Please open your Bibles to the prophecy of Second Chronicles. Second Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. Second Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. Today we'll take a little deeper look into this verse. As most of you know, this is an often repeated verse. I quoted it a little earlier. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. It's often repeated in many churches. It's often taken out of context. And still, it's a very popular verse with many people. It makes people feel good about God and about his kindness and his mercy, which is so abundantly available. However, the important thing is not how we feel, but what did God say and how does it harmonize with the rest of the Bible? What was the real reason why this verse became so popular? Well, as you know, God is not very popular among the people of this world. Most of them would like to bring God down rather than lift him up. It's no surprise what God says in Psalm two. Verses 1 to 3, there you read, Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. People of the earth would like to do away with God or at least cut down the power of Almighty God. so that he's not so powerful anymore. Now, that is also the reason why Second Chronicles 17, verse 7, verse 14 became so popular because it seems to cut down the sovereignty of God. You see, a superficial reading of this verse makes it appear as if the Armenian gospel is really the gospel of the Bible. Now, notice I said Armenian, not Armenian. I said Armenian, it would be a gospel that came from the country of Armenia. But I said Armenian, indicating this is the gospel promoted by Jacob Arminius, a professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, who lived from 1560 to 1609. He died just before the cannons of Dortrecht were hammered out in the Netherlands. The cannons of Dort elevated the sovereignty of God very high. The Arminian Gospel brought the sovereignty of God very low by claiming that the free will of man was more important than the sovereign will of God. And thus the Arminian Gospel has made man the kingmaker. And God has to abide by the will of the creature. What is the will of man in this verse of 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14? What it appears to say is that people must first humble themselves and pray and seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways. And then in response, God will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. That's very nice of God, don't you think? That's so nice, so generous of God. But is that really the God who we worship or is this the God who man wants? to be him to be. Is this the God who rewards people who repent and those who don't repent he sends to hell? But this would mean that God is a totally responsive being who waits until he is totally sure of the actions of man and then he makes the decision of who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. As you can see this kind of salvation plan totally agrees with the people of the free will gospel. They have decided that a person is only saved when he, by his own free will, has decided to believe in Jesus. And when he, by his own free will, has decided to repent and follow Jesus. What's so bad about that? The only bad thing is the issue of pride. Please turn in your Bible to the Proverbs of Solomon. And I had you turn to Chronicles. Stay there, of course. We're going to be back there a lot. Proverbs 16, verse 5. Proverbs 16, verse 5. And here, God warns us about pride. And where does our pride leave us? God warns us, Proverbs 16, verse 5, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord, though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Now, this is a significant verse for God says here that everyone who believes that Arminian gospel of being saved by his own free will is not saved, but is proud and is an abomination to the Lord. I didn't say that. Did you hear what God says? Everyone who does not believe in the sovereignty of God is proud by not giving the glory to God, but giving the glory to himself, and therefore is an abomination to God and is not saved. Now that expression from hand to hand, or though joined hand in hand, refers to the consecutive connection of causes through which the Lord works. Though the proud escape one occasion of punishment, yet he's reserved for another, wherein he shall pay the penalty for all his sins. God also says in Proverbs 16 verse 18, look forward a few verses, pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16 verse 18. And the destruction or the fall that God has in view is the incredible fall into hell when Christ returns. You see, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to save you if you believe that you did it. For that's believing in your own works rather than in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The danger of the Armenian gospel is all around us, and only the true gospel of grace alone can deliver us. So let's look here at 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. Now from the Hebrew text is what I'll read to you. And you actually may want to put it in substitutionary words in your Bible, not add to, but perhaps correct in this case, the translation of the King James. Remember, the context of this is Solomon's dedication of the temple that he had just finished building, and he has prayed to God to ask God to when the people do these things, when they come here and when they pray to him that God will hear. So now we get to 2nd Chronicles 7 verses 12 to 16. 2nd Chronicles 7 verse 12. Again, this is from the Hebrews, so it's not going to match exactly what the King James has. And Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place to myself. for in house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain and if I command the locusts to consume the land and if I send pestilence among my people and my people on whom my name is called shall be humbled and shall pray and shall seek my face and turn back from their evil ways. Then will I surely hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now, my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive. unto the prayer of this place. And now have I chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever. Yea, mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. We are going to go over that a lot, so if you missed any of the corrections in there, we'll hit them again as we go along. In 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, the King James Version begins with the words, If my people, as if this is a condition that must first be met, but that is not at all how the God-inspired Hebrew text reads. The Hebrew text says, And my people, on whom my name is called shall be humbled. In other words, my people shall be humbled by these experiences expressed in verse 13 of no rain, locusts and pestilence. It is not that my people shall humble themselves, but that they are being humbled by God through these calamities. It's not the condition of if they pray, but they shall pray because I'm bringing these calamities on them. It's not the condition if they will seek my face, but they shall seek my face because I'm the only one left where they can find help. It is not the condition if they turn back from their evil ways or if they repent, but they shall repent for this is what I will prompt them to do. This we can see clearly for repentance is a gift from God. Let's review this in the Scriptures that repentance is a gift from God. Please turn in your Bibles to the Epistle to the Romans, Romans 2. verse four. Romans two, verse four, we have here a passage where God will judge those who judge others unjustly. Let us not be judges over others, but let's use the scriptures to apply any judgment for in this way, it's God who judges others. The context clearly tells us in Second Chronicles six back what we were reading. that when the people have sinned grievously against God, then God brings chastening to drive the people back to God. For example, if you still have that available, I'm going to read some verses there, but keep Romans available to 2 Chronicles 6 verses 26 and 27. This is in Solomon's prayer. He says when the heaven 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, turn from their sin when? When thou dost afflict them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people, Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way. Remember, a lot of times in the Hebrew language, The order is flipped around. So they would only be able to do that when thou has taught them the good way previously, right? That's when they would pray and that's when they would turn to the evil way. OK, when thou has taught them the good way back in verse 27, wherein they should walk and send rain upon diet land, which thou has given unto thy people for an inheritance. Now, you might recognize here the words from chapter seven, verse 13, where God says, if I shut up the heavens and there is no rain. OK, now we have to tie all this together, Old Testament and New Testament with the words we find in Romans two, verse four. OK, but back there again, Romans two, verse four. Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering. We would probably call those the afflictions that we face. For despises now the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. So what we see here is that in the providence of God, He causes all things to work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. You recognize Romans 8.28 there. The prompting of God the Holy Spirit leads us to repentance. Repentance is not something we conjure up ourselves, but it is the work of God within us. Please turn a few pages forward to the second epistle to the Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter seven. Verse ten. Second Corinthians seven verse ten. We've seen that in Bible study this morning too. God compares here two repentances. A man who had his father's wife. But he repented of this wickedness. And you see the repentance of Judas Iscariot. who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. Then God says in 2nd Corinthians 7 verse 10, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. The man who had his father's wife repented and it led him to salvation. But Judas Iscariot did not truly repent. He felt sorry for himself. because he would go through life as known as the one who had betrayed the Lord Jesus, and so he hanged himself. Please turn now to the Acts of the Apostles. Acts chapter 5 verse 31. Acts 5 verse 31. Here, Peter and the other apostles had been brought before the council of the leaders of the Jews, and they said, we ought to obey God rather than man. And that they said in Acts 5 verse 31 him that is Christ Christ have got exalted with his right hand to be a prince and the Savior for reason why to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. You see, it's Christ who gives repentance to the Israel of God so that they might receive the forgiveness of sins. And so what we have seen is that the inspired Hebrew text does not at all support Second Chronicles seven verse fourteen as an Armenian verse. This is what the King James translators have made out of it, but that's false. Let's go back to Second Chronicles seven verse fourteen again. and see the phrase which are called by my name. No, the Hebrew text reads and my people on whom my name is called shall be humbled and shall pray and shall seek my face and turn back from their evil ways. Then will I surely hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. Now let's look at this simple phrase quite carefully. The beginning of the verse, and my people on whom my name is called. It does not say by whom my name is called. It says on whom my name is called. What's the difference? What name is this portion of the verse referring to? Verse 12 says it's the name of Jehovah. But who is Jehovah? Let's go to Isaiah 43, verse 11. Please turn to Isaiah 43, verse 11. When you see the word LORD, L-O-R-D, with all four letters capitalized, You know that the Hebrew text reads Jehovah. And thus we read in Isaiah 43 verse 11. And I. Even I am Jehovah. And beside me, there is no savior. And who's the savior? Well, now you have to combine this with the New Testament. since the latest information carries the greater weight, you must give heed to the words of Acts 4.12. There you read Acts 4.12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. And thus the Savior referred to in Isaiah 43.11 is both Christ and Jehovah. The Father is called Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit is called Jehovah. And here in Isaiah 43, verse 11, God, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is called Jehovah. Therefore, when we read in Second Chronicles 714, my people on whom my name is called means My people, on whom the name of Christ is called, the elect, are called Christians. We are the family of Christ. Therefore, we are those on whom the name of Christ is called. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Therefore, when we read 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14, we should no longer think of the Old Testament Jews And we should no longer think of those who are blood descendants of Jacob in the present age, but we must think of those who are the elect in the present age. They are the ones that are in view. Let's keep that in our memory and let's apply this in the rest of the verse. Let's go back to Second Chronicles seven, verse fourteen again in the Hebrew and my people on whom my name is called. shall be humbled and shall pray and shall seek my voice and turn back from their evil ways. Does that mean that the elect shall turn back from their evil ways? What are the evil ways this verse is talking about? We have to ask ourselves what period of history, particularly shall the elect be vexed? with evil ways. These will be the days that the church will be assaulted with all kinds of false gospels. Particularly, we're thinking of the church in the final tribulation period. Look, for example, at this verse, 2 Chronicles 7.14, how that this verse has been coddled and cherished by most churches, and all it has done is bring in the Arminian way of thinking about God and about the freewill gospel of salvation. And God says in Proverbs 17, 16, verse five, that this way of thinking that pride is an abomination to God because it brings pride into the picture. We presently are living in those end times. And what do we see presently? What is the greatest plague that is presently occurring in the churches? I would submit that it is indeed the Armenian gospel, which is lifted up as if it was the best interpretation ever. The Roman Catholic gospel and the Methodist gospel and the charismatic gospel and all the other deviations from the true gospel are no longer called an accursed idolatry. Instead, their followers are embraced as brothers in Christ. So let's be aware of this evil. In the future, our church may be overrun by these gospels that are plainly abominations in the sight of God. We know this because Jesus said that in the last days it will be like the days of Noah, just before the flood, and like the days of Lot, just before the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the days of Noah, out of the entire world population, the number of righteous people was only eight, out of probably about two million people. In the days of Lot, only three people were saved out of four cities. This reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus who said in Luke 8 verse 18, Nevertheless, when the Son of Man returns, shall we find faith on the earth? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is no. There will be very few who will be faithful when the Lord Jesus comes again. the number of faithful people will have dwindled down to almost a small fraction that we can read about in the days of Noah. But let's now get practical about it. When we see the number of our people and the people in our church get smaller and smaller. Remember when we were several rows? I always set up the chairs back in those days. We'd have 40 or 50 people here. And pastor was up on the podium. When we see the true gospel is not so popular anymore with the younger generation. And when we see this same phenomenon in most other conservative churches, and when we see the wickedness in the world increase, don't despair. Rejoice, because the Lord's coming soon. And so these are evils that beset us in these last days. But let's keep rejoicing, because the Lord's coming soon. Keep studying the Bible. For this is what keeps us rejoicing. The next phrase we'll look at is, then will I hear from heaven? Let's go back to Chronicles chapter 2nd Chronicles 7 verse 14. There in the second half of the verse we read, then will I surely hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Think now of the word then. What moment of time does that seem to refer to? Well, let's first of all get into the frame of mind that this is a New Testament verse for the words, my people on whom my name is called refers to Christ and his people. The Old Testament is not just for a people who lived a long, long time ago in a place far, far away. And so it doesn't touch us anymore. The Bible was written to touch us in our soul. The Bible was written to glorify Christ. And when we become born again, Born from above, we are glorifying Christ by becoming his cherished bride. This is how we should understand the words, then will I surely hear from heaven. Most certainly it cannot apply to the words, then will I forgive their sins, because there was only one day in all of history when sins were forgiven. And that was the day that Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross on Friday, April 3, in the year A.D. 33. God the Holy Spirit will be sent to those people who were made ready to receive the gospel. 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 does not refer to a people who once were saved and then fell away and then they became saved again. No, 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 refers to people who were never saved before, but because they were of God's elect, God chose to save them. God brought calamities in their life. No rain, locusts, pestilence. What were your afflictions? What were your pestilences? God brought calamities in their life. And thereby God humbled them. God caused them to call upon his name. God caused them to pray to him and not to an idol. God caused them to seek his face by reading and studying the Bible. God caused them to be at their wits end and in desperation to call on his name. Then God, the Holy Spirit, did a marvelous work by making them born again, born from above, and by giving them faith. And by giving them faith and by applying the finished work of Christ to their soul. Please turn in your Bibles to the epistle to Titus. Very near the end after all the other epistles. Please turn in your Bibles to the epistle to Titus. Titus chapter 3 verse 4. God here gives us a wonderful description of what he did to those he prepared for salvation through calamities and troubles and drawing them closer to Christ as we found God was doing in the first half of Second Chronicles 7 verse 14. Titus 3 verses 4 through 7 read this way, but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That so that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Let's look at verse four there. What does that mean? After that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward man appeared. The kindness of love of God, the kindness and love of God was manifested at the cross of Christ. The Father drew us with the kindness to the Lord Jesus Christ. This kindness of the Father was not always pleasant. But it was kindness. It may have been laced with calamities, but it was pleasant. It was goodness. Why was this necessary? It's necessary because we came into the world with hard hearts and with deaf ears. We could not hear spiritual things. We could not hear that the love of God was already shed for us through the blood of Christ. Spiritually speaking, for some people, it was necessary to club them overhead with a two by four. This was the kindness and love of God, our Savior. Imagine getting hit on the head with a two by four is being called kindness. All things work together for good to those who are called. He paid on behalf of the guilt of our sins, beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane until he died on the cross less than 24 hours later. And because he was God, he was able to pay what we were unable to pay. He paid the full price on behalf of our sins. The full price means the price that God has set as the wages of sin. The second death in the lake of fire. So horrendous was this payment that we read when the Lord prayed in Luke 22, verse 44, and being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. We'll never know how great the sufferings were that he endured on behalf of our sins. But they must have been very great for his sufferings had to satisfy the righteousness of God. We go back to 2nd Chronicles 7 verse 14. And we read and will forgive their sins. That means that the payment that Christ made on behalf of our sins must be equivalent to the payment that we would have to make when we would have to pay for our own sins. This is what a righteous judge demands. But when was this payment completed? We read in Romans four, verse twenty five, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. It means that that entire process of atonement was not complete until the Lord Jesus rose from the grave. When he was raised again, this was the time when our justification was completed. When we had died to the law and we did rise with him. And then we read a couple of times in that Second Chronicles verse that there's a forever and perpetually. Let's read that. Why is this promise forever? Second Chronicles 7 verse 16, we read, Now have I chosen and sanctified this place, this house, that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. Did God make a mistake? Did God not know that Nebuchadnezzar would take over Jerusalem and that Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, would burn Jerusalem in the temple until there was nothing left? And then after 70 years, the remnant of Judah returned to their land, rebuilt the temple, rebuilt Jerusalem. But even the second temple would not qualify for this description that God gives here in Second Chronicles seven for 16, for this second temple was destroyed by the Roman legions in 8070, never to be rebuilt. But if God had chosen and sanctified this house and if God has placed his name there forever, Couldn't God have prevented the temple from being destroyed? Indeed, God could have prevented that destruction. Therefore, when we read 2 Chronicles 7 verse 16, we must realize that God wants us to understand this verse in a different way. Reading this verse just in a historical context would obviously lead to contradictions. But God intended the temple in Jerusalem to be a picture or a shadow of the church, the true church. And now we remember that the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, verse six, verse 18. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Wait, do you mean upon this slippery rock called Simon Peter that I'll build my church? No way. But remember, Peter, also called Cephas, means a stone. But Christ was pointing to himself as the cornerstone when he spoke of that rock. It was in this sense that the Lord Jesus Christ has chosen and has sanctified this house, that his name may be there forever. Yea, his eyes and his heart shall be there perpetually. And herein this sermon rests a warning not to tamper with the true word of God. If your translation has verses that seem to contradict other portions of Scripture. Check out the original Hebrew or Greek to find out what God actually said. Now we have one verse reclaimed from the Arminians. And now all the glory goes to God. Amen. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for giving us sources where we can find out what your true word was in the original. And although we may not be able to read it, we can read the very good translations of the original rather than some of the other translations that have thrown contradictions into your word. Lord, we know that your word is infallible. But that many of the translations we read are not. And we pray that you will give us the desire and the wisdom to search it out and be dedicated servants to finding the truth of your word. Or we pray that the words that have gone forth today might touch those who may have been drawn astray by the translation that we have often read in the King James. and recognize that it is not a conditional situation, that we must first do something before you respond. Lord, we pray that that truth will go deep into our hearts and that we will fight for that truth because it's your word. Lord, we thank you for this understanding and we pray that you'll give us others that might be clarifying the contradictions that some people see in your word, that we might have an answer for them from the truth of your word. Lord, we pray that this message will go forth powerfully today to those that you have already prepared. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.