Built According To Pattern

Pastor E. Keith Hassell

Foundation Scripture: Matthew 16:13-19

I. Jesus is building His Church

A. Matthew 16:18 “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.”

B. Psalm 127:1“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

C. 1 Corinthians 3:11“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

D. Ephesians 2:19-22“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

II. The Church is the Temple of God

A. 1 Corinthians 3:5-17“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

B. The building is the temple of God

C. Jesus is the Master-Builder

D. We are God’s fellow-workers

E. The foundation of this temple is Jesus Christ

F. The materials used:

1. Wood, Hay, Stubble: Surface materials that are consumed by fire

2. Gold, Silver, Precious stones: Mined materials that are purified by fire

G. The Day will come when what is built upon that foundation will be tested and judged by fire. The one whose work remains will receive a reward. Those who build wrong will suffer the loss of eternal reward, although they themselves will still be saved.

H. The Temple of God is a dwelling place for God (Holy Spirit) (see Ephesians 2:11)

I. Warning: Those who undermine or destroy the temple of God will themselves be destroyed.

III. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken

A. When the work is wrong, God sends prophets to root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down what is not of God; then to build and to plant what is of God

1. Jeremiah 1:9-10 “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’”

B. God allows the structures to be shaken to bring down what is flesh so that what is eternal will remain

1. Hebrews 12:25-29 “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”

2. Anything that is built apart from kingdom of God principles will fall, whether this be in the political, economic, social, cultural, traditional, religious, secular, educational, philosophical, governmental, national, doctrinal, denominational, conceptual, racial, or moral arenas.

3. Only the kingdom of God cannot be shaken and will remain

IV. Jesus Christ will build God’s house according to the pattern of heaven

A. God does all things according to a pattern. Examples include:

1. Noah’s Ark

2. Tabernacle of Moses

3. Priesthood

4. Sacrificial system (His place, His way, His time, His order)

5. Festivals of the Lord

6. Eldership in Israel

7. Army of Israel

8. Tabernacle of David

9. Temple of Solomon

B. Moses was faithful as a servant in building God’s house

1. Exodus 25:8-9 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. ‘According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.’”

2. Exodus 39-40 Regarding the building of the Tabernacle, seventeen times it is recorded that all was done “as the Lord commanded Moses.”

3. Hebrews 3:5 “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,”

C. Jesus was faithful as a Son in building God’s house

1. Hebrews 3:1-5 “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

2. The New Testament is the blueprint of heaven for building the church

D. The Seal of God’s Pattern is His Glory

1. Tabernacle of Moses

a Exodus 40:33-35“And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

2. Temple of Solomon

a 2 Chronicles 5:13-14“indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,’ that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”

3. Temple of the Church

a Acts 2:1-4 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”