Well, good morning. If you would
open your Bibles with me to John chapter 17, John 17. Now this morning was supposed
to be the last of our canceled services. We were hoping to be
able to meet again in person next Sunday. Uh, as the events
have unfolded, that does not look like that's possible. So
our services will continue to be canceled and we'll hold them
in this manner electronically. until such time as the Lord makes
it safe for us to meet again in person. You just keep watching
our Facebook page and I'm sure when it becomes available that
we can meet together, the word will spread. All right, John
chapter 17, the subject of our message this morning is prayer.
And I couldn't think of a better prayer, a better passage of scripture
to read than our Lord's great high priestly prayer to prepare
our hearts hear a message on this matter of prayer. So John
17, these words speak Jesus and lift up his eyes to heaven and
said, father, the hours come glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given
me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. Oh, how soul thrilling is it
to hear the Savior say, I pray for them. If the Savior prays
for you, all is well, isn't it? I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition
that the scriptures might be fulfilled. And now come I to
thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is true. As thou has sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent and the glory which thou gavest me, I have
given them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in
them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and
that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
them as thou has loved me. Father, I will, that they also
whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which thou has given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the
world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. And I declared, and I have
declared unto them thy name, and will declare that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in thee. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Lord, we bow in your courts
this morning. We bow reverently coming before
the throne of God Almighty. And how thankful we are not to
come before a throne of justice, but before a throne of grace
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful.
And we beg of thee this morning that you would meet with us,
that you would bless your word as it's preached. that you would
enable your people, Father, to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to have their hearts thrilled and encouraged and comforted.
Father, bless your word to the hearts of your sheep, to call
out your lost sheep to faith and repentance in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, while we are Sorrowful
that we cannot meet together in person, we give thanks for
this means that you've given to us to be able to hear your
word preached. And father, I pray you bless
it. We know that this is not an accident, something that's
caught the off guard, but it's according to our eternal will
and purpose. Father, even in this difficulty,
we're thankful to know you can bless your word and you have
blessed it. We pray you would continue to do so. Father, we
cannot come before you in prayer without seeking a blessing and
healing for our world, our country right now. Father, we pray that
you would be pleased to remove this plague from our land, that
you would provide a cure, that you take it away. Father, bless,
we pray. Keep your people safe from this
and enable us to soon, quickly, be enabled to by your grace and
your power to meet together and worship publicly, to lift our
voices up together in song and praise and meet together to worship. Father, we pray for those who
are sick and hurting. We pray that your hand of healing
and mercy and help would be upon them. Give your people a fulfillment
of your promise that no matter how the situation looks dire
here in the flesh, that you'll not leave nor forsake your people.
Comfort hearts, even in this dark and difficult time. All
these things we ask father in that name, which is above every
name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, if you would open
your Bibles with me to the book of second Chronicles, second
Chronicles chapter six, a title of the message this morning is
a prayer for a troubled heart. Second Chronicles chapter six.
I know that many people who are familiar with the scriptures
have thought about my text this morning over the last few weeks,
and I have too. So I wanted to bring a message
this morning on Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple.
I want us to see this prayer as a prayer for the salvation
of our souls. You know, there are certainly
are some things about this prayer that we can learn about a prayer
of deliverance of fleshly, earthly deliverance from our troubles.
But the main teaching of this scripture, just like the main
teaching of every scripture is Christ. The main teaching here
is praying for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ in him
because of him. Now that this matter of prayer
is very important. The prayers of God's people are
important. Look, hold your place there.
Look at Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13, James and James. Chapter
5 says that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. The prayers of God's people are
important because they avail much. Hebrews chapter 13, verse
18. The writer says, pray for us,
for we trust we have a good conscience and all things willing to live
honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may
be restored to you the sooner. Now the writer didn't say pray
and then I'll be delivered when the Lord wills, although that's
true. But he says here, pray, I'll
be restored to you the sooner by your prayer, sooner than I
otherwise would. Prayers of God's people are important,
aren't they? They're powerful. So in this time, we should pray
that the Lord heal the plague in our land. We should pray that
the Lord end this great suffering. We should pray that the Lord
will enable his people to meet together again face to face in
worship. Pray that the Lord do that the
sooner. But now listen, if you and I only get serious about
prayer when physical things are wrong, we only get serious about
praying for physical blessings, physical healing, relief from
physical pain, those kinds of things. If that's our attitude
about prayer, then we've missed the point of prayer altogether.
Now the Lord did teach us to pray for those things. Give us
this day our daily bread. We pray for it because if the
Lord doesn't give it to us, we won't have it. Give us this day
our daily bread. But the heart of true prayer
is worship. Even in asking, give us this
day our daily bread, that's done with the heart of worship. That's
done in a heart of submission, knowing I won't have anything
unless the Lord gives it to me freely from His hand. Even in
asking for those things, it's asked for in a spirit of worship.
The heart of true prayer is worship. It's praise. It's thanksgiving.
Thanking God for who He is. Thanking God for all the things
that He's given to us. It's not just asking for stuff.
Prayer has to do with spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings
for Christ's sake. It has to do with the forgiveness
of our sins. pardon for our sin, righteousness
for unrighteousness, spiritual life that we would be given.
That's the heart of true prayer. And that's what we see in Solomon's
prayer here at the dedication of the temple. And I have eight
points about true prayer from Solomon's prayer this morning.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit would teach these things to our
hearts this morning. Number one prayer, true prayer,
is to God. It's to God. God on the throne,
Almighty God, who can only be approached in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Prayer is not to your good buddy. Prayer is not to
the old man upstairs. Prayer is to the Holy God, who
can only hear sinners like you and me in Christ. 2 Chronicles
6, you got it? Verse 1. Then said Solomon, the
Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. Now God
dwells in a thick darkness that no man can see through. Now God
hasn't hidden himself arbitrarily from man. Man has separated ourselves
from God because of our sin. The thick cloud of our sin has
separated us from our God. No man can see God and live. Man cannot. This thick darkness
has separated us between us and God. And man can't find a way
through that darkness to get to God because of who we are,
because of our sin nature. God won't accept us that way.
But God has provided a way for sinners to come to him. And that
way is in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse two, Solomon says,
but I built a house of habitation for thee and a place for thy
dwelling forever. Now God dwells in the thick darkness,
we can't see him, yet Solomon says, I built this house for
God to dwell in. Now you know this, that the tabernacle
and the temple were both pictures of Christ, pictures of the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And at this time in history,
when Solomon is dedicating this temple to the Lord, there were
a lot of religious shenanigans going on in the world, weren't
there? There's a bunch of idolatry. just like today is full. The
world is full of idolatry, a lot of religion going on. But at
that time, the only place any son of Adam could worship God
was in the temple. That's where God dwelt. See all
those religious shenanigans going on in all the countries around
Israel and places all around the world. It was a quote unquote
religious service. It made people feel better. You
know, they're being religious, but it wasn't worship. They were
in worship of God, and God never accepted any of it. The only
worship that God would accept at this time, at this time in
human history, when Solomon was dedicating the temple, the only
worship God would accept at that time was the worship that he
commanded in the temple. That's the only worship there
was. And here's the picture. That tabernacle and the temple
were both pictures of Christ. God will only accept worship
that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. God can only be worshipped
through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The animal
sacrifices offered in that temple were the pictures of the sacrifice
of Christ. God can only be worshipped through
the sacrifice of Christ. That's the only way. Now that
humbles a man, doesn't it? That humbles man, puts us in
the dust. We cannot come to God as we are. We cannot be accepted
before God as we are. We can only come to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that tabernacle and the temple
were pictures of Christ. That temple that Solomon was
dedicating, at that time that was the only way a person could
see anything that was true about God. Here's the picture. You and I can only see God by
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, by seeing Christ. We can't see
how God save sinners, except in Christ as he's not just the
Jesus of our imagination, but the Lord Jesus Christ, as he's
revealed in his word, we cannot, God cannot save sinners. We can't
see how it is. God can save sinners, except
we see Christ. We cannot see, we cannot understand
the character of God, how God can be both just and merciful,
except we see the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't see the wisdom
of God. in salvation through representation
unless we see the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't see the righteousness
of God unless we see the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the righteousness
of God, that righteousness that's revealed in the gospel. We can't
see it unless we see Christ, hear of Christ. We cannot see
how Christ is the only mediator between God and men. We cannot
see that the only way we can come to God is through Christ
the mediator. Unless God shows us Christ, we must see Christ.
God can only be seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. God can only be
approached in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God can only hear
our prayer if it's in Christ. So if our prayers would be heard,
we must come carefully and reverently before God and only in the Lord
Jesus Christ for his sake. Not for our sake, because we've
been such good Christians and such good little boys and girls,
we deserve to be heard. No, our prayer can only be heard
for Christ's sake, because he's the only one that ever pleased
the father. God can only be seen in Christ. Now read on verse
three. And the king turned his face
and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. And all the congregation
of Israel stood. And he said, blessed be the Lord
God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which
he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying, since the
day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose
no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in,
that my name might be there. Neither chose I any man to be
a ruler over my people Israel, but I have chosen Israel. Now
I've chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and I've
chosen David to be over my people Israel. Now, God will not be
approached. He will not be spoken to. He
will not be worshiped except in the way that he has chosen.
And the way that he has chosen is the Lord Jesus Christ. God
for for a long time in the history of Israel did not give them a
king. He did not give them a place where his temple will be built.
They still had the tabernacle. Now God has given a permanent
appointed place where he might be worshiped. It's in this temple.
Now God has appointed a king to be the ruler over his people.
And here's the picture. You and I can only come to God
in God's appointed place in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the eternal
savior, the eternal way to God. We can only come to God and God's
appointed king who rules over us, the king priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now there's just one way to God. You couldn't go to any other
city in Israel. Even in Israel, you couldn't go to any other
city to find the place where God dwelt except Jerusalem. It's
the only place. There was one place. There is
only one way you and I can come to God. Just one. Oh, but aren't
you thankful God's appointed the way he's given a way that
sinners can come to him. So if we would come to God, we
must come to God, God's way. on God's terms in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we come that way, we'll be
saved and we'll be accepted. Now verse seven. Now it was in
the heart of David, my father, to build a house for the name
of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said to David, my
father, for as much as it was in thine heart to build a house
for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.
Notwithstanding, thou should not build the house. but thy
son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build
the house for my name. The Lord therefore hath performed
his word that he has spoken. He's performed it. Now remember
that this is the point you were looking, he's performed his word
which he has spoken. For I am risen up in the room
of David, my father, and I'm set on the throne of Israel as
the Lord promised. And it built the house for the
name of the Lord God of Israel. And in it, I put the ark wherein
is the covenant, the promise, the covenant of the Lord that
he made with the children of Israel. And he stood before the
altar of the Lord and the presence of all the congregation of Israel
and spread forth his hands. For Solomon had made a brazen
scaffold of five cubits long, five cubits broad and three cubits
high and had set it in the midst of the court. And upon it he
stood and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation
of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven. and said,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven
or in the earth, which keepest covenant, this promise covenant
mercies and show us mercy unto thy servants that walk before
thee with all their hearts. Thou which has kept with thy
servant David my father, that which thou has promised him and
spakest with thy mouth and has fulfilled it with thine hand
as it is this day. Now, therefore, O Lord God of
Israel, Keep with thy servant, David, my father, that which
thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail a man in
my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, yet so that the children
take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked
before me. Now God is a covenant God. Solomon is pleading here the
promise of God. He's going back through his lifetime
and through David's lifetime. Reminding the people, God promised
this to David and he did it. God promised this to David and
he did it. God promised this to David. This is God's covenant
promise to Israel and he's kept it all this time. And his hope
for the future, his hope for his reign now is God will keep,
that he will continue keeping his promise. Continue keeping
your word, your promise, just like you promised to my father
David. That's our only hope. It's God's
promise. Our only hope of salvation is
God's covenant mercies. And you've heard this many times.
God is a covenant God. And what that means is that God
does what he promised, what he purposed to do. So right now,
at this very moment, 2020, God is doing exactly what he promised
to do before he created anything. When God saves one of his people,
he calls them out of darkness. He gives them life. He gives
them faith. When God saves one of his people, you know what
he's doing? He's keeping his promise to them. Just like he
kept his promise to David that Solomon would sit on his throne.
Solomon sat on the throne because that's what God promised. When
God saves his people, he saves them because that was his promise
that he would save them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of
God's covenant of grace is in Christ. It's all in Christ. It's
all put in Christ. It's all dependent upon Christ.
Before God created anything, when only Father, Son and Holy
Spirit existed, God promised that he would save a people.
He chose a people and he promised he would save those people through
the obedience and through the sacrifice of his son. And that
is exactly what God is doing right now. That's exactly what
he's doing. Everything that's happening in
God's creation is happening according to God's eternal will and purpose.
for this reason, to save God's people out of this world. To
save them that he promised to save. And nothing that ever happens
in time will ever change God's purpose. Nothing. Things may
seem awful to us. Things like this virus that's
spread across the whole world. It seems awful to us, doesn't
it? It seems like it's derailed everything. We can't do anything
that we wanted to do. You know, we can't even meet together in
person and worship. But brothers and sisters, you
take comfort in this. This thing is not changing, it's
not stopping, it's not even delaying God's promise to save his people
from their sins in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not stopping at all. Matter of fact, somehow it's
accomplishing it. Somehow it's accomplishing it.
And that is what is pictured here in the dedication of the
temple. God has promised he would meet men here in this temple. Because you know what's in the
temple in the Holy of Holies? Mark of the Covenant covered
with the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the throne of God. This
is where the Shekinah glory of God dwelt, above the mercy seat,
between the cherubims, there in that Holy of Holies. That's
the place that God will meet with men in peace. And that's
a picture that God will only meet with men in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins. Remember that mercy
seat? every year was sprinkled with the blood of that sacrifice.
The only place God will meet with men in peace is in Christ,
our propitiation, where his blood is sprinkled to put away the
sin of God's people. That's where God will meet with
men, and that's the only place God will meet with men, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place. Now don't
get mad about that. Don't get mad that everybody
can't go all their different ways and come to good. Don't get mad
that that's not true. Be thankful for this. God's provided a way.
That's God's mercy. That's God's covenant mercy.
He's provided a way for sinners to come to Him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well then, if you and I would
come to Christ, we've got to come through the sacrifice of
Christ. My friends, there is salvation
in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of
Christ has put away the sin of His people. It's not maybe He
put away your sin, if you might perchance decide to accept Him
as your personal Savior and let Him be the King of your heart.
Not maybe His blood will save you and cleanse you from your
sin, if you'll decide to let Him. No, sir. Christ did, by
His sacrifice, put away the sin of His people. Since that's true,
that lets a sinner come to God in confidence. We can come confidently
if we're pleading only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
God he's provided a way sinners can be cleansed and can come
to him. Thank God he's provided a way that God will hear the
prayers of poor sinners like you and me in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right. Second, the rest of
my points are not going to be this long. I promise. Here's my second
point on prayer. When you pray, Plead God's promise
from his word. Plead God's word. Verse 17. Now
then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou
hast spoken unto thy servant David. So this is what Solomon
is pleading God's word. Lord, fulfill your word. Now,
I don't know what the Lord will be pleased to do with us or our
world at this time of this pandemic. I don't know. I just don't know.
Will we get sick? I don't know. If we do, will
the Lord heal us? I don't know. Will the Lord ever
bless us materially again? Will he ever restore the economy
and bless us materially? I don't know. I don't know. I
tell you this. I'm going to pray that the Lord
protect us. I'm going to pray that the Lord heal us and heal
our world. I'm going to pray that, but I
don't know what the Lord's going to be pleased to do in this matter.
But I do know this. I have this from the word of
God. This is what I know, because this is what God promised in
his word. God is going to save his people from their sin. And
not one of God's sheep is going to lose their soul because this
pandemic has stopped you and me from meeting together in person.
It's not going to happen. God's going to keep his word. Then my prayer is, Lord, save
me. Save me according to your word,
according to the promise of your word. Lord, fulfill your word
and save your people by your grace. Lord, save me by your
promise that the Lord Jesus Christ would suffer the death that I
deserve for my sin. Lord, save me. and give me faith
in Christ. Save me by faith in Christ and
not by my sinful works. Lord, keep me. Keep me by the
faithfulness of Christ, not by my weak, fickle faithfulness.
I can just hear a little bit of bad news on the evening news.
It seems like my faith is just almost non-existent. I'm glad
my security is not in that kind of faith, aren't you? Save me
by the faithfulness. Keep me by the faithfulness of
Christ. Lord, bring me to you. when your time for me here below
is finished, Lord, bring me to be with you, that I may see your
glory, that I may be with Christ, see him as he is and behold his
glory where he is. That's my prayer. I can tell
you this, the Lord will do that. He will do that for his people.
You know how I know that? Because that's what God promised
him. See, if we would pray and have our prayers heard, plead
God's word, plead. This is how God saves sinners.
Lord, save your people. consistent with your word, according
to the promise of your word. So if in this plague, if the
Lord uses this plague to bring one of his children home and
bring them out of this world, the Lord did not do that to you.
He did it for you. He did it for you. What the Lord
is doing right now, he's doing to this world, but he's doing
it for his people. He's doing it for his people.
for the furtherance, for to accomplish His eternal will and purpose.
And we would do well to remember that. And if we would, we'd find
comfort for our hearts. When you pray, plead God's word.
Thirdly, when you pray, pray for Christ's sake. And what that
means is pray to be seen and heard only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 18, but will God in very
deed dwell with men on earth? Behold heaven and the heavens
of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which
I have built. You know the heavens which God
created can't contain God. How are we going to build a house
that will contain him? The heaven of heavens cannot contain God.
Yet God did dwell in that temple and in that tabernacle. God revealed
his glory in that temple through the worship that God ordained
in that place. Now remember the temple is a
picture of Christ. The heaven of heavens cannot contain God.
Yet all the fullness of God dwelt in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwelt bodily in one man, the man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
all of God's glory is seen there in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where all of God's glory is seen, all of it. And I tell you what
God's glory is, what his chief glory is. It's how He saved sinners
through the sacrifice of His Son. That's where God's glory
is sitting. We need to seek to see Christ. We need to seek to be found in
Christ. Not just seeking physical, material
blessings. Being seen in Christ. That's how God blesses us. That's
how God hears us. And the only way God can hear
you or hear me is if we're in Christ. Verse 19, Solomon says,
have respect, therefore, to the prayer of thy servant and to
his supplication. O Lord, my God, to hearken under
the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee,
that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon
the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy name
there, to hearken under the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward
this place. Hearken therefore unto the supplications
of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make
toward this place. Hear thou from thy dwelling place,
even from heaven, and when thou hearest, forgive. Now Solomon
is saying that the Lord, according to His promise, God's promise,
He will hear the prayer of His people in this place. And Solomon's
praying God's word. Lord, You said if we come to
this place and pray, You'd hear us. Now Lord, we're coming in
this place to pray. Hear us in Christ, for Christ's
sake. And when you hear, forgive. Forgive. Now here's the picture. If the Lord hears our prayers,
He's going to hear our prayers in Christ. He's going to hear
our prayers for the merit of Christ, based upon Christ's sake,
not ours. So our prayer is, Lord, don't
just hear me because I'm crying, like I'm so important. Lord,
hear me because I'm crying in Christ, because I'm crying for
Christ's sake. I'm seeking to be heard on Christ's
merit, based upon Christ's righteousness, on Christ's person, not my own. When you pray, pray for Christ's
sake. Seek to be heard in Christ. Seek
to be found in Christ. God hears prayers there. All
right, fourthly, pray to be justified in Christ. Verse 22, if a man
sin against his neighbor and an oath be laid upon him to make
him swear and the oath come before thine altar in this house, then
hear thou from heaven and do and judge thy servants by requiting
the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head and by
justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. Now Solomon is asking that there
be right judgment in this house. He said, when there is a dispute,
one man's right, one man is wrong. Lord, give right judgment. Put
on each man what they deserve. Give punishment to the one who's
wrong and preserve and protect the one who's in the right. But
all this that Solomon gives us here is a picture. of how God
justifies the ungodly in Christ. The father made Christ sin for
his people. He transferred the sin of God's
elect to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the father recompensed.
He gave to Christ everything that sin deserves, even unto
death. Christ suffered until that sin
was gone, and then he died. And because of that, God's elect
are justified. They had no sin because their
sin has been put away under the blood of Christ's sacrifice.
See, in the sacrifice of Christ, we see right judgment from God. At Calvary, the innocent man
didn't die and the guilty go free. No, sir. At Calvary, the
father put a guilty man to death and he justified his elect by
making them righteous in Christ's righteousness. Then let's seek
to be justified in Christ. Let's seek to be justified through
faith in Christ, not our works of the law, but in Christ, who
he is and what he's accomplished for his people. Let's beg God,
justify me, make me righteous in Christ. God will hear that
prayer because that's the way that God gives right judgment.
When God saves his people, he saves them because it's right
for him to save them. He made them righteous in his
son. So he made it right for him.
to have mercy upon them. He made it right for him to give
them life. He made it right for them to hear, for him to hear
their prayer. Then our prayer, Lord, make me
righteous in Christ, for Christ's sake. Then fifthly, when you
pray, pray for forgiveness in Christ. Verse 24. And if thy people Israel be put
to the worst before the enemy, because they've sinned against
thee, and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication
before thee in this house. Then hear thou from the heavens
and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again
onto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers. Now Solomon's probably a very
optimistic leader, but the question is not, Lord, if the people sin
or if we sin. The question is not if we sin
and we be put to the worse, but when we sin. and we're put to
the worst. When we sin, what will we do? When we sin, what will we do?
When we sin, will there be any hope for us? Well, thank God
there is. There's no hope found in anything
we'll do. Thank God He's provided hope. He's provided the way,
the promised way, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God did promise
to give Israel the land of Canaan, and He gave it to them, didn't
He? He gave it to them in spite of their sin, in spite of their
unbelief. Those 40 years in the wilderness
were spent complaining, were spent in unbelief, just would
not believe God, would not trust God. Yet God gave the lane to
the people anyway, in spite of their unbelief. God gave it to
them because that's what God promised to do. He's fulfilling
His promise. And God forgave the sin of the
people and brought them into the lane. Well, in the same way,
God has promised to save a people that he chose. He promised to
save them from their sin. He promised to forgive them of
their sin through the sacrifice of Christ. Then our prayer is
that we be forgiven. Lord, forgive me for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake. Let's not act like we sin less
than other people. Let's just not sin. There is
no point in pretending like that. Let's not pretend like we sin
less than other people. That's why God blesses us. We
need forgiveness just as much as every son of Adam. Let's seek
forgiveness on account of Christ's sacrifice, on account of the
promise of God. Let's not say, well, Lord, forgive
me because I'll do better next time, because we won't. Let's
seek forgiveness purely on account of Christ. You know, the father,
you know that he will forgive sin for Christ's sake. And let's
make that our prayer. Lord, forgive me for Christ.
Forgive my sin for Christ's sake. Sixthly, let's pray that the
Lord shower his mercy upon us. Verse 26, when the heaven is
shut up and there is no rain because they've sinned against
thee. Yet, if they pray toward this place and confess thy name
and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them, then
hear thou from heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants and of
thy people Israel. When thou hast taught them the
good way, wherein they should walk and send rain upon the land. which thou has given unto thy
people for an inheritance. Lord, if your people sin and
you shut up the heaven, you don't send rain upon them, but they
come and they beg your forgiveness. Lord, send rain upon the land,
send showers of blessing upon the land, which you promised
to give your people that it bring forth abundantly to feed and
supply your people. Well, you know, the picture there,
our sin, has shut up heaven to us, has shut up God's blessing
from us. All that God can give us because
of our sin is curse. But if we confess our sin, we
confess our sin nature, and we might as well confess it, there's
no point in denying it. And beg God for mercy. Solomon
says, the Lord will forgive. Our sin is great, that we need
the Lord to send great mercy upon us, great mercy. We need
showers of mercy from heaven. showers of mercy to give us life. And we need showers of mercy.
God continuing to shower us with his mercy to sustain our life. Then we should always pray as
a sinner, needing mercy for our souls. We all Lord, I need mercy.
God will hear that prayer and send showers of mercy upon his
people. The end Sabbath. Here's the verse
that actually brought me to this text this morning. When we pray,
we should pray for the healing of the pestilence of our soul,
the pestilence of our soul, not just the land, but of our soul.
Verse 28, if there be a dearth in the land, if there be pestilence,
if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillars, if their
enemies besiege them in the cities of their land, whatsoever sore,
whatsoever sickness there be. Now, many people right now across
this whole world are praying for the healing of sickness,
the healing of the pestilence of our land, our sickness and
the sickness and pestilence that's across this whole world. And
nothing wrong with that. We should do that. God's the
only one who can heal this thing. So we should pray that he'd heal
it. But I wonder, I wonder how many people are praying for healing
of the pestilence of our souls. I wonder. I hope many, because
that's the issue, the pestilence of our souls. That's the issue. The dearth is the dearth that's
in our heart. It's a dearth of righteousness. It's death by sin. The word dearth
there that Solomon uses means a famine. We're starving for
righteousness because we don't have any. We're starving for
life because we don't have any. There's a dearth in our hearts,
a dearth of spiritual life and good. There's a pestilence in
our hearts. It's the plague. It's the disease
of sin that is 100% fatal. There's a blasting in our souls.
The word blasting means a blight, like there is a crop. Something
comes up, but it's no good. It's got a blight. You can't
eat it. It's ruined. It's got a blight. That's our
works of righteousness. We have works of righteousness,
but there's a blight upon them. They're nothing but filthy rags.
They're no good. They won't do any good to anybody. Our works
are full of mildew. The word means something that's
rusted out. It's no good. We've got some works, but they're
no good. They won't help anybody. They won't feed anybody. They
won't give anybody a life. Brother, we're in trouble. We've got a
dearth, a pestilence, a mildew upon our souls. The locust and
the caterpillar of our sin has come up and eaten and destroyed
anything that could have been good in us. It's eaten and destroyed
everything. This locust and the caterpillar of sin has eaten
us up from the inside out, destroyed us from the inside out. And we
have a sore sickness. The word Solomon used there means
a leprosy. A leprosy of soul. It's an uncleanness
of soul because of our sin. And we're cast out from God from
it. And there's no human cure for it. No human cure. Now that's
true of the whole human race. You and me. My children and your
children. All of us. It's true of the whole human
race. We've got this pestilence, this
blight of soul. And I'll never That's true of
the whole human race. The doctrinal truth of total
depravity is undeniable. Total depravity means the whole
world, every son of Adam is ruined in sin. But I will never be saved. I will never receive mercy from
God until God shows me that I am the sinner. That this pestilence,
this blight, this disease is true of me in my heart. Look
at verse 29, what Solomon says. Then, when all this sickness,
this plague, this pestilence, all this disaster comes upon
the land, then, what prayer or what supplication so ever shall
be made of any man or of all thy people Israel, when everyone
shall know his own sore, when everybody shall know his own
spiritual leprosy and his own grief, and shall spread forth
his hands in this house, then, hear thou from heaven thy dwelling
place. and forgive, and render unto every man according unto
all his ways, whose heart thou knowest, for thou only knowest
the hearts of the children of men. Now, when a sinner comes
to know his own disease, when he's quit being told of depravity
by everybody else, when I'm like Isaiah and I quit woeing everybody
else, when I finally say woe is me, for I'm undone, I'm a
man of unclean lips, I'm the man who's got to soar, the spiritual
leprosy, When a sinner comes to know his own disease, and
his own sin, and his own wretchedness, and his own vileness before God,
and that sinner cries out for mercy, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. I'm the sinner. I'm the problem.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. When that sinner cries out like
that, God will heal him. God will heal him. He'll heal
him and he'll save him by rendering unto him the righteousness of
Christ. God will heal him by rendering
unto him the sweet balm of Gilead, the blood, washing him in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, pouring in the oil and wine and
healing him. Oh, what a God who would hear
the prayer of poor sinners and heal them for Christ's sake.
Oh, if we'll pray for the healing of the pestilence of our soul,
I'm the problem. God will save and heal that man.
That's what Solomon's saying. All right, now lastly, when we
pray, pray for God's glory. Verse 31, that they may fear
thee to walk in thy ways so long as they live in the land which
thou gavest unto our father. Psalm is saying, Lord, do this
that thy people may fear thee and reverence thee and walk in
your ways for your glory. Let them see your glory and walk
after you and believe you. Now, when we pray, let's pray
for God's glory. You already know this by experience, I bet,
that God will not hear our selfish prayers, but God will hear prayers
for His glory, for His glory. My prayer is that God will bless
His word, bless His word as His priest to save His people, to
feed His people, to comfort and encourage the hearts of His people
so that we'll see the glory of God. We'll see how God has saved
us by His mercy and by His grace. that He's led us and fed us all
the days of our lives so that we give Him the glory and the
praise. God, let us see Your glory in our day. If God will
enable us to pray for His glory, God will hear our prayer. That's
exactly what I'm going to pray for. In closing, let me give
you this. I've talked to you about these
eight points of prayer when you pray, these things, how Solomon
prayed here at this dedication of the temple. Let me tell you
this about prayer. Please understand, I'm not giving you the words
to say. I'm not giving you any words to memorize and repeat. I'm not even giving you a format
to follow. You've got to check off these
boxes when you pray. When you pray, I've told you this many
times, use your own words. Use the cry of your own heart.
You don't have to be worried it's not intelligent enough or
clear enough. If you're God's child, he understands.
He understands the cry of your heart. When you cry to God, Use
your words, the cry of your heart. Now, I'll tell you this, this
prayer that we've just read of Solomon's. When God makes this
prayer to be the prayer of your heart, when he makes the prayer
of your heart to be a prayer to Almighty God for Christ's
sake, when he gives you this prayer to be justified and forgiven
in Christ, when he makes this the prayer of your heart that
you pray for God's glory, God give glory to yourself in saving
the chief of sinners like me. When God makes that the prayer
of your heart, God will hear you and God will save you. I
pray the Lord be merciful and he'll do that for you and he'll
do that for me today. All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for your word that
so clearly sets forth salvation, forgiveness, righteousness, justification
in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for your word
that reveals to us that Christ is all. He's all that you require,
and he's everything that we need. Father, we thank you. And Father,
I pray you'd bless your word, that you would bless it to go
forth to your glory, that you'd bless it to go forth to the hearts
of your children, that by your grace we would see Christ is
all I need. And Father, cause us to cast
our souls upon him. Cause us to cast our all upon
our Lord Jesus Christ. Let him be our hope. Let him
be our salvation. Let him be our comfort and assurance,
even in times when the world is so troubled around us. Let
us find our hope, our rest, our peace, our salvation, our all
in all in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, get glory to your name.
How we beg of you, you get glory to your name. by blessing your
word and revealing Christ to the hearts of your people. It's
in his precious name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. May the Lord continue to bless
you and keep you.