In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of knowing how to use money and the futility of long life without God's help and wisdom. He challenges the audience to consider what is truly needed for a successful marriage, work, raising children, and a satisfying life. The speaker shares a story about John Chapman and a robin to illustrate the need for humility and the potential for transformation through the Lord Jesus. He also questions the value of riches and wealth without wisdom. Overall, the sermon encourages the audience to seek God's wisdom and recognize the true source of good in their lives.

The reading from the Word of God is found in the First Book of Kings, the First Book of Kings, Chapter 3, First Book of Kings, Chapter 3, reading the first 15 verses. 1 Kings, Chapter 3, verses 1 to 15. Let us hear God's holy and inspired Word. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ask what I shall give thee? And Solomon said, thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David, my father. And I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered, nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that you and my commandments as thy father David did walk. Then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings and offered peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants. May the Lord bless that reading of his holy word to our hearts this evening for his namesake. I'm sure it is very important how we begin things and it is supremely important how we begin such an occasion as a Christian conference like this. Our forefathers in a gathering such as this and a week such as this would have sought to have raised over the whole of the proceedings a canopy of prayer because they would have been very aware that this that we are seeking to do in the conference will not be uncontested by the powers of darkness. We read in the scriptures, the whole world lies in the wicked one. And that being so, any endeavour to spoil his kingdom will be resisted by him and any endeavour on our part to promote the interests of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will arouse his ire and antagonism. So our forefathers used to seek God in fasting and prayer at the beginning of such occasions like this. In order to raise the protecting canopy of prayer over the proceedings. Because we are wanting in this week to see sinners come to the Lord Jesus Christ and be delivered from Satan's kingdom. And we are wanting to see the prosperity of the churches and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. How we begin things is very important therefore. I want to draw your attention tonight to how Solomon began his reign. Following his father David, we have the record of it in one Kings, the early chapters and particularly chapter three. Solomon was only 20 years of age and he assumed the responsibility of leading the church and the people of God. And David before he had died had exhorted his son to do certain things in dependence upon God and Solomon did these things. And then we read he went to a place called Gibeon where the worship of God was centered in those days in Israel and there he offered many sacrifices. And at night he had a dream. Do you ever dream? Well you know they tell us, the experts, that sometimes we dream when we don't really know we're doing it. But some of us know it. So that we are conscious of the dreams we dream. Have you dreamed about this conference? Have you had any dreams of anticipation? Dreams as to what may transpire for you in this conference? World dreams come in a number of different ways. Some people's dreams are very uninteresting and very easy to explain. They're just a recycle of their day's activities and their experiences and therefore they're not particularly profound or interesting. But other dreams are more subtle. Some dreams clearly come from Satan, directly from hell into our minds and we would not like to have to disclose some of the dreams we dream. Other dreams clearly are the upsurgeance of the desires of our sinful hearts and sometimes we are horrified at such dreams. But on other times, dreams may be from God. And in the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures you will discover people who were addressed by God in their dreams. And I believe the history of the Christian Church is rich in incidents where God has actually communicated Himself to men through dreams. Well, it was a dream through which God came to Solomon. And Gibeon has recorded here in 1 Kings chapter 5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give you. Here was Solomon, just 20 years of age, with all the responsibilities of the Kingdom of Israel upon his shoulders, surrounded by enemies, having enemies within his own court, with his own nation who wanted to take opportunity of the early weakness of the king in order to depose him. Here he was faced with all the responsibilities that he had assumed. And here God comes to him in a dream and says to Solomon, ask what I shall give you. What a tremendous offer. Imagine what Mrs. Thatcher might ask. She was given such an opportunity. Or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Major, who seems to be in increasing difficulties just lately. Think of what Mr. Gorbachev, with all the problems that he has, would ask. And what might you think President Bush would be asking at this present time? Long terms in office perhaps? Economic miracles? A place in history? An advantage over their political adversaries? Well, here was a man in a place of political and national and international power, Solomon. What did Solomon need as king? What did Solomon need to confirm him in his position as king of Israel? Well, he needed the lives of his enemies. He needed power over his enemies. He needed economic prosperity. All rulers who have ever ruled need economic prosperity. He needed health for many years. What can a man accomplish without health and strength? All essential to a successful reign. What an offer. And consider who made the offer. Solomon wasn't standing by some sort of sentimental wishing well. Being invited to make a wish with little prospect or assurance of it coming true. He hadn't some Jim-will-fix-it personality come along to him and say, well, ask what you will. I'll see that it is done. God said. The almighty God came to him. And God said, ask what I shall give you. To whom belong all things. Who has made all things. In whose hands all things are found. Who has power to do his will and to bring to pass all that he decrees. He gave Abraham a land. He gave Abraham and Sarah a child when they were past age. He delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt from their captivity and made a great nation of them. He gave Joshua his enemies. He gave Jericho into the hands of the Israelites without them lifting a sword in order to obtain possession of that city. And he gave David a kingdom which he had built up and established. And now he is saying to Solomon his son, ask what I shall give you. The God of creation. The God of providence. The God of miracles. The God of history. The living God. The living God with sovereign power comes to Solomon and says to Solomon, ask what I shall give you. And therefore Solomon knew it was no empty offer. Everything belongs to God. All things are in God's hands. Our life breath is in his hands. But every beast of the forest is mine, said the Lord, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. David, the father of Solomon, has said, God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this? That power belongs unto God. And God had said to Abraham, is anything too hard for the Lord? Ask, ask what you will. Power and wealth, nations, health, long life, all within the power of Almighty God, all in God's hands, ask what I shall give you. What an opportunity. What a tremendous opportunity. In all his natural weakness, twenty years of age, at the beginning of his reign, here the Almighty God comes to him and says to him, ask what I will, what you will. All that Solomon needed for a successful reign was within his grasp. And therefore Solomon's choice was surprising in the light of all that. What would you have asked? What would you have asked of God if you had been in a similar situation? What would you have said if you had been in a similar situation and the Lord had come to you and said, ask what I shall give you. What would you have asked? Didn't ask for power over the lives of his enemies. Didn't ask for riches. Didn't ask for length of days or health. Didn't even ask for know-how. But he asked for wisdom. Do you know what wisdom is? It's the right use of knowledge. The right use of what you already know. He asked for wisdom. And he gave two reasons. His youth and inexperience. Verse 7 And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a little child. I know not how to go out and come in. He had a sense of his frailty. He had a sense of his weakness. He had a sense of his littleness. Oh, my dear friends, we need a similar awareness of our littleness and frailty and impotence without the wisdom of God and the grace and the power of God. And the other matter that concerned him was the greatness of the people. Verse 8 Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. The prospect of this appalling responsibility humbled him before God. He shunk before it. Does the prospect of life humble you, my dear friend? You young people here tonight, how wonderful it is to see so many of you here at the beginning of the conference, gathered together. Does the prospect of your life stretching out before you, humble you? Does it make you feel like Solomon? Do you think you're going to be able to handle everything in your life? Do you think you're going to be able to deal with everything that comes along? Here, this man Solomon, already wise. There are references to his wisdom even before he asks for more wisdom. Here he is conscious of his frailty and of the prospects that lie ahead of him and he calls upon God for wisdom. What are riches without wisdom? What is money and wealth without wisdom? You see men getting rich. Do you notice what they do with their riches? Do you notice how prodigal they are in the use of their wealth and their resources? What are resources? What are wealth? What are riches? What is money unless you know how to use it? What is long life without God's help, without God coming to you and visiting you? What is long life without God coming and giving wisdom? It's true of everything in life, isn't it? What is needed for a successful marriage? Just money? Just a good house? Just a good job? You make your plans? Pretty wife? Is that how you're working it out? What is needed for work? To be able to work and labour and contribute successfully in this life. What do we need to bring up our children? Is it the resources to give them more and more of what they've already had enough of already? What do we need for a satisfying life? For a good or sure future and for happiness? It's not what the TV ads tell you and it's not what most people imagine. So I want to challenge you tonight. My challenge is this. What would you ask of the Lord? Were you to have a dream? Were you to have a dream tonight and no one to overhear you in your response and no one to listen in to what you say? If you were to have a dream and God were to come to you in the dream and say to you in the dream ask what I shall give you what would you ask? Be honest. What would you ask? The answer to that question would tell us everything we need to know about you. The answer to that question would reveal everything about you that is most important in life. It would be the most revealing statement you would make in life. If you were to have a dream if you were to have a dream and God were to come to you and to say to you ask what I shall give you Ah, but you do dream, don't you? You do dream. You don't have to say if you were to have a dream because you do dream. You dream already. You see people dreaming. You see these office girls sitting upon their office stools chewing their pencils with a far away look in their eyes. What are they doing? They are dreaming. You see old men sitting in cafes drinking tea looking aimlessly out of the window. What are they doing? They are dreaming what life might be. You see middle aged women coming out of the libraries with their arms full of library books novels in the main and what are they doing? Well, they are trying to create the world of their dreams. That's what they are doing fantasizing because they dream. They want to create and live within the world of their dreams. Oh yes, we dream all right. So I want to put a further question to you. What are your dreams? What are your heart's desires? Perhaps you are dreaming for a wife. Well, let me not rebuke you young man. You are dreaming a very noble dream and I hope it comes true. Some of you young people may be dreaming of a husband. I hope that comes true. But with the additional rider I hope he will be worthy of you. Some of our dreams are not wrong. Some people may be dreaming for more money or more favorable circumstances in their lives and perhaps we have to put a question mark over such dreams. Another job perhaps. A better house. A very special car. Aha, you young men, you dream about that, don't you? Suit up. Sports cars. We have dreams for ourselves. Yes, we have dreams for our children. Dreams for the present and dreams for the future. Some of these dreams are not wrong. But the question I'm asking tonight is are your dreams what they ought to be? And what do you dream for most of all in life? What are your heart's desires above all other things? Because it is obvious as you look at the world around you that the few men and women in the world around who have actually everything their hearts have desired and who have the ability to bring to themselves everything they can dream of often fail miserably in life. Is there not something therefore more important than all the obvious things about which we tend to dream? And Solomon saw that there was and that's why in his particular situation at the beginning of his reign he asked of God wisdom. What ought you to ask of the Lord? Because He does actually make the same offer to you as He made to Solomon. Ask and it shall be given you. What do you want from God in this conference? Have you asked for anything already? Have you sought God for something out of this conference? Well, sometimes we are told in the Word of God we ask, but we ask amiss and God refuses our requests because we ask amiss and we ask for things to consume upon our unlawful affections. God says, ask what I shall give you. You need more than just the ordinary qualifications in life to be a success in the sight of Almighty God. You need more than your GCSEs. You need more than your A-levels. You need more than your degrees. So what should you ask? What should we ask of God? I want to make three suggestions of what we should ask in terms of priority. First and foremost, we should ask forgiveness. You say, well, Solomon didn't ask forgiveness. No, because he already knew forgiveness. He was already a forgiven child of God. The first thing we should ask as men and women, boys and girls, above everything else in life, the first thing we need above all other things is forgiveness because we are sinners. We have sinned against God. We have broken His commandments. We have earned ourselves the displeasure of God and until we have forgiveness, God will do nothing for us at all except resist us in all our desires because God is determined that life will not work without Him. And what men discover as they live without God is that though they may strive and struggle after this, that and the other and seek happiness, God frustrates them. And it is the purpose and will of God that men should be frustrated until they are brought to see that they need Him. So we need forgiveness. We need forgiveness from the hands of the God who has made us and brought us into being. The God in whose hand our breath is and of whom are all our ways. We need forgiveness. The God against whom we have sinned. The God whose commandments sometimes we have treated in a fast and loose fashion. We need forgiveness from God. We are here at this conference to preach the glad news of forgiveness from God's hand in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter what you do for God. It doesn't matter what you seek to do in your life. How hard you may seek to be religious and prayerful, the only way to secure forgiveness is not by your own efforts, but by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The great apostle Paul puts it like this. Speaking of Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Forgiveness is in Jesus Christ. Have you come to this conference burdened with sin? Unforgiven sin? Are you hiding things that are grievous in the sight of man as well as in the sight of God? Have you come to this conference burdened with guilt? Are you weighed down with a burden and an oppression of guilt? You will only find remission of sins and the lifting of the burden through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to be the sinner's saviour, who took manhood in order to do for us what we in our manhood have failed to do to satisfy God and His holy laws. He came in order to die, to give His life as a ransom for many that through Him and faith in Him we might have remission of sins. It's in Jesus Christ and in His sacrificial blood. The blood of Christ was poured out as a price, a great sacrifice in order to purchase and to redeem us from all iniquity and to bring about forgiveness. And that is where God grants forgiveness. You have to look at the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to look at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have to say with a hymn writer, My faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine, while like a penitent I stand and there confess my sin. And my dear friends, when you do that, your sins are remitted. God instantly, that moment, entirely and utterly, for now and for eternity, remits your sins and He imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ to you. Remission of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the thing you must ask of God first and foremost. Ask what you will of God. Ask forgiveness first and foremost. Because there isn't much of a future for you without forgiveness. There isn't ultimately any real future for you without forgiveness. If you pass out of this life without forgiveness, you will pass into the presence of God, a burdened, guilty sinner, worthy of judgment. And there is no prospect for you without forgiveness. You will be cast into everlasting fire. So go to God. Go to Him. Tonight, go to Him. Go to Him and ask forgiveness. If you are not sure, my dear young friend, whether you have forgiveness, get down beside your bed tonight. Go away into a quiet place. Ask God to forgive you through Jesus Christ. Say to God, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe You have sent Him to be the Savior of my soul. Forgive me through Jesus Christ. There's something else you must ask. Something else that Solomon already had. Sometimes I meet people who say, well, you know, I'm trying to be a Christian. Well, I feel sorry for people who are trying to be all sorts of things in life. I feel sorry for people who are trying to be a good nurse or who are trying to be a good engineer. But I feel more sorry for people who are trying to be good Christians than anyone else in the world. It's a miserable business to try to be a Christian. Miserable business. There are many people in the world trying to be Christians. Perhaps you are here tonight and you have come here trying to be a Christian. If I was to say to you, are you forgiven? You would say, well, I don't know, but I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm praying. I'm reading my Bible. I'm trying to be a Christian. You fool! You can't try to be a Christian. How can you with a fallen nature be a Christian? How can you live as a new man and a new woman with a nature tainted with sin and under condemnation? How can you live as a Christian with a nature which you received when you came into this world? I say it is a miserable business trying to be a Christian. Stop trying to be a Christian and ask from God a new nature and a new heart and then you will be able to be a Christian without trying. You will become a Christian. That is the secret of living a Christian life. Solomon already had a new nature. We read here in verse 3, and Solomon loved the Lord. He loved the Lord and he walked in the statutes of David his father. He loved the Lord. He didn't have to try to love the Lord. He did love the Lord. He loved the Lord and he loved the ways of the Lord. It was in his heart. He was a new creation. He had a new nature. This is the key to the Christian life. The key to being a man or a woman of God is to have a new nature, a new heart. Have you asked that of God? When God gives you a new nature, a new heart, you have a fresh mind, a spiritual mind. You think spiritually. You act spiritually. You desire things that are spiritual. It comes with a new nature. People tell me there is a lot of difficulty today with young people and worldliness and with worldliness within the church. Ah, my dear friends, the real difficulty is with this whole question of a new nature. Regeneration. What regeneration is when God gives you a new nature? You will want God. You will want holiness. You will want Jesus Christ. You will want to please Him and serve Him. You will hate sin. You will abominate it. You will feel uncomfortable within the world until the day you die because the world is alienated from God. You will be longing to get to heaven. You will be here as a stranger and a pilgrim. It all comes from this new nature. So ask God for a new heart and for spiritual desires. He will give you the Holy Spirit and He will plant the Holy Spirit within you and you will be a new man, a new woman, a new boy, a new girl. He will give you holy desires and desires for purity. Ask what I shall give you. There is one other thing. And this really is what Solomon asked for. You need to ask for power to live to God's glory. That's why Solomon was asking for wisdom, what he needed at that particular time in his life above everything else was wisdom. How could he govern the kingdom? Chapter 3 gives an example of his use of wisdom just after the gift was given to him of special wisdom and discernment. This was what he needed above everything else to live for God's glory. He needed wisdom. And we need God's gifts. We need God's graces in order to live for His glory. Ask what I shall give you, says God. You young Christians here tonight, God is saying to you, ask what I shall give you. What are you seeking? Oh yes, says one young person, I'm seeking power. I'm wanting power as a Christian. Power. I've been praying for power. But I'm not too happy about the way Christians look for power. I begin to think that they're looking for the worldly sort of power. What is worldly power? Power is the ability to control others. Power is the ability to manipulate others so that you get your own way. Power is to be able to force your way through circumstances and trample upon others to assert yourself, to get your own way and to be able to satisfy yourself. That is worldly power. But it is the very opposite of spiritual power. The very opposite. Oh yes, we can want power. We can want power in our homes. We can want power over our loved ones. We can want power over our children. We can want power in our places of employment. We can want power over other people. We may want power even in the golf club. We want power in the church to dominate it, to control it and to get our own way. That is worldly power. But Solomon wasn't seeking worldly power. He was seeking spiritual power. And what you want and what I want, what we need is spiritual power. Power to be wise. Power to know when to speak and when not to speak. Power to understand situations in life. Power to see through situations and to do the right and honorable and godly thing. Power to do the very opposite of what we would do by nature in terms of our own sinful nature. I say that is power. Power to love when you feel like hating. Power to forgive when you feel like harboring animosities and bitterness against others. Power to be able to prevail in your own home by love and unselfishness and the giving of yourself. That is power. Humility is power. Power not to assert yourself. Power to deny yourself. In fact, the power that melts you and brings you under the constraint of God. You see, we don't think of power like that, do we? We think of power as something which will break constraint. Give us ability to do what we want to do. Power, my friends, is God's control asserting itself over us. And that's what you need as a Christian to live to God's glory and to be a useful member of a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Power to be able to say when the organist plays the tune you don't like, it doesn't matter. It's the words that matter. Little things divide churches, don't they? Because men and women want worldly power. My dear friends, your loved ones need that power in you. They need that power in you. Your brothers, your sisters need it so that you may be a more livable person. Easier to live with. Your wives need it. Your husbands need it. They need the power of God in your lives. You say, well, I'm having difficulties in my marriage. You need the power of God, not the power to assert yourself and to get your own way and to prove that you're right, but power to humble yourself, power to empty yourself. That's the power. That's real power. And only God can give you that. It's all against the grain of our natural natures. All against the grain. Power not to get your own way. Power not to seek your own happiness. Power to be content. Power to be able to accept hard and difficult circumstances without grumbling against them. That's power. Not self-assertion. But God subduing you to His will that His Son may be glorified in your life. How about it then? How about asking God for the things you really need? Stop dreaming about things you don't need. God exhorts us to seek Him for the things we really need. Forgiveness, a new nature, spiritual power. Ask what I shall give you. It's simple. Here's your opportunity at this conference. Here is your great opportunity. Solomon was 20. I wonder how many of you here tonight at 20 years of age, perhaps 19, 21, at the beginning of your life, ask, ask what I shall give you. What an opportunity you have. This could be your Gibeon, this conference, the place where God meets with you. What will you ask God? Not money, not even health, not even happiness. The spiritual man is more interested in holiness. I prefer to be holy and unhappy in this world than happy and unholy. Don't ask for happiness. Ask for holiness. We need the power of the living Lord Jesus Christ. We need the good gifts that God gives in Him. And then we need all the spiritual graces to fulfill God's calling for us. Then ask God. Go to Him. Go to Him. Go to God. Ask God. Is not the Lord Jesus Christ risen and ascended and in Heaven? Is He not on the right hand of the Father? Has not all power and authority been given unto Him in Heaven and in Earth? Ask of Him. He has the power to command the blessing and to give you your legitimate desires. God has said, ask and it shall be given you. Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, said Jesus, He will give it you. Because in the name and in the virtue and in the merit of Jesus Christ is all that the Father requires in order to give sinners His good gifts of salvation and of grace. I was reading recently a book about the work of God in Cornwall many years ago. What a mighty work it was. And I read about the conversion of a man by the name of John Chapman. I think he must have been a road worker or an agricultural worker. He'd been under a sense of spiritual need and a conviction of sin for many weeks. And yet he was unforgiven and still an ungodly man. And he sat down by the roadside one day to eat his few sandwiches. Whatever they ate in those days, bread and cheese probably. And as he was eating his bread, there came in front of him a little robin. A little robin hopped in front of him. Friendly little creatures, robins. And he took his bread. John Chapman took his bread. And he broke a bit of his bread and tried to offer it to the robin. And the robin wanted to come and was afraid of coming and jumping away all the time. And John Chapman said to the little robin, Come, come. You don't know how much good I can do you. And he said, I looked up. I saw the Lord Jesus. And he was saying to me, Come, come. You don't know how much good I can do you. And he came. And he was forgiven. And he became a new man. And he lived the rest of his life to the glory of God. Do you know how much good the Lord Jesus can do you, my dear friend? Do we who believe in his name know how much good he can do us? Come, come. You don't know how much good the Saviour can do you. Ask what you will. Amen.