First Kings chapter number seven tonight. First Kings chapter number seven. First Kings chapter number seven. If you want a title for this tonight, we're going to call it Worship Reminders. Worship Reminders. After Solomon completed the temple, Scripture tells us that he began construction of his own house. The last verse of chapter 6, look at what it says. In the eleventh year in the month of Bull, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it. Seven years in building the temple. And in verse 1 of chapter 7 indicates it took 13 years to build his own house. Look at verse 1 of chapter 7. But Solomon was building his own house 13 years and he finished all his house. So we see Solomon was involved in construction for a total of 20 years. That's a long time to be in construction. I remember when I-95 came through Brunswick, Georgia and split our land. We just went right through where our house was sitting at there, and we had to move. I was eleven years old, and my dad decided to build a house. And I forget how long it took, but it seemed a lot longer than it was, I can tell you that. And it was not an easy project. We were the gophers. We were the carpenter helpers when the carpenters were there. We dug the footers, digging for the foundation and all. There was a lot of things to be done, and we were helping every step of the way. But I can't imagine building for 20 years, 20 years. But attached to his home were some other buildings. Let's pick up in verse number 2. We see that he built his house of the forest of Lebanon. Verse 2 says, He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the length thereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams upon the pillars, and it was covered with cedar above upon the beams that lay on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in the three ranks, and all the doors and posts were square. And the windows and light was against light in three ranks. So we see here there are four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars. It was a huge place. The, the, the dimensions given there, the length of a half of a football field, 150 feet by the width, 75 feet, and the height was 45 feet when you convert the cubits to. Then we see the porch of pillars mentioned in verse number six. He made a porch of pillars, the length thereof was 50 cubits, the breadth thereof 30 cubits, and the other, and the porch was before them, and the other pillars and the thick beam were were before them. And so you got a 75 by 45, that's a pretty large porch. 75 by 45 porch. And then you have the porch of judgment added on that, verse number 7. Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment. And it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. And so it was made for the throne, we see there, so he could judge and handle other affairs of state. And then, of course, he wasn't finished. He had to build a house for Pharaoh's daughter. That was his wife that he got from Pharaoh. Look at verse number 8. It says, and the house where he dwelt had another court within the porch that was of the like work. Solomon made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had taken to wife like unto this porch. And so, we see these buildings. You kind of understand why it was a big, big project when you take a look that these buildings were made of some costly stones according to verse number 9. which indicates that these stones were cut with saws. Look at verse number nine. All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation and to the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court. You might wonder, well, how in the world is that possible? You know they didn't have the concrete saws. They didn't have the rock saws, but really, Palestine, limestone is soft when it's quarried and when it's mined, and when it's exposed to the elements, then it hardens up. So that's how they were able to cut it like that. The foundation stones were 12 to 15 feet in length according to verse number 10. Look at verse 10, and the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones of 10 cubits and stones of 8 cubits. And then other stones are mentioned there in verse number 11 and 12. And above were costly stones after the measures of huge stones and cedars. And the great court round about was with the three rows of huge stones and a row of cedar beams both for the inner court of the house of the Lord and for the porch of the house. Now, verse 13 and 14 tell us that Solomon hired a fellow by the name of Hiram. Not the king Hiram, but another fellow that was named Hiram, out of Tyre. God had blessed this fellow with the ability to work in brass. You know, sometimes God takes what you have been blessed with, and He's the source of all of our blessing in Him. If you've got the ability to do something, no sense in getting real proud about that. Just thank God for it, that He give you the wisdom to be able to do it, and then just yield yourself to the Lord, and let the Lord use you for His glory no matter what. And that's what we see here with this fellow named Hiram. Look at verse 13 and 14. And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass. And he was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to work with all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of brass of eighteen cubits high apiece, a line of twelve cubits did he compass either of them about." And so we see here this man was honored by having his name mentioned in the Bible. And verses 15 through 21 tell us how that Hiram of Tyre cast these two pillars of brass in the porch of the temple. That's what we're going to look at tonight is these two pillars. Let's read verses 15 through 21 because this is our text tonight. There are several things in here I want to point out that are very interesting. Verse number 16 says, and he made two chapters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars. The height of the one chapter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapter was five cubits, and the nets of of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the chapters which were upon the top of the pillars, seven for the one chapter and seven for the other chapter. And he made the pillars and two rows round about upon the one network to cover the chapters that were on the top Notice this with pomegranates. We'll point out the significance of this later on in the message. And so did he for the other chapter. And the chapters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work. And we're going to mention later the significance of the lily work there in the porch, four cubits. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, and over against the belly, which was by the network, and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapter. And verse 21, And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple, and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin. He set up the left pillar, called the name thereof Boaz. The pillar on the right named Jachin, the word Jachin, the name Jachin means he shall establish. And the pillar on the left named Boaz, Boaz means in him is strength, okay? These pillars stand out as a reminder of what their worship of the Lord was based on. They were to bring to mind the Lord and His faithfulness to them as they came into the temple, amen, to the temple area. Just think about this. As they stood outside the temple, they would see these. He shall establish, and in Him is strength. Let's take these one at a time here. The Lord is the one who established Israel to begin with. he shall establish. Go back to, and I'm not going to have you turn for the sake of time tonight, these passages of scripture, a lot in the book of Genesis, Genesis 12 verse 2 and 3. where the Lord was speaking to Abraham, and he said, I will make of thee a great nation. The Lord is the one that made a great nation of Abraham. He said, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So the Lord is the one who established Abraham and established Israel as a nation. Genesis 12, 7. It says that the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. He was standing there and with the land he had walked. The Lord had sent him out of Ur of the Chaldees and directed him to this place. He said, I'm going to give you all this land. There he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. Now if you remember in Genesis 13, when he parted ways with Lot, and Lot chose the land over near Sodom, well, when Abraham was standing there with the rest, in Genesis 13, verse 15 through 17, the Lord said, For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. So God established Israel in the land. And He's established that that belongs to Israel. Amen. And He says, I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. The Lord established His people there. And then in Genesis 17, And verse 7 and 8, he says, I will establish my covenant between me and thee, the Lord said, and thy seed after thee, and their generations for an everlasting covenant. The Lord said, I'm going to establish my covenant. The Lord established that with Israel. And he says, I will give, it says, I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession I will be their God. Now this pillar It was a reminder of all that God had done for Israel, bringing them to the point where they were at in the land, and to establish them in the land, and what God had yet to do for them in the future with that covenant. So the nation of Israel was created and chosen by the Lord to preserve His truth in the world and to prepare the way for the Messiah. And that pillar named Jachin was a reminder every time they walked by that pillar that the nation of Israel was first established by the Lord himself. Now let's take a look at the second pillar. And that is the one named Boaz. The Lord is the one who was Israel's strength. Boaz means in him is strength. The Lord revealed himself to, if you remember, to a 99-year-old Abram. in Genesis 17 and called himself, he said, I am the almighty God. I am the almighty God. And this was important because the Lord had not given him the promised son yet. He's years down the road from when God made the promise of, I'm going to give you a son, and years down the road he still doesn't have a son. God took and gave him that promise, and God fulfilled that promise. The Lord changed his name there from Abram to Abraham, which means the father of a great multitude. And he assured him in Genesis 17, 19, God said, Sarah, thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. Abraham tried to talk the Lord out of it, why don't you just accept, let Ishmael live before thee. Well, Ishmael was the son of the flesh, and that wasn't going to happen. Abraham and Sarah's strength to have Isaac in their old age was of the Lord. Israel's strength time and time again was of the Lord. When you see God doing great things in Israel with such a small number, It's the Lord that did it. Amen. It's the Lord that did it. This is the word that was given by Moses. The Lord sent Moses in with and to tell the people in Exodus 6, 6. It says, Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you. He said, with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And the Lord did do that. He redeemed them with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. Exodus 15, verse one and two. After the Lord did what he said he was gonna do, Moses and the children of Israel sang a song, and part of that song says, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord triumphed gloriously. And then verse two says, the Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him in habitation. My Father's God, and I will exalt him. When they got to Jericho, remember when they were about to go into the land and Jericho was the first thing that they were going to face there in the book of Joshua chapter number three verse number five. Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. The Lord was the one that made the wall come tumbling down. Amen. The Lord is the one that gave the victory there. Every time Israel got away from the Lord, or tried to do things in the power of their own flesh, they failed miserably, didn't they? They just did. But every time they repented of their waywardness and then looked to the Lord and relied upon the Lord, the Lord came through for them. And you see this over and over again in the book of Judges. It was a cycle. They'd get away from the Lord, the Lord would send judgment. and they'd be in a world of hurt, and God would send them a judge, and somebody would deliver them, and they would be delivered after they would turn from their sin, and it just continued to be that way. But it was not them that delivered themselves, it was the Lord that delivered them. Israel's strength was in the Lord. Listen, our strength is in the Lord. These pillars are object lessons of this truth. These pillars were not made of wood or stone, but of metal. They were made out of brass. They were huge pillars. The shaft was 27 feet, and the capitals at the top were 7 feet, making the total height there of 34 feet. And the circumference of them was 18 feet. I want you to think about that, to walk around them, 18 feet. making the diameter across about six feet, and the pillar was hollow, and the metal on the outer edge, it was three inches thick. Three inches thick. So that's what you're looking at. These pillars are a reminder that the strength from the Lord is like a pillar in our life. Psalm 46, verse number one, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Amen. He's our strength. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And then 1 Peter 5.10, but the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. We need strength because we're weak. We just are. Even the strongest among us are weak when it comes to our spirituality. Without the Lord's help, life is tough. Aren't you glad that we have the Lord to help in your life? People that don't have the Lord, I don't know how they make it. You can't make it on your own. We're not strong enough to do that. Our strength comes from the Lord, but our stability comes from the Lord, too. He's the one who helps us not to quit when all we feel like doing is just throwing up our hands and quitting. When life gets shaky or uncertain and doubtful and confusing and dangerous or unstable, we need to remember that the Lord has established us in Himself. And He's the one who can give us the stability to keep moving forward for Him. Psalm 27 5, For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, and the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. Psalm 40 verse 2, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. Listen, we become both shaky and weak when we don't make up our mind to trust and serve the Lord. James 1.8 says, A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Some people try to get one foot in the world and one foot with the Lord, and it just doesn't work. You need to establish yourself in the Lord as the Lord has established you in Him. The Lord has established His church, which we are part of. In Matthew 16, 18, and I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And the church is compared to pillars by the Apostle Paul. Over as he was talking to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, 15, he says, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou artest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. It's the pillar and ground of the truth. And the church, the body of Christ, is the pillar and ground of the truth. The word ground there, it means the foundation of which a structure rests. And the church holds up the truth of the gospel. And if we don't do this, then no one else will. I mean, it's up to us to do that. Third thing I want you to see there in verse number 19 where it talks about the columns and the chapters bore a rough resemblance to a lily there in verse number 19. Call it lily work. The pillars were, with that, they were a reminder of purity. The column was the stalk of the flower, and the chapter was the flower itself, and the lily was the emblem of purity to the Jewish people. And so when they would see that, it reminded them of purity, of how the Lord wanted them to be pure before him. And the lily on the columns and the chapters was a reminder that they were to adorn their lives in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29, verse number two, given to the Lord, the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And in Psalm 96, in verse number six, honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. You know, the Lord wants purity in our lives as believers also, as his church. Ephesians 1.4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. In Ephesians 2.27, it talks about how Christ might present it, talking about the church, to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And of course we know Titus 2.12 tells us that the gospel teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. So the Lord wants purity in our lives also. And then we see the last thing here is the pillars were a reminder that a fruitful life comes through obedience. Verse number 20 there, when he talks about the pomegranates. The chapters on the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly, which was by the network, and the pomegranates were 200 in rows around about the other chapter. What's the significance of the pomegranate? Well, you've got 400 of them here, two sets of 200. And when engraving pomegranates, Israel used six petals, which formed the emblem that is now known as the Star of David. Because at its crown, when you take a look at the top of a pomegranate, it has a six-part star attached to the top of the fruit, and it's the only place the Star of David appears in nature. The only place. Pomegranates were a symbol of fruitfulness, and a reminder that obedience to the Lord was the key to their fruitfulness as a nation. And the reason it's a symbol of fruitfulness is because, and I'd never seen a pomegranate until I was studying this and looked it up to see what a pomegranate looked like and was studying the matter of the pomegranate. When you cut one of those things open, they got hundreds of seeds in them. They are floating in this red sweet syrup, from what I understand. The Jews traditionally said that it contained 613 seeds. That will give you an idea. If you go and Google it, take a look at some pomegranates. They have some that are split open. You can very well tell that there are a lot of seeds in there. Whether they were 613, I don't know. It's not actual, but the Jews traditionally said that it contained 613 seeds, and they related the seeds to the Torah, which had 613 commandments. And so the seeds were seen as God's commands that were to be obeyed and would thus make one fruitful in the service of God. So you got four worship reminders here. He shall establish in him his strength, worship him in purity, and fruitfulness comes through obedience. So that's the worship reminders, amen. All right, let's pull out our prayer list, we'll pray for the needs, and we'll be dismissed tonight.