That's good. That's taken from
Lamentations 3. Many of you know it's of the
Lord's mercies that were not consumed because His compassions
fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. It says, Pardon for sin and a
peace that endureth, that no man can take away. and His own
dear presence to cheer and to guide. Our Lord said, in the
world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. All power, He says, given unto
me in heaven. Be not afraid. Strength for today. I thought about this. We're worried
about what's going to happen. What's going to happen? Why don't
we just enjoy it right now? We don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow. You might die of a car wreck going home tonight.
Right? Every one of us have whatever
it is in us that the Lord has sent to kill us. Might be cancer,
might be something else. Don't worry about things that
haven't happened yet. Let's enjoy the here and now. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Whatever happens, it's going
to be good for God's people. Blessings are all mine with ten
thousand beside. Why? Because great is his faithfulness. He said, I'll never leave you
or forsake you, no matter what. Isn't that good? 2 Chronicles
7. 2 Chronicles 7. You'll enjoy thinking about this.
Someone in the medical community or science or whatever came up
with a number of less than ten to meet together. That's nine
people in it. Nine people. Ten or more. and a private or public gathering. That means nine people. How many
people were on the ark? You say eight. No. Nine. Right? Eight souls were saved. Why? Because somebody was with
them. They were in Christ and He was with them. Wasn't it?
And I thought about this. Our Lord has promised where two
or three are gathered. Would it be here? And we've got
brethren meeting. There are a few meeting in my
living room right now. Listen to this. Singing the hymns.
Praying the prayers. Now listen to this message. Where
two or three are gathered together, there am I in the middle. That's
what he said. He cannot lie. The Lord blesses. He hallows these gatherings.
One time the Lord told Philip to go all the way out in the
desert to preach to one man. One man. And he did. The Lord
saved him. He was baptized. Why should we meet? Why do we
meet? Because the Lord told us to. He told us to. It's both a command and a promise.
A command and a promise. One of the brethren. Well, John,
Jr. John Sheasley, Jr. texted me and said, here's his
very words. He said, Lord, we're in my house.
Remember what Joshua said? As for me in my house, John said,
my house will be listening on Mixler and I will be praying
for the service and you. And he said, I thank the Lord
always for you, Pastor. Now, Lord, bless that man, won't
you? Dear lady, well Sally, you listen
to Sally? Sally Miller down in North Carolina
who's very, very ill right now. Can hardly get out of the house.
She's taking care of her invalid father right now too. I talked
with her on the phone the other day and she said, your voice... She said, I need to hear your
voice, preaching. She said, it's a lifeline to
me. I hope you're with us, Sally,
and others. The Lord will bless that. Thank the Lord we can meet
tonight, and thank the Lord for these means that He's given for
others to hear. We need to hear this. Last Lord's
Day, we looked at Solomon's Prayer, and this is the same, but it's
in a different book. Solomon's Prayer, 1 Kings 8,
is also found in 2 Chronicles 6. Solomon, you remember, prayed.
Solomon was the king. He's a type of Christ. He prayed
for his people. He didn't pray for the world,
did he? He prayed for his people. That's what our Lord said in
John 17, right before he went to the crop. Well, Solomon prayed
this great prayer right before he offered up all those sacrifices.
And the fire fell. And God accepted the sacrifice.
Solomon's a type of Christ. And God heard his prayer. God
answered him. That's what we're going to look
at tonight. God's answer to Solomon's prayer. And the Lord, that's
His answer to His people 3,000 years ago. This was the answer. This was 3,000 years ago. His
answer to them then is the same answer to us now. Because He
doesn't change. And all the promises of God,
He's going to promise them, are in Christ. And a yea and amen
to the glory of God. Now, do you remember the prayer?
Here's some things in the prayer. Look at chapter 6, verse 22. We need to look at it again a
little bit. Verse 22, if a man sinned, any
man sinned, no matter what it is, and all through this prayer,
any sin, verse 23, he asked the Lord to hear from heaven and
to forgive all through this prayer. Here, forgive. Look at verse
24. If your people, Israel, be put to the worst before the enemy,
oh my, that's us, because they've sinned against them, and shall
return to the Lord, that is, and confess thy name and pray
and make supplication before thee in this house, here and
there from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people. Bring
them again into the land that you gave to them and their father.
Read on. Heaven is shut up. There's no
rain. Rain is always a picture of the water of life and the
blessing. Let the skies pour down righteousness. Because they have sinned, the
heavens are shut up. Have you ever felt that way?
But if they pray toward this place in Christ's name and confess
thy name and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them,
hear and forgive the sin of thy people. Show them the good way. They should walk. Sin reigns.
And He always does. He always does. The Lord's sins
reign. I was telling men the other day,
we ought to quit saying, I sure hope it reigns. It doesn't reign. The Lord's
sins reign. We need to change our vocabulary. We need to give more glory to
God and say, I sure hope the Lord's sins reign. Look at verse 36. If they sinned against thee,
there is no man which sinneth not. Solomon did. Did Solomon sin? Oh my. Unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Will God forgive any sin? He
sure will. And you be angry with them, verse
36, and deliver them over before their enemies. Carry them away
captive. But, verse 37, if they bethink themselves in the land,
if they come to themselves like the prodigal, the Lord wakes
them up, they turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity
and say, we have sinned. Elihu preached to four men in
Job. Elihu, a young preacher. First, I guess, message he ever
preached. Preached to four people. Greatest message ever preached.
And in chapter 34, I believe it is, he said, if anybody, doesn't
matter who it is, if any person says, I have sinned, so the Lord
will forgive him. He says he does it all the time.
Elihu says he does it all the time. He does it often with men,
because he delights to show mercy. If they turn to thee with all
their heart and all their soul and pray toward their land, verse
39, hear, maintain their cause, verse 39, forgive the people
which have sinned against thee. Now, Lord, let your eyes be open,
let your ears be attentive, verse 40, unto the prayer that is made
in this place. Verse 41, Arise, O Lord, in thy
resting place, the ark of thy strength. Let your priests, O
Lord, be clothed with salvation, the saints rejoicing in goodness.
O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed. Remember
the mercies of David, thy servant. Isn't that wonderful? That's
Christ's prayer. He prayed for his people. Now,
here it is, when Solomon made an end, He made an end of praying,
the fire came down. When our Lord finished praying
that high priestly prayer, and we believe that was in the garden,
it was then that he went to Calvary's tree shortly thereafter didn't
it? And what happened? That's when
the fire fell. The wrath of God fell on him.
The fire came down from heaven, it says, and consumed the burnt
offspring and sacrificed it. And the glory of the Lord filled
the house. The fire fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath
of God against our sin, not the world, but our sins, fell on
Christ. That's why we need not fear the
wrath and judgment of God. Though we have sinned, be not
afraid, because we have a burnt offspring. Our God is a consuming
fire. This is the difference between
the true God, the living God, and the God that men believe
today. Our God is a consuming fire.
He will by no means clear the guilty. He will punish sin, either
in us or in a sacrifice substitute. And he did it in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so that's why Christ says to his people, fear not.
There's no wrath to you. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. If you were crucified with Christ,
the wrath of God fell on you. Your sins are gone. Smile. And it consumed the sacrifice,
the burnt offering, alright? But Christ wasn't consumed. Here's
the wonderful thing about it. Christ is like the burning bush,
remember? Moses went up to see that burning
bush. And he said he saw that it was burning, but it wasn't
consuming. That's Christ. Though Christ died, yet he lives,
doesn't he? Though Christ suffered the wrath
of God, went through hell for us, he didn't stay there, he
arose. Proof that God accepted the sacrifice. And the glory
of the Lord filled the house. The veil in the temple was rent
when Christ said, it's finished, isn't it? And that means everybody
can come in by this new and living way. Well, verse 2, the priest
could not enter into the house of the Lord because of the glory
of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. They couldn't enter into
it. I thought about this. We can't
really enter into the glory of the Lord either. Christ by Himself
purged our sin. Christ went by Himself to Calvary
and purged our sin. But when it comes to this thing
of the glory of our Lord and the glory of Christ crucified,
I can't preach it. And you can't understand. We
can't enter into it, can we? It's just too great. But, verse
3, all the children of Israel saw, they heard the prayer, they
saw the fire fall, and they saw something of His glory. And isn't
that us? They all did. All the children
of Israel saw, verse 3, how the fire came down and the glory
of the Lord upon the house. What did they do? When they heard
His prayer, His voice, when they saw His glory, they bowed down and fell on their faces and worshipped
and praised the Lord. That's the true people of God.
That's those who have been crucified with Christ. They've heard His
voice. They've seen His glory. They
bowed to Him. They worshipped Him. And they
praised the Lord. Verse 3, what did they say? He's
good, His mercy endureth forever. They're not praising the Lord
for material things. They're praising Him for His
mercy. His mercy. Job, the Lord took away all his
material things. The Lord took away all of his
health. The Lord took away all of his family. But he praised
the Lord, didn't he? He said the Lord gave. The Lord
take it away. The Lord sent this plague. I
saw in the news it says this nation doesn't know what to do,
our president doesn't know what to do. What's going to happen?
Who's going to take this away? The Lord gave, and the Lord must
take it away. And we're going to hear in just
a little bit what he tells us, God's people. Okay? Alright, then verse 4, the king
and all the peoples. offered sacrifices before the
Lord. 2 Chronicles 7 verse 4. The king
and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. When we come
into this house, we just come by faith, don't we? The sacrifice
of Christ is how we come, before the Lord. And we offer the sacrifice
of prayer. Thanksgiving prayer. King Solomon,
verse 5, offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen, 120,000 sheep. Why so many? This is all through
the Scriptures. You know that. Because there
are so many children of Israel. Every house had to have a lamb.
Christ, when He offered up His sacrifice, it counted for every
person that He died for. And so that's typical there. But it's also, Scripture says, because our sins against God
are great, it took such a great sacrifice, and so they kept offering
sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice, and Hebrews gives
this key. It says, they came by many sacrifices
and never put away sin. Because we keep sinning, we keep
sinning, and people keep being mourned, sinners. So they kept
offering sacrifice, but when Christ came, by one sacrifice. He put away sin forever. Sacrificing
Himself. So He took away the first. No
more sacrifice. He established the second. One
sacrifice had been made for all of God's people. All the sin
of all of God's people from the past to the present to those
who haven't been born yet. Read on. It says in verse 6,
the priests waited on their office. Priests had their ministry. Levites,
instruments of music of the Lord. Why do we sing? Because the Lord
told us to. The Lord made music. Don't you
love music? It's best used for the praise
the Lord meant. That's what this music was all
about. That's what these instruments were made. David said, David
made those instruments. John, I bet you they were good
ones, don't you? I've been kind of looking for
a new guitar and none of them pleased me. One that David May
would have. He played it. And they were made
for this purpose, for praising the Lord. You know what the most
beautiful instrument on earth is? The human voice. The violin is the closest thing
to the human voice. You know what this instrument
was made for? praising the Lord. And man does everything else,
doesn't he? Man uses it to curse God. Oh, may the Lord use our mouths
and tongue and our singing for His praise, huh? Verse 6 says,
And the priests sounded the trumpets. That's what I want to do. That's
what I'm trying to do right now. There were two trumpets sounded
Back in the old days, one was to gather the people, and the
other one was to say, we're heading out. One was to gather, and one
was, we're leaving. That's the gospel, isn't it?
Come, let's gather, and the next trumpet is, when Christ the trump
shall sound, we're leaving. Why? Because of Christ. Or Solomon,
verse 7, hallowed the middle of the court that was before
the house of the Lord. Here he offered burnt offerings,
fat, peace offerings because the brazen altar which Solomon
had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the
meat offerings, the fat offerings. In other words, that one little
altar couldn't take all those sacrifices, so they had to spread
it all out in the court. Well, we have an altar. And he came. He's able. He's
able to bear it all. The weight of all of God's sins
are on his shoulder. One offering. One altar. And
that's Christ. One way. One truth. One gospel. Verse 8, And at the same time
Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him.
A very great congregation. And God's people are as the stars
of the sky and the sands of the seashore. It's unbelievable then
to think of that. Someday it's going to be like
a sea of faces. Amazing. All there for one reason. Because Christ brought them there.
And to the praise of the glory of His greatness. That's why
we're here. That's our cause. Verse 8. Very great congregation. Verse
9. In the eighth day they made a solemn assembly. Now they had
a feast, but it was a solemn assembly. Can you do both? Can
you be joyful and yet solemn? Serious? Can you? Yes. And we
must. We must. This is serious. It's
life or death, isn't it? It really is. And yet it's joyful. Like Psalm 2, it says, serve
the Lord with fear and tremble, rejoice in the Lord. I'm just
quoting that. I don't know what we just looked
at. It says, Let me look it up. I hate that one. I can't remember. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Serve the Lord with fear. We
fear the Lord, yet we rejoice in the Lord, don't we? We sure
do. Why? Verse 10. They went to their
tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness of the Lord.
that he showed unto David, to Solomon, to Israel his people. Moses way back then said, show
me thy glory. And he said, I'm going to make
all my goodness pass before you. Didn't he? I'm going to proclaim
the name of the Lord. He said, I'm going to be merciful
to whom I will. I'm going to be gracious to whom I will. There's
a place by me in the cleft of the rock. I'm going to put you
in it. I'm going to come down there and stand with you on it,
in it. Proclaim the name of the Lord.
It's all about Christ, isn't it? He's shown us the goodness
of the Lord, the love, mercy, grace, goodness, the gospel is
Jesus Christ in Him. The cleft of the rock, rock of
ages, cleft for me. And the Lord came down, stood
with us. He is that rock. And He makes
us glad, doesn't He? And merry in heart. I hope we
go away from here both solemn and yet joyful. for the goodness
of the Lord he showed to his people." Solomon, verse 11, finished
the house of the Lord. He finished it. Who did? This
makes it sound like Solomon did it all by himself. Solomon didn't. He had, it was how many years
building? Thirteen or something like that.
He didn't do it all, but I know, but our Lord did. Our Lord built
the house. He said, except the Lord build
the house, you labor in vain that build it. No, no. Built
it. And he cried, the last thing
he said on Calvary's tree was, it is finished. House of the
Lord. Kingdom. King's house. See that? House of the Lord. The King's
house. That's what we are. His dwelling place. And all that
came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord,
in his own house, he prosperously effected. That is, whatever the
King wanted, he did it. Whatsoever he pleased, that did
he. That's what it says of our Lord. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and earth. Isaiah 53 says the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. What did it please the
Lord to do? It says it pleased the Lord to
make you his people. Who? Me? Yes, you. Are you here tonight? Do you believe that? Well, you
can't mean me. Well, who else is he talking
to? I'm talking to you. I'm not beating
the air or fighting the air. Please the Lord to make you his
people, though you're no better than a thief on a cross. And that, Lord, the pleasure
of the Lord prospered in the hands of our great Redeemer.
He saved his people on Calvary. Verse 12. Now, the Lord appeared
to Solomon by night. That's interesting. The children
of Israel, the Lord said the plague is going to come through
at night. In darkness. That's when it happened. And
it said the children of Israel had light in their dwelling.
All of them. They came by night. It was Elihu's sermon there also. It says, the Lord spoke to men
in dreams and visions at night. That's what the Lord said. He
doesn't do that anymore. But he did this to Solomon. God in sundry times and diverse
manners spake unto the fathers by the prophet. The Lord came
to Solomon as a picture of Christ. I spoke to him by night, and
said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place
to myself for a house of sacrifice." The place that God has chosen
to put his name there. He's chosen. He's chosen people.
He's elect. And he's put his name there.
He's put his glory there. He's put his presence there.
He's put his gospel there. That's this place. Though we
be few in number, I really believe. that God has chosen this place,
these people, as His house, as His people. And He said, I've
heard the prayer. Lord God has heard the prayer
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our King. Now here's what He said. He gives a warning. Verse 13. If I shut up heaven, that there
be no rain. And He ought to. God has always
judged the world somehow by water. He destroyed the whole world
by water one time. And so many judgments, so many
judgments were drought. And then famine came. The Lord
withheld that life-giving water. They say you can't go without
water for more than three days. You can go without food 40 or
more. You can't go without water for
three days. That's a picture of the water, of the Word of
Christ. And that comes from, where does
water come from? It's a life giving substance isn't it? We can't make water. It comes
from God, it comes from heaven. All the rivers, all the streams,
so many Psalms that talk about God watering the hills and the
streams and the valleys and the rivers. Run into the ocean and
all that. It all comes from above. Water. Well, Christ is called that water
who came down. The prescribed pour down righteousness.
If I shut up heaven, that there be no rain, then He ought to.
And sometimes He does. Is it Amos 8? I think it's Amos
8. He said there will be a famine
in the land. Not of bread. Yeah, Amos 8, 11. Days come,
I'll send a famine in the land. Why? The Lord removes the truth. And there'll be a famine, not
of bread, physical bread, nor thirst for water, physical water,
but fear in the words of the Lord. We live in a world that's
turned away their ears from the truth and the faith according
to God. Maybe this is to be the means,
what he's doing will be the means to cause somebody to hear the
word of the Lord. Don't you hope? If I, verse 13, command the locusts
to devour the land. Locusts. Locusts. Back in Exodus, where the Lord,
right before the darkness, locusts. He sent locusts, remember that?
And it said it filled the houses. Everybody's houses were filled
with these locusts. And it says they devoured everything. Locusts, these insects, would
eat everything in sight. In other words, the whole land,
the people's houses, everybody and everything was eaten up with
locusts. Well, if you take two letters
out of that word locust, look at the word locust there. Verse
13, you take out the letter O and C, what do you have? Lusts. That's what the Lord says about
this world. All that's in the world, lust
of flesh, lust of the eyes, and the worst thing of all, pride.
That's why God is going to destroy this world. And it's filled with
it. Everybody's eaten up with it.
Lusts. Isn't it true? Romans 1, there's
a picture of that. It says, they being filled with
all unrighteousness. And so on and so forth. And then
darkness. And then death. God and Jane. If I send locusts to devour the
land, everybody's devoured. It's just eaten up. with the
world and the things that we're eaten up with. Oh my Lord, let not these locusts descend
on our house. If I send pestilence, verse 13,
among my people. Pestilence. If my people, here's the answer. If my people, which are called
by my name, Sons of God, Christians, believers, saints, sons of Jacob. If my people, which are called
by my name, whom he foreknew he did predestinate, whom he
predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he justified,
gave faith. Whom he justified, he glorified.
This is his people. He's talking to his people that
heard his prayer, that saw his glory, that bow and worship. They really believe him. And
yet they're still sinners. So this is to God's people, not
to the world. We are called the salt of the
earth. What does salt do? It preserves. We're the light of the world.
This is to us. The world's not meeting right
now calling on God for mercy. We are. if my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves." Wretched pride. Don't you hate the pride that's
in you? This is a plague of our heart that we hate worse than
anything. We've got it. We're full of it. But you know
what the Lord said in Deuteronomy 8? He said, you're going to remember
all the way I led you to humble you. All that God does in our
life is to humble us. Thank God. We need it. We ought
to be sufficiently humbled by now, shouldn't we? All the things
we've done, all the foolishness we've done, all the trouble we've
gotten ourselves into, all the trouble we've caused other people,
all the running we've done, all the forsaking of the Lord we've
done, all the goodness of the Lord He's done to us, all the
provisions. It ought to humble us, shouldn't it? We're not perfect. We've got
to keep humbleness. And the most sufficient thing
to humble us is Christ crucified. Why would He do that for me?
That ought to humble us more than anything else, shouldn't
it? Humble ourselves. Let us humble ourselves before
the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt us. And pray. If my
people pray, how do we pray? Well, Solomon just prayed a long
prayer, saying, if my people, if your people, God, pray toward
this house, If we pray in Christ's name, He's going to hear us.
So what shall we pray for? Let's not pray just for ourselves.
Daniel prayed for his people. Remember, you read it with me.
We read it together. Ezra, Nehemiah, Jehoshaphat, on and on it goes.
Solomon prayed for his people. Let's pray, let's pray, pray,
pray. Pray without ceasing. And seek
my face. That's what we're doing tonight.
That's what we're doing. Seeking His face. Seeking His
truth, the gospel that's in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Shine on us in our darkness. Lighten our darkness that we
be not afraid. We seek His face and turn from
their wicked ways. That's repentance. I've been
talking to a brother recently about repentance, and I said,
we never quit repenting. Repentance is not a one-time
thing, it's daily. It's turning from ourselves to
our Lord, turning from the world to our Lord, turning from our
idols. We're all, and that's the worst
thing of all, we're covetousness is idolatry, and we're all children
of Israel. Made a golden calf, and brethren,
money, the love of money. Anybody in here guilty of loving
money more than God? Sure, all of us. Thinking about
money more than God? All of us. All the time. Turn us, that's why, what Psalm
is, he says, turn us, O Lord, and we'll be turned. Again, and
again, and again. We need to constantly turn. Then
will I hear. I'll hear from heaven. And forgive
their sin. That's the first thing he said.
That's our great need, isn't it? Forgive us. And our Lord
told us to pray, didn't He say, pray, forgive us. Daniel prayed
for himself and prayed for his people and prayed for the nation,
the whole nation, didn't he? Paul told young Timothy, pray
for kings and rulers and all that are in authority. Pray.
Psalm 122 says, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for
the peace of the nation. Pray. Lord, turn this nation,
turn us from our wicked ways to Thee, to the Lord. He said,
I'll hear from heaven. I'll forgive their sin and I'll
heal their land. How does God heal the land? Do
you remember, don't you brother? Psalm 107. He sent his word and
healed them. If the Lord is going to heal
this nation, there's going to be a revival of preaching the
gospel. It's going to be one way. The Lord turns men and women. If he heals this land, if he
withholds his plague, it's going to be Whether by many or few,
it's going to be by the preaching of the gospel. That's the power
of God and salvation. He's going to send His Word,
and He's going to heal. Lepers. Plague. The plague of the heart. Now,
verse 15. Here's what God said. Now, right
now. Didn't John say, Behold, now are we the sons of God. Right
now mine eyes shall be opened, God said, and mine ears a tent.
under the prayer that's made in this place. Because now I
have chosen and sanctified this house. My name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart shall be
there perpetually. That's my promise. Here's what
you need to do. Call on the Lord. Pray. Repent. And here's what I'm going to
do. I'm going to answer you. May the Lord make it so. Stand with me. Let's pray again. Our Lord, Thy Word is indeed
healing. It is light, a lamp under our
feet, a light under our path. It lightens our darkness. It
awakens us. It convicts us, convinces us,
rebukes us, reproves us, corrects us. Oh Lord, it does all these
things. It causes us to fear Thee. It
causes us to trust Thee. Oh, how we thank You for Your
Word. Thank You, Lord, for that great
sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made. For that great high priestly
prayer He made before He made that sacrifice. We have heard
that prayer. It causes us to hear it over
and over again, to read it, believe it. Christ said, His will was
for His people to be with Him in glory, to behold His glory.
And He offered that one sacrifice and put away the sins of His
people. Lord, let us believe that in spite of our sin. And
let us bring this Gospel to a dying world, literally dying world
now. And Lord, if it be pleasing to Thee, send Thy Word, send
healing in the land, remove this plague, Remove this plague and
turn men and women and young people to Thee. For Christ's
sake, do it. Oh Lord, hear. Oh Lord, forgive. Oh Lord, do it. For Thy great
name's sake. Amen. Hear this man.