WWUTT 2591 God Dwells With Us in Christ (Acts 7:44-50)

The men of Israel had thought they had contained God. They contained him in their tabernacle or in their temple. But God does not dwell in places made by human hands. He dwells within the followers of Christ, when we understand the text.

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Once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to the speech of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. We're finishing up this sermon today, where Stephen has been brought before the Sanhedrin, and he is giving them a history lesson, showing them how they are just like their fathers, who had rejected the prophets before.

And so, as their fathers had put the prophets to death, they put the very Son of God to.

Death.

And this to convict their hearts to recognize their rebellion against God, that they would repent and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Of course, as you know, the conclusion of this sermon, they not only rejected and put Jesus to death, but so they are going to do the same with Stephen.

Here is Acts 7 verses 44 to 53. Hear the word of the Lord. Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers until the time of David. David found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

But Solomon built a house for him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what place is there for my rest?

Was it not my hand which made all these things? You men, stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, are always resisting the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. So do you. And which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not observe it.

And we'll stop right there and pick up with that last part, verses 51 to 53, the close of the sermon. I want to examine that more specifically tomorrow. But in the meantime, here is the conclusion of this history lesson that Stephen is giving.

Verses 44 to 50 is what we're going to be looking at today. And it's nicely outlined with some natural alliteration. You know what I mean by alliteration? It means that every single one of the points starts with the same letter.

And I say it's natural alliteration because I don't have to be too imaginative to see how this outline works. So first of all, you have a reference to the tabernacle. That's in verses 44 to 45. Then you have the reference to the temple in verses 46 and 47.

And then you have a reference to God's transcendence in verses 48 to 50, that he is even above this tabernacle and this temple, which God had given for our benefit, but he is not contained in buildings that are made by human hands.

And that's the point of what we see here at the very conclusion. That's what it is that Stephen is driving home, at least in this portion, in the history lesson portion. What he's really driving home is that they had rejected the prophets or their fathers had rejected the prophets.

And so you also have rejected the righteous one who has been sent to you. That's the main point, which we get to tomorrow in verses 51 to 53. But looking here at how God is above all of this, you think that you have contained God, but you have not.

He does not dwell in houses made by human hands. God is the one who has made everything. And so we must submit to God. Let's come back up to verse 44. And here's where we read of the tabernacle in verses 44 and 45.

Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. You know, it's very interesting that I'm reading exactly this passage at the same time that we in our church are finishing up a study through the book of Exodus.

That's what we're doing in our adult Sunday school class before service. So we've been reading through Exodus since the start of last year, I guess. So it's taking us close to a year and a half to finish this up.

But it's right at the very end of Exodus where we see Moses and the craftsmen like Aholiab and Bezalel and all of the people of Israel coming together to construct the tabernacle as God has instructed them to make it.

And these blueprints have been given previously in Exodus. But what we see at the very end of the book is now they're doing it. Here they're putting it all together. The people are donating their goods and their items for the construction of this place where God is choosing to dwell with his people.

And they follow the instructions exactly as God has given them to make this place. It is not left, it's not left to the imagination of man to come up with a place that God will dwell in. God has said the way that worship is to be conducted to him, he has directed our worship.

Even the place where we will worship. Now later on, Jesus will say to the woman at the well in John chapter 4 that the Jews say worship should be done in Jerusalem. Well, actually, this is the woman responding to Jesus when she says this.

She says, you Jews say that worship is supposed to be in Jerusalem. We say it's supposed to be up here on this mountain. She's a Samaritan woman. And she's saying that it's supposed to be the Mount Gerizim, I think is what it was.

And so this is where we say that worship is supposed to be. Which is it? When the Messiah comes, he'll tell us where it's supposed to be. And then Jesus, of course, reveals to her, I who speak to you am he.

But Jesus in that interaction had said to her that worship will not be conducted in Jerusalem or anywhere else for the father is spirit. And he is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and truth.

Worship will be done everywhere. It will be all over the place. Because when Jesus Christ dies and rises again from the dead, he has accomplished, he has gone into the most holy place, not just the holy place in the temple, but the most holy place in the heavens, as the book of Hebrews talks about, and has laid his life down as an atoning sacrifice for sin for all time, so that those who believe in him don't have to make annual sacrifices.

We don't have to use a priest to go in who is going to sacrifice for us. That has been paid for by our high priest who is Christ. And now wherever we have Christ, and that's everyone who believes in him, who is a follower of Jesus, we now fellowship with God anywhere.

It's not one day a year on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. It's not just in this place that was built to God. It's not just through these priests who have been designated to make sacrifices to God. Our high priest has gone in before us.

And through Jesus Christ, we can now enter into that place where we stand before the throne of grace, and you can talk to God right now because of the access that Jesus has opened up for you. That's what all of this is pointing to.

The tabernacle was even supposed to be a temporary dwelling, and it was supposed to point the way to Christ. When we read in John 1 that Jesus put on flesh and dwelt among us, the Greek word that's used there is he tabernacled among us.

So the tabernacle was always pointing to Christ, and it is he who dwells within us. Everyone who is a follower of Jesus has been given his Holy Spirit, and he is with us now. And until his return and the coming of his kingdom, he will be with us, and we will be with him forever in glory.

Even the tabernacle pointed to this. But God designates the place of his worship and the way that he is to worship. He is the one who says, here is what right worship to me is supposed to look like. So the children of Israel follow the instructions that God gave on how to craft this tabernacle.

And if you know something about the construction of the tabernacle, you might have a study Bible that has illustrations in it. There's surely going to be one in there that shows you a cutaway section of the tabernacle or something like that.

God had even instructed them that the tabernacle was supposed to set a certain way, north, south, east, and west. The entrance of the tabernacle faced east. This was the entrance into the courtyard area, which is surrounded by the outer curtain.

And you would have in the courtyard the bronze altar and the laver, which held the water. And this is where sacrifices would be prepared and burned there on the bronze altar. Now toward the west side of this courtyard area is where you have the tent that consisted of the holy place, where there was the altar of incense, the table of the showbread, the lamp stand.

And then beyond the curtain in the holy place, you went into the holy of holies. And that's where the Ark of the Covenant was. And God would sit right there on the top of the Ark of the Covenant between the two cherubim.

And only the high priest could go in to the holy of holies. And it was only once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifices for himself. Then he would come out and bathe. And then he would go in and offer for all of the priests.

And then he would come out and bathe. New linens would be put on him. And then he would go in and he would sacrifice on behalf of all the people. And even around the tabernacle, God had designated where the different tribes were supposed to sit encamped.

To the east, it was Issachar, Judah, and Zebulun. To the south, it was Gad, Simeon, and Reuben. To the west, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. And then to the north, Naphtali, Asher, and Dan. So God is even designating how his worshipers are to be set up.

This is God saying, here's how I am to be worshipped properly. And he's God, so he can say how he is to be worshipped. And so this was the tabernacle. This was while Israel was still mobile. And David wanted the opportunity to be able to build a permanent place for God.

So we go from the mention of the tabernacle, verse 45, having received it in their turn, and our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers until the time of David.

So this is Stephen mentioning that the tabernacle where God had dwelled with his people was that mobile place that continued even while the nations were being dispossessed. And all this happened through the period of the judges, and it continued on until David came along and wanted to build a more permanent dwelling place.

So that's the tabernacle in verses 44 and 45. And then you have a reference to the temple in verses 46 and 47. David found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

But Solomon built a house for him. Now if the tabernacle was pointing to Jesus, who put on flesh and tabernacled among us, how about the temple? Well, the temple is also pointing to Jesus. Jesus saying in John chapter 2 that I will tear down this temple and rebuild it in three.

Days.

Nobody knew what he was talking about at the time. They thought he's actually threatening to tear down the temple. This temple took years for our fathers to build it, and you're going to tear it down and rebuild it in three days?

But of course he was talking about himself who would die and be raised again. So Christ is the true temple. And we who are with Christ are a temple of God, for the Holy Spirit dwells within us. So in one sense the temple points to Christ, and in another sense it's also pointing to something more permanent.

As the tabernacle was mobile, the temple is a fixed place, and Christ's church is that fixed place. Or you could even look into the eternal state that we're going to live in, and that eternal kingdom is the permanent place.

That's the permanent dwelling. Well, where we will be with the Lord forever. So the tabernacle in verses 44 and 45, and then the temple in verses 46 and 47. But God was never contained in these places.

This was never about building a place that we could capture God in it. These blueprints about how these places were to be built, the tabernacle first and then later the temple. These were given by God so that God could dwell with us.

It was by God's mercy and God's grace that he dwelled with his people. Not because we did anything great, but because God condescended himself to be with us. And the greatest condescension was not God coming down to dwell in a tabernacle or a.

Temple.

His greatest condescension was putting on flesh and dwelling among us. And so Jesus, becoming man in the likeness of sinful flesh, as said in the scriptures, lives life perfectly, never sins at all, never committed a sin at all in his life, becoming the perfect sacrifice who would die for us, rise again from the dead, and all who believe in him would have eternal life.

God is not contained in places built by human hands, which is a point that the Apostle Paul is going to make later, actually 10 chapters from now, when we get to the sermon at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17.

So just as Stephen says it here to the Jews, Paul is going to preach it later to the Gentiles, that even these things that you have made do not contain the God of heaven who has made all things. God has condescended himself to be with us, but we don't build things that capture God and therefore that's where he dwells.

And so Stephen goes on to make this point about God's transcendence in this final portion, verses 48 to 50. However, he says, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool of my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what kind of place is there for my rest? Was it not my hand which made all of these things? This is a citation that comes from Isaiah 66, and Stephen is pointing out that you don't even understand the prophets.

If you think God dwells here, if you think that God was not in Jesus, but he is here in this temple, then you've even missed what the prophets have said to you. And my friends, the same error can be committed today.

There are many who will claim that Jesus dwells in these things that are made by human hands. He dwells in this wafer, right? He dwells in this cup. He dwells in this little gold box that we have over here in the sanctuary.

His actual physical presence is in there. So go over there and genuflect and bow to it and pray as if we have captured God in these things that have been made by human hands. No, not at all. Not even remotely at all.

This is not the way that God dwells within us. He dwells with us by faith in Jesus, who gives his Holy Spirit to us. Every single one of us are a temple unto God. Every one of us who believes in Jesus, we are a temple unto the Lord.

And so, knowing that then, as said in 1 Corinthians 6, we must not do with our bodies that which may desecrate the temple of the living God. For our very bodies are temples that the Holy Spirit dwells within, so therefore, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, do not unite yourself with a prostitute.

Don't go after sexual immorality. Why would you do such a thing with the place where God dwells? Be holy as God is holy, as the place where he dwells should be holy. So you must be holy in all your conduct.

And where we stumble when we sin, as 1 John 1 .9 -2 .1 says, that we must confess our sins before God and he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father who is Jesus Christ, the Righteous.

One.

He's not dwelling on earth in places made by hands. Beware those, as Jesus said in Matthew 24, who will parade Jesus around and say, look here he is, don't listen to them. For Christ's next return is going to be as lightning shines from the east to the west, the whole world will see it.

So don't listen to those who claim, no, he's come to us in secret and he's in these places. God dwells within us until the day of his coming when the whole world will see him and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Those who believed in him in faith will be rescued into eternal life and those who cower before him who did not believe, they will perish in eternal judgment. So turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and live.

We'll finish up this sermon tomorrow with Stephen's rebuke to these stiff-necked men who are uncircumcised in heart. Come back for that lesson. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here in Acts chapter 7, in the sermon.

Of Stephen.

And I pray that it does help us to understand that you are with us and you dwell within.

Us.

You are always with us. There is nothing that we can do that you do not see. And so knowing that your eyes are upon us, convict our hearts and let us not sin anymore. Turning from these wicked things to walk in holiness with our Lord Jesus Christ.

We love you. We praise you. In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand The Text.