16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

We are the temple of God, and His Spirit dwells inside of us. But how many of you feel like you’re a temple of God? Does the Holy Spirit dwell inside of you? Many of us profess to be Christians, but we live most of our lives without God in our hearts. Or God comes and goes so quickly we never have a sustained period of God living in our hearts. Think about the decisions we make daily even before checking if God dwells inside of us! That’s where we go wrong. We make life choices and momentous decisions before making sure the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us. Before you do anything… before you make any decisions… before you act… examine yourself: are you the temple of God? Is God in your heart? Is God the master of your temple or are you on your own? 

“If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person.” God saved us by dying on the cross for our sins. The merit of His blood makes us vessels in which God can reside. However, if we sin, God leaves us. He cannot stay because He must destroy “anyone who destroys the temple of God.” Don’t kid yourself. Sin destroys the temple of God. Since God does not want to destroy us, He leaves us, waiting for us to repent and rid the temple of sin. If we sin, God cannot dwell inside of us. Think about that. If we have any version or amount of sin, God cannot live inside of us. We’re on our own. Looking back at your life when things went wrong, were you a temple of God? Did God dwell in your heart?

If we don’t repent, we’re rejecting God. Is the sin you are committing so fun, so important, and so vital that you’re willing to shut God out of your life? Repent! And if you’re about sin or you know you’re about to do something wrong, stop and think. “If I do this, God is leaving this temple!” So repent whatever sins you have committed and stop yourself from committing future sins by thinking of yourself as a temple of God. “I want God to live in this temple.” Remember the gravity of sin. It keeps God out of the temple. It shuts out everything good in your life. 

If God lives in your heart, wholeness and perfection live inside of us. We’re not God but we’re godly. We become whole. Paul says, “I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” When the light of Christ shines in our hearts, sin flees. Our thoughts are pure. Our actions are whole. We say and do the right things. If we face life with Christ living in our hearts, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome, there is no wall we cannot climb. We must connect to this perfection and sustain this connection. 

We are the temple of God, and His Spirit dwells inside of us. But when we sin or think about sinning, God leaves us because He doesn’t want to destroy us. Life is hard enough. Don’t go through life alone. Face life and all of its challenges with God in your heart. Remember you are the temple of God and do all the right things to make sure He stays there! 

Click for Korean sermon https://soundcloud.com/yhpaik/1983-8-19-mixdown

Click for English reading https://youtu.be/t51NXew-Ues