Transcript
In the heart of Kentucky is a facility dedicated to housing hundreds of bars of pure gold weighing more than 4,600 tons: Fort Knox.
When we think of Fort Knox we might visualize it as being nothing more than the vault that holds that gold, and yet the place where the gold is held is only a small part of a military base covering 109,000 acres spread across 3 counties, which houses 23,000 soldiers, because you need a lot of men and weapons to guard that much gold.
The vault itself is built to be inpenetrable. It is constructed of granite, steel, and concrete. The vault door alone weighs more than 20 tons. In fact, it’s thought that there might be more steel than gold at Fort Knox.
The vault is made of steel plates, steel beams, and steel cylinders. To open the door, several staffers at the depository must individually dial in separate combinations known only to them. And even the president of the United States doesn’t have the combination to the vault.
Over the years, in addition to gold, the Vault at Ft. Knox has also protected the gold reserves of several other countries; the English crown jewels; the Magna Carta; the Gutenberg Bible. And back in the early 1940’s it also held the original U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.
Fort Knox captures our imagination because just hearing the name brings to our mind images of huge stacks of gold. We know Fort Knox as a place that holds items of great value. And that’s the kind of imagery that God uses to describe you and I: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
Believers are a place which holds a Person of infinite value. We each have the Spirit of God inside of us. We are the temple of God.
This truth and reality needs our careful attention in life. In this episode we’ll be looking at the indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
In time past, the Holy Spirit came upon people in Israel temporarily to enable them to perform a specific and important duty for God’s glory, but then He would depart.
The Holy Spirit was given and then taken away. And He was given only to select people and not to most others in Israel.
In time future, in the Tribulation and the future kingdom on the earth, the blessing of the indwelling Holy Spirit will be a prominent feature. Everyone who is saved at that time by trusting the gospel of the kingdom will be permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
This began at the day of Pentecost, which was a foretaste of Christ’s earthly kingdom. But God’s program with Israel was later temporarily suspended and God then ushered in the dispensation of the grace of God through the Apostle Paul.
And today in time present, one of the distinctive features of the age of grace is that the Holy Spirit permanently dwells inside each born-again believer in the Body of Christ who has trusted the gospel of the grace of God.
In Paul’s letters, time and again, we find the blessing of the indwelling Holy Spirit for members of the Body of Christ described and mentioned.
Romans 8:9 says, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”
Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
1 Corinthians 3:16 reads, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
Galatians 4:6: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.”
Ephesians 2:22: “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” 2 Timothy 1:14: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul asked the Corinthians, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” Here, Paul again asked them, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?”
Paul is stressing something for the Corinthians and all the Body of Christ that we should “know,” understand, learn, and remember.
It is a truth that we should know and become a permanent way we think about ourselves in relation to God. And what that is that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and He dwells inside each of us.
The reason why this should be a permanent truth to know and remember is because the Spirit is permanently within us.
This is a fact. This is a truth of Scripture that we need to “know” and then believe it. The Spirit is in each believer and He is with us always.
We many not feel His presence, but that does NOT mean that He is absent. We must understand and trust the fact of His presence, because God’s Word says that He is in every person who has trusted Christ as their personal Savior.
You don’t have to ask for Him to come in. He indwelt you the moment you trusted Christ. You don’t need to pray, “Lord, send me Your Spirit.” He’s already there. A prayer like that is unnecessary. He is always with you.
The basis upon which the Holy Spirit takes up His abode within the believer is on the grounds of our redemption: the shed blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Having our sins paid for and forgiven, the Holy Spirit can then take up residence in us. He creates a new nature within us, and this is where He then resides.
Ephesians 4:24 teaches that the new man, “after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
The new man being created in righteousness and true holiness provides a suitable dwelling place for the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who likewise is righteous and holy.
Ephesians 4:30 teaches the Body of Christ to “grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
Our hearts are a permanent abode for the Spirit. The day of redemption is the day that our bodies are redeemed and taken to heaven at the Rapture of the Church. We are sealed by the Spirit unto the day that we are in heaven with the Lord.
Our heart is not a hotel for the Holy Spirit where He checks in for a while, but then might check out. We are a permanent dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
Never in the dispensation of grace are believers warned that the loss of the Spirit could take place as a result of sin.
Instead, like with the Corinthians, who were guilty of carnality and sins of immorality, they were exhorted by the Apostle Paul to live a godly life and to forsake sin BECAUSE they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
When a believer lives in sin, the Holy Spirit is still there. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, but He does not leave us. And He never will.
The Spirit is not a Visitor, He is an Inhabitant. The word “dwelling” in the original Greek means to occupy or reside in a house, to inhabit and remain.
The same word is used in 1 Timothy 6 when speaking of God, “Who only hath immortality, DWELLING in the light which no man can approach unto.”
God DWELLS in unapproachable light, speaking of the bright, shining glory which surrounds the throne of God. He will never cease “dwelling” in that light as God.
Likewise, the Spirit will never cease dwelling in our hearts. As the Lord told His disciples in John 14: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you FOREVER; Even the Spirit of truth.”
With the Body of Christ as well, the Spirit abides with us and indwells us forever.
Even the fact that we are a “temple” of the Holy Spirit teaches the permanence of His dwelling in us. In the past, God’s presence dwelt in a tabernacle, a tent, in Israel. This was a temporary abode for God’s presence.
Later, the temple was built as a permanent abode for God. When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, in 2 Chronicles 6:2 he prayed to the Lord, “But I have built an house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy dwelling FOREVER.”
Our bodies being called a “temple” of the Holy Spirit teaches that the Spirit is a permanent resident in the life of the believer, a place for His dwelling forever.
And when we receive the Spirit at salvation, we receive the Spirit in His fullness.
Romans 8:9 reads, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”
In other words, when you are saved, you are “in the Spirit” because “the Spirit of God dwell[s] in you.” You are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in you. And this is a permanent union between us and the Spirit.
Then Paul says “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” In other words, if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not saved. If a person doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to Christ.
There’s no in between. It’s cut and dry. You either have the Spirit or you don’t. And you don’t get the Spirit in partial measure or in installments.
The opposite of this verse is true as well, “If any man does has the Spirit of Christ, he is His,” you do belong to Christ. Every believer in Christ possesses the Holy Spirit. And you possess the Spirit in His fullness.
So like you don’t need to pray, “Lord, send me your Spirit,” you also don’t need to pray, “Lord give me MORE of your Spirit.” There isn’t any more to get. You don’t get the Spirit in bits and pieces. He’s in us in totality the moment we trust Christ.
When Paul challenged the Church, to “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18, this is a practical goal in the believer’s life. Paul is not teaching that we only have part of the Spirit and need to be filled with more of His Person.
Being filled with the Spirit isn’t about us having more of the Spirit, it is about the Spirit having more of us. We have the Spirit in His fullness, but the question is: does He have us fully. How much of us does He have? This is a challenge for us to yield more to His life and power, and allow Him to work in our lives to a deeper, fuller extent.
D. L. Moody was to have a campaign in England years ago. An elderly pastor protested, “Why do we need this ‘Mr. Moody’? He’s uneducated and inexperienced. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?”
Another pastor responded to him, “No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody.” That’s what being “filled with the Spirit” is all about.
The Temple of God in Jerusalem in the past was a wondrous thing. The Temple was where God’s presence dwelt in a physical structure on the earth. Though He is so great as Lord of heaven and earth, He chose to dwell in Israel in that Temple.
Again, at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, as they were praising, singing, and thanking the Lord, 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 reads, “then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.”
Likewise, when we trust that Christ died for us and rose again, we become a temple at that moment and the Holy Spirit fills the house of God inside us.
And our bodies, as temples of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ are where God’s presence dwells in a physical structure on the earth today.
The temple had three parts: the outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place.
The outer court seen by all people was where every Israelite could enter and where all the external services were performed.
The holy place was where only the priests could enter to care for the altar of incense, the table of showbread and the golden candlestick. The Most holy place was where the Ark of the Covenant was and no one went in there except the high priest once a year.
Man is a triune being made in the image of God: body, soul, and spirit. In us, there are three parts like the temple. As man is God’s temple, our body represents the outer court, our external, visible part of our being that is visible to all.
The soul represents the unseen, inner place of the holy place. And the spirit represents the unseen, most holy place.
As God’s temple, the Spirit resides in our spirit in the most holy place. And God wants His presence to fill all the house of God in us, to regard all the temple, even the outer court of our bodies, as sacred to His service.
God desires us, as His temple, to yield every facet of our nature to His leading and will.
Derek W. H. Thomas writes, “One recent summer, in a large urn that sits outside the front door of my house, a blue swift made a nest in which she laid six eggs.
“This beautiful, shy creature had made her home in (almost) my house. I felt privileged that I had been honored by her presence, even if my cat viewed it entirely differently.
“If I felt privileged when a bird nested by my door, how much more privileged should I feel knowing that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in me? Our hearts should well up with gratitude and song at the mere thought of it. It is staggering.”
It truly is staggering to have God the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It’s a gift of grace, and something we do not deserve or merit.
The way Paul puts it in His epistles teaches that the indwelling Spirit is a gift. He wrote, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is GIVEN unto us.” And, “God, who also hath GIVEN unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” And, here in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “which ye have of God.”
The indwelling Holy Spirit is not earned or deserved. It’s not a reward for being a good person or doing good works. To be given the Spirit, we simply trust Christ as our Savior. Then He immediately indwells us forever by His grace.
And then you stop and think Who is indwelling us, that staggers the imagination. The God of the universe, the Creator, very God of very God, Lord over all, sovereign, almighty, majestic, glorious God, in us, in our bodies! This is an inconceivable reality.
It is an amazing thought. And yet, that is exactly the truth of God’s Word. God in the Person of the Holy Spirit has chosen to dwell within believers in Christ.
As such, making His dwelling place in our bodies, the Spirit is now owner of the house. As Paul puts it, “Ye are not your own.” We are not lord of our lives any longer. We are to allow the Spirit to govern the house (our bodies), to rule it, and to lead us.
As God, He is all-wise, and knows what is best for us our lives. We are wise to yield to His wisdom. And He is worthy of our obedience and submission to His will.
Being in us, means the Spirit accompanies us wherever we go and is aware of everything we do and everything we go through. He is not unaware. He is not a distant God. He couldn’t be any closer as He resides in our hearts.
In the context, Paul was dealing with the subject of the Corinthians’ immorality. The thought of what the Corinthians were engaging in, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in them caused Paul to be distraught, asking them, “What? Know ye not?” “Don’t you know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”
He didn’t want them to forget that the Spirit was dwelling in them and that their bodies were a holy place now. That God Almighty resided within them.
Being a temple of the Holy Spirit is a call to live so as to bring honor to the Person of God who dwells inside of us.
The temple of God in Jerusalem in the past was holy, set apart for God’s purposes. It was a sacred dwelling. Likewise, with the HOLY Spirit residing in us, God would have our bodies as sacred temples be HOLY and set apart from the world and from sin. He strengthens us to that end by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:20: “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
We, as the temple of God, should have the same things going on inside of us as went on inside the temple of God in Jerusalem in the past.
First, the temple was a place of prayer. Mark 11:17 says of the Lord Jesus, “And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?”
In the temple of our bodies, it should be a house of prayer. We are taught by our apostle to pray, to pray without ceasing, to be instant in prayer, to continue in prayer.
In our temples, we should pray to God at any time for any reason about anything. The Spirit hears our prayers. It’s pretty hard for Him not to, being in our hearts.
Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
The Spirit is there in all our circumstances. In our times of suffering and difficulty, He is there when we have no idea what to say or even how to form thoughts out of our sorrow or distress. He sympathizes with us and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Paul teaches the church to be “Praying always with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT.” Knowing the Spirit by His Word, we learn to pray “in the Spirit,” or consistent with His heart, His will, His priorities, His love and kindness.
Second, the temple was a place of service and activity. The temple was an active, lively, energetic place. People came to give to the Lord, to gather to learn His Word, just to be near God, and to sacrifice to God.
And we are taught by the Spirit “by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
The Spirit would have us be useful and active in God’s service, telling us in His Word, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8).
In our temples, we should have that desire for nearness to God and our Savior, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:10).
Third, the temple was not a place for idols. It was a place to worship and glorify God.
2 Corinthians 6:16 reads, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
There is zero agreement with the temple of God with idols. God’s temple is a place where idols don’t belong. The temple of God is where the true God is to be worshipped and where He is to be preeminent over all things.
Paul deals with idolatry quite a bit in his epistles. We’re mistaken if we think that idols are only a thing of the past or something done on the other side of the world. There’s a lot of idolatry in the United States.
For example, people make an idol out of our government. We are seeing this more now than at any other time. Idols are also made out of entertainment, sports, wealth, material possessions, and religion. Many religions in our country have different idols in them. Praying to anyone but God is to pray to an idol and a false god.
Paul further teaches the Church in Colossians 3:5 that “covetousness” is idolatry.
Exodus 34:14 reads, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” God being a jealous God is a wonderful teaching. It’s based in love. God is without sin, and His jealousy in response to idolatry is righteous.
God is jealous for His relationship with His people because He deeply loves us and does not want us taken away from Him by lesser things and the deceitfulness of idolatry.
God doesn’t want His Church to lift up any object or false god or activity in life to the level that we worship that instead of giving God the worship that belongs to Him alone. In the temple of our bodies, worship and service are to be given to Him alone.
As Paul points out in these verses, God has bought us at the highest price imaginable, the shed blood of His Son. He has given us this inconceivable gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. So how can we do less than honor Him?
That’s what takes place in a temple. You glorify God. It is a place where He is to be revered and worshipped. Our bodies have one supreme purpose: to glorify God.
Thus, it is important to view every day, from sunup to sundown, from a spiritual dimension. Whatever happens to us from day to day, we know is under the Spirit’s supervision, and because we are His, we are to glorify God, regardless.
God manifested His presence in the past in Solomon’s majestic temple, setting it apart from all other buildings for special use to glorify Him.
And God has manifested His presence today by the Spirit indwelling each of us in the Body of Christ, setting us apart from all others for His glory alone, so that we might “glorify God in [our] body, and in [our] spirit, which are God’s.”