[0:00] out right there. Indeed. All right, let's open up the Word of God, please, to Exodus. Exodus chapter 15. And just a brief introduction here to kind of give you the why, where we're at, Wednesday evening, we took a look at the story of Israel's Exodus out of Egypt, and we saw why it was good for them to follow the Lord's leading, and not their own thinking and own decisions, and said, it's the right thing for us to be led of the Lord in this life and to follow His leading. And a couple things we saw in these chapters before 15 here was that God, He knows what lies ahead. And God also has a plan. And we saw that
[1:02] He blesses the way that He leads, whereas you don't have any, you have no real way of knowing, no true sense that this is going to work out. But when you follow what God says, it's going to work out the way He wants it to work out. And so He blesses the way that He leads, and in His way is the way of peace and the way of rejoicing. And these people began by crying and suffering in Egypt, but then they were delivered, and in chapter 15, they're singing a song, and they're glorying and exalting the Lord. Now we read verse 2, and in that verse, there's something that kind of got my attention and made me to think a little bit differently away from the message from Wednesday night. And I want to draw your attention back to that verse, Exodus 15 and verse 2, and let's read it together, where the Bible says, the Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation. My Father's God, and I will exalt Him. It's interesting to me in the middle of this verse that Moses and the children of Israel are singing this song, but the words that he says is, He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation. I will prepare Him in habitation. Well, Moses did that. A little bit later, God gives very detailed descriptions of what would be the tabernacle, which means a dwelling place for God on this earth, in that wilderness, one that they could pitch and then tear down and travel with. And it was given to the Levites, all these duties and specific jobs they had in taking care of this. And so Moses did, in fact, prepare God in habitation.
[2:53] But when I read that, I'm reminded of somebody else by the very wording. It says, at the end of that verse, the second half, verse 2 says, He is my God. I will prepare Him in habitation. My Father's God, and I will exalt Him. I want to just harness the thought here from that verse and then connect it to another passage in the Bible of a story that I'm reminded of in reading that. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 21. And this is where we're going to spend our time this morning in 1 Chronicles.
[3:28] 1 Chronicles 21. I'm reminded of a story of a king that sat on his throne when his kingdom was at rest, and he desired to build a house for his God and habitation. He said, I'm dwelling in a house of cedars, and yet God's dwelling in a tent behind curtains, and it didn't sit well with him.
[3:57] And so he said, I want to build a house for God. The prophet said, do all that's in thine heart. And then God, through that same prophet, said, no, go tell him a little bit differently. No, I don't want you to build that. I want your son to build that. And so we read about this back in 2 Samuel 7, where this was King David on his throne with this thought, this desire. David didn't sit around on Facebook and Instagram. He didn't waste his time with Fox News and ESPN. He sat on his throne, and was pondering and meditating on the Lord, and that brought a thought into his mind of something he should do. And the Lord loved it. The Lord blessed it, but he kind of postponed the thought to another generation. So God responded and said, no, David, not you, your son. So then if we could fast forward from that moment, 25 years and come up a little bit closer to what we're looking at here in the Bible, in 1 Chronicles 21, this king makes a big mistake. And he's sitting on his throne again, and he has another thought. And this thought's not about the Lord. This thought's about himself and his power and his kingdom and what he's accomplished. And he said to his captain, to Joab, he's generally said, I want you to go number Israel and bring the number back to me of our forces and what we are built up to be. And Joab said, no, this isn't a good thing to do. No, you're not supposed. And according to the word of God, he's not supposed to do that.
[5:30] And so David's choosing to violate the scriptures that he's very accustomed with and knows. And he chooses, no, go do it because I command you to do it. And so from his throne, publicly, the king is sinning against God and in effect against the people themselves as well. And the Lord doesn't let that go. And so it resulted in the Lord destroying in Israel 70,000 men. That's in verse 14 of this chapter. There fell of Israel 70,000 men. And so the angel comes in verse 15, he comes to Jerusalem to destroy in Jerusalem. And the Lord says, it's enough. Stay now thine hand.
[6:10] And so the angel with a sword in his hand is drawn in his hand, is prepared to continue the slaughter. But the Lord says, no, don't, don't do that. Stop. And through the prophet Gad, later on in verse 18, David, he comes to David. He says, you're supposed to go set up an altar at a very specific place, David. And this place is owned by a man named Ornan. He's a Jebusite. You're supposed to go set an altar up and there you're supposed to offer burnt offerings and the Lord will be appeased.
[6:43] And so he did that very thing. He ended up purchasing the land from Ornan. And by the end of the chapter, David offers the sacrifice. The Lord answers by fire in verse number 26. And he accepts the burnt offering and the plague is put behind. It's all put to rest. The big mistake and blunder of the king from his throne has now been atoned for and sacrificed. And a lot of people died. But now he owns a piece of land that he never owned before. And in this land, he determined, I'll find the verse here. It's at the end of 21. Verse 28 says, at that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan and the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there for the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of the burnt offering were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire God. He's afraid because of the sorely angel of the Lord. Next chapter, David said, this is the house of the Lord God. And this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. So what David does now with this spot where God answered him in Jerusalem, he decided, this is where that temple is going to be built, this habitation for God.
[7:59] God said, I can't build it. I just kind of, it's been on the back burner. It's still in my heart. 25 years later, this is the spot. And David says in the next chapter, look at verse 5. David said, Solomon, my son is young and tender. The house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical. I just love those two words together in your King James Bible. This house is to be exceeding magnifical. It's still in David's heart and he's determined that this is where it's going to be. Now the verse we read in Exodus 15 said, he is my God and I will prepare him in habitation.
[8:36] My father's God and I will exalt him. What I want to do is consider a few things, not about King David anymore, but about the son Solomon, who was of the Lord chosen to build the tabernacle. And even God directed his father to this plot of land and place where exactly he would be building this tabernacle.
[9:01] I want to look at the son Solomon and see that it ultimately was his choice to build the habitation for his God to dwell in. This habitation of God in our day, applying this is your body or maybe in a greater sense, it's your life. The Lord desires to dwell in you. The Lord desires to have access to you. He desires for you to offer your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. In a sense this morning, what I want to consider with Solomon's choice to build a habitation for God is actually you choosing to yield yourself to God, you choosing of your own volition to offer yourself as a habitation for God to dwell in, where he makes the decisions, where he decides how this temple will look, how it will be built, how it will be presented. It's all about him.
[10:04] And that's what I want to look at this morning and kind of take these thoughts and really I think I'm just going to go through point after point through this passage and then kind of near the end just bring it all together and try to throw one quick application at you and we'll just see how it goes.
[10:21] But let's pray before we do start. God please now, please, please, please take this time and allow this truth to come out and be evident and be convincing and convicting at the same time.
[10:34] Help me to be clear. I pray that your spirit would be very involved in the thoughts and the words and in my utterance from this pulpit. I pray that your people would have ears to hear and be open.
[10:47] And Lord, I pray that in each single soul here you'd find a habitation, that you could dwell, that you could minister and be ministered unto and that you'd be pleased with.
[10:59] And Lord, I just, that's my desire with this sermon. I pray that it'd be yours. I pray that the people would be, feel it the same and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. All right, now let's look at Solomon. Let me say the first thing is that Solomon was chosen to build.
[11:15] He was chosen. Notice this in chapter 22 and I'll start in verse six. We'll read a few verses here. Five verses. Chapter 22, verse six. This is David calling for Solomon, his son. He says, he called for Solomon, his son, and charged him to build in house the Lord God of Israel.
[11:36] And David said to Solomon, my son, as for me, it was in my mind to build in house into the name of the Lord, my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, thou hast shed blood abundantly and thou hast made great wars. Thou hast, thou shalt not build an house into my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth of my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee who shall be a man of rest.
[11:57] I will give him rest from all his enemies round about him for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for my name and he shall be my son. And I will be his father and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. I want you to consider first of all, that God chose Solomon. Now he did not force Solomon. That's a, that's a total different thing. Don't let somebody's false doctrine kind of creep into the thinking here. That's not true. What God did was chose for Solomon to be the builder, not David. It was in his heart, his mind. It wasn't in Solomon's heart. It wasn't Solomon's decision or minor concept, but no, God chose that it would be your son. His name's Solomon. And I'm going to give him peace and rest, which is what his name means. And that's going to be the one. He's the one that's going to build. Now Solomon was born to a man that was after God's own heart. This upbringing was not Solomon's choice. His father loved God. His father served God. God took David from the sheep coat and put him on the throne of Israel. Solomon never experienced any of that. Solomon was born into this. He was born a prince and an heir to the throne. Total different upbringing.
[13:26] Solomon didn't have to fight with beasts. Solomon didn't have to fight with uncircumcised Philistines. Solomon was never exiled from his home and from his family and on the run and barely escaping with his life. Solomon never fought any of those battles. He was just the heir of the throne by God's appointment. It's almost like he's raised in a godly and in a peaceful Christian environment.
[13:55] What a gift. What a difference from David to Solomon's lives. Solomon was given something that others had to fight for. And he just walked right into it.
[14:09] And God chose that I want you, Solomon, to build this house. In verse 10, we read that he shall build a house for my name and he shall be my son and I will be his father. A father-son relationship, a personal relationship with God. Now you read through your Old Testament, that's a rare concept and a rare thing that God says it in that specific of a way. It's not uncommon in the New Testament.
[14:40] But in the Old Testament, the setup was different as you should understand. But Solomon had an opportunity to enter into a personal relationship with God. This is the God that his father served.
[14:53] And it could be his God too, should he choose it. So what would he do? As a child of God, a son of God, he was chosen to build an habitation for God. Solomon's born into a great situation.
[15:10] So now secondly, notice that Solomon was charged to build. We read it in verse number 6, that he called for Solomon, his son, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.
[15:23] Skip down to verse 11. David's continuing now and he says, Now my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thee, or prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God as he hath said of thee. He was charged to build. Now this one was private.
[15:41] This was David calling his son in before him and telling him, this is what God laid on my heart. This is what I want to give to you. This is going to be your job. The Lord called you for this.
[15:52] You're here for such a time as this, Solomon. That was the private one. Now if we skip through some of these chapters of David, just an account of the way David had some things set up with divisions and porters and all that. We skip all the way to chapter 28.
[16:08] Look to 1 Chronicles 28 and now notice that Solomon was not just charged by his father in private, but he was also charged publicly. It was made public in chapter 28 that this was to take place, this building. In chapter 28, you see in verse 1, David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, the captains of the companies, and so he gets everybody together, all the mighty men, the valiant men. And he stands up in verse 2 and he addresses the people.
[16:40] Verse 2, hear me, my brethren and my people. And he goes through the whole thing that I desired to build a house. And God said, verse 3, thou shalt not build a house for my name. And he gives the reasons why and he tells them about his son in verse number 5.
[16:55] Of all my sons, for the Lord hath given me many sons, he hath chosen Solomon, my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And he said unto me, Solomon, thy son, he shall build a house, etc. So now he established his kingdom and so forth, and he charges. Now look at verses 9 and 10. Here it is, directly, publicly charges him in verse 9.
[17:19] And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father. That's what we read in Exodus. He said, my father's God. Know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts. You should know this, church. You should underline this. This is true today. The Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he'll cast thee off forever. Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.
[18:03] He's charged to build. Charged plainly by his father, privately, publicly now. That is, Solomon knew his calling. He clearly, plainly knew what God expected of him, the will of God for him as king over Israel.
[18:24] It wasn't a secret. It wasn't confusing. It wasn't vague. He will be the heir to the throne, and he is to build the house for God. Solomon knew it. Everybody knew it. Solomon was charged.
[18:41] I can't help but make this. This sounds to me, this is just my experience. It sounds to me like a Christian home and a church, like Solomon growing up in that good environment, where he's charged at home privately. He gets the truth and the word of God and the ways of God at home, and then publicly in the church, he hears it again and is reinforced into him. But what would he do? Solomon knew exactly what was determined for him by God. He knew loud and clear what was expected of him. But what would he do?
[19:21] Next, we see that Solomon was instructed in building. In chapter 28 and verse 11, as the chapter continues, Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof. So this is like a blueprint. He hands him the drawings. This is the pattern. That's what it is. It's the drawings. Verse 12 says, And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit. So David was given by inspiration of God the pattern, the exact details of how this building was to be built. He was given to David, not to Solomon. David passed it on to his son. And of all of it, the courts of the house, the chambers round about, the treasuries of the house of God, the treasuries of the dedicated things, the courses for the priests, the Levites, the work of the service, the house of the Lord, all the vessels of the service, all of the details. If you ever build a building today, there is page after page in blueprints. Most of it's now going to be on computerized, but it's most still, it's on the table. And you can see it, and you can locate things, and you can see the exact specific. This building here, believe it or not, there's drawings about the doorways, the door frames. There's drawings back there in the office about the pillars, and the posts, and the beams, and the sizes of things, and the spacing apart, like all of it. It's written down, the pattern. And here it is.
[20:45] It stands. Solomon was instructed in building. He was given the instructions. Turn over to 2 Chronicles chapter 3. And notice these just two verses here, verses 3 and 4. Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God, the length by cubits.
[21:17] He's given the exact dimensions. Notice the length there, three square cubits. The breadth, 20 cubits. The porch that was in front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, 20 cubits. The height, 120. He overlaid it, and it goes on through with how he built it.
[21:34] So he was instructed in building, inside and out. Solomon was given detailed instructions for the building of this habitation for the Lord. It wasn't up to him to figure it out. He didn't have to go to school, get engineering, didn't have to get degrees, didn't have to go sit and learn and discuss. It was handed to him. Solomon didn't have to determine, what does God want here? What should I do? What does he expect? I just don't know. No, God gave it to him from his father, placed it in his hands. So what would he do? He was chosen to do this. He was charged, do it, son. He was given all the instructions to do it. What would he do? I notice when God chooses and charges for you to build your life a habitation for him to dwell in, he also gives very clear instructions of exactly what he wants and expects it to look like. Because it's too important to him to just leave it up to you to guess. It's too important to him to just have you go just flounder through this life and just hope that it's pleasing to God. No, he gave you the instructions and you have it in front of you this morning. So another thing Solomon was, is he was aided in building. He was chosen and charged. He was instructed in building. He was also aided in building. He was assisted. Look at 1 Chronicles 28 again.
[23:15] And we stopped at verse 13 and notice that his father didn't just give him blueprints. He gave him the very resources that he would need as well. In chapter 28 verse 14, David speaking, speaking of David, he gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all instruments of all manner of service. Silver also for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments of every kind of service. And he goes and discusses some of those things. David gave the gold for this. Moreover than that, look at chapter 29.
[23:56] 1 Chronicles 29, Solomon was aided in building. Oh no, let me back up. I got ahead of this. Verse 21, the last verse of 28, it says, Behold the courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with thee for the service of the house of God. And there shall be with thee for all manner of workmanship, every willing, skillful man for all manner of service. Also the princes and all the people will be holy at thy commandment. So not only did he have the gold and silver for this special place, but he also had skillful workers given to him. There's the labor force right there. Here they are.
[24:34] Moreover, he had all the materials. Look at chapter 29, verse 2. Verse 2 says, Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and brass for things of brass, and iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistering stones, diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones, marble stones in abundance. David's gathered the building materials and the resources. And Solomon was aided in building. He didn't have to spend years seeking out the resources. He didn't have to go find and hire laborers. No, David gave him skillful workers, the best in the business. And just, they were at his disposal. They are holy at thy commandment, Solomon. Just give him the word. Everything was in place for him to build the house of God.
[25:33] He was chosen. He was charged. He was given thorough instructions. He was given materials. He was even given the help and labor. It was expected of him. It was planned for him. All that was left was for him to decide, for him to determine, and to submit to this, and to say what God wants for me, and what my father's been training me for, and what this people is expecting of me, I will do.
[26:06] So what would he do? It's all right there. As he's building and building, there's so much available to him. The verse we read to begin was, he is my God, and I will build him, I will prepare him in habitation.
[26:24] My father's God, and I will exalt him. So then turn to 2 Chronicles, turn to the next book. All that's left is for Solomon to make a choice.
[26:37] If we would put other kings in this position, we might get a different answer. We could look through the history of the kings of Israel and see that different men had options before them, and they made bad decisions, and some made good decisions, and some had bad fathers, and they made good choices.
[26:56] Some had good fathers, made bad choices. You can never know what's in the heart of man. You're never going to know what choice he's going to make, what he's thinking, what the imagination is inside of his mind, and how it's going to come out.
[27:11] So what would Solomon do? 2 Chronicles 2, and what a pivotal thought here in this presentation of this message.
[27:21] In verse 1, and Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his kingdom.
[27:33] Up to this moment, we don't know what he's going to do. But at this time, he made a decision in his mind. I'm going to build it.
[27:44] I'm going to do it. I was chosen for this. My father charged me in this. The people are expecting this. All the resources, all the instructions, everything I need are at my disposal.
[27:57] And so he made a determination. I'm going to do it. I'm going to accomplish what God has chosen for me to do. This was his duty. His duty before Israel.
[28:10] But it's more than that. Look at verse number 5 in chapter 2. The Bible says, And the house which I build is great. And he's just saying, I need help, or I need all these things.
[28:21] I need cedars. Because the house which I build is great. For great is our God above all gods. So he's acknowledging that the task is a large one. But then look a little later at verse 9.
[28:33] I want to point something out here. He's going on in this about the cedars and the fir trees and the wood. And he says in verse 9, Even to prepare timber in abundance. For the house which I'm about to build shall be wonderful great.
[28:48] Not only did Solomon see it as his duty, but I believe it was also his desire. He determined, It's not just a great work, but I'm going to make it wonderful great.
[29:01] I'm going to make this thing as special as I can. And I'm not just satisfying my father's charge or his wishes or God's wish, but I'm embracing it. This is personal.
[29:11] I'm determining I'm going to build this house. A house for God, and it's going to be the best I can do. It's going to be wonderful great. He determined to build.
[29:22] That's a decision, an inner decision. And I was a wise one, I might add. And in that determination, I'll just point something out quickly, that he decided that he's going to follow his father's example.
[29:36] Twice in chapter 2, we see reference to David. One time, it begins in verse 2, where Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and those to hew the wood in the mountains, and so forth, and put overseers.
[29:50] That's in verse 2. But he got that idea from his dad. Verse 17, Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them, and they were found, and 150,000, threescore and 6,000, and he shows it in verse 18, exactly there.
[30:07] Who was going to be doing what? That was his father's doing. He followed his dad's example. Not only that, he got a contact. Verse number 3, Solomon sent to Herm the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build a house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.
[30:26] And so David, he just followed his father's footsteps, doing it just like dad did it. He didn't reinvent anything. He wasn't a trailblazer. He wasn't like, okay, you know, then if we're going to do this, we're going to do it my way.
[30:39] But no, he was humble. He had things prepared, laid out. He said, that's how we're going to do it. And it's a wise decision to follow his father's example, because his father was a godly man, and a man after God's own heart.
[30:54] He'd be a fool to say, to be lifted up in pride, and decide, okay, now I need to put my stamp on this. It's going to have to be my way. And that'd be definitely a temptation for a young man.
[31:06] And I know the feeling. I remember being a young man myself, and feeling like, okay, well, I'm going to do this for the Lord, then it's going to be this way. And how foolish I was, had to be kind of knocked down a little bit, and shown that, no, you just, you don't reinvent anything here.
[31:22] Follow those examples that God gave you. Paul told Timothy to be thou an example of believers. They need examples to follow. And so, moving to one more thought here, Solomon not only determined to build, but moved to the next chapter then, in 2 Chronicles 3, and the all-important moment then, was that Solomon began to build.
[31:48] Verse 1, Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared, in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite.
[32:04] Solomon began to build. It's no longer just a determination in his heart. It's not just a prayer at the altar, and then go back to life as normal. But no, now it's underway.
[32:16] Now his attention, and his focus, and what he does with his days, are being, the energy is being poured into, building this habitation, for God.
[32:28] A holy place. A place, where almighty, holy God would dwell in Israel, Israel, amongst his people. I want you to notice verse 2.
[32:39] It says, He began to build in the second day, of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Notice that it began on a day. The building began on a day.
[32:54] Why wasn't it the third year of his reign? Why wasn't it the second? Why wasn't it the first year of his reign? I don't know. I don't know. I know that he was striking that deal, with the cedars, and getting some of that material, down to him.
[33:10] Perhaps there was time involved there, between the, the purposing, the determination, and between the beginning, that makes sense to me. I don't know why it was that day, but what I know, is that there was a day, when he said, the work starts today.
[33:26] The work starts right now. And from that day forward, the work never would have been finished, if it hadn't been started. The work didn't finish, the same day that it started.
[33:41] There was days ahead. There was labor ahead. There was building, and sweat, and stress, and strain.
[33:52] There was elements. There was weather. There was sickness. There was people dying off, and there was changes, over this time period.
[34:02] But there was one day in, next day in, next day in, building, building, building, focusing, on building, and habitation for God. A holy place, that God would be pleased to dwell.
[34:17] The story continues, and it just goes up, and up, and up from there. The temple, this exceeding, magnifical, this wonderful, great temple, was built, and it was finished, and it was completely furnished.
[34:32] And you can read, the response of God, let's take a peek at that, at chapter five. This is just, one of these times, in history, that I would love, to be, a spectator.
[34:47] Man, I'd love to see this. They get everybody, in their apparel. They get everybody, I mean, the thing is just, gold, out the seams.
[35:00] There's so much gold, in this pure, holy place. And the priests, are all in their places, and they're all present, and they're all sanctified, and this thing, is just as clean, and as organized, and structured, and it's, not dysfunctional, at all.
[35:19] The kingdom, is at such a high place, in this day. And so, he gets these men together, it says in verse 13, there's, the priests are sounding, with trumpets, 120 priests, and their psalteries, and cymbals, and musics playing.
[35:33] In verse 13, it came to pass, as the trumpets, and singers were as one, to make one sound, to be heard, and praising, and thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up, their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments, and music, and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, for his mercy, endureth forever, that then the house, was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests, could not stand, to minister, by reason of the cloud.
[35:57] For the glory of the Lord, had filled the house of God. This is something special. The priests, they can't, they can't even see, in front of their face. They can't work, they can't do their duties, in there.
[36:10] They're going to have to, come on out. The Lord, came in, and inhabited, this holy temple, as it's being dedicated, to him. The Lord's presence, fills the house, and following that, is great praise, and great worship, and there's great sacrifice, in that day, and there's great prayer, as Solomon lifts his hands, up to heaven, and you can read, through those chapters.
[36:33] This is like a climax, a moment here. The picture though, Christian, and the whole sum, of this story, and this reading, is of you, building a life, that almighty God, is pleased, to dwell in.
[36:54] A heart, a home, a mind, a habitation, for God. He's always wanted that, from you.
[37:07] He's always wanted, a place to dwell, inside of you. And like Solomon, the choice is yours.
[37:19] Solomon was chosen, and in Christ, you've been chosen, as a vessel, for God to dwell in. And he seeks, to come and dwell, and have control.
[37:31] You've been chosen, meaning it's God's will, it's God's, absolute will, for your life, to build, inhabitation, to clean up, and live a holy life, a sanctified life, that's pleasing to him, where he can work, where he can do something.
[37:52] You've been charged. You've been charged. You have mentors. You've been charged, privately, perhaps some of you, and publicly. If never before, today, you've been charged.
[38:08] Somebody's, come by your way, to push you, sometimes daily, to motivate you, if nowhere else, the spirit of God, within you, charging you, to do the work.
[38:22] And you're not alone. You're not on an island. You've been given instructions. You have exact details, of what God wants, inside and out.
[38:38] You have the word of God, in black and white. You have no excuse at all. For not building, this habitation for God. You're never going to stand before him, say I didn't know.
[38:49] Because he gave it to you. And you have it. You actually, like Solomon, have been aided. Aided, maybe more than you realize, to build this habitation.
[39:02] You have helpers. You have skillful laborers. Men that have been, been through things. Men that have, built themselves. When I, worked in, at our old church, we did renovations.
[39:18] And we did renovations, we had a, a company come in, a contractor come in, and, to cut costs, they made an agreement, that, we, the assistant pastors, would be the laborers, on everything.
[39:32] And we literally, ripped off, all the, years of pitch, on the roof. And it was incredible. And peeled back, all the, deteriorating plywood, and even took all the trusses off, and saws on, and loaded, and ridged all the, knocked down block walls, we did everything.
[39:49] But that was the easy part, that was the fun part, kind of. The part that I was, a little nervous of, was we're going to build this, thing, like we are. But we didn't have to do it alone.
[40:00] We had, a foreman, that told us exactly, what to do, and the exact materials to use, the exact, they even provided the tools, the nail guns, the drills, everything, was at our disposal.
[40:12] And, they instructed us, on how to do it. We built that church. The walls went up, the boards went up, the trusses went up, and it was not, rinky dink stuff.
[40:22] It was like, high end level, construction. Like that building, ain't going anywhere, not for a long time. And you too, have been aided.
[40:35] You've been aided, by resources, at your fingertips. Not just the scriptures, at your fingertips, as much as this is a wealth, of gold, and silver, and precious things.
[40:47] But you have, you have, men and women, available to you, to guide you, to answer your questions, to teach, and train you. Never before, have you ever had, so much access, online, to biblical resources, and truth.
[41:05] It's literally, at your fingertips, every day of your life, you could learn, you could grow, you could build, this habitation, for the Lord.
[41:19] The question is, are you, determined, that you want that, to be your life? Have you made, this choice, that Solomon made, that this was, not just his duty, but is it your desire, to glorify God, to build, this habitation, that he'd be pleased with.
[41:40] And has the work begun? There was a day, that it began. I wonder if, Christian, the work has yet to begun. I wonder if you've, yet to start, and to start, clearing out the land, and set that cornerstone, and say, from here, we're building.
[42:01] You know who the cornerstone is, don't you? God wants a habitation, to dwell in, and he doesn't want to just, dwell in me. He wants to dwell in you, today, and tomorrow.
[42:16] He wants a habitation, to walk with you, to live in you, in a holy place, to reveal some special things, to the heathen around, of this glorious place, this glorious God, that you worship.
[42:38] Christ spoke in Matthew 7, about a wise man, building his house upon a rock. He was a man, that heard the sayings, and did them. But there was a foolish man, that didn't do them.
[42:51] He said, he built his house, upon the sand. It was destroyed. The proverb says, every wise woman, buildeth her house, but the foolish, plucketh it down, with her hands.
[43:04] The apostle Paul said, let every man, take heed, how he buildeth. Remember the guy in Luke, this man that's rich, and just possessed, great goods, and he looked around, and he said, what am I going to do?
[43:18] And he's like, I know, I'm going to build bigger barns. I'm going to build a bigger barn, to bestow my goods, my goods, my, my, my, me, me, me. He did nothing, for God with his building, it was all temporal, and Christ in that parable said, thou fool.
[43:35] There's a foolish man, there's a foolish woman, there's fools all over the Bible, that aren't building, habitations for God. My question is, are you building your life, as a habitation for God to dwell in you?
[43:52] You're building, there's no question about that. And in here, there's some wise builders, and in here, there's probably some foolish builders. So which one are you this morning?
[44:05] The verse we began with, in Exodus 15, he is my God, is he? I will prepare him, an habitation.
[44:19] That's the question. What are you doing, to prepare this habitation, for God to dwell in? He wants it, he deserves it. The choice is yours.
[44:30] Let's bow our heads together, and we'll be dismissed in a moment, but I want you to give a moment here, to meditate, and to think, what in the world, are you doing, on a daily basis, to build this life of yours, to be a habitation, that a holy God, would want to even come anywhere near?
[44:58] If he's looking for a place to dwell, would he pass right by you? I know doctrinally speaking, Christ is in you. But what are you doing to build?
[45:10] What are you doing to keep it clean? What battles are you fighting? If the Lord is bringing something to your mind, is it worth it, to submit to him?
[45:25] Is this short vapor of a life, worth it, to give as much as you can to him? Is he right? And are you wrong?
[45:38] Does he deserve your heart? Does he deserve a place to live? Did he wash you from your sins? Are you justified and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus?
[45:49] If so, then give him your body, and your spirit, which are God's, and start building.
[46:03] Lord, this morning, please impress, impress upon our hearts, Father, the need that we individually take this serious, this life will be over before we know it.
[46:26] Oh, the years that I wasted building some stupid, garbage heap of junk that's gonna burn. Oh, I wish I could get them back and build it for you.
[46:40] Lord, burden every heart to spend this day and this week and the days of our lives that you've given us to build for your glory and habitation that you'll be pleased to dwell in.
[46:56] a holy habitation, one that's built according to the word of God, the pure book, one that'll be pure, one that others will see a difference and wonder, where did you learn to build like that?
[47:17] Father, I pray that you'll receive the glory, that you'll receive something from somebody here that you're not getting, but that you'll get what you deserve.
[47:32] Lord, help one that's fighting, that's struggling with sin. Please show them that it's not that hard, that they can repent, that you'll be there to help, remove some things out that belong out.
[47:51] Father, just take this time, take this moment, take this message and use it for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
[48:02] I want to stand and sing what's that number?