in your Bibles if you would please. Find your place there if you would stand and we'll read the Word of God, Psalm 114. My wife asked me this week, she said, what's the title of your message? And I, she said, what are you preaching this week? And I said, the Bible. She said, I know, what's the title of your message? I said, five signatures. No, I'm just kidding. I didn't say. I didn't answer her. I said, honey, what I want you to do is what you always do. I just want you to see what's on your heart and just practice and just sing and just let the Lord do what he does. And I couldn't have picked a better song for the Subject to the message this morning. I like seeing God do that. And by the way, it's really not a big deal if she asks me Sometimes she'll say you got one you want and I'll say yeah, I think this will fit the message But this time I just felt like you know what? I think the Lord will line it up and and you did I Want to preach to you from Psalm 114 on the benefits of salvation the benefits of salvation Psalm 114 verse 1 when Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language. Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it and fled, Jordan was driven back, the mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ill thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest, thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills like lambs. trembled our earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters. Billy, would you ask God to bless the preaching, please? I think the reward and I think the other thing that we would like to tell them more Amen, thank you. You may be seated Anytime in the past that I ever went and applied for a job When you know once you get kind of your feet underneath you a little bit And you're looking for something to really take care of your family. You're looking down the road and You're looking for something to kind of build a budget on and provide for a life and kids and a mortgage and car payments and insurance and all the things that go with it, right? Anytime I went to interview for a job like that, I wanted to know what the benefits were, especially when I already had a good job with some benefits. When I'd go on the interview, I'd say, well, this is what I'm currently getting once I found out what they're offering. Then I'd say, well, what I'm currently getting is this and this is what you're offering. I mean, I kind of want to know what the benefits of the job are. And the reason for wanting to know the benefits is because when I have something, I want to take advantage of what's offered to me. In other words, you sit down and you say, okay, what's the retirement plan look like and is there a match? If I put this much in, how much are you going to match that? Because that actually matters over time. As time goes on, a little bit every week or every couple weeks or once a month or however you want to do it, quarterly or annually or whatever, however they got that thing worked out, you need to know and want to know what those benefits are, right? That's kind of important. The funny thing to me is when we look at something like a career, something like making money in this world, and all that there is to offer out there, we would analyze those kind of things and yet forget that with our salvation, we're talking about something that's eternal. Something that matters, not just in time, but matters in eternity. Something that thieves can't break through and steal, and moss and rust can't corrupt. I'm talking about something that will override the economy, or override anything going on in the world around us. Something that really matters, God's people don't even understand oftentimes, or avail themselves of the benefits that come with the salvation you have in Jesus Christ. When you look at this passage, obviously you see where I'm getting the type from right away. If you've had any experience at all in the Bible, he says, when Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, you know that when Israel was in captivity in Egypt, that is a type of you and I before salvation. Do you remember the day that you got saved? I hope every one of you can remember that you might not be able to put the time to it, the exact details of it, but you ought to remember a day and a time when you bowed your knee and asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart, forgive your sins and save your soul. You should know when you called on him to save you and know that day you should have that nailed down between you and God. And if it ain't nailed down between you and God, let's talk before you leave, please. If for sure you know you've never been saved, you can do that before this service is over. See, the most important thing in the world is where are you going to spend eternity? It's not my first point, but it's a very valid point. The number one benefit of salvation is my sins are forgiven. I'm washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm not going to spend eternity in the lake of fire. If that ain't a benefit, I don't know what is. And I'm sure glad that salvation is something I can't lose. I don't care what kind of jack-legged preacher told you, you can. Let the amateurs go play in the kiddie end of the pool, we're in the deep end. We studied the Bible and understand rightly dividing the word of truth, and we know that in this dispensation, you're sealed under the day of redemption. Your soul's been cut away from that filthy flesh in which you dwell, and you're sealed. God's given you the earnest of the inheritance. You can't lose it if you try. Thank God you're not a Jew in the tribulation. Thank God you're not in the Old Testament. Thank God you're not out in the millennium. I mean, you got a great benefit of salvation. It is eternity with God Almighty. What a benefit, man. I hope you remember the day and age you asked Christ to save you. And if you don't, you need to nail that down, I'm telling you. You are dead in trespasses and sins. It's a type of Israel in Egypt. You were in bondage to Pharaoh. You were not in the kingdom of light. You were in the kingdom of darkness. And the day you got saved, God translated you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. He saved your soul for eternity. And that is the most wonderful thing any person could ever know. I don't care how much money you make or how great a life you have. If you wind up dying and spending eternity in the lake of fire, what good did it do you? Wonderful benefit. It's really the main benefit. But that's not all there is to it. Can I just, for a second here, and we'll get into my points real quick. It won't be long, I don't think. Got food waiting for you downstairs, so I got an extra 20 or 30 minutes, you know, your normal drive home. Listen, you know what a huge blessing it is to me to have seen so many people saved in this church? Actually, in preparation for this message, some of you got the text messages asking like, hey, refresh my memory because it's been 15 years. I went through and I added up all the people that attend this church that have been saved in this church and stuck. The ones that were saved here and stayed here, got discipled, grew in the Lord, became faithful, regular, contributing members of this church. It's a third of our church. I got right around 60 people that got, that's not just the people that got saved and disappeared. That's not talking about people that got saved in the jail ministries or the nursing home ministries or the ones that got saved and came for a little while and blew. I'm talking about going over my weekly prayer list, a third of our church, a third of the people on my prayer list got saved in this church. You know what a blessing that is? Man, that got me so excited and so fired up. I mean, listen, I remember the day I got saved. That's an exciting thing to my soul. I gotta remember, I gotta go back to that moment. I gotta take my mind back there and meditate on that thing and remember what it felt like the day an almost six-year-old boy asked Jesus Christ to save him and the feeling that flooded over me when I knew I was saved. What a thing, man. Remember when my kids got saved. What a blessing that was, man. Anna was nagging us and nagging us and nagging us and nagging us, and we'd answer her questions and put her off and answer questions, and we'd try to distract them, you know, when they'd come, like, what are they, you know, because they'd see somebody get baptized at church or they'd see us take the Lord's Supper and we wouldn't let them take it. And it's like, okay, now all of a sudden they want to get saved because they know they got to get saved before they got to get baptized because they grew up in church. Be real careful when they're little because they can recite all the things they need to recite without being ready. I mean, man, you really, mom and dad, you really need to walk with God. Because you don't ever want to discourage them from getting saved when they're ready, but you sure enough don't want to jump the gun on that thing and have them thinking they're saved, saying they're saved, telling them they're saved, remembering their baptism, and not remembering the day they were saved. You understand how important that is? Don't you worry about anybody else's kids. Who cares if they're better parents than you? I'm preaching now. Who cares? Are you the best parent you can be? Who cares if their kids are getting saved? I don't care. I just want to know my little kid, my daughter is going to heaven if she dies. That's all I want to know. Do you understand what I'm saying? So don't rush that stuff. I remember when Hannah got saved. We put her off. She's like, no, dad. No, and you could see her. She's beet red, man. She's like, I'm going to go to hell. I need to get saved now. Soon as she prayed and got saved, she goes, I'm going to go tell Sophia. She needs to do this. We're like, get back here, kid. I was like, honey, she should have got it because once you got it, you want to tell somebody else about it. Whosoever believes shall not be ashamed. If you sat here and trusted Christ as your savior and you're on your way to heaven now, but you haven't told me, would you please tell me? We'll all rejoice with you. I want to know if you got saved sitting here. Don't be ashamed of the Lord. Especially here. None of us are ashamed of him. Join the crowd. Amen. Good peer pressure around here. The right kind of peer pressure. What an exciting thing. I can remember when all of my children got saved. What a blessing it is. What a benefit to have a saved family. I don't know what they're going to do with their life. So far, they've been good kids. Thank the Lord for that. But life can take all kinds of twists and turns. But to know where they're at when they die, it's priceless. Listen to me. I remember when some of you got saved. I was thinking through some of it this week. I remember meeting Dan up there at Bigby, up in Heartland. Five years now? Almost? Six? Five? What? Six years in April. What a blessing, man. That guy, that guy, never mind. I remember when Danny got saved. I've seen her near somewhere. There she is. Grace went over there to meet with her. Listen, God had showed us, because we had gone to somebody else's house to visit them. They asked us to come visit, and we were there, and Danny had walked in an acquaintance of theirs, right? And we both left, and we were like, that's why God sent us here. Literally, that's it. Boy, we just knew. She walked in, she wouldn't look at us. She was like freaking out. Like, hey, this is a pastor of the Church of Jesus. Pastor, no way, you know? And we both watched some interactions and saw some stuff and said, that's why God sent us here. Invited her to church. She came a little while. I don't remember exactly all the little details in between, but I know Grace went over to her house. And Grace disappeared. After two hours, I'm like, all right, something's up. Where are you? Still here. Are you OK? Everything's fine. Just pray. She's sitting on the couch in Danny's house drinking coffee out of a skull and crossbones coffee cup. Sorry, Danny. Four hours later, Danny trusted Christ as her savior. She'd come home exhausted, man. She walked in the door. She's like, eyes are bloodshot. I'm like, honey, what were you doing over there? She's like, no, I'm good, I promise. She wore me out. You know what a blessing it is to see people saved? Not just getting saved and disappearing, but getting saved and sticking with us. I went over after I looked at all the folks that have been saved, I went over and tried to look at all the folks that came to the church that were recently saved and or have been saved a while but were in churches where they weren't really taught any Bible doctrine. Now I'm looking at all the folks coming from contemporary churches that really knew nothing and the folks we have literally, we have former Charismatics, former Pentecostals, Lutherans, Methodists, nothings, just whatever, Evangelical, We have folks from Assemblies of God and Church of Christ. I added up about 60 different people, 52 different people that came here already saved, but didn't have sound doctrine. That's another third of our church. Then the other third were saved and in church, had somewhat of a Baptistic doctrinal background, and were King James Bible for the most part. Man, what a blessing. You know, God's given us something really, really special here. You don't see a lot of that nowadays. What I want you to realize is if you're saved, if you're saved, you got something that's priceless. Thank God for it. But there's more to it than just, thanks for the fire insurance, now I'll go ahead and live my life. There's a lot more in the passage than just that. I want us to capitalize on the benefits of our salvation. And the first benefit that I see is in verse number two. It says, Judah was his sanctuary. One of the benefits of the salvation that God's given us is that we have a sanctuary of God. A sanctuary is His sacred, personal presence in our life. Keep your finger here in Psalms and go back with me to the book of Exodus chapter 25. I want you to show you in context what he's talking about back here in the Old Testament and the purpose of his sanctuary. Exodus chapter 25 and go down with me and find verse number 8 there if you would. Exodus 25.8 The Lord's given Moses some instructions here about the tabernacle. He's detailing to them how he wants them to build this tabernacle. And in verse number 8 he says this, You see what his point was in Exodus 25 and verse number 8. He said, let him make me a sanctuary. Why? That I may dwell among them. One of the benefits of salvation is that you actually get the presence of Almighty God in your life. He brought them out of Egypt, the type of the world, because He wanted to walk with them. It wasn't just to save them from Pharaoh. It wasn't just to eventually bring them into the Promised Land. It was that there was a journey between Egypt and the Promised Land, between Egypt and heaven, where God wanted to dwell with His people, hey, and walk with His people. That's one of the greatest blessings of salvation in this life, is the presence of Almighty God. God wanted to be with those folks and Here he is detailing all these strange bizarre instructions and this detailed stuff Here's how I want you to build the sanctuary and here's the colors and here's this and here's the pattern and here's the layout and here's the instruments And here's all the furniture and this is all the stuff that I want you to do But they didn't have any idea that over in the book of Hebrews He was gonna tell him the reason I had you do that is because that earthly stuff is a pattern of the heavenly Do you understand that? The earthly layout was a pattern of something that was in glory. In other words, God was giving them in the wilderness. God was giving them in their wanderings. Have you ever noticed how messed up the wilderness wanderings were? Come on, I'm preaching now. You might be out of Egypt, but there's a lot of Christians that get out of Egypt and they wander around the wilderness way longer. An 11 day journey turned into 40 years. And the whole time that happened, God dwelled with his people. In their rebellion, in their mess-ups, in their mistakes, in their failures, in their circles, here we go, round and round we go, I should be past this point, and I'm not past this point, and why am I not past this point? I thought by now on my spiritual walk, I wouldn't still be struggling with these things. Hey, hey, one of the benefits of salvation is that in the wilderness, in your mess-ups, he wants to be with you. Man, what a great thing that is. So here the Lord lays out this pattern for them because in this earth and on this earth He wanted them to have something a little taste of what's coming in the future Folks I am telling you the closest that you're gonna get to heaven on this earth It's gonna be in a place just like this or in your personal devotions I'm telling you you need to hear me It ain't about you know a job or falling in love or all the other things finally having kids someday ain't about any of the dreams You think it's about it's about the presence of Almighty God. It's about his sanctuary It's about him showing up in your life and talking to you and walking with you and dwelling with you That's one of the greatest benefits of salvation. I Don't understand why we think so little of our devotional life and I'm trying to draw close to the Lord It's a really big deal Go over to the book of, stay in the book of Exodus, go over to chapter number 35 if you would please. Exodus 35, look at verse 30. I want you to see something about this sanctuary of God. It was a place where God wanted to dwell. And about that tabernacle, about that sanctuary, it was where the people would come to worship. Verse number 30, Exodus chapter 35, verse 30. And Moses said unto the children of Israel, see, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And he hath filled them with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach both he, and Aholiab, and the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work, and of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and of fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work. Then wrought Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary according to all that the Lord had commanded. Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom. You see the theme over and over again? Even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it. And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came, every man from his work which they made. And they said unto Moses, they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded. You see what's going on here? God says, I want you to build a place where I can come and dwell with you. I want you to set up a tabernacle. And I'm going to give you the instructions, specifically in my words, exactly how I want you to set up that tabernacle. And what I want you to do now is I want you to go ahead and put the work in to build that tabernacle. He did all the work you need doing to save your soul. What work did you put in to save yourself? Didn't he send miracles to get them out of Egypt? Didn't they walk up to the Red Sea and he just parted that thing? There was no work involved at all, but he said, when it comes to me coming down to dwell with you, when it comes to a benefit of what I've done for you, I want you to put some work into it. And I'll send the people there to get the job done. I want to get done. And they're all coming in and they're doing their part. By His Spirit, He puts into some men to teach some things, and to show some things, and to make some things clear, and to detail what God had given them to do, and they're all pitching in to do the work. Why? Because they wanted God's presence with them. You getting the picture yet? You realize, folks, what a blessing it is to have a local church? Go over to Exodus chapter 40, because, listen, in the Old Testament, God dwelt in this tabernacle while they were in the wilderness wanderings. When God took them from the wilderness and put them into the land, guess what they built? A temple, right? Where God's presence showed up. When you go from the tabernacle while they're wandering, also called a tent, that same thing gets transferred into the temple. Then when you come to the New Testament, it gets transferred into the body of Christ, which we're going to talk about this afternoon. I'll show you that in just a second. You go off into the tribulation period, into the millennium, the temple comes back. You know where his presence is right now? He said, I will build my what? Well, I don't need church. I got my, I got God. I got my relationship. You better be super careful. God's presence shows up when God's people get together and based on God's specific instructions. I don't believe in church without sound, clear, expository Bible teaching and preaching. You understand that? How do you know you're building that according to His specifics? I'm telling you this morning, I'm preaching now, okay? God cares about the details. God cares about the music. God cares about the attitude. God cares about this hippie God movement, this chilled out God movement. God cares about sound Bible doctrine. And the reason I still preach is because that's the instructions in the Word of God. We're not building this thing according to our own take, our own culture. It's not up for debate what color we want in the tabernacle. Hey, he said how to do it. I don't care if this modern generation likes it or not. God's always sent preachers. Always. All the way off into the tribulation period where the preaching is going to be hard, straight, and direct. So bad that they're going to kill them. God always raises up men to stand up and say, thus saith the Lord, and preach it. And so we're going to preach around here and I'm going to keep preaching. Lord, help me until I die. If you don't like that, I'm sorry. I'm not being a jerk and I'm not being in your face about it. I'm kindly and as a gentleman, I'm saying if you don't like that, not from my heart sorry, but respectfully sorry, it's not gonna change. Because I'm gonna stand before Jesus Christ someday and give an account. And I'm not bending to the culture. We're going by the pattern God gave us and it's right in my hand. Are you in Exodus chapter 40? Look at verse 33. Exodus 40, 33. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and set up the hanging of the court. So Moses, watch it, you want God's presence, right? You want that benefit of your salvation. So Moses finished the work. You're in a generation of quitters. I would rather you come faithfully and stay faithful and you might not ever set the world on fire. You might not be here Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Just keep coming and be here faithfully every week and stay at it. Because if you want God's presence, you've got to finish the work. You can't quit. Look at verse 34. Moses did what God told him to do and finished what he started. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. I hope to God that happens someday. I've heard the old stories from the old preachers and I'm not talking about Pentecostal charismatic stuff. I'm talking about the presence of God moving in and dealing so much with the hearts of the people during the preaching that the preacher has to stop preaching. Because the service is over. If he keeps talking, he's overrunning the Holy Spirit. And people are answering the altar call, getting saved, getting right with God, selling out to God. Man, wouldn't it be great? You know what I think I felt this morning sitting in there cramming the announcements at the last second? You know what I felt? At least I'm not cramming the message at the last second. Give me a break. I'm human, all right? You know what I felt sitting in there? I could feel it from the other room. I felt the presence of God. You're all coming in here and you're singing. And you're singing them good old hymns and singing about the blood of Jesus Christ and forgiveness and your salvation. And I feel the presence of God fill in the place. I love sitting in there. We're praying and getting ready for the message and in my office praying before the service and you just slowly but surely, last time we get in there about 10-15, we're in there till right before we start, you slowly but surely hear it out there, just the noise level just kind of gets It's not like anybody's being wild. It's just like you can feel the fellowship in the room and the happy to see you and the catching up about the week and the excitement about being in the house of God. Do you understand what a blessing that is to have, folks? How many of you have been in church where you don't have that? You've got to have the band up front getting everybody kind of warmed up. Welcome, church. Good to see you all at church. And they're all like, It's like, let's get it going. Let's get it hyped up. Let's get it going. Let's push it. Let's perform for the people. And follow along with the words on the screen. They don't even know the songs. I mean, they're catchy enough. I mean, it's seven lyrics, you know, seven lines over and over again, 47 times for a 12 minute long song with lots of bass and all the rest of that. So you can pick up pretty quick, you know. If you're, I mean, like, halfway with it, you can pick up pretty quick. It's different. You understand what I'm saying? You been in the high church? The ultra-religious? A man of God wearing robes and walking around like he's not human? You come in and sit and... Can I even look sideways? It's like... I'll never forget it. When I was a kid, we were out of town. We went and visited another church up north. It was a charismatic church. Not a charismatic church, a Calvinistic church. We walked in and, I mean, they met us at the back door. ushers, you know, and it was like there was an organ playing. It was 10 minutes or 15 minutes before the service. And they were like, Keith? And they walk in, they find you a spot, and they go, the place is empty. I can go find a spot. They get you and they bring you down and they, like is this a funeral or is this church, man? Nobody's even talking to each other. There's no liberty in the place. There's no individuality in the place. And you're sitting there like, and that's when I, you've heard me recite it before, the guy gets up to pray and he's like, oh God, our gracious, his nostrils are flaring, heavenly Father, help us build thy kingdom. And I was not, bowing my head, I got in trouble. I was watching him, I was like. Quit praying, bow your head, you little rebel, you little demon, what is wrong with you? It was just dead. Do you understand what I'm saying? Nothing in my saved little spirit. Nothing in... Did you hear what I just said? When these kids are born again and they get in a place where God's presence is, they get it. They get more than you think they're getting. The Spirit of God is ministering to them and stirring them up in their little spirits. And I'm sitting there and getting nothing. I'm reading nothing. I remember daydreaming the whole time. I know how many people I beat up, how many Indians I scalped. It was a great service. But I've been in other services growing up where the preacher gets up and opens the Bible he believes and then pours his heart out. and might make a fool out of himself. An average, you know, fine, upstanding, well-to-do Americans might look at him and be like, what's he acting like that for? And I can't believe that. And that's just so, I don't know why he has to be that way. But he's just sharing his heart with the people. He's just stirred up for God. He had the presence of God on him. And I could feel that as a little, I still remember, I could see it when I closed my eyes. Something was really, hey, it was God's presence showing up. And I want something like that. But if you don't finish what God set you out to do, you'll never get it. Notice verse 36, when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle. I don't like that part. Because all the Christian life isn't an overwhelming flood of the glory of God. Sometimes it's not a mountaintop experience. When the cloud stayed, the people stayed, because they had the presence of God, and they weren't going to move from that place. But when the cloud moved, all the children of Israel went onward in their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and the fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. When that cloud lifted, it was still there. But when that cloud lifted a little bit, the Lord said, all right, it's time to go. And then they get back to it. I mean, at the end of the day on Sunday, the cloud lifts a little bit. And you know what you've got to do Monday morning? You've got to pack up the tent. You've got to get everything together. You've got to get out the door and get to work. Because he told you in the Bible, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. If you don't work, you deny the faith, and it's worse than an infidel. How are you going to come in and bring all those offerings to get the work done if you don't go get a job? How are you going to feed those kids? By the way, it's not all about building the sanctuary and the temple. How are you going to slowly but surely, if the Lord blesses and you're able to, do a little better for your family as time goes on? It ain't a sin, by the way. Don't you ever go mortgage your house to give to our building project. You don't have that money. You're borrowing that money. Don't cash in your retirements to get the bill. God will provide, be faithful, do what God wants you to do, but don't do stupid stuff like that. Don't you ever fall for some con artist trying to get you to do that stuff. Stuff ticks me off so bad. Old ladies on a fixed income trying to make ends meet given to some tele-evangelist who's loaded. God will provide. But he provides through us. And that cloud lifts and the Lord directs you on the next phase of your journey. You've got to walk in this world. But when the cloud settles, you stay. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and then we'll be back in the book of Psalms. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I want to show you this in the New Testament. Apply it even on a little bit of a deeper level other than the assembly of the congregation. What a great thing we have. Gathering together what a great thing the Lord's doing and bringing us into one place so that he can speak to us and minister to Us through the Word of God what a blessing it is to have a local church where God's presence is and I pray it gets stronger as time goes on 1st Corinthians chapter 6 I Want you to see verse 15 with me He says no ye not That you're members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. If you're a Christian, if you're the Lord, you ought not be living in fornication. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. That's why our society is so messed up psychologically speaking. Take it or leave it, I'm sure that's like hate speech and everything else, but God's God and the rest of them are a bunch of stinking liars. Now watch the next thing, verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple? May I told you his presence went from the tabernacle, also referred to as the tent, to the temple in the Old Testament, right? You know where his presence is at now, in the New Testament? It's in you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. One of the benefits of salvation is that sanctuary of God, the presence of God, the sacred presence of Almighty God is inside of me when I'm saved. What a mind-blowing concept! Because Paul said in Romans chapter 7, in me that is in my flesh dwelt no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. He's telling you, listen, inside of you now that you're saved is the Holy Spirit of God, so give that body as a vehicle through which Almighty God can work. You have to use that body the way God wants you to use it. You can go ahead and use it for the flesh, but that's going to bring you destruction. That's going to bring you shame. That's not going to glorify God. He said He's not going to leave you or forsake you and He stays holy inside of you because of the circumcision made without hands in the New Testament that they didn't have in the Old Testament. And they're not going to have in the Millennium. Well, good. I mean, that's the great, the number one benefit is I'm not losing my salvation. But man, you're missing out on all the presence of Almighty God when you don't give yourself to Him, when you don't follow Him, when you don't serve Him, when you don't live for Him, when you don't play by His rule book, you are missing out on the benefits of salvation. So many saved people are so cotton-picking miserable because they won't just say, God, you're right, I'm wrong, I'll do whatever you tell me to do, the way you tell me to do it, but I got a real infirmity and it's this flesh. So you know what the second benefit of salvation is? Not only is it the sanctuary of God and that He actually will dwell in me, but the second benefit of salvation is He gives me the strength to actually do what He asks me to do. Look at it in verse number three. God takes Israel out. At the end of verse two, Israel is His dominion, right? Dominion shows you power. Oh, I'm sorry, back to Psalm 144. I realized when I looked at my Bible I'm still on 1st Corinthians, Psalm 144. So at the end of verse number two, it says Israel is his dominion. Psalm 144, Psalm 114. If you can't tell, my mind is like, I'm like overdrive this morning, and I'm not sure why. I got up this morning, I was like, Lord, I'm not feeling it. I need your help. And boy, something happened, I'm feeling it. You understand what I'm saying? I was like, Lord, slow me down here for a second. So I mean, it's all there. I don't even need my notes this morning. It's there. Psalm 114 the end of verse number two. It says Israel is his dominion That shows a a reigning king that shows a superior power His strength and power is seen over the natural world the seesaw in verse number four and fled Jordan was driven back the mountains skipped like rams the little hills like land Look down at verse six you mountains that you skipped like rams you little hills like lands. I Then he says in verse 7, tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord. Do you realize how powerful God is? He has power over the elements. When Peter got his eyes on Jesus Christ, he said, come on. And Peter walked on the water. As long as he had his eyes on Jesus Christ, he was walking on the water. The second he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the winds and looked at the waves and looked at the clouds, he starts sinking. You got no strength. You got nothing. I don't care how strong you think you are. You got nothing. Until you get your eyes on Jesus Christ. Matthew 27 and 28, at Jesus Christ's death, the earth shook. At Jesus Christ's resurrection, the earth shook. Earthquakes hitting. That's how powerful he is. You know what's going to happen at the second coming of Jesus Christ? earthquake like this earth has never seen before. Faith is a grain of mustard so you can move mountains. You ain't moved one. Fraud. You really got it. Yeah, go tell your preacher. Go tell him I said that. If he's really got all that faith, why is he pushing you for money all the time? If I had so much faith I could move a mountain, and heal people, and raise people, and do all this supernatural stuff, you think I'd ask you for money? You know what I'd do? I'd lay out a $100 bill on my countertop, and I'd say, and there would be a few billion. Why not? You could heal people. You could cast out devils and you can't multiply a dollar bill. You're a fraud, man. This one's so powerful, when he comes back and puts his foot down, he knocks mountains down by his own faith. God That travels speeds you can't fathom To go from outer space to this earth to go down to hell back up ascend come all the way back. I Do you know how many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of years you'd have to live if scientists are even remotely close to how vast this universe is? You would die of old age a million times over before you could make it, flying on the fastest space shuttle man's created yet. And he goes just like that all the way down through all that time. He sits right here, right now, this morning, speaking to your hearts, keeping you saved and trying to feed you something from the Word of God, and He sits out in eternity past and He sits out in eternity future all at the same time. And you know what happens to you, Peter? You start looking around at the winds and the waves. The doctor walks in the room and says, well, I wish I had better news. And you swallow hard in that feeling. Your heart jumps up in your throat. Adrenaline kicks in. All that wave looks really big, man. You turn on the news, you know, and you look at Israel. What a mess. The Palestinians, what a mess. The United Nations and all the hypocrisy going on there. The riots, the protests, the world building up their steam against anti-Israel. Okay, let's just say we solved that one. You look at Russia and Ukraine. Two years now, dragging on and on and on. Okay, let's just say we solved that one. You look at China and Taiwan. Oh, let's just say we solve that one. Look at the border. No, let's just say we solve that one. Look at fatherless children in this country. Motherless children. Mass shootings, drug addictions, suicides. Must I go on? Yeah, you look around at the winds and the waves. And the benefits you've got are the power of God in your salvation can feel like they're completely gone. God took you out of Egypt. Why are you worried about Egypt so much? Listen folks, you got the strength of Almighty God inside of you to help you. Do you realize that a hundred years ago you wouldn't have known nothing at all about what's going on in China? Or Russia? The news would have got here, but got here so late it's already done. In this generation, you've got more stressors on you, more problems in your face, more constant barrages of things coming at you, and on top of all that, you have to deal with your own life. You haven't made it to 40 years old. Can I get a witness on me yet? You haven't made it to 40 years old without running into a whole host of problems. A whole host. If you've made it to 40 and never struggled with depression, if you've been married more than five years and haven't had any marriage problems, One of you is an absolute rug. I'll guarantee you that much. Me and my wife have never had a fight in 40 years. Your wife is a complete beat down rug. I'll guarantee you that. Me and my husband, we just have never, we don't have that kind of relationship. We've never had a fight in all these years. Like your husband's a mouse. You can tell him I said so because I'm definitely not scared. You understand what I'm saying? You know what you need for this life? Because on top of everything else you have to deal with and all the problems that come with life, you got you to deal with. And ain't that a job, a full-time job in and of itself? How in the world can somebody figure out how to control themselves, get victory over their own sins, get themselves in line and shape, learn the word of God, grow in Jesus Christ, mature with life, change as life changes, There are phases to life. Like a book I read from a general who said, adapt or die. It was a book on leadership. Great book, I thought. Man, that guy had a lot of practical, worldly wisdom in that book. You got to learn to change. You got to have the Holy Spirit of God changing you with time. If you're going to get done anything spiritual in your life, in your family's life, with your children and your grandchildren, you better be making some adjustments. How are you going to do all that? and have joy. Well, you're going to need the presence of God. And then you're going to need the strength of God. My last point. Look at verse 8. The benefit of your salvation, God will give you the strength. He delivered them out of Egypt and He overcame the elements to get them through the Red Sea into the wilderness and get them over Jordan into the Promised Land. And once he gets them into the promised land, they've still got more battles to fight. That's why, for the sake of the message at least today, I don't think the promised land represents heaven necessarily. I think it represents the victorious Christian life. Because once you get in there, you've still got to fight, but it's a place of fruitfulness. You know what you need once you get there? If you ever get to that phase? You need a constant supply feeding you in that land. Look at verse eight, which turned the rock into a standing water, and the flint into a fountain of waters. You know what you need? The benefit of your salvation, it's there for you. If you'll avail yourself of it, it's there for you. Not just the presence of God. Man, that's just everything. It's literally everything. But the strength that His presence brings to get through this life, to keep on the right track, to grow in the Lord, to make the changes you need to make, to keep on keeping on for Jesus Christ. Because if you don't finish, His glory won't show up. And then on top of all that, you need a constant supply of His strength. You know who the rock is, don't you? You've read 1 Corinthians 10. That rock was what? Christ. He leadeth me beside still waters. What's the point of the still waters? He restoreth my soul. You know what the Lord will do? He'll supply you. some cool, calm, clean, safe, still waters to sit down next to and get a good, deep drink to help you keep going. That is a benefit of being a Christian. We're not serving the Lord out of our own willpower. I understand that there are phases of it where you have to just, I've decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. I get it. I get it that this generation needs a lot more grit. I get all that. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, okay? I'm not saying that that's not part of it. I'm saying if all of your Christian life is always the constant willpower, I'm not gonna quit, I'm not gonna quit, I'm not gonna quit, I'm gonna be there, I'm gonna be there, but you're dead. And you're dry and you're weak and his presence hasn't showed up in years What are you doing? You are missing out on the benefits of salvation It's not just it's not just a fire escape. Thank God it is But it's so much more than that Once he saved you he'll walk with you and fill you with his presence and the joy of God You know what everybody in this world is looking for They want to get back to Eden. You know what drug addicts are doing? They're escaping reality and trying to get to a higher level, to another place. Trying to get out of reality and enter into something that's exciting and just like, whoa! You want to get back to where you fell from. You know how to get that? You need to be addicted to the ministry. You need that presence of Almighty God in your life. That presence brings with it the strength to part the Red Sea. He can give you victory over the things you need victory over. He gives you the roadmap to get through the wilderness, so quit wandering around and get to Jordan. And when you say, look, I'm going to do it God's way. I'm going to stop doing it my way. I'm going to believe what he said. If he said you could have victory, you can have victory. Get to the Jordan River. And when you get there, because He told you to get there, believe and He'll part it. He'll part it. I'm telling you that Christian life does have miracles in it. You'll see. He's got power over those elements. He's got the strength to get you over. And then when He gets you over, and you finally get the victory, you better feast on the supply of God in that land, because you need a constant supply to keep you strong and keep you straight and keep you going for Jesus Christ. And that rock was Christ. But there's a second thing, and we're done, but it's a second thing in the passage, look at it. He turned the rock into standing waters, and the flint, Jesus Christ set his face like what? Flint, you see the kite? What did he turn that into? A fountain. Well, what did Jesus Christ say in the book of John? He said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. You know what that is? It's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't encourage you to speak in tongues. He gives you a bridle for the tongue you got. He's the only one that can give you strength to get yourself under control. And you know what you'll find if you really tap into the benefits of salvation? You know what you'll find? He'll use you as a channel to start flowing out to other people. And what happens when you empty out is, guess what you gotta do? You gotta fill up again. That's one of the reasons, by the way, this isn't in my notes, I just gotta say this. Thank you for supporting me to be full-time. You know of preachers that are bi-vocational and believe the Bible, you should pray hard for them. Because it's real hard to fill back up after you empty out everything you got with all your heart from a passage of Scripture and fill that thing back up with everything else going on in life. I got complete respect for those guys. I'm glad I have the time to sit down and fill back up. Why? Because that's how the Holy Spirit works. Once you empty out, you gotta get filled back up again. You know where that comes from? You know what some of you this morning, you're running a little low. I'm not being mean to you. I'm not picking on you and I'm not judging you. I'm telling you I know because I'm human. You're running a little low this morning. The benefit of your salvation isn't quite overflowing in you. And you're trying to witness and you're trying to do right and you're trying to get to victory and you're having a hard time. You know what you need this morning? Lord, I need to refill. Lord, I want your presence. Lord, I want your strength. Lord, I want your supply. And man, serving the Lord, when you understand the benefits of your salvation, no longer are you in this, in the traces, just trying, you're digging, we're gonna keep going, we're not gonna quit. You're dwelling in beautiful land. I've reached the land of corn and wine, and all its riches freely mine. I've shined under dim one glistle day, and all my nights are cast away. Man, that day is coming, but in the meanwhile, you can live serving the Lord in this lifetime with a picture of what it's gonna be like. Are you hearing me? Remember what I said at the beginning? Lay out this tabernacle this way because it's a picture of what's going on in the heavenly. You know what God wants you to have right now? Right now, your salvation ought to be a picture, a foretaste of what heaven's gonna be like. Now, you think you'd be a little dragon trying to serve God if you're getting a taste of heaven out of your salvation? When's the last time you tapped into the benefits of being saved? If you haven't, I'm asking you, please, this morning before we close, we'll be done in just a minute, please tap into those benefits and watch what that does for you and your life. to stand to our feet this morning with their heads bowed and their eyes closed.