I pray God to open the eyes of your understanding to know what is God’s House in this sermon in Jesus name.
Without wasting much time, let’s get into this sermon at once.
What is God’s House?
According to the bible in Genesis 2:7, we understand that God’s house is the human body.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
In the above scripture, we can picture God as an ultimate builder of a house, Who uses the dust of the earth to form a human body; and puts the spirit to live in it.
And as we are going to see in this sermon, the human body, which is referred to as God’s house, temple, tent, or tabernacle; is the biggest and only house built by God on earth.
And this house was supposed to be inhabited by the human spirit and God Himself, but sadly we are going to see how Satan and his agents also live in this house built by God on earth.
Now if we make a distinction between these two things that make up man. That is, the dust of the ground and the breath of life; we will come to understand that ‘the dust of the ground’ is a non-living thing while ‘the breath of life’ is a living thing.
And if the breath of life is detached from the dust of the ground, it can never live again.
Therefore, we can now establish that, our main self – the living being is not this physical body we see, but rather, the breath of life (Made in the image and likeness of God. Genesis 1:27), who lives inside it.
From here therefore, we can further come to the understanding that the dust of the ground is like a building structure (which you can call a house, temple, tent, tabernacle, etc.) that occupies the breath of life i.e. man as a living being.
How do we know that the human body is God’s house?
In the Old Testament, God revealed to the Jews that He does not dwell in the house built with human hands, but rather, he moves about in tents and tabernacles.
“For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. (2 Samuel 7:6)
But the Jews did not understand that, God was referring to their dust of the ground i.e. human bodies – a house built by His own hands.
Jesus afterward revealed this to His holy apostles: Paul and Peter.
Paul called his own body a tent.
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)
And Peter called his own the Tabernacle.
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. (2 Peter 1:14)
Jesus himself revealed His own body as a temple:
Jesus answered and said to them, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” then the Jews said, “it has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:19-21)
And another time, he told Peter that he is the rock he will build his church on.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. (Mathew 16:18)
Peter later revealed to us that Jesus was talking about his body and not the cathedral many call Peter’s rock today.
You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priest-hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5)
Jesus further showed us that our body is a house when He made this invitation.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20).
Note: He said I will come into you (your body house), and not into your earthly house. And the scripture shows us that if we give Him a chance, He will make our body His house.
But Christ as a Son over His house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:6)
How the devil inhabits the human body.
Originally, the dust of the ground was supposed to be a dwelling place for both the living being and God Who created him, as it is written:
Do you know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
But when man was tricked by the devil into eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, against God’s commands; he paved way for the devil to become an occupant in his earthen house, built by God; and in so doing, wills him to go against all of God’s commandments.
And to achieve his numerous acts, the devil possesses the individual and causes him to go against the commandments of God, as we see in the case of Judas Iscariot:
Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him to them. (Luke 22:3-4)
He also makes use of his uncountable evil, wicked and dangerous messengers, popularly called ‘demons’, to dwell in and control the life of his victims, through a process known as ‘possession’.
The effects of demons living in a human body.
1. Demons are responsible for divination.
What these demons can cause the possessed to do are numerous: they are able to help them see the future through divination.
Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much fortune by fortune telling.
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “these men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days.
But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”. And he came out that very hour.
But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place to the authorities.
(Acts 16:16-19).
2. Fake signs and wonders are caused by demons.
Demons are responsible for all the fake signs and wonders performed by false prophets.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon , out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophets.
For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of the Lord Almighty. (Revelation 16:13-14)
(I pity those who round around churches seeking signs and wonders – miracles).
3. Demons are the cause of all kinds of sickness and diseases.
Demons are also capable of inflicting their victims with whatever kinds of sickness, ailments, deformities, etc. they like.
Jesus made us to discover this in so many instances when He cast the demons out:
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. (Mathew 8:16).
Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?
Did You come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” but Jesus rebuked him, saying, “be quiet, and come out of him!” and when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. (Luke 4:33-35)
Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.
“And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.
“So I bruised Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Then Jesus answered and said, “o faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you.
Bring your son to me. And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulse him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.
(Luke 9:38-42).
Countless demons can possess a human being.
It is very important to note that, multiple demons can possess a single person and this kind of case results in the madmen and women we see on the streets.
And when He stepped out on the land, there met him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.
And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in the house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “what have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!
For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” and he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.
(Luke 8:27-30).
Demons cannot cast out demons.
It is also important to note that one cannot truly cast out a demon with the powers of the prince of hell, who is also called Beelzebub, the chief of demons.
And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke, and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He cast out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.
“If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges. “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Luke 11:14-20)..
Only a spirit-filled Christian can cast our demons.
And one must also be a truly repentant and Spirit-filled Christian to be able to cast out demons; or else what happened to the sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-16.
When they were violently attacked and almost killed by an evil spirit they tried to use the name of Jesus that Paul preaches to cast out, Or something worse than that might even happen.
Who is occupying your body?
Beloved, at this point, we can come to a clearer understanding that; our body – an earthen house built by God – can never be occupied by us – the living being – alone.
Because the same way that we have an earthly family living in an earthly house built by man; is the same way we have an invisible family living in an earthen house built by God (our body).
And as we all know we can have only two types of families i.e. the godly and ungodly family.
(I think the American rapper ‘Nas’ had this knowledge when he did a song with the lyrics ‘Some of us have angels, some of us have demons).
Yes! It is nothing but the truth that, we must have angels who represent God’s family or demons that represents Satan’s family living within us in our body.
Therefore, to be sure of which family is living within us; we must each access our lives, and if we see the works of the flesh manifested therein,
(Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; Galatians 5:19-21).
It means that the devil and his agents are living within us. But if we see the fruits of the spirit growing therein
(But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23).
Then we are sure that God‘s family is living within us.
Now note what His Son, our Lord Jesus said:
“Whoever loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and My Father and I will come to him and live with him.
(John 14:23).
How to allow God’s family to live in our house?
From here, we can come to the understanding that; if we want God’s family to come and live within us, we must first listen to, believe, and practice the words of Jesus Christ and those He handed down to His holy apostles before He finally left.
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. (John 17:20)
These words can be found nowhere else but in the holy bible; and the main point of these words is in this scripture:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:38-39).
And after repentance, baptism, and receiving of the Holy Spirit; which was earlier promised by God through the mouth of the old prophets:
“I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:27)
To be given to only those who will believe in His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
‘He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will Flow Rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him will receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:38-39)
The believer will then have God’s family living within him; causing him to be able to practice the words of God, given to Jesus and His Holy apostles.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
No wonder Jesus said:
The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.
(John 6:63b)
How to prevent demons from coming back to your body.
Now we come to a very important point, and I want us to note very well; anybody that who wants the family of God to live forever with him must be sure to continue in studying and practicing the words of Jesus Christ.
“if you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)
Because, if he doesn’t, the demons that lived with him before will surely come back; and his condition will be worse than before, even as our Lord Jesus showed us:
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.
“And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. “Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits and wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26).
The scripture further expands the above fact for us:
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the Holy commandment rendered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘a dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
(2 Peter 2:20-22).
Conclusion.
Finally, after receiving the enlightenment from the Holy Spirit in this sermon; we must each look at ourselves as these two house builders:
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on the house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“but everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. (Luke 7:24-27)
May God, through His only Begotten Son, our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ; help you to be the wise man that built his house on the rock. Amen.
