I'm excited about our conference
coming up next weekend, aren't you? Very excited. Turn to 1 Kings 8. This is the
11th week we've been in this chapter. Verse 54. And it was so that when Solomon
had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication
unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord,
from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.
And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with
a loud voice saying, Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest
unto his people, Israel. According to all that he had
promised, there hath not failed one word of all his good promise,
which he promised by the hand of Moses, his servant. The Lord
our God be with us. As he was with our fathers, let
him not leave us nor forsake us, that he may incline our hearts
unto him. The word incline is bend, that
he may bend our hearts unto him to walk in all his ways and to
keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which
he commanded our fathers. And let these my words wherewith
I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord,
our God, day and night, that he maintain the cause of his
servant and the cause of his people, Israel, at all times,
as the matter shall require. that all the people of the earth
may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else.
Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God to walk
in his statutes and to keep his commandments as at this day. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And Lord, we so desire that we
might hear from thee, the living God. Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that we might be enabled to worship your son, to hear
your gospel. We ask that you would say to
our souls, I am thy salvation. We ask that you would forgive
us of our sins and cleanse us Lord, make us truly to be men
and women after thine own heart. Give us grace to love you more
and love one another more. Lord, we pray for the upcoming
Bible conference. We pray that you would be pleased
to speak and to glorify yourself in our midst. We pray for each
man that he might be enabled to preach your gospel and the
power of your spirit and that you'd give us hearing ears. We wait on thee, in Christ's
name we pray, amen. Verse 54, this was at the end
of Solomon praying to the Lord. He is now speaking and says in
verse 54, And it was so that when Solomon had made an end
of praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, he
arose before the altar of the Lord. Now this prayer had began
at the altar and it ends at the altar. And what this is, is a
reminder to us that prayer is heard only through the sacrifice
of Christ. This prayer begins at the altar. the place of sacrifice, and it
ends at the altar, the place of sacrifice. Verse 55, and he
stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice.
Now, how are you gonna bless the people? You know, if I say,
bless you, I can't bless you. How's he gonna bless the people?
Here's how he blesses them. Verse 56, blessed be the Lord. Now, if I am enabled by the grace
of God to bless you, you know what I'm going to be saying?
Blessed be the Lord. And if you and I enter into that,
we'll be blessed. Blessed be the Lord. I think
of what Paul said to the church at Ephesus. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Blessed be the Lord. Now let's go on reading. Blessed
be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according
to all that he had promised. Now this thing of rest, what
a blessing rest is. And this is what he's thanking
the Lord for giving them, is rest. Now, on a physical level,
think how important rest is. Can't live without it. But more
importantly, spiritually, what is rest? They which have believed,
Hebrews 4, they which have believed have entered into rest. And what is this rest? Well,
rest is a response, and listen real carefully to this very simple
statement, rest is a response to a finished work. Now, I rest in Christ when I
am responding to His finished work. There's nothing for me
to do. Isn't that wonderful? There's
nothing for me to do. Christ did it all and I rest
in that. They which have believed do enter
into rest for he that has entered into his rest has ceased from
his own works as God did from his. Now this is what he's thanking
God for. He's caused his people Israel
to rest and what a blessing it is to be enabled by the grace
of God to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now verse 56, blessed
be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according
to all that he had promised. There has not failed one word
of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses,
his servant. Now who has this rest we're speaking
of? His people. And why do they have
this rest? Because he promised. Turn with me before I say anything
else about this. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
three. Galatians chapter three, verse
18. For if the inheritance, let's
talk about heaven. That's talking about the blessing
of being made like Christ. That's talking about the grace
of God. That's talking about everything associated with the
gospel. If the inheritance be of the law, if it's given to
me because of some personal obedience on my part to the law, if the
inheritance be of the law, it's no more a promise, but God gave
it to Abraham. by promise. He did it simply
because he promised he would. Now why am I saved? Because God
promised I'd be saved to his son. He gave me to his son. Christ promised to save me. God promised to give me his spirit.
Salvation comes by the promise of God, but it's not some kind
of response to something you do. God doesn't save you because
you ask him to, although he does if you ask him to. God doesn't
save you because of anything you do. God saved you because
of his promise. And the reason you rest is because
God promised you would. And that's what Solomon's doing.
He's giving God all the glory, isn't he? Oh, he's so thankful
for the promise of God. I'm so thankful that salvation
is according to the promise of God. And it's the reason I'm
going to persevere to the end. And the reason I'm not going
to fall away, if I don't fall away, is because God promised
I wouldn't. All of God's salvation is according
to his promise. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able also to perform. Our salvation is founded in the
promise of God. The reason we rest in response
to this finished work is because of the promise of God. Now let's
go and read verse 57. The Lord our God be with us as
he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us nor forsake
us. Now be with us as you were with
our fathers. Now, what is this thing of God
being with me? Well, it's God being for me.
It's the same thing that Paul meant when he said, if God be
for us, who can be against us. And he says, let him not leave
us nor forsake us. Now, the only reason Solomon
would say something like that, and the only reason we have something
like that coming up in our heart, Lord, don't leave me, Lord, don't
forsake me, is we see enough reason in ourselves as to why
do it. We think that way. I can see why I would. I can
see why he'd say, I've had it with him. Leave me alone. And
so my prayer is, Lord, don't leave me. Don't forsake me. And
the reason he won't is because of his promise. That's the only
reason he won't, because he promised he wouldn't. He said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. Now look in verse 58. This is
something that was such a blessing to my heart. Verse 58, he's praying
to the Lord to not leave us nor forsake us that he may incline
our hearts. Now let's stop there for just
a moment. He's praying that the Lord may incline our hearts. unto him to walk in all his ways
and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments,
which he has commanded our fathers, that he may incline our hearts."
Now that word incline means bend. The king's heart, Proverbs 21.1,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, he turneth it. That's the same word. He turneth
it. Whithersoever he will. Now, I'm
thankful that the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord. I'm
thankful that our rulers, they're all in the hand of the Lord.
Our government officials, whatever, as anything, everywhere, everybody's
in his hand, but not only is the King's heart in the hand
of the Lord, my heart's in the hand of the Lord. And here's
what I'm asking him to do. Bend my heart. Don't leave me
to myself. Bend my heart. Cause me to believe. You're invited to pray that.
Cause me, bend my heart, cause me to repent. Cause me to love
you. Cause me to walk in your ways. Cause me to persevere. Incline
my heart, bend my heart. And this is said several times
in the scripture. David said, incline my heart
unto thy testimonies and not into covetousness. He said, incline
not my heart to any evil thing. Lord, bend my heart. Cause me
to look the right direction. Cause me to look away from the
wrong direction. Cause me to walk in your gospel. Bend my heart. Cause me to do
this. Now, if I really believe myself
to be totally depraved, if I really believe this, this will be my
prayer. Lord, bend my heart. My heart's
no good. It's going to go in the wrong
direction. It's going to look in the wrong way every single time.
Bend my heart toward yourself. Solomon praised this prayer.
Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, who proves also as you
go on later in his life that the wisest man to ever live is
the biggest fool to ever live, the way he conducted himself.
But what a wise prayer. Lord, bend my heart, bend my
heart in your direction. The king's heart's in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it with her
so ever he will. Lord, bend my heart in your direction. Cause
me to walk in your gospel. Cause me to look to your son.
Do something for me. Now that ought to be a part of
our prayer every day because I know this. If he doesn't bend
my heart, I'm going the wrong direction. And it's all my fault. I'm not, I'm not saying it's
your fault because you didn't bend my heart that I've gone
the red. My sin is all my fault. I can't blame it on God. I hate
it when people, I hate it when I try to blame God's sovereignty.
Well, but God could have kept this from happening. And I said,
no, no, my sin is all my fault. Lord, bend my heart, incline
my heart unto yourself. You know, that's what David was
praying. when he said, uphold me with your free spirit. What that means is make me willing.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Make me
willing. Somebody says, well, where's
responsibility? You're looking to the Lord to
do everything. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. Make me willing. Oh, I'm so thankful that's in
there that I want to put, Lord, incline my heart. Now let's go
on reading. Verse 58, that he may incline our hearts unto him
to walk in all his ways. and to keep his commandments
and his statutes, the gospel and his judgments, which he commanded
our fathers. And let these my words, wherewith
I've made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord
our God, day and night, always hear this, that he may maintain
the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel
at all times as the matter shall require." Now, we looked at this
last week. This is the third time he said
this in his prayer. He says, maintain our cause.
Maintain our cause. Now that word maintain is the
same word that's used with reference to creation. The Lord made the
heavens and the earth. And the word cause is the word
right. Righteousness. Make me righteous. What he's talking about is justification. At all times, I need to be righteous
before God. And the only way I'll be righteous
is if he makes me righteous. That's why he's praying this
prayer. Maintain my cause. Now this glorious truth regarding
justification, what I fear, a lot of things I fear, but I fear
saying, I understand that. Let's go on something else. I
got that down. I got that doctrine down. I understand
that. I understand how, I understand justification. Now let's go on
to something else. I love the way David said, maintain
this at all times as the matter shall require. There's always
a reason for me to need to see justification by Christ. How
that Christ took my sin, put them away, gives me his perfect
righteousness. And now I am perfectly righteous
in God. You know, the matter always requires
me to see that because something's going to take me away from that.
And at all times, I need to see him maintaining my cause. Justification. I think of Paul
saying, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect.
It's God that justifies. to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly." What a glorious
truth. I never want to think, I've got
that down. Let's go on to something else. To have God maintaining my cause
and causing me to be just in his sight at all times. Solomon
was aware of the need of that. He said, let this be before you
at all times, as the matter may require. And how many matters
require this? I need to know that he has justified me for
Christ's sake. At all times, that has to be
before my mind. That I'm perfectly righteous
before God. That's the great mystery of the
gospel, isn't it? That me, a sinner, can be perfectly righteous before
God at all times. I need him to continually maintain
my cause. And that's the third time that
he asks this in this great prayer at the dedication of the temple.
Maintain my cause, make me righteous. And here's why we want this,
verse 60, that all the people of the earth may know that the
Lord is God And there is none else. Here's what we want everybody
to know. That Jehovah is God. And he has no peers. There's
nobody to compare him with. He stands alone as the God of
Gods and the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. The God of
the Bible. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ, who is God? God the Holy Spirit, the third
person of the Trinity. We want everybody to know that
He is God. And He has no peers. He has no
rivals. There's one God. There's one
Gospel. Only one. There's one faith. There's one
Lord. There's one Baptist. We want
everybody to know that God is God, don't we? We want everybody
to know that He has absolute control, that salvation's in
His hands, and that He is altogether lovely and altogether glorious.
We want everybody to know that. And that's why we want to preach
the gospel to every creature. I want everybody to believe.
I know only God's people will, but I want everybody to. We want
all the world to know that God is God, that he has no peers,
that he has no rivals, that you can't compare him with anybody
else and you can't compare our gospel with anything else. Our
gospel is the only gospel. You know, somebody, I don't know
how many times I've heard people say, you think you're the only
one that's saved. I don't think that, but I think
the gospel I preach is the only gospel. I know that. And it's
the gospel that gives God all the glory. And I love that. I
love that. I love the God who we preach.
And I want everybody to know him, don't you? We want everybody
to rejoice in free grace. We want everybody to rejoice
in justification, the justification Christ worked out. I want everybody
to know what it is to rest. To know that Christ finished
the work and there's nothing for me to do that I stand perfect
and accepted before God. We want everybody to know this
and to rejoice in this and to glory in this. And this is what
Solomon said, we want all the earth, not just Israel. We want
all the people of the earth to know that the Lord is God and
that there is none else. Verse 61, let your heart therefore
be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes
and to keep his commandments as it is this day. Now, I want
to save that for... A whole lesson on what it is
to have your heart perfect before God. But what that means is,
and as you're going to go on reading about Solomon, when he
did seem to leave, we know he didn't totally because he belonged
to the Lord, but the scripture says his heart was not perfect
before God, as was David, his father's. What is it to have
a perfect heart? Well, it has something to do
with this. looking to Christ only. That's what a perfect heart
is. It looks to Christ only. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. And this perfect heart continues
to look to Christ only. The perfect heart, when it first
believes, it looks to Christ only. Twenty years later, if
I'm still alive, it looks to Christ only. On the day of my
death, when I'm ready to take my last breath, that perfect
heart looks to Christ only. May God give us this perfect
heart. We have a lot of examples in
the scripture of men who didn't have a perfect heart. They might
have done what was right, but they didn't have a perfect heart.
Oh, may the Lord deliver us from anything other than this perfect
heart that continues in the faith. Lord, bend my heart, bend my
heart, incline my heart that it might be perfect before you,
looking to Christ only. Amen.