God's Holy Temple

God’s Holy Temple

The Struggle with Sin

Romans 8: 4-7

• You’ve all heard the old expression “You don’t know what your missing”. This is true when it comes to God.

1. There is so much we miss out on.

• God is good! God is so very good (Not in the cliché way)! There is so much confidence, joy, peace, power and victory over sin available to us through Christ that we miss out on.

(Satan’s motive – Jealousy)

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• In the KJV the word abundant is used. As I pondered that verse, it occurred to me that there is more depth to it’s meaning than our language allows for.

περισσός

perissos

per-is-sos’

From G4012 (in the sense of beyond); superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication excessive; adverb (with G1537) violently; neuter (as noun) preeminence: - exceeding abundantly above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehement [-ly].

• The idea is life that is spilling over with joy.

How do I get that Abundance in my life?

2. Why do we miss so much of God’s goodness? One major reason has to do with where we have our focus.

Changing focus

3. What Jesus did is greater than what Adam did.

• You see, I believe that Jesus died for more than just my forgiveness. He also died for me to have victory over my struggles and to experience that abundance of joy, peace, and power in my life.

• Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that says, “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”?

• When we say things like that or, “I am just a sinner saved by grace”, and we live our lives as though what Adam did is greater than what Jesus did. We deny God’s power in our lives and provision for overcoming sin. Adam brought sin into the world, but Christ came to take it out, so what Jesus did is greater than what Adam did!

• Illustration: I used to be a mechanic. Now I am a Social Worker/ Administrator/ Pastor-in-training. Do I still work on my car occasionally; of course, but it’s no longer the activity that defines my life anymore.

• Now, we cannot make myself stop sinning. When we allow God to fill us and stop trying to grab onto any of our own false securities, our appetite for things that are bad for us greatly diminishes because the satisfaction we receive from Him is so much greater.

The Temple

The Temple in Israel is divided into three sections, the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies, (Compare with our church). If we compare our lives to the Temple…

…the Outer Court would represent our flesh, the weak part of us that gets us into trouble all the time.

Within the flesh are all the things that satisfy me on a fleshly level (Food, Sex, Alcohol/ Drugs, Material Possessions, Money, Work/ Achieving Control, Etc.).They are not inherently evil, but can be very harmful to us if over used or depended on too much.

4. The problem with fleshly satisfactions is that they are self-focused.

For example:

If we are striving to lose weight or stop drinking, we’re thinking about food or alcohol so much at times that we get feeling anxious about it. The more focused we are on food/ drink, the more anxious we become. The more anxious we feel, the more we want to eat that extra piece of cake or have another drink, (Those are just two examples).

Romans 7:23 – “But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”

The Holy Place represents the Soul, which consists of our mind, will and emotions.

The Soul is like a camera. Whatever it is focused on is what is imprinted on it.

The Most Holy Place is the place where God dwells. In our life, it is the Spirit part of us that comes to life in us when we invite Christ into our lives and God comes to dwell within us by His Spirit.

Romans 8:11 – “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.”

When that happens, we begin to experience His love, joy, peace, and power in our lives and we experience freedom from all of the burdens that have been weighing us down for years. The battle ends there right? Wrong!!