in the first book of Kings chapter
8 in that portion that we just read I want now to direct your
attention for a while to words that we find in verses 38 and
39 first Kings chapter 8 and verses 38 and 39 what prayer and supplication
so ever be made by any man For by all thy people Israel we shall
know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth
his hands towards this house. Then hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling place, and forgive and do, and give to every man according
to his ways whose heart thou knowest. For thou even thou only
knowest the hearts of the children of men. Then we read of God's
knowledge and the sinner's saving knowledge of God. These two things
stand before us in these verses, part of Solomon's prayer, at
the dedication of the temple. Last time we considered, and
it's also recorded there in that second book of Chronicles, repetition
really in chapter 6 but then we were considering last week
in chapter 7 and verse 15 how the prayer was answered God says, there now mine eyes
shall be opened and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is
made in this place. Remember how we said that that
really was a direct answer to part of the prayer, one of the
petitions that King Solomon had made. There at the end of that
6th chapter in 2nd Chronicles verse 40, Now, my God, let I
beseech thee thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent
unto the prayer that is made in this place. And so God answers,
and answers him, specifically answers him in every particular
Now mine eyes shall be opened, and mine ears attend unto the
prayer that is made in this place." Oh, God is the one who is pleased
to hear prayer, and God is the one who answers prayer. And as
we said last week, the place, the temple, is a remarkable type
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Oh, it is through Christ that
our prayers find acceptance. He's the only one by and in whom
we can enjoy that blessing of access. But we have that assurance
as God himself has said there at the end of the prophecy of
Isaiah, before they call I will answer and whilst they are yet
speaking I will hear. Now that here in the words that
we've read for our text this morning we see that God's knowledge
is that that has the primacy In that little parenthesis at
the end of verse 39, Solomon says, For thou, even thou only,
thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men. These are interesting and significant
words. In the previous verse, he speaks
of that man that knows himself. We shall know every man the play
of his own heart. And we see that in a sense there's
paradox here. We can only know ourselves as
we know God. Because God is the one, the only
one who really knows the hearts of any one of us. And it is God
who must show us ourselves. Think of the language that we
find in the in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah concerning the
heart of man. It is deceitful, he says, above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And then the
answer comes, I the Lord know the heart and try the reins to
give to every man according to his ways and according to the
fruit of his doings. It is God only then who knows
the hearts of men. If we would know ourselves we
must first of all be those who have a knowledge of God. God
is the one then who has that primacy. And I want to speak
as I said at the beginning not only of that knowledge that God
has but that knowledge that God is pleased also to communicate
to his people when he comes to deal with them and we have to
show us ourselves. And I want to mention three aspects
of that knowledge that we have to come to. It's a personal knowledge.
It is very much a knowledge that is associated with real penitence
and repentance. If we feel what we are, the plague
of our hearts, It will be made profitable when we're brought
to see the importance of turning from our sins. And then thirdly,
we will see how that it must also be a prayer for knowledge. These three things in personal
knowledge, penitential knowledge, and prayer for knowledge. First of all, it is that that
is personal. As we have it in the language
that's used here in the middle of this 38th verse, it is a man
who knows his own heart. He knows his own heart. Now as
we said only last Thursday, in Scripture, we see so clearly
that the heart lies at the very center of a man's being. The Hebrews have a different
concept of the heart than we westerners would have. We tend
to associate the hearts with the affections. We speak of an
affair of the heart and so forth. But of course when we read the
scriptures we see time and again the affections are more associated
with the bowels. You know, it's that you feel
in the very depth of your being. It's that you feel in the pit
of your stomach. They think more particularly
of the heart in terms of all that the man is, more than the
affections. The wise man therefore says, keep thy heart with all
diligence. for out of it are the issues
of life, all the issues of life. All that the man is, is what
the man is in his heart. And we have it not only in the
the wisdom literature, the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament,
we have it in the ministry of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament. This is out of the abundance
of the heart the man speaketh. When he speaks he is betraying
what he is. The heart lies at the very center
of his being. And remember how when the Pharisees
were so ready to criticize his disciples because they didn't
observe those ritual washings when they came from the market
and so forth. What does the Lord say? There
in the account as we have it in Mark's Gospel In Mark 7.20 he said, That which
cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out
of the heart, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. This great catalogue All that
the man is, you see, comes from his heart. All these evil things
come from within, says Christ, and they are the things that
defile the man, or the heart. How important it is. How necessary
then that we're those who would be diligent in examining ourselves,
looking to our hearts. Paul says, examine yourselves,
prove yourselves, know you're not your own selves. how that
Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobated. It's only the
Lord Jesus Christ in us that can deal with all those dreadful,
sinful maladies that lie in the very depths of our beings. And God is the one, you see,
who only can teach us that true knowledge of ourselves. Isn't
that the significance of these words in the parentheses? thou
even thou only and there's an emphasis there, there's a repetition
thou, thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men and
how is it that God teaches? how does God instruct us and
make us to know what we are and what our needs are. Well, he
employs a variety of ways. He instructs us sometimes by
external things. There are those things that come
into our lives. There are those tribulations,
those trials, those troubles. We read here of the plague of
his own heart. which shall know every man the
plague of his own heart. But how are we brought to understand
anything about that inward plague? Well, as I said, often it's by
outward things. It's by the way in which the
Lord is pleased to have his dealings with us. Look at what the context
is and what he said previously. In verse 37, if there be in the
land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or
if there be caterpillar, if the enemy besiege them in the land
of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness thereby. This is the context he's been
speaking of those external things. those troubles that might come
upon the children of Israel. And what is God doing by means
of these things? He is teaching them something
about themselves. God causes these external things
to have an inward effect. They see the plague without And
as they see that, so they are made to feel something of the
plague within. And we see it in the experiences
of these believers in the Old Testament. Jeremiah the prophet
was brought to feel all that was come upon the children of
Israel, all that had befallen them, all that he saw around
about him at the time of the captivity. when the Babylonians
came under Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem fell, and the temple
was destroyed, and they were being transported and taken away. Look at the language that we
find him using, and how personal it all is. There in his book,
in chapter 4 of Jeremiah, verse 19, he cries out, My bowels,
my bowels, I am a pain at my very heart. My heart maketh a
noise in me, I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard,
O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, destruction
upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoiled. Suddenly
are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. He's referring
to the destruction of the temple in particular there at the end
of that 20th verse, when he speaks of the curtains destroyed in
a moment. All the desolations, but how it affects him, you see.
He touches him in his heart, he feels something inwardly. And we not only have the language
that we find in the book that bears his name, but then after
that we have that remarkable little book of the Lamentations. And in the Lamentations again
we see how all of these things have had their effects upon the
Prophet in chapter 3. Verse 48, he says, Mine eye runneth
down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter
of my people. Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth
not without any intermission till the Lord look down and behold
from heaven, mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the
daughters of my city. all those tears were real tears
he felt it and he felt the sin that was
in his own heart he knew this man he knew that in part he was
the cause of all that had befallen the people it was because of
Israel's sin and he's part of that sinful nation and God has
visited a terrible judgment upon them now the Lord you see deals
with his people deals with his people in such a way that things
act with themselves, outside of themselves, affect them inwardly. The language that we find in
another of the prophets, in Ezekiel 9 and verse 4, is to go through Jerusalem and
set a mark, it says, upon the forehead of the men that sigh
and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
All these external things, do these things outside of ourselves,
outside of our circles, all that we witness about us, do they
have their effect upon us personally? There is that woe that is pronounced
upon those that are at ease in some. We're not to be at ease.
Oh, it's good, is it not, on the Lord's Day we don't have
dealings with the world, We come into the chapel, we come to the
services of God's house, we see the worldlings about their business,
we see the busyness of the roads, and sometimes if we have to travel
on public transport, we see that to the world it's just like any
other day, and yet, in God's mercy, how we are preserved from
all of these things. We come together, we spend time
together through the day, and it's good, it's right, it's proper.
But does it grieve us, the things that we see about us? Or do they
have their effect? Do we feel that there is yet
that sin even in our own hearts? The godly, you see, they are
able to discern God and the dealings of God and the voice of God and
the hand of God in all those things that are about them. That's
one of the marks of the godly. As the prophet Micah says, the
Lord's voice crieth unto the city. The man of wisdom shall
see thy name, hear the rods, and who hath appointed it. Ought
to be those who are men and women of that spiritual wisdom to discern
God's voice and God's hand. Again, the language of the Psalmists,
we often refer to those words at the end of the 107th Psalm,
who so is wise. and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord."
The Lord is teaching us. And He doesn't just teach us
in His Word, He teaches us in all His dealings, in His providences.
He shows us something. And we should seek that all that
is related back to ourselves. It's not only a matter of God
dealing with us in the way of externals. He also, of course,
deals with us internally. it makes us to feel the sin that
is within us because all that sin that we see about us is really
in our own fallen natures is it not the plague of our hearts
and here we see in this 38th verse the man, the woman that
he is speaking of the Israel of God all thy people Israel
it says we shall know every man the plague of His own heart and
spread forth His hands toward this house. Lord, do we know
that plague, that fallen nature that is yet within us? Now the
Lord has to teach us and show us. And it is a fearful thing. Remember what another of the
saints of the Old Testament, Moses, says in his prayer. We
have the prayer of Moses there in Psalm 9. Thou turnest man
to destruction, it says, and sayest, Return, ye children of
men. Oh, God turns His children to
destruction when He makes them to see that play, when He deals
with them in terms of His holy law, that law which is holy and
just and good, that righteous law of God. And God instructs
us from it and shows us what we are as sinners. And we're
brought then to acknowledge with the Apostle, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. There's nothing
of any good in us when we're brought to learn in our soul's
experience that fearful truth, the great doctrine of the sinner's
total depravity. And we can do nothing. Our state
is a hopeless and a helpless state. But salvation is all together
of the Lord. And it's all part and parcel
of that ministry of God, of God the Holy Spirit. As Christ speaks
of His ministry when He has come, says the Savior, He will reprove
the world. He will convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And He must do that
first. in order that those who are brought
to feel what they are will see their great need of Christ, and
He will reveal the Savior. That is His office. He doesn't
speak of Himself, says Christ. He takes of mine. He will show
you the things of mine. He reveals sin, but He also reveals
the Savior of sinners. And so here we see that the knowledge
is not just a personal knowledge. the knowledge of ourselves that
we're brought to by the various ways of the Lord and the various
dealings of the Lord, there is also that knowledge that is penitential. We're brought to make our confessions,
we're brought to turn from our sins, but before we can truly
repent, we must be brought to feel the reality of what sin
is. Now wasn't this the ministry?
of John the Baptist who comes as that one who is the forerunner
of Christ and he preaches a baptism of repentance Christ subsequently
comes into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God but what the harbinger does, what John does is to preach that
baptism of repentance and we have the record of his ministry
There, in the beginning of the Gospels, time and again, think
of the language that we find in Matthew's accounts. The third
chapter of Matthew has much to say with regards to the Baptist's
ministry. And what do we see there? Verse
7. He saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism. And he said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits,
meat for repentance. The margin says answerable to
repentance. Bring forth fruits answerable
to repentance. He wants to see the evidence
of those who are truly penitential. but that was far from the spirit
of the Pharisees they had no knowledge of themselves as we
see from the Lord's dealings with them subsequently in John
chapter 9 that chapter where the Lord gives sight to the man
who was born blind and how that miracle was such a great offense
to the Pharisees because this man bore testimony to Christ
and because of that they put him out of the synagogue and
you know the account is a wonderful account how the Lord finds the
man and the man all together confesses the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Son of God but there at the end of John
chapter 9 what does Christ say to those Pharisees? ye say that
we see therefore your sin remaineth or they had no knowledge of themselves
they imagined that all was well with them they saw, they knew
But they were ignorant. They understood nothing of the
plague of their own hearts. They never brought forth any
of those fruits, meat for repentance that John the Baptist had been
speaking of. They were so set in their ways
as sinners. And here we see that there is
in the text this morning a connection between between the penitence
and the prayer in the language that we find here in verse 38
it says what prayer and supplication shall ever be made by any man
or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague
of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house
it's as the man knows the plague of his own heart that he makes his prayer and
his supplication. There's the root of his praying.
He pleads with God, he comes to seek forgiveness from God. Again, if we go back, look at
the language that we have previously in verse 35. If they pray toward
this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when
thou afflictest them. What is it that is associated
with their prayer? They are confessing, they are
turning from their sin. That is repentance, to turn from
sin. Why are they turning from sin?
Because of the Lord's dealings. Because the Lord has shown them
something, He has afflicted them. There are those external things
that have come upon them, that would affect in their hearts. This is the way in which the
Lord is pleased to deal with his people again. We see it later
in verse 47, Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land
whither they were carried captives, and repents, and makes application
unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying,
We have sinned, and have done perversely we have committed
wickedness and so return unto thee with all their hearts and
with all their soul in the land of their enemies which led them
away captive and pray unto thee toward their land which they
gave us unto their fathers the city which they was chosen and
the house which I have built for thy name." Well you see here
they are seen to be truly penitential those who are in the captivity
They were carried away, but they repented, says in verse 47. And
how is that repentance evidence? They make supplication. It says
in verse 48, they return unto the Lord with all their heart,
with all their soul. This is real repentance, turning
from their sins. In the New Testament, the very
word that is used for repentance has that basic meaning, remember,
of a change of mind. It's one of those words that's
a combination. It's two words wedded together. The word to change and the word
for mind. It's a change of mind, but it's
fundamental. It's a life that is so turned
about, a life that is turned upside down, a life that is turned
inside out. This is the repentance, it's
so thorough, it's so complete. And this is what the Lord himself brings his people to
by his dealings. that spirits of real repentance
for their sins, that desire to come and to make their confessions
before God. I will declare mine iniquities,
says the psalmist. I will be sorry for my sin. Oh, are we those who would come
in that spirit. We see it time and time again
in the book of Psalms, the repentance of God's Israel. Iniquities prevail
against me, says the Psalmist. As for our transgressions, thou
wilt purge them. Why? Oh, blessed is the man that
thou choosest, and causes to approach unto them. How God causes
His people to approach unto Him, to come unto Him. He afflicts
them. There's a purpose in it. There's a point to it all. as
we saw there in verse 35, they turn from their sin when thou
afflictest them. It's a penitential knowledge.
It's not just an intellectual thing, it's not just a matter
of the mind, the notions in the mind to know God, to know about
God. But it is such a knowledge of
God as the Holy One of Israel. and now our heart is full of
all manner of sin and evil and there must be a turning from
that if we're going to be those who are truly turning to the
Lord. This is our blessed man. We see
it of course so remarkably in Psalm 51. I said we see it in
the Psalms time and again but of course it's Psalm 51 that
is David's great psalm of penitence. And now David had sinned. He
was an adulterer, he was a murderer. He was guilty of the very deeds. With Bathsheba he had committed
adultery and then he was really the man responsible for the death
of her husband Uriah the Hittite. He was altogether implicated
and yet when he comes to make his confession and he sees that
his sin is so much against God, against thee, thee only, he says,
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That was a godly
sorrow. It was a sorrow that centered
in God. It wasn't him feeling sorry for himself and seeking
in any way to justify himself, to excuse himself for the sins
that he had committed. He wasn't there blaming God that
he had been in a situation where he had saw Bathsheba bathing
herself and his heart had gone out in lust after her. Or he
could, if he was an ungodly man, easily have said it. Whose fault
was it? It was God's property. Why was I in that situation?
But no, he blames himself. He makes his confession. He was
the guilty party. Against thee, the only of my
sin. It's godly sorrow. that godly
sorrow that work as repentance and salvation not to be repented
of whereas the sorrow of the world works nothing but death it's seeing sin for what it is
and where is it that we really see sin is it not in the in the
Lord Jesus Christ and all that he had to suffer Is that one
who is the great substitute for his people, the great sin-bearer?
Or Joseph Hart says so rightly, law and terrors do but harden.
Or the while they work alone. Or there is a work, a law work
to be done, but it's not alone. If that work comes alone, it
only hardens the sinner. But the sense of blood-bought
pardon soon dissolves the heart of stone. And isn't this the
knowledge that God brings his children to? It's personal. The Lord deals with us. He deals
with us in the way of external things. He shows us inwardly
what we are. He brings us to that point where
we, seeing him, have to turn from our sin and call upon his
name. And so ultimately this knowledge
is prayerful. What we have here is all prayer.
What prayer and supplication so ever be made by any man, or
by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague
of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house? Then hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man
according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest. for even
thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men."
It's that prayerful knowledge of God then. When God is pleased
to deal with us, when God comes and takes us in hand, what is
His purpose? Surely it is He will teach us
to pray. He will teach us to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that one of the marks of
His disciples? Those who were His followers,
what is their desire? They come to Him and they say
to Him, Lord, teach us to pray. And this is what the Lord is
doing with the man that we're reading of here in the text this
morning. He's teaching that man to pray. We have to learn how
to pray. And the Lord is the only one
who can instruct us and teach us. Oh, it's a simple thing to
pray, yes. It's simply calling upon God.
But if it's real prayer, it is God Himself who must be our Teacher.
It is written in the Prophets, They shall be all taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father, Christ says, cometh unto me. It's as we're taught of God,
and it's as we learn from God that we come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here you see the man will
spread forth his hands, he says, toward this house. Toward this house, the temple. And what is that? Well, we said
it last week. The temple is Christ. It's a remarkable type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. As we observe there at the end
of John chapter 2, where the Lord says to those Jews, destroy
this body in three days, I will raise it again. They don't understand
a word of what He is saying. They think He's speaking of the
temple. That wasn't Solomon's temple.
Solomon's temple had been destroyed, but the temple had of course
been rebuilt in the days of Ezra, but then it had also been added
to, and the more established in Israel's subsequent history,
and they think he's speaking of the buildings, of the temple.
But no, he is speaking of his body. And his disciples understood
that. After the resurrection, it was
after he rose again from the dead that they remembered. They
remembered the words that he had spoken to those Jews. Or the temple. That type of the
Lord Jesus. the true tabernacle which the
Lord pitched and not man we read in Hebrews 8 tabernacle is the
human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ and how God looks upon
it you see look at what it says previously Verse 29, that thine eyes may
be open toward this house, night and day, even toward the place
of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, that thou mayest
hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward
this place, or as the margin says, in this place. God's eye. God's eyes are ever, always upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. and this is that one you see
that we have to come to God by it is only in the Lord Jesus
Christ that we can approach Him and find access and have that
assurance that our prayers will be heard, God will hear us for
the sake of the Lord Jesus the language that we have time
and again in these verses verse 33 It says they confess
thy name and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house. In this house it says. Again
verse 35. They pray toward this place. Verse 38. The words of our text
this morning. they spread forth their hands
or he spreads forth his hands towards this house it's always
that way of coming it's coming in and through him who is the
only mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Jonah
knew it all Jonah knew it and he knew something of the spiritual
significance of it when he was there in the fish in the belly
of that whale altogether disorientated not knowing East from West and
yet he speaks of looking towards the temple I am cast out of thy
sight he says yet will I look again towards thy holy temple
it was a spiritual look it was truly a looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ and he doesn't just look he goes on to say my prayer came
in on to them enter thine holy temple." Oh, our prayers do come
in, enter in. We have that boldness and that
access with confidence as we come to God by the faith of Jesus
Christ. He himself has said, whatsoever
ye ask in my name I will do it that the Father might be glorified
in the Son. Oh, do the Lord's dealings with
us really move us to prayer? That is the great thing. The
Lord has to deal with us. The Lord has to teach us. And
He has His ways and His means. But He will bring us to that
where we'll know real repentance, a turning from sin, even as we
turn unto Him and call upon His name. What prayer and supplication
so ever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel, which
shall know every man the plague of his own heart. and spread
forth his hands toward this house then hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling place and forgive and do and give to every man according
to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only
knowest the hearts of all the children of men or that we might
be those then who are brought to know him that we might be
those who are also made to know ourselves and what our real needs
are. May the Lord grant his blessing
for his namesake.