Ye Are The Temple (2)

14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Since christ indeed died for us, we should as a natural course, live as unto Christ.

as Christ died, we are likewise dead to sin and no longer give ourselves to the lust of the flesh and our own selfish desires.

The bible says we are bought with a price...that is our redemption has been bought and paid for....we are therefor free from the law of sin.

The definition of temple in its most simplest form is:

a place devoted to a special purpose

When we are born again, we yield ourselves to the will and purpose of God.

we are, so to speak, set a side for a special purpose (for his purpose)

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

our bodies become the temple or dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.

We are called to be a separate people, that is, separate from this world and from sin, fully commited to his service.

we are therefor to be Holy as he is Holy.

Romans 6:22 NKJV

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

The fruit of our lives is to Holiness and not to corruption.

we are to bring glory and honor to God and not dishonor

When we are filled with his spirit…our bodies become the dwelling place of the spirit of God or the temple of God.

Holy is defined as:

devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity (or to God)

though, we are not Holy of ourselves but have been sanctified and justified by the blood of Jesus....meaning not set free by our own righteousness but by his righteousness through his blood.

we can be the temple of the Lord because we have been cleansed and sanctified by baptism and the application of the blood.

2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV

19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

because of Christ, our sins where not charged to our debt.

we where reconciled back to God through the blood.

we therefor have a responsibility to honor God and to not defile the temple of God.

we see an example of this in the book of John

John 2:12–16 NKJV

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. 13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

Jesus drove them out of the temple because they abused the temple and used it for something that was not intended

they profaned the house of God meaning:

they treated something sacred with abuse, irreverence, or contempt : DESECRATE : to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 NKJV

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Many times, people ask: will various sins keep me from heaven...

drugs

alcohol

smoking

they say....If I’m born again, I have grace and liberty don’t I ??

but the bible says:

Romans 6:1–6 NKJV

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

the standard set forth in the bible by God is clear…his standard for us is this.

to be in right relationship with him

to live in victory of all sin....because sin bringeth forth death

physically, spiritually, eternally and in so many other areas of life.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 NKJV

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

God not only cares about our spirituality and eternity..he cares about our bodies

when we recieved Christ, we became part of Christ.

therefor as he is Holy, so should we be Holy.

when we recieved the Holy Spirit, we where empowered to live a life that is pleasing to him.

when we allow sin into this temple that we are…it can ruin our testimony, our health, our mental well being and our very salvation

these things can cause us to become a slave to the very thing we are hanging on to.

the will of God is for us to be free from the addictions of this world and to have life and that more abundantly.

Galatians 5:1 NKJV

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

we must remember that sin comes to destroy, but Christ came to save us...

we must ask ourselves: do the things that I do bring glory and honor to God

or do they add to our self destruction and sinful nature....does it corrupt our good works and testimony

No matter what we do, we must remember that we live in this body of sin and there will always be a war against flesh and spirit.

from the time we are born to the time we die our flesh will constantly be against the things of God.

we must understand that our flesh will always resist the spirit.

Galatians 5:16–17 NKJV

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

when we become born again believers..we must destroy this body of flesh and allow our bodies to be the true “temple of the Lord”

for sin separates, destroys and kills

1 Corinthians 6:20 NKJV

20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

we must remind ourselves that we are ambassadors for Christ

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV

31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

if we are children of God…our lives will be a living sacrifice and testimony of the glory of God.

1 John 3:4–10 NKJV

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

If we allow things in our lives that put us in bondage and glorify not God. we are dishonoring God and the temple of God.

1 Peter 1:16 NKJV

16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

We can see in the bible: that it says a house divided cannot stand.

no man can serve 2 masters

Related Media

Related Sermons