God's Holy Temple

We can continue our study in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, God willing this will be the next to the last message in this chapter.

This morning we have two verses in 1 Corinthians 3, just 16 and 17, which will be the text for the preaching.

We'll read these in a moment, we'll read the entire chapter as we've been in the practice of doing. When we get to those two verses, which you'll hear repeated a few times in the message, know that you're going to hear one of the most intense and arguably most fearful of all the warnings in the

Apostle Paul's letters, if not in all of scripture. The warning here is not loss of reward to those who will be saved, and you recall that those whose work is kind of shoddy, that they put upon the foundation and build it up in ways that are more fleshly than faith -based, they will be saved but as through fire because the fire that assesses the work will consume those, but he will be saved, says the

Apostle Paul, yet as through fire. Now the verses that we're going to focus on this morning are quite a bit more intense than that.

It gives a warning here of complete destruction to anyone who would by divisive or disunifying behavior seek to destroy

God's house. So stand now in honor of God's word. I will read 1

Corinthians 3, the entire chapter, all 23 verses. But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready, for you're still of the flesh.

For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only

God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,

I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

You hear now the two verses for our preaching this morning. Do you not know that you are

God's temple, and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.

For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself.

If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the

Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. So let no one boast in men.

For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future.

All are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. God bless the reading of his word.

Please be seated. Let's pray now, and ask God to do that which only

God can do, which is to enlighten us as we proclaim and hear his word, our Heavenly Father.

Now we pray your help, as your word is proclaimed, as your word is heard, that you, by your

Spirit, would drive these words home, insofar as your truth will be proclaimed from this pulpit,

Father, that you, by your Spirit, would be pleased to make this truth real, to make this truth applicable, that we would all hear what

God the Lord has said. Repent where necessary, and know your forgiveness, Father, when repentance and confession has been offered.

So, Father, for all these things, we pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to the wonderful truths of your word, for we ask it all in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, the subject here in these two verses is the temple of God. There are three statements that the

Apostle Paul makes about the temple of God, and each one is repeated with a different emphasis that supports and then expands upon the statement that is made first.

And this is a very Hebraic way of writing, and it focuses our attention upon a center, a centerpiece of what he's saying in these six verses, or these three, excuse me, two verses.

I said six because these two verses divide very cleanly into six clauses. Now if all this sounds complicated, you can't quite picture what

I'm trying to tell you. Sarah Owens, our faithful bullet preparer, has made a little chart on the back of it.

You want to take a look at that now, and I want you to see the basic structure, because this is how I'm going to preach this message to you this morning.

And you'll see again, if you look there on the back, you see 1 Corinthians 3, 16 -17 structure, and you'll see how these two verses are broken into those six clauses.

These phrases flow from the first and the last and the second to the second to the last, sort of like the broad part of an arrow working up towards the point of the arrow, and these are working towards the center of those six verses.

And you'll see there in the center, which is labeled C, and then C with that little apostrophe, that simply means

C -prime. Destroyers destroy the temple, and then C -prime

God destroys the destroyers. This is the focus.

This is the warning. This is not being saved as through fire, this is to be destroyed by God.

God taking a personal affront, and personally coming upon a person, and destroying them for the temerity that they would have in trying to destroy his temple.

This is a severe warning. This is not one that we can ignore. This is one that probes our consciences and asks us to, or commands us and requires us to look deeply into ourselves, and to assure ourselves that we are not destroyers.

Sometimes it comes more easily than you might think. Book of First Corinthians is largely about unity in the church.

As Paul encourages and convicts and cajoles and does everything he can to get this church to stop dividing into sects, to stop dividing into groups, to get apart from their cliques, because all of that implies something that's very dangerous to the soul of those who would engage that kind of activity.

It is destruction. It is to destroy the temple of God. I don't have to repeat from the verses that we have here, they're so clear the way the

Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit of God, wrote them, to see God's view of such a thing.

Everything in First Corinthians chapter 3 has really been building up to this point. I think this is the important part of this chapter, the most intensive part of this chapter.

Divisive people are destroyers of the church, and those who destroy the church will be destroyed by God.

The people of God are the temple of God. The people of God are the temple of God.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God? That's verse 16a, the first part of verse 16.

Do you not know you are the temple of God? And then the last clause from 17, you see that little structure

I gave you? And you are that temple. So clearly, what is the

Apostle Paul saying? He's saying that this is the temple of God. You are the temple of God. We call ourselves a church, don't we?

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church. It's at the end of our name. And most churches have church at the end of their name.

A description of some sort, tell you where the church is or what they believe in, a Providence church and that sort of thing.

But church comes at the end of our name, and we are indeed a church. The scripture calls the assembly of Christ's people a church.

This letter we've been studying, 1 Corinthians, is addressed to the church of God that is in Corinth.

So we are a church, indeed. And that's not news to any of you, is it? Well, of course not.

It's in our name. It's common. We're more than that, though. You are more than simply a member of this assembly, though we are that.

What else are you? What else are we together in this place? We are a temple.

We are the temple of God. Now, my emphasis does not mean that we here in Sunnyvale, in this one place, we few dozen are the, capital

T -H -E, temple of God and no one else is. I speak of all true churches, where all who have faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ gather together to worship Him. That is the temple of God. And yet it applies to the distinct local assembly as here, the temple of God.

What is a temple? I want you to consider this. What is a temple?

I say that we are that. We need to know what that is. Simply put, a temple is where God meets with His people.

The place where God dwells with His people is a temple. Simply put, it's where He is and His people are and He can be with them.

It's that sense that most commentators will think of Eden, the Garden of Eden. And Eden then was a temple because that's where man was and that's where God was with man, therefore a temple.

But ever since Adam and Eve sinned, God has not dwelt in the same way with man who

He made. He is, as Habakkuk wrote, of two pure eyes and to behold evil.

An evil man was made when Adam sinned because we were in our first father when he sinned.

And ever since then, man has become unholy because of sin and the temple and that place where God's presence could only be illustrated after that or mediated after that.

God not there with them any longer, He having expelled them from that place.

Recall that at the end of the book of Exodus when the tabernacle was made and the glory of the

Lord fell upon it and God was there in that tabernacle, we could say they're in the temple. Do you remember what the priests had to do?

They had to flee. They had to run for their lives. Because God in His holiness could not abide with sinful men.

And that began again, he agreed about this in Genesis chapter three with Adam's first sin.

Now we are called a temple. We're called the temple. Emphasis Paul's.

And Paul says here, do you not know? Do you not know that you are the temple of God?

And then at the end of the section, you are that temple. It's more statement than question.

So I tell our kids, do you not know what I told you about how to treat your sister, your brother?

Do you not know that I told you to obey me? Of course, you're making a statement. What are you saying when we say something like that?

You do know this, don't you? Not even a question. You do know this.

It's a statement, not a question. Seeing that you do know this by apostolic teaching and by experience,

Paul is saying to them, now act upon it. Behave according to this established fact. Ponder this thing that you know.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and you are that temple? How much more can he emphasize it to them?

The expression he uses here is used 14 times in the New Testament. I should say in the

New Testament letters. And 12 of those 14 are by Paul. Do you not know? Do you not know?

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

That's Romans 6 .16. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

1 Corinthians 6 .9. James uses it the same way. James 4 .4. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

You do know this. And now you here today know something else.

You, we together, are the temple of God.

Elsewhere called the temple of the living God. Paul sets before them this truth that they surely knew.

But then what? They failed to assimilate it. They failed to ponder it.

They failed to think clearly, okay, if this is true, and it is, do you not know?

Yes, we know. Paul taught it when he came to Corinth and evangelized the town. Paul exemplified it in his teaching, and they knew it by experience.

They had known the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They saw God working in these marvelous ways, which causes so much confusion as we go through this book, which we're not going to do.

We're going to stop at chapter 3, but if you go to chapter 12, 13, and especially 14. But they had seen these marvelous workings of God amongst them.

They knew it was a temple, and yet they didn't assimilate it. They knew it was a temple, and Paul was telling them it was.

And he taught them that it was. And it was sort of like, well, that's a nice factoid.

And I've got that filed away here. And I put it in my keep notes on Google, and so I can refer to it any time

I want. But thank you, Paul. What next? No, no, no, stop. Consider.

Apply. This means something. You are the temple of God.

And remember that this is the beginning shot to come down to this destruction.

Remember how important this is. You see, when he says, do you not know? He's saying you did know, you do know, and you should have pondered it.

You should have applied. You see the gospel truths that you hear from this pulpit, the gospel truths that you gain from the scripture when you read it on your own.

The gospel truths that you get from brothers and sisters as they edify you or admonish you in the

Lord. These are not just platitudes to allow to drop on the ground, or as I said before, just to file away like a little factoid.

It means something. I love going to Ephesians 5 .22

with gospel truths. Husband, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Okay, I got it. Okay, so Christ did this thing, and we're supposed to do this other thing.

What's next? No, no, no, stop. Ponder. Consider, do you not know that you too love your wife this way?

You do know. Wives, submit to your husbands. Do you not know that the scripture says this?

Is it not clear what it means? I'm not picking on husbands and wives this morning, just throwing this out as one example of gospel truth, which means something in this life, which is to make us slow down and ponder and apply it, not just file it away, not just be able to throw it out anytime somebody says, what does

Ephesians 5 .22 say, or any other part of the scripture, and you can give it back, keep it in, put it in your spirit, let your mind work it out, but don't forget it's a spiritual, it's a gospel truth, not just platitudes, not just words that are nice or sensible.

We are the temple of God, he says. He says you are the temple of God and you are that temple.

Do you know this? Do you here this day know this? Paul was writing to the

Corinthians, I'm speaking to us today in the year 2022, do you not know this?

Consider it carefully. If you understand, if you assimilate, if you ponder the fact that God has constituted this place a church, yes, it is a church, and church is so important that there's whole sections in the systematic theology about ecclesiology, the study of the church itself.

Now let's add a layer to it. You come to church on Sunday, you step into a temple, not this building, of course, as beautiful as it is, as comfortable as we are here, it's not the building, it's we, the people who are here this day, assembled before Christ by faith in him and the redemption that he won for us on the cross, the temple.

Now you know this. Now it needs to be applied. Now it needs to infuse everything that we say and think and do about the

Lord. How do you prepare yourselves for Sundays? What preparation do you have to step into the temple of God?

Do you bring the decorum and the respect that is due to the house of the living

God? Do you think through carefully what you might add to this place when you come in, when we sing, when we pray?

This is church, and it's church, yes, but it's deeper, and it's more than just that.

It's the temple of God. The Corinthians knew that they were at the temple of God, but they failed to consider what that meant.

To know this is God's temple has to mean something. We get used to coming.

It becomes sort of a rote habit, becomes sort of a rote duty. It's just something we do because we're supposed to.

God commands us not to forsake the assembling together of ourselves. God commands a Sabbath day to be on the

Lord's day, on the Sunday, on the first day. And so I'm just going to do it, and I'm going to come.

It just becomes this duty, this thing that we stop thinking about. Now ponder carefully what Paul meant when he wrote this.

Not the building, not the constitution, not our revered 1689 confession of faith.

We, the people of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, are the temple of the living God. Do you not know what the fourth verse of the fifth psalm says?

For you're not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. Think.

Temple of the living God, what do you bring in here? And more important than the words you speak, or whether or not you wear a coat and tie as I do, much more important than that, what does your spirit bring into the place?

When we bow in prayer, when the pastor who stands here in the morning or in the afternoon leads us in prayer, do you bow your head in respect for God to whom we pray?

Or do you bow your head because those around you are doing that and you don't want to look like you're an oddball? Are you praying with us in the spirit?

You come to the temple of the living God. He does dwell with us.

He does, in fact, dwell with us. The temple of old housed the symbols of God's residence, the ark, the mercy seat, the altar, the incense.

But they were symbols that were pointing to a greater reality. And church, temple, you, we are that reality.

We are that fulfillment. Those were, in the old days, just symbols.

His sin maligned, iniquity ridden, evil disposed people couldn't be with him.

And you and me, born in trespass and sin by nature of children of wrath, how can we stand before God?

How can your pastor stand up here morning after afternoon and morning after noon and tell you and pray with you about God's presence with us, knowing what we are compared to his holiness and his perfections?

And yet, Paul says, temple of God, the people of Israel hope for this.

Exodus 29, 44, excuse me, 29, 45, I will dwell among the people of Israel and be their

God. Well, this never came true, not in their time. And Paul cites that very verse in 2

Corinthians 6, 16, where God says, I will dwell among the people of Israel. I will dwell among the people and I will be their

God. But what does Paul say in 2 Corinthians 6, 16? This has happened in the

Lord Jesus Christ. What he says is phenomenal. He says that in Christ Jesus, God does, in fact, dwell with us.

So this is the temple of God. Remember the emphasis, the people of God are the temple of God.

Paul says, do you not know that you are God's temple? And he ends this section and you are that temple.

Now, you know. Now, any time we come to you and say, do you not know?

We could say, you do know. We all do know. And we need to act upon this.

The temple of God is holy. He says in the second half of verse 16, and and that God's Holy Spirit dwells in you.

God's Holy Spirit dwells in you. That do you not know applies there. So we could say, do you not know that God's Holy Spirit dwells in you?

For God's people, for God's temple is holy. A temple is where God meets with his people.

And in Jesus Christ, he's doing more than just meeting with us. He dwells with us.

He resides with us. Now, holiness is what? Holiness is God's basic nature.

It's at the core of his being. It's core to everything that God says.

Everything he does emanates from his holiness, his righteousness, his justice, his omnipotence.

His omniscience. All of this flows from his holiness. The seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6 and Revelation chapter 4.

They never end this course of holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.

Paul says, God's Holy Spirit dwells in you. And the temple of God is holy.

And remember, what is the temple of God? It is the people of God. You are that temple.

I'm not lifting anybody up further than scripture would. It doesn't lift us up. It lifts up Jesus Christ by whom we become holy.

But not one day will be a holy temple. Not if we work really hard and wash the walls and pray really hard and wash our spirits to become holy.

It's an accomplished fact. It's an accomplished fact by the Lord Jesus Christ. The temple of God is holy.

Do you not know that God's Holy Spirit dwells in you? That's what makes us holy. Is God's Spirit being here with us and amongst us.

For the temple of God is holy. You know, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be with us and would dwell in us.

That's John 14 7. He said that he and the Father in John 14 23 would come and make their home in us.

This speaks of you individually. If you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that God the Father and God the

Son dwell in you. And with us all together.

This is what Jesus promised. This is what Paul refers to when he says, this

Holy Spirit dwells in you. He means in you corporately. And he's assuming in you individually as we come together corporately.

As we join together as our songs magnify each other's songs. As we lift up our voices together and praise our

Lord Jesus Christ. What makes this place holy?

Was the residence of the Holy Spirit with us. And he is the Holy Spirit.

But you are holy people. Paul everywhere speaks of those who are sanctified in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctified just means made holy. Why were you made holy? Because God chose to.

Why do you deserve to be made holy? Not one of us does. Not one of us reached out for it.

Not one of us desired to be holy. Until God changed the heart. By his

Holy Spirit. Gave you a new heart to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by that working of the

Holy Spirit in you. Set you apart which is holiness. And made you holy before God because of Jesus Christ.

And his blood which washed away our sins. That's why we're holy.

Because the Holy Spirit. Having made a people holy. Brings that holy people together.

And by his holiness with us. Makes this temple.

This gathering the holy temple. Do you not know that God's spirit dwells in you?

For the temple of God is holy. Do you know if he stretches back.

In our understanding of redemptive history. Which is simply the record of God.

Working his will up to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And continuing until his return.

What is the temple? If the temple of God is holy. And the apostle Paul says the

Holy Spirit dwells in you. Can we say dwells with you? We can. It doesn't do any harm to the passage. We just change that preposition a little bit.

What does that mean? Do you not know what this implies?

You will in a moment. This is Eden restored. Did they see

God in person? I would say not. And yet he walked in the cool of the day with them. He was present with them.

They hadn't sinned. This is

Eden restored. Because here God is with his people. It's not my declaration.

This is not something I made up to excite us. This is what the scripture says. The Holy Spirit dwells in you.

The Holy Spirit dwells with you. That's why this place is holy. And after all the centuries from Eden.

Up to the Lord Jesus Christ. And his death, burial and resurrection. And the washing with his blood.

To take away our sin. And to make us presentable to God. Because of him and by him and through him.

God is with us. We could even say in the cool of this morning.

As we worship him. Here he is walking amongst us in that sense.

Ponder, think what this means. That the temple of God is holy and you are that temple.

How much more can he emphasize it? Do you not know that his spirit dwells in you? And the temple of God is holy.

This is why we're holy. And this is why God takes us in such a stern view. Of destroyers.

Destroyers destroy the temple. And God destroys the destroyers. If anyone destroys the temple,

God will destroy him. Why so severe? Why is God so mean and nasty as to destroy people?

Don't we like that nicer God from the previous section? The one who will let you get burned up a little bit.

And get the smell of smoke on your clothes. But he's gonna save you. I like that God. Why is he here destroying people?

He's not talking about a whack on the back of the head. A minor correction.

Destruction. Why so severe? The reason it's so severe is because God loves unity. God loves unity.

Psalm 133 which is one of my favorite psalms. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

It's like the precious oil on the head. Running down on the beard. The beard of the Aaron. Running down on the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing. Life forevermore.

How much more can we add adjective upon adjective upon adjective? Here we have

Aaron. The first high priest. That first mediator that God assigned to mediate sinful people to the holy

God. That precursor of the ultimate priesthood.

Of the Lord Jesus Christ. That oil. That oil of anointing running down on his beard.

On the collar of his robes. All these beautiful pictures of Aaron. And how much God loves the unity that Aaron brought.

Well where was that unity? Between sinful men and God.

Unity to God is like the ministry of the first high priest. The mediator between God and men. Unity among God's people reminds him of the mediation of his son

Jesus Christ. How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. And it's so good and so pleasant to God that it reminds him of Aaron.

Who was a type. A pre -type if you will. Of his son Jesus Christ.

You remember Jesus also had oil running all down on him don't you? The night before he was crucified when

Mary anointed him with the expensive oil. That's why God will destroy the destroyer of the church.

Because he loves unity so much. And destroyers bring in and cause disunity and divisiveness and sectarianism.

I follow this and I follow that. And you know what it says? If I follow that means you don't. And I follow because I figured out more than you could.

That really is what is set there. It doesn't mean that we don't listen to the gift of God.

To the church of teachers and pastors and scholars and commentators. Who don't follow them.

And we don't use them as a way to exclude others from my little club. God hates that because of how much he loves unity.

He loves unity so much that he hates its opposite number. Look if you will at Proverbs 16. I'll read this in a moment.

But I want you to follow along with me when I read this. Proverbs 16 starting at verse 16.

It says there are six things the Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. One a haughty eyes.

Two a lying tongue. Three hands that shed innocent blood. Four a heart that devises wicked plans.

Five feet that make haste to run to evil. Six a false witness who breathes out lies.

And pride of place. The seventh one. If there's six he hates the abomination comes now.

And one who sows discord among brothers. Well this is why the apostle

Paul would say. If anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him. Because to destroy

God's temple is to bring disunity. To bring divisiveness. To do anything to separate people from each other.

And take their focus off the Lord Jesus Christ. And put it on a man. And put it on the man that I follow.

Which excludes you from following. Because as I said before I'm smarter than you. And I'm following Paul because he was an apostle.

Or I'm following Paulist because he's so eloquent. What is this offense that incites this from God?

The original language would have struck terror in the hearts of the first audience. It went something like this. If anyone the temple of God destroys, destroy him will

God. And destroy comes from this word that means to corrupt something. To destroy it.

It has this moral sense where bad company corrupts good morals.

Same word used there. Or Ephesians 4 .22 speaks of the old self that is corrupt.

That's the same word. Through deceitful desires. Peter and Jude use this word to describe men whose depravity makes them like brute beasts.

Revelation chapter 9 verse 12 is about Babylon the great harlot and how it corrupted.

And there's our word. Corrupted the earth with her immoralities. So why so severe?

Let's think about this a minute. Do you not know that you're a God's temple? Do you not know that this is a holy place?

Let's think about this a moment. What does factionalism then say about our view of God?

What does factionalism or anything that excludes any brother or sister in any way?

What does it say about your view of God the holy, of God the triune God? Father, Son, and Spirit.

It impugns his core character. If the temple of God is holy because his

Holy Spirit is here with the people he has made holy by his working in your heart and this place is holy, what does factionalism say about the

God who made us holy? First Peter 3 .18

says that Jesus Christ died the righteous for the unrighteous so that he might bring us to God. What does factionalism say about that?

The Corinthian penchant for lining up behind men was an implicit denial that Jesus was the one who brought them to God. It was as if they said, well,

Paul got us on the right track. Now, Apollos will get us to the end. I follow Apollos. Another said, no,

Paul is the one and only. I need to listen to Apollos. Apollos cannot benefit. I need to not listen to Apollos because he can't benefit me.

I won't be with the apostle. This sort of thing. You can benefit from the gifts that God gave the church in pastors and teachers and evangelists and so forth.

But these gifts are only servants of Christ. What is

Paul? What is Apollos? We're servants as appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all they are.

And we are only useful to you insofar as our attention is away from us, away from even yourselves and to Jesus Christ.

Paul brought no one to God. Neither did Apollos or John or Peter. Neither can

John MacArthur or Josh Sheldon or Conley Owens or Alistair Begg. Only God by his spirit can bring you to God.

To join the Corinthians in lining up behind men is to vest way too much in them and too little in Christ.

What does this factualism say? Why is God's response to this so severe?

Destroying the destroyer? Think of the psalm that I read a moment ago.

Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. This is God's view of it. And what does the church represent?

It represents our view of God. And in this temple, do we not come together to express our view of God?

Well, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, are they not unified? And should not our unity together reflect that?

And when we have disunity, discord among us, I don't mean we don't have conflicts every now and then. Christ, by his word in Matthew 18, tells us how to resolve our conflicts.

But when we have purposeful cliques and factions and sects amongst us, really what we're implying is that Father, Son, Holy Spirit have cliques and factions and sects among themselves, which would be ridiculous.

And because that's what is implied, I think that's part of why the Apostle Paul says

God's response is so severe. It also goes against God's purpose ever since man was kicked out of Eden and God didn't dwell with men anymore.

Ever since then, he's been forming a holy nation. That's Exodus 19, verse 6 and 1 Peter 2, 9.

You are that holy nation. Now it is formed and is formed by the blood of the Son, Jesus Christ. Now it is inhabited and inhabited by his spirit.

And to destroy the church with these kind of factions that are so endemic in so many places.

Is it here? I'd love to say I know for sure it is not. But each of us has to consider this now.

Do you not know that God's temple is holy? And holiness is what we must exemplify always.

Now you know this. Now we all know this. We need to look at our hearts and make sure of what we are bringing to this place.

It's inhabited by his spirit. It's formed by the blood of his Son. It's been God's purpose to have a people with whom he will dwell since Eden.

And now he does dwell with us because of Jesus Christ.

And he looks upon this place and he looks upon our unity or disunity. And he says, this says and this tells me their view, your view, my view of the blood of my

Son, the precious blood of my Son, Jesus Christ. So church destroyers, beware.

It can be very subtle. It can be that very holy sounding thing.

I need you to help me pray for Sister Mary or Brother Joseph over here because they have such a problem we can't talk about very much, but here it all is.

And immediately, what have we done? I exaggerate. I've never actually heard anything like that here.

We need to be careful of these things. Church destroyers, it comes easily. We can give in to the sinful nature so quickly.

The poor works we do, the shoddy work that we add will cause us loss, but it will not condemn.

The evil work of someone who destroys will not be saved through fire, but they will be destroyed.

Verse 15 says that the sloppy worker, his works will be consumed, but not the person himself.

But here is the worker destroyed, the person. God will destroy everyone who enters eternity without faith in his

Son, Jesus Christ. Do you not know this? Now you do. You must repent of your sin and put your faith in the

Lord, Jesus Christ. And ultimately, if you do not, your destruction is no different than the destruction of those who claim to be part of the church and yet destroy the church.

The people of God, you, people of God, are the temple of God. And you are that temple.

And this temple is holy. The temple is holy.

It's the residence of God and his Holy Spirit. Let us all beware of how easily destruction comes out of our heart and through our lips.

And take this warning seriously, that God will destroy the destroyers. First John 1 .9

says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you sinned in this way, if now that you know this, now you can say, seeing that I do know this, and the

Spirit of God might be looking into your spirit, into your heart, revealing yourself to you, you can repent.

You can repent, you can confess your sin before God and know his cleansing. More importantly, or I should say not more importantly, but more courageously going to that brother or sister, that one with whom you were divisive, that one who wanted to join into a conversation but saw only backs, that one who was left out because you follow one that he hadn't heard of or she didn't know of.

It's like, well, you hadn't heard of this church father from 23 centuries ago and so forth. You can repent now and restore that relationship.

Restore your view and that exemplification of God's holiness here in this place.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this day and for this word that you've given us.

I pray, Father, that this place would be a church, a temple that lives and and shines forth in the holiness of God and that all that that implies, we would live not only in this place but throughout our lives.