1 KINGS 8 GOD HEARS AND ACTS2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Kings 8 God Hears And Acts

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. This morning as we look at 1 Kings chapter 8, I want to take this time to remind you that you have great access to God. This morning as we look at this passage where Solomon has finished building the temple,

And he finishes the temple and takes some time to pray to God and ask for God to show favor for those who pray at this temple. Solomon had completed this project which was facilitating great access to God for the people of Israel.

That is, that before the tabernacle was there, but, you know, pieces of it were here, pieces of it were there. The tabernacle moved several times. It was a few hundred years old by this point. And in the building of the temple, as God instructed Solomon through his father David...

He kind of brought it central once again to the people of Israel, where they had one place to go, one place to come and worship God and seek the Lord and pray to him and call out to him for forgiveness or for whatever need that they might have.

And so Solomon has completed the temple now, and he's provided for the nation of Israel great opportunity to come to God, to worship God. And it's been a call of repentance to the nation for them to come back to the worship of God. But as we consider these things this morning, of course, Solomon provided great access to God, but you have an even greater access to God because of what Christ has done for us.

In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus spoke of the queen of the south, the woman who came from a great distance because she heard about Solomon's wisdom. And so she went to great lengths and from great lengths in order to be in the presence of Solomon. And Jesus used that to say a greater than Solomon is here. And so if people would go to great lengths to be able to be in the presence of Solomon, even greater

Well, even more important is it for us.

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And so as he completes this, and as we look at this passage this morning, I want to encourage you regarding your great access to God. And I want to encourage you not to neglect that, but to be persistent in coming into the presence of your heavenly father by faith in Jesus Christ. And he will hear your prayers. In verse 27, Solomon asked the question, will God indeed dwell on the earth?

He's recognizing, I've built this temple, and it's magnificent, it's glorious, it's beautiful, but it's

limited. How can God who resides in the heaven of heavens and that cannot contain him, how much less this little building that he has built is the question that he is asking. Can God dwell or will God dwell on the earth? But of course looking back for you and I today we can recognize Jesus being God became man and dwelt on the earth. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And so you

Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Absolutely yes. Jesus became man to dwell among us, to make God approachable for us, that we can have access to the Father by Jesus Christ. And because he became a man to die upon the cross for us. Well, Solomon begins his prayer here in verse 29. And so he's asking the Lord that his eyes would be open toward this temple night and day.

He's dedicating the temple and he's asking for special favor for this place, for this location. He says so that when people come and pray, Lord, would you hear their prayer whenever they pray in this place or when they're not able to be here, when they pray toward this place, Lord, would you hear their prayer? And so God, even though you can't live here today,

The heaven of heavens can't contain you. Will you pay special attention to this place? Would you have your eyes open, your ears open for this place so that when people pray that you would hear them?

Well, in the next chapter, in 1 Kings 9, verse 3, God responds to this request. And he tells Solomon, I have heard your prayer and I've made it so. I've consecrated this house, he says, which you have built to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. And so God says, yes, you've asked that I pay special attention to the prayers that are offered here.

For the prayers that are offered toward this place when they're not able to be here, I will pay special attention. I will have my ears open, my eyes open, my heart will be tied to this place perpetually. And so God promised this special access to him connecting with the temple. Now, Solomon built this magnificent temple and he gave people this great access to God. But as Jesus said, a greater than Solomon is here.

And instead of praying at the temple, at a specific location, or toward the temple, as Solomon requested in his prayer, you and I get to approach our Heavenly Father in Jesus' name. And in Jesus' name, we have greater access to the Father than what was provided by Solomon here at the temple.

Now, in Jesus' name is not just a magic phrase that you say and then everything works as long as you put that name. It's not about saying the three words in Jesus' name. It's about approaching the Father by faith in Jesus Christ and in what he did for us upon the cross.

Consider what Jesus shared with his disciples in John chapter 16. In verse 23, he says, in that day, you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Jesus says, hey, you're not going to ask me for stuff. You're going to ask the Father for stuff in my name.

That is, I'm giving you and I'm providing you, Jesus says, direct access to the Father.

Jesus is the mediator, but it's not that we only speak with Jesus and then he turns around and delivers it. The mediator, Jesus, ushers us into the presence of our heavenly father. And you have direct access to the creator of the heavens and the earth in this way, in Jesus' name, by faith in Jesus Christ. And by faith in Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name, he says, whatever you ask, he will give you. He says, until now you've asked nothing in my name.

You haven't tried this yet. You haven't done this yet. You haven't participated in this. But I'm telling you, Jesus says, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Now, sometimes when people read this verse, they get dollar signs in their eyes and they think, I can ask for whatever I want and God has to give it to me? Well, Lord, I ask for a parking lot full of Corvettes, you know, or whatever. I can just get whatever I want? Well, of course we know that's not what Jesus is saying.

He's speaking to his disciples, and he's saying, if you ask in my name, you approach God by faith in me, then whatever you ask, you will have. It's about a relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And so let me rephrase it this way. You can ask for anything that helps you be the man or woman of God that he has called you to be.

You can ask for anything, anything that you need to be the man or woman that God has called you to be, and you will have that, is what Jesus is saying. Anything that you need, you will have as you ask it of the Father in the name of Jesus. And so some people are kind of let down, like, oh, well, never mind then. But don't you want to be the man or woman

that God's called you to be. Don't you want to be the woman that God has called you to be? Don't you want to experience the fullness of life that he has for you? All the blessings, the promises, the benefits, the participation in the work for his kingdom for all of eternity. Jesus is promising here and he encourages his disciples, hey, you haven't asked yet. You haven't done this yet, but I want you to ask and you will receive that your joy may be full.

And so as I talk about this great access to God this morning, I want to remind you to ask because God hears. And he doesn't just hear your prayer, but he acts and he responds to your prayers as you approach him in the name of Jesus.

Well, we're going to look at some examples from what Solomon prayed there as he was dedicating the temple to understand some of the things that we can pray for as we seek to ask the Father in the name of Jesus. And so the first thing we'll see in verse 31 and 32 is we can ask God to bring justice. Here's what verse 31 and 32 say.

When anyone sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath and comes and takes an oath before your altar in this temple, then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

The first thing that Solomon prays for is a little bit foreign to us, but what we need to understand is that the priests, as well as the tabernacle and now the temple, were part of the legal system for Israel. They had judges for the nation of Israel. They had the judges over the different regions or the elders of the tribes. And so whenever there was an issue, like a legal issue or some type of accusation between people, it would be brought before these judges.

But when the judges couldn't find clear evidence to make a decision, when clear decisions couldn't be made, then they would take that problem, that situation, to the priests. And there they would seek the Lord. They would ask God for guidance and for help. And the Lord would direct them in how to address that situation. And so it was in the instances where insufficient evidence was there to be able to establish a charge.

So if I accuse Dave of stealing from me and, hey, Dave, you took my shorts or you took my belt or you took my phone or whatever, and Dave says, no, I did it. And I take it to the judge. We go before him. I can't prove it. Dave's like, I don't have it. You could search my house. I don't have it. And there's not clear evidence. And so then we could bring it to the Lord. And then the Lord would say, OK, you need to make an oath. Dave, promise. Swear to God that you did not take Jerry's stuff.

And so here what Solomon is saying is when that promise is made, Lord, honor that and deal with the wicked, bring judgment according to what's right, and for the righteous, justify them and protect them from those accusations. And so he's asking God to bring justice in the midst of situations where it's not very clear, it's not easily discernible what's right or who's right and who's wrong.

Now, a quick side note that the Lord had in my heart regarding this thought. As we talk about asking God to bring justice, the implication here is that the first step for justice to be applied is the normal legal means.

That is, first you go to the elder. First you address it through the appropriate channels. And then as it's unclear and you present it to there, and then if it's not able to be resolved, well, then you take it to the temple, to the priest to be addressed in that situation. And so the Lord really had it on my heart to share with you. I don't know...

what you guys might be dealing with. But I'd just like to take a moment and encourage you. You know, sometimes God wants you to act. And sometimes we can just kind of take the kickback, just wait. You know, there's injustice, but, you know, I'll just let the Lord handle it and whatever He wants. But sometimes God wants you to get actually personally actively involved and maybe even take things through legal channels or take things through, you know, appropriate channels in the workplace to address things that are wrong, to address injustice.

All the while, of course, you're asking God to bring justice. But there's this implication here. There's this expectation that first you're also going to be going through the proper channels to address those things. And so I want to encourage you, and maybe you've been wrestling with that, but you need to go ahead and take those steps. Now, of course, Paul...

rebukes the Corinthians for taking believers to court and having that fight, you know, between believers before unbelievers. And so there's certain situations where we need to consider other factors. But if you've been wrestling with whether or not to, you know, address some situations, perhaps the Lord is reminding you this morning that it is appropriate in many cases to take things, you know, to the higher ranks, to the appropriate measures or the appropriate channels to deal with injustice and to make things right.

But we can come to God to ask God to bring justice for us and in our lives. When there is injustice done towards us, when things that are wrong are done to us, we can come to God and ask him to bring justice, to resolve the situation. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, verse 19, "'Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator.'"

He says, look, there's going to be those who suffer according to the will of God. There's things that are done to you, but it's not because you're wrong and you're being punished, but it's just we live in an unjust world. And so there's going to be suffering, even though you're doing what's right and you're walking with God. But he says, here's what you need to do in that situation. Commit your soul to God and continue to do good. Commit yourself to God and continue to do good. He says, as to a faithful creator.

Here's what Peter is saying. God will right all injustices.

You can trust yourself to God and continue doing good. You don't have to do wrong to try to fight the injustice. Continue to do what's right and trust yourself to God because God is a faithful creator and he will bring justice. There is no injustice that God is not going to bring justice to. Whether you consider this in the context of your workplace or the home or the nation or the community or the world, whatever it is, God is going to bring justice

in every situation. And so we can ask God to bring justice. It's something he cares about and it's something that he will take care of. Ask God to make things right. And when you ask God, God hears and he acts.

He does respond as we bring these injustices to God. And so God responded to Solomon, I've heard your prayer and I will act. I will deal with those who take oaths here at the temple. But now as we look at these things, a greater than Solomon is here.

And so we can approach God by faith in Jesus Christ and know for certain he hears your prayer. When there's injustice, when there's wrong that's done, he hears your prayer and he is at work. You can trust yourself to your faithful creator. Well, going on to the verses 33 and 36, we see the second thing that Solomon prays for and that we can also pray for. And that is ask God to forgive you. Check out verse 33 and 34.

He says, He says, okay, now there's going to be a situation where Israel is defeated by their enemies.

Now this was clearly described by God ahead of time in Deuteronomy as one of the consequences of sinning against God and disregarding the word of God. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 15, God tells the people and the people agree to this commitment that if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, then all of these curses will come upon you.

And there God clearly outlined, if you obey, here's all the benefits of obedience. Here's the blessings of walking with God and keeping the law. And then here's the curses. So if you disobey, here's all the consequences. Here's the things that will result if you disregard the word of God. Now, one of the things that God articulated in that was defeat. That they would not be successful or victorious against their enemies, right?

when they are sinning against God and disregarding the word of God. And so Solomon here, as he's establishing the temple, he's presenting it before the Lord and praying this prayer. He says, you know, your people are going to disobey. And as a result, they're going to be defeated because of their sin, because of their rebellion. But when they do sin, when they do experience the defeat or the consequences of their sin,

Solomon says, if they would turn back to you, Lord, what I'm asking is that you would hear them and that you would forgive them. And not just hear them and forgive them, but also deliver them. In verse 34, he says, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people, Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers.

And so there's a deliverance, there's a restoration along with the forgiveness, along with the hearing the prayers. This is grace upon grace upon grace that God hears. First of all, he's not obligated to hear, especially when we are in the mess that we're in because of our own sin. He doesn't have to hear our prayers, but he does.

And then he forgives, which he's not obligated to do, but he is gracious and merciful. And so he forgives. And then on top of that, he will bring deliverance. You know, sometimes we get this idea in our head that we have to make ourselves worthy in order to be able to approach God. As if God is saying to us, look, you've made that mess. So get yourself out of it and then we'll talk. But God doesn't say that. God doesn't deal with us in that way.

when we are in trouble because of our own sin, we're in the mess that we made by our disregard of God's word, we can ask God to forgive us. And when we do, God hears and he forgives and he delivers and restores us. Going on into verse 35 and 36.

It says,

So Solomon goes on to give another of the consequences of sin. Again, these things are given to us in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28, where God outlines the blessings of obedience and the cursings of disobedience. And one of the cursings of their disobedience to God was famine. And so God said, if you disobey me and you run from me, if you're living in sin and being rebellious, then, well, you're going to experience famine.

And here as Solomon prays for this occasion, he's saying, Israel's not going to just disobey one time and so then they experience defeat and then they learn their lesson and they never go back. No, he's recognizing there's going to be seasons of rebellion, not just one season, but seasons. There's going to be different kinds of sin, different seasons and different consequences as a result.

And so in the specific case of famine, he says, when they experience that, and again, notice, because they have sinned. They've put themselves in this mess. They've disregarded your word. And now the heavens are shut up and there is no rain. There's famine in the land. But when they come to their senses, when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin, Lord, would you hear them? Would you forgive them? And then...

Grace upon grace upon grace, would you send rain and bring water upon the land? Ask God to forgive you. Solomon asked God to forgive his people when they prayed this prayer of repentance at the temple, toward the temple. And God responded and said, absolutely, I will. And a greater than Solomon is here. You can approach God by faith in Jesus and you can ask God to forgive you. And he hears you.

your prayer. He hears the prayer of repentance. Again, this is so gracious. And he doesn't just hear the prayer of repentance, but then he forgives. He wipes the slate clean. He washes us from all sin. And then on top of that, more than that, God restores and he brings back victory. He sends forth the refreshing rain. He does an incredible work as we turn back to him, even in

When we're there in that mess because of our own sin. You have great access to God. And let me remind you of 1 John 1, verse 9. Here's the promise from God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You have the opportunity to come to God with a humble heart. Confess your sins. And God is faithful. It's guaranteed. It's guaranteed.

You come to God by faith in Jesus Christ and your sins are forgiven. You will be washed. You will be cleansed. And God will deal with you once again as if you had never sinned. He will deal with you as if you had lived as perfect a life as Jesus Christ. Ask God to forgive you. He hears your prayer and he's at work. He brings forgiveness.

Well, the next thing we see in Solomon's prayer found in verses 37 through 40, we learn here to ask God to meet your needs. Ask God to meet your needs. So you can ask him to bring justice when things wrong are done to you. You can ask him to forgive you when you do things wrong. But sometimes we have needs that are not associated to some particular sin. In verse 37 and 38, he says, when there is famine in the land,

And then he's going to go on to continue the prayer. But here Solomon is giving a variety of different examples.

And the things that he's giving out as examples are not direct results of sin. He's not saying they're experiencing this because they're living in rebellion, but he's describing general problems that we all face because we live in a world that's affected by sin. And so essentially he's saying any difficulty, any type of issue, any type of problem that they face, if they experience that, and he even gives the distinction between things that are widespread and then the things that are personal.

So the famine, the pestilence, the blight, the mildew, the locusts who would eat all of their crops, the enemy besieging them, these were impacting them as a nation or as a community. But then he also says in verse 38, whatever supplication is made by anyone or by all your people, when each one knows the plague of his own heart.

What's plaguing your heart? He makes it personal there. When there's these personal issues, it's not necessarily hitting the whole community or the whole nation, but they have their personal struggles, their personal issues, and maybe personal calamities and devastations. And so there's these difficulties that are faced. And we can consider that also, you know, for us today, that we can...

look to God and call out to God and ask God to meet our needs when there's money problems. And that might be money problems for us as a state or for us as a nation or for us personally as a family or as an individual. We can look at, you know, sickness or issues with our cars or personal emotional issues or difficulty at work. That's the idea here is any type of struggle that we have, any type of issue that we face, well then he says in verse 39, he says,

He says, And so Solomon asked God to hear their prayer for anyone who's in any difficulty and they cry out to God, hear their prayer and act accordingly.

Again, he doesn't just hear and acknowledge and, okay, well, I have information about the trouble that people are in. But then God acts and responds to that prayer. And notice what Solomon says, give to everyone according to his ways. And he attaches that to, he says, you know their heart. So if they're in need of repentance...

but they're refusing to repent and just wanting the deliverance, you know, just wanting the goods without having to pay the price of repentance, well, Lord, you know the heart, so you deal with them according to their heart. You know what's right. You know what's best. But if they're seeking you and they're seeking to love you and to honor you, Lord, hear their prayer and act and give to everyone according to their need. I want to encourage you this morning to ask God to meet your needs. You have needs.

You have struggles. You have things that are going on in your life. And Solomon asked this for the people of Israel regarding the temple. And God said, yes, I will hear and I will act. And a greater than Solomon is here. You can approach God by faith in Jesus Christ. You have struggles. You have difficulties. Some are affecting you personally. Some are affecting society as a whole. You can approach God personally.

You can call out to him and ask him to meet your needs. And when you do, he hears your prayer and he is at work. One of the verses we love to quote is in 1 Peter 5, verse 6 and 7. He says, You know how you do that?

You call out to God and ask him to meet your needs. You cast your care upon him. You humble yourself by recognizing and declaring to God, God, I can't handle these situations. I can't handle this difficulty. I don't have what it takes. I'm not sufficient for this. I can't resolve this. I'm hopeless. I'm helpless without you. And I'm casting my care upon you.

knowing that you care for me. Did you know that God cares for you? You're so important to him. He cares for you. He wants what's best for you. And as we saw on Wednesday evening, I think it was last Wednesday, maybe it was last Sunday, but I was making the point that God moves heaven and earth. He moves heaven and earth for you to work all things together for good, to accomplish what's best for you as you love him and walk with him. And so cast your care upon him.

It doesn't matter if it's what you would consider big or small. Cast your care upon him. Whatever you wrestle with, whatever you struggle with, ask God to meet your needs. And he will hear and he will act because he cares for you.

Point number four now in verses 41 through 43. Here we can see that we need to ask God on behalf of unbelievers. And I think this is an interesting point that he makes here. In verse 41 he says,

For they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your outstretched arm when he comes and prays toward this temple. And we'll continue the prayer in a second. But here we see Solomon is asking God to hear prayers from people who are outside of Israel. So up to this point, he's been talking about the nation of Israel.

He's been talking about those who, if they were not national Jews, they weren't born from the line of Abraham, but they had converted to Judaism, and so they'd become part of the nation of Israel and worship God. So up to this point, it's been those people. But now he's talking about those who are outside, the foreigners, those who are Gentiles, those who are of other nations who worship.

otherwise would be worshiping other gods. He says, look, they're going to hear about you, God. And this temple that I've built in your name, it's going to, you know, word's going to spread and people are going to hear about it. And so people from far off places are going to come and they're going to pray to you at this temple. And he says, my request is that you would hear their prayer. When they come, when they come to you and pray, would you hear their prayers? Remember when Jesus said,

was furious at what was taking place at the temple and he turned over the tables of the money changers and was driving out the the animals and that were being sold for sacrifices jesus was upset over that and he exclaimed it's written my house is to be called a house of prayer

Because what was happening is the courtyard where the Gentiles, the other nations, would be able to come to pray to God and seek God and try to hear from God is where this commerce and this really thievery was taking place. I like the way that Dave Guzik puts it. He says it was more like a swap meet than a house of prayer.

And so nations would come, but they would have a hard time really spending some quiet time with God and praying to God because there was all this commotion and thievery and things that were going on. God desired for other nations to come to know him, to hear from him, to seek him, and to experience the reality that he is alive.

And so Solomon says, when they come, they're going to hear about you. They're going to hear about your works. They're going to hear about all you do. And so when they come, verse 43, would you hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name. And so Solomon says, when these foreigners come and they pray, Lord, hear their prayers.

And would you do what they're asking of you? Would you answer those prayers? Now, he gives an explanation here as to why he's asking this. He says there in verse 43, that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you. And so he's got a missionary mindset here. Lord, would you answer their prayer so that they would know you're real?

so that your fame would spread, so that people would know that you are alive and that you are the one true and living God. Pretty interesting. Solomon asked God to answer their prayer that they would know that he is real, that he is God.

You know, this is really a big part of the vision that God's given us for the prayer shirts that we have, for the ask us to pray for you bracelets and pens and canopy. And that whole general thought is along those lines. That as we come in contact with those who do not know the Lord, and as they have needs, as they have struggles, as they have issues, and God gives us the opportunity to pray with them and to pray for them,

That's the idea, that we would be praying that God would be working, that they would recognize, that they would know that He is real, that they would have the opportunity to turn to Him. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to ask God on behalf of unbelievers.

Israel was called to be the light of the world. And so this was meant to be a draw. It was meant to be people would hear about these are God's people and they live this way and God works this way. And it was meant to be that people would know that they would wonder, that they would question, that they would go to see for themselves and discover the reality of the true and living God. That was the nation of Israel. But since Christ has come, he's called the church to be the light of the world.

And so it's appropriate and it's right for the world around us to ask us to pray. It's appropriate and right for them to seek God by connecting with us, those who profess to know God and have relationship with God. And so ask God on behalf of unbelievers. Let them know, hey, I'm going to pray for you in this struggle that you have, in this issue that you're facing, in these things that you're dealing with. I'm going to pray for you. Now, of course, answered prayer is not a guarantee that someone will believe.

Even if the Lord raises someone from the dead, it didn't guarantee that people would believe. But sometimes God uses that as a means to bring people to awareness, to open their eyes to the reality of who he is, to give them an opportunity to turn to him.

Now, Solomon asks for the Lord to honor the prayers of these foreigners that were brought here to the temple. And the Lord said, I will hear. My heart, my eyes, my ears will be attentive. But you and I today, we approach God by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have the opportunity to lift up the prayers and the needs, the difficulties of those around us. And we can know that God hears our prayer and he is at work. And so it's a good opportunity for us to let others around us know that God is alive.

Well, moving on now to verse 44 and 45, we can ask God to resolve conflict. Ask God to resolve conflict. Verse 44 says, So now Israel goes to battle.

Solomon says, when they cry out to you, when they call out to you as they go to battle, would you hear their prayer and maintain their cause? Help them to have victory. Now, notice he is pretty specific here in verse 44. He says, when your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you send them. So he's specifically talking about battles that God sends the children of Israel to fight. Battles that he calls them to go out and have. And so these are

battles that are part of the will of God, which of course God had for them, and he did send them to battle. He did use them to bring correction to peoples and to deal with injustices in the world around them. But there are also battles that Israel just engaged in of themselves because they wanted to and not because God sent them. We have a great example, of course, of Josiah.

In 2 Chronicles 35, Josiah was a great king. He's like one of those awesome kings. He brought revival to the nation, but he ended his life kind of foolishly. As Egypt was going out across the way to go to battle, Josiah went to battle against Egypt. And it wasn't something that God had called him to do. In fact, the king of Egypt sent to Josiah and said, look, God's called me to battle these other people. He hasn't called me to fight with you. Don't get in the way. He says, if you meddle,

or he says, refrain from meddling with God who is with me, lest he destroy you. But Josiah didn't listen, and he went out to battle against Egypt anyways, and it ended up costing him his life. And so there are those battles that, you know, they might have just went into because they wanted to, or they thought it was necessary, but they weren't being instructed to go by the Lord. But when they go to battle, Lord, when you send them,

Lord, would you maintain their cause, give them victory in those battles? In a similar way, you and I, we can engage in battles as God sends us, and sometimes we engage in battles that God didn't call us to be part of. We need to learn the distinction and learn to be led by the Lord. But here's the cool thing. You may like conflict, you may like battles, or you may not. But when you go to battle under the direction of God, you can ask God,

to resolve that conflict. You can ask God to give you victory. You can ask God to maintain your cause, and God will hear you, and God will act. Now again, some battles are not battles that God has sent to us. And if you're involved in a battle that God hasn't been called you to fight in, the best path for you is humility and surrender. It's hurtful to our pride to surrender and to be humble, but

But if God hasn't called you to the battle, then just surrender. Don't try to battle in things that God hasn't called you to fight. Best thing to do is just surrender. But sometimes God does call you to fight. He does want you to address and deal with issues and address conflict. And so in those situations, you can ask God to maintain your cause, to resolve that conflict. And you know what's amazing? How many times God will resolve the conflict before you even have to fight?

Because we're fighting a spiritual battle. Remember Paul said we're not wrestling with flesh and blood. As we call out to God and ask God to resolve conflict, he's at work and he's dealing with the spiritual realm, which is the real issue.

And so many times, I can't tell you how many times it's happened. It's happened more times than I could count where I know there's going to be a difficult conversation. I know there's going to be a battle that needs to be fought individually, you know, some conflict that's going to happen. And I'm praying, I'm seeking him, I'm calling out to him. And then I show up to the conversation and I find out the battle's already been won. That actually the conversation that I've been dreading for a week, you know, is not actually a conflict anymore. But

But God's already got the victory. It's like when Jehoshaphat was called out to battle by God and he put the worship leaders in the front and they went out worshiping the Lord. And then when they got to the battlefield, they found the enemy had already been defeated. Many times God works that way. And so ask God to resolve conflict.

Doesn't mean that sometimes he doesn't call you to fight. Sometimes you're going to get to the battlefield and yeah, the battle is going to be just as intense as you feared. But sometimes he also works ahead of time. Either case, when he calls you to fight or when he takes care of the battle before you, you can come to God and ask God to resolve that conflict. A greater than Solomon is here. You can approach God by faith in Jesus Christ and know that he hears your prayer and he is at work as you go out to battle.

Well, the final point we find in verses 46 through 53, and we're not going to hit every verse in that passage, but let's start out by reading verses 46 through 48. The point is, ask God to show compassion. Verse 46 says, when they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near.

Verse 1.

It seems like Solomon got more and more wordy as the prayer progressed. But here it's similar to the previous point. They are in sin, but it seems that he's talking about a situation where they're further along in the process. So it's not just that they've been in sin and so they've experienced defeat.

but that they've continued in sin beyond the defeat and experienced more judgment, more consequences, and now they're at rock bottom. Now they're at the end of the line, and now they are in captivity as a result of their continual, persistent rebellion against God.

And this is the way that God often works in our lives. He brings greater and greater destruction, greater and greater judgment for sin, so that he gives us opportunity to repent. And in that way, he gives us opportunity to repent with the least amount of judgment possible. You know, he could just take us all into captivity. He could just bring maximum judgment instantly. And

He would be just in doing that. But he's often slow. He lets us experience the hardship and the consequences little by little so that we have opportunity to return to him. Even if we go all the way to the end, if we hit rock bottom, that's what he's talking about here. When they sin, they're in captivity. But then notice in verse 47, he says, yet when they come to themselves, have you ever had that kind of awakening? Suddenly you realize, what on earth have I been doing?

I've been living in this sinful pattern. I've been practicing this thing. I've been engaged in this. And how did I get this far? How did I let this happen? I mean, I know better than this. That's the idea here. When they come to themselves, they come to their senses, they realize, what have we done? We've neglected God. We've turned from God. We've engaged in sin. We knew better. But why do we do this? He says, when they come to themselves, and then in verse 48, and when they return to you with all their heart, they

Verse 49, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. And forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions with which they have transgressed against you, and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them. So here's what he prays. When they've sinned and they've continued in sin, they've hit rock bottom because they've refused to repent, they've

Then there at the bottom, they come to themselves. They come to their senses and they call out to you. They return to you. Lord, would you hear them? Would you forgive them? And would you grant them compassion? The word compassion, it's a mercy or it's a kindness that comes from sympathy. Lord, would you look on their situation and would you sympathize with their hurt, with the pain, as they're dealing with the consequences of their sin? Would you show kindness to them?

You might think of God looking at you in the middle of the mess that you made and say, you got what you deserved. But now Solomon says, would you look at them and just, would you ache for the ache that they have? Would you hurt for the hurt that they have as they're experiencing the consequences of sin? And God responded again the next verse or next chapter. He says, I've heard your prayer. I'll do those things. When people go to that length, they're deep in sin and

But they returned to me. Oh, grace upon grace upon grace. You've gone into captivity after insisting on rebellion after many, many warnings. But God says, I will still hear you. That's grace. Not only will I hear you, but I'll forgive you. That's grace upon grace. And then not only will I hear you and forgive you, but I will show you compassion. That's grace upon grace upon grace that God promises for those who turn back to him from the midst of sin.

There was a king by the name of Manasseh later on, a long time after Solomon. He was the king of Israel, most wicked king that the nation had. And he experienced this. He went into captivity because of his sin, ignoring all the warnings. But there in the midst of captivity, he called out to the Lord. You can read about it in 2 Chronicles chapter 33. And as he called out to the Lord, it says that God heard his prayer and

And he brought him back to Jerusalem, and he was reinstated as king over the nation. It's incredible, the mercy and the grace of God. Solomon says, would you show compassion to your people who are so deep in sin? They've come to the end of the line in their rebellion against you. And God says, yep. And then he proved it with Manasseh. And today, as we consider these things, we can reflect on the fact that a greater than Solomon is here.

And so no matter how far you've gone away from God, no matter how far you run, you have the opportunity to ask God to show compassion by faith in Jesus Christ. And he hears your prayer. And so if you come to your senses one day and you're deep in sin, you're just, I can't even believe how I got here. It's not too late to turn back to him no matter how far you've gone. Ask God to show you compassion. And he will. He will hear and he will act.

We have great access to God. And we can bring to God whatever's happening with our hearts, whatever's happening in our minds, whatever's going on with us. These are some examples that Solomon gives as he's dedicating the temple. There's others perhaps that you would add to this or maybe things that you're struggling with that aren't exactly articulated here. But the Lord wants you to know whatever it is, you can bring it to God. God hears your prayer and he acts on your behalf.

Because you are a child of God. You're his child. He loves you. He cares for you so greatly. And he invites you to come in and bring whatever it is. Cast your cares upon him. You're dealing with injustice? Ask God to bring justice. Ask God to forgive you if you've been dealing with sin. You have needs that are in your life, maybe great needs. You don't even know how you're going to meet all those needs. You don't know how you're going to resolve the situation.

Ask God. He hears and He acts. You can ask God on behalf of the unbelievers around you that He would work in their lives, that they would know Him. You can ask God regarding the conflicts that you face and when you're at the end of the line, taking sin to the full route, rock bottom, you can ask God for compassion and God will hear and God will act. We want to close out the service this morning with

a couple of worship songs. And so Ronnie's going to come up and lead us. And I want to encourage you as he leads us in these couple songs, you don't necessarily have to sing. Take this time to pray, to come to God by faith in Jesus. And just take advantage of this incredible access to God that you have and present whatever's on your heart, whatever you're dealing with, whatever you're struggling with, present it to the Lord.

I also want to give you the freedom. If you want to pray with someone next to you or someone around you, go ahead and do that. You can grab them and you can pray together about whatever it is that's going on in your life. Let's take this time to just refresh ourselves and remind ourselves in the great access that we have to God to lift up our needs before him, knowing that he hears us and he acts on our behalf. Let's worship the Lord and seek him together in prayer.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.