WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: WHAT KIND OF HOUSE DOES GOD LIVE IN?
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 KJV
TEXT VERSE: Isaiah 66:1 “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?”
I want to share with you today: what kind of a house does God live in? If you looked at every one of us and the way we were brought up, the types of jobs we had or maybe the types of parenting we had. We all have lived a different life style. We have different things we enjoy. We live in different areas but we all have a place where we reside. A place I call my home. There’s not a better place on the earth in the physical sense than the place that we call home. It’s very important to us and very private. It’s a blessing that God has given us a place to live and a country we can live in and come and worship God in Spirit and in truth. I want you to know that right off the bat that the Bible says that God is a Spirit. He’s not flesh and blood. You can’t get God out of the trees and expect to get a blessing. That’s part of His creation plan. If you want part of the Salvation plan it can only come through the Spirit. What kind of a house does God live in? What kind of house are you making for the Lord?
I want to share this verse in Hebrew 3:6 “But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” If you’ve been saved by the Grace of God this morning....you are His house. A lot of people when they think of Kings and Princes or those in authority...they think of some great big castle somewhere. Some big mansion laced with gold or silver. Some fancy thing. Thank God today I’m glad Jesus Christ lives inside of this old boy that’s standing in front of you today. If you’re saved by the Grace of God then God has moved in. I wonder just what kind of a house. What kind of a Christian. What kind of a home you’ve got for the Lord today. I wonder what kind of place are you making for Him today?
Now I want to say this because maybe there is some non believers here today and maybe there is some that have been saved by the Grace of God. I want to share three building blocks that you need to build a good place inside of your soul for the Lord to live.
NUMBER ONE: You have to build it by faith. The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. Ephesians 3:17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;....” That means you can’t see God. You can’t touch God. You can’t hear God with your physical ears but it means that you know God. You’ve got faith that Christ abides on the inside of you. If you’re not sure this morning of your salvation, you need to be today. You have to build a house out of faith. They said that Martin Luther went overseas to that area around Jerusalem where they have all those great steps where people would go up the steps on their knees as a sign that they were trying to get close to him. They said those men and women would go up those great concrete steps to that altar on their knees and their knees would bleed. But when they got to the top they could stand up and walk back down the steps. They said that Martin Luther was over there and wanted to see it and experience it. He started up the steps on his knees and about half way up the Spirit spoke to him and said he didn’t have to do this to get close to him. All he had to do was walk by faith and not by sight. They said he got up and praised God and they ran him out of that country. Bless God we’re not serving a God that’s just over in that country. We’re serving a God that lives on the inside of us this morning. He’s not just down at Westside Baptist Church. He’s lives on the inside of us. If you’ve got God on the inside you’ll share him with somebody. You’ll know whether or not you’ve got him. You’ve got to start building a house for God here. (pointing to the heart). You’ve got to start building it with faith. You say preacher, he don’t live on the inside. Oh yes he does. The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is within you. If you think that God is up there and just up there, you’re thinking the wrong way. He’s in the presence of his people. He’s inside of his people.
NUMBER TWO: You’ve got to build that house on the inside by belief. Some people will believe anything. They listen to people more than they listen to God. Listen to what doth saith the Lord. We have to believe. First John 4:15 “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” There’s a lot of Christians that don’t believe that. They are trying to build God into their lives from the outside. Their trying to take things on the outside and get God to come on the inside. He don’t come from the outside in. He comes from the inside out. He starts from the inside with a still small voice. I remember when I heard it. I remember I was dying and on my way to Hell when I heard that still small voice. Ever since the Lord saved me, he changed me. Not only did he save me and change me...he lives with me. You ever read the story about old Zacheaus? The people said that the Lord had gone to be guests with the sinners. He wasn’t gone to be a guest. He was gone to be a permanent resident. He told Zacheaus to make haste and come down for today he must abide at his house. Abide. Jesus said in Revelations: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Whosoever shall hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with me.”
NUMBER THREE: We have to build house with him by acceptance. There’s a lot of simplicity in Christ. The easiest thing you can do this morning is just believe in your heart that God was raised up from the dead and the Bible said, you shall be saved. That’s not hard to do. But so many people are rejecting him and turning him away. You have to build a house by acceptance. Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” He puts his laws in our hearts and in our minds. That means we’ve accepted him. A lot of people don’t believe that. If you’ve got faith and you believe in him and you accept him. He’ll write the plan of salvation right down in your soul. He’ll come right down out of heaven where you need it at. Back in those times Moses and Abraham went by the physical things but
now he does it by the spiritual. A lot of people have faith and they believe but they’ve never accepted it. If you turn Christ away, you can’t be saved. You say, I believe in God. Just about every person who has gotten an award on television believes in God but that don’t mean they’re saved. You can stand up and tell me you believe in God all you want to. Jesus said in John 14, “If you believe in God, believe also in me.” In my house are many mansions. You know what those mansions represent? Those men and women, boys and girls that have been saved by the grace of God. There’s a whole lot of mansions in God’s house this morning. I have a mansion right here. It may not look very pretty on the outside but it looks pretty good on the inside.
Could you ever imagine a God that created the universe. Created the world that we live in, that gives us the breath that we breathe, the steps that we take and the decisions that we make. Can you imagine a God that powerful dwelling on the inside of us? That’s a blessing isn’t it? Second Corinthians 6:16 “...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.” I’m telling you that if you’ve been saved by the grace of God that God is living inside of you. The Alpha to the Omega is living on the inside of you. How many mansions did you read about Jesus living in when he was living here on the earth? None. The Bible said he had no resting place. You know why? He was going to Calvary. He knew after he gave his life that he’d have a whole lot of places to live in all those that would believe.
His Son represented authenticity. He come right down from God out of heaven.. He was God manifested in the flesh. I’ve heard preachers say that he was 100% man and 100% God. I disagree. If he’d of been 100% man he would of had sin in his life. But he was 100% God.
Galatians 2:20 “I’m crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” God in lives in us if we’re saved. And Christ lives in us. What kind of house are you getting ready for God to live in? What does God think when he’s inside of you by some of the things we do on the outside. Where ever you go and whatever you do, you better remember you are not by yourselves. He’s with you. He said I will be with you always, even unto the end. What do you think he meant by that? He didn’t say I’ll be in your glasses that you put on. He wasn’t in these old cheep shoes or the pews. He meant he’d dwell on the inside. A lot of people don’t know he’s there.
John 14:16 “And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” Think about that. If he said forever that means his Spirit will abide with you forever. You might as well get used to it. Without the Spirit of God you’re nothing the Bible says. A lot of people don’t even know what the Spirit is. It’s not just some good feeling you get every once in a while. You say I got paid Friday and I sure am feeling good. If that’s what makes you feel good then you’ve got the wrong good feeling. You know what makes me feel good? When I realize that I’m nothing and that God’s everything.
Now we’re going to share five things on how God uses the Spirit to describe in our lives what kind of God lives in the house that we prepare for him.
NUMBER ONE: We have a home prepared for an inhabiting God. Ephesians 2:22 “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” He’s an inhabiting God. You know what I think that means? He doesn’t get in just part of you but in all of you. He didn’t just get in my heart. He got in my soul. He’s every breath that we breathe and every step that we take. God inhabits this old vessel. When I got saved, I didn’t just give him part of myself. I gave him all of me. I said, “God save me good all over.” He did.
I think about those Christians who say he’s just my God on Sundays. If he was, he wouldn’t be an inhabiting God. They don’t think about him during the week. They don’t pray to him during the week. They don’t work for him during the week. They’ll come to the house of God on Sundays and think their some great Christian living in this world. He lives in me 365 days of the year. I wonder have you give God your all.
NUMBER TWO: We have a home prepared for a living God. Second Corinthians 3:3 “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” He’s a living God. He’s not the God of the dead but of the living. There’s a whole lot of dead Christians. If God is living on the inside we ought to be living also. A lot of Christians today don’t live for him. They try to live with him. They want God to come into their life as they can fit him in. God is my life. I can’t fit him in. He fit me in to his life. He’s my total existence. Those two angels in the garden asked Mary why she sook the living among the dead. They told her that he was not here, but risen. They were trying to tell Mary that she couldn’t serve a dead God.
NUMBER THREE: We have a home prepared for a giving God. Isn’t it wonderful that he gave one of his gifts to us through eternal life? The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. We didn’t deserve it. You can’t work your way into heaven. You can’t do some great thing for somebody and expect to live ever lasting life with the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t care how good your heart is. If your heart and soul has not been sealed with holy spirit of promise, that heart will turn into the bad wrath of judgment of God one day. We’ve got to prepare in us a house for a giving God. First John 4:13 “Hereby know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” You can’t go out somewhere and retain the Spirit of God. You can’t go out and say I’m going to go over to that church over there because they’re more spiritual. God don’t work that way. God is a Spirit and the Bible says we must worship him in spirit and in truth. We can only get what God gives us. He might be willing today to give somebody here eternal life. He might be willing today to forgive you of your sins and give you a fresh start. He might be willing today to give you some help financially. He might be willing to give you a home or a husband or wife. I wonder what kind of house are you making for God. When God gets ready to give, he’ll give it. But you’ve got to be in the right position and the right condition to receive what God has for you.
NUMBER FOUR: We have a home prepared for a witnessing God. First John 5:6 “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” I wonder, do you have the witness of God. Has he moved into that home you’ve prepared in his witnessing form and you know he’s there? How can these Christians who say they’re saved by the grace of God, go out to these bars and turn up all these devilish drinks that warp their minds? When it comes to salvation it has nothing to do with your mind. He wants to save your soul but if the devil can distract your mind and get it away from what your heart’s feeling, he’ll win the battle. How can you go to those places when you have a witnessing God on the inside of you telling you not to go? How can you do it when God is living on the inside saying, “DON’T.” But they’re doing it every day. If that still small voice isn’t there talking to you, trying to restrain you....Do you think the Lord is going to let you just go do whatever you want without talking to you? He’ll try to prevent you not to. If you don’t take heed and you turn him away then you’re on your own. He said in Genesis that his spirit would not always strive with man. Do you tell God that you know you’re saved but that you have to lay your religion and your salvation aside for the day so you can spend some time with some old friends? If you’re in the angry mode there’s no way you can be in the will of God. There’s no way you can be pleasing God. We’re always trying to do things on the outside. We’re trying to have God out here. He’s not a physical God. He’s a Spiritual God. You say because I’ve been in the way a lot longer that I can feel him more than you. I felt him more when I got saved. I didn’t know anything about the Bible. I didn’t know how to preach or to witness. But I knew when the Lord spoke to me and moved on the inside. I got home that night and wanted to call everybody and tell them that Christ moved in with me. I called a bunch of sinners in my family thinking that they’d be excited. They said, “Ohhhhhhhhh.” But the holy spirit spoke to me and said they need what I have. They wasn’t excited and I know why. They didn’t have it. You have a witnessing God living on the inside you’ll be able to feel God every where you go.
NUMBER FIVE: We have a home prepared for a dwelling God. First Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” My interpretation of that word dwelling is he’s not planning on going any where. When he comes in your life, he’ll come there to stay. God’s not going to save you and then forsake you. When you get saved the Bible says that holy spirit will seal you until the day of redemption. The old devil can’t take you to Hell. You can’t fall off into hell. You’re bound for heaven. God dwells inside that house that you and I have for him. Some people think he just comes part of the time. Some people think he just comes when they’re praying. I used to do some bad things behind daddy’s back. I was a mister goodie-two-shoes when I was around mom and daddy. They were Christian parents. Took me to church every Sunday. As soon as I’d leave the grounds of our property, I was a different person. I was in trouble and did some bad things as a ten year old boy. I was doing things that twenty year old boys were doing. I said my daddy will never know it. He’ll never see me and won’t find out. You’ve heard them say that parents have eyes in the back of their heads? Mind did because he always found out. But more so than that when God is dwelling inside of us...there’s no where you can go to hide. You won’t be able to hide your sin or your iniquity from God. he knows everything you do and every where you go and everything you say and everything you think. A lot of people don’t like to accept that. It don’t have to come out of your mouth. He knows it. You can still get forgiveness. he indwells on the inside.
Now if you’re here today and you’ve never been saved by the grace of God, I want to encourage you to let Christ move in on the inside. If you don’t let Christ in, Satan will build one there. It won’t be a pretty house if Satan is living there.
Let me end here with this scripture in second Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” We know that if our earthly house (that’s this flesh) of this tabernacle were dissolved, we shave a building of God. I wonder what kind of house you’ve built for God today. Is Christ living on the inside of you today? Is God living there? Is the Holy Spirit living there. If not in encourage you to come pray this morning. If you know he is perhaps you want to make a better home for him.
LET US PRAY: Father, I have heard that still small voice telling me that I am lost and asking me to receive you as my Lord and Savior. I believe that you came and died on the cross for my sins. I ask you to forgive me of all my sins and let me start my life fresh. I believe you died and arose on the third day and ascended up into heaven and that you will return for me one day in clouds of glory. I ask you Lord to save me. In Jesus Name. Amen
Father, I have allowed sin and iniquity to dwell in your house. I want to rid my body of all the evil and bad things that I have stored there and ask you Lord to forgive me and allow me to prepare a house worthy enough of your habitation. Help me to remember that you live there daily and that I must strive to do the best that I can. Let me live for you. let my life be a light to those that do not know you. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.
