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And he said, hey, Pastor, I have a question about the Holy Spirit. And he said, I know that in the New Testament we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the Old Testament saints were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Is there a reason for that, or does the Bible give a reason as to why in the New Testament we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and in the Old Testament they were not? And when he asked me the question, I really didn't have an answer for him. And I didn't really never heard anybody give an answer for it. I never heard a pastor really have a good, definite answer. But over the last several weeks as I've been studying the Bible, something became very apparent and clear to me, which I think is the answer to the question. So let's talk about why is there a change between the Old Testament and the New Testament where Old Testament saints were not indwelt and New Testament saints are indwelt. Well, let's look at the main passage that teaches the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse number 16. 2 Corinthians 6, 16. The Bible says this, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye, notice what it says, 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. Now this is a New Covenant passage, a New Testament passage. This was a change from the Old Testament to the New Testament, a major change from the Old Testament to the New Testament is that God said that in the New Testament, we as believers are the temple of the living God, and he will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now go back to the book of Exodus, Exodus 25. You have Genesis and Exodus, Exodus 25. And let me say this. The reason for the shift between the indwelling of believers from the Old Testament to the New Testament is because there is a shift between the temple and the Old Testament and the New Testament. See, in the Old Testament, there was a physical building. At first, it was the tabernacle, a tent that was built for the sacrifices of God. Eventually, that was made into a physical building called the temple. In the New Testament, there was a shift made where we no longer care about a physical building called the temple, but God says that you, your body, is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and he's going to indwell you, and he's going to live in you and walk with you, and we will be his people, and he will be our God. Here's what's interesting about the temple. The temple in the Old Testament was always indwelled by God. Exodus 25, look at verse 21. In Exodus 25, we have the story of the building of the tabernacle when God had them build the tabernacle. Exodus 25, verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark. So if you remember, and I don't have time to get into all the details, but he's telling him how to build the furniture that's going to go inside of this building called the tabernacle, which would eventually be the temple. And part of the building is that he wanted them to build an ark, a box, and it had certain special things in it, and he wanted that ark to go into the innermost part of the tabernacle, the inner room called the Holy of Holies. And he wanted them to put a mercy seat, a throne, on the top of the ark. Notice verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. God's word was there. Verse 22, and there I will meet with thee and will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. So in the tabernacle, they always had this ark that represented the presence of God. And God said that he wanted them to put a mercy seat there. And once a year on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, he would literally meet with God. God said, I will meet with you there. And the tabernacle and the temple always had the indwelling of God in the physical building. Here's what's interesting. In the Old Testament, the building, the tabernacle, the temple, was always indwelled by the presence of God. But from time to time, the building was filled with the presence of God. Let me show it to you. Go to Exodus chapter 40. Exodus chapter 40. Look at verse 34. Exodus chapter 40, verse 34. Exodus 40, 34 says this. Then a cloud, remember when they were in the wilderness, the cloud represented the presence of God? Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation. Talk about the tabernacle that they built. Notice. 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 they're on, notice, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So the tabernacle always had the indwelling of God through the Ark of the Covenant. But from time to time, it had the filling of God where the entire building was filled with the glory of God, where Moses and the Levites and the priests couldn't even go into the building because the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Go to 1 Kings chapter 8. Let's fast forward a little bit. Find all those one and two books, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, they're all clustered together. 1 Kings chapter 8. Let's fast forward to the building of the temple when they built the physical structure that took place of the tabernacle called the temple. It had a holy of holies. It had the Ark of the Covenant. It had the indwelling of God. But from time to time, it had the filling of God. 1 Kings chapter 8. Look at verse 10. 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 10. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. So here's what's interesting. In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, they had a physical building called the tabernacle or the temple. And that's where the presence of God was. And if you wanted to worship God, you had to physically go to that tabernacle, to that temple, make your sacrifices there, because that's where the indwelling of the presence of God was. It was always indwelled by God through the Ark of the Covenant. But from time to time, it would be filled with the glory of God. It wasn't always filled with the glory of God. It was always indwelled. In the New Testament, the shift happens, because now we get rid of the temple, and you become the temple, and I become the temple. And now the Holy Spirit indwells me, because I'm the temple. And from time to time, I can get filled with the Spirit of God. So the shift between why New Testament believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, and Old Testament saints were not indwelled by the Holy Spirit, has more to do with the shift in the temple. The fact that the temple was always indwelled by the Spirit of God, and it would be filled with the power of God from time to time. But in the New Testament, you and I became the temple. And now, I don't need to go to a priest. I don't need to go to a certain land. I don't have to go to a physical place. I don't have to go to some voyage, to some pilgrimage, to go to a certain location to meet God there. I've got the Holy Spirit of God indwelling me. Hey, I don't need any man to mediate between God and man. I can go, look, before you have to go to the priest, and the priest will mediate for you at the temple. Now we are priests. We are kings and priests unto God and his father. Why? Because you've got the Holy Spirit of God. And the shift happened. The shift happened with the shift in the temple. So if you want to ask the question, why do New Testament believers get indwelled? It's not because you're special. It's because the new covenant made you the temple. And when you became the temple, you got the indwelling of the temple. And from time to time, you can have the filling of the temple, not