R313 Experiencing God Through The New Year, Pt.1

All of us could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton about experiencing God. As a matter of fact, we're just days away from beginning a new year, and so let's get a jump start on it, heading to 2 Chronicles, verse 7, with today's message, Experiencing God Through the New Year. We'll be doing a two-part series here with Dr. Wilton, and as we study the Word, know that we're here for you, connecting on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. You'll find wonderful resources there to launch into the new year, especially that leather-bound devotional book if you haven't seen or picked up a copy. Now's a great time to get started, www.tewonline.org, and there are many resources as well to help you spend time in God's encouraging Word every day.

That's online at www.tewonline.org. Now today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Experiencing God Through the New Year. If we could do what I would want to do and probably will never do, not on a Sunday morning, is to come down amongst the congregation and go upstairs and downstairs and all over our church and go to people and say to you, what has been your experience of God, I wonder what you would say today.

I should imagine that you would agree with me that we would have the whole gamut of human experience. There are people who have suffered great tragedy and deep loss. There are people who have experienced great joy. There are people who have made a fortune because they did the right thing and they invested at the right time in the right stocks. And there are those who lost a fortune because they invested in the wrong stocks at the wrong time. There are those who sold at the right time and bought at the right time and those who did this and did that and people end up in different circumstances every single day.

Even as I stand here this morning, we've got many, many people in different needs, in diverse circumstances. Is experiencing God a terminal experience? Can you draw the line as far as God is concerned? Does it mean to say that because we have experienced God in experiencing God that that's all we're going to experience of God? Have we arrived both individually and personally or as a church? Have we arrived? Have we done everything that God has told us to do?

Is there perhaps anything else that we might think that God might want us to do as people, as a church, as a community, as a nation experiencing God through the new year? I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 7. I'm going to invite you to turn there with me in the Old Testament to 2 Chronicles 7. I want us to look at the life of Solomon for just a moment. Now Solomon is undeniably and undoubtedly one of our favorite characters and I'm going to put the emphasis upon character. I think that Solomon was a real character.

Now this man did so much and accomplished so much and so much happened to him and through him and because of him that we cannot even begin to describe it or write enough books about it. But here in 2 Chronicles 7 Solomon had an experience of God that I'm convinced was a pivotal experience in his earthly life as a man, as a human being. I believe that here in 2 Chronicles 7 that when God appeared to Solomon that what God was doing, he was placing within the context of God himself everything that Solomon ever hoped to be or everything that Solomon ever was. Now we begin together in 2 Chronicles 7 and I'm going to begin at verse 11. Now when Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said, now if you'll pardon me I just have to pause there for just a moment.

This man reminds me of me, not because he was a king or that I'm a king, but he reminds me of me because he seems to have the same kind of weakness that I have. It seems to me that at this juncture in Solomon's life that he had reached a point at which Solomon considered what he was doing to be complete. There was a sense in which King Solomon washed his hands with perhaps somewhat of inward glee and determined unto himself, I have done what I'm supposed to do, now I can go home and get into my big chair, get out my popcorn, watch my favorite game of football and everything is going to be just fine. Little did he know that what happened to Georgia last night happens to people. You see the game was right down with just a few seconds left in the game and Virginia was leading by seven points and they fumbled the ball and Georgia picked up the ball right on the line and ran through and Ray Goff, one of the finest coaches in America today and his last time coaching the team was ecstatic, I mean they just went berserk, I mean they've tied the game, they're going into overtime and my son Rob said they do have overtime Dad, it's a ball game and he was right and so they went to the kickoff with the penalty.

You see the game wasn't over and Virginia kicked off the ball and got that ball and there he went, ran right through the hole, kitten caboodle and scored a touchdown with hardly any time left on the clock and Virginia emerged victorious and one ecstatic moment on the one side of the field and turned into a state of mourning on the other and all of a sudden there was a shift change in the Georgia Dome. You see Solomon had arrived at a point in his life where he believed perhaps that his experience of God was completely complete and let's hear what happened because the Bible says in verse 12, The Lord appeared to him at night and said, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague upon among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever.

My eyes and my heart will always be there. May the Lord write His word upon our hearts. Let me share with you a few introductory comments about experiencing God through the life of King Solomon. I'm going to submit to you my friends that this theology that we read about here in 2 Chronicles says some very profound truths to us.

It tells not only the exiles to which this was written, but it says to you and to me that there are no circumstances that are too formidable to prevent God from fulfilling His promises to His people. There are no circumstances. There are no happenings.

There are no occurrences. There are no let downs. There are no sins. There are no situations that are too formidable to prevent God from doing what Sovereign God does for each one of us.

And that is being God from beginning to end. You see my friend, every covenant passage and every covenant section in the Word of God is filled with blessings and curses. The Bible tells us that you're going to be blessed if the subservient party is loyal to the king.

But you are going to be cursed if the subservient party is not loyal to the king, if they are disobedient to the king. What did we learn in experiencing God? We learned more than anything else my friend that the key to our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ lies in the essence of our willingness to know and to do the will of God. You see friends, this is God's Word of encouragement to Solomon.

It is of remarkable proportion. Solomon, if you obey God, God's reciprocal blessings are going to be poured out upon you. Solomon, if you disobey God, God is going to pour out curses upon you. He is going to allow calamity to fall upon you.

So what does this mean? Does this mean that God changes His mind? No my friends, this does not mean that God's Davidic covenant is conditional from God's standpoint. What it simply means is that God is not conditional. God is always there. Now some of you have heard me say this before, my favorite South Louisiana advertisement goes like this, Does God seem farther away?

Well who do you think moved? You see what God was saying to King Solomon in all of his frailty, in all of his weaknesses, He was saying to Solomon, listen Solomon, my Davidic covenant stands complete and stands firm. My covenant is not conditional from the sovereign grace of God perspective.

I am never going to change. But what he did say to him is that Solomon's enjoyment and Solomon's participation in the blessings of God would be directly impacted in direct proportion to Solomon's willingness to do what God was telling him to do. We need to be reminded as to who wears the shoes in God's scheme of things. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word.

Don't go away, we'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment, but he wants me to remind you we're here to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673, or online at www.tewonline.org, and right now in these last few days of the year we're in the middle of a remarkable matching challenge gift of $200,000. This wonderful couple has challenged each of us to give our best gift. For them it's $200,000. For you it may be less than that, it may be $2. It may be $20 or $200 or $2,000. Whatever it might be, your giving at the end of this year in the middle of this challenge will be multiplied like never before.

I pray you'll consider calling us and sharing your gift at 866-899-9673, or you can give online right now at www.tewonline.org. We need to be reminded as a church and as a nation and as a community that God never changes, that He will never leave us and He will never forsake us, that God never moves, that God's covenant is absolutely sure and steadfast, and that God tells us, my friend, if we disobey Him, we are the ones who are going to suffer, not God. So what did this have to do with Solomon? Well, you see, Solomon, if you went and studied Solomon, we don't have time to do a real exegesis of his life. But there were three things about Solomon's life that stood head and shoulders above everything. He had three great successes. The first of all was political success.

You can go and look at chapter 8 verses 1-11. He was politically successful. Secondly, he was religiously successful.

And I'm going to use that word religiously. This was a man of deep devotion to God. The third way in which he was successful was economically. This man was a wealthy man. Now, folks, if you want to talk about a multi-multi-billionaire, take a look at Solomon. Go and have a look through the chronicles and see what he had. The Bible says that he had tons and tons of gold.

Everything that he had was built out of the finest cedars from Lebanon. Everything that he did turned to gold. This man understood the stock market. I tell you what, he made the best investments. He had people coming to consult with him. He understood gold shares and the rise and fall of economic indicators. He understood budgets.

He understood everything about economics and he was a tremendous success, but he failed God. Think of the United States. If you were to talk about three characteristics of our beloved United States of America that stand head and shoulders above most other things, this country is a success politically.

You say, how can that be, pastor? I'm going to say to you, my friend, there is no nation upon the earth that has a constitution finer than the United States of America. There is no greater light or beacon of hope for the world's population than the political situation and dispensation in the United States of America with its system of checks and balances. Consider the United States religiously. This is a religious nation, folks.

There are churches behind every bush, preachers all over the place, tribals on every pew rack, deacons in every church. We've got men and women and boys and girls doing the work of God unhindered. We can tell our children about Jesus.

Then think about the economic success of the United States. We are a blessed people. No matter which way we wash it, we've got more than anybody else does. We're blessed. Our children are blessed.

Our forefathers were blessed. We've been blessed beyond our wildest imagination, but I'm going to say to you, beloved friends, that as we experience God through the new year, we must pay attention to what happened to this man called Solomon. You see, this man failed God, folks, and God took those blessings away from him for a time.

Listen to what happened. What did he do? He began to worship other gods in 1 Kings 11, and the nation was exiled. The Bible tells us about that in 2 Chronicles and chapter 36. They were exiled to Babylon, and the temple was totally destroyed, and everybody who stood and observed and witnessed the desolation of the land and the temple, they would know, they would know that this was the ultimate mark of God's judgment upon these people because of their sin. What a tragedy.

What a tragedy. But you know what happened? Do you know what happened to Solomon? Solomon repented, and the people repented, and one of the most remarkable stories of experiencing God into the new year began to take place because the result was, based upon his repentance, that Solomon ends his reign as he had begun it as a perfectly faithful king. Gone, no more, are all the references to foreign women who turned away his heart to follow after foreign gods. Gone is all the negative evaluation such of which we find in 1 Kings 11 and verse 6 which reads, So Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done.

Gone are all the references to Yahweh's anger, to God's anger in 1 Kings 11 and verse 9, and God's resulting decision to tear the kingdom apart from Solomon. Gone is all the opposition. Gone is all the backbiting. Gone is all the hostility. Gone is all the pain.

Gone is all the dashed dreams and the hopes. And when you come to the end of the chronicles and you find King Solomon upon his bed, he is presented to you and to me as one of those who upon whose name God rests. He is presented as a faithful king. He is presented as one of God's chosen servants. You see, if you go back into verse 14, my people who are called by my name, literally in the Hebrew text, this reads, my friends, if my people upon whose name I rest. My name.

In the Hebrew text it means literally this, that God was saying to these people, as He was saying to Solomon, if you are my people upon whom I have vested my sovereign grace, nothing is going to ever be able to take you from within the grasp of my hand because the Davidic Covenant, I am with you. I will never leave you. I'm always there. But you've got to do what I'm instructing you to do. I wonder if there's anyone here this morning, please don't stand up or raise your hand.

I wonder if there's anyone here today who might have messed up in 1995. You know, if you read about Solomon, this is such a wonderful message of hope. This is what experiencing God into the new year is all about, my friends. Do you know what it's all about? It's all about the only difference between the best of us in here and the worst of them out there is the grace of God. That's what it's all about.

What it's all about is that we are sinners saved by the grace of God. I want to tell you something, friend. You might have been discouraged. You might have been let down.

You might have been struggling. I wonder if there's someone here today that you've been running from God your entire life. You've just been running.

There's no other way to describe it. People have prayed for you. Oh, they've loved you. You've heard the Word of God. You've been around Christian people. You've seen what's taken place.

You've seen the joy. You've seen what Jesus Christ has done to families when He's brought them together. You've seen the new love that He's kindled in the hearts of those who have come to know Him. You've seen people rescued from divorce courts. You've seen people who have been at the worst parts of their lives through sorrow and tragedy having to say, I know in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep me against that day. He's able to guard me and garrison me with His fortress and with everything that God has given to me. And you say today, Pastor, is there any hope in 1996?

Yes, sir. Look at what happened to Solomon. And so what does this passage teach us?

There are five things here that I want us to consider briefly this morning. From this particular encounter that Solomon had, what was it that God was trying to tell Solomon? What was He saying to this king? I mean, what more could a king have? He had everything. I mean, what more could a man want in life? This guy had it all.

Just click his finger, he got it. Not only that, he had wisdom. Can you imagine having just wisdom? God gave it to him. God poured out His Spirit upon him.

It was the most marvelous thing. And yet God appeared to him at night when Solomon thought that experiencing God was a terminal experience. God appeared to him and He said to him amongst many others five things. Number one, He hears our prayers. He says, Solomon, I hear your prayers. Verse 12, verse 11 with me. The Lord appeared to him at night and said, I have heard your prayer.

Isn't that the most wonderful thing to think about in 1996? I have heard your prayer. You mean to tell me that God actually hears our prayer? Look, would you just drop down with me just quickly down to verse 15? I want to show you something.

It's remarkable. Listen, now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. Now folks, God is everywhere, but never discount the house of God.

There is something singularly significant about being in the house of God, according to God's Word. God can answer prayer everywhere and He does. Whether you're in the bathtub singing as beautifully as me, whether you're driving down the road praying, I just hope you don't close your eyes, whether you are out there playing with your children with a Frisbee in the backyard or burning some chicken on your favorite barbecue, God is going to hear you. But the Bible says that when I come into my house of sacrifice, there it is that my eyes are open and my ears are open and I hear your prayer.

What a tremendous privilege. What great teaching, what a great reminder that God hears our prayer. As a matter of fact, Scripture reminds us that even when we can't get the words right, God understands the very groanings of our heart. I pray that you know that we believe God has orchestrated this opportunity for us to be presenting Dr. Wilton's message to you in this way. Some of you are listening on podcast, on radio, on television, wherever it might be that we believe this is what Dr. Don might call a divine appointment. And if the Lord has stirred your heart through the teaching and preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, I pray that you'd open your heart up to share as he steps into the studio next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much. And I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin.

I confess my sin to you. And I invite you to come into my heart and into my life, I pray. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final message. Perhaps moments ago, you were praying along with Dr. Don Wilton to give your life to Jesus or to rededicate your life and come back into the family of God.

We want to rejoice with you. Dr. Don would love to pray for you. As a matter of fact, if you'll give us a call at 866-899-9673 and share your decision, we'd love to put these free resources Dr. Don wants you to have in your hands. Again, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ or rededicated your life today through the ministry of the Encouraging Word, we want to put these resources in your hands. As a matter of fact, Dr. Don would love to hear your story.

If you'd like to email him, his email is Don, D-O-N, at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. Again, that's Don, just his first name, D-O-N at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. He would love to hear from you, and he'll make sure that we get your free information to you right away. Just call 866-899-WORD or visit us online at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. And while you're on the website, you might take a look at a remarkable blast of the year here in these last few days, opportunity to get involved financially in the ministry of the Encouraging Word. Here's Dr. Don about this remarkable opportunity.

Wow, God has done incredible things again this year. Through the Encouraging Word broadcast ministry, do you know that over 135,000 people have called us telling us what this ministry means to them in their spiritual life, and so many are coming to know Jesus. A friend has just given a $200,000 challenge gift to this ministry, and we are asking, as he is asking, that our listeners will give an additional $300,000 to this ministry by December 31st so that God's Word can continue to go out across the world.

In London recently, someone came up to me and said, thank you for the Encouraging Word and for what it means. Would you help me do this? If all of us participated, even a $2 to $3 to $4 each, God will help us to reach this goal together.

Yes, we can do it! If the Lord has stirred your heart to get involved financially and prayerfully in the ministry of the Encouraging Word, would you call and share with us your gift right now? Our phone number is 866-899-9673. You can also meet us online and give online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. Perhaps the Lord has given you an opportunity here at the end of the year to invest in different ministries, and you're considering giving the ministry of the Encouraging Word your gift. I would pray that you would visit our website, tewonline.org, see our relationship with the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability, and just see the kind of fertile soil that you would be investing in if you give your money to the Encouraging Word. Dr. Don Wilton does not receive a penny from the Encouraging Word. He's a pastor, and that's how God is taking care of his needs. Your gift would make a difference in lifting up the Word of God and the teaching of Jesus Christ through Dr. Wilton if you give today, especially in this matching challenge. Again, the phone number is 866-899-9673. ...