If you would, please take your copy of God's
Word. Maybe you've brought a copy today. You
may also reach for the one in the pew back there
in front of you. We're going to be in 1 Chronicles
chapter 22. And what we're doing is really finishing
out our sermon series on the life of David. There
is so much on the life of David. So you've noticed
we've we've hit some we've hit the highlights
We've also hit some of the lowlights, right?
We cannot possibly cover everything on the life
of David There's so much and first Samuel and
second Samuel and the beginning of first Kings.
There's so much in the Psalms, but we also Today
go into first Chronicles and we'll be in chapter
22 And so I ask That you would give careful attention
to the reading of God's holy word First Chronicles
22 the whole chapter then David said Here shall
be the house of the Lord God and here the altar
of burnt offering for Israel David commanded
together to gather together the resident aliens
who were in the land of Israel and he set stone
cutters to prepare dress stones for building
the house of God. David also provided great quantities
of iron for nails, for the doors of the gates
and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities
beyond weighing, and cedar timbers without number.
For the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities
of cedar to David, and David said, Solomon, my
son, young and inexperienced, and the house that
is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly
magnificent of fame and glory throughout all
lands. I will therefore make preparation for
it." So David provided materials in great quantity
before his death. Then he called for Solomon
his son and charged him to build a house for
the Lord the God of Israel. David said to Solomon
my son I had it in my heart to build a house
to the name of the Lord my God But the word of
the Lord came to me saying you've shed much blood
and have waged great wars You shall not build
a house to my name because you have shed so much
blood before me on the earth Behold a son shall
be born to you who shall be a man of rest I will
give him rest from all his surrounding enemies
for his name shall be Solomon and I will give
peace and quiet to Israel in his days he shall
build a house for my name he shall be my son
and I will be his father and I will establish
his royal throne in Israel forever now my son
the Lord be with you so that you may succeed
in building the house of the Lord your God as
he has spoken concerning you only may the Lord
grant you discretion and understanding that when
he gives you charge over Israel you may keep
the law of the Lord your God then you will prosper
if you're careful to observe the statutes and
the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel
be strong and courageous fear not do not be dismayed
with great pains I have provided for the house
of the Lord 100 ,000 talents of gold, a million
talents of silver and bronze and iron, beyond
weighing, there is so much of it, timber and
stone too, I have provided. To these you must
add, you have an abundance of workmen, stone
cutters, masons, carpenters, all kinds of craftsmen
without numbers, skilled and working, gold, silver,
bronze and iron, arise and work. the Lord be
with you. David also commanded all the leaders
of Israel to help Solomon his son saying is not
the Lord your God with you and has he not given
you peace on every side for he has delivered
the inhabitants of the land into my hand and
the land is subdued before the Lord and his people.
Now set your mind and your heart to seek the
Lord your God arise and build the sanctuary.
the Lord God So that the ark of the covenant
of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be
brought into a house built for the name of the
Lord This is God's Word. Let's pray Father we
thank you for a good word. We thank you for all
66 books of the Bible We thank you for 1 Chronicles
22, and we ask that you would open our hearts
and our minds to hear from you to help us, by
grace, live out the Christian life and serve
you. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. I wonder
if you saw a news story this week out of Australia.
There was a 98 -year -old woman named Yvonne
Engelman. She was an Auschwitz survivor. After
surviving that concentration camp, she moved
as far away as she could. And so she moved to
Australia. She passed away this week. She was
originally from Czechoslovakia. And during World
War II, she was sent with her family to Auschwitz.
And before they got there, Yvonne's Her father
specifically said to her, I don't know where
we're going, but I know we're not going on holiday.
Promise me this, Yvonne, that you will survive.
And the young girl told her father, I will survive.
The sad reality is that she was the only one
of the family that did survive that death camp.
Her story is well known. And that while she was
there, she was in a group that was going to be
taken to one of those dreadful chambers. Except
on that particular day, the gas didn't work.
It didn't turn on. And so instead of being put
to death, she was put to work. If you've ever
been to Auschwitz, you know there is an awful
sign that hangs over the entrance to the death
camp. It says, work sets you free. It's a wrought
iron sign. And of all of the horrific things
that you see when you go into that concentration
camp, you honestly don't have to set foot inside
before you have a sense of terror, before you
have a sense of the evil and the cruelty that
was done. With a sign like that, you don't have
to go any further. Because the sad reality of
that place is work didn't set anybody free. Work
didn't set anybody free there. The Lord saved
her, and then they put her to work. I don't want
to make too much of a connection here, but it
should not go unnoticed that with a slogan like
that, work sets you free, that appeals to us.
It doesn't just appeal to Nazis. It doesn't just
appeal to the Germans. It appeals to us, too.
Work sets you free. We like how that sounds,
right? We're Americans. We like to work. We're
put -our -nose -to -the -grind kind of people.
We're put on your gloves and your work boots
and let's get after it. We like people who do
that. That's called success in our minds. Work
sets you free. But what if there was another
way? What if we didn't trust the sign hanging
over the entrance of a death camp? What if work
was the thing that you did after you were free?
What if freedom set you to work? That's what
I want us to see today in this passage, that
we are freed by the Lord from our slavery to
sin in order then to do God's will. We're talking
about the construction of the temple. Solomon's
temple was the biggest, grandest, most expensive
project of all time at the time. It really was.
And yet, Solomon and these Jewish leaders within
the text, they don't accomplish the building
of this temple on their own. They were set free
to do it. They set their minds and their hearts
on the Lord. And with the Lord, they're able
to construct this. Temple. Chapter 22, we see
mostly this is a private conversation between
David and Solomon. And so let's start there with
David and Solomon. This chapter reminds us of
something we've already looked at, about how
David really, really wanted to build the temple
for the Lord, right? He wanted to build a house
for the Lord. David said, I've got a house. Why
don't you, Lord, have a house? Well, here we
see that David would not be the one to build
that temple. Instead, the Bible says that Solomon
would. You'll remember David had many sons. Three
of them actually died before David does. We haven't
spent a lot of time on Absalom, but you'll remember
that David feuded with his son Absalom for a
very long time. We might even say... that perhaps
David's greatest battles were actually fought
against his own son. But here you have another
son, and this is Solomon. And within our text
here, Solomon is really young. We don't know
exactly how old he is, but probably a teenager.
But we know that David was zealous to build the
temple, but he wouldn't be the one to do it.
Look in verse 8. The word of the Lord came to
me saying, you have shed much blood and have
waged great wars. You shall not build a house
to my name because you have shed so much blood
before me on the earth. So David's not going
to be the one to do it. How come? It's actually
a bit of a tricky spot in scripture. There are
at least two possibilities of interpretation,
maybe more. Some have looked at David's shedding
of blood, and they have said, well, this usually
assumes that it's a statement of guilt, saying,
David, we know what you've done with Uriah. We
know about that whole episode with Bathsheba.
And so because of that shed blood, you will not
be the one to build the temple. However, While
it may be true, we also recognize that David
is called in many places a man of war. In many
of those wars, the Lord actually commanded him
to fight and to lead. And so that have led some
to say this has nothing to do with Bathsheba
and with Uriah. This has to do with the very
fact that David has shed a lot of blood as a
warrior and perhaps his hands are unclean from
the shedding of blood. To be honest with you,
I think both of them might be in play here. We
do know that David sinned greatly. And we do
know from last Sunday that David sinned with
Uriah and with Bathsheba. That whole episode
had ongoing consequences. The Lord told him there
would be consequences for this, even as he truly
repented. David goes through so much in his life.
He goes through horrible family trauma. He doesn't
handle it all well. Through it all though, he
makes preparation so that Joshua, or not Joshua,
so that Solomon can build the temple. And I reference
Joshua because as we're reading this, you might
get a sense, hey, I feel like I've heard some
of this before. And the reason that you feel
that way is because I think this text is encouraging
us to think about somebody else who is doing
something incredible for the Lord, but didn't
get to finish it. We're supposed to think of
Moses and Joshua here. You remember Moses leading
the people, the Israelites, out of Egypt and
going on the way to the promised land, but he
doesn't get to take the people all the way there,
does he? Instead, he has to hand the reins over
to Joshua. There's several similarities then,
both. Joshua and Solomon have a commissioning
service. And just as Moses was not able to finish
what he started, David doesn't get to build the
temple. But you can see the headway, the work
that he puts into it to ensure that Solomon will
be successful. Look at all of these materials
here. Gold and silver, bronze, iron, timber,
and stone. I'm not much of a mathematician, but
I've read some who have calculated the numbers,
especially with the gold and the silver. As you
look at these numbers and you calculate them
today, we would be talking this temple, just
in those precious materials alone, hundreds of
billions of dollars would have gone into this
temple. Hundreds of billions of dollars into
this This temple was to be the most magnificent
structure around. This temple was to be so grand
that people from out of town, from way far away
would be like, hey, have you heard about that
temple that they're building there? Have you
heard about this guy, Solomon, and this temple?
But David doesn't get to build it. Instead, Solomon
does. But we see that as much as David wants
this and as much as David does, Who really provides
the materials? The Lord provides those. And not
only that, but the Lord also provides the workers,
right? A great, a great number of workers at
work on this temple. This is the locals. These
are the Jebusites, which tells us something else
important about the temple. Is that from the
start, with this temple, God was already including
Gentiles here. The temple is built on Gentile
land. Again, the Jebusites. This temple is built
by Gentiles. God is already including others
in this thing. And so, yes, we are to think about
Moses and Joshua. Because all along what God
is doing is preparing redemptive history. As
the Israelites were saved from Egypt, He saves
them, and we are supposed, as we read that episode,
to think of Christ and what He has done, about
how Christ saves us from our sin. As the Israelites
were saved from being enslaved to the Egyptians,
so we are saved by Christ from our enslavement
to sin. Thirdly, though, of these connections,
look at the language here. Be not afraid, don't
be dismayed, strong and courageous. Who does
this sound like? Again, Moses to Joshua. This
is God telling Moses who's telling Joshua these
things. You can read this in Deuteronomy 31,
I think verse 6, and Joshua 1, verse 9. So if
you're feeling a little bit of Moses and Joshua
going on, that's intentional. And so what David
does is he passes these good words onto his son,
Solomon. But if I can add even more history to
this, you should think of Moses, you should think
of Joshua, you might even see beyond them to
Abraham. Because where is the temple being constructed?
I haven't mentioned it yet. But I'm gonna read
to you 2nd Chronicles 3 1 2nd Chronicles 3 1
Then Solomon began to build the house of the
Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah Where the Lord
had appeared to David his father At the place
that David had appointed on the threshing floor
of Ornon the Jebusite If you know your Bibles
well, what else happened on Mount Moriah? You
know that this was the location that Abraham
took his son Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice.
And just before Abraham could plunge that knife
into his son, the Lord said, stop. And he provided
a ram to be the sacrifice. You know what else
happened not too far from Mount Moriah? Mount
Calvary, Golgotha. Moriah is not far from the
location where Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice,
was crucified. And so you can see within this
text that sounds like it's about materials and
sounds like it's a father's encouragement to
his son. We see redemptive history playing out
in this thing. Mount Moriah is where the temple
would be built. But you might say, well, this
temple sounds pretty important. Why does God
use Solomon? Why does he use this young man,
this son of David? Look in verse 9. Behold, a
son shall be born to you who shall be a man of
rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding
enemies, for his name shall be Solomon. And I
will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.
Solomon, unlike his father, was to be a man of
peace, not a man of war, but the Lord provides
the conditions, right? He provides the peace,
but also the Lord provides a name. What's the
Hebrew name for Solomon? Shalomah. Does that
sound like shalom to you? It should, because
that's where Solomon gets his name. Shalom means
peace. But also notice how the peace comes. It's
not achieved. It's not attained. It's given.
The Lord is the one who gives the rest from the
surrounding enemies. The Lord gives the peace
and the quiet. And what a relief this must have
been for David. David, who's been through so
many wars. He's fought with Goliath. He's been
a king. He's been a warrior. He's been a refugee.
He's been a father. What a relief that David
gets to say to his son, it's going to be okay.
that as you take the throne, you will not have
to fight the same battles, the bloody battles
that I had to fight. Oh, if we could all be in
such a position with our children to say it's
going to be okay, I know so many of you, you
would fight a thousand battles for your children,
right? This is what David gets to say to his
son, the Lord is bringing about peace for you
so that you may build the temple. Now, as parents,
we might not get to give our children peace like
that. But David does tell Solomon how to navigate
the storms of life. So you can do this to four
things that David tells his son. Look in verse
12. Only may the Lord grant you discretion and
understanding. This sounds like a blessing, doesn't
it? May the Lord grant Solomon is later going
to ask for wisdom, right? We might even say that
that prayer is already being asked, that blessing
placed upon Solomon by his father. May the Lord
grant you understanding. He knows that Solomon
will need that. Secondly, a parent's urgent advice,
the latter half of verse 12. Observe the statutes
and the rules of the Lord. David tells his son,
be obedient to the very word of God. Parents,
You can do that too. You can open your Bibles.
You must open your Bibles for your children.
Help them to see that this is our roadmap. This
is how we live the Christian life, by observing
what God has for us in His Word. Thirdly, the
language again that's here. Be strong and courageous.
Fear not. David encourages his son. David knows
the task ahead is going to be tremendous. But
he says, don't fear, trust the Lord. We have
to tell our children that as well. And fourthly,
and I've said this to the last, but it's important,
it kind of bookends this speech, the Lord is
with you. When David says that to Solomon, when
he says the Lord be with you, it's not a catchphrase.
It's not something you put on a t -shirt. He's
telling him, you will not be able to do this
thing if the Lord's not with you. Friends, we
need to be freed to work. We need to rest in
order to serve. In order to do anything for the
Lord, we must first rest in Christ. We have already
said this, haven't we? The Westminster Shorter
Catechism, number 86. Faith in Jesus Christ is
a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon
him alone for salvation as he's offered to us
in the gospel. Friends, in order to do anything
for the Lord. We must rest in Jesus as our savior.
You have been created in Christ for good works,
but the work that saves you is not yours. The
work that saved you is Jesus's work, his life
and his death. And so what does Jesus tell you?
It was also on our call to worship. He tells
you to come and lay your burdens at his feet.
That's what we must do. We cannot free ourselves
from the grip that sin has upon us. It's too
strong. No amount of labor on your part can save
you. We need to be freed from sin in order to
serve. That's not just us. That's not just Solomon.
That's also the leaders. Look in verses 17 through
19. David no doubt is concerned for his son.
He's concerned for the temple being built, but
he doesn't tell these leaders, hey, go get your
best pair of work gloves and your work boots
and get after it. No, David says to the leaders
the same thing that he said to his son is not
the Lord with you. The Lord supplies the materials.
The Lord supplies the workforce. The Lord supplies
the peace from the enemies. The Lord makes the
conditions perfect. And so he says, set your
mind in your heart to seek the Lord. actively
obey Him. And you can build this sanctuary, this
temple. Why, though? Why does the temple need
to be built? What's the purpose? The purpose
is for worship. That's really what this discussion
is all about. Why does the Lord need a house?
He doesn't have a body. You say, well, it's for
the ark, but why? It's all for worship David
acknowledges anything he's been able to do is
because of the invisible hand of God and David
recognizes this He recognizes that he is chosen
for this work His son is chosen for this work
flip over to 28 chapter 28 verses 4 through 7
First Chronicles 28 4 through 7 they are chosen
for this work 28 for yet the Lord God of Israel
chose me from all my father's house to be king
over Israel forever for he chose Judah as leader
and in the house of Judah my father's house and
among my father's sons he took pleasure in me
make me king over all Israel and of all my sons
for the Lord has given me many sons he has chosen
Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom
of the Lord over Israel he said to me it is solemn
in your son who shall build my house in my courts
right chosen him to be my son and I will be his
father I will establish his kingdom forever if
he continues strong and keeping my commandments
and my rules as he is today Friends, if you are
really here for worship, and if you're really
a Christian, it's not because you willed yourself
to be one. And if you've accomplished anything
at all for the Lord in your life, it's not through
your own hard work. And if you have peace in
your heart today, it's not because you achieved
it somehow. It comes from the Prince of Peace.
And once we have that Prince of Peace, once we
have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and we've
believed on the name of Jesus Christ, then and
only then we are called to action. You remember
Ephesians 2 10, for in Jesus Christ, we're created
for good works, which he prepared beforehand.
We're created for good works. And so what this
is, what chapter 22 is, it's a call to serve.
With redeemed hearts, we are to seek and honor
God and loving him and loving others. That's
what this chapter is. But there's also a gospel
connection here. We know that the temple that
Solomon built, it was destroyed, right? And then
another one was built, right? And then Jesus
said to the Jewish leaders, he said, destroy
this temple and I will raise it up in three days.
And they said, what are you talking about? You
can't possibly do that. They didn't understand.
They were confused, right? He was talking about
his own death and his own resurrection. He says,
I'll be raised on the third day because he who
lays his life down does so to take it up again.
Let me read to you a quote from one commentator
on this. As a place of God's dwelling, Christ
is the way of access to God's presence. The goal
of David's temple is the goal of incarnation.
The Lord dwells on earth with humans in the fullness
of his attributes. But the commentator also goes
on to explain that not only is Christ the temple,
but we as Christians, as the church, we are also
the temple. because of the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, as God's temple, we can then serve
God. Yvonne Engelmann that I referenced at the
beginning, she was freed from that death camp
and she went on to serve every single week in
a Holocaust museum in Australia. That's how she
went about service. But we, have the Holy Spirit.
We've believed in Jesus. And so how might Jesus
use us? What is our call to action? Well, there's
probably a lot that we could say here. I'll just
give you one point of application. We are called
to build the church. Now you might say, well,
Matthew 16 tells us that Jesus builds the church
and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. And that's 100 % true. but what is true of
Solomon in building the temple is true of us
as we build the church unless the Lord builds
the house those who build it labor in vain but
no doubt God called Solomon to action and God
provided what he needed and so he does with us
you Christian you've been commissioned by Jesus
to go and make disciples of every nation and
I get it it can be a lot to build the church.
It can be a lot to do evangelism. It can be a
lot to do apologetics. It can be a lot to go
on a mission trip. It can be a lot even for us,
especially those of us who are a little bit timid
to share with our neighbor or our co -worker
or even our relative. But the Lord grants you
understanding. The Lord has given you his word
to guide you. The Lord provides strength and
so we shouldn't fear. And the Lord promises his
presence as we build the church. And so church,
arise. You have been freed to serve. Let us make
disciples and go out to build the church to the
glory of God. Let's pray.