Well, one word can change the
world, because it can make the gospel of another country. It can be one word. All right, as you read with me,
this is a prayer of Solomon and a dedication of the temple, and
it is a glorious tithe for Christ, our mediator and intercessor,
so that one mediator between God and me may be man and Christ
Jesus. Solomon was the only one standing
there making this prayer on behalf of his people. As does our Lord. In verses 1 through 11, the first
part of this chapter, verses 1 through 11, Sodom and his appointed
priests, Sodom and the appointed, all three, they bring up the
Ark of the Covenant. There was no permanent place
for the Ark to dwell in, the Ark of the Covenant. Inside there is the covenant,
the law of God. And Solomon and his appointed
priests bring up the ark in the first eleven verses into the
temple. The temple had been finished.
They bring it in where it will remain as long as the temple
remains. And it's said in verse eleven, Well, verse 10, when
the priest came out of the holy place, clad and filled the house.
And so that they could not stand and minister for the glory of
the Lord and fill the house. That's where we get the term
Shekinah. Well, the ark, let's read verses
3 through 6 here. All the elders of Israel came
and the priests took up the ark and they brought up the ark of
the Lord. At the tabernacle of the congregation, all the holy
vessels are in the tabernacle. Even those did the priests and
Levites bring up, and King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel
that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark.
The sacrifice of sheep and oxen that could not be told and remembered
for most to. And the priests brought him in
the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place into the
oracle, that is, the Holy of Holies of the house, to the most
holy place under the wings of the cherubim. The Ark, that box,
represents the Gospel. The Gospel. The Gospel which
is in the Church. The Temple. The Church is called
the Temple of the Living God. That's what God calls the Church.
He says, you're His Temple, because you're a member of the Church.
He dwells in you. He dwells in the Church. And
the Ark is the Gospel, the Gospel Ark, Christ crucified with the
mercy seat and so forth. And so the Ark that they brought
up into the temple, that was the center of worship. Everything
revolved around that. Everything was done with that
in mind. The blood was poured out of the
mercy seat, most of you know this. One man went in to the
Holy of Holies, remember, between the veil with the blood of a
lamb, person of the flock, a male, first year, and offered that
blood on the mercy seat of God, you know, all of that. And that's,
that ark was, all the worship centered on that, that ark. That's
why this whole temple was built. Get the picture. This is why the church, this
is why God ordained, purposed, and Christ died for His church,
was to center around the worship of Christ in Jerusalem. The gospel is the reason for
the church's existence. The gospel is the center of our
worship, and this is the place where God meets. It's the only
place God will meet with sinners. It's around this gospel ark.
It doesn't matter how... You can have the most elaborate
building in the world, and the most beautiful music, and the
people shouting and screaming and all, and if you don't have
an ark, God's not there. This was the gospel. See, it
all started. See, the whole story here started.
They brought in the ark. The temple was built. They brought in the ark, set
it down. The kind Lord filled the building. Solomon started
praying. We're ready to worship. Ready to worship. Well, verses 20 and 21 now. Solomon
said this to the people. He's speaking to the people.
He preaches a short message. and then prays, and then says
something afterward again. In verses 20 and 21, Solomon
says, The Lord hath performed his word that he spoke, and I
have risen up in the room of David my father, and I sit on
the throne of Israel, as the Lord cometh, and I have built
a house for the name of the Lord God. What a prophecy of Christ,
who prayed this very thing in John 17. Christ said these very
words in John 17. He said, I'm on the throne. He
says, thou hast given me authority over all men. And now he's praying
to the Father on our behalf. And he's built a house. He said,
I finished the work that you've given me to do. That's what Christ said these
very times, what Solomon said. He built a church. The gospel's
in the middle. All right. Then Solomon began
to pray on behalf of his people. The inner speech of them, Solomon
alone, inner speech to them, it wasn't a huge prayer meeting
with everybody praying at the same time. We're not heard very much speaking.
Barnard used to say, we don't, we can't gain that from God. Oh no, God hears one person. And he only hears those who pray
through him, to him, in his name. So Solomon here is interceding
for the people and asks God to hear them and forgive them. The
whole, did you notice as we read, the whole, he said this several
times, and this is what this whole prayer is all about. Did
you catch it? Over and over he says, hear and
forgive. You notice that? Hear and forgive. They're going to get in trouble
because they're sinners. Hear and forgive. That's what
this whole prayer is about. A great high priest in a sleeping
for sinners. No good, it's not a subject.
They need it. They need it. They need an assessor,
he's a place, and they sure need an arbor for that blood. It's
a place. What a picture this is of the
great intercession, the great intercession, the only mediator
between God and men, man and Christ Jesus, who ever lives
to intercede for his people, asking God the Father to hear,
forgive, and bless for his sake. Whenever Solomon says, if they
look toward this place, he's not talking about people living.
He's talking about looking to where that ark is which represents
Christ. And Christ said these very words,
whatever you ask, in my name. It fainted toward me, probably,
in here. All right. Verse 22, So Solomon
stood before the altar of the Lord, and in the presence of
all the congregation of Israel, he brought forth his hand. And
there, right now, if we can see it in the Holy of Holies, we
can see the greater desolateness standing, ever seated, seated
before the Lord, seated, ever living, ever seated before the
Lord, interceding, spreading His nail-scarred hands on behalf
of His people. And He says, in verses 23 through
26, Verse 23, I like this, he begins,
Lord God, and that's the last two words of his prayer, Lord
God. He says, oh, he says, Lord God
of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, on earth
beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy. covenant-purposing,
covenant-keeping, sovereign mercy and sovereign grace, with thy
servants that walk before thee with all their heart. You kept
with thy servant David, my father, that thou promised him. Thou
spakest also with thy mouth what you said, you fulfilled it with
your mouth." Once whoever the Lord said it in purpose, he did
it. Said it? No. God said I have
spoken it? I'll surely bring it to pass. And he did it. Through Christ
the Word made flesh. God fulfilled his Word in the
flesh. Christ with his own hands did
it. With his own hands. As it is
this day, it's fulfilled this day. Verse 25, Therefore now,
O Lord, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David, my father,
that thou promised him, that there shall not fail thee a man
in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel. There's a man right
now in glory. God, whose spirit whom no man
has seen, can see, or ever will see. Yet God was manifested in
the flesh, appeared on this earth, worked out our salvation, went
back to the right hand of the Glover, sat down, and he's still
a man. There's a man, not a man anymore. And when we get to the Glover,
we're going to see a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, according
to God's Word. There's always going to be a
man. The man, the man who we can touch,
handle, be spoken to, and speak to. according to God's Word. And he's there to ensure that,
verse 25, thy children take heed to their way, and they walk before
me, as thou hast walked before me. That's what the great king
and leader, his job is to do, is to guide his people, oversee
his people. And Christ is our king and our
keeper. Well, Solomon said, I'm on the
throne, verse 26, and, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word,
I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant
David my father. So God has indeed verified his
word through Christ. Verily, Christ said this often,
verily, verily. I say to you, as if to say, the
greatest of Psalms said, it has been verified. Verily, verily,
I say, heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one word of
mine shall be verified, be sure of it. Christ is King. Well, I like this. Solomon says,
as a man, Solomon says, will God dwell on the earth? More people need to read this
verse. Behold, the heaven of heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee. How much less this house that
I have built. God is not contained in a building. God is not contained in a building.
The scripture says, in Him we live and move and pass out. God is not going to take it away
from you. Oh no. But all of this represents
Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? If you
don't understand it, you don't get it. Understand it. God does not worship with men
as hands. God does not worship with these things, wood, hay,
and stone. God is worshiped by faith in
Christ. And everything, all of this and everything, represents
Christ. Because God, we live in Him. And He can't be contained or
confined to or be obligated to appeal to. But in Christ, that's
where God is promised to be. All right. Yet, he says, verse
28, so Solomon is interceding for his people. He says, Have
respect unto the prayer of thy servant, to his supplication,
O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry of the prayer which thy
servant prayeth before thee today. That's what our Lord said to
them. O Lord, hear my prayer, and I know that you do. He said,
I said these things for those who stand by me. They might know
it, but you do always hear it. And he said that the doors may
be opened toward this house day and night, night and day, even
toward the place at which God has said, My name shall be there.
And that's Christ. God's name is in Him, and He's
the place where God has promised to be. Verse 30, Harken thou
to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel. Our
Lord said to His disciples over in John 14, He said, I didn't write it down,
John 16. He said, I pray to the Father,
but I go to the Father, and the Father hears you too. The Father
is not going to hear you because of what I'm going to do. And
he's going to hear you. He said, here are the two that
you've prayed nothing in my name. Now you know. Now you know. When I go and do this and reveal
it, now you're going to know what this is all about. And so,
now, if you ask the Father His name, my name, you'll hear it.
You'll hear it. So, Solomon says, hear my prayer
and hear their prayer. Hear their prayer. All right,
little piece, just browse through here, OK? We'll not go through
every verse. But the thing he keeps asking
for is our greatest need, forgiveness. Forgiveness. Verse 30, hearken
and hear. Verse 33, when thy people Israel
be smitten down before the enemy, because their sin And who's our enemy? A great adversary of the evil one,
the devil himself, the accuser of the brethren, smitten, bound
before him. We succumb to his temptation
and his wiles, and we sin against God. You see who Solomon says
we sin against? We sin against God. We sin against
mercy. We sin against his law. We sin
against his grace. Sin against His love. But if
they shall turn again to that, that's repentance. Repentance
is turning. They turn. See, repentance is
you're going one way and you realize where you're headed and
what you've done and what you've gotten into and what you've caused
and how you're headed, and you turn. That's repentance. Turn back to your God. Turn again to who? Who do you
repent for? Who do you turn to? It's repentance
toward God and faith in Christ. Repent to thee and confess thy
name. Repent, turn to God, and confess
his name. Thou art the Lord, the Lord God,
the Lord God merciful, gracious. ready to forgive, ready to pardon.
That's the Son of Man, Exodus 13. If they shall confess thy name,
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray from the heart, and
make supplication unto thee in this house, toward this house,
in Christ's name, toward Christ, in the earth, hear thou of heaven,
and forgive the sin of thy people, and bring them back again." Bring
them back again. Bring them back. Verse thirty-five,
when heaven shut up, there's no rain, no blessings. They even
said the heavens are brass. Now, I know why. God's not listening
to me, because I've sinned against Him. It says that in verse thirty-five,
because they've sinned against Him. If they keep praying, if
they pray toward this place and confess Thy name and turn from
their sin, verse 36, then hear Thou, heaven, and forgive. Hear and forgive. Hear
and forgive. Repentance, prayer, hear, forgive. Verse 37, if there be in the
land found, Well, we're in the midst of a famine, our proposal.
We're in the midst of it. The one that Amos spoke of, the
famine, not of grief, but of the hearing of the Word. We're
in that. And there's pestilence, verse
thirty-seven. Pestilence, blasting, mildew, locusts, all sorts of
plagues, and all this is brought upon The world is because of
sin. Yes it is, because of sin. Everything
that happens is the judgments of God. The world doesn't like
to hear that. It doesn't believe it. It will
call you a monster, forsaken man. That's what the Word says.
It's all because of sin against God. And we're right in the middle
of it. And we experience some of the
judgment of it. Not condemnation for it, but
some of the fallout on that. No. Verse thirty-six. Verse… But here, here, Dr. Kennedy,
and for evil, the sin of thy people. Verse thirty-seven, I'm
sorry. If the enemy deceives them, if
the enemy deceives them in the land of their sin, that's the
That's the world that we're in the midst of. It's just an enemy
to the truth, an enemy of ours, and it just prompts us left and
right with its temptations, with its mockery, with its blasphemy. And whatever sickness there may
plague, verse 28, I like this, what prayer or supplications
do ever be made, whatever prayer, In other words, it doesn't have
to be an elephant prayer. It doesn't have to be any beautiful
flowery words. And whoever, young, old, male,
female, rich, poor, black, white, red, yellow, whoever, whatever
they say, by all the people, you see that? Whoever, and no matter how they
say it, how feeble it may sound, Every one, verse 38, which shall
know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth
his hand toward the cross, that here in heaven, Folks, you're going to need this
prayer. I know, you're going to resort back to this. You're
going to need this, alright? You may not need it tonight.
You may not need less than you need now. But there's going to
come a time when you're going to get so low in your sin, and feel
so rotten and so guilty, and so unforgivable, that you go
right back to 1 Kings 1 verse 38. When you pray, and you pray
Psalm 38, Go to the First King of Christ and pray for me. John
knows what that is. When David, his father, said,
my loins are filled with a loathe of disease. And Solomon, the
son, says, we all got a plague in our heart. Whoever and however
they pray, as long as it's for Christ. You hear me? What a prayer this is. Here it
begins. You know the hearts of all men.
You're the only one that does, He said. You know their hearts.
God looks on the hearts. God doesn't listen to our words. So don't be so concerned that
you're worthless in prayer. Just be concerned that you call
it in the name of Christ. God lives on the heart. He's
not listening. He's not listening so much to
the words. He's listening to the big lie,
the theory of the heart. Verse 40, "'Wise, all of you,
that they may fear thee, that they may fear thee all the days
that they live in the land.'" God's people are God's fury. When God forgives them, it's
not that they should go back to what they were doing and that
they can live their reasons, that they might fear Him. Fear
Him. Ah, Lord. Our Lord said to that woman,
that dolphous woman, He said, neither do I condemn thee. Sweetest words He ever heard. But he said this, McGowan said,
no, don't do it again. What does he mean? Well, if you've heard, and Brian,
if you've heard, but he tells the same thing again. I don't
condemn it. McGowan said, don't do it again. I love 1 John 2, the first two
verses. It says, For the children, I
write unto thee, I write these things unto you, that if you
sin not, and if any man sin, we have an
apple. That's my favorite verse in the
whole Bible. It ought to be every sinner's favorite verse. Sin not, and Or ask him to say,
no you will, but don't do it, because you know he will, he
did it. We have that with Jesus Christ. That they may fear him. That's
God's forgiveness, God's mercy, but God's grace to make us fear
him, not presumption. Verse 41, moreover concerning
a stranger, I like this, a stranger that's not of thy people of Israel,
but comes out of a far country for thy name's sake, and they're
going to hear. They're going to hear of your
great name, and of your strong hand, and your sovereign power,
and your stretched out arm. When he comes and breaks forth
in his house, hear thou of him, and do all that this prayer is
for. Here's the sovereign grace and
mercy of God. Here's the gospel. It's a stranger
to the covenant of grace. That's all. That's us, right?
We're called by the circumcision. We're called uncircumcised. We're
the Gentiles. We're the stranger that Paul
said, talked about in Ephesians. We're a stranger, but now. And
he says, whoever comes to this place, or prays for this place,
whoever comes to Christ, whosoever comes, whosoever prays, God's
going to hear that mercy, that grace, show grace to him, and
do all he calls for, that is, save him, and then you'll be
no more strangers, but fellow citizens of the house of God. That all the people on the earth
may know thy name. To fear thee, see that? That's
wisdom. To fear thee, as do thy people,
is wisdom. See, God's people, they all fear
him. That's the… That is the greatest evidence. It's the end. That, the fear of God, fear of
speeches, man in fear, in worship, fear in all things, fear, reverence,
that, holy, well, reverence, is the thing that tempers and
that distinguishes God's people above all things. Those two things, fear God and
worship God. Worship God in spirit. Rejoice
in pride. Don't come for sin. Don't come. He knows how to talk about the
spirit. He knows it's just a day or a
sentence. You know what I'm talking about. It's faith and pride. Well, verse 44, I like this. If thy people go out to battle
against their enemy, wherever you send them, that you'll pray
to the Lord, wherever they go. They go to their jobs, they go
out of town, wherever they go, they go very close to your people. Wherever they go, they call on
you by faith in Christ. Hear me. Hear me. Old brother Maurice Montgomery,
his dad, Hubert. Brother Maurice was a young 20-year-old
young fellow going off to the army. And scared to death. Or he's a big scrappy young fella. But the prospect of war frightened
the bravest of men. But when he was about 20 or 21
years old, he was shipping off to the Army. His dad didn't know
if he'd see him again. And his dad was a real short
fella, but he was a barn builder, Roy. He built Post and Bean tobacco
barns in Kentucky for years. Best man in Kentucky. Had arms
like a Popeye. He built them until he was 78
or 9 years old. Anyway, little brother Hubert
said to that big scrapping boy who was headed off to the army,
he said, son, these were his last and only words to him as
he got on that train. He said, son, God is everywhere. He's in Korea. He's in Vietnam. He's on the sands of Iwo Jima. He's on Normandy's beach. He's
in wherever you go. He's there. They pray by faith
in Christ. He hears them. He's with them. Verse 45, Then hear thou in heaven
their prayer and their supplication. Maintain their cause. I'm going to go to the whole
message of that, but he says that three times. Maintain their
covenant. They will not stay true. All right. First, when they go
out. So wherever they go, supply them
and maintain them. Verse 46. If they stay, because
there's no man that said not. Wherever they go. And you're
going to be angry with them. As any father is with his child. If a father loves his child,
he gets angry. He doesn't punish, doesn't cut him
off, but he gets angry. And he gets angry. And I've seen this, and I have
done this. We live along that. We all live
along that. We're going to be carried away,
captives, by something or someone or something, so that we don't...
so that we're just captives. It seems like, for a while, you're
in a bad state. I've seen some of you in such
a bad state, go for months, where it didn't seem like the gospel
had any impression upon you. We all get in states like that. I do, too. Y'all just have mercy on you.
It doesn't show it so much to me. You got to be faithful. But I go through these times,
bad times. I think I'm going to be carried away captive. But,
verse 47, ha ha, if they shall bethink themselves, like the
prodigal son, if they come to themselves, how? How did your
sons come to themselves? God is going to bring them to
sin and say, look at you in the hospital, son. Look at what you're
doing. Don't you realize what you're
doing, girl? Don't you realize who you are and where you come
from? What are you doing this for? This is why you're in the mess
that you're in, if you think repent. and make supplication
unto thee, and the man saying, We have sinned and done perversely,
committed wickedness, and return unto thee with all their heart
and all their soul, and pray unto this house." Verse forty-nine,
in the year of their prayer. Verse fifty, look at it, "...forgive
thy people that have sinned against thee, and forgive all their transgressions."
All of them. Very, very transgressing and
sinning. And give them compassion. Give them compassion. Don't let
them be totally overcome by whatever it is, wherever they are. Bring
them back. Go on to verse 51. He pleads
that they're God's people, because they're your people. Verse 51.
They'd be like you. Christ said that in this prayer,
didn't He, John 17, 2? Mine, mine, mine, mine, these
are Your people. I've manifested Thy name unto
the people You gave. I've given them Thy Word unto
the men that Thou gavest. Thine they are. Thou gavest me.
They're not of this world, even as I'm not of this world, but
they are redeemed. You've chosen them out of this
world. They're your people. They're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a peculiar, precious people. They're your
people. You brought them out. The rest
of them wouldn't be here. They wouldn't be present in Egypt
if you hadn't chosen them. They're your people. that thy eyes may
be opened unto the supplication of thy servants." Oh, Lord, that's
why Christ prayed that prayer in John 17. Hear my prayer for
these thy people, who are thy people, thy sinful people. I pray not that you should take
them out of the Lord, but keep them. Because I come unto thee. You did separate them, verse
fifty-three, from among all the people, saying to them, By thy
truth thy word is truth, and they heard your word, and they
received it." They said goodbye to the rest of the people. And he says in verse fifty-three,
let's read all that verse, "...for thou didst separate them from
among all the people of the earth, to be thy inheritance." As to
thee, and all ye that live in heathen, for thine inheritance.
As thou spakest by the hand of Moses our servant, when thou
broughtest our fathers out of Egypt. O Lord God." So that's
the prayer of Solomon. Then it says, and we didn't read
the rest of it, but it says in verses 55 and following, He says he stood
before the congregation, cried with a loud voice. He said, that he may incline our hearts
unto him, and walk in his ways." Verse 59, "'Let these my words,
wherewith I have made supplication, be near unto the Lord thy God,
and maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his
people at all times.'" At all times. Remember this, at all
times. Don't forget. And then it says, In verse sixty-three, you've
got to see this. Then Solomon made a great sacrifice.
After he made that great prayer, he made a great sacrifice. Verse
sixty-three, he offered sacrifices, peace offerings, pieces, twenty-two
thousand ounce and a hundred and twenty-two pound each. 144,000 animals were killed. Why is that? Why is that? Well, you know, someone said
after Christ's greatest sermon that was ever preached, John
14, 15, 16, followed by the greatest prayer ever prayed, John 17,
followed by So great salvation, so great
sacrifice. After Christ made that prayer,
John 17, then he went to Calvin and Paul. Why so many of them? Well, because it's not possible
that the blood of the rules of the earth should go away soon.
And so there was almost an infinite number of sacrifices. commandment
to show us the infinite sacrifice that Christ made on that day.
One sacrifice put away sin, correct? Christ's blood. In other words,
there was so much blood. There was a river of blood. There
was a fountain of blood. There was, it was an ocean of
blood, so that everybody could bathe in it. And Christ's blood shed on behalf
of his people from eternity past to eternity future. Sufficient,
effectual, enough to go around. Christ, our Lord, made that great
sacrifice after he made his high priesthood prayer. Verse 65,
it says, "'Stop and make peace.'" What'd they do with all those
churches? They didn't have a big peace
thing. Everybody ate. The liberals were
hungry. But if you're around 144,000,
take your pick. Grinding ribs, flank steak, turloin,
it's a leg of your own. How about leg of lamb, beef thigh,
whatever. Ribs, what do you think? Anybody who came, nobody went
away hungry. And they all feasted. Verse sixty-five
says, They feasted seven days and seven days, fourteen days,
and on the eighth day, sixty-six, on the eighth day he sent the
people away, and they blessed again, and went to their tents. Joyful and glad of heart. They were so happy. Their bellies
were full. Their sins were forgiven. They
had a place they could come to all the time and worship. They had a great king on the
throne, a merciful king with a large heart. And they blessed the Lord for
what? All the goods. that the Lord
hath done for his servant, and for his church. In the goodness
of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, for all his lovendness. That's his holy name. Let everything
happen for him. Praise the Lord. O defend my
praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works. All right, let's stand. Our God, we come in Christ's
name. We hope from our hearts. We come praying, asking, begging
for that one thing, the mercy, the forgiveness. Through Christ,
our great high priest, Christ our sacrifice, Christ our temple,
Christ our altar, Christ our heart, Christ our altar, everything. He's our all in all. We pray through Him, to Him, Well, through His merits and
through His love, we pray in all things, forgiveness of our
sins, brother. We all know the plague of our
heart. We ask that You would continue
to cause us to come to our sins, defend our sins, and pray over
the cross. For there is forgiveness of sin
cut down like street finger. And since Christ saved a man,
we pray over the cross, through His mercy. I don't know what I'm talking
about.