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And my first present duty is to thank you all, my brothers and sisters, first for your attendance here in the mornings of this week, in spite of many impediments in the road. Thank you too for your interest, the way you have so patiently sat for so long, doubtless stemming from your conviction that the word that we were studying is nothing other than the word of God. Such, of such sort that if God opened the heavens and spoke to us direct, he would speak to us in appropriate times, the Book of Chronicles. Thank you for the help that you have given me by your interest in leading your studies. I have one criticism of the morning studies. That is, the lecturer who led them in these past days was so inefficient that he allowed himself to get the program all out of phase. We're stuck with him now, we can't change it now. Next year, here's hoping that you manage to get a more efficient lecturer. The best we can do today is to try and make good the damage. That means we shall have to try and cover at least two sections of the Book of Chronicles. Let's make a vi- vigorous stop, therefore, and read one set of verses from section three, section four, sorry, and then another from section five. First, in chapter twenty two of Chronicles, verses five to ten. 1 Chronicles 22:5. David said, Solomon, my son, is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. Then he called for Solomon, his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon, his son, as for me, it was in my heart to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, thou hast shed blood abundantly and hast made great wars. Thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, 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. And some verses from section five, the chapter twenty nine, beginning in verse nine. Twenty nine and verse nine. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with the perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou, O Lord, the God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and thine the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rulest over all, and in thy hand is power and might, in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thy holy name cometh of thine hand and is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all these things. Now I have seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace for which I have made provision. David said to all the congregation, now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and worshiped the Lord and the king. And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord. On the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks and a thousand rams and a thousand lambs with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, and did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto the Lord to be prince, and Zadok to be priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. God give us good understanding of his word. As you will by now know very well, we have this week been studying the first book of Chronicles, and studying it under the general title, Man's Pathway to the Coming Age of Peace and Glory. We have noticed, as we have studied the book, that it is divided into its sections, each section tracing one of the stages along the pathway that should lead mankind to that blissful age that is yet to be. An age so blissful that the ancient prototype of it, the reign of Solomon, is described in these terms, no less, then Solomon sat upon the throne of the Lord. And our hearts have been moved and our imaginations vivified as we have thought of that ancient prototype, and it has made us think of the more glorious reality. For since the day of the ascension, there has sat upon the throne of the Lord, not some gilded seat in Jerusalem City of ancient make, but on the very throne of the universe, there has sat a man, a man as truly human as we are, and yet that wonderful man who, being human, is truly God. To him God has given the supreme place in the universe, and every name that is named, every power, administrative and otherwise, is under his feet. And not only is that true, but the glorious fact is that in raising Christ from the dead, God has put forth his power towards us, and in spiritual status we are risen with him too, and seated with Christ in the heavenly places, far above all principalities, powers, mights, and dominions. And where we are already spiritually, one day we shall be physically, for the gracious promise of our Lord is this: to him who overcomes, I will give to sit down with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and sat down, uh, with my Father on his throne. The ages that must roll before that is finished may be long. Before the age of peace and glory could be brought in, David, the military king, had to subdue his enemies and rule them with a rod of iron. So shall it be for our Lord that when he comes again, he's not doing it now, but he will do then, when he comes in power and great glory to execute the judgments of God upon our world, then shall he rule the nations with a rod of iron. His millennial kingdom will not be quite the age of unspoiled peace and glory that sometimes it is made out to be. The promise is that when he rules the nations with a rod of iron, he promises us thus too, that we shall be joined with him in his government, and goes so far as to say that you too shall rule the nations with a rod of iron. Now the activities of David eventually gave way to the reign of peaceful Solomon. It is towards that great goal of peace, undisturbed peace and glory, that the book of First and then Second Chronicles directs our attention. We come this morning then first to stage four in the proceedings, and stage four is concerned with the putting down of the last enemies. The last enemies that David had to put down before Solomon ascended the throne of peace. We shall think about those enemies today, and if you care to take your Bibles again into your hand, you will notice that section four of First Chronicles has four major stories. In chapter nineteen, there is first the story of the son of the king of Ammon, who proved himself an enemy of David. He was a sinister king, as we shall presently discover, with many evil messin- machinations and oppositions in his breast. Then in verse sixteen, uh, sorry, of verse four of chapter twenty, we have another group of enemies that had to be put down, and these were the sons of the giants. Moving on into chapter one twenty one, we have another king, dark and fell and sinister beyond all adequate description, none other than his satanic majesty. And you will gather the sophistication of Satan's opposition to the plan of God, that he not only stirred up Gentile enemies like the king of Ammon against David and his throne, but infiltrated the very heart of David himself and insinuated into the high capital Jerusalem, into the very heart of its king, a proudful attitude that brought judgment both on the king and on his people. Those three ugly enemies are discussed in some detail in this section, but thank God the section ends with another son. Not the son of the king of Anam, nor yet the son of the giants, but David's son Solomon, who being both David's son was also s- uh, to be in some sense son of God. Of him it is said, my son is young and tender. Let's think of those, um, uh, four people, shall we? The first one, son of the king of Adam, uh, of Ammon, we shall discover was a sneering cynic. A sneering cynic. And if we're going to think of opposition to God's plan to bring man to an age of peace and glory, the number one enemy you'll have to encounter is this, the cynics, who will try to debunk everything about it and tell you that it's a cartload of old nonsense. The sneering cynics. The second lot, the sons of the giants, were God-defying giants, sneering cynics, and defiant giants. The third enemy was a vain, glorious, proudful king. Let's think of what those three enemies do. The sneering cynic, in the end, mocks God. The defiant giants, they defy God. If the cynic mocks God, the giant defies God. And the proudful king displaces God and puts his own glory where the glory of God should be. And God, that the section ends with that other son, son of David, son of God. And what does he do? He's no cynic, he's no giant, he's no proudful king. He builds, positively builds for God. We have to think of them now, therefore. The first great enemy in the last group is the sneering cynic, with his deliberate misinterpretation of the kindness of David. The king of Adam, Ammon, died and said, David, in his heart, I will show kindness to him because once upon a time he showed kindness to me. That is historically true. When David was in exile, fleeing from the throne, then amongst others, the king of Ammon supported him with material provision. Now he was dead, David sought to show kindness in return to the dead king's son. But listening to his advisors, the new king cynically and deliberately misinterpreted the kindness of David that he would have shown. Said his cynical ministers of state, you don't suppose that he really means kindness by this, do you? All he's doing with his front of talk of kindness and gifts, all he's doing is coming to spy out the land and rob you of your country and rob you of your possessions and rob you of your throne. And with a throne and a crown to defend, but at the first not being bold enough to come out in open warfare and defend it, he turned to cynicism and debunking the whole thing. And he took the messengers that David sent to convey his kindness, and he shaved off their clothes in the middle and exposed their shame and shaved off their beards and humiliated them and put his fingers up at his nose to David on the throne and debunked the whole thing by his deliberate misinterpretation. Cynic. You mustn't be surprised at it, of course, because the Ammonites had shown this tendency all throughout history to mock the people of God, and through the people of God to mock God himself. Samuel eleven tells us the story how when Saul was newly elected king, the Ammonites took advantage of his weakness, and they came to Jabesh Gilead and offered the men of Jabesh Gilead a treaty. We shall either slit your throats, they said, or you'll come out, and our conditions for your surrender are these, that you agree to having your right eye put out, and the whole thing be laid as a shame and a disgrace on the whole of Israel. It was, of course, a humiliating thing to have one's eyes put out, and have your right eye put out for a soldier, he could no longer draw his bow and aim it properly. The whole thing was an intended insult to Israel, shaming the people of God. At a much later date, the book of Nehemiah tells us how when the people of God back from exile were trying to build the city and, uh, the, uh, the first the temple and then the city, old Tobiah the Ammonite came by, who was quite an influential man in his day, you'll see. Now he came by, and he couldn't think of any better tactic for the moment than to pour scorn on the whole thing, and as he walked by the walls of Jerusalem, now only a little high, he said in the most effective Oxford accent, said he, um, what do these feeble Jews, just look at this absurdity, this feeble little gospel hall, you'll see, or something or the other. They're trying to build here. Why, even if a fox went up and wagged its tail, it would have the whole thing over, no nonsense, you'll see. Making a mock of the people of God. This son of Ammon was no exception to the rule. He deliberately misinterpreted David's kindness. Now it is the interesting fact that at this period in history, David's wars with Ammon was the time when David himself fell into grievous sin and gave the enemies of the Lord grounds for bas- blaspheming against God. The chronicler doesn't record that episode, not because he's wanting to whitewash David. He's about presently to tell us of a most grievous sin that David did. But you see, the point isn't really strictly at issue. The people of God are, in many respects, failures, are they not? Put your hand up here. Which one of you, being a professed Christian, has not at some times done something that's been a failure, been a fault, been a sin? And you cover your head with shame as you think how that could have been taken by the devil and the enemies of God and laid as a reproach upon God's name itself, and you blush to think of it. But ultimately, that is not the point. There's plenty of material. If the critics and the cynics like to, uh, criticize the people of God, plenty of material to hand. The serious thing is that their criticisms go beyond the people of God, they go to God himself. The sad thing about this present king of Ammon and his cynicism was that his father loved David and supported David in his exile. Maybe, as we should put it in our terms, he had been converted and become at least a supporter of the cause of God. His son turned cynic. I do not wish to probe any wounds and hurt parents, themselves believers, whose children have turned out to be cynics. Can happen, can't it? It arises, of course, from the same cause as it arose with Ammon. Ammon resented what God had done through Israel. Originally, God had said to Israel, don't attack Ammon, let him be. But Ammon and their folly had come out to attack the people of God, and God had given some of their land to the Israelites, and they never got over it. They had a resentment in their heart to the ways and claims of God that had been interpreted through the people of God. And as we find in this story, when it all came to all, Ammon's king had a magnificent crown. And what he was trying to do was to preserve his crown on his own head. And the thought that someone would come and take his crown from him so he would no longer be king, and take his wealth and all his glory. That was too much for him. And not being bold enough to be a giant and put his face fist in the face of God, his opposition took the form of cynicism. Cynicism, ladies and gentlemen, is the weak man's defense of himself against the claims of God. Our world has become very cynical. You'll You'll see, say. you'll find the scientist faced with the self-evident design of the marvels of the creator's kindness and the endless examples of design complexity in the universe. But they are determined, ex hypothesis, ex hypothesis, they're determined not to admit design. When they're in their laboratories, yes, they presume that each part of the body has a purpose. When they're outside, they spin this philosophy that there is no purpose. They're not prepared to admit intelligent design behind the marvels of our universe. Why not? Because at heart, they fear to admit the existence of an almighty creator and designer. Because if there is a creator and designer, it carries implications that one of these days each one of us must take our crowns and lay them at his feet. They're faced with the phenomenon of the human br- mind. Marvelous, isn't it? Far more than the mere physical brain, a mind. No, no, say some of them. There's no such thing as a mind. It's sheer stuff, atoms and old juicy chemicals and things, and that's all it is. There's nothing more. And you may think you have a free choice, but that's simply in your genes. You are nothing more than a physical material machine, and that's that. There's nothing more to it. What debunkers they are of life's wonders and marvels, aren't they? Debunking the gifts of God and reinterpreting them. Look at that, they say nature, red in tooth and claw, is nothing but a hideous zoo that we live in. And then it comes to morals. Modernism debunks morals as well, doesn't it? It says they're mere social, uh, social customs. The morals have to be adjusted to the present age. There are no absolute morals. You start admitting absolute morals, and you'll have to admit an absolute God who set them. They're determined to misinterpret God's universe. And what is the end of this kind of intelligence, so to speak? Debunking God's creation, the cynic at his work. Why, the great peak of intellect, as he applies his intellect to studying the universe around him and the human phenomenon, is this. That one day that, that the Earth will be finished. And you are to know, says he, that there is no hope for you. There's nothing beyond it. When the Earth goes fuck, that's the end of everything. That's the end of the show. There is no hope. Marvelous man. He's now used all his marvelous intelligence, the gift of God to him, to understand the universe and make sense of it. He comes to the conclusion with his debunking. Well, a- a- and at the end, the material world will just collapse, one way or the other. It'll just drag down man's intelligence with it. There'll be nothing human intelligence can do to stop it, and brute, mindless matter will smudge out human intelligence, so much for human intelligence. What a disastrous reinterpretation of the universe that is, isn't it? And you can see it's relevant to our topic. Ladies and gentlemen, is there a coming age of peace and glory? Is there a wonderful eternity ahead of us? Is there a God? Is there a purpose in life? What is the very glory of the life we have around us anyway now? What are its values? In modern man's attempt to escape God and his claims upon us, the cynic. You'll notice that Ammon the cynic, he, he got other people to fight his battles for him. He called upon the Syrians to fight the battles for him. When the Syrians were defeated by David, however, Ammon didn't give up. He went on fighting. Have you ever found that? I found it many times. I'm asked sometimes by believers to, would I have a word with their son or daughter? He's gone off to university, maybe, and they once made a profession, but now they're nowhere. So one, as prayerfully as one can, tries to help. And you find the young folks are, they've hired a lot of enemies to fight God. They call in the scientists and tell you that science has made it impossible to be a believer. So you cite a whole list of scientists that are believers, and then you ask, what is this difficulty that science has created that proves that there is no God? And in the end, of course, they can't answer because science hasn't proved it anyway. So enemy number one is laid low. Well, then they turn to social anthropology or something. When that won't do to social science, and then to philosophy. You quote them a whole list of modern philosophers that are believers in God. And philosophy gives up. Do you suppose they give up for this? No, their difficulty wasn't intellectual to start with. It was the old cynicism defending the heart that, for one reason or another doesn't want to take and yield its crown to God. Oh, and that's a sorry thing, isn't it? They took the crown off Ammon's head. Oh, where did he get that wealth? Where did he get those jewels, those diamonds, that gold? The whole thing was a gift from God, isn't it? The universe, the gold, the pearls, the silver, everything in it. Indeed, when God made man, he crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of his hands. See what sin ro- reeks in a human heart. Because man wants to keep hold of the crown without acknowledging God and his Christ. In the end, he reduces his own crown to insignificance and tells you there's nothing in it. Life is meaningless. Morals are anybody's guess, and there is no hope. The first enemy we must face is sin. Oh, God help us. Pray for the cynics, that God may open their eyes to the wonder and the health of his creation, and the reality of his existence, and the glory of the hope that lies beyond. We only keep our crown as creatures, as we hand over the crown to the God who gave it. Then there were the sons of the giants. They weren't weak cynics using cynicism to try and protect their inner interests. They were God-defying giants, like old Goliath, who stalked onto the stage of history, uh, dressed in all his big man's armor, big superman, with all his accoutrement, uh, a computerized sword and a shield and everything else you'll see, and ray guns and all those other stupidities that would demin- demolish everybody, and he defies the living God. Technology is the only thing. We can't spend much time on them. We know what happened to Goliath. There will come a couple of giants at the end of the age, when man's proud and limitless defiance of God reaches its peak. There shall come the so-called beast, and he shall stand in open defiance of God, presenting himself to be God. We have watched his predecessors on the stage of history, haven't we? Old Alexander the Great, some of the Roman emperors, Master Hitler, Marxism with its hideous atheism, and we've seen the slavery that such giants bring the people under. That series shall reach its head in the coming day, in the man of sin, openly defying God and then deifying himself. Him shall the Lord Jesus destroy with the breath of his mouth at the manifestation of his coming. We can leave them there. We come to a much more subtle obstacle put in the way by Satan himself. Insinuated into the heart of David the king at this very late stage, an attitude of pride that took the glory to himself. David commanded Joab that he should go and number the people. And Joab, who wasn't renowned for his godliness, was Joab. He, even he protested and said, but no, your majesty, why would you have the people numbered? Why would you do it? Why do you want to know how many people you have? Hasn't God made the promise that they'll be as the sand of the seashore? Why do you want to know that exact number? Yes, well, that was a good question. Why? Why? Why? God knew how many. Why did David need to know how many? You say he needed to know how many Levites he had so he could organize their music. Yeah, yes, do you think that was the answer? There was no harm in numbering Levites, nor soldiers was necessary for the campaign, but to note how many people he had all in his kingdom. David had fallen to the gratification of pride. No accident that this example is the king himself. There are some sins so sophisticated that the drunkard doesn't do them. Drunkard is very rarely given to pride. It's people in high office in the church, in greater danger of yielding to pride. It's a lovely thing to serve the Lord, isn't it? It's wonderful to find the joy that comes and the genuine appreciation of God's people. But how easily we topple over that narrow band into doing it for our own glory. And here was an insidious sin indeed, for it would have ruined the whole age of peace and glory. This was the very sin of the devil, who, being the anointed cherub that covered and standing in the very presence of God, sought to deflect the very glory of God for himself. That is cardinal sin, number one. For if the cynic mocks God and the giant defies God, the vainglorious servant displaces God. Man shall sit upon the throne of the Lord. For whose glory? My brothers and sisters, we have to learn this lesson before we get home, don't we? Fancy having whole ten cities given to you to rule, or a galaxy or two in the age to come. And running it first for God's glory and then slipping a bit and doing it because you enjoy it, no harm in that, and slipping a bit more, and doing it to puff out your own chest and take the glory to yourself. And I mustn't judge your hearts, but I know my own. That tendency to live and work for our own glory, innate in the human heart ever since the fall. We shall have to guard against it all the way home to glory. And here in David's story is an example of what happened. You'll see when David yielded to vainglory, then the people were affected, and that can happen. When preachers get undue fame and are idolized, then it harms the people of God who go after them and treat them like their idols. God's discipline fell upon the nation. But David, thank God, recovered. And his recovery was this. As the discipline happened and the pestilence came, one day his eyes were opened to see the angel with a drawn sword standing over Jerusalem, and his conscience was touched and his heart smote him, and going out into the no man's land under the sword of God, he said, oh God, what have these sheep done? It's not their fault, it's my fault. That your discipline fall on me, that the people may be saved. God, in response, spared the people, but instructed David what he was to do. He was to go to the threshing floor of Jonah the, uh, uh, uh, Jebusite, buy it, and raise there an altar and offer a sacrifice upon the altar. As I say that, you can't help thinking of great David's greatest son, can you? Son of God though he was, even the devil dared to tempt him. And when he couldn't persuade him and tempt him to engage in independence of God and turn stones into bread for his own gratification, then he came with a much more subtle temptation to our blessed Lord and tempted him at the ground of his spiritual activity. He said, in effect, now you're a very good young man. I was stupid, wasn't I, to get you to act in independence of God? That was a crude temptation, that was, I know you know. I- I- I- I admire the way that you refuse to live for your own gratification, you see, and you refuse to make the stones bread, and you're determined to depend on God. That is marvelous in you, young man. You are a lovely, spiritual, glorious, uh, man, you are. You know, I was just thinking that, uh, since you have this determined attitude to be dependent on God, I could suggest a way in which you could do it spectacularly. Why not, when the people are there at their worship in the temple, why not come up on the pinnacle of the temple and cast yourself down, you'll say. And, uh, God has said in his word he'll give his angels charge over you so you'll come to no damage, and they'll bear you up so you don't, um, uh, hurt your foot against the stone. And what a marvelous thing that will be. What a demonstration of faith in God, you see. Step out in faith, young man. Then all the people would come and admire and say, this is magnificent. So they would have done. You just imagine if our Lord had jumped off the temple halfway through the divine service. Well, that would be the end of the divine service, wouldn't it? As all the people rushed out to see this marvelous stunt. And our Lord saw through his sophistication. But who said I was to jump off the temple? You tell me to jump off in faith? Who said jump off the temple? It is written, thou shalt not put God to the test. If God tells me to jump off the temple, then I can launch out in faith. But God hasn't said jump off the temple. And it's for God to command, not me. I shall not put him in that sense to the proof and say, God, I'm going to step off here and you'll have to come behind, else there'll be a disaster. So you'll be obliged to come and help me. No, no, no, no. That's to get our roles reversed. And we take the commanding seat, and God has to come up behind. No, no, man shall sit upon the throne of the Lord. But for whose glory? Our blessed Lord proves him. And it is the marvelous thing that we all remember, can never forget, that when the sword of God's judgment was drawn against us proud for sinners, and we stood under the judgment and threat of God, and our blessed Lord walked out into the no man's land, didn't he? And said, these sheep, they're my sheep. Lord, let your sword fall on me, but spare the sheep. When it was over, and David had bought the threshing ground, said David, this shall be the ground that the temple will be built on. And of course, we can read the parable counter. The great eternal temple will be built on what ground, my brother, my sister? The great eternal temple will be built on the ground of Calvary. And all its praise and all its activity shall arise from that spectacular Savior, who for our sake took our sin and bore its shame and gave the glory to God. What shall I say, said he, as he stood facing Calvary and the cup that he must drink for our sake and the suffering bear for our sin. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Not for this cause I came unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And with those words on his lips, he went to the sacrifice of the altar at Calvary. On that shall the glories of heaven be built and its praises rise forever. But if I mistake not, there is a, there is a practical lesson for us, my brothers, my sisters. We can never add anything to the sacrifice of Christ. Nothing that we can do can atone for our sin. Nonetheless, we are called upon to make sacrifice, aren't we? And Paul has it straight to us as he not only beseeches us, he doesn't go down on one knee and beseech believers to yield their bodies a living sacrifice. There'd be something wrong with God if you had to beseech believers to sacrifice themselves for God, wouldn't you? Must I, my brother? Must I, young man? Must I, as a preacher of God, come down and bow down on my knee and implore you as a believer to live sacrificially for Christ? Otherwise, you won't do it. What's going on with Christ? I have to implore you to yield your body to living sacrifice for the one who died for you. No, no, I shall not do that, says Paul. I exhort you. Like a general with his troops, I command you. I command you by the mercies of God that you yield your bodies a living sacrifice. David went to do it, to offer a sacrifice as he was told. The Jeb- Jebusite said, I- I'll give it to you, David. I'll give you the ground, and I'll give you the animals, and I'll give you the wooden implements, and uh, I'll give you everything. It's a gift, you know, David. He didn't know any theology, or he might have preached to David at that stage, salvation, my boy, is don't worry about that sin of yours and that pride of yours. Salvation is a gift, you know, by faith. That wasn't the medicine David needed. To cure him of his proudful attitude and taking the glory to himself. And David had learned his lesson. No, no, Jebusite, said he, I won't take it as a gift from you. I won't offer to God what cost me nothing. The answer to the temptation of pride is to yield the sacrifice that cost you the last penny you've got. The Christian pathway to glory is the pathway of sacrifice and self-giving, that the glory might be God's. It is a relief after that, isn't it, to come to Solomon, son of David, son of God. My Solomon, said David, is young and is tender. Thank God for that. He hadn't learned to be cynical yet, had he? And he hadn't grown into a God-defined giant. And he wasn't old enough yet to be vainglorious, he was young and tender. And God has told me that he shall build God a house. Oh, thank God for such a son and for such a constructive attitude to life. You'll say, what is the build- the temple going to be built of? Here's the wonderful news. It isn't that when we leave this world behind, we shall say, thank God for that, that's over, let's leave it all, uh, and go up to heaven and find a temple that's been built out of materials we never saw before. There isn't going to be that. Says David, look, I prepared the materials, Solomon. All I want you to do is to put them together and erect them. I prepared the materials. They came from many a battle, many a struggle, many a sacrifice. They came from raw red life. They came from the things of this world, this life, the family, the business. They are the materials out of which God is going to build the eternal tabernacle. Is it not so? Eternal tabernacle is not some fairy castle. It's real. And the marvel is that when God designed to build a temple for his eternity, he didn't start with the best material he could possibly get hold of, did he? He started with a lot of old factory rejects. Sorry if I insult you, but in universal ter- in terms of the university, I think a whole lot of you are a lot of factory rejects, aren't you? You don't carry the label on your chest here, sleeves the wrong size, the buttons on the wrong place, or anything like that, you see. Um, if you are a factory reject, all of us. Marred, substandard, some of us broken. Magnificence of the grace of God is, and instead of doing something completely new, he takes us factory rejects, redeems us, and by his grace and spirit and the gifts in the church seeks to remold us. He's going to finish it one day when every single one of us will be conformed to the image of his son. Magnificent, isn't it? And you shall yet see it again. Some folks ask me, shall we know each other in heaven? Well, I say, will you know yourself when you get there? Will you know who you are? Of course you'll know who you are. You say, I hope I forget my sins. You won't. You won't find yourself attending the choirs of heaven, and as they sing, worthy is the Lamb, for he was slain. You won't find yourself saying, but why ever was he slain? I can't remember now why he was slain, will you? Remember, okay? The slain for you. The sinner. You'll remember it for all eternity. And oh, how you will remember the ways of God with you in life, that redeemed you, brought you to the Savior, cleansed you, sanctified you, justified you through the cross of his Son, sanctified you by his Spirit, came did his Spirit and live within you, and you made the Lord a home in your heart, and he began his gracious work of redemption, forming you until one day you shall shine as a pearl in the very temple of God. Only the building of the temple is not simply committed to the likes of you and me merely. God has appointed his man to build the temple. Delightful, young, tender, son of man, son of David, son of God. In all his unspoiled sinlessness and devotion to God, we bypass Solomon and we think of our Lord. Consider how wonderful he is, you'll see, says the writer to the Hebrews, nothing other than the Son of God. Now Moses was commanded to build God a dwelling place, and Moses was a servant in that dwelling place. Ah, but not so the Son. The Son, not the servant. He's the Son over his own house. Now everything has to be made by somebody, doesn't it? But he that made all things is God, and Jesus is the Son of God. The whole universe made for him, and what's more, he made it. You're his idea, you know. Did you know that? Sometimes I've fallen to wonder whose idea were camels. They seem to me funny things. And then some wicked days I fall to wondering whose idea were you? Jimmy, who thought you up? Well, that's a question to be asked. He that made all things is God, and you're God's idea. And though we have wandered and are broken, God will be loyal to us. His kindness to us is not to be debunked. It is real, so loyal that he gave his son for us. And the universe's architect has us in hand, son over the father's house, to put us together and make us into an eternal temple of the living God. That is the program. What will be our response? David spent his days of early retirement. He could be freed from the sheer politics and the fighting, concentrate on what is, after all, the goal of living. Politics takes second place there, and commerce. This is the goal, to prepare the material for the house of the Lord, to organize and orchestrate the praise of the Levites, to train the administrators, secular and sacred, the whole of life organized around the great building of God, training the old Levites for the work they have to do when the temple is built, training the administrators so that they shall be able to take over the administration of life under Solomon. That was David's idea, and the greater than David is doing it now with us, training us as priests to God to learn how to worship. We stumble a bit at the moment, don't we? But it's going to be better later on. Training the housewife to be faithful in the small things, and then in the colossal things of bringing up a family for God. Training the businessman, that's a headache, how to control the unions and the, and the employees and, and be fair and just. The whole of life being trained and character built and the righteousness of God being built in the hearts of those that seek his kingdom. Until when the day comes, the blessed Lord Jesus will put it all together. And life for eternity shall be around that person of God. The manifestation of God shall work its way through and express itself to all his people, and all their activities come back to the worship of God. Oh, what will it be like? What will it be? To where above and with the Lord of glory reign. What shall it be? I don't know, because God has to speak to us in metaphors, doesn't he? Solomon's reign can give us a little glimpse. On the throne was a man of perfect wisdom, solving life's problems, the answers to the questions of the universe. How lovely that would be to sit by the Lord Jesus as in his stateliness he sits us down at the table and comes himself, girds himself, and waits on us as he has it and serves us. And when we ask him the whys and the wherefores, Lord, why did you allow this, and why did you take me that way, and why the galaxies in space, and and and to hear him explain it. Marvelous, sitting down with Solomon at the table, wasn't it? And uh, now and again he'd give you a lesson in botany. And say, have you considered the hyssop lately that swings out of the wall? We say, excuse me, your majesty, we've got more things to think about, uh, than the hyssop that comes out of the wall. Uh, oh, poor old you, he says. It'd be nice when you retire, wouldn't it, and you are able to explore some of the magnificent marvels of God. Look at this bit of hyssop. Do you see its botanical marvel? Oh, learn to wonder at the glory of God who made it. And look at that gigantic cedar tree. And he spoke of the animals, and oh wow. What will it be to dwell above with the very Lord of creation and let him explain? I'm looking for time off from singing in the choir and have a private session with the Lord, or if he conducts tours, if there are still any galaxies there, to go around and and explore. Now, Lord, why did you have all these galaxies here? You say it's not going to have galaxies. How do you know? There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And the God that created our world and our universe will not be hard up for ideas of a universe that yet shall be. He's going to put it into your hand if you will prove faithful now under his discipline, and you shall reign and administer it with Christ. Oh, what joy that's going to be. And they brought the treasures of the nations, and the old Queen of Sheba brought almug trees, and not knowing what to do, they decided to make, uh, musical instruments out of them. Oh, when Solomon reigned, there was such music as you'd never heard before. Oh, what shall heaven be? There'll be music up in heaven, such as angels never heard. And it will not be just the notes, it will be the, the, the, the texts. Those magnificent words, as the redeemed sing their gratitude to God for the blood of the Lamb. And I must not allow my excited imagination to go. You'll do that yourself. What will it be to dwell above and with the Lord of glory? Praise. It will be all joy and wonder. Would you know a little bit of joy of heaven on earth already? You say, is that possible? Yes. But when David assembled the people at last, and they'd made all the preparations, then David commended them to the Lord in prayer, and there was tremendous joy. I tell you, my brother and sister, I simply reinforce what you have found in life. The most tremendous joy in life is joining with the Savior to prepare the materials for the great house of God that is to be. I look forward to, um, seeing you in glory, my brother, my sister. We shall talk about Northfield, maybe, when we meet, and how proud you will be, with the right kind of proud, to take me to see your crown of rejoicing. We should be walking around the streets one day, around the battlements of heaven, sharply around the walls, and there will be a particular beautiful precious stone, a glint and a glow, refracting the glory of the light of God's presence in all its manifold colors. And I say, oh, that's a beautiful precious stone, that is. Look at that. That's the biggest diamond that ever was, I should imagine. And you will say, with your holy boldness and yet timidity, I tell you, I quarried that for God. That was a rough old diamond when I found it. But I found it by God's grace, and I got it out of the mire and the mess, and I rescued it for God. And thereafter I went and, uh, polished it and cut it. And look how it shines now. Your heaven will be two heavens, won't it? And I shall say, must have cost you a lot, my dear sister, my brother. Did you ever get your fingers cut when you were polishing the old diamond? Well, you say, yes, it... It did cost me a lot. But we won't speak of that, will you? Because, you see, all that I had to start with was God's. All I had to work with, all the gift, all the material came from him, and it was a question simply of giving him back what he gave me, and the glory is his. That will give you the joy for all eternity that you, in some way or other, near or remote, cooperated with the glorious Son of God in preparing the eternal temple of God. My prayer for myself and for you, therefore, would be what David prayed to God. Oh God, we are but pilgrims. Life is temporary. It will not come again on this planet. What shall we do with it? What shall we make of it? God, keep us from being cynics. Put this in the heart of your people and in their imaginations forever, that they give you and give you what they are and all they have in the great work of building the eternal temple to God's praise. So may God bless his word for his name's sake.