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Hallelujah.
My message, a greater than Solomon is here.
A greater than Solomon is here.
I want you to go with me please
to Matthew 12, chapter, verse 42.
One verse, Matthew.
Welcome to all our visitors here tonight.
We ask the Holy Spirit to touch you
in a very special way tonight.
Chapter 12, verse 42.
The Queen of the South shall rise up
into judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it.
For she, as the Queen of the South,
Queen of Sheba, for she came from the
uttermost parts of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon and behold, what?
A greater than Solomon is here.
Join me in prayer please.
Now Father, we come to you and ask
that you bring forth the anointing of the
Holy Spirit, that you touch me as I
deliver the word, and that you open our
ears to hear what the Spirit has to
say.
Lord Jesus, we depend on your word.
It's our very life.
And we acknowledge our need.
We're asking you to give us hearing ears,
Lord, and eyes to see that we may
hear and know and be changed by the
truth that truly sets men free.
I give you my heart.
I give you everything that I am and
have and ask you, Lord, to use it
for your honor and glory.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Now according to these words of Jesus in
Matthew 12, 42, on Judgment Day, the Arabian
Queen, Sheba, is going to rise up and
condemn the last day's generation.
The last days begin with the birth of
Christ, and we are in the last of
the last days now.
The Bible makes it very clear that on
Judgment Day, she's going to take a witness
stand, and she is going to condemn this
generation.
Jesus said because she came from the uttermost
part of the world to hear the wisdom
of Solomon.
She's going to tell the story about what
she went through, the agony and the effort
to get to Solomon and find truth that
would set her free.
She's going to condemn this gospel-satiated generation
that has heard more gospel than all generations
in past society, and especially the last five
or six decades.
And having heard such a gospel, having heard
so many appeals and had such revelation, the
Bible says because we have not listened to
Him who is greater than Solomon, she will
rise up and condemn this generation.
Now what is her story?
Why is she so important?
Why does the Lord say she's going to
be the witness on Judgment Day?
She came from, it's 1,500 miles, they
estimated, from Jerusalem, and what would now, it's
southern Arabia, which would now be Yemen.
And a trip that would take 75 days
by caravan, 150 days both ways.
Now you can imagine, she's heard about this
man, no doubt from the trading caravans, maybe
from the ships of Tarsus that have come
up through the Indian side, up the channels.
She has heard from traders, she's heard from
sailors, she has heard from other government leaders
about a Lord, a God in Israel who
has endowed a man with wisdom, with such
wisdom he can answer anyone's questions.
The hardest questions that you pose to him,
he has an answer.
He's been given wisdom by God, a wisdom
beyond anyone on the face of the earth.
And she's a troubled woman.
She has issues of the heart.
She has hard questions.
Now the Arabians at that time, and even
today, delve into riddles.
They love to be taught by riddles.
And these riddles just pose questions.
They don't have answers.
And they're to think upon these and try
to come to an answer.
And you find that Samson playing those riddles
with the brothers of his wife-to-be.
And they cast out these riddles.
This woman was full of riddles.
She's full of these confusing thoughts.
She has no answers.
They weren't only the riddles of the time,
probably psychology, nature, how to govern and all
of these things, but there's something in her
heart.
She would not go this distance.
She would not go through a broiling desert
day after day, cold nights.
And she's a queen.
And what a caravan that must have been.
She would have not taken that effort unless
she had deep heart issues.
She had questions that no man can answer.
Her God didn't speak.
He didn't hear.
So she hears of this man Solomon, and
she says, whatever the cost, whatever it takes,
I've got to get to this man.
I have to have my heart issues settled.
Someone has to tell me what's going on.
I can't live like this, and I won't.
And can you imagine, the Bible calls it
a great train.
That means of camels.
She goes with this.
I can only imagine how many camels and
how many soldiers that she took with her.
Of course, there had to be government officials.
There had to be interpreters.
There had to be water commissary, food commissary.
There had to be all of these, you
know, traveling in such royalty.
And she goes for 75 days in that
broiling sun, 1,500 miles to see this
man Solomon.
What a great caravan that must have been.
She heard of the famous Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord.
She said, there's a God in Jerusalem.
There's a God in Judah.
This man is able to answer the hardest
questions that can be asked by any human
being.
She came to him with hard questions, questions
that no one else could answer.
She came to prove him, the Bible said,
with hard questions.
And when she came to Solomon, can you
imagine that train arriving in Jerusalem?
I'm sure that guards and those that were
posted on the outskirts of Judah had come
rushing in by horseback with this story of
this huge caravan coming in through the desert.
And can you imagine her coming through the
streets of Jerusalem, being led by protocol officers
from Solomon's court?
Can you imagine them exchanging protocol courtesies?
And she says, Solomon.
It's probably the only word she knew in
Hebrew, Solomon.
And she doesn't want to go to the
baths of Solomon and she doesn't want to
refresh herself.
This woman says, I've come 1,500 miles
through interpreters.
I've been 75 days and I haven't bathed
in 75 days.
I have not had all of those luxuries.
And I put up with hardships because I
want to see this man.
I have questions.
I want to see, where is Solomon?
And without hesitation, I'm sure she refreshed herself.
She comes loaded down with camels full of
gold and silver and precious stones.
She said, I don't care what it costs.
I don't care if all the riches of
my kingdom.
I've got hard issues and I want them
settled.
I want to hear from somebody that knows
what God thinks.
I want answers to my problems.
And the Bible says, when she came to
Solomon, she communed with him of all that
was in her heart.
Every question she ever had.
I'm sure that there were emissaries and I'm
sure that there were officials and interpreters and
all that around.
But this woman is communing now with Solomon.
And the Scripture says, Solomon answered all her
questions.
There was not anything hid from the king
which he told her not.
Every question, he had an answer.
Every heart issue, he solved.
I can't explain.
I'd like to imagine even what it was
like for this woman, how her face lit
up.
And she said, so that's how it is.
I didn't know that.
Can you imagine joy after joy and peace
after peace flooding her soul when her questions
are being answered?
I'm sure they had to do about government.
And she looks after her questions have all
been answered.
She emptied her soul.
Everything, everything.
I don't know if she had a love
interest.
I'm sure she was confused about government.
She's a princess, there's no doubt, even just
now coming to power.
And she's heard about this kingdom.
She looks around and she says, such divine
order everywhere she goes.
She sees how he goes up to the
temple, the awe and respect that he and
all of his people have.
She sees how they sit every day at
his table and they listen to his wisdom.
And he said, your people are so happy.
You see, that's the judgment that I see
on judgment day, how she will arise and
say, this was a man who was given
wisdom by an almighty God.
I saw his people happy.
I saw how they went up with such
awe and respect to God's house.
Let's see how flippant your generation is.
And I see you under one greater than
Solomon.
You don't have the awe and respect for
this holy God who is wisdom and righteousness
and holiness?
She said, what I heard of you and
your wisdom and wealth was true.
I could not have believed it.
I couldn't have believed a king could solve
all my doubts, but the half was not
told me.
She said, I heard about this, people told
me, but I only got half the truth.
And the Bible said she was breathless, it
took her breath away.
When is the last time that you've been
so in love with Jesus and so enthralled
with the majesty of a holy God?
It took your breath?
That you're shut alone with him?
I've known that and I want more of
it when you just get alone and you
begin to think of his majesty and you
allow the Holy Ghost to speak to you
and answer the heart issues and you begin
to just shut yourself in with him and
suddenly you're overwhelmed.
This is only half of what I have
experienced before.
I've never known it like this.
Oh, master, touch me and he takes away
your natural breath even.
What's the last time you've come into the
house of God with such awe and respect?
And you say, I've come to this house
not to hear a sermon.
I've come to this place not to hear
a man.
I've come because I want to know the
heart of God.
I have to have answers to my problems
in life.
I have to have answers.
And whatever it takes, whatever it costs.
Of course, she gave to Solomon of her
gold and silver.
Now, Solomon didn't need the gold.
He had the gold of Ophir.
He had the best gold in the world.
And the Bible said so much they couldn't
account of it.
But she gave him gold and silver and
these precious stones.
And then the Bible said before she left,
Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she
desired.
Whichever she asked, he gave out of his
riches.
That says something the Bible says about Christ
and the riches of God in Christ Jesus.
All that she asked.
Amazing.
Jesus warns this same queen of Sheba will
rise up in the judgment with this generation,
so condemn it.
He's speaking to scribes and Pharisees who for
years had taught this in the synagogue.
They had this story.
They knew every jot and tittle about the
queen of Sheba.
They knew about her sacrifice.
They knew about Solomon, his wisdom.
And they hear Jesus say, and greater than
Solomon is here.
The queen of Sheba came from the Edomos
park, and the Lord is talking about all
the sacrifice and the pursuing of the heart
of Solomon because she was so desperate to
get answers to her problems and questions.
Said this same queen shall rise up in
the judgment day because she came from the
furthest parts of the earth to hear the
words of Solomon.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
She'll rise on the judgment day and say
to that generation, and say to all those
who've heard the gospel and rejected it here
in this present age, she will rise up
and say, how blind could you be?
How deaf could anybody be?
Here you are.
I had one day with this man.
I had one session, and he answered all
that is in my heart.
He solved every problem.
I couldn't stand it, but he met the
need of my heart.
And you had in your midst the one
who gave him his wisdom.
You had creator God.
You had God in flesh.
You had a greater than Solomon in your
midst.
And you wouldn't hear him.
You wouldn't listen to him because you wouldn't
give up the sin in your heart.
You love darkness more than light.
And because you love darkness more than light,
he judicially shut your ears and your eyes
so you couldn't see and hear, even though
a greater than Solomon was in your midst.
The queen is going to accuse he who
was wisdom, who pleaded to you to come
with him and hear his heart.
He who died for you and loved you,
you rejected him.
You rejected a greater than Solomon.
And what would she have to say to
the church today?
What would she have to say to us?
What would she have to say to me?
I'm thinking of that.
I'm not even thinking of you and the
church and the body of Christ.
I'm thinking of me right now and how
I would never want to hear this kind
of rebuke.
That she could point me out on the
judgment and say to me, how is it
possible, how could it have been possible that
you could have not heard nor pursued or
gone after the revelation of who he is,
this greater than Solomon.
How could you have ever been satisfied with
a truth that's not been anointed and opened?
How could you have been satisfied to live
your life with questions all your life when
the answers were there in your midst all
the time?
I was relieved of all my fears by
this man.
And you lived in fear most of your
Christian life with doubts and fears and questions.
When he was there all the time to
meet every need and answer every question by
his spirit imbued into you.
And he didn't want your silver and your
gold.
All he asked of you was to bring
your burdens and cares.
And that sacrifice that he asked was no
more than praise.
And all he wanted from you all along,
the king of kings, creator God, the one
who gave Solomon his wisdom, all he wanted
of you, all he asked of you was
your confidence and trust that he could speak
to you and be faithful.
When I was in Solomon's, she would say,
when I was in Solomon's great house, I
saw his servants happy, how they listened intently
to Solomon's every word of wisdom.
I saw how they approached the house of
God with such awe and such holy fear.
And it took my breath away.
And she would ask, why were you not
happy?
Why was there such despair so often, so
frequent?
What was missing?
You had him in your midst.
Now, there's a question we're all going to
have to answer, all of us who are
professed believers.
If there's a greater than Solomon with us,
would he not answer our questions?
If there's a greater than Solomon with us,
would he leave us in confusion?
I'm asking it honestly.
We do not allow this truth to register.
We hear that God is at our right
hand, that he's very present, helping the time
of need.
We preach it from this pulpit.
But it does not register with most of
us, because the next crisis we're in, we
forget everything God has ever done for us
before and say, oh, we're going down this
time.
Will he be less willing to answer every
hard question?
Would he be less willing to give us
guidance and lead us?
When she unburnt her heart and every question
was answered, will God not do even better?
The truth is, God does speak today.
God speaks as clearly today as he did
in the Old Testament.
He speaks as clearly today as he spoke
to all the prophets.
He speaks as clearly today as he did
to the apostles, as to Paul and all
of the apostles, to the early church.
Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, speaks just as
plenty, just as detailed as he did to
Paul the apostle.
You cannot tell me that in these last
days, when we need a word, a fresh
word, a living word, a detailed, counseling word,
that God in the last days, when we
most needed it, would abandon us and leave
us to our own devices without hearing the
word of God plainly and knowing his voice.
In Mark 4, Jesus is teaching a multitude
by parables.
He taught, mostly he's teaching the unteachable parables
is what he's saying.
And he's giving the parable of the sower.
A man went out to sow.
Do you remember the story of how some
falls on hard ground and some on thorny
soil and on good soil?
He doesn't explain the parable.
He just puts it out.
It's God's word.
There's a great revelation here.
There's a truth that can change any man's
life.
But he just puts it out to the
multitudes.
There it is.
That's the word of God.
And he doesn't answer it.
He doesn't open it up.
He just stops and says, he that hath
ears to hear, let him hear.
And so they look at each other and
say, who's the sower?
What is this about fowls of the air
and good soil, thorny soil?
And what's the seed?
They don't know.
And Jesus said, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear.
And he said, in other words, I'm going
to give it to everybody, but only those
who pursue me.
Only those who have ears to hear are
going to get the revelation.
The rest of you are going to leave
confused.
They go home to the synagogues.
They go home to their friends from that
great teaching session and that conference.
And everybody in the family, friends and relatives,
everybody says, what did he say?
What did he say?
What is the revelation of God through his
son?
And they're going to repeat a specific godly
word, word for word, from the lips of
Jesus.
And it'll have no impact.
It has no power.
It's a dead word.
It's not revealed.
And that's what we hear from pulpits all
over the world today.
Word for word from the Bible.
Red letter preaching.
But the man has not pursued the heart
of God.
He's never gone after the revelation.
So he stands and gives a dead word.
Nobody is moved.
The Bible says, and when he was alone,
you see, the multitude is dispersed.
And they go home preaching a precise word,
repeating every word Jesus said.
And they say, what does that mean?
I don't know.
But the Bible says, and when he was
alone, they that were about him with the
twelve, a holy remnant, ask of him the
meaning of the parable.
Ears to hear.
And Jesus is saying, if you want to
know, if you want the Holy Spirit to
reveal this, pursue me.
Give me time.
Come alone with me.
I'll give you your heart's desire.
I'll show you the word.
I'll reveal the truth that nobody else sees.
This is the truth.
The Holy Ghost can anoint because I will
open it to you.
How do you expect God to open the
truth when you come and hear a sermon?
We can preach word for word from this
Bible, even the anointed.
But you don't have ears to hear because
you're sitting in front of a television, filling
your mind with the filth of this world.
How do you expect the revelation of the
Holy Spirit to take root in your heart?
And I say that lovingly, even though loudly.
How does Christ respond to this pursuing of
the parable?
He said, unto them, unto you is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
God.
But unto them that are without, all these
things are done to them in parables.
Riddles.
Unopened riddles.
Truth hidden in them.
Life-changing truth.
He said, those without.
Who are these without?
Those who are satisfied just to come and
sit in His presence and see miracles and
be fed.
Naturally, there are human needs being met.
But no desire to know the deepness of
the heart of God, the glory of His
nature, and the glory of the awesomeness of
our holy God.
And really looking to man for answers rather
than to God.
Not really interested in knowing the voice of
God and the miracles of God.
The word for mystery here means hidden secrets.
Now, I believe in these last days our
battle is against our faith.
Can I say it against the battle?
Let me put it this way.
The battle of a true man of God
or woman of God who really set their
heart in God is not pornography.
It's not Internet filth.
It's not adultery, fornication.
It's not these things at all.
It's a battle for your faith.
The devil is after your faith to get
you to disbelieve the faithfulness of God and
ultimately to believe the very existence of God.
And in our travels in this past year
especially and in our mail, hundreds of thousands
on our mailing list in the mail now.
There are people that are saying, I've had
so many problems and so much discouragement and
so many things going on, I can't believe
in God anymore.
And we hear the most horrifying stories even
from pastors who say, Look, I'm struggling.
And I'm saying, you're struggling with thinking about
God not answering your prayer.
Is that it?
No, no, no, Pastor Dave.
I'm struggling with battles in my mind like
I've never known.
I'm struggling with battles about the very existence
of God.
I get a letter this past week.
My wife and I were reading letters.
Here's an 81-year-old.
Your sister's been on my mailing list for
years and years and years.
And she said, My husband's 84 and he's
dying of bone cancer.
His bones are just being eaten up.
And she said, I am.
She's really talking about dying from diabetes.
She was explaining what she was going through.
And her son is dying of AIDS.
And my first thought in my flesh is,
Lord, sure you're going to cut her some
slack.
You don't expect her to maintain joy.
You don't expect her to have amazing faith
and things like this.
And then I read the last two paragraphs
or so.
And she said, Oh, but Pastor Dave, God
has never once failed in any word he's
ever promised us.
We've given our son over into the hands
of the Lord.
And she said, No, we're just waiting to
see Jesus face to face.
It's faith.
That's what the battle is.
That's what the issue is.
It's all about our faith.
In Luke 8, Jesus is just fed 4
,000 with seven loaves and a few fishes.
I want you to go to Mark 8
and I want to show you.
The Lord doesn't cut us any slack.
I don't care what you're going through.
I don't care if you're at death's door.
I'm saying this lovely, but I'll show you
something here.
How real.
The only thing that has power is this
word.
And I have to show it to you
in the word.
And I want to show you the 8th
chapter of Mark.
Mark 8, starting in verse 15.
Now, of course, you know, they're going to
the other side and they forgot bread.
The disciples had forgotten to take bread.
Verse 14.
Neither had they in the ship with them
more than one loaf.
And he charged them, saying, Take heed.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
the leaven of Herod.
They reasoned among themselves, saying, It's because we
have no bread.
When Jesus knew it, he said unto them,
Why reason ye, because ye have no bread?
Receive, perceive ye not, neither understand.
Have ye your heart yet hardened, having eyes
ye see not, and having ears hear ye
not?
And do ye not remember when I broke
the 5,000 loaves?
I broke the 5 loaves among 5,000.
How many baskets full of fragments did ye
take up?
Twelve.
And when the seven among 4,000, how
many baskets, fragments?
Seven.
And he said to them, How is it
that you don't understand?
How is it?
Look at me, folks.
He said, I've told you that I'm greater
than Solomon.
You've confessed that I'm the Son of the
living God, Christ the Son of the living
God.
Didn't it register?
Don't you see it?
Are you going now to forget all the
miracles, those I've raised from the dead?
Do you remember everything I've done for you
in the past?
And now you're in this present crisis because
you have no bread.
Can you imagine?
They have just seen him take these little
loaves and feed 5,000.
They're looking at this one loaf.
Surely somebody would have thought he can feed
5,000 with a few loaves.
He can feed 12 of us with this.
Just do your arithmetic.
Now, you can think, well, how blind they
are.
That's how blind we are.
And how it grieved the heart of God.
He said, when will you ever believe?
When will it dawn on you?
Don't you understand I'm God and I'm with
you?
When will you ever understand how it grieves
God that he has delivered us?
What has God delivered you from in the
past?
How many times has he brought you out
of trouble?
How many times has he performed miracle after
miracle?
But now you're in another crisis and you
forget those miracles.
He says, how it grieves the heart of
the Lord that you don't maintain faith in
a present trial after all that he's said
and done.
You have eyes, don't you see?
You have ears, don't you hear?
He was warning about leaven.
The Pharisees, it says, of Herod, but that
means Sadducees.
Herod was one of the Sadducees and part
of the Sadducee movement.
And he says, beware.
He said, don't you come to me.
And he sang it lovely, but don't you
come to me with this kind of leaven
in your heart.
Don't you come to me like they did
with hard questions, but their heart was not
right.
Don't come to me with your unbelief, this
leaven of unbelief that the Pharisees had.
They came with trick questions, they came with
hard questions, but they didn't want answers.
They didn't want to leave their sins, they
didn't want to give up their power, they
didn't want to give up their false authority.
If you're going to come to me, come
in faith.
Remembering what I've done in the past.
He said, beware.
Don't come to me with that kind of
a heart.
Because I'm not going to answer that kind
of prayer.
I'm not going to solve those Queen of
Sheba type questions.
You're not going to get your answers unless
you come to me in faith.
Unless you pursue me as she pursued me.
Mark 4, there's another occasion when Jesus and
his disciples were in a boat going to
the other side.
And there arose a great storm of wind.
The waves beat into the ship so that
it was now full.
They cried, we are going down.
Jesus was asleep in the backside of the
ship on a pillow.
Bible said, they said he's asleep.
Now get the picture.
A great storm, howling winds, waves so high
they're beating over the side of the ship,
and the ship is full of water and
beginning to sink.
A frightening moment.
And experienced fishermen say, we're going down.
You're going down.
In my flesh.
Now they wake him up.
And my flesh tells me, when in the
flesh I'm thinking, now Lord, surely when you
wake up, my flesh wants to hear this.
My, oh my, it's a good thing you
woke me up.
This is serious.
Good thing you got my attention.
You poor brothers, I'm so sorry I let
you endure such anxiety.
I'm sorry I didn't act a little sooner.
Forgive me for appearing to you so unconcerned.
I feel so sorry.
That's what my flesh wants to hear him
tell me in my storm.
You know what the Scripture said.
Jesus rebukes them.
Now get this picture.
Jesus is probably sleeping on a wet pillow.
His body is half underwater.
They're water up to waist.
And they're saying, now come on.
Surely he doesn't expect us to be at
peace.
Surely he doesn't expect us to be just
sitting here calmly saying, all is well with
my soul.
Surely he doesn't expect us, especially while he's
asleep, to have faith.
Yes, he does.
But what if the boat sinks?
Paul's boat sank.
You see, all you can lose.
You see, by the way, God doesn't sleep.
And this was God in the flesh.
The Bible said he never slumbers, he never
sleeps.
So he wasn't asleep.
Jesus had his eyes closed, his body was
dozy.
But in the Spirit of God he was
wide awake.
God was testing their hearts.
Let's see how.
Can I finally find some men who will
trust me in the face of death, in
the face of every power of hell, to
hold on and say, I believe in God.
If I go down, all we lose is
the boat.
All you can lose is something material.
And God said, I've got a bigger, better
boat.
If you have to swim, I'll give you
the strength to swim to shore, just like
Paul the Apostle.
And Paul the Apostle said, the boat's going
down, but I have every promise from God
that nobody dies.
Everybody's going to be saved.
And when they get there, God sends a
revival.
Oh, I might lose my job.
You think that's the only job God can
get you?
You think that's the...
Jesus said, why are you so fearful?
How is it you have no faith?
How is it that at this time in
your Christian experience, he said, I'm about to
go.
Will there ever be a time you ever
trust me?
Why is it you have...
he didn't even talk about no faith.
He said, why is it you don't even
have...
you have no faith.
That hurt me when I read that.
I said, God, that's not fair.
And I read letters and I said, God,
please, you don't expect these people that are
going through this, losing everything, losing their businesses,
losing their jobs and losing their homes, because
that's happening all over the world.
And I've seen such poverty.
Lord, surely you don't expect them.
But, folks, I've met some of the greatest
faith I've ever witnessed in some of the
slums in these nations we go to.
And you watch them go into their tin
sacks and dirt floor, and you see abounding
faith in the faithfulness of God.
Most of them, if they maintain their faith,
are brought out into greener pastures and greater
blessings.
But all the faith that I've seen...
Now, there's going to be, according to Scripture,
a great falling away from faith.
Let no man deceive you, Jesus said, for
that day means it's coming.
It shall not come except there come a
falling away first.
These are the words of Paul.
Now, before I close, I'm going to go
to the Old Testament.
And I want to show you what happens
to a man who loses his faith.
And it's a warning to me, it's a
warning to all of you.
Would you go to 2 Chronicles 14 before
I close?
2 Chronicles 14.
I'm sorry, it's chapter 16.
This is about King Asa, a man of
great faith.
Now, leave that open.
I'm coming into a closing right now.
But chapter 16, starting at verse 7.
But let me set the background, please.
God has just given victory, previous to this,
to a million man army.
The Ethiopians came against Asa.
Asa believed God, relied on the Lord, full
faith, and God gave him a victory.
Don't turn there, but in chapter 14, verse
11, it says, Asa cried out to the
Lord his God saying, It is nothing with
you to help, whether with many or with
them that have no power.
O Lord, we rest on you, and in
your name we go against this multitude.
That was the million man Ethiopian army.
For you are our God.
Verse 12, chapter 14.
And so the Lord smote the Ethiopians before
Asa.
Look this way, please.
The Bible says that the next 35 years
after that great victory, verse 19 of chapter
14, there was no more war till the
35th year of Asa's reign.
Look this way, please.
For 35 years, this man trusted God.
He lives in the favor of God.
They came from nations around.
They came from everywhere, especially from Israel and
flooded in because they said, God's with this
man.
God is with Judah.
And they came from where there was a
great moving of God, the favor and the
blessing of God.
Faith just opened the doors.
This man relied on the Lord.
The 36th year.
The 36th year begins in chapters 16, verse
7.
At that time, you see, at this time
now, the Syrians had come down.
They'd taken Ramah, and they'd cut off the
trade routes that were coming to Judah and
Jerusalem.
So there was no trade.
And they were going to try to starve
Judah, this great trade.
A lot of this came from the Orient.
And they blocked off.
Instead of relying on the Lord, Asa strips
the temple of all of its gold and
silver and all of the precious stones that
he could find and goes to Ben-Hadad,
the Syria, and buys himself an army.
And that army came and rescued and delivered
them.
And he goes to Ramah and takes down
the stones and breaks it.
And a prophet comes to him and gives
him this warning.
And it's in verse 7, chapter 16.
At that time, Hanani, the seer, came to
Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him,
Because thou hast relied on the king of
Syria and not relied on the Lord thy
God, therefore has the host of the king
of Syria escaped out of your hand.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a
huge host with very many chariots and horsemen?
Yet because you did rely on the Lord,
he delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord run to
and fro throughout the whole earth to show
himself strong in the half of them whose
heart is perfect toward him.
Herein thou hast done foolishly.
Therefore, from henceforth thou shall have wars.
Look at me, please.
We'll stop right there.
God said through this prophet Hanani, Tell him
that he's had peace for 35 years because
he simply trusted me and my word.
I gave him direction.
I gave him counsel.
I gave him favor and I gave him
blessing.
But now in his panic, after all those
years of miracles and blessing, now in a
present crisis, and this wraps up and ties
in everything I'm saying.
Now, because he didn't trust God, and he
goes to man, and he does it in
his own energy and his own strength.
Because, God says, because you didn't trust me
and you relied on man, you're going to
have war the rest of your life.
And he goes into eternity, he dies.
In an inner and outer, there were wars
around and there was war in his soul.
He trusted, the Bible says, highly in doctors
and not in the Lord even for his
health.
His trust, nothing wrong with doctors, but putting
trust in it rather than in God, that's
the issue.
Why are so many Christians who walk with
God for years, suddenly in such inner turmoil,
despair, fightings within and without, trouble everywhere you
look.
I listen to the way some Christians talk
and I said, is there no God in
their life at all now?
Where is their confidence?
You see them pick up the phone and
call everybody.
I mean, they call everywhere.
They go to meetings to get a word
from some prophet.
They're running everywhere, trouble, trouble, trouble.
Why?
He said, you're going to have war because
you didn't rely on me.
You don't trust me.
You don't believe I can speak to you.
Folks, I don't want to preach anymore if
I can't stand up here and know that
what I gave you, or wherever I go
to pastor anything else, I want to know
that what I'm giving is not a parable,
it's not a riddle, it's something God has
opened my heart because I pursued Him, and
because I trusted He'd speak to me.
And that's not just for preachers, that's for
every one of us.
There has to be a pursuit of God's
heart.
And you're not going to get it in
just a half hour a day and then
say, well, I've meditated.
No.
You get something in here and it sticks.
You don't understand it.
There's a parable it doesn't open to you.
Stay with it.
Stay on your knees.
Keep asking God.
I can't get it from the past.
I want to go to church knowing that
you revealed it to me.
He wants to reveal it.
If you'll stay in this book and get
past the parables and get into the epistle,
what does it mean to me?
And go to Him with all your questions.
After you've given Him quality time, you come
and pursue His heart and faith, and I
guarantee you God will answer every question you
have.
You will not live in confusion or doubt.
There'll be no wars.
They'll all be settled.
My Bible said He's a God who causes
every war to cease.
Stand, please.
Hallelujah.
Could you, that God is so good, God
is so good.
Could you do that for us, Greg, while
I meditate a moment?
Would you sing that with us?
God is so good.
Please don't leave yet.
God's not finished.
You might miss something very special from the
Holy Spirit.
Just stay put for a moment.
Catch the next subway or bus.
God will bless you and He'll get you
home with a blessing.
Sing it.
He's so good to me.
God answers prayer.
Sing it.
He's so good to me.
One more time.
He's so good.
God is so good.
Hallelujah.
God is so good.
Oh, God is so good.
He's so good to me.
You're here tonight, balcony, here in the annex.
I'm going to give a bold invitation because
it's so important.
It's so...
You see, you're not going to have your
prayers answered.
That war is never going to cease until
you come to Him with faith.
You come to Him and say, I want
this doubt to be plucked out of my
heart.
If you're here tonight and you're battling with
unbelief, you've not been able to truly trust
the Lord in your present situation.
I don't care what it may be.
Up in the balcony.
And if you've been backstabbing, if you don't
know Christ, you can come with these.
But I'm just asking boldly for you to
come here publicly.
Before the Lord privately confess, Lord, I have
not trusted you.
I have actually believed that I'm going down
and I've just been discouraged about it.
But, Lord, I want to believe you.
I want to trust you.
I want you to come while we're singing
again in the annex.
I'll actually just go to the lobby to
show you how to get into this building
and down the aisle here.
God's good and He wants to meet your
heart.
He wants to instill His faith in your
heart, the faith of Christ Himself.
He's not mad at you, but He will
not catch you slack.
He'll say to you, why don't you have
faith?
Come now.
Confess it before the Lord and say, Lord,
I'm not leaving this house tonight with unbelief
in my heart.
I want to go out here saying, God,
I'm going to trust you.
I'm going to trust you no matter what
happens.
Sing it again.
He's so good to me.
God is so good.
Oh, God is so good.
He's so good to me.
I hope that when you go home you
remember this.
Nothing in my heart.
The devil can't touch anything in my heart.
He may be able to affect my job.
He may be able to affect material things
in my life, but he cannot.
It's all he can take.
God said he's a restorer.
He can restore to you everything the devil
tries to eat and consume.
All the canker worms he can restore.
He did it for Job.
If he did it for Job, he can
do it for any righteous man.
He can restore.
So, what the Lord's honest in saying, you
don't have anything to fear.
If you've got fear of sin, I didn't
give it to you.
He said, I've given you a spirit of
love and power and a sound mind.
I've given that to you by faith.
Now, I know most of you up here,
your issue is not lust or anything like
that.
Your issue is this one all-consuming thing
in the eyes of God.
All important to him is you come to
him, child, and trust him that he can
speak to you.
I know you expect the pastors to hear
from God.
But every one of you, everyone in this
house that loves the Lord, you're to hear
his voice.
You're to hear it.
And I'll tell you what he'll do.
The safeguard is every time, if you give
him enough time, and if you're into this
book, pursuing the heart of God, he will
always bring a scripture to either conflict with
that voice, so you know it's flesh, or
he'll just give you peace.
And you open the Bible, and you're studying
it.
Just don't go like this saying, God, do
it.
No, no, no, no.
You study his word.
You hide it in your heart.
That hidden word in your heart, he will
always confirm, or he will always put up
a red flag, and you'll know.
He said, my sheep know my voice.
He'll not deceive you.
He answers.
You say, but does he answer all your
questions?
Yes.
Too often with a no.
To my satisfaction, but I know that that's
of God.
He's faithful.
And he has so enthralled my heart since
I have set out to believe that with
all my heart that he is near me.
I have quoted and re-quoted to you
Psalm 34.
It says it all.
The Lord is nigh.
He's near to those that trust him.
And the Lord knoweth them that trust him.
Say this with me, Lord Jesus.
Forgive my unbelief.
I want to trust you.
I know you're greater than Solomon.
You're God.
Be God to me.
Let me trust you as God.
I lay all my burdens and all my
cares upon you now.
Lord Jesus, give me ears to hear and
eyes to see.
And that means a heart to come after
you, to seek you.
Now let me pray for you.
Father, I feel your great love for this
people tonight.
And I sense your great love for me
as one of your servants.
Lord, you're not mad at your people how
you rejoice over us.
But Lord, even the disciples, how strong, how
clear you made it.
No, you can't come that way.
Let not that man who wavers think he'll
receive anything from God.
Not anything.
But come in faith and pray to the
Father.
And the Father will give you what you
ask in my name.
Lord, we ask for a heart that's softened.
We ask for ears that are open and
eyes that can see.
We love you, Jesus.
Are you thrilled with Jesus?
If we were really thrilled, your heart would
just be open to him right now before
you leave here.
Greg, do you have an appropriate song of
Holy Spirit to lay on your heart at
this time?
We should leave here tonight with such all
respect more than that, though.
But to be so thrilled with Christ that
he just so desires to speak to you.
He so desires one to just say, you
don't have to carry this anymore.
I have what you need.
And this time, do it.
This time, believe me, I'm going to see
you through.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.