Temple Baptist Church - 7-2-2025
1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20
Introduction:
A. Last week, we studied the importance of our bodies to God. Paul speaks of this in relationship to the Foundation on which we stand: Christ Jesus. These two portions of Scripture explain the Judgment Seat of Christ, where our works, not our sins, will be judged for reward or the lack thereof.
B. We will examine these two verses tonight.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (17) If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
C. The phrase “Know ye not,” which implies ignorance, is found three times in the Old Testament and fourteen times in the New Testament. It is with this phrase that the Holy Ghost approaches our subject for tonight.
D. Our text begins with the possibility of God’s people being ignorant concerning their bodies. “Know ye not?” Look at these two verses with me. Three times, the Bible reminds us that our body is “THE temple of God.” A definite article precedes “temple of God.” This tells us that God has chosen no other place for the Holy Ghost to reside, and it is a place of worship. We worship God in and with our bodies!
E. Now, let us look at what Paul said concerning the Judgment Seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
F. A long introduction for a simple message. God owns our bodies and desires worship to take place within them. Four times in the Old Testament, God commands us to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
1. The Spiritual Man Realizes That His Body Belongs To The Lord.
a. We Need To Realize That We Are His - A transaction was made - 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.
1) The ultimate price was paid - 1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Acts_20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Hebrews_9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Hebrews_13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Revelation_1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
2) A choice is given - Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
b. We Need To Present Our Bodies - Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1) Present means to bring before. We are to bring our bodies and present them to the Lord, holy and acceptable to Him. God will not use unholy, unacceptable bodies!
2) My mind goes back to Isaiah, chapter 6, where the Lord asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah’s response was not, “Send someone other than me,” or “I will pray about it.’ Isaiah’s response was, “Here am I; send me.”
3) To which the Lord responded to Isaiah, “Go, and tell this people.” It takes a “body” to be sent and to go!
4) Our bodies bring either honor or reproach to the Lord - 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. (The body is a place of consecration and testimony.)
a) The body is for the Lord! - 1Co 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?
2 Corinthians 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Galatians 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
b) The Lord is for the body! - 1 Corinthians 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. (He is not trying to hurt us but is trying to help us!)
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2. The Spiritual Man Realizes That His Body Is The Temple Of The Holy Ghost - 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? (A place of worship, therefore, it needs to be dedicated)
a. The Temple Was A Place Of Dedication - 2 Chronicles 7:5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
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.
b. The Temple Was A Place Of Sacrifice - 2 Chronicles 7:12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
c. The Temple Was A Place Of Praise - Jeremiah 17:26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.
Romans 15:11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
d. The Temple Was Is A Place Of Prayer - Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
e. The Temple Was A Place Of Service - 2 Chronicles 35:3 And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
God’s request is a reasonable one. He gave His body for us.
God uses bodies to get His work done here on earth.
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