Timely Leadership For Troubled Days

Prayer Series By Jeff Lyle Bible Text: Preached on: 2 Chronicles 6:24-40 Sunday, March 25, 2012

Transforming Truth & Meadow Baptist 1446 Calvin Davis Circle Lawrenceville, GA 30043 Website: Online Sermons: www.transformingtruth.org www.sermonaudio.com/jefflyle

2 Chronicles chapter number six verse 24. Solomon is praying to God and he says: If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers. When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. If they sin against youfor there is no one who does not sinand you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away
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captive to a land far or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly, if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.1 Timely leadership for troubled days. You can use your sanctified imagination. I want you to picture King Solomon in the court of the temple and he is standing before an altar upon which there are the animal sacrifices. He is interceding on behalf of the nation of Israel who are beginning a period of golden years for that nation. Solomon has been granted God an endowment of wisdom like no other man was ever given. Solomon asked for that, by the way. God, make me wise. God made him wise and God made him rich and God made him powerful and God made him strong in the Spirit. As Solomon is standing there that day he is standing on a platform that he built and he has got his hands lifted up and he is praying to God on behalf of the people. He is the visionary leader. He is the man who understands what is going on and admits that the children of Israel on that day and he is asking God with all of his heart, mind, soul and strength to keep the people of Israel blessed. And as he is doing this he is also recognizing that he is praying for a bunch of people who are sinners. And do you know what sinners do? Sin. And he is anticipating that Israel, Gods people who have a propensity to sin are going to do exactly that and he is saying, When we do that, we need you to do this. So lets look at this and lets learn about ourselves this morning as, more importantly, we learn about our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I start off in verses 24 through 27 and I submit to you that Solomon was a wise realist. Solomon was no pie in the sky by and by theological professor with his head up in the clouds. He was a nitty gritty, shoe leather, down to earth believer who would not pull punches when it came to the people of God. He foresaw times of trouble at the beginning of verses 24 and 26. Listen to his words. Keep your Bible open and follow with me. If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you...2 Then he adds in verse 26. When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you...3
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2 Chronicles 6:24-40. 2 Chronicles 6:24. 3 2 Chronicles 6:26. Page 2 of 18

One of the things that Solomon had come to terms with is that although that was a glorious moment as they were dedicating the temple, the peoples nature were still of that as sinners. They were in a covenant relationship with God, but they were still sinners and in their nature and he was saying, God, when we sin against you and your people are reaping what they have sown, when we have failed you, when we have rebelled against you and when we have turned from you... And, by the way, Israel would do everything that Solomon prays about. The future is being laid out right before us. Israel did all of these things that Solomon is praying and warning against. They ended up doing all of them and part of the result was is they were beaten down often by their enemies, enemies that they had power over, enemies that they had more might than, enemies that they could have had Gods blessing to defeat. And yet because they chose sinful paths for their lives, they were experiencing defeat in the same arena where God would have ordained victory. And so he saw this coming, but he also, hallelujah, envisioned times of repentance. It would not have to remain that they were in a backslidden and sinful state. He said at the end of verse 24 and the end of verse 26: ...and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house...4 Verse 26. ...if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them...5 Solomon knew an equation that many modern believers dont know, that there is no tolerance for sin in the life of a believer. I remember being told as a very young person, I was an unbeliever, but I was a church kid and I remember being told by somebody who one would have thought should have had better understanding, I was confessing sin to another person and this individual said, Dont worry about it. Just tell God to forgive it. And my theology as a young impressionable teenager would be up until the time of my salvation that sin all you want, God has to forgive it. He said he would. And you say, Jeff, that is an awful thing for a teenager to believe. Well, let me just tell you. A lot of adults live that way. A lot of people that name the name of Jesus can easily give themselves over to sin and think nothing of it and then they pray in the same mouth. They say, Why am I am being attacked? Why am I being beaten? Why am I losing my battles? Why is God withholding blessing? What is going on?

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2 Chronicles 6:24. 2 Chronicles 6:26. Page 3 of 18

Well, let me do something this morning. Not every defeat is because of sin, but I am going to ahead. I am going to be precise this morning. I am going to talk right here. This statement is for those of you who know you have areas of your life that are not in line with Gods will. That is who I am talking to. When you know that you have stubborn strongholds in your life that are out of line with what you know to be true and right and commanded or prohibited by God and you are experiencing defeat and you are experiencing a lack of power and you are experiencing a loss of joy and you are experiencing a spiritual emptiness staleness, I want to tell you. The two are connected. Your rebellion and disobedience is directly connected to the fact that you have no power, no joy, no victory, no zeal, no wisdom and no ability to overcome. And Solomon would see this. He would see that disobedience leads to defeat. And so he is saying, God, when we get into that place we are going to plead with you. We are going to pray to you. They would be taught to pray towards the temple, pray towards Jerusalem and acknowledge God and turn from their sins. I love... I think it is fantastic theology here. Let me throw this out here. Confession is not the same as repentance. I dont believe that there can be repentance without confession, but there can certainly be confession without repentance. The Bible says that we are to confess our sin and forsake it and Christians can do that. Unbelievers cant do that. Unbelievers can stop for a while, try real hard and experience seasons and lapses of their desire to sin, but they can never overcome their sin. But believers in Jesus Christ cannot only confess itand that means to agree with God about itbut we can forsake it. We can walk away and we do that in the power of God as we turn to him believing that his presence is much more essential to our being than anything else this life could offer. So Solomon envisioned those times of repentance as they would acknowledge that God is great, that God is Lord and they would turn. He also anticipated mercy and forgiveness from God. This is great. Listen. In trouble, confessing and turning and anticipating immediate mercy and forgiveness, verse 25 and verse. 27. The psalmist says, When we do this, when the people turn, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again tot eh land that you gave them and to their fathers. And then in verse 27 he says: ...hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants.6 One of the greatest things that all of us need to remember it that God will chastise us. He will discipline us. He will correct us and I believe that the chastisement and discipline is in direct proportion to how hard you have hardened your heart. In other words, God can sometimes correct us with a word, a stinging word of conviction that we have done something wrong. He wants us to repent, but he has convicted us and we confess, repent
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2 Chronicles 6:27. Page 4 of 18

and he needs to do no further work. But sometimes when he convicts us of something we harden our heart. We justify our sin. We rationalize our attitude. We start even potentially living in an arena where we are protecting that sin and guarding that sin and giving ourselves a right to indulge in that sin. It can be anything from your attitude to your talk to you activities. But when that happens, Gods discipline will match the strength of the hardness of your heart. And I see often in Scripture that God works, the people do not repent, God works more strongly until ultimately God does what he always does with his children, he overrules. Anybody want to raise their hand and say, Jeff, I remember when God convicted me about a sin and he finally just left me alone about it? No, brothers and sisters. He is either still disciplining you for it because you havent forsaken it or that you forsook it and he has immediately forgiven you. That is the point there. Dont run from God when you have sinned. Run too God. Call on him and be confident that he will be merciful and forgive, that he hears the plaintive cries of his contrite children and if you will call on him, he is very well able to take you from your position outside of the place of blessing, represented by the land there in 2 Chronicles and put you back into the place of blessing. It has nothing to do with salvation that I am talking about. I am talking about Gods blessing on your life. We are so saturated with grace and I am just going to confess something to you. I believe in grace to the extent it makes Presbyterians nervous, amen, much less Baptists. But I believe strongly in grace, but I will never believe in grace being perpetrated as my license to indulge my sin. Grace delivers you from sin, not to sin. And so when we confess and we forgive or are forgiven, we find the place of blessing. But there is a modern thought that says it doesnt matter what you do. Just get saved and God is obligated to bless you. Let me make a clear distinction. Salvation is free, given to anyone who will repent and turn to Jesus Christ. And that is one very difficult to discern moment in time where your repentance is your faith, in essence, and vice versa. But when that happens, brothers and sisters, it is free. It is paid for by another and God grant you the greatest gift that could ever be given. He gives it to you in a moment and you did nothing to earn it. But I am going to say something about works and it is very different. The value of your earthly journey, the quality of your Christian life, the experience of walking in faith is directly tethered to your obedience, to your decisions. Cheap grace says, No, it doesnt matter what we do. God loves his children. He is just up there smiling and chuckling even though we are sinning like wild fire and living like hell and God has just got to bless us with heaven. I dont know where you got that theology, but I know where you didnt get it from. You didnt get it from the book.

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Brothers and sisters, please know this. How you live your life affects the quality of your Christian experience. And yet we have become so dull to that and so politically correct that when if we were to look at this in Solomons day and transport ourselves there we would say, Time out. Solomon, God wants me to be happy. God would never do anything to make me uncomfortable. God wouldnt ever allow any hurt into my life. God just wants me to be blessed and be pleased. Brothers and sisters, that is cheap grace and it is unbiblical. Let me speak very pin pointedly into your life. If you know you have patches, areas of sin in and rebellion, indifference and apathy in your life and you are struggling and you have lost your zeal and your joy and your power and your purpose, take the mystery out of it. Dont scratch your head and wonder why this is happening. It is happening because you are not walking in the Spirit. You are living in the flesh. And what do you need to do? Well, you dont need to leave here feeling guilty saying, That preacher just yelled and made me feel guilty. I am not coming back. No, what you need to do is what we all need to do when God convicts us. Repent. Solomon was a realist. Solomon was an interceding leader. He goes further. And, remember, well, let me explain this. He knew that God is holy and just. In order to get the real context of what is happening in the passage that I read today, you really need to read all of chapter six, all of chapter seven in order to get it all. In verse number 28 Solomon says this. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is...7 Now who is he talking to? He is talking to the people of God. he is talking about covenant people. And listen to the words that are being described. Remember, it is an agricultural society. They didnt live in a technologically advanced society. This is pre industrial revolution by a long shot. And so they lived day to day. When they prayed, Lord, give us our daily bread, they really meant, Lord, give us something to eat today. And so when he is praying this and he is using these metaphors, I guarantee you, nobody in here, unless you are a farmer woke up and said, Lord, keep the locusts and the caterpillar and the mildew and the blight and so on and so on away from me. Those are agricultural terms. Why? Because those things were a death sentence to the livelihood of Israel. A drought and a famine or a devouring horde of locusts coming in or mildew on the crops could not only undermine an individual or a family or a community, but if it was widespread enough it could bring down the entire nation. And God had said through Moses, If you obey me, I am going to bless your crops. I am going to bless your family. I am going to bless your household. I am going to bless the nation. But if you rebel
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2 Chronicles 6:28. Page 6 of 18

against me, I am going to curse your crops. I am going to curse your family. I am going to curse this nation. And what Solomon is praying here he is saying ,Lord, if there does come that time of famine and pestilence and blight and mildew and locusts upon us... You see, brothers and sisters, he knew that God was holy and just. That is something we are losing in our generation. How are we going not get that back? One of the things we are going to do this week on night one, if God is allowing us to meet here tomorrow night, which I am assuming he is, we are going to get down and we are not going to confess how worthy we are of Gods best, because we are not. I am just going to let it out this morning. Just, God, set me free to preach the truth without fear this morning. We are not worthy. I dont care what Osteen tells you. I dont care what the prosperity gospel tells you. The Bible says that we are graced and we are saved and we are recipients of mercy, that we have experienced the compassion of God. But even on the back side of that in ourselves, we are not worthy of Gods best. But we hunger for it and we want it and we know it brings him glory. So what do we do? We dont write out a rsum of all the reasons why we are worthy that he bless us. We get on our face and say, God, we want you, but we know we dont deserve you, but we beg you, we plead you, we welcome you. We want your presence. Solomon had seen that they would earn the punishment and he is saying here in just a moment, Please dont leave us that way. He also mentions the enemies being, in verse 28, besieging them in the land at their gates, plague, sickness, famine, pestilence. He is talking about the people of God. I want to bring it down. I want to scale it for you, ok? I want to generalize it. When they were talking about famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, caterpillar, enemies, plague and sickness, you can make it very broad and just say major life problems. And you will find out by reading later on in this chapter that actually it is in chapter seven that God said, I send that to afflict you. Why does God send affliction into our lives? He does it to correct our disobedience. I feel very compelled this morning, even more so than in the early service to say that whoever has ears to hear, your life problems, if you are knowingly disobedient and living outside of the realm of what you know to be true and right, your life problems are directly tied to that disobedience. There is no mystery because God scourges every son and daughter that he loves. I can make it so plain for you. If you have got two children in the home and one of them is a rebel for six months and one of them is a faithful, precious, doting child, do you treat them exactly the same all the time? If you do, you are a lousy parent. You dont. Do you know why? Because you want to correct the behavior. You love them. You love them both. You want to correct the behavior. So what do you do? At times you inflict

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discipline. At other times you withhold blessing. But you treat this other child according to the good ways. Now I know that that is not politically correct because we live in a culture that rewards disobedience and prohibits accomplishment and achievement. We live in a culture where if you come in last place you still get a first place trophy so that you dont feel bad. Do you know how stupid that is? That is just so stupid, teaching kids well, why try, taking their motivation away, taking their desire for excellence away. Why? Because there is no reward. God doesn't give a first place trophy to a last place finisher. And he is saying here is, What you get here when you dont play according to my rules is you get the penalty of the infraction. So he knew that also in verse 29 that man is fragile and dependent. Dont read mercilessness. I know I am preaching this strongly. My preaching it strongly is because I am limited. It doesn't take away from Gods merciful compassion to gracious forgiving nature. And so in verse 29 he knew that man is fragile and dependent when he said: ...whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house.8 Do you see what he is saying? He is saying, God, yes, we are rebellious at times. Yes, Lord, we are going to sin. I foresee it. But, God, I know that because we are covenant people we will not want to live that way and we will turn to you. And, Lord... I love what he says there. It is so... I think it is so applicable for this coming week. He speaks about the individuals prayer. He says, Whatever man prays, and then he speaks about corporate prayer. He says, Or all of Israel. You say, Jeff, which one is valid? Individual prayer or corporate prayer? Yes. They are both valid. Individual prayer is essential for your life. And, brothers and sisters, you ought to bring your troubles to the Lord even if you caused them. A lot of us take the high road of nobility and say, I will not ask God to clean up this message because it is a mess of my own making. Man, that is foolish. The ones I want him to clean up the most are the ones that I made, amen? But then he adds this issue of all the people of Israel come together. He foresaw a time where Gods people would come together collectively and call out on the name of the Lord. Do I believe that he can hear you wherever you are during this coming week? Of course I do. But I am asking you: Do you believe that there will be a different dynamic when we all come together and humble ourselves and many voices become one to him? And I hope
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2 Chronicles 6:29. Page 8 of 18

you will say with me, of course we believe that. Then come this week because God... man, we are fragile, we are dependent and we must lift our hands to him in need. He knew that God is gracious and forgiving. Verse 30. When we repent, Lord, when we have suffered your affliction... ...then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind.9 Oh, a lot of different ways I could go with that, but I am going to be disciplined this morning. I am going to give you three words out of verse 30. This is the prayer. Hear, forgive and render. We cry, God, we need you to hear. We ask for pardon, Lord. We need you to forgive. And, God, we need you to fix this and we know you will render, that you will work according to each of us and the hearts that we have. And I love what Solomon says. I mean, this is good New Testament theology centuries before the New Testament work was done. He says, You, you only know the hearts of the children of mankind. Just real quick rabbit trail, just cant resist this one right here. Please remember with me that though you can discern somebodys actions... you can discern actions, they are visible. They are measurable. You can say these actions are either consistent with Scripture or they are not consistent with Scripture. You can measure and discern their actions, but you can never discern somebodys heart, never. Stop being clever. Stop saying, Well, Jeff, God has given me the gift of discernment. He has not given you such a gift that you have become omniscient. You dont see into somebodys soul. You are not smart enough. You dont have enough information. God has given boldness this morning. I am talking to you judgmental, gossiping, hypocritical people. You say, In this church? Probably. You dont know anybodys heart. As a matter of fact Jeremiah wrote you dont even know yours. He said your own heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? And we should humbly say, I cant know mine. But the beautiful thing is when you start getting the mind of Christ, you can know your heart. God knows our hearts and I think that is really what Solomon was saying. He was saying, Lord, read our hearts, give us what we need. By the way, put that in your prayer life. Have you ever paused long enough to say, Hmm, it is occurring to me maybe I have no clue what I should be praying for myself. Have you ever hit that? I have hit that wall many times. I am praying this and this and this and this and then all of the sudden just in a moment of quietness I think to myself, maybe I am way off track here and I just say, God, show me what I should be praying. I mean, I have had my prayer life transformed many times and found out the thing I just knew was Gods will was never Gods will and then in praying and humbling and God
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2 Chronicles 6:30. Page 9 of 18

saying, No, no, no, no, and me finally getting it through to me, maybe this isnt what he wants and then coming back and saying, Lord, I just dont know, but I believe you can get it through to me. Real quick gut check here. How many of you, raise your hand, how many of you really, really want to know Gods will for your life? Will you raise your hand? That is kind of a loaded question, right? How many of you are seeking it? Because that is what I was talking about last week and I said, Quit wishing in the name of Jesus. Start praying in the name of Jesus. Well, I wish I knew Gods will. Well, go find it. He is not playing peek-a-boo with you. He is not playing hide and go seek in the, you know, the shadowing corridors of heaven. He came to earth and lived and died and rose again so you would know his will, because being in his will is the only thing that glorifies him. And Solomon is saying, God, you know our hearts. Hear and forgive and act. He also, verse 31, he knew that man can respond and be restored. And this is the great news. Up to this point is a little suffocating. I get it. I know. I had to study this all week and it was suffocating and I know that up to this point in the message it is a little challenging. But in verse 31 he says that when they repent and when they are made to know their own heart and they are forgiven he says: ...that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.10 Now listen. Something you have got to understand about the covenants of the Old Testament. There is a lot of confusion about it. I take a position of a literal hermeneutic. I reads my Bible and I look at it and I believe that there were covenants to Abraham, therefore, covenants to Israel. I dont believe, necessarily that these... I dont believe at all that these covenants have been replaced for Israel. I believe that God has made some specific promises to Israel and Israel has not yet gained all of those promises. And a lot of it focuses on the land. What land? The land that they are fighting over right now. All of the Middle East, listen, brothers and sisters. We have got... Help me, Lord. I dont want to run too far down this, but when you want to know what is going on in the sense of things to come and prophecy, keep one eye on what is going on in the Middle East. And you say, Jeff, tell us politically speaking where do you land? Are you pro Arab? Are you pro Israeli? Well, it is not a political issue for me. It is a biblical issue. The land belongs to the Jews. It is their land. Now that doesn't mean that they shouldnt have compassion on the Arabs that are in that land. I believe there is room to grow on both sides, but I am going to tell you something. No matter what our president or our congress or people overseas say, it doesnt matter what the militant Islamic groups say. God has spoken on the issue and the land will belong to the Jews. And so the land is representative of the place of blessing in
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2 Chronicles 6:30. Page 10 of 18

our life. And you want to know what that land is? How do we apply what we learn about the land? Well, listen. There is a literal interpretation, but I also believe there to be a practical application because that land is to have been the place where God would bless Israel. There is a place in your life called reverent, obedient worship that God will bless. And when you leave the boundaries of that you are on your own when it comes to blessing. He says to them, he says to God, We want to fear you and walk in your ways. And he attributes that as a result of being forgiven. And verse number 30 he is pleading for forgiveness. In verse number 31 he is saying, When that forgiveness comes, we will fear you. True forgiveness always breeds obedience. I tell you. I struggle. I grieve. I have got a thought, my man in my mind right now that I am thinking of. When God goes to great lengths to restore what appears to be a wayward Christian who is struggling, who is not thinking right, who has gotten off into some sin or the world and they say they belong to Jesus Christ and so God is sending people to restore that one and bring about a sense of righteousness and truth and forgiveness and that one just further and further distances himself from the people of God and from his church family and then he goes and hides in another church where nobody knows him and he thinks all is well because the pressure is off. Do you know what I think? I think I hope the guy is even saved. Why? Brothers and sisters, forgiveness breeds obedience. And we cannot live perpetually disobedient lives and still have a legitimate claim to being a child of God. Now, again, I cant judge a heart. I didnt say I said he was condemned, because I dont know. But I tell you what I grieve over and people like him. He says, We want to fear you, Lord and we want to walk all the days that we live in that place of blessing and we want to walk in obedience and fear and reverence. I love verses 32 and 33. Solomon was a compassionate witness. This is really astounding. And I dont have a lot of time to milk it this morning. But Solomon was a Jewish king staying in a Jewish temple praying over a Jewish people about to watch the God of the Jews ignite Jewish sacrifices on an altar. Everything was Hebrew. And there was great hostility between the Jews and all pagan Gentile nations at that time. Christ came and made the two one, but there was intense animosity and warfare between the Jews and the pagans that lived around them. And yet Solomon does something incredible here, something that we need to remember. He remembered those in end. Verse 32 at the beginning. He said after praying for Gods own people Israel, he says: Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel...11 Ok, Solomon is just now switching gears and he is praying for God to work in an arena of blessing to people who were not yet people of the covenant. He calls them strangers and foreigners. Now that doesnt mean anything to you because you are a Great Commission Christian. You know that we are here to bring those who arent the people of God to an
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2 Chronicles 6:32. Page 11 of 18

opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and of them to become the people of God by faith. So you are thinking, yeah, big deal. He is praying for people. They didnt do that. Most of the Hebrews back in that day would have no appetite for Gentiles coming in and being among them. As a matter of fact, there were only... there were limitations that Gentiles could even go to physically in Solomons temple a little bit later on down the road. There is the court of the Gentiles. In other words, yeah, we will let you in, but you are kind of... Solomon does something astounding. He starts praying for those on the outside. You know, this week when we gather together we are going to have two days where we are praying for our community, because I thank God what we do in global missions. I thank God. I am going to tell you. To God be all the glory, but, Meadow, you do a fantastic job at raising money for missions and participating in short term missions projects. That is the grace of God that is historically breathed in this church. But I am also going to acknowledge, yes. We need to balance that out with reaching our own Jerusalem. We need to be reaching people in the neighborhoods right around here. We need to be placing a greater emphasis on outreach in our area. The television ministry is great, but that is not really evangelism. That is not your evangelism. It goes out on the airwaves and it does, it brings a lot of people in. About 90 percent of the people that visit this church for the first time come through the TV ministry. But I am not talking about getting people to come to church. I am talking about spiritual obstetrics where we are birthing babies into the family of God, when we are prepared to receive the ones that God has prepared to birth. And Solomon the King in a highly Jewish setting is building a bridge and not building a wall. It is very important to the future of this assembly that we are bridge builders to people that dont look like us, dont have our background, have never had opportunity to have the spiritual pedigree that you have. They may not be educated like you are. They may not be beautiful like you are. They may not be impressive like you are. And I am asking God. God, give us the ones that nobody wants. And equally so, that is not dismissive of those that are prim and proper and beautiful and wealthy, but lost. And we want them all. Solomon took time to pray for them and I am going to encourage you to do the same. Pray, join your pastor, your pastors wife in praying that you would foster relationships that serve as a gospel bridge to other peoples lives. I have got to finish. He remembered that God is actively drawing. Verse 32. He says: Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house.12
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Ibid. Page 12 of 18

Now very quickly, let me give you the context. This is pre internet. This is pre television ministry. This is pre email. This is pre church growth techniques. The only way that people in a far and distant country would learn about the God of Israel is if a person who knew the God of Israel talked to them about the God of Israel. And some people would be so actively drawn by God that they would say, I have heard so much about this God. In my land there are many gods, but these many gods dont satisfy me. Maybe this great God of the Jews will satisfy me. I will go to that temple. And I love this. This is important to me. Listen. I get it and I teach it and I believe it. You are not in the house of God. You are not. You are the house of God if you are a Christian. Having said that, however, that does not mean that a local church and a local building to gather is an insignificant thing. When people, most people who are drawn to the Lord and God is working in their hearts and they want to know something more in detail about God, about Jesus Christ, about forgiveness, about heaven, about hell, most of them even in this day will likely choose a church to visit. What will they find at your church when they come? You say, Well, Jeff, somebody will greet them. Will that somebody be you? Somebody will love on them. Will that somebody be you? Somebody will treat them with compassion and speak to them truth and love. Will that somebody be you or do we let the Sunday school teacher do it or the pastor or the pastoral staff or the deacons? No, brothers and sisters. If God is drawing people and bringing them here, I always ask the question: Why? Why here? Why us? Why now? I met some of you for the first time this morning. You are first time guests. And I want you to know. In the midst of our niceties, I am listening to you. When we are talking out in the lobby or talking here, I am listening for some pin pointed reason that God might show me and says, Serve this person in this area and help them. Well, brothers and sisters, if we are not careful we will just come in and we will get our seat and we will get our groove on with the music and we will endure a 55 minute message and then we will leave and we dont mind if anybody gets saved, but pray for it? Hurt for it? Sacrifice for it? Long for it? Hey, Jeff, it is a pretty day. The lake is calling my name. Not Solomon. He said, God, when you send them to us, answer their prayers like you have answered ours. Now I am going to have to get down to the last point, verses 34 through 40. Solomon was a discerning forecaster. He saw things, brothers and sisters. That is why I call this kindly leadership. God grant every leader discerning wisdom about the times I which we live. He anticipated conflicts. It sounds like we are backing up. We are not. It was just so real to him, he prays it again. Look at verse 34 and 35.
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He is praying to God still and he says: If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them...13 Stop right there. Not every difficulty and battle that we face is a result of our sin. That is why I was very specific earlier saying, If you know you have areas of disobedience in your life... Because there are some that are going to battle for being obedient. Notice what was said there. Solomon said, Lord, when you send us into the battle... Think of the modern theology of our day. This is why I hate the shallow prosperity gospel nonsense, because it says God is only going to send you to a place that is easy, blessed, happy, comfortable, fragrant, cushioned and wonderful and they will give you gift cards to get there. Solomon the wisest, the second wisest man that ever lived on planet earth said, God, when you send me into the midst of trouble... Why? Because, brothers and sisters, lets remind each other of something. I know it is a clich. I am going to use it. It is not a picnic ground. It is not a campground. It is not a playground. It is a battleground. You are in an army. That is why he says, Put on your armor every day. That is why he says, Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. That is why he says, No man that warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this life, meaning that we are not battling to construct our little destined to die kingdoms down here for ourselves, because we abandoned our own kingdom. God help me. We abandoned our own kingdom when we came to Jesus. And too many Christians have given lip service to abandoning their kingdom and while they are singing his praises, they are over here trying to build that kingdom back up with their one hand. We are soldiers sent to battle and sometimes, listen. I want to encourage some of you that are fighting and hurting and discouraged and wondering what is going on and you have checked your heart and you are not a rebel and you are not playing games, but you are committed to Christ and his gospel and yet you are struggling in the midst of it. I want to tell you. God is letting you be in a battle and you are going to win it. You are going to win it for the glory of Jesus because you are a solider following the captain of the battle and you will not be defeated. So Solomon anticipated the conflict and he asked God at the end of the verse 35, he says, Lord when we are out there and we are in over our head, we are going to turn to this place.

13

2 Chronicles 6:34. Page 14 of 18

Remember, it was a central, localized place. And thank God we dont have to do that. you dont have to run down to 1446 Calvin Davis Circle to get your prayer heard, amen? You pray wherever you are. But they were here taught to pray towards Jerusalem, pray towards the temple. But I love what Solomon said at the end of verse 35. He says, When we do that, maintain our cause, God. Their cause when they are in the battle that he ordained is also his cause. He never leaves you alone in your battle, never. I think of King David, little baby brother. All of his brothers and the rest of the army is going to war with the Philistines. And King David is back, you know, tending daddys sheep and daddy says, David, I have got an errand for you to run. I want you to take this food up there to your brothers and the other soldiers. David says, Amen. He gets all the food together and runs up to the battle. As he gets there he sees his big brothers and all the soldiers kind of sticking their hand in their pockets and shuffling their feet and looking all forlorn and everything and David is like, Hey, I came up here to see who is... Well, I have got to watch myself. ...who is losing the battle. I came up here to see who is... how... God help me. I am starting to revert, who is not succeeding against the armies of Israel. That is what I have come to see. And so he gets to the battle and what he sees is all these trembling soldiers and he looks down in the valley and there is this titan of a man named Goliath down there and Goliath is spewing off at the mouth about Israels God. He is not only talking about the soldiers, he is mocking their God. And King David puts down all the food and he says, Anybody going to step up and go out there and tear this uncircumcised Philistine, tear his head off? And they start explaining to him, oh, well, David, you are just running your mouth. You are a little errand boy. Get back to taking care of the sheep. And David looks at all of these soldiers and he just asks one question. He goes, Is there not a cause? You have got this mouthy, uncircumcised Philistine mocking our God, taunting us and you are up here trembling and crying and afraid and not doing what God has commanded you to do. He says, Suit me up. I will go out there. And, of course, you know the story. He did go out there. Whooped up on them, too, didnt he?

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There is a cause for you, brother. Sister, there is a cause for you. There is a reason. There is a purpose in your battle. God is equipping you. He has equipped you. He wants to do something right now in the midst of this that he is also preparing you for yet an even greater battle in the future and the thing is this. Keep making sure he gets the glory in your victory. Keep ensuring he gets he glory. You never quit. Do we get weary? We get weary in well doing, never get weary of well doing. And so you keep on fighting. Verses 36 and 37. He then says: If they sin against youfor there is no one who does not sinand you are angry with them and give them to an enemy.14 Now here is the other side of the battle. Some of you are in a battle and losing because you are in Gods will. Some of you are in a battle and losing because you are out of Gods will. You say, Jeff, which one am I? Well, you really ought to already know. You already know. I cant be the discerner of that, but I am going to tell you. There is nothing like a battle that will motivate you to check your heart. Because when I am in a battle the first thing I assume is I have probably done something wrong. And sometimes I have. And I have to repent and I have to make things right. But I dont ever want my stubbornness and my sin to lead me to be described as being given to my enemy. Would God do that to one of his own children? Would God turn you over to the enemy? Let me just say this very carefully. Yes, he will. He absolutely... he did it to a righteous man named Job so that Jobs faith would be purified. How much more would he be willing to do it to a person living with unrighteousness in order that their faith might be purified? It is not because he is big old bad mean, angry God who just doesnt care about you. It is because he has one purpose for your earthly pilgrimage and that is to form his Son in you. And there is nothing like turning up the heat of the battle that will purge the impurities out of you and out of me. So I am just going to get down to the very last point. You all are patient and I want to make sure we give an invitation this morning. Solomon was confident in Gods grace, verse 39 and 40. He had established a cycle of problems, prayer, repentance, deliverance. And then in verse number 39 going into verse 40 he says, When we repent, when we plead with you, when we pray to you: ...hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.15

14 15

2 Chronicles 6:36. 2 Chronicles 6:39. Page 16 of 18

And that was it. Just stop there and I am going to finish the rest of the verse and then we are going to be done. Look at the boldness. And this is Old Testament. They dont have half the theology that you have. They didnt have half the assurance that you have. They didnt have half the enlightenment that you have. But Solomon through it all, through all of the discipline, all of the chastisement, through God being willing to send his kids into something difficult to purify their faith, Solomon still retains his confidence in Gods grace and mercy and he says this. He says, Lord, when we repent, I know you will forgive us. I am going to give you some permission right here this morning to some of you who share a struggle with me. I struggle with guilt. The Bible says, Confess your faults one to another. Here is a confessing of my fault. I struggle with illegitimate guilt. It affects some relationships. It affects some decisions. It can breed the fear of man because you will feel guilty if everybody doesnt love you. And you will start trying to please people and make sure everybody loves you because you are going to feel guilty if somebody doesnt love you. I have wrestled with that my whole Christian life. Some of you need to give yourself permission, I am going to tell you, you have it biblically, to not live under false guilt, to refuse and refute anything that condemns or accuses you whether it be your own stinking flesh trying to remind you of all your failures, whether it be the enemy, the devil. And I dont know how he does it, but believe me, he is called the accuser for a reason. And he will accuse you. And, unfortunately there is going not be people in your churches, in your families, in your schools at your workplace that will always be eager to remind you of what you did wrong. I am going to go ahead and permit you to do something. If it is forgiven by God, let it go. Flip the switch in your heart and mind and let it go. You do not help pay for your sin by dragging on an extra 30 years feeling sorry for it. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. That means in order for sin to be paid for somebody has got to die for it. So hanging your head and being all pouty and calling yourself a worm and a sinner doesn't pay for your sin. If you are going to pay for it on your own, you have got to die forever for it. And you cant do that, because Christ has already paid that penalty for you. So you are free. You cant be productive and proactive and fruitful living in guilt. He says, Lord, forgive us. And God will. God will forgive anybody in this place immediately today if you place your faith in Jesus Christ. I am talking to sinners and or unsaved sinners and saved sinners alike. There is basis for your forgiveness. It is paid for. And then he adds this as he closes. Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.16 That was a beautiful way for Solomon to say, Amen and amen. He said, God, you have heard my prayer. You have heard our commitment. You have heard our cries and this is how I am going to close the service.
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2 Chronicles 6:40. Page 17 of 18

Let me read chapter seven verse one, excuse me, verse one, two and three. Listen to what your Bible says. As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORDs house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.17 What happened after the prayerful repentant leadership and offering up to the Lord and that moment of silence where he said his amen? God says, I acknowledge your prayer. I accept your sacrifice. Here I am. I give myself to you. And the glory of God filled that temple, knocked the people out. They couldnt even do their service because God had filled the place. You say, Jeff, what do you want in the prayer meetings next week? I will take a little bit of that, amen. I want something great for this assembly. I dont want to have to wonder if God is here. I dont want to have beg God to bless us. I dont want to have to scratch my head and wonder if he shows up. I want it to be undeniable, unmistakable, not for our glory, but so people will know that God is alive and well in our generation and he comes to Meadow on Sundays. Amen? Glory to God. Lets stand to our feet.

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2 Chronicles 7:1-3. Page 18 of 18

2 Chronicles 6:24-40

Timely Leadership For Troubled Days

preached Sunday AM 3/25/12 at MBC

I. Solomon Was A Wise Realist (24-27) A. He foresaw times of trouble (24a, 26a) - If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you...When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you... B. He envisioned times of repentance (24b, 26b) - ...and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with You in this house...if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them... C. He anticipated mercy and forgiveness (25, 27) - Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers...Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants...

II. Solomon Was An Interceding Leader (28-31) A. He knew that God is holy & just (28) - If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is... B. He knew that man is fragile & dependent (29) - Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house... C. He knew that God is gracious & forgiving (30) - Then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind. D. He knew that man can respond & be restored (31) - ...that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

III. Solomon Was A Compassionate Witness (32-33) A. He remembered those in need (32a) - Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel... B. He remembered that God is actively drawing (32b) - ... comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house... C. He remembered that God will be gracious (33) - Hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you...

IV. Solomon Was A Discerning Forecaster (34-40) A. He anticipated conflicts (34 - 35) - If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. B. He foretold failure (36 - 37a) - If they sin against you - for there is no one who does not sin - and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near... C. He predicted repentance (37b-38) - ...yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly', if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land... D. He was confident in Gods grace (39-40) - Then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.