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Jonathan Griffiths: Some of us will gather here in this place today, so aware of our sin. But how wonderful to gather in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and to know that even now he intercedes before the Father for us above.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I’m Steve Hiller, glad you’ve joined us today. And Jonathan, you used a word right there that I don’t know that we use a lot in our common conversation and language today. You talked about the fact that Jesus intercedes for us. What does that mean and why is that significant?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, the Bible speaks of the Lord Jesus as the great high priest of the people of God, and he is the one who comes between us and the Father and makes communication and relationship possible. He stands in the gap, as it were, between a sinful people and a holy God, and he prays for us and he pleads our case before the Father if we belong to him.

And he says, "I died for him, I died for her. Accept this one as one of mine as a redeemed person." And our prayers are heard, and we are accepted before the Father because Jesus intercedes for us and he is our great high priest. It's a wonderful truth to consider and it is a very, very deep comfort, but it is only a comfort and only a reality for us if we have first come to the Lord Jesus and accepted by faith the gift of forgiveness.

Steve Hiller: Such an important thing for each and every one of us to do. And if you’ve not done that, I want to encourage you to, number one, keep listening to today’s broadcast. Number two, you can always reach out to us here at Encounter the Truth. We’d love to talk with you about how you can know Jesus. We’ll have our contact information a little bit later in the broadcast, but I’m going to give you a website just real quick, encounterthetruth.org, and we would love to connect with you and talk about how you can know Jesus.

Well, we’re going to get to our message here. We’re in 1 Kings Chapter 8. If you have a Bible handy, join us there as we continue "The King Who Intercedes." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Verse 46, "For there is no one who does not sin." He’s realistic about that. And he asks again that if there is repentance of heart, the Lord might show covenant faithfulness and forgive the people their sin. It is a beautiful prayer of intercession for the people by their king. And for Israel, having a king who was powerful and rich and impressive on the world stage and all the rest, that was a very nice thing. It was a boost for the nation.

But having a king who was concerned for their spiritual welfare, who knew the God of the covenant, who would stand before the people and before the Lord and ask the Lord to show his covenant grace and mercy to a sinful but repentant people, that was the greatest benefit that Solomon could ever bring. Now, it’s sobering to know and recognize the fact that the conditions, the preconditions of Solomon’s prayer, would soon enough not be found in Israel.

The Lord is always ready to forgive when there’s true repentance of heart, but when there is obstinacy of heart and an unwillingness to turn from sin, well, that’s another matter. I’m just reading through my own readings, the Prophet Jeremiah, at the present time. And Jeremiah comes some years down the track from this period in history, and I’m in the midst of a rather grim section where the Lord is making it clear that the door of opportunity for repentance for Israel is now closing.

The Babylonians will come, the city will be sacked, the temple will be destroyed. And it’s a warning to us. It’s possible for a people who have known the blessing of God, who have seen some good days, to harden their hearts toward the Lord and to shut out his grace in their lives. But Solomon’s prayer, it’s a gift to his people. He prays covenant blessing over them. He calls upon the Lord to extend his promised grace to his people.

And more than any other protection or gift that this king could give to his subjects, this is the greatest gift, I think, that he could ever give. It’s a high point for Solomon, but as with so much in his reign, he is a placeholder and he is a pointer to an even greater king who would come. Jesus himself acknowledged the greatness of Solomon, but he makes it clear, "one greater than Solomon is here." Jesus says that, and he speaks of himself.

The Lord Jesus, who was crucified for our sin and rose again, he ascended on high and he is seated at the right hand of God. And at the heart of what Jesus is doing now in heaven is interceding for his people. Hebrews 7:25, let me just remind us, "Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them."

First John 2 and verse 1, "My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." The great Son of God, greater even than great King Solomon, the divine Son, he pleads our case in heaven. He claims the covenant promises of God on our behalf. He represents us before the judge. He makes the unanswerable, watertight case for our forgiveness.

Perhaps you’ve been in a situation, where you’ve needed someone to advocate for you. You call upon your MP to advocate for you before the government. You need a lawyer to plead your case in court. You need a teacher to stand up for you during a difficult time at school. And it’s a desperate thing if you cannot find an advocate, if no one will take up your cause. Well, in Solomon, the people of God of old had an advocate, an intercessor, and what a blessing that was for them, what a precious thing.

In the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I, if we belong to him, we have an advocate. We have a covenant intercessor who pleads our case in heaven above. Just imagine with me what it must have been like for the people of God, the people of Israel, gathered before Solomon, gathered before the imposing and glorious house of the Lord, to hear their king pray for them in this way.

No doubt some would have come to see this new temple with a sense of fear, actually, and a sense of foreboding, knowing that the sin in their lives rendered them unworthy of the presence of God, knowing that their guilt before this King of Glory was great, and the grandeur of the building and the sense of holiness that it depicted, it could have only reinforced that sense within the heart.

But then to hear their magnificent king pray for their forgiveness, to claim the promises of God on their behalf, what a powerfully comforting and strength-giving thing that must have been. Some of us will gather here in this place today, so aware of our sin, so aware that if those around us knew the full extent of our guilt, they might be quite appalled. We might find physical distancing increasing just a little bit if they knew what was within.

But how wonderful to gather in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as we do, to gather in the presence of the great King of kings, and to know that even now he intercedes before the Father for us above. Through the Lord's King, the people have intercession, the intercession they need, intercession offered by their king before the Lord on their behalf. What a privilege, what a beautiful thing, what a gift.

Next, through the Lord's King, his people have blessing. Verse 54, "Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord where he had knelt with his hands outstretched toward heaven, and he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised.'"

"Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and statutes and his rules which he commanded our fathers." It’s such a powerful picture. The king rises from before the altar, as it were, before the immediate presence of God where he’s been praying for the people.

And he stands now and he turns toward the people and he speaks God’s word of benediction upon them, the word of blessing upon the people. And this prayer of blessing, it’s so rich. And I want to just notice the shape of it, the order and flow of it, if we could. Solomon actually begins by blessing the name of the Lord. He starts with God, verse 56, who’s been so good to Israel, so faithful, whose word has never failed them yet.

And he asks that the Lord, this Lord of covenant faithfulness, might be with the people, verse 57, not leave them, not forsake them. And of course, that’s the great need, that’s the great longing of the people. It’s true today. We’re an unfaithful people, we’re unworthy of the Lord’s love and kindness. The people of old deserved to be cast off, deserved to be forsaken, and so do we. But, Lord, please don’t forsake your people.

And notice how the prayer then proceeds, notice with me from the middle of verse 57, "May he not leave us or forsake us, that, in order that he may incline our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and to keep all his commandments, his statutes, his rules, which he commanded our fathers." Just consider the logic there with me. You and I, we might think, were we writing this benediction, "Solomon, pray a prayer of benediction that calls down the blessing of God upon us because we have been faithful."

That’s the natural inclination of the human heart: bless me when I deserve blessing, and I think I probably deserve some blessing. Blessing simply flows from merit, surely. But you see how the king’s blessing here is shaped by grace so fundamentally. "Lord, you are faithful, your word never fails. Bless your people, and in blessing them, make them faithful." So interesting. Take an unfaithful people and, as an outpouring of your kindness, make them faithful.

God’s goodness, God’s covenant faithfulness, it comes first. It is the root of all blessing and our obedience flows from the blessing of God, his kindness, his outpoured generosity. It always does, actually. It always must because you and I, we can never generate our own obedience. That’s quite beyond us. Now, this is such a good benediction, and it reflects the heart of God for his people. It actually reflects the gospel of grace.

You see, the great need of the human heart is for God to intervene and soften the hard heart of the people, to incline the hearts of a rebellious people, to move the hearts of an obstinate people to follow his word and to obey him. And where that starts to happen, it’s not a sign of human virtue. No, it never is. It is a sign of the blessing of God. And Solomon speaks God’s word of benediction upon God’s people. Lord, be faithful. Lord, don’t forsake us. Lord, cause us now to be faithful.

Now, I don’t know in what measure and to what extent that blessing was seen in the life of the community of Solomon’s day. No doubt it was seen in some ways and to some extent, in some measure, but we know that it was neither far-reaching nor long-lasting because the nation did come under the judgment of God. That’s where the story goes. The kingdom was split in two. The north was lost. Judah, the south, went into exile in Babylon.

That’s the great sadness of the story as it unfolds. And as we zoom out and look at the wider picture of the whole of Scripture, we come to understand that for this blessing to be more fully realized, more radical action would be needed.

I had the rather unsettling experience a little while ago of taking the car into the dealership for a couple of things. And I mentioned when I dropped it off at the service desk that there was this slight ticking noise or something coming from the engine. And I asked, I said, "Look, would you mind having a little look into it while it’s in?" Well, after some back and forth over the course of the day, I got the message at the end of the day at the end of their investigation, "Sir, we’ve discovered a manufacturing fault in the engine."

"It’s common with this model year, I’m afraid. We’ve ordered you a new engine block. It’ll be changed out under warranty." Phew! An oil change wasn’t going to do it. The engine, you see, it had a fundamental flaw. There was nothing for it but replacement. The history of the Old Testament would prove that the human heart is fundamentally damaged by sin, unable to obey. A slight tinkering with the human heart, an oil change, as it were, would never be enough.

A fundamental reshaping, even replacement, was actually what was needed. And so the blessing of God to bring about obedience would require radical action. The Prophet Ezekiel actually speaks of a coming day when God would replace the heart of his people, take their heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. And we learn that the new heart only comes when the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses the people of sin and gives the gift of his spirit at Pentecost.

And through the Holy Spirit, we are changed from within, moved and enabled to begin to obey. This is the great blessing that the Lord gives to his people by his spirit, that he helps us and he inclines us to heed his word and to seek to do his will. But of course, we never get there perfectly in this life. I think we’re aware of that. I take it we’re aware of that.

But the Bible tells us gloriously on a day to come, when we leave this life and enter the immediate presence of our Savior above, sin will be done away with. It’ll be gone. And we will then live and obey in perfect holiness. And the point is all this, it comes from the blessing of God. It is a result of his outpoured kindness. We long to be holy. If we love the Lord Jesus Christ, we want to obey him.

But if we are ever to obey, if we are to begin to obey, he must bless us with the gift of obedience, with the help and strength and even the inclination to obey. And he does that. Praise him, he does that little by little, step by step, day by day, by his spirit within. He moves us and he inclines us to obey. That’s the fundamental dynamic of the Christian life, and that’s it in a nutshell.

Through the Lord’s King, his promised king, the people have the very blessing of God, the blessing even that produces obedience in the disobedient, godliness in the ungodly. And, friends, don’t we long for a measure of that blessing today? And is not the Lord Jesus Christ eager and ready to pour out his blessing upon us if we would but wait upon him for it?

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Our message is called "The King Who Intercedes," looking today at 1 Kings Chapter 8, and we’re going to go back to the message in just a moment. If you’re a regular listener, you know that Encounter the Truth is listener-supported. That’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s your generosity that makes this program available on this radio station, online, through the app, and all the things that happen behind the scenes.

So thank you for giving to and supporting this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book that Jonathan has picked out. It’s called "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness" written by Tim Keller. Keller says that self-forgetfulness is actually the path to true Christian joy. He’s taking this from one of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth. And we’d love to send you a copy of this book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support.

You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or when you call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. That’s encounterthetruth.org or 1-833-998-7884. Let’s go back to the message. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Next, through the Lord’s King, his people have sacrifice. Needed sacrifice. Verse 62, notice with me, "Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord."

"The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the grain offering." This is a grand celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, actually, historic in its proportions. It’s easy to skim over the numbers here, but let them sink in. Just notice them for a moment.

22,000 oxen, 120,000 sheep. Those numbers, they are staggering. Immense. The altar wasn’t big enough to receive all this. The sacrifices overspilled into the middle court of the temple which had to be set apart for that. Now, the notion of a peace offering being given at the heart of a festival before the Lord, that says something. That’s significant. Animals die here. There’s a lot of death, a lot of bloodshed. Immense numbers of animals die in order that the people should enjoy fellowship with the Lord.

And standing behind that all the time is the problem of sin. Sin is the barrier. Sin must be acknowledged. Sin must be addressed in a substantial way and blood must always be shed. And the king here is doing something of immense importance for the people. He is facilitating the offering of a great sacrifice for the sake of the people’s fellowship before the Lord. Without sacrifice, there’s no festival, there’s no coming before the Lord.

In this day of celebration, in this glorious day of fulfillment and of blessing, the king has made the necessary arrangements for the people to come before the Lord at his temple and enter into this joy. The writer of Hebrews reflects upon these sacrifices of old, and he writes this of the sacrifice of great King David’s greater Son, Hebrews 9 and verse 13.

"For if the blood of goats and bulls sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" It was so good that King Solomon facilitated these sacrifices. No doubt he paid for all these animals out of the royal treasury, provided them from his own herd.

But the greater king to come, he didn’t simply write a check or instruct the managers of his flock. No, he placed himself upon the altar. He paid the great cost. He paid the price that you and I might be cleansed, restored, forgiven, welcomed, received. And that one sacrifice, that single sacrifice was of so much greater efficacy and worth that the tens and thousands of Solomon’s sacrifices that day amounted to nothing but a picture pointing forward.

Jesus’s one sacrifice provides for us cleansing of the conscience and perfect forgiveness. The result of the sacrifice and of the feast is now joy. That’s the final element of the king’s provision for the people. Verse 65, "So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days. On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people."

A good king brings joy to the people. We seem to be living in days of widespread misery, don’t we? In countries around the world, there is a sense of jaded dissatisfaction and a heavy dose of cynicism. It’s a phenomenon that is now all too familiar. But here in 1 Kings Chapter 8, in this high point, this high moment of biblical history, in these days of glory, we see something that is rarely seen in the history of the world: a king whose leadership brings joy to his subjects.

The nation is together enjoying the blessings of God, enjoying a feast, enjoying a festival, recognizing the Lord’s goodness to them and delighting in it. And it is a picture, isn't it? It's a window into something greater, something that you and I don't currently experience in full measure, something we rightly long for, but it shows us what life is like and will be like under God's king when things are going the way that God has designed them to go.

And it reminds us that life in the kingdom of God brings ultimate joy. Not the passing joy of worldly achievement or acquisition or success, the deeper joy, the lasting joy of living under the blessing of God, living under his king secure, provided for, protected, forgiven, truly blessed. If you know him, if you know him, the son to whom all this points, the Messiah who came, the King who will come again, you are so privileged. We are a people of immense privilege.

The world may be falling apart around us, sometimes it feels as though it is. In Christ, we have all things. We have a share in his kingdom of glory. Our situation and our future is entirely secure. If you don't know him, if you feel that in this world you are stuck on a sinking ship, living in a failing society, looking for hope and security, for acceptance, for forgiveness, would you not come to this great king? To the Lord Jesus Christ and find in him your forgiveness and your security and your joy, your all in all.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths wrapping up our message, "The King Who Intercedes," part of our series "Days of Glory." And if you missed any of the previous broadcasts in our series, you can listen through the Encounter the Truth app, which is free at your app store, or you can listen online at our website, encounterthetruth.org.

Well, if you’re a regular listener either to the podcast or the radio program, you know that Encounter the Truth is listener-supported. And as you give a gift of any amount, we want to say thank you by sending you a book written by Tim Keller called "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness." And, Jonathan, what’s really the point of this book? What’s it getting at?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, this book is really here to help us think about our identity and where it is that we find our value and sense of self-worth. And I think so many struggle with this question. It may be that you’re listening today and you are struggling with this in quite a major way. We so easily build the foundation of our identity and our value based on our accomplishments.

And when things are going well, we can feel great about ourselves, and when things are going badly, when there’s a failure of some kind, we can feel terrible. And Tim’s aim in this book is to give us freedom and to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ and his accomplishments for us in his perfect life and his sin-bearing death at the cross of Calvary. And to show us that as we entrust ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can enjoy the freedom of self-forgetfulness.

I think this book will be a real encouragement to you and I’d love to be able to put it into your hands this month.

Steve Hiller: Well, you can give a gift of any amount to Encounter the Truth and we’re going to say thank you by sending you a copy of this book, "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness." To give online, go to our website encounterthetruth.org or call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. That’s 1-833-998-7884 or encounterthetruth.org. For Jonathan Griffiths, I’m Steve Hiller, thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join us next time.