Take your Bibles, would you? Go with me, if you would, to the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 6. 2 Chronicles, chapter 6. This is an amazing prayer of dedication for Solomon's temple. And I believe that there is a spiritual truth in this passage. Well, I believe there's seven of them that I want to give you tonight. I'm going to have to preach real fast, but I want to give you seven thoughts about how the Old Testament Solomon's Temple compares to the local New Testament church today. Okay? Now many of you are familiar, before we get into the reading, many of you are familiar that there was a temple, rather a tent tabernacle, where God met with his people and they would offer sacrifice, right? And they would slay the lamb, they would catch the blood, they would put it on the mercy seat. the brazen altar and the labor and all the incense and all the things that went with it. But what was it for? It was for an atonement for the sins of the people. And they did this in Solomon's temple also. Thousands, millions really, sacrifices over the years were performed to be an atonement, which is a covering for the sins of the people. The Lord Jesus came and suffered and bled and died and took our sin upon Himself. Amen. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And so Jesus did away with the atonement, which was a covering. And the Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. What does it do? It cleanseth us from all sin. We don't have to tolerate sin in our lives. I don't think there's anybody here that's perfect, but some of you wives, of course, are closer than your husbands would be to perfection. But that's something we work on, amen, fellas? But we have that access through the blood of the Lamb right to the throne of God, and our sins can be cleansed and washed away. That's a beautiful thing. Now Solomon, Through David, David began the work of building the temple, getting the materials together. He didn't build it. But Solomon had a 40-year span of no war. And in that time, they built this beautiful, magnificent temple. and he prays a prayer in chapter 6 beginning in verse 1. Let me just emphasize that in chapter 1 Solomon was asked what he wanted from God and he said I want wisdom to know how to go in and out before the people. In chapter 2 Solomon determined to build the house of God. In chapter 3 the temple is being built And then in chapter 6 we find the dedication of that temple. And he gives a sermon. I won't read that. You can do that later, verses 1 through 11. But in chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles, the Bible says in verse 12, And he stood before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. For Solomon had made a brazen scaffolding of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. And upon it he stood and knelt down, upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven. Here's his prayer beginning in verse 14. O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the heaven or in the earth, which keepeth covenant and showest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart. thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father, that which thou hast promised him, and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father, that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail 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, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. Isn't that beautiful? God is great, folks. How much less this house which I have built. Have respect, therefore, to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication. O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee, that thine eyes may be opened upon this house, day and night, upon, notice the word, the place. whereof thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy name there to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth, notice, toward this place. Hearken therefore unto the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place, notice, this place. Hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, and when thou hearest, what does he say? He asks for forgiveness. Oh, isn't it wonderful that you and I have access directly to God through the blood of Jesus Christ? That's what's so beautiful about prayer. But Solomon is praying something specific. There are seven specific things that he prays about in reference to this place. Now, he was thinking of the tent tabernacle, or rather, Solomon's temple, the beautiful temple. But don't you think that What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of God? You're not your own, you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Well, how do we do that? We ask God for guidance and direction. The local New Testament church was established to help us accomplish all that God intended for us. If you want to jump over to 1 Timothy, would you turn over to 1 Timothy for just a moment? To chapter 3, verse 15. 1 Timothy 3.15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of Truth. Isn't that what the local New Testament church is and is supposed to be? Now, if you go over to 2 Timothy quickly with me to chapter 3, verse 15, you'll notice that here again it says, Paul is speaking to Timothy, he says, and that from a child thou hast known the what? The holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Look at the next verse. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Look at verse 17. That the man of God may be what? What? Perfect? Oh, really? Is it possible that we, I believe that we are perfected in Christ the moment we get saved. I believe that. Now, do we always live a perfect life? Not always. But I believe we can be more perfect than we are sometimes. Wouldn't you agree? And notice what it says here, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good, what? Works. Well, where does he do those good works? in his personal life, in his public life. Amen. And through the ministry of this place, the local New Testament church. Now let me give you seven things, and I want you to write them down. I hope you'll take notes. That's a good thing to do every time you have a service. It'll help you to remember some things. And the Lord just laid this on my heart as I was reading through this, and I was like, wow, there's a message for the local New Testament church. Number one, I'm gonna call it the local church A place, number one, to get right with God. Look with me at verse 22. If a man sin against his, what? His neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this, what? In this house. Notice verse 23. Then hear thou from heaven, and do What he's saying here is that this is a place He's saying to God, I want you, when we offend our neighbor, when we do wrong, when we sin against God, would you hear from heaven? And would you, notice what he says there in verse 23, and judge thy servant and recompense notice his ways upon his own head and by justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness what he's saying is is if if if we are willing to Ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins and to get right with God. How many of you have had to get right with God in your life? Certainly you have. And the local church is a place not only where you can get right with God, but listen to this, you can stay right with God. Amen. Hey, listen, you're going to be a better Christian by being faithful to this place. It'll make a difference. It'll help you. I know sometimes it's a bit trialsome or difficult to get to church always, but I'll tell you what, I don't know how many times I didn't really want to go. Of course, I was the pastor. That's a problem. Amen. I didn't really want to go, but, you know, they were expecting me to show up. Amen. And so I showed up. But you know what? When I left, I was like, man, did I am I glad I went. I've never experienced that. Certainly you have. You see, it's a place to stay right with God and it's a place to get right with God. Number two, the second thing we see is a place to receive provision, a place to receive provision. You'll notice with me in verse 25, I'm sorry, verse 26, it says, when the heavens is shut up and there is no rain, Because they have sinned against thee, yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them, notice verse 27, then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk, and send what? Rain. upon thy land, which thou hast given unto this people for an inheritance. Did you know that this place is a place of provision? Now, I live in Texas. And how many have lived in Texas? OK, a couple of you. So you understand that the ground opens up when it gets real dry, and there's no rain for, like, ever. And I mean, you can look down and almost see Chinese looking up at you. I mean, it's ridiculous. the cracks are about this far from the curb if you go too many months without any rain. And what I'm saying is when you don't have spiritual rain, showers of blessing in your life, and you get a little crooked with God, and you're not standing on the promises, maybe you're sitting on the premises, but you're not standing on the promises, and you become dried up spiritually. There's nothing worse than a dried up Christian who has no joy, and no thrill, and no abundance in their life. So he's saying, would you please forgive us when we get like that? And then would you pour out a rain upon us? Would you give us some provision? We need a refreshing. I'm not kidding. In Texas, there were times a few years ago when they were selling horses for a dollar a piece, just because they couldn't afford to give them water. It was so bad in Texas. And I wanna tell you something, a lot of people were praying. And let me tell you something, when the rain came down, I mean, the people went out and lifted up their hands and they were like, thank you, Lord. I want to tell you, you know what it means to be provided for by God. You know what it means to get prayers answered. You know what it means to be refreshed and encouraged and strengthened. Listen, how can you help anybody else unless God refreshes you? And that's so important, the place of provision. Number three, I want you to notice a place to find shelter. Look with me if you would there in verse 28. a place to find shelter. Look at verse 28, if there be a dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locusts or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the city of their land, whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be. Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know their own sore and their own grief, and shall spread forth their hands in this house? Look at verse 30. Notice what it says here. Notice this phrase right here. the hearts of the children of men, that they may fear thee to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. What he's saying is you've got to look at this place as being a place of shelter. A place of shelter from the storms of life. You'll notice there's pestilence. There's dearth in the land. There's blastings and mildew and caterpillars and locusts. You know, they say that locusts can come into an area that is totally green and completely wipe it right out to where it's barren. There's no life there. What I'm saying is, there are things that can take you away from God. and can take the joy and the strength and the power that you once had. It doesn't mean you're not going to church anymore. It's just you're not living in the abundancy of the Christian life. You're just, as we call them, hanging in there. I don't want to just hang in there. Amen? I want to have the joy of the Lord. I want to have a stride in my step. I want to be able to see God use me, and I know you would want to see God use you. in any way that he can. But you must get sheltered. I believe that the church is a shelter. It's a place to get away from the storms of life and the difficulties and the trials that come. Hey, the world will beat you up if they can. They'll try to drain you. That's why we need to be fortified. We need to be strengthened. We need to be encouraged. We need to have courage. We need to ask God to give us the victory. You know, one of the great truths that Paul learned in his sickness, he said, when I am weak, then am I strong. In your weakness, you learn the strength of God. And it's wonderful to know that a trial can come your way and it doesn't throw you. In fact, it says to you, it's time to pray. It's time to trust the Lord in this trouble. It's time to lean upon Him. Number four, how are you doing? Good? Notice the place for the lost to find salvation. A place for the lost to find salvation. Look at verse 32. Moreover concerning the what? What's it say? The stranger, the stranger, which is not of thy people, Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great namesake and thy mighty hand and thy stretched out arm. If they come and pray in this place, or in this house, look at verse 33, then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all the people of the earth, notice that phrase, that all the people of the earth may know. thy name and fear thee as doth this people Israel and may know that this people which I have built is called by thy name. I call this one the place for the lost to find salvation. I want to ask a question. How do lost people find salvation? Rarely do people come into a church and get saved. Now they do. There'll be people that'll see your sign, come in here and get saved. Amen. Praise the Lord for it. But most of the people have to see something to want to draw them to this place. And he gives the answer to us right here in the first part of that verse. Look with me there in verse 33. It says, when a stranger, notice there, verse 32, it says, when they come from a far country, notice what it says, for thy namesake. Apparently somebody that was a stranger heard about the Lord. okay notice what they did they came from a strange place and thy mighty hand so they heard about god and his power then they heard that he had a stretched out arm even god's hand does not shorten that he cannot save neither is he or heavy that he cannot hear amen and so he's saying that if you will live the christian life the way you want to live it If you will be the very best example you can possibly be, you know what's going to happen? People are going to be drawn to you. And like Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. So what he's doing is he's bringing strangers in. And it's thrilling when a person comes in that's a total stranger that you've never met. Maybe from a far country. But they heard about the God in America. And they understood that there were people that really knew God. And their lives demonstrated God. And they said, I want what you've got. Did you know the Christian life has to be put on demonstration before people could even want what you've got? It's sad when you see so many Christians that don't ever share their faith. You are missing out on miracles. When you share your faith, you are going to see God honor those miracles through your life. And that's what it means to be used of God, a vessel unto honor. Number five, the church is also a place to rally the saints together. Verse 34, if thy people go out to war against their enemy, by the way, how many of you believe we have enemies? That's for sure. You take a stand for Jesus Christ and you will have enemies. Notice he said, there's going to be enemies by the way, that thou shalt send them and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name. Then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication. And what does he do? He says, maintain their cause. You gotta underline that little phrase right there, maintain their cause. Remember David when he went out against Goliath? He told Israel, is there not a what? A cause. And then he slew the giant. Now folks, we're in a battle. We are in a battle. We have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And every one of them are gonna try to stop us. Now the devil doesn't bother most Christians, because the world and the flesh take care of everything. But if you can come to that place in your life where the power of the Holy Spirit gives you victory over worldliness and gives you victory over your own flesh, then you're going to really have an attack by the devil. And that's what happened with Israel. They'd go out and they had to fight battles. These battles were difficult. But he said, when you're out there in the battle and you're getting beaten, you turn toward this place. You pray toward Jerusalem. And you beg God for help. And he said, you know what's going to happen? God will maintain our cause. The First Day Baptist Church is God's cause. It's God's plan for this entire area. Amen. I don't think we have too many fundamental Bible-believing churches. At least that are doing it right. It seems like they're getting fewer and fewer. I can't believe how many churches are without pastors. I have this on my website and I'm getting calls almost on a weekly basis, without question, churches looking for pastors. Churches getting ready to close. I mean, all kinds of things. 46 churches in America close every week. And thank the Lord there are some like this that are opening to make up that difference, but we're not meeting, we're not starting more churches than are closing. There's an epidemic in Reading, Pennsylvania. I don't know whether you read it in the paper or not, but the old churches there, they can't afford, they're so small churches now they can't even afford to take care of their buildings. In fact, they're inviting other churches to come and use their buildings so they can get enough rent to take care of the needs because the people don't tithe, there's no soul winning program. and they're not doing God's work God's way. God does not have to defend a church that's not doing God's work, God's way. In fact, the Bible says, makes it very clear, Jesus said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. What church? The church that is after God's own heart. And that's the church we want to be. Amen. So the preacher rallies the troops, rallies the saints together. We're going to war this week. We're going out to reach this world for the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and join us. Amen. It's exciting. I love it. I like to talk to people that are looking at me a little funny like, what in the world are you doing? And you know, you've got a message. You've got to realize most people in their lifetime will never hear a clear presentation of the gospel of Christ. And I'll tell you, there are some people, they're ready to get saved. We were visiting down in Dover back in July and we went to a door and the lady almost started crying and she said, she goes, my sister-in-law just passed away. They closed down the church and we don't even have a church to go to. And we told her about the church. She goes, would you, would your pastor or somebody in the church be willing to come and do a Bible study in our home? I thought, you know, there are people that are hungry. There are people that are hurting. There are people that need a refreshing touch from God every Sunday morning, Sunday school, morning worship, Sunday night, Wednesday night. They need that. And listen, it's not going to happen unless the troops are rallied. And I use the term here, the saints are rallied, a place where they gather together to strategize and then go forth with the message of Jesus Christ. Amen? I hope you're a part of that. And don't ever get discouraged just because somebody may turn you down or tell you you're not supposed to be doing that, or I'm calling the police, whatever, don't worry about it. I mean, you know, you can go out and take drugs and do all kinds of things, nobody will even bother you. But you give the gospel out, somebody might get mad about it. But, you know, old B.R. Lakin, the old evangelist said, as long as they're kicking you in the rear, you know, you still got the lead. Amen. You'll figure that out in a few minutes. Amen. Okay, number six, I gotta hurry, I got two more. Number six, the place to restore backsliders. Oh, this is interesting. Look with me in verse 36. If they sin against thee, for there is no man which sinneth not, and thou be angry with them, and deliver them before their enemies, and they carry them away captive into the land far away or near. Yet if they bethink themselves in the land, whether they are carried away captive, and they turn, and they pray unto thee, in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly. If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul into the land of their captivity, whether they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name. Then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication." Oh this is such an amazing passage. Notice it says, excuse me, maintain their cause and forgive thy people. which have sinned against thee. I want to say to you that this is a place to restore backsliders. Now let's illustrate it. Suppose somebody gets away from the Lord and let's say, boy, you know, I'm tired of going to church. Every time I go to church the preacher steps on my toes and I'm not willing to change and I want to do my own thing. And so he goes out into the world, okay. And he gets away from God. Maybe he got baptized a member of the church. Who knows? But he became a backslider. He went out. And he gets into captivity. The Bible says that a man that sins against God is going to become captive. Some are captive to drugs. Some are captive to you name it. I don't have time to get into all of it. But there are many things that can cause a person to become captive. You see, Christ sets us free. And now Christians want to go back into the world. Hey, Israel did that. We want to go back to Egypt. Egypt's a type of the world. You don't want to go there. Oh, yeah, we do. No, you don't. You really don't. But people, their thinking is skewed because of their sinfulness, and they become a backslider. So what do we do with them? Write them off? Kick them out? No. No, the Bible says restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself. I had a fellow one time say, the pastor went by to see him. He said, I'm not going back to the church. He goes, why not? He goes, I haven't had one person call me in over a month wondering where I was. He said, if those people really cared about me, they would have called me. And guess what he did, that little rascal? You know what he did? He used them as an excuse to stay away from God. Isn't that something? But shouldn't we go after the rascals? Shouldn't we go after the people that get away from God? You say they won't have anything to do with it. I want to tell you something. There are some people that get out in that world, back where they used to be, they get out in the muck and the mire of the world, and you know what? Before long, they find out how dissatisfying it is. The prodigal's a perfect example of it, isn't he? Dad, give me what's mine, I'm outta here, basically, right? He gave him his inheritance. He went out and he wasted his substance on riotous living. He gave himself over to the flesh and to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind. He ends up in a hog pen. He's thinking, boy, you know, my dad has servants that are better off than I am. And you know what happened? He repented. He got thinking back. See, people that get away from God, they make it look like, hey, man, I'm having fun. But the truth is, when you belong to God, you can't get away from God. And He'll get you. Thank the Lord for it, amen? I put on my church sign one time when I was pastoring, get right with God. Just like that, just get right with God. And a young lady from out in California had taken a job in New York City. I pastored 40 miles from New York. And she'd gotten away from the Lord, and she met a guy at work, and she's supposed to be a born-again Christian, and she moved in with the guy. And she saw that sign when she was going by. Conviction hit her heart. Sunday morning, she showed up. She came into the church, sat down. I preached a message. When the invitation, she got right out of her seat, came forward like she knew what she was doing. I'll tell you what she was doing. She was getting right with God. Amen. And she's at the altar and one of our young couples, the lady, the wife there went down to speak to her and she said, can I pray with you about anything? And she goes, well, I've gotten away from God and I've done some things I shouldn't do. And she told her. And she said, well, why don't we go get your stuff and you can stay with us until you find out what you want to do. And she said, would you do that? And she goes, sure. He's out of town. This guy, she was living, was out of town. So they went and got her stuff out. She moved in with them for about a week, a week and a half. And then she said she quit her job and she went back to her family, back to her church. She got right with God. Sent me a nice postcard saying, thank you, Brother Knickerbocker, for teaching me God's word and for helping me to get right with God. Isn't that beautiful? There are people right now that are away from God that need your compassion. And I wanna tell you something, if the church ever loses its compassion, it's not like Christ. We must have that passion, amen? Number seven, it's a place where the glory of God is seen. It's a place where the glory of God is seen. And that takes me to chapter 7. Well, let's look at verse 40. Now my God, let I beseech thee, this is the prayer, thine eyes be open and let thine ear be attended unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy, what? Resting place. That's another good point. This church is a resting place. Thou in the ark of thy strength, let thy priest, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in what? Goodness, oh Lord God, turn us away. Turn away the face of, turn not away the face of thine anointed. Remember the mercies of David thy servant. And then verse one of chapter seven, and I close. Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. Notice, and the glory of the Lord, what did it do? it filled the house now listen you can have the glory of God fill this place if you prepare your hearts before you come here and you are anticipating the glory of God to fall upon this place you can experience you can in this day 2018 you can experience the glory God the fire came down from heaven it consumed the sacrifice. I want to tell you it was a great day Every day ought to be a great day knowing who we know knowing that He can forgive us, knowing He can pardon us from our sins, knowing that He can strengthen us to do battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The fact that God can shelter us from the storms of life. He can rain His glory upon us, showers of His blessing to provide what we need and take care of our needs. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask. And I love this part because our thinking is really little. He can do greater than we could possibly even imagine. What a great God. Let's pray.