Lord Jesus, in everything, we want your will
to be done.
We'd hate to do something which is contrary
to thy will.
But we'd like to stay in the center
of thy will.
And that thou mightest be able to glorify
thyself.
In these weeks, I have been much exercised
by the temple of God.
Because we so easily think of that beautiful
temple which was built in Jerusalem.
The temple which King Solomon built.
But the architect of that temple was David.
And if it would have gone according to
David, he would have built it.
But that wasn't the will of the Lord.
God wanted his son to build the temple.
And we all know out of God's word
that the temple of the Old Testament has
only been a symbol of that what God
intended with the temple.
But we can learn so much out of
the Old Testament concerning the temple and apply
it to your and my life.
Because in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 16 we
read, for you are the temple of the
living God.
You and I are the temple of the
living God.
And God says, I will dwell in them
and walk amongst them.
What a privilege that you and I can
be the temple, the dwelling place of the
living God.
And he says, I will dwell in them
and walk amongst them.
That's where he is and that's where he
is this morning.
That's where he is supposed to be in
all the congregations over the whole world.
And if we read on, we read, I
will be their God and they shall be
my people.
And that is my desire for all of
us, that we might truly be the temple
of God, the dwelling place of him.
And I think that's what we are busy
with, each and every one of us, in
building the temple of God.
Which exerts much, much time and dedication.
If we read in the Old Testament, for
how many years David planned the temple of
God.
That was his wish, that was his longing,
to build a place where God could live.
And I think that is so important that
we are busy with that as well.
But before we continue, I'd like to read
our text out of Psalm 36 verses 7
and 8.
How precious is your loving kindness, O God.
Therefore the children of men, put their trust
under the shadow of your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of
your house, and you give them drink from
the river of your pleasures.
Therefore the children of men, put their trust
under the shadow of your wings.
We read this fast.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of
your house.
You know when I read this, I had
to ask myself the question, is that true
in my life?
That the children of men may be fully
satisfied with the fullness of my life.
No wonder that Paul said, not that I've
attained it yet, but I run.
That is my goal, that I might attain
it.
And that is my desire, my prayer, that
we might attain that fullness of the house
of God.
That we might reach that place where God
may be fully satisfied, that he will dwell
in us and have full sufficiency, and not
only him, but also the children of men.
Therefore the children of men, put their trust
under the shadow of your wings.
If they see
the fullness of Christ in you, If they
see the fullness of the house of God
in your life, in my life, the children
of men will put their trust under the
shadow of your wings.
And that is so important to us Christians,
that the people who watch, who
test, who prove our lives, that they might
see the fullness of the temple of God
in us.
When the Queen of Sheba heard about the
glory of the temple of God, When
she heard about, I think I'll read it
to you in 1 Kings chapter 10, we
read this, When the Queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name
of the Lord, She
came to test with hard questions.
You see there are many, many people who
are seeking the truth.
There are many people who know that you
and I have surrendered our lives to God.
They know that we are Christians, or we
profess to be Christians.
And there are many people who seek.
There are many people who want the truth,
and who run to find the truth.
And they come to test.
They come with questions.
And I asked myself, I wonder when people
come to me, when people come to you,
will their questions be answered?
Will you stand the test when they test
you?
You know it's easy to say I'm following
the Lord.
It's easy to say I'm a disciple of
the Lord Jesus.
But it becomes difficult or different when people
come to test and to prove you.
When they come, they will try everything in
their power to make you waver.
To make you unsure.
And if they ask direct questions to you,
then all of a sudden you become unsure
of yourself.
And they start questioning your personal life.
We find so many people becoming unsure.
But the Queen of Sheba came, and she
tested Solomon with hard questions.
And she watched him.
She kept a strict eye on him.
But all her questions were answered.
There was nothing too difficult for the King
to answer or to explain to her.
And I thought of myself and I thought
of you.
I wonder when people like the Queen of
Sheba come to test, to prove, to receive
answers, whether we can fully satisfy them.
There was nothing too difficult for the King
to answer this Queen.
He could even explain things to her.
Oh, back to our text where she saw
the fullness of God in him.
And the end was that she said, your
wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame of which
I heard.
It was far greater, far more wonderful than
what I had expected.
The abundance, satisfied with the fullness of your
house, satisfied the Queen fully.
And he could give her drink from the
river of his pleasure.
And that is what God expects from you
and from me, that we, that our lives
are filled with that life, with that godly
life.
Where there is nothing in our lives which
in any way will bring dishonor to the
living God.
That our whole life will be, the goal
of our life will be, oh God, that
thou mightest be able to glorify thyself.
That I can forget
myself and everything that pertains to myself, that
there is only one important thing in my
life, Oh God, that I might be the
temple where you dwell in and where men
will come and partake of that living water.
And that is so important to me.
I don't know whether it's important to you.
But oh, this longing which David had in
his heart, to build the temple of God.
That was his desire.
And although God had told him, no David,
you won't build it, it will be your
son.
It didn't stop David to pursue and to
be the architect of that temple.
If
we
read in the Old Testament, that was David's
goal, that was David's life.
He had one longing, one desire, that that
temple of God, that the place where God
could live, where he could dwell, should be
accomplished.
That everybody who came into that temple should
experience the presence of God.
And that is my cry, and that should
be your cry, that when we come together,
when the temple of God is in action,
that those that don't know God, that they
will experience the presence of God in your
congregation.
That they will experience the presence of God
in your family, in your marriage.
Is that what your children experience when they
are together, when you are together as a
family, that they will experience the presence of
God?
And that was the desire of King David.
He said, oh, I long to build a
place where God can dwell, where he can
live.
And he even went that far and he
said, this work is so great that this
young man, my son Solomon, he can't build
it on his own.
I've got to help him.
And in 1 Chronicles 29 we read that
David said, my son Solomon, whom alone God
has chosen, is young and inexperienced.
And the work is great because the temple
is not for men, but for the Lord
God.
And that
is
something amazing to me.
Although David knew that he won't build the
temple, we read in verse 2, For the
house of the Lord I have prepared with
all my might.
I have set my affection on the house
of my Lord.
You know, when I read these words, I
just thought, oh David, we who are living
in the New Testament, how much more should
we do that for our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ?
That that is our life, with all our
might, with all our affection, That
our whole life is centered around Jesus Christ.
That he might have his throne in his
temple.
That he may reign as God in our
lives.
That he may reign as God in our
families.
That he may reign as God in our
congregation, in our church, and amongst all the
Christians.
This man, he did it fervently with all
his might, with all his affection.
He willingly offered, he gave silver, gold, and
what not all King David gave, that the
temple of God should be built.
That he had only one desire, that that
place, that temple should be built where he
lives, and that where people can come, and
where they can come to rest under his
wings.
And friends, I can't be satisfied with anything
less than that.
That is my cry, that is my longing,
that is my desire, that my life may
be such.
But it will cost something.
We'll have to be able to put many,
many things onto the altar.
There will be many things which will cut
across our thinking, our wishes, which we'll have
to put onto the altar.
And if we look at our lives, how
important is what we think, what we want,
and what we know.
Oh, we've got so many preconceived ideas.
We know exactly what to do and what
not to do.
And nobody is allowed to come and cross
our way of thinking and our intentions.
But David said, I've only got one longing,
one desire, that the temple may be built,
that God may be able to find a
dwelling place in my life.
And that is important, dear friends, when we
are able to reach that point in our
lives, where it doesn't go according to the
way we think, the way we want, but
that we have only one desire, oh, that
that temple may be built where God can
dwell in.
And how often must I find that in
my life it becomes increasingly difficult to build
the temple of God.
Because so often it goes against my
experiences.
It goes against the way I think.
It goes against my tradition.
It goes against that which I think is
right.
And to me it seems the closer, the
closer we get to the end, the more
difficult it gets.
Because this knowledge of ours, these experiences out
of the past are constantly in the way
of the ways of the living God.
And may God grant that in everything, whatever
we do, that the first question is, Lord,
what do you say?
What do you want me to do?
That
is important.
And that is my cry, that I might
be there all the time,
that Christ's will may be done in my
life.
And that I may feel at home and
seek the fellowship of the godly people of
the saints.
There is nothing more precious than to be
in the presence of God's children.
I don't know how people can
stay away from the gathering of his people.
I know many Christians that have no desire
to be with other Christians.
They live their own lives.
They do according to the way God leads
them.
They don't need the fellowship of his people.
They don't need the fellowship of the church.
That should be the most precious thing for
each and every one of us, to be
in the assembly of his children.
To be in the assembly of God.
To be there where God dwells.
To be there where God reveals himself.
There where God glorifies himself.
And that was the desire of David.
He said, oh we need a temple where
God dwells.
We need a congregation where God dwells.
That when I come to that congregation or
to that church, I will enter the presence
of God.
And I will see and I will hear
things which I don't hear anywhere else.
Where God will be able to reveal himself
to me.
Where God will be able to speak to
me.
Where God is going to attain his purpose
with you and me.
And friends, that is so important.
I can't do without the fellowship of his
people.
And wherever God's people meet, I am in
the presence of the living God.
Wherever the saints meet, I feel at home.
I can be blessed.
I can be enriched.
I can gain new strength.
What does it say, what did we read?
That's where we will drink from the river
of his pleasures.
And that is my desire.
That not only in the congregation, but that
in my home.
And that my children and children's children will
be able to drink from that river.
And all those that come and visit may
drink of that river.
That will be strengthened.
I heard something very interesting from Gerhard Rudeth
this morning.
He said he was at home in his
apartment.
And then he saw a bee.
And this bee was dying.
It couldn't move properly anymore.
And then he said, well, I'm going to
feed this bee.
And then he went and he took sugar.
Took a bit of water.
And he gave this bee sugar water to
drink.
And he said this bee was virtually dead.
And he explained to me and he said
this little bee started licking, lapping the water.
And it didn't take long, life came back
into this bee.
And all of a sudden that bee started
flying around.
And he opened the window and the bee
flew out.
As if nothing had happened.
This little bee was dying because it didn't
have anything to eat.
And most probably a few more minutes this
bee would have died.
And I just said to myself, I said,
oh God, may my life be that.
May the dying people, those that are seeking,
those that are dying of spiritual hunger, when
they come and they drink of that which
I give them, they may be strengthened with
new strength, with new vigor.
And this bee flew out and flew to
the next flower to gain and to get
nectar again.
And this bee could produce honey again.
Is that your life?
Tell me, is that what happens when people
who are dying, when people who have lost
all hope, when they come and they drink
of that water, they receive new strength.
I can't be satisfied with anything less.
And I cried and I said, oh God,
how many people have died already.
How many bees have died already because of
lack of water.
How many bees have come to me.
I'm talking about the two-legged ones.
How many have I been able to give
of that living water.
That that bee can fly out, go to
the next flower and receive and eat nectar
and produce honey again.
Let us pray.
Lord, thou dost see our hearts right now.
Thou seest all those that have a longing,
that have a desire to build their temple.
To be the dwelling place of the Most
High.
That all those that have contact with me
may enjoy that living water.
That they might receive new strength.
New vigor.
To go out and produce honey again.
That others might benefit by it.
Lord, when I look at myself, is that
my life?
Is that the fruit which I bear?
Is that what people receive from me?
New life.
New vigor.
New determination.
To go through and be faithful to thee
right to the end.
As I just say, oh I long to
dwell in the place of the Lord forevermore.
That's where I want to stay.
That's where I want to be.
There where thou art Lord and God.
Where thou hast the say in our lives.
We worship thee Lord Jesus.
That thou hast made that possible for us.
And that can be our portion.
That that can be our life.
Thou hast accomplished that for each and every
one of us.
Oh wouldest thou accomplish that as well in
our lives.
That we might be thy dwelling place.
Where thou art Lord and King.
Where thou hast the say.
Where we obey thy command.
And do thy will.
Oh we thank thee for it Lord Jesus.
Grant us an obedient heart.
A willing heart.
To submit to thee.
And allow thee to glorify thyself.
And as we part may thy blessing rest
upon us.
May thy grace never stop working in our
lives.
Until thou hast glorified thyself.