Will you please turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter
17.
1 Chronicles, chapter 17.
The first two verses.
And it came to pass, as David dwelt
in his house, that David say to Nathan
the prophet, Behold, I dwell in the house
of Sears, and the ark of the covenant
of Jehovah under curtains.
And Nathan said to David, Do all that
is in thy heart, for God is with
thee.
Chapter 22.
Chapter 22, verse 2.
Or verse 5.
And David commanded to collect the strangers that
were in the land of Israel.
And he sent masons to hew rock stones
to build the house of God.
And David prepared iron in abundance for the
nail, for the doors of the gates, and
for the joints, and brass in abundance without
weight, and cedar trees innumerable.
For the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought
cedar wood in abundance to David.
For David says, Solomon my son is young
and tender, and the house that is to
be built for Jehovah must be exceeding great
in fame and in beauty in all lands.
I will therefore make preparation for it.
And David prepared abundantly before his death.
The same chapter, verse 14.
Or verse 16.
And behold, in my affliction, I have prepared
for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand
talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents
of silver, and of brass and iron without
weight, for it is in abundance.
And timber and stone have I prepared, and
thou shalt add to it.
And there are workmen with these in abundance,
hewers and workers of stone and timber, and
all manner of skillful men for every kind
of work.
Of the gold and silver and the brass
and the iron there is no number.
Arise and be doing.
And Jehovah be with you.
Chapter 29.
Verse 1.
Or verse 5.
And King David said to all the congregation,
Solomon my son, the one whom God has
chosen, is young and tender, and the work
is great.
For this palace is not for man to
be for man, but for Jehovah Elohim.
And I have prepared according to all my
power, for the house of my God, gold
for things of gold, and silver for things
of silver, and brass for things of brass,
iron for things of iron, and wood for
things of wood, or next stones and stones
to be set, blistering stones and of diverse
colors, and all manner of precious stones, and
white marble in abundance.
And moreover, in my affection for the house
of my God, I have given of my
own property of gold and silver, for the
house of my God, over and above all
that I have prepared for the house of
the sanctuary, three thousand talents of gold, of
the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents
of refined silver, to overlay the walls of
the houses, gold for things of gold, and
silver for things of silver, and for all
manner of work by the hands of artifice.
And who is willing to offer to Jehovah
this day?
We go back to chapter twenty-eight, verse
eleven.
And David gave to Solomon his son the
pattern of the courts, and of his houses,
and of his treasures, and of his upper
chambers, and of his inner chambers, and of
the house of the mercy seat, and the
pattern of all that he had by the
Spirit, of the courts of the house of
Jehovah, and of all the chambers round about,
for the treasuries of the house of God,
and for the treasuries of the dedicated things,
and so on and so forth.
Then we come to verse nineteen.
All this said David, in writing, by Jehovah's
hand upon me, instructing as to all the
works of the pattern.
Two months ago, we mentioned that David is
a man after God.
And this is in a very special way
expressed in his preparing a house.
We mentioned how David, after he ascended the
throne of all Israel, the first thing he
did, he went to take Jerusalem.
Evidently he must have received a revelation from
God that Jerusalem was the place of God's,
even before the children of Israel entered into
the promised land.
In Deuteronomy, God told the children of Israel
that after they entered into the promised land,
God will choose one place out of all
the places in the promised land where he
will set his name there.
And to this place, all the children of
Israel must go to offer sacrifices and to
worship.
But after hundreds of years, no one knew
what that place was until David came to
the throne.
And the first thing he did, he took
Jerusalem.
Because Jerusalem was the place where God set
his name.
And to that place, all Israel went to
sacrifice.
And Jerusalem, the city of peace, by God's
name.
And the second thing he did was, he
prepared a tent among Zion.
And he removed the ark of God from
Kirtijerim to the tent he prepared among Zion.
Zion is where the royal palace was.
Zion always represents the throne.
And the ark being removed to Zion in
the tent of David speaks of the authority
of God being set.
And thirdly, we find he did something wrong.
He numbered the people.
And because of that, a plague came upon
the whole nation.
But when David saw the age of destruction
over Jerusalem, he repented before God.
And he cried to the Lord and said,
It is my fault, not the people's.
Stare the people and strike them.
And God said, You go up to Mount
Moriah where the angel appeared and filled them
all and the plague was stopped.
So he went to Mount Moriah and there
on the prescient floor he filled them all.
Call upon the name of the Lord and
the plague was stopped.
And we know this was the site.
So brothers and sisters, here you'll find in
these three places Jerusalem, Zion, and Moriah.
Jerusalem, where God's name is written.
Zion, where God's throne is set.
Moriah, where the altar of God.
And all these three, you will find are
a kind of preparation for the building of
the house of God.
Because the temple will be built on the
site and it will be joined to Zion
and it will be in Jerusalem.
So brothers and sisters, in preparing for the
house of God, first, God's people must come
together under the name of the Lord Jesus
and no other name.
And second, God's people must be under the
throne of God.
The throne of God must be set in
Zion.
And third, there must be the altar.
That is to say, there must be dedication,
consecration unto the Lord with whole hearts.
And these are preparations for the building of
God's house.
Now this evening we would like to continue
on with David's preparation for the house.
Number one, David was in his palace and
one day he talked to his prophet Nick.
He said, how can I live in a
house of Seder and the ark of God
still remains?
It is true that David had removed the
ark from Kerdigere, the field of the forest,
hidden, forgotten by the children of Israel.
But David moved the ark of God to
Mount Zion.
That is to say, God was placed in
his rightful place among his people.
David did a great deal for God but
still David's heart did not give him rest.
He said, how can I live in a
house of Seder in a permanent palace and
the ark of God, which represents God himself,
his glory, his presence, was still under Kerdin
in a temporary dwelling.
And you remember, according to Psalm, he said,
I will not allow my eyes to close.
I will not allow myself to go to
sleep until I will find a place for
God, an habitation for God.
That is David's heart.
Other people may say they have done much
for the Lord.
The Lord was forgotten, the ark was forgotten,
and now it was in its rightful place.
What more could I do?
But not with David.
Because David's service unto the Lord is not
a matter of duty.
It is a matter of life.
You know, brothers and sisters, sometimes we do
serve the Lord.
But sometimes our service is motivated by duty.
We feel there is something that we must
do.
Being a Christian, being one who belongs to
the Lord, there are certain things that we
have to do.
Now, if we do not do these things,
we haven't done our duties.
How often our service to the Lord is
a matter of duty.
So far as duty is concerned, probably David
could say, I have done my duty.
David's service unto the Lord was motivated by
love.
And because it was motivated by love, he
couldn't rest until he did everything he could
to satisfy God.
Until he did what God really wanted.
But dear brothers and sisters, you know one
thing.
God had never asked for a house.
But David had this desire to build God
a house.
And he told Nathan about it.
And Nathan said, go ahead and build it,
because the Lord is with you.
You know, when the Lord is with you,
you have certain liberty.
But the word of the Lord came to
Nathan and said, go and tell my servant
David, you say you want to build a
house for me.
I have never asked for it.
All these years, I have traveled with the
children of Israel through the wilderness and even
in the promised land, from one place to
another.
I have never asked anyone.
I have never asked any judge, any leader,
to build me a house.
I have never said it.
I have never required it.
And yet you want to build a house
for me.
Does it mean that God did not want
it?
If we read behind the words, we know
that God really desired for a house.
But somehow He never did.
As if He was waiting for someone who
could understand His heart so perfectly to do
it, and offer to do it for Him.
And God was wondering if sometimes such thing
happens to you.
Probably there is someone whom you love very
much and who loves you very much.
Do you think you will tell that person
everything you want?
If you tell that person everything you want,
and even if he will do everything that
you have said, he is only doing what
you tell him.
But if you really love that person and
that person really loves you, oftentimes the thing
that you really want, you never say it.
You don't need to.
You don't want to make it as a
matter of duty.
You want that person who loves you and
knows you so well that he will volunteer
to give it to you.
And when he does volunteer to give it
to you, it touches you.
Isn't that something sometimes in our human relationship,
you will have such thing like this?
Here was something that God wanted above all
things.
He wanted to dwell among His people permanently.
But He never came out.
He never came out and asked anybody to
build a house for Him.
He said He never did.
Not even to David.
He was waiting and waiting until someone like
David, who knew God so well, who knew
His heart so well, that would take the
initiative as it were and say, now Lord,
I'm going to build a house for You.
We often say in spiritual things you cannot
take the initiative.
In spiritual things there is no liberty for
man to do what he likes.
For instance, in the building of the tabernacle,
God did not give Moses any leeway.
God told Moses just everything concerning the tabernacle
and did not allow him to change a
bit.
So we often say in spiritual things man
could not take initiative.
Man could not just do whatever they think
is good for God.
In spiritual things you need to wait upon
the Lord.
You need to know what God wants.
You need to do everything according to His
specification.
Brothers and sisters, this is true.
Very true.
And yet, very subtle.
According to God's purpose, surely God desired to
have a house, but according to experience.
God did not come out and say it,
but somehow God will so work in a
life until that life understands God perfectly and
volunteers.
As if He takes the initiative, but actually
He is just doing what He knows He
is doing.
So there is no contradiction.
It is still according to His purpose.
But this purpose is to be known by
a life.
And when this purpose is known, you offer
to Him.
You do not wait until God says.
Why?
Because behind everything is this matter.
Brothers and sisters, He
wants to make His people, He wants to
rest among His people permanently.
Not just as a guest.
But this is something that we have to,
as it were, guess.
Actually there is no guessing.
Because you know Him so intimately, you know
what His heart is.
And when you know it, it is for
you to volunteer.
It is for you to take the initiative
as if you are suggesting to God, but
you are suggesting to God only what He
has revealed.
This is the same principle in prayer.
In prayer.
How do we pray?
Sometimes it is as if we are taking
the initiative.
We are asking God for something.
We are praying for something.
But true prayer is you first receive from
His heart.
You know Him so well.
You know that is His will.
And you just pray for His desire.
But it is you who are praying.
So dear brothers and sisters, in our love
towards the Lord.
This is something that we need to know
the Lord's will.
This is something that we need to voluntarily
and not something that must be told definitely.
Here you find it.
God did not tell him to build a
house for God.
But he volunteered to build it.
Now, think of the children of Israel.
When they came back from Babylon there is
captivity as you know.
In Assyria.
And in Hadea.
When the remnant came back to Jerusalem to
rebuild a house, there was a command.
God commanded through King Cyrus that anyone of
his people that were in captivity wanted to
go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple
of God may do so.
But unfortunately, only a remnant of the Jewish
people returned.
Most people remained in captivity.
There was a command from God but they
didn't.
But those who did obey, they came back.
But when they started to build the temple
they met with opposition.
So they stopped the work.
For about 14 years.
And during those 14 years, you know what
they did?
Instead of building the house of God they
were all building their own houses.
So finally God said, the prophet Hadea to
them and said, you say this is not
the time to build the house of God.
You do not give up building the house
of God but you just say this is
not the time to build the house of
God.
It is time for you.
Is it for you to live in your
houses with ceilings and the house of God
in ruin?
Examine yourself.
You sow much but you reap a little.
You eat a lot but you're still hungry.
You drink a lot but you're still thirsty.
You close yourself but you don't get the
water.
You earn your wages but your wages are
as if it were put in a bag
with holes.
Because you put your house first and God's
house.
With David God did not even need to
command him and he would offer to build
God a house.
But with the remnant that returned from Babylon
they were commanded to build the house of
God and yet they said it wasn't the
time.
It wasn't the time.
Oh brothers and sisters we need to be
exercise.
Is this the time that we build our
own houses and let the house of God
lies in ruin when David offered to build
God a house?
God said I am deeply touched but you
are not going to build it.
Wait a minute.
Let me build your house first.
You cannot overcome God.
When David wanted to build God a house
God said wait a minute.
Let me build your house first and after
I have built your house then your house
is able to build my house.
This is a principle in the Bible.
If we put God first he would build
us up in order that we may build
for God.
But if we put ourselves first if we
put our house first and the house of
God so how we meet as
the chorus we sing he first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all these
things shall be added.
Are we here to build our house?
Are we here to put ourselves first and
whatever is left are we here living for
God?
Are we here living to build the house
of God, his church that God may find
rest, satisfying among his people?
Oh brothers and sisters if we seek to
satisfy God's house first God's house first we
will be satisfied.
If we don't no matter how much effort
we put for ourselves there is always an
emptiness unfulfilled there is always something missing.
You will never be fulfilled.
Never be fulfilled.
His house first and the result was God
built it.
God gave him a son Solomon.
God put his son Solomon on the throne.
God established his kingdom and by that after
David offered to build God's house and God
said wait you are not to do it
but your son is to do it.
Now probably if we are in that position
what we will do so what else can
I do?
I will just sit back and enjoy myself.
Even though he was rejected as it were
by God to build the house himself for
the building.
He was not allowed to build it because
he was a man of war.
He shed too much blood.
But he prepared.
He did not just say well since God
did not want me to build it all
right I will leave it to my son
to do it.
He prepared all the materials that were needed
for the building of the house.
He said my son Solomon is young and
tender therefore I must prepare.
I must make everything ready for the house.
And how did he prepare?
He said in my affliction in my affliction
I have prepared a hundred thousand talons of
gold a thousand thousand talons rare than iron
innumerable.
Think of it.
He said in my affliction not in my
peaceful days.
David was a man of war.
He fought many battles.
He went through many afflictions.
He was opposed by many enemies.
But in his many fightings in his many
battles in his afflictions oh he prepared such
an abundance of every time he was
afflicted every time he went to war every
time that God was with him and he
overcame the enemy he got the spoils.
Did he take the spoils for himself?
The best of the spoils for we are
God.
We are not only to build God's house
but we are the material for the building.
We are as living stones being built up
together into a spirit house out
of the spoils of our battles.
Set apart after
we have believed in the Lord.
If we have a heart do not think
that because you have a heart for the
Lord therefore the Lord will give you smooth,
easy because you
love the Lord you will go through many
testings.
You will go through many trials.
You will go through many temptations.
You will go through many conflicts.
You will go through many afflictions as it
were.
A Christian life is not an easy life.
It is a life of conflict.
How our flesh will be in conflict with
the spirit.
How the world will be in conflict with
us.
How the enemy of God will try to
tempt us and lead us astray.
You find that a Christian life is like
a war.
Like a warfare.
In affliction.
Much affliction.
And sometimes you wonder why God allows...
Why doesn't God give you a very peaceful,
restful, smooth, easy life?
Why is it that God allows all these
circumstances, all these trials, all these conflicts to
come to your way?
Why?
You wonder why.
Is it because God does not love you?
We will say He loves us.
He will protect us.
He will shield us from all these things.
We are put into much affliction because without
affliction there will not be sorrow.
And if there is no spoil, there is
no material for the building of Christ.
It is through these trials and testings and
temptations and conflicts that we learn Christ.
These are the spoils and with what we
have gathered by overcoming our enemies.
These are the materials for the building.
Some people do not have much material for
the building of God's house.
This is the cause.
In other words, if your life is defeated,
you don't have the spoil.
Then you have nothing for building the house
of God.
But every time, by the grace of God,
you win a victory.
Remember, whatever is left is your spoil.
And that is the very thing that David
in his affliction gathered.
A hundred thousand gold.
Tons of gold.
You cannot imagine the amount.
A thousand thousand tons of silver.
Brad's an eye of innumerable.
And out of his afflictions he got all
these things.
Wars after wars, wars after wars, much spoil
for the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, do not be discouraged.
If you are in trial, just look up
to the Lord and out of the trials
will come for spoil for the Lord.
That is the way to gather material, what
you learn of the Lord, what you learn
of your son, what you learn of the
enemy, what experience you have, what you learn
of the Word of God.
These are the things that really often David
said.
Not only out of my affliction I prepare
these.
But he said, out of my affection.
There is not only the affliction, but there
is the affection too.
There is not only the spoil out of
battle, but there are the goods that he
accumulated during peaceful days.
So he said, out of my affection for
the house of God I have taken out
of my own possessions, my own property, my
own possessions, I have taken out of my
own possessions three thousand talents of gold of
Ophir.
That is the best gold.
And seven thousand refined silver.
Not just silver, but refined silver.
Over and above all that I have done.
You know, our life is not all battles.
If our life is all battles, we will
be exhausted.
God knows.
You will go through a time of battle
and go again.
And then a time of fighting, and then
a time of peace.
So you find God knows how to lead
us.
And when you are in battle, you gather
spoil for the Lord.
When you are at rest, you accumulate possessions
for the Lord.
In your quiet time.
In your personal life with the Lord, communion
with the Lord.
In the quiet and peaceful days, you learn
of Him.
And what you learn of Him, all of
it, gold of Ophir and refined.
And this you can offer to the Lord.
I have done, I have prepared all things.
Now David being a king, he had lots
of power.
In other words, he could do a lot.
And that's the reason why you find such
a large amount of materials he prepared.
Because he said, according to my power.
He was not just doing a little for
the Lord.
No.
He did all at his power.
Karmasta.
You remember what?
When Aurora was sitting at the table, she
came to the Lord.
She broke the alabaster glass.
And Judah, who
loved money very much, he became displeased.
And he said, why this waste?
This pound of lard could be sold for
thirty pieces of silver.
Why not sell it?
And if you really want to do something,
you sell it and give to the poor.
Why waste it upon the Lord?
And you remember what?
She had done all she could.
She had only a pound of pure lard.
That's all she had.
That's all she could do.
And she did it all.
It is not in the land.
It is the Lord.
One day, you remember, our Lord was standing
by the offering boxes in the court of
the women.
And people came in to offer, you know.
And probably because the Lord was standing there,
some people would lift their money high up
so it would drop down and make a
bigger noise.
And probably wanted the Lord to see how
much they had offered.
The Lord said, Until a widow.
She was so ashamed of herself because she
had so little.
It's more
than all.
Nothing.
Brothers and sisters, have we done?
The Lord does not require that.
And then, not just for that.
But in our lives.
Why?
Because.
So brothers and sisters, hear the second thing.
Prepare.
Let's prepare the material for the building of
God's house.
In time of peace.
And in time of peace.
When we are in communion with the Lord,
in quiet.
Or when we are in battle with the
enemy.
Let's prepare the materials.
Lots of them.
Then, third thing.
David not only had the desire to build
God's house.
He had not only prepared such an abundance
of material for the building of God's house.
He also gave the pattern.
If he had the desire.
If he prepared the material.
And he did not have the pattern.
Everything problems.
His desire may be, might be misplaced.
His material will be misused.
And when something is built, it was not
God's pattern.
And God did not by rest it.
So everything will end up in waste.
But thank God.
David said, God showed me the pattern.
And all the things that are connected with
the house.
And God showed me by His Spirit.
Now I don't know how did David receive
all this.
I wonder if in this particular case, David
was more addressed.
Then, you know an architect has the design,
has thus, has the thought, the concept.
But probably a draftsman is to put the
architect's concept into drawing.
The concept is God, not David.
Then God showed David and David just as
a draftsman draw it.
Put it down.
All the specifications.
And with that, Solomon was able to build
a coin.
Brothers and sisters, we need to have a
design.
We need to prepare materials for the building.
Where can we find the pattern of the
house of God today?
It is all.
In the Word of God, we have them.
And by His Spirit, we will be led.
I want to emphasize, number one, we find
all the divine principles concerning the house of
God.
We are not to invent any principles by
which the church of God is to be
built.
Unfortunately, there are many who think they are
clever enough to invent all the principles
governing the house of God.
But how do you apply?
You know, there is a problem.
Some people, they do not read the Word.
They do not keep the Word of God.
They do not try to go to the
Word to find out the principles, divine principles.
They just say, we love the Lord.
We are guided by the Spirit.
As our spirit moves, we will just go
and do it.
But remember, the Holy Spirit cannot be wrong,
but you may be wrong.
The Holy Spirit cannot be wrong, but your
spirit may be wrong.
And what if you are wrong?
You misunderstand this one extreme.
And there is another extreme.
Some people say, Go to the law and
to the testimony.
Give me the verse, and I'll do it.
All right?
You get the verse.
But that's the letter.
The letter kills.
You got the letter, and you're trying to
do it.
Remember, the Word of God is the sword
of God.
If you take the Word of God and
you use it as your sword, you'll cut
people into pieces.
The Word of God must be handled by
the Spirit of God.
Therefore, all the divine principles in the Bible
must be applied by the Spirit of God.
We have these principles, but how are these
principles to be applied?
Let the Spirit of God apply it.
And then you will find everything is living
and real.
It is not just that letter.
You may be very orthodox, you may be
very scriptural, but it's there.
It kills.
Not in any sense despite the principles, divine
principles.
And brothers and sisters, if we are
careful, if we wait upon, if we are
given an understanding of these principles, and if
we learn to be led by the Spirit
of God, He will apply it.
So dear brothers and sisters, and may the
Lord, if
you really love Him, is it not, this
is the law, there
is no compulsion, no force, not just that
letter.
If you really love God, you want to
know Him, then you will say, Lord, oh,
how necessary it is that every day we
are prepared for the building by
His Spirit, that when it is built, it
may be according to Him.
And that's the way they do
constrain us, field us, with our love.
That we may not be removed from the
first love.
Lord, we do not want our relationship with
Him on the basis of duty.
We want our relationship with Him.
Oh Lord, give us understanding so stern as
that we may desire to give to Him.
Lord, do not allow us to do this
just with emptiness.
But teach us how to prepare out of
affliction.
Do reveal to us, my brethren, by my
Spirit.
Deliver us from just the letters.
May we have the letter that everything may
be done to thy heart's satisfaction.