In the sixth chapter of 2 Chronicles,
God the Holy Ghost has recorded for us King Solomon's prayer
at the dedication of the temple he had built by the direction
of God. Solomon spent seven years building
this temple. The time came for it to be dedicated
and open for the service of God And what a dedication, what an
opening it was. Solomon had made a scaffold.
It was about three and a half feet high, seven and a half feet
wide, seven and a half feet deep. And he stood up on that scaffolding
before the altar. He kneeled before God on the
altar, kneeled before the people so as to let those people know
that Solomon in all his glory bows to the God of glory. And
he spread his hands toward heaven, lifting his hands, directing
the people to lift their hearts to heaven to call on God. The
ark of God was brought into the house. set in its place. The staves pulled out of the
ark and fire came down from heaven to consume the sacrifice that
was offered. Fire came down from heaven to
consume the sacrifice declaring that salvation is accomplished
by that one whom God has given and God accepts Jesus Christ
the Lord. And that fire consuming the sacrifice
declaring the satisfaction of God, showing forth God's glory,
having God may be just and justify the ungodly. The glory of God
filled the house. So the priest had to come out
of the temple. Seven days Solomon kept Israel
feasting to the Lord. For seven days, they feasted
and worshiped God and offered sacrifice. Sacrifices so many
that they could not be counted. As we read this portion of scripture,
we should have eyes of our hearts, the eyes of our minds fixed steadfastly
on our glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We read here things
that are all about Him. It is Christ alone who is our
priest, our advocate, our intercessor, our sacrifice, our king. By him
alone, only by his blood and by his righteousness do sinners
have access to God and come to God. But coming to God by faith
in him, we obtain God's favor, rejoicing in God's goodness. in all the possibilities that
Solomon raised in his prayer. He gave just numerous possibilities
of error, of sin, of infirmity, of war, of failure, of transgression,
of iniquity. Yet enumerating all of those
possibilities in his prayer, Jehovah was the one upon whom
he had his eye fixed. He had his eye fixed upon the
Lord Jesus, who's typified in all these things. When he said,
he said, if they'll pray toward this, your house, if they'll
set their face toward this, your house, if they'll call on your
name toward this, your house, he's saying if they'll look to
you through Christ the Lord, the Lord here in heaven, and
forgive their sin and heal your people. Let us, like Solomon,
have our eyes of faith, the eyes of our souls, fixed upon Jesus
Christ alone. And as we read this chapter,
and others like it, about the things portrayed here, we will
see the grace of our God in everything. grace of God flowing to sinners
through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ the Lord. Solomon's
prayer here is all about Christ and Him crucified. All the glorious
things inside the tabernacle. the glory of Solomon's temple
and all the majestic glorious gold shining pieces in that temple
all of those things but speak of Christ the Lord the size of
the temple The dimensions of the temple, the furnishings of
the temple, the curtains in the temple, everything speaks of
Christ crucified. Redemption by his blood, salvation
by his grace, access to God by him alone, mercy, grace, forgiveness
flowing to sinners through Christ alone. Oh, Lord God, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. in contemplation of your
rich salvation. We take Solomon's language and
we say to you, arise, O Lord, into your resting place. Blessed
be the Lord our God, who in Christ heaps upon sinners, all the blessings
of his grace, the sure mercies of David. Let him visit us this
hour and give us grace now to worship him. 493 years after the children
of Israel came out of Egypt, 17 years after the death of his
father, David, Solomon has finished the work of building the temple.
And now he comes to dedicate the temple to God. We read in
Ecclesiastes or in 2 Chronicles 6 verse 12, how the Solomon has
brought this ark and set it in its place and the glory of the
Lord filled the house and he stood before the altar and he
knelt down before God and spread his hands. And then in verse
13, Solomon spreading forth his hands cried, O Lord God of Israel. Verse 14, there is no God like
thee in heaven nor in the earth. Who is this? Who is this God? This God that is unlike any other. This God that's unlike any other. All through Danville today, folks
are in church buildings, worshiping a God. But he who is our God
is unlike any other, unlike any other. He is God which keepest
covenant. He who is God, he who truly is
God is God who keeps covenant. It is God who keeping covenant
shows mercy. He shows mercy, but only by a
covenant. Mercy that comes only by covenant
grace given to us through Christ Jesus before the world began.
He showeth mercy unto thy servants and walk before thee with all
their hearts. God's people come to him and
devote themselves to him and walk before him when he shows
mercy on them. I was chatting with a friend
of mine down in Kingsport yesterday, he called. Brother Chris Moody,
we were chatting a little bit, and he was talking about folks,
family and friends, he gets so mad when he talks about God's
character. He's so mad, he says, just scream,
just scream. But you're saying I'm lost. I've
had that happen many times. You're saying I'm lost. I didn't
say that. I've never said that to anybody.
You say, my daddy's lost. I've never said that to anybody.
Nobody, don't do that. No, no, no. You said that. You
heard what I said and concluded, if that's who God is, then my
daddy's lost. I'm lost, I don't know that God.
If you don't know this God, you're lost. You're lost. He is God
who has mercy, but he has mercy because of a covenant he has
kept. Not a covenant you kept, covenant
He's kept. And that mercy causes His people
to walk before Him with all their hearts. Solomon extolled the
Lord God, our God, the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, as the only true and living God. He declared that there is
no God but our God, no God beside Him, no God like Him, no God
to be compared to Him. He is distinct as God in his
dominion. You see, he who is God is sovereign
of the universe. He is sovereign of the universe. We use that word sovereign or
sovereignty in a very limited way in our language. In this
day, I should say, I hear folks talk about, I keep country we
have our sovereignty. You ought to recognize our sovereignty.
There's no such thing as a sovereign nation. There's no such thing. No, no. Every nation's dependable
or dependent upon others in great measure. No such thing as a sovereign
nation. No such thing as a sovereign
king. Not as the scriptures use this
word with regard to our God. Oh, no, no. Not as we use this
word, rather, with regard to the God of scripture. When we
say that God is sovereign in His dominion, I mean for you
to understand that God has His way. He performs His will everywhere,
all the time, with everybody without exception. He's sovereign. He's sovereign. You're not gonna
smack his hand and ask him what he's doing. He's sovereign. He's
distinct from all the gods of men in his dependability. Unlike
the gods of the world, unlike the gods that men make, our God
is a covenant-keeping God. A covenant-keeping God. He made a covenant with us with
which we have nothing to do. He made a covenant with us that
has many conditions that we cannot and do not meet. He made a covenant
with us that is a covenant of everlasting grace and salvation. But that covenant made with us
was made with us in a surety. And that surety is himself God,
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God fulfills the covenant
in us because Christ fulfilled the covenant for us. God fulfills
the covenant in us because we fulfilled the covenant in the
person of his son. Our God is sovereign in his discrimination. I choose that word with purpose. Discrimination. Everybody screams
discrimination. You're discriminating. You discriminate. Everybody tries to practice it.
You and me all the time. All the time. There are some
folks you don't wanna be around, that's called discrimination.
There are some folks you just don't like their company, that's
called discrimination. If you set a table full of food
down here, and there's some collard greens over yonder, you can be
dead sure I'm gonna leave them alone. That's called discrimination. That's called discrimination.
I made a choice! I won't have it. Give me some
mashed potatoes and gravy, that's called discrimination. I'm gonna
take it. God Almighty is discriminating
in his mercy, grace, and love. He loves Jacob and hates Esau. That's discrimination. God saw
something good in Jacob. What wasn't he saw? There wasn't anything in Jacob
for God to love. Everything for God to hate. He loved Jacob and
hates Esau, and he still does. He says, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. And I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. And whom he will, he hardeneth.
And that's his choice, his decision, his determination, made from
eternity. And you're not gonna alter it.
And I'm not gonna alter it. He who is our God is merciful
to sinners, gracious and good, gracious to His chosen, gracious
to the guilty, gracious to His elect, gracious to sinners who
need Him. He's the faithful and true. He fulfills all His promises
and there's no God like Him in His dwelling place. This great
and glorious God who inhabits eternity, condescended to come
down to this earth and dwell in a temple, to dwell in the
midst of his people upon the earth. To Solomon, this was a
matter of utter astonishment. I like to hear folks sing about
the birth of our Redeemer, about the incarnation of Christ. I
like to sing about it. I wish we would do it in July,
but I like to sing about it. I like to hear folks sing about
it. But most people, most people, don't have any sense of astonishment that God should come to the earth. God flood our hearts with astonishment
at our Savior. Look in 2nd Chronicles 6 verse
15. 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 in 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. You remember what God promised
David. He promised David a house and a kingdom, a throne, and
a man to sit on that throne forever. God said, I'm gonna build a house. Your son's gonna do it. I'm gonna
establish your throne. I'm gonna set a man on your throne,
and there will never lack a man on your throne. Now that's what
God promised David. And I'm here to tell you, God
has kept and is keeping his promise. You see, Christ is that man. And Christ sits on that throne,
which is the throne of Israel, the house of God, the church
of God. He sits on his throne in heavenly
glory. All right, read on. Fulfill that
which you've promised my father David, saying, there shall not
fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel,
yet so that thy children take heed to their way, to walk in
my law as thou hast walked before me. Now then, O Lord God of Israel,
let thy word be verified. That's a good way to pray. That's
a good way to seek God's goodness. You come to God and say, Lord,
do what you said you'd do. Do what you said you'd do. Let
your word be verified, which thou has spoken unto thy servant
David. But will God in very deed dwell
with men on the earth? Will God, this great, great God,
Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven
and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this
house which I had built. Now Solomon's question in our
text here in verse 18, will God in very deed dwell with men on
the earth? Is not an expression of doubt
of any kind. Rather, it is an expression of
utter amazement. Solomon is saying, will God who
dwells on high, God who humbles himself to look upon the heavens,
God who stoops to look to men upon the earth, will this great
God, this glorious God, condescend to dwell with men on the earth? That's astonishing. and yet it
is true. That astonishing fact is my subject
this morning, and I pray that God will make it astonishing
to you before I'm done. Will God in very deed dwell with
men on the earth? Will God dwell with men on earth? The condescension of the eternal,
almighty, holy, sovereign, immense, infinite God to dwell with men
on the earth is an astonishing act of grace. And let me call
your attention to just a few things revealed in this astonishing
work. First, understand this. The one
who came to dwell with men upon the earth, the one who came into
the temple at Jerusalem is the Lord God, omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent and infinite. On that great day when the temple
was built at Jerusalem, when the ark of God was brought into
the most holy place, for the first time in history, now listen,
for the first time in history, God came down to the earth and
stayed. For the first time in history,
God came and dwelt with men upon the earth. It's amazing to me
that he should do so because God is immense, infinite, the God of glory. Remember, I'm talking to you
about God, not what men call God. not Zeus, not Allah, not
the Great Spirit, but God. God who fills heaven and earth
with his presence. God who cannot be contained or
limited in any way by time and space. God, the infinite, omnipresent,
immutable, eternal God. God. God came to dwell on the earth. This God, our God, is omnipresent. That's a big word. Learn it. God is everywhere present all
the time. Everywhere present all the time. Turn back to Psalm 130, turn
over to Psalm 139. Just hold your hands here in
Psalm 139 for just a minute. There is no hiding from God,
no fleeing from God's presence. Psalm 139, verse seven. David
wrote this whole psalm about the wonder of God's being. He
says in verse seven, whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or
whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say
surely darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night
shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are
both alike to thee. God is everywhere, everywhere. God is everywhere. I don't think
I'll ever forget Brother Maurice Montgomery telling me many years
ago, I guess, many years ago, shortly after we met, traveling
somewhere together, and he's talking about leaving to go off
to Okinawa, I think it was, to serve in the military. And his
father, Brother Hubert Montgomery, walked out the front door and
said to him, he said, last thing Daddy said to me, he said, son,
God goes everywhere. God goes everywhere. That ought
to make you behave. God goes everywhere. He's everywhere
by his power. He upholds all things. He maintains
the universe by the power of his might. He is that one who
holds the earth in its place in our solar system. He is the
one who keeps it spinning on its axis exactly as he will. He's God. God's everywhere by
his providence. He takes care of and governs
all his creatures. He executes in all places at
the same time His everlasting decrees. Now I know I've said
things and just that, that we won't comprehend in a lifetime.
Mark, God exercises His decrees everywhere all the time. All the time, within. There's
no trouble to it. God's everywhere in his omniscience,
beholding all things, all places, all events, all people, all thoughts,
the secrets of every man's heart all the time. David said, oh
Lord, look at Solomon 139 verse one. Oh Lord, thou has searched
me and known me. His son Solomon said, the eyes
of the Lord are in every place. beholding the evil and the good.
Psalm 139 verse two. Thou knowest my down sitting
and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. You understand the things that
I think now, long before I ever thought them. You understand
my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with my ways. For there is not
a word in my tongue, but O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou
hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high, I cannot attain
to it. Yet this immense, omnipresent,
omniscient, omnipotent God, this infinite God, came to dwell upon
the earth. When we consider these things
about him, we may well cry in astonishment with Solomon, will
God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Heaven's his throne,
the earth is his footstool. but he comes to dwell on his
footstool. The earth, this round ball of
water and clay is a suitable habitation for men and beast.
The heaven, even the heaven of heavens are the Lord's, but the
earth hath he given to the children of men. And yet God came here
to dwell on a planet made suitable for men. This fact is even more
astonishing when we consider that he came here to dwell upon
an earth cursed by reason of sin. I don't find it at all astonishing
that God should walk with Adam in the garden in the cool of
the day before sin entered into the world. but that God should
come now to this earth cursed by reason of sin, this earth
that brings forth nothing but briars and thorns and pain and
sorrow. God comes to dwell here, this
cursed earth, this earth that's marked for the burning. It is
reserved to fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. Isn't it amazing that men love
the world, and men labor for the world, and men sacrifice
for the world, men will do anything to get more earth. Give me a
little more. Give me a little more. Give me
a little more. Give me a little more to get
just a little more. Shelby and I knew a man many
years ago who, honey, was an old man just about to retire.
Went back to college so he could get him a little bit higher degree
so he could get a little bit more Social Security, gotta get
more. He's fixing to retire now and get pretty good pension.
I can get a few more dollars every month if I get this degree.
And he got his degree and he retired and I think he drew one
check. Give me a little more! Give me a little more! Just a
little more! Then we'll do everything to get
the earth. God said it's gonna burn. Which of you would be so
smart? Which of us would be so wise
as to go out and take our life savings and all the money we
can borrow and buy a house that tomorrow morning you know is
gonna be burned? Preacher, I wouldn't do that
if I knew it was gonna be burned. Don't you believe God? This earth
is marked for burning. But God came down here to visit
the earth. Not to visit, to dwell in the earth, an earth marked
for destruction. The Lord God came here to dwell
in earth among a people, fallen, depraved, sinful, cursed, a people
like us. When the Lord God condescended,
In the Old Testament, time and again, to look upon the inhabitants
of the earth, he declared, they're all gone aside. They're all together
become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. It would be a marvelous thing,
marvelous act of condescension for God in mercy to look upon
man on the earth with tolerance. For God to talk with a man as
He spoke to Abraham. For God to visit fallen men. David spoke with astonishment.
What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the Son of Man that
thou visitest him? And yet Solomon speaks here with
astonishment and declares that God whose purity, holiness, and
light came to dwell with men upon the earth. Surely, surely
if God comes down to earth to dwell with men, God moves in to dwell with men. Surely he must come not to get
something from men, but to do some marvelous, marvelous, great,
great act for men, to perform something for men. And Solomon,
as he dedicates this temple, he recognizes that this thing
he did 3,000 years ago was a foreshadowing of a great work God would do
on the earth for men. So second, not only does our
text speak of the infinite God, it speaks of the incarnate God. It refers to the marvelous incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ and his dwelling upon the earth to
work out righteousness, redemption, and salvation for his people.
Will God, the Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God,
in very deed dwell with men on the earth. Indeed, he has, he
does, and he will. He has, he does, and he will. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus
Christ, tabernacled upon the earth in our nature. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich,
yet for our sakes he became poor, for your sakes, for my sake he
became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. If you still have a piece of
paper or something marking what we read earlier, turn back to
John chapter what? The first chapter of John's Gospel. Jesus
Christ, the incarnate God, dwelt with men upon the earth. In the
beginning was the Word. In the beginning was the Word. I get letters or telephone calls
every day. I have conversation with people
every day, every single day, half a year, who ask me, Have
you got a proof text I can give for this? Or can you tell me
how to prove this to somebody? I want to show my mom, I want
to show my dad, I want to be convinced that this is true.
Did you ever notice that God never gave an argument to prove
His existence as God? You won't find one in this book.
God never made any argument to prove His existence as God. He
never made an argument to prove anything. Merle, he simply states
fact. That's all. That's all. In the beginning, God. That's
all. That's all. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word, the revelation of God.
The Word, the Son of God. The Word, who is God. And the
Word was with God. with God. We worship one God
in the Trinity, the triunity of His holy persons. One God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Word was with God. One with God. Face to face with
God. Equal with God. One with God.
And the Word was God. If you have a place where you
can write it out in your margin, I suggest you write a better translation
than is given in our King James. And God was the Word. And God was the Word. Then in verse 14, and the Word. God, who is the Word? God, the
Eternal One, was made flesh and dwelt among us. He made flesh
and lived right here. Lived right here. And as He lived
here, we beheld His glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Moses' tabernacle
was but a type, a representation, a picture of our Savior's humanity.
The word dwelt is actually the word tabernacle. I often translate
it that way when I quote it. He tabernacled among us, but
this Tabernacle that Moses made was a representation, a type,
a picture of our Lord's humanity and a salvation by him. And this
temple, this far more glorious appearing temple that Solomon
built was like Moses' tabernacle, a picture, a type, a representation
of our Lord's humanity and the far, far greater glory of his
accomplished redemption in himself. Our Lord Jesus said concerning
his body, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it
up. Jesus Christ is the true God, the true God. He's the great God. He that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, he's born of God. That's who's saved.
Anybody who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ is not
saved. They're not one of God's children.
They're not heirs of heaven. They're not God's saints. They
don't know God from a billy goat. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. He is the brightness of the Father's
glory and the express image of his person. That is If you see God, if you know God,
if you talk to God, if God talks to you, it'll only be in his
Son, Jesus Christ. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory. You see God in him. He's the
express image of his person. He is himself God, the embodiment
of God, the maker of all things. Our Savior is described in the
scripture as God over all, blessed forever. He's God who rules everywhere. This one who is God is exalted
with all power, might, and dominion as God in our flesh. This one
who came to dwell in our flesh has been raised up to glory.
The disciples saw him ascending up into heaven. What a picture. What a picture. After his resurrection,
they saw him one time walk into the room. He didn't come through
the door, he walked into the room. He just came, suddenly
appeared in their presence, the risen Christ. And then as they
were walking with him, the apostles saw him ascend up into heaven. Just ascended up out of their
sight. And he took a seat on the right
hand of the majesty on high in our flesh. God in humanity, in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I can't begin to explain what
I just quoted to you from Colossians 2 now. It's impossible for me
to explain it, but this is what it says. This is what it says.
In that man seated yonder in glory, that man who came here
born of a virgin, who nursed at his mother's breast like every
other baby, that man who had to be diapered and taught to
walk like every other child, that man who got hungry and thirsty,
who sat down on the well side thirsty, that man who slept when
he was tired and ate when he was hungry, just like we do,
that man who died at Calvary, that man seated in glory, in
him resides permanently. All the fullness of God. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, in the body of that man is God, in everything God is. And you are complete in Him. You are complete through His
fullness. All the angels of God worship
Him because He's the creator. All men and women, good and bad,
are subject to Him and perform His will all the time, like it
or not. He dwells and always has dwelt
in the highest heaven. He rideth upon the heavens over
all, God blessed forever. Therefore, He's called the Lord
from heaven. And yet, when our Lord Jesus
came down here to dwell in the earth, while he walked on this
earth, fulfilling all the will of God as a man, performing righteousness
as a man, suffering the wrath of God as our substitute as a
man, while he was here on the earth, he never left heaven and
never ceased to be God. Listen to what he says. No man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. He said that while
he was talking to Nicodemus. He said, I'm standing here talking
to you, and I'm talking to you about a new birth that only I
can perform for you, and until I do this for you, you can't
understand what I'm talking about. I'm the Son of Man who's in heaven. He's God Almighty in the flesh. He never ceased to be God. while he dwelt on this earth.
But why did he come here to dwell on the earth? This is what the
scripture tells us he came to do. He came to fulfill the covenant. His covenant engagements as our
surety. to do everything that He promised
to do in the covenant as our surety when He was accepted as
our surety of God the triune Jehovah as the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. It means He came here to put
away sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to make it possible
for God to be just and the justifier of all who believe. That's what
he came here to do. And he did not leave this earth
until he'd finished the work which he was sent to do. He shall
not fail. He said, when the spirit of truth
has come, after I've gone away, because it's expedient for you
that I go away, I'll pray the Father and he'll send his spirit.
And when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will convince you
of sin, your sin. your unbelief because you believe
not on me. And he will convince you of righteousness,
the righteousness of God performed by a man brought in for men because
I go to my father. I finished the work I came here
to do. He will convince you of judgment because the prince of
this world is judged. Our Lord Jesus came here in the
flesh and dwelt in the flesh. and he still does dwell with
men upon the earth. Our Savior is that one who dwells
with his people on the earth. He dwells with us continually. Not only did he come here to
visit the earth in the incarnation, but our Savior who came here
in the flesh, came here to stay forever. He's with us now. He's with us now. He tells us
very plainly in his word that we are his body, the church. We are his temple. We are his
tabernacle. He promises that we're Two or
three are gathered together. There am I in the midst of them. This one who is the infinite
God, the incarnate God, he's the indwelling God. He dwells
with us. He says to his church, as he
sends them out to preach the gospel, and he tells them, you're
gonna be hated of all men for my sake. He's everywhere you
go, folks are gonna cuss you, persecute you, imprison you,
and put you to death. Everywhere you go, everywhere
you go, all the time. And he tells them now, go and
preach the gospel. That's not much incentive. Everywhere
you go, folks are gonna cuss you, persecute you, put you to
death if they can. Everywhere you go, never a time
when it's not gonna happen. Never a time, go. And lo, I'm
with you, always. Lo, I'm with you always, always. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. Lo, I'm with
you always, always. All power in heaven and earth
is mine. Lo, I'm with you always. He dwells with us. collectively
as his church. And he dwells with us and in
us as we meet together as the temple of God. We come together. I hope you have learned by experience
the sweetness and the blessedness of that which we enjoy in this
place three times a week, week after week after week after week,
where two or three are gathered together in my name. Perhaps that means where two
or three come together, believing me, trusting me, trusting my
righteousness, seeking my glory. I'm certain it includes that.
But the word gathered speaks not of something we do, or something
he does, where two or three are gathered, gathered by my hand,
by my providence, by my goodness, gathered by my spirit, gathered
with a heart seeking me, gathered hungry for me, gathered thirsty
for me, gathered needing me, where two or three are gathered
together in my name. There I am in the midst of them.
This is how I pray in preparation for every service, here and wherever
I go. Lord God, will you by your Spirit
now gather your people? And when I stand out there on
the front porch when the weather permits, or I'm standing at the
door to greet you, I'm not just standing there to say hello because
I want to see your pretty smiling faces or your clothes that you're
wearing in church today. I'm standing out there waiting
for you to come, praying, Lord God, here come Betty and David.
Gather them in your house. Here comes Charlotte and Burl.
God, gather them again. Gather us together with Christ. And we may worship you. And we
may hear from heaven. And God speak now to these whom
you've gathered. Our Savior said where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them. But that's not all. That's not
all. He's come here to dwell with
his church while we make our pilgrimage through this world.
And he comes to dwell with every local assembly of believing sinners
called by his grace. He dwells in you by His Spirit. He dwells in us by His Spirit. In the new birth, God comes in to live. God comes in to live. God takes up His residence in
His people. so that those who are born of
the Spirit are made to be an habitation of God. An habitation of God. God lives
in me. I know He does because I believe
Him. And I couldn't believe Him if He didn't live in me. You
see, faith is the fruit of His Spirit living in me. God lives
in me. You ask me how I know he lives?
Well, that's not hard to tell you. He lives right here. Right here, right here. He comes
to dwell in our hearts. Oh, what grace. God comes to
dwell where sin is. God comes to dwell right here
where he is most slighted. God comes to dwell right here
where his spirit is grieved. He comes to dwell here permanently
until this flesh is gone and he'll still be dwelling right
here. When this body of sin is gone, he'll still be dwelling
right here. This one who comes to dwell upon
the earth, he's the incarnate God, the indwelling God. He is that God, that God who
is the infinite, infinite God. Not only that, he's the immaculate
God. Soon he will come again, and
when he does, he's going to burn up the present
heavens and the present earth. These things must be dissolved.
I know we live in this age when the scientists talk about global
warming. You can believe what you want
to about that nonsense, but it's nonsense what it is. Don't you
believe the Earth's getting warmer? It may be, I don't care. I just
frankly don't care. I know soon it's gonna get real
hot. It's gonna get real hot. God's gonna burn it up. in it. And when He does, He'll make
all things new. And He will come here, the new
Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven with Him, to dwell
upon a new earth where He dwelleth righteousness, where there's
no sin, but just purity. The immaculate God, dwelling
with immaculate sinners, saved by immaculate mercy upon an immaculate
earth, created by his hands forever. That's called eternal life, eternal
life. Now let me tell you with whom
Christ dwells all the time. He said, behold, I stand at the
door and knock, If any man will open unto me,
I'll come in with him and suck with him and he with me. Do you know what Shelby and I
have been doing for a long, long time? For nearly 50 years, we've
been eating together all the time. All the time, yes. Three times a day we eat together.
We're separated from each other because of poverty. Eat together. Because we live together. We
live together. We feed on the same thing. Same
thing. At the same table. So does God
and his people. Feasting upon the sacrifice,
Christ Jesus, he comes in to sup with you. Oh, bid him enter
and rule your heart, to take possession of you. If you can,
he already has, and he'll sit down and sup with you. When we
come together in the assembly of God's saints, as you make
your way through the doors, Only way here, open the door and ask
Him to come in and feast with us and let us feast with Him.
And soon, He will come again and we will feast with Him in
a new heavens and a new earth. Amen.