle. We've heard enough about it that we understand just a little bit about it. We've heard just enough to understand a few of the basic tenets. We know that that's where they offered sacrifices. We know that's where the high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year to make an atonement for the sins of Israel. No doubt there are many people who do not know the difference in the Old Testament between the tabernacle and the temple. Totally different buildings, totally different everything. There's so many comparisons. As I began thinking last week of all the different aspects It would be easy to spend many weeks just looking at each of these, the tabernacle, then the temple, and then what they did, what they were for, why we don't do it today. You could easily spend weeks I'm going to try to cover the tabernacle, the temple, and the church in one sermon. So I will try to talk fast or at least condense my words so that you can understand what was the purpose of the tabernacle, why was the temple different, And how does the church today compare to the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament? Let's look first of all at the tabernacle. Many people, when they think of the tabernacle, they don't differentiate between the tabernacle and the temple. The tabernacle followed the Exodus out of Egypt. You recall they had been in captivity for over 400 years down in Egypt. Finally, Moses leads them out of Egypt, leads them up into the land of Sinai, And when they get across the Red Sea, God gave them the Passover to remember their exodus. And then God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle. Now, if you study the tabernacle, which is, you know, in great detail in Numbers and part of Exodus and parts of Numbers, Leviticus, and those books, you'll find out that the tabernacle was designed to be put up very quickly and taken down very quickly and then traveled. And when they got where they were going, they would put the tabernacle back up and they would worship until the cloud of, by day, and the fire by night, when the cloud or fire moved, they would take the tabernacle down, they would move with it, and then set it back up wherever the cloud or the fire had stopped. But for 400 years, they had no specific place to worship God. For 400 years, they had no rules, no pattern to worship by. In fact, for 400 years, it's very probable that there was very little actual worship of God during the time that they were in Egypt. But then Moses came along and built the tabernacle. It was never intended to be permanent. If you read in detail, it was made to be taken down, carried by the Levites, carried to the next place, and then each group of priests, you know, this priest would set this up, these priests would set that up, and they would get it all set up, God would fill it with His presence, and it would stay there until they took it down. This priest took down this part. This priest covered the inner parts with, you know, with material. It was a definite place to worship. You couldn't just go anywhere and worship. The only place that God accepted their worship was wherever the tabernacle happened to be. The tabernacle moved, the place of worship moved. When the tabernacle stood, the place of worship stood. Of all the earth, that was the only place in the entire world that God would accept sacrifice and worship. You couldn't go anywhere else. It was at the tabernacle period. The rules were very strict, even on the daily sacrifices. The priest had to know, and I've often wondered how they kept it all straight. Did they have cheat cards? Okay, sweet savor, all right, the liver, the kidneys, this and this, they're burned, and this goes here. But every day, they had to follow a very strict order. If it was a sweet savor offering, then this was burned. If it was a sin sacrifice, this was burned. If it was just a love offering, then this would be burned. Everything had to be done explicitly, like God said. You couldn't change anything. Even the clothes that the priest wore had to be very, very specific. Once a year when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, his clothes are given in very specific detail. He had to wear certain things in certain ways. Certain things were worn between his chest or over his chest. Certain things were worn on his head. He had to wear certain material. It had to be certain colors. Everything had to be exact. or the high priest would be killed if he entered into the Holy of Holies and everything wasn't exact. The tabernacle was to be reverenced and feared. They had the the front part where anybody could come up to, bring their sacrifice, give it to the priest. Then they had the holy place where the priest would go in and offer the sacrifice. Then they had the holy of holies where only the high priest was allowed to go. No one else was allowed. But it was always temporary. was never a permanent place. When it was built, God showed his approval by literally filling the tabernacle with his presence. But then we come down several, many years, And we find that God promised that instead of a tabernacle, which was always made to be put up, taken down, put up, taken down, transported, pulled, put up, taken down, transported, God told David that your son is going to build a temple. which would be a permanent place. If you read Solomon's temple, he made many changes to the original structure of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was made of everything portable. The temple was made to be permanent. They had permanent walls, permanent roof. They had everything was permanent because God had now led his people into the land of Canaan, the promised land, and he built a permanent place where they could worship him from now on instead of moving all over the place. the temple no longer wandered about. It became a, and I'm reading my notes, the tabernacle was temporary, the temple was permanent. The tabernacle was made of physical material. The temple was made of physical material, and we'll come back to that and show you the importance. In both places, it was a place to worship God, but only in one location. The tabernacle, wherever it moved, that was the only place that God would accept. The temple never moved, and so everybody understood if you want to worship God, you have to go to Jerusalem. No other place will suffice. Then we come to the New Testament, and everything changes. In the tabernacle and temple, their sins were rolled forward. Their sins were never forgiven. It's kind of like, some of you may remember, they may still do it, I don't know. But used to, you could take out what they called a balloon note. You know what a balloon note is? Vaguely. A balloon note was where I want to borrow $10,000. And you would go every year and you would pay the interest on that $10,000 for that year. The next year, you would go back and you would pay the interest on that note. And every time you paid the interest, the bank would simply roll the principal, roll that $10,000, roll it ahead until next year when you come back and paid the interest again. That's similar to what Israel did under the tabernacle and the temple. They would go every year, the high priest would take their offering, go into the Holy of Holies, cover their sin, the interest on their sin, for that year, and then next year, they had to do the same thing over and over and over and over again. Their sins were never wiped clean. Their sins were always there. And all the blood of bulls and goats could do was just roll it forward until somebody that was capable came along and paid off the principal. And so here comes Jesus. For 33 years, he lived a perfect life. For 33 years, he kept the law of God spotless and pure. Can you imagine never, ever sinning? How would you like to be his brothers and sisters? Jesus did it. Jesus, did you do it? No, Mom. Well, I know you cannot lie. So okay, brothers and sisters, you're lying because Jesus cannot lie. How would you like to have Jesus for your brother? You can't blame him for anything because he's perfect, he's sinless. But one day, Jesus was arrested, given a mock trial, found guilty of a false charge, was nailed to a cross, and there they killed him. That was a test to see if y'all were listening. How many of you caught what was wrong? Ah, a few of you. The Jews did not kill Jesus. Jesus said, I lay down my life. No man taketh my life from me. I lay it down and I will raise it again. Bible said that when he had spoken, he spoke seven times hanging on the cross. When he spoke the last time, He gave up the ghost and died. The Jews did not kill Jesus. He died himself, voluntarily, freely, willingly. He gave his life himself. But an interesting thing happened when Jesus died. Now, Solomon's temple was destroyed and it was built again under Ezra and Nehemiah. They built another temple. It was partially destroyed and then somewhere around, you know, the time of Christ or before King Herod built a magnificent temple. But they had, they always had this tremendous veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. You could not even touch that veil. To touch that veil meant instant death. You would die right there on the spot. And so when Jesus died, the Bible said the veil of the temple, which by the way, probably probably would not fit from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. It was probably much bigger than that. But when Jesus died, it rent from the top all the way down to the bottom. Now, there's all kinds of things that we could say there, but I said I would try to keep it short, which means 45 minutes, right? Okay. And I said, well, somebody tore it in two. Somebody cut it in two. Had anybody touched it, they would have died. And if you're gonna tear something, not many of us would have a, you know, a little giant ladder to unfold and stick up and cut it from the top down. They would have died before they ever got the knife started. So the fact that it rent from the top down meant that it had to be done by supernatural hands. When the veil of the temple was rent, it showed that no longer do you need to go every year. You don't need to go every year. You don't You don't need to sacrifice every year. You don't need that annual remembrance of sin anymore. The principal debt has been paid. You no longer need the Holy of Holies. You no longer need that separation. And so the Old Testament tabernacle and temple were finished. They're done. We don't have one place that we can go, and only one place. Can you imagine if we had to go to, I don't know, where's a good place to go to? Montana. What's a big city in Montana? Billings? Okay. I don't know where it is, but imagine if we, every one of us, had to go to Billings, Montana every year to offer a sacrifice for our sins. How cumbersome that must have been. You know, we were talking and I mentioned Buddy Davis, Where he lives is about four hours away from here. That's a long drive for some of us. And they didn't have trains, planes, and cars. They had horses, buggies, camels. It would take weeks to get, for some of them, to get to Jerusalem. Imagine walking from here to Billings, Montana. Imagine walking from here to Burlington. But Jesus did away with that. But he still wanted some place to meet with his people to fellowship with his people, for his people to worship him. You know, if you go all the way back to creation, God created Adam and Eve, and in the cool of the evening, God would come down and would fellowship with Adam and Eve. That's why when God came down after sin, instead of fellowship, Adam and Eve hid. And God said, where are y'all? We hid because we knew we could not fellowship with you because of our sin. But in the New Testament, God has always had a place for man to enjoy fellowship with Him. That was one of the purposes of creation was to have fellowship not only with Him but with each other as man multiplied and filled the earth. It was to have fellowship one with another and one with God. And so God instituted what we call the church. Now we don't have the rigid rules the tabernacle and the temple held. I would be struck dead this morning because my clothes would not match what the high priest was required to wear. I would not qualify to go into the Holy of Holies. We don't have those rigid rules. We don't have only one person is allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies. We don't have one high priest. In fact, the Bible is very clear that every one of us who are saved by the grace of God through faith, every one of us who are saved are high priests under God. If you're saved, you may not look like it, But if you're saved, you are a high priest, just like Aaron, just like Phinehas, just like Eliezer, just like so many other people. Every one of us can go directly into God. That's what Paul wrote when he said, let us come boldly before the throne of grace. See, you don't have to go through the priest. You don't have to go through Mary. You don't have to go through Peter or Paul or anyone else because now the veil has been rent, the temple is done away, and the church, every member, every true member, And a true member is someone much more than someone who just has their name on the church registry. You can have your name on the church registry and still be lost and go to hell and still not be a true member. But every true member now in the church, every member, has direct access to God. Now, I have some very good friends that are Catholic. I like them. We're good friends. We go out and eat. We do different things. But when it comes to religion, we are as far apart as the North Pole from the South Pole, as the East is from the West. Why would you go to Mary when you can go directly to God the Father? I had a lady we buy our shop buys a lot of stuff from. And the other day I was talking and I said, she said, do you still have whatever it was? And I said, I've got it, but I don't know where it is. If you've ever seen my desk, you can understand. I said, I don't know where it is, but I've got it somewhere. She said, you need to pray too. And I forget which saint it was, Andrew or one of the saints. You need to pray to him, he's the God, I'm sorry, he's the advocate for lost things. She said, every time I lose something, I pray to whichever saint it is, and he always helps me to find it. Well, I got one owner. I go directly to God. I don't need Peter. I don't need Andrew. I don't need Paul. I don't need someone else. I don't need Mary. Mary, would you please tell your son to do this? When we got married, my mom was a wonderful lady in some ways, but I was the baby of the family. I was sick most of my life, so she was used to, I was a spoiled, rotten brat. If you don't believe me, ask my wife. I remember after we got married, it was my birthday, and I had a certain kind of cape that I liked. And every year, Mom would make this certain cake. My wife thought it was the grossest thing she'd ever eaten. So we got married, and on my birthday, Mom called my wife and said, now you have to make his favorite cake. And there were a few other things that happened. But it got to the point, if we went to the store, as soon as we walked in, where have you been? I've been trying to call you. Well, we went to the grocery store. Well, you should have let me know where you were going. I've been worried sick, because I didn't know where you were. Now you know why my wife thought murder, suicide. Finally, I had to come to the point where I had to call Mom, and I had to say, Mom, I love you, but I'm married now. My allegiance is to my wife. Jesus doesn't need Mary telling him what to do. And I know there's millions of people who pray to Mary every day. Mary, would you please go tell your son to do X, Y, Z? Why would you call Mary when you've got direct access to the throne of God? See, the church In, I'm sorry, the tabernacle and temple, only one person had access to the Holy of Holies. But in the church, every member, true member, has direct access. I remember when I was with the police, I got in to a situation. I needed something from the police department. I needed it really, really bad. I went to the window to get it and she said, I'm sorry, I can't give it to you because your name is not on the form. I explained the situation. She said, I'm sorry, your name is not on the form. I cannot give you what you want. I said, okay, thank you. I stepped back, I had the direct cell phone to the chief. I only did it one time, but I stepped back, called the chief, hey Tom, I need a favor, told him what was going on. He said, come upstairs, I'll have it when you get here. I told the lady, I said, Tom's getting it for me. She couldn't do it, but Tom could. Mary can't tell Jesus what to do, but I can go directly to Him. I can go boldly to the throne of grace, and I can make my petitions known to God Himself What? Have you ever played that game where I tell you something, you tell him, he tells her, she tells him, and by the time it gets around, it's done. Why would you want to go through Mary and risk her getting it mixed up? When you can go directly to the Father, directly to Jesus Christ. I don't think the lady really appreciated me going over her head. But why would I take no from her when I knew if I could get a hold of the chief, I knew I could get it without any questions whatsoever? So we go back to the church. The tabernacle was all about the building. The temple was all about the location. The church is about the people. The tabernacle had to have this material covered with this material and this material. It was all about the physical materials that went in to making the tabernacle. The temple was set in Jerusalem. And it was all about Jerusalem. Today, the church is all about people. Now, you all know the answer. This building, God's blessed us with a beautiful building. We've got a very nice building, very comfortable. padded pews, carpeted floor, central heat, central air, and I know in the winter some of you freeze, in the summer some of you burn up, but it still beats the old fireplace, I'm sorry, the old stove. I remember preaching at a church in college and Pastor always got there an hour or so before church, because right in the middle of the church was a wood-fired stove. And he had to get there early, put the wood in, light the wood, get the fire burning, so that it would be halfway warm when the people got there. We don't even have to do that. See that little thing on the wall back there? That little white box hanging on the wall? May not look like it, but that's a computer back there on the wall. And that computer, if it works right, turns the heat on at a certain time. I can be in California, It turns the AC on at a certain time. It turns it off at a certain time. Nobody has to get down here, put the wood in the stove right in the middle of the church, light the wood, and then shiver and shake until it gets warm. We are so spoiled. But church is not about the building. We would be Grace Baptist Church if we met in our basement at home. We would still be Grace Baptist Church. This building has nothing to do with Grace Baptist Church other than it's a nice, convenient place for us to meet together. This building, in the Old Testament, it was the building It was the person. It was the location. But in the New Testament, Peter said, we are not brick and mortar. We are living stones. We're a living organization. In the Old Testament, there was only one tabernacle and one temple. In the New Testament, there are churches all over the world, and each one is an individual church wherein the Spirit of God dwells. How important is the church in the New Testament? Well, in our text, Paul wrote Ye, the church. That's where context comes in. Ye, the church, not the building. Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in the assembly. So the church now is made up of living stones, and we, the church, the assembly, are God's New Testament temple where His Spirit dwells. How important is the church? It was important enough that Jesus personally called it, Jesus personally taught it, Jesus personally commissioned it, and he commissioned it to act as his body. The purpose of my body is to carry out what my brain tells it to do. My brain says, raise your hand. My hand goes up. I don't question it. I don't argue with it. I don't, I don't try to reason it. We are to be the body of Jesus Christ. We act on His behalf. We accomplish His will. We do His instructions. We're the body through which He works. We're His pride. Now, I've been married longer than most of you. I've been married longer than most of you. I guess I'm older than most of you. And I've said, well, as long as I can remember, you can steal from me, you can do all kinds of things, but don't you mess with my bride. We will. I will fight to the finish to protect my bride. The church is the bride of Jesus Christ. How important is it? How important is a bride to a groom? How important is the church? It's the only thing on earth. that God commissioned, commanded to be the pillar and ground of truth. He didn't call the Masons to be the pillar and ground of truth. He didn't call the Gideons to be the pillar and ground of truth. He didn't call the Red Cross. And I'm not saying they, you know, the Gideons do a great job. Sometimes I've had one call me several times wanting to come and present his work to our church. Salvation Army does a lot of good things. But God never commissioned any of them. to be the pillar and the ground of truth. God never commissioned anyone else to carry the great commission to the uttermost parts of the earth. But God did command How important is the church, Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembling, same word as church, same idea, of ourselves together as the manner of some is. In other words, when the church assembles, not the building, but when the church assembles, every part of the body should assemble. Now, some parts of my body don't like to cooperate. And I'm running out of time, so I'll spare you the details, but sometimes certain parts of my body just say, no. Can you believe my body argues with me? Jesus said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. You know, when we come together, certainly it's to hear the Word of God. It's to expound the Word of God. It is to grow in grace and knowledge but it's also to encourage each other. I was talking to one of our men this week. You know, the ladies are getting together now once a month, and I don't know what all they're doing. They're doing something every month now. I said, you know, we men ought to get together. Just don't ask me to go fishing or hunting, you know, anything but that. Why? Because we need encouragement. It's a lonely world out there. It's a scary world out there. Our enemy, the devil, is out there looking to devour us. And we need the encouragement of each other. We need the exhortation one of another. And I don't know about you folks, but I need it more than once a week. Some people, I guess they're so spiritual, they never get down except on Sunday and they need exhortation. I need somebody to encourage me every day. Because every day I have a battle with the devil. I have a battle. And it's a war. Sometimes we just need that exhortation. And so much the more. Not just once a week. But as we get closer to the end of time, we need that exhortation more and more and more and more and more and more. And then he said, if any man defile the temple of God, you mess with God's church and you do it at your own peril. Last of all, and I promise I'll make this one short, In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, context, Paul said, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? The church is the temple of God. Your individual body is also a temple of God. Your body, if you're saved, the moment God saved you, the Holy Spirit took a bow in you. And you now, individually, as a body, my physical body, my spiritual body, is a temple of the Holy Ghost. While we don't follow the rigid rules of the Old Testament, we are commanded to care for our bodies. And I'm not gonna get into everything, but anything that profanes or defiles the human body is sin. Whether it be drugs, whether it be cigarettes. You ever seen somebody die with lung cancer? I have. In Texas, a good friend of mine was a chain smoker. God saved him. But by that time, it was too late. He had lung cancer. And I sat by his bed many days. watching him die a miserable, miserable death. Your body is the temple of God. You need to take care of it. Certainly, it would include adultery and other similar sins. But my body is where the Holy Spirit dwells. And I should never do anything or put anything in my body which would defile the Holy Spirit or which would grieve the Holy Spirit. Father, we come.