I Kings 6:7 ¡V ¡§And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.¡¨
l Kings 6:7 ¡V ¡§The Temple was built throughout of stones roughly dressed at the quarry; not a sound of hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was ever heard during the building of the Temple.¡¨ (Moffatt¡¦s)
l. INTRODUCTION ¡V THE BEGINNING OF A PROJECT
-I am becoming increasingly convinced that when I look at item, whether it be an machine or building, there is a thought behind that object. In fact, the thought behind that object is often greater than the invention itself.
-To illustrate:
„« I know that the concept behind flight was much greater in the minds of the Wright brothers than that first contraption that they built in Kitty Hawk, N. C.
„« I know that the thought behind the first automobile was much greater than the first Model T that rolled off of Henry Ford¡¦s assembly line.
„« I know that the thought behind the first computer designed by IBM was much greater than what was manifested in it¡¦s early stages.
-I am becoming increasingly convinced that the concept in the mind of God concerning the church is much greater than what is known in our world presently.
-One of the greatest secrets in life is to learn that often the invisible idea is often much greater than the actual substance that is created. In fact the creation is just a shadow of what really could be.
ll. SOLOMON¡¦S TEMPLE
-The temple of Solomon, was built of stone, once in Chronicles (1 Chron. 29:2) it states it was built of marble.
-One hundred, eighty-three thousand, and three-hundred men worked for Solomon alongside of an un-numbered host of men provided by King Hiram of Tyre.
-The stones, removed from the hillside quarries of Syria, were placed on ships and brought on to Jerusalem.
-Yet the mystery of the whole event is not found in the host of men who worked to find the stones for the temple.
„« Nor that two countries who had an uneasy relationship at best could work together.
„« Nor that there were incredible weight limits placed on the ships to carry the stones back to Jerusalem. . . . . .
-No, the whole mystery of this entire event is locked up in the fact that there was no sound, nor fury of building in the precincts of Jerusalem.
-Every stone was made ready for use before it ever left the quarry. Where it was mined, it was prepared. 1 Kings 5:17 informs us that there were ¡§great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.¡¨ Those articles left Lebanon, clean, squared, polished, and fitted. When it reached it¡¦s final destination, it was placed in the setting of the Temple.
A. Contrast of Lebanon and Jerusalem
-The vast contrast of Lebanon and Jerusalem bears out our investigation:
-In Lebanon:
„« Noise
„« Dust
„« Confusion
„« A roaring din.
„« A cacophony of voices.
„« The harsh sounds of a busy life.
„« The rattle of tools.
„« The striking hammer.
„« The straining saw.
„« The distraction and the hurry.
„« The complication of blueprints.
„« The varying degrees of unfinished work. . . . all in Lebanon.
-But in Jerusalem:
„« Quiet
„« Calm
„« Refreshing harmony
„« A deep, almost solemn stillness.
„« A hint of worship.
„« A hush of purity.
„« A settling by the sacred.
-One word solves the whole mystery. The quarry and the workmen are at Lebanon. The Temple is ordained for Jerusalem. The work had occurred before it ever arrived in Jerusalem.
B. The Real Work
-Any real work is always going to be painful work. It is work that is going to cost something.
-The moment that one reads that the Temple was constructed in silence, is that the rattling noise occurred elsewhere besides Jerusalem.
„« No stone can be mined without noise.
„« No huge boulder was ever lifted out of it¡¦s place or torn from it¡¦s parent rock without blows and sweat and the strain of muscles.
„« No tree was ever dropped without the sharp, smiting, steady thud of the forester¡¦s axe.
„« No metal was ever shaped without the thunderous percussion of the hammer on the anvil.
-So the Temple rises in it¡¦s own vast magnificence in silence. But there is an incredible spiritual lesson observed in all of this.
-We have the rude elements of this world. . . . . .The rough, callous hands of conflict in this world. . . . . . .The turmoil of trials in this world. All working to shape the stones.
-Prosperity not only is the destruction of fools, but in the great majority of cases it hardens the heart of God¡¦s greatest saints. It is the sharp angles of life that cause us to seek out a God. The easy bed of prosperity becomes a warm bed of lethargy. Strength comes through strain.
-Never fight with what God designed this old world to be. He designed it to be a workshop, a lumber yard, a rock quarry, a forge of the highest degree of heat. The living stone of a man¡¦s heart has to be squared at any cost, the ax of affliction must fall, the hammer of chastisement has to ring. The Temple has to be set up in Jerusalem but before it gets to Jerusalem it has to endure Lebanon.
C. The Work of the Riddler
-There is something called the work of the Riddler.
The work of the Riddler is a very strange, different, and very unique work. The work of the Riddler requires much patience and time and skill. Ramone the Riddler can turn ninety bottles of champagne per minute, thirty-thousand bottles a day, and more than 100 million in his lifetime.
Each bottle is turned precisely 1/8 of a turn. The turn is very fast and the touch is extremely light. It is a perfect combination of rapidity and delicacy. . . . that is the riddle the riddler solves. ¡§It¡¦s in the touch,¡¨ he says, ¡§the magic is in the fingers.¡¨ To riddle the wine is to clean the wine. After three to six years of aging, the bottles are placed upside down in racks so that the yeast settlement may be riddled into the net by the daily turnings.
Of course there are certain dangers that go along with this such as exploding bottles. But there also is the pride that comes with the finishing touches and the quality of the product that is involved.
-This is precisely what God wishes to do in every one of our lives. He is the Riddler and in our hearts and lives, He does the work of the riddler. To build character into our lives is His utmost and highest work. To God this is the ultimate work. He turns us, He cleans us out, He stirs our lives with events and circumstances that He allows to happen. What goes on in the lives of men, especially the lives of His greatest saints, He does so for a purpose.
-Our days are sometimes filled with endless adversities, circumstances to which we have no answers, and at times we struggle with the fear of the unknown. We look for directions to go in our lives and sometimes we do not know which direction that we should go. It is at those times and moments that we must realize that God is building character, calling, and completion into our hearts.
-So it is sometimes with this wild maze of life. The weary waitings, the things which are severed from us, the partings we are forced to endure. . .
-And yet there is an answer to it all. . . . ¡§This is Lebanon. . . . .the workfield and the mine.¡¨ A clear understanding of that should incite hope and faith in all of our hearts.
-Whatever you are now, there was once a time when you lay embedded in sin, bound by this world, locked in miserable failure, choked by the hardness of your own heart, and desperate for a refuge. . . . . It serves men well to periodically look upon their own past and discover the work of faith.
Psalm 40:1-5 ¡V ¡§I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.¡¨ ¡§He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.¡¨ ¡§And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.¡¨ ¡§Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.¡¨ ¡§Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us_ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.¡¨
-But God saw something in you and decided to start working in your life. The Riddler began His sovereign work.
„« Angles of temper had to be sanded away.
„« Huge excesses of pride scrapped away.
„« The encrustings of selfishness hammered through.
„« The shapings of this world chiseled away.
„« The malformations of ill-habits had to be sawed off.
-All of that had to be removed or at least reduced into a different form.
-So God sends in His Riddlers to our lives. There were times that we thought that the stern hand was heavy upon us.
„« Afflictions applied their hammers.
„« Unkind men applied their sharp chisels.
„« The axe was ¡§laid to the root¡¨ and the ¡§iron often entered your soul.¡¨
-Things that had grown to be a part of you was filed or wrenched away. There seemed to be little mercy and no sympathy. What was repulsive was taken off. What was deficient was filled. All in all, it goes on persistently, severely, almost ruthlessly, until our very form has been changed.
-The question began to form, ¡§Am I ready yet?¡¨ No. . . . there was still some polishing that was required. . . . . and then it took more time to brighten it. And so came those long daily frictions, and the rubbing of the little things, which did their patient work with an incredible slowness.
-And so the translation goes on, and bends the rough edges and pierces even the hardest heart.
lll. THE TEMPLE OF GOD ¡V THE CHURCH
-The stones in the spiritual house of God are prepared beforehand.
1 Peter 2:4-10 ¡V ¡§To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,¡¨ ¡§Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.¡¨ ¡§Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.¡¨ ¡§Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,¡¨ ¡§And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.¡¨ ¡§But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:¡¨ ¡§Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.¡¨
-There will not be any adjustments made in heaven. They are to be made here. . . . . . today. . . . . now!!!
-The church is not an inert mass of rock, nor a senseless block of marble, but full of life and action. We are founded on the cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ. Because of the fullness of life that He exhibits, that same spirit invests itself into a church.
A. The Preparation
¡§What did he see that night in the mirror of the Washington Hilton Hotel holding room, just before he turned to face his family and clicked his newly elected presidential heels? More to the point, what did the mirror see?¡¨
¡§A man just about to turn seventy, one inch taller than six feet, weighing about one hundred and eighty-five pounds, broad as a surfboard and almost as hard, superbly balanced, glowing with health and handsome enough for a second career in the movies. Hair so dense and fine enough to grace any magazine cover. No hint of gray. Teeth white, gums like a boy¡¦s, fingernails shiny, radiant as seashells. No fidgety mannerisms; an air of confidence.¡¨ There stood Ronald Reagan, in a place that life had finally prepared him for. The state senate battles of California long behind him. The preparatory days of the governor¡¦s mansion had been well spent and now this was his moment. Life had prepared him well.
-But there is a God who is preparing us for a far greater arrival than a Presidential suite. There is a Heaven in front of us. . . . . A fact that we cannot lose sight of.
lV. CONCLUSION ¡V WHEN THE REASON I¡¦M STANDING, STANDS IN FRONT OF ME
I have stood for the Gospel when it seemed I stood alone,
But through the heartache and frustration I kept my focus on the throne,
So many times I have recalled the Savior¡¦s words so true,
If you won¡¦t be ashamed of Me, I won¡¦t be of you,
So I¡¦ll proudly stand until I see, the face of the One who gave everything for me.
When the reason I¡¦m standing, stands in front of me,
Every battle that I¡¦ve fought, will fade from memory,
I¡¦ll bow before His mighty throne and fall down on my knees,
When the reason that I¡¦m standing, stands in front of me.
The road has not been easy, at times I have lost my way,
So often I have stumbled searching for the light of day,
Circumstances all around me, I thought I¡¦d surely fall,
The whispering of doubt and fear told me you, ¡§you will lose it all.¡¨
But He kept me with His amazing grace and someday soon,
I¡¦ll have the chance to thank Him face to face.
We will join the millions every kindred, tongue and race,
Every child of God that day will look upon His face,
With the heroes and the martyrs who died on the pagan¡¦s sword
We all will stand together and declare ¡§Jesus is Lord!!!!¡¨ (Song by the Crabb Family)
Philip Harrelson
barnabas14@yahoo.com
