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1 Kings 11 (Part 1) Bible Study (Solomon Turns from the Lord) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Meet me in First Kings Chapter 11, please.
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  In your Bibles, First things Chapter 11.
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  We all knew that this time would come, the time when we would
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  have to take a good, hard look at the downfall of one of
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  Israel's most influential and greatest among the rosters of
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  their leaders. And as we approach this text, I
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  just want to pray briefly and ask the Lord's help for this
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  time. Father, our prayer is simple as
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  we now come to your word. Give us understanding that we
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  may keep your Word and enlarge our hearts, that we may run in
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  the way of your commandments. We pray for the help of the
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  precious Holy Spirit to guide us through these verses to
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  eliminate any distraction or any obstruction to these truths
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  settling in our hearts. Lord, help us hide these truths
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  down deep inside that they may be with us for the rest of our
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  pilgrimage here on earth. And we pray that the power of
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  the Spirit would be known along with the knowledge and the
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  insights. Yes, but the power to make it
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  personal and applicable to our own lives.
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  We know that you will guide us and we trust as we pray.
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  In the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
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  Amen. As I said, we have now come to
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  this text that we knew was going to come eventually, where we
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  have to face one of the greatest failures in Israel's
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  leadership's history. And as one writer said,
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  Solomon's fall is told in the same frank way as his wisdom and
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  his wealth. It's sometimes unpleasant to to
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  come to the realization of the shortcomings of someone who
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  especially has been esteemed by many as a champion in the cause
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  of God. But we have to also appreciate
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  and realize that God has preserved such things in
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  explicit detail, doesn't hide these failures for the sake of a
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  preventative measure in our own walk with Him.
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  This is His grace. This is His love, His love in
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  the form of warning and caution. You know, when we look at the
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  authenticity of the Scriptures, the honesty and the transparency
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  of the Bible, it does say something about the divine
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  authorship of this book. But God's primary reason for
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  this is again to supply the necessary truths in order for us
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  to be further sanctified as we take these truths to heart and
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  believe that they are for us. In fact, I want to make the case
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  to you as before we even dissect these verses, the 1st 8 verses
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  of this chapter, that even within the Scriptures we have
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  testimony of how this particular story was used in the life of a
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  man of God, and not only in his life, but in the lives of those
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  who served underneath his leadership, those who were under
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  his guidance. Can anybody think of the man
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  that I'm Speaking of who made specific reference to this very
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  chapter when he tried to exhort the people of Israel at a
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  particular time in its history? Very good, Nehemiah.
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  If you turn quickly to Nehemiah chapter 13, verse 26, you'll see
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  what I'm Speaking of and it will solidify this point that I'm
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  trying to make, that this is intended to provide the
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  necessary truths in order to prevent us from making the same
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  mistakes. So Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse
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  26 to verse 27, Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem from his
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  frequent visits back and forth, and he learned that the Exiles
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  who have returned are now marrying foreign women from
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  different nations who serve different gods.
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  And this is his warning to them in verse 26.
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  Did not Solomon King of Israel sin on account of such woman
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  among the many nations? There was no king like him, and
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  he was beloved by his God. And God made him king over all
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  Israel. Nevertheless foreign woman made
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  even him to sin. Shall we then listen to you and
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  do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by
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  marrying foreign woman? In other words, here's what
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  Nehemiah is saying to this generation.
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  Didn't you learn from Friday night Bible study?
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  That when the story of Solomon has been preserved for us, it
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  was meant for you to understand that you should learn from the
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  mistakes of others, and that you should understand that you are
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  setting yourself up for the same disastrous disasters that
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  Solomon brought upon himself and others by entertaining the same
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  sins that he entertained. Did you not learn?
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  Secondly, notice his wording is very carefully.
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  He says here in the second part of verse 26, among the many
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  nations where there was no king like him, and he was beloved by
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  his God. Do you not understand, O
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  generation of rebellion, rebellious Israelites, that
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  Solomon was unique in that he enjoyed a particular wisdom from
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  God? He had this special favor from
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  God. But even him with such stature
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  and such influence was not impervious to this temptation.
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  And if it's true for Solomon, how much more you?
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  If it's true for Solomon, how much more you, how much more
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  vulnerable are you? How much more on guard should
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  you be? Evidently, as devastating as
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  this chapter will be to read and to look at in great detail, it
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  was a value in Nehemiah's day, and there should be no doubt in
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  our minds that it carries value for the Church in this hour.
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  So let's come back to First Kings Chapter 11, and let's read
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  the 1st 8 verses together and we'll take our time to look at
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  what each verse has to teach us. Now King Solomon loved many
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  foreign woman, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite,
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  Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite woman from the nations
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  concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel,
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  You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither
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  shall. They with you, for surely they
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  will turn away your heart after their gods.
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  Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives who were
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  princesses and 300 concubines, And his wives turned away his
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  heart. For when Solomon was old, his
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  wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart
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  was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of
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  David his father. For Solomon went after
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  Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Cydonians, and after milk them
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  the abomination of the Ammonites.
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  So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did
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  not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done.
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  Then Solomon built a high place for Kimash, the abomination of
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  Moab, and for Moloch, the abomination of the Ammonites on
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  the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did, for all the his
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  foreign wives who made offerings and sacrifice to their gods.
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  Verse one, this verse should strike us because we learned in
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  the previous chapter that Solomon had now entered into a
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  phase of multiplication. We learned that he multiplied
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  his wealth. And yes, part of that was
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  promised by God that he would be rich and that he would enjoy
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  honor. But Solomon took it to another
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  level, to an unhealthy measure. From there we learned that
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  Solomon multiplied not just his wealth, but his horses, and that
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  multiplication, though it may seem to be an act of wisdom, was
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  actually an act of unbelief. God told the kings not to have
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  multiple horses so that they could demonstrate and trust in
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  the arm of the Lord, not the arm of the flesh.
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  And now we read in verse one of Chapter 11, that he multiplies
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  not just his wealth, not just his horses, but his women.
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  Solomon multiplies his wives. All of these things go against
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  the specific decrees that God had instituted for the kings of
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  Israel. But I find it interesting how
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  the Holy Spirit in verse one explains and defines Solomon's
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  foreign wives. Again, look at this carefully
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  now. King Solomon loved many foreign
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  woman. Along with the daughter of
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  Pharaoh. That stood out to me.
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  He could have just said he multiplied his wives.
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  But he says in the middle, along with the daughter of Pharaoh.
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  Remember we studied about Pharaoh's daughter?
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  That was the crack in the beginning of his walk right as a
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  king and we're reminded, we're reminded of the daughter of
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  Pharaoh. In other words, what this is
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  trying to say is that before Solomon had multiple before he
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  made this collection of foreign wives, it began with him
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  marrying one foreign wife. And the principle there is a
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  reminder of the nature of sin. It is in the makeup of sin to
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  grow in strength. The more it is tolerated and
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  justified in one's life. Sin will grow in strength unless
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  it is cut off by repentance. The longer we remain
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  unrepentant, the more sin in our lives will spread like cancer.
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  And when it does spread, it can spread in one of two ways.
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  The first ways that it could cause you to engage in that one
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  sin with greater intensity and the other way is that it can
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  encourage you to sin in other ways.
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  Solomon started out with one foreign wife.
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  Now he has 1000. Sin multiplies.
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  Sin wants to take you and I further and deeper Into Darkness
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  it. Rarely.
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  Keeps you and I in one place. Rarely.
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  It's not designed that way. In fact, if sin would have its
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  way with each of us, it would take us all the way to death.
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  We thank God for a conscience. We thank God for the word of
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  God. We thank God for the Holy
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  Spirit's conviction. But unrestrained sin can destroy
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  you, can ruin you because that's the design of it.
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  And we even see the sequence of sin even in the very, very
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  verses that we read. Look again at verse one.
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  Now, King Solomon loved many foreign wives.
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  It started with love. He loved these foreign wives.
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  Now you come down to verse 5 and.
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  Look what you read here. For Solomon went after
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  Ashtoreth, and he names the different gods in the
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  imaminations of these foreign people.
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  So he loved the former women. Then he went after their gods
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  and. Then what do you see here down
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  in verse seven? Then Solomon built a high place
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  for Kamash. Then he listed different false
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  gods. Again it started with affection.
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  Then he began to make steps forward into action.
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  Then. Now he is building temples.
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  This man who built a temple for the Lord is now building temples
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  for false gods. Who would have thought, oh how
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  the mighty have fallen? Is this?
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  Is this for real? Is this the same guy who made
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  that elaborate and glorious prayer, the dedication of the
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  temple unto the true and living God?
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  And now you're making temples unto false deities.
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  It's amazing how sin can mar and mold us into something that is
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  hideous and almost unrecognizable.
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  And so this is what we see in verse one.
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  We learn here again the principle of how sin multiplies
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  in our lives if we're not careful.
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  But then we read in verse two what from the nations concerning
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  which the Lord had said to the people Israel, you shall not
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  enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for
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  surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.
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  Solomon clung to these in love. Here's the Holy Spirit reminding
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  us that this is Solomon disobeying a particular command
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  that has been inscribed hundreds of years before his time.
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  And this wasn't just for the kings of Israel.
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  This is for all the people of Israel.
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  And so we have a quote here from Exodus 34, verse 16.
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  And what I find interesting about Exodus 3416 is that where
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  this command is found is the same context where we have a
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  name. Of God that is rarely mentioned
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  and christened them. I I doubt that most of us in
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  here have heard this name that God ascribes unto himself,
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  perhaps because it may cause confusion or there may be
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  misunderstanding, but it's not really difficult to understand
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  when you just meditate on it a little bit further.
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  There is a name that God gives himself, and I wonder, have you
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  ever called God this name? Have you ever heard God
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  identified in this way? It's found in Exodus 34, not 16
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  by verse 14. I'd encourage you to turn to
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  that passage, because by comprehending this name, not
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  only do we have greater insight into this command, but of all of
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  God's decrees. Here's what the Lord says in the
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  middle of these different exhortations in Exodus 34, verse
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  14. For you shall worship no other
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  God for the Lord. Whose name is Jealous?
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  Whose name is Jealous? Is a jealous God.
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  Jealous is his name. Now how do we make sense of
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  this? It's very simple.
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  Jealousy is such an intrinsic part of the nature of God that
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  he unashamedly uses the word as a name for himself.
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  Jealousy is such an intrinsic part of the nature of God that
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  he willingly, unashamedly ascribes it to his identity.
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  That is fascinating to me. And that might be fascinating to
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  you, because generally we understand jealousy to be a
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  negative emotion, and that is true most cases.
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  But evidently here. For God, who is perfectly good
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  without sin, using that to identify himself means that
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  there is a righteous expression of jealousy.
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  There's a way of experiencing jealousy, expressing jealousy
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  that is perfectly holy and in alignment with God's nature.
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  Just like anger, there's a righteous anger, there's an
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  unrighteous anger. And clearly here there is a
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  jealousy that is holy. There's a jealousy that is holy.
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  How do we distinguish between unholy jealousy and holy
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  jealousy? I'll give you a couple of
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  seconds here to to answer it if you have a brief definition
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  between the two or difference between the two.
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  Any idea the difference between unholy jealousy and holy
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  jealousy? It feels very much the same, but
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  it's not. Go ahead.
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  There's jealousy. OK, there's a jealousy that's
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  filled with love. I think that's a key ingredient.
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  Sure. Yes.
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  The motive of the heart. Why am I jealous?
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  Sure. A healthy possessiveness.
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  Every answer is giving us a closer reach to the true meaning
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  of a true and holy jealousy. I have every right to be jealous
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  about something that exclusively belongs to me.
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  I have no right to feel jealousy about something or someone that
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  does not belong to me, whether that be a skill, whether that be
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  an object, whether that be a person.
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  If it doesn't belong to me, if it's not exclusively my own, I
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  have no right to feel that burning sensation in my chest.
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  If that does belong to me and exclusively belongs to me and
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  righteously belongs to me, I have every right to feel that
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  complex set of emotions, anger and grief, when it is being
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  threatened to be violated or seized by someone else.
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  And the most positive example of this righteous jealousy is when
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  a man learns that some other man is pursuing his wife, is
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  flirting with his wife, is trying to get the attention, the
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  affection of his wife. That man has every single right
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  to feel that emotion of jealousy.
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  Why? Because she belongs to him by
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  righteous relational covenant, your mind and your mind alone I
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  cannot share you, and you have no right to share yourself with
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  any other. And that positive example is
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  precisely the example that God uses in the context of
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  introducing himself as a jealous.
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  God. Notice the language in the
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  following verses where he says that he is jealous.
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  Scroll down to verse 15 and 16 of the same chapter of Exodus
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  34. Lest you make a covenant with
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  the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods
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  and sacrifice to their gods, and you are invited, you eat of a
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  sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons and
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  their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons
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  whore after their gods. Notice that after the Lord
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  reveals himself as jealous, he employs promiscuous and
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  adulterous language in explaining the nature of the sin
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  of idolatry. He wants to open the eyes of his
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  people to understand that to be with another God, to follow
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  another God, to share this right of worship that exclusively
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  belongs to God is spiritual adultery.
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  So again, how does this work? Well, what belongs to God alone?
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  Worship. Adoration.
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  Obedience. And to give that to another
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  deity is to say in some great sense that a wife giving her
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  submission or her affection or a body to another man is
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  unthinkable. It's in case inconceivable.
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  It's wrong. And the Lord wants us to feel it
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  that way. The Lord wants us to see it that
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  way. You can give this to other
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  deities. That belongs to me.
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  You can't give this to other idols, any object, any person,
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  because those things belong to me.
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  So it's spiritual adultery. And I have every right to feel
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  jealous when I see you being pursued and being entertaining
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  to other things that threaten your devotion to me.
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  And I I think understanding, I believe with all my heart, and I
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  encourage you to do the same. To see God as a jealous God is
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  one of the most comforting and encouraging truths about Him.
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  Why? Because it helps me understand
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  that behind every command, that this understanding of obedience
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  is firmly fixed with the realization that this is a
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  relationship with a person. This isn't just a set of rules
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  issued from a cosmic judge that has no interest in me but is
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  ready to lay down the law if I cross the line.
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  That's not who we're dealing with.
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  You. He is a judge, but he's also the
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  bridegroom. He he is justice, but he's also
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  jealous. And so I am to feel obedience.
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  I'm to realize that this is about a person that I love and
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  who loves me. I have to see that these are
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  boundaries to protect the purity and the joy of this relationship
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  between me and my God, my Creator, my Savior.
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  You remove the aspect of God's jealousy.
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  You are very much threatening the understanding of the
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  relationship of this whole thing.
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  He's a jealous God, meaning he's a person and he's a person who
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  loves. He's a bridegroom who wants the
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  purity and the chase thee and the faithfulness of his bride,
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  which I am a part of. And so I'm to see every command
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  in that way that fuels the joy of holiness, and that also gives
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  me the taste of the severity of sinfulness.
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  So he is a jealous God. And this verse is quoted with
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  that context in mind. That's the beauty of Bible
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  study. When you see a quote like this,
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  go to that verse. Look at the context of that
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  verse. And this is where revelation
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  comes. This is where revelation comes.
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  And then we read this last sentence of this verse, a verse
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  to Solomon clung to these in love.
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  And when I read the word clung, something triggered in me,
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  because I told myself reading this the other day, I've seen
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  this word before. I've seen this word clung
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  before. And when you look for where this
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  word has been mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures, it's been
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  mentioned in many places, but in one particular place, it will
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  make Solomon's sin that much more heartbreaking.
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  We're told here that Solomon clung to these in love, right?
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  These false gods by way of these foreign wives.
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  Joshua warned the generation that was entering into the
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  Promised Land in Joshua 23, verse six and eight.
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  Notice what he tells them. Joshua 23, six and eight.
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  Therefore be very strong to keep and do all that is written in
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  the book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to
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  the right hand or to the left. That you may not mix with these
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  nations remaining among you, or make mention of the names of
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  their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.
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  Here it is in verse 8. But you shall.
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  Cling. You shall cling to the Lord your
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  God, just as you have done to this day.
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  That was the standard of faithfulness and obedience that
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  all of the Israelites were to have to Lord, clinging to the
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  Lord. When you cling to something, you
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  know what that implies? Desperation, dependency and
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  Joshua says. Cling to the Lord.
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  Grip on the Lord. Hold this book tightly to your
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  heart, and don't you ever let go.
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  And then you come to 1st Kings 11.
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  What do you read? Solomon clung to these in love.
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  For you. To cling to these means that you
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  let go of something else. You let go of the Lord at some
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  point for you to cling to these things.
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  That's exactly what He did. He clung to these in love.
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  And then we read this. Something that most people know.
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  It's something that's pretty common in Bible trivia is that
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  most people get right. He had 700 wives who are
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  princesses and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his
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  heart. Yeah, to the carnal man, they
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  might praise this kind of an achievement.
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  Wow. You're able to secure 1000 women
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  and your harem. And as much as these marriages
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  here in part are motivated by politics, you and I should
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  understand that Solomon, by doing this, is also trying to
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  reach a gratification by way of companionship.
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  He actually makes that known. So these, these are not just
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  political alliances. There's lust involved here.
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  There is a pursuit to satisfy something of the soul.
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  So these additions of woman says something about a vacuum in his
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  own life. And it's not until again, you
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  faithfully read your Bible through and through and you come
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  to 1st Kings 11 and you learn, wow, Solomon had 1000 women in
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  his home. How did that work out?
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  Maybe you meditate on that a little bit.
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  How do you, how do you take him out on dates?
• 23:48
  How does that work? How?
• 23:50
  And then you remove that thought, but you still remember
• 23:52
  1000 women. And then you come to the book of
• 23:53
  Ecclesiastes. And then you read this in
• 23:56
  Ecclesiastes 7, where Solomon, he gives commentary about this
• 24:00
  season of his life, this very verse 3700 princesses and 300
• 24:04
  concubines. He speaks about his experience
• 24:07
  and it is insightful. Here's what he says in
• 24:10
  Ecclesiastes Chapter 7, beginning in verse 27.
• 24:17
  Behold, this is what I found, says the preacher, while adding
• 24:22
  one thing to another to find the scheme of things.
• 24:25
  Which my soul, Verse 28, which my soul has sought repeatedly.
• 24:31
  My soul was searching for something.
• 24:34
  I'm investigating something. I'm longing for something.
• 24:37
  I'm trying to find answers to something.
• 24:39
  And here now at this point he is trying to discover something in
• 24:42
  the area of relationships. This is what he says.
• 24:48
  But I have not found one man among a thousand 1000.
• 24:53
  Does that sound familiar? One man among a.
• 24:55
  Thousand I found But a woman among all these I have not
• 24:58
  found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
• 25:05
  So he's not just speaking by inspiration here, he's speaking
• 25:08
  by experience. Listen to this man. 1000 women
• 25:16
  at your disposal who can grant you anything that you desire,
• 25:25
  clearly will not bring gratification to you.
• 25:31
  I'm looking for something. And among 1000 women, a
• 25:35
  companion who is righteous, a companion who shows excellence
• 25:39
  in character, companion who can bring something to what my soul
• 25:43
  is looking for. Among 1000, I have not found.
• 25:49
  And you know why? Having 1000 women in your life,
• 25:52
  whether they are there consecutively or they are there
• 25:55
  sequentially. However you experience them,
• 25:57
  whether you jump from relationship to relationship or
• 25:59
  from marriage to marriage, God didn't design you to know
• 26:03
  fulfilment in that area. In this way.
• 26:06
  You know how God designed it for you.
• 26:09
  One woman who fears the Lord, one wife for life.
• 26:13
  That's what it is. And Solomon builds on that
• 26:17
  thought in the next verse. Look at verse 29.
• 26:19
  This is an excellent verse to speak on the depravity of man.
• 26:23
  See this alone? I found that God made man
• 26:27
  upright. But they have sought out many
• 26:29
  schemes. God made man upright and
• 26:34
  evidently through the fall of Adam.
• 26:35
  Now man lives to scheme their way through life and try to
• 26:40
  figure out, try to create these recipes and ideas that go
• 26:43
  contrary to God's design and end up falling into sin.
• 26:47
  These are sinful schemes. What Solomon is essentially
• 26:52
  saying in part is it's difficult to find those who are righteous.
• 26:55
  It's difficult to find those who are God fearing because man's
• 26:59
  nature stimulates and coaxes us to search out sinful schemes.
• 27:03
  But if you connect it with what we've just been saying, here's
• 27:07
  what we can see connecting with the previous verses.
• 27:09
  Such schemes never quenched even Solomon's own schemes.
• 27:14
  Never mind the schemes of people in terms of general idea of
• 27:17
  humanity in their pursuits. But I myself, even in my own
• 27:20
  schemes, I cannot find fulfilment.
• 27:25
  My soul is still searching, repeatedly, experimenting and
• 27:29
  dipping my toe here and dipping my toe there.
• 27:34
  Any scheme that you have in life, any plan, any idea, any
• 27:37
  pursuit that's not in alignment or is supported by the word of
• 27:39
  God, is bound to fail you. It will fail you.
• 27:42
  And that's why you're here tonight.
• 27:44
  I'm sure that's why you can sing.
• 27:46
  That's why you can rejoice. That's why you enjoy Bible
• 27:48
  study, Because at some point in your life you realize my schemes
• 27:51
  have failed me. And so forget my schemes.
• 27:54
  I repent for my schemes, and I surrender to the Savior and not
• 27:58
  just His saving work, but His Lordship over my life.
• 28:00
  He is the great Shepherd who would lead me home, and he will
• 28:03
  lead me and make me lie down by green pastures, and He will let
• 28:06
  me sip on living water and keep me satisfied until the end, to
• 28:10
  the point where you never have to consider another man made
• 28:14
  scheme again. So 700 wives who are princesses
• 28:22
  and 300. Concubines.
• 28:24
  And then later on, Ecclesia, as he goes, that was a headache.
• 28:29
  I didn't find what I thought I would find.
• 28:33
  Praise God for his will, so pure, so clean, so direct, and
• 28:38
  hold so much promise. Now we come back to our text and
• 28:43
  we read in verse four. For when Solomon was old, his
• 28:47
  wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart
• 28:51
  was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of
• 28:55
  David, his father. What stands out to you about
• 29:00
  that verse? I mean, there are many things.
• 29:01
  We'll mention a few things, but there's something in the
• 29:02
  beginning of this verse that really struck me.
• 29:05
  I wonder if it caught your attention.
• 29:08
  We're told about his backslide. We're told about his apostasy.
• 29:10
  We're told about his unfaithfulness.
• 29:11
  But there's something about Solomon's description that's
• 29:15
  really sobering old. Did you catch it?
• 29:22
  When Solomon was old, I thought age was supposed to make was on
• 29:28
  one wiser. Not necessarily.
• 29:33
  Not automatically. It can, but not in this case.
• 29:37
  Clearly. You see, it wasn't when Solomon
• 29:39
  was young that he fell into idolatry.
• 29:41
  It was when he. Was old life lesson.
• 29:45
  Write it down if you don't need to.
• 29:47
  Write it down and you're able to retain these things in your
• 29:49
  mind. God bless your mind life lesson.
• 29:52
  Temptation awaits us in every season of life.
• 29:57
  Temptation awaits us in every season of life until you give
• 30:03
  your final breath. Sin is crouching at that door,
• 30:07
  the door of your heart, And this is especially necessary for
• 30:12
  people like Solomon. Solomon is just isn't just a
• 30:15
  nobody. Solomon had done great things
• 30:18
  for the Lord. Solomon had a history.
• 30:20
  He had a resume, remarkable testimonies that he had
• 30:24
  performed for the glory of God, and it's often the case that
• 30:29
  even in our own lifetime we have seen great.
• 30:32
  Falls from men and people in Christendom even after they have
• 30:38
  made great feats in the name of Christ.
• 30:40
  Is that not true? There's some kind of
• 30:43
  intoxication that takes place. I don't know what it is, but I
• 30:46
  know that I've seen it enough where it is a common pattern and
• 30:49
  something to be weary of that when people do great things for
• 30:52
  God and and they build something for the Lord and they do some
• 30:55
  great things and many people are influenced by their gift, they
• 30:59
  let their guard down. They let their guard down.
• 31:03
  They they're not as vigilant. They're not as careful.
• 31:06
  And then they get sucked into something.
• 31:10
  And this is what we see with this man here.
• 31:12
  He did great things for the Lord, but after these great
• 31:15
  things, there was a great fall. Listen to this, please.
• 31:19
  Listen to this, Please. I love you.
• 31:20
  This is why I'm saying this. Past victories and past
• 31:25
  testimonies will not prepare you for tomorrow's temptations.
• 31:30
  They won't. No matter what you say to
• 31:33
  yourself about the days of old, or what you've done, or who
• 31:37
  knows you and how many people are blessed by you, those things
• 31:40
  will not keep you protected from the attacks that await you.
• 31:43
  Do you know what will keep you from the temptations that await
• 31:48
  you? From the things that are there
• 31:49
  lurking, ready to try to snatch you away from the bull of God?
• 31:52
  It's not what you've done in the past.
• 31:54
  It's not who knows your name. It's not what kind of position
• 31:56
  you have daily devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 32:00
  That's what it's going to do. That's what's going to cut it.
• 32:04
  You need daily dependence upon the Lord.
• 32:07
  I've talked to some people, many people said, brother, Sometimes
• 32:09
  I think about, you know, I'm young in the Lord.
• 32:11
  I still have many years of God keeps me on these on this earth.
• 32:14
  How will I know if I will remain fervent?
• 32:16
  How will I know if I will remain obedient down the years after I
• 32:20
  became a father, Become a father grandfather.
• 32:22
  How will I know? And I just tell him this.
• 32:24
  Take it one day at a time, will you?
• 32:28
  One day at a time. Just make it your ambition the
• 32:32
  moment you wake up. I must spend time with the
• 32:35
  master. I must sit at his feet.
• 32:39
  I must let the hammer of the Word, the fire of the word, the
• 32:42
  sword of the word, the water of the word do what's work in me,
• 32:47
  because all it takes is a little bit of negligence here, a little
• 32:50
  bit negligence there, And then what?
• 32:52
  Seemed to disturb you. Now doesn't bother you as much.
• 32:55
  And then all it takes is a few months and then years, and then
• 32:58
  things get really scary. You think this happened
• 33:00
  overnight with Solomon? It never happens overnight.
• 33:05
  It always takes time. That is the case with this man.
• 33:11
  Notice that the word heart is mentioned three times in verse
• 33:14
  4. Did you catch that?
• 33:16
  For when Psalm was old, his wives turned away, his heart one
• 33:19
  after other gods, and his heart too was not wholly true.
• 33:21
  To Lord is God, as was the heart of David, his father.
• 33:25
  The word heart three times in one verse.
• 33:26
  That's where it all starts. The heart, it's internal, it's
• 33:32
  hidden. It's only between you and God.
• 33:37
  It doesn't manifest right away. It's not observable by by
• 33:39
  others. It doesn't start with you not
• 33:40
  coming to church. That happened.
• 33:42
  You not coming to the House of God regularly for unjustifiable
• 33:45
  reasons. You not serving the Lord.
• 33:47
  You not reading your word. Where did it all start that
• 33:49
  started in your heart. So this man's heart was not in
• 33:55
  check. It was not regularly brought
• 33:57
  before. The refiner who looks at the
• 34:00
  spots and looks at the mud that splashed on your heart as you
• 34:03
  went through that weekend work, and as you fell maybe into this
• 34:06
  temptation and that temptation was ready to clean you as he's
• 34:08
  so eagerly to wash your feet, that was not brought before him.
• 34:12
  And it eventually becomes calloused and hard and it
• 34:15
  becomes crystallized. And then you begin to start
• 34:17
  doing things like this, building temples to idols when you once
• 34:19
  built one temple into the true God.
• 34:26
  What a different picture of someone in their old age than
• 34:30
  what the Bible aspires and commands meant to be in their
• 34:33
  old age. The Bible has a whole different
• 34:36
  picture than what we see here with Solomon for men, men, and
• 34:39
  women, but it spells it out for men specifically.
• 34:42
  And when you read this verse, you're going to learn that this
• 34:45
  is something that is not just for men.
• 34:48
  Again, what this verse is going to show is that there's a
• 34:50
  standard that God has in mind that as we grow in years, we
• 34:54
  also grow in these characteristics.
• 34:58
  We should grow in these things as as we spend more time with
• 35:01
  the Lord, as we. Continue to serve the Lord, and
• 35:04
  they are 6 qualities that I believe summarize beautifully
• 35:08
  what a true biblical man looks like.
• 35:12
  It's found in the Book of Titus, chapter 2, verse 2, and I'm not
• 35:14
  going to expound on these things, just to give you an idea
• 35:17
  and you can take this home, men especially, and reflect on these
• 35:20
  things. In Titus 22, you're told what
• 35:22
  older men should demonstrate and display in the local church.
• 35:28
  And this is not just for older men, as though younger men
• 35:30
  should not pursue these things. I argue this is what older men
• 35:34
  should exemplify. And this is what younger men
• 35:37
  should pursue passionately as they see these things modeled by
• 35:41
  those who are older in the church.
• 35:43
  Here's what we're told in Titus 22, When Solomon was old, his
• 35:47
  heart turned from the Lord. That's not you in Christ.
• 35:50
  That's not your destination in Christ.
• 35:52
  That's not what the Holy Spirit is ready to empower you to.
• 35:54
  Here's what we read. Titus 2 Two older men.
• 35:59
  Are to be sober minded 1 dignified to self-control 3.
• 36:04
  Sound in faith, four in love, sound in love 5 and sound in
• 36:08
  steadfastness. Sound simply means healthy and
• 36:13
  these are not characteristics of elders.
• 36:16
  This is not for. Pastors in the church.
• 36:17
  This is for those in the pews, those in the congregation,
• 36:22
  seasoned men, men who have known the Lord for years.
• 36:26
  You should operate in these things and younger men should
• 36:29
  see it and and pursue it with their passion.
• 36:34
  And the thing that stands out to me out of all these six is the
• 36:36
  first one sober minded. Let me just give you a sample of
• 36:40
  what biblical masculinity looks like.
• 36:42
  I'm not going to touch on all these things and there's so much
• 36:43
  to touch on, but. Let me give you just a sample.
• 36:45
  Yeah, just something to taste on and chew on.
• 36:48
  Sober minded. You know what that means in the
• 36:50
  original Not drunken. Now, don't limit the application
• 36:55
  of that to. Intoxication with actual
• 36:58
  substance. Paul's application here is much
• 37:00
  broader than that. What Paul means by saying older
• 37:04
  men should be sober minded is that they should be clear
• 37:06
  headed. They should be vigilant.
• 37:10
  They should be aware. Aware of what?
• 37:13
  They should be aware of the principle of moderation in
• 37:16
  every. Area of their lives and they
• 37:20
  should not be given over to excess.
• 37:22
  As those are who are not ruled by divine principles, So what
• 37:26
  Paul is saying here is men should live in moderation and
• 37:30
  there should be no pursuit in their lives that.
• 37:34
  Puts the greatest emphasis of your life as a man of God, the
• 37:38
  Kingdom of God, the gospel of God.
• 37:39
  There should be no excess in your life that pushes that into
• 37:42
  the shadows. There should be no other
• 37:46
  emphasis in your life that eliminates or the dilutes that
• 37:49
  which you should be preoccupied by as a man of God, sober
• 37:54
  minded, you're not giving over to excess as a man of God.
• 37:56
  Excess of what? Excess of sleep?
• 37:58
  Excess of Entertainment. Excess of.
• 38:00
  Anything. Anything, even that might be
• 38:02
  neutral morally. Anything that would overtake you
• 38:05
  or discourage you or derail you from your calling.
• 38:08
  As a man of God, your responsibilities, your ministry,
• 38:14
  you should be clear headed, aware.
• 38:17
  You know, Paul said it this way. In First Corinthians 612 all
• 38:20
  things are permissible, but not all things are helpful.
• 38:25
  All things are legal in a sense, but not all things are
• 38:27
  beneficial. And then he goes on to say this.
• 38:29
  I will not be mastered by anything.
• 38:35
  How do I know if I'm mastered by anything?
• 38:37
  How do I know if I'm being dominated by anything?
• 38:39
  Very easy. Very easy.
• 38:41
  Can you say no to it? That's all you have to ask.
• 38:45
  Can I say no to this when it's when it's asking of me more than
• 38:50
  it deserves? Can I look at it as a man of God
• 38:53
  filled with the Holy Spirit ruled by the truth,
• 38:56
  understanding my responsibilities as a man of God
• 38:59
  to my wife, my wife to be to the local church, to my friendships,
• 39:03
  to my work? Can I look at that and say no,
• 39:06
  not today. I had enough of you.
• 39:08
  That's a sober minded man of God, Solomon.
• 39:13
  In his old age, he going to do that?
• 39:15
  Any pretty Princess that walked by that he saw on his Instagram,
• 39:19
  She's mine. Hey, you have 999 too many
• 39:24
  Solomon, you're not sober minded.
• 39:30
  Oh, we can make the rest of this about Biblical.
• 39:32
  Masculinity We won't because we have four more verses and 1st
• 39:37
  Kings 11 verse 5. For Solomon went after
• 39:46
  Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Cydonians, and after Milkham,
• 39:50
  the abomination of the Ammonites.
• 39:53
  So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did
• 39:57
  not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done twice
• 40:02
  in the set of verses that we are examining tonight.
• 40:06
  Solomon's devotion is unfaithfulness is compared to
• 40:10
  the wholehearted devotion of his Father.
• 40:13
  So go back to verse 4 again and notice at the end of verse four,
• 40:16
  as was the heart of David, his father.
• 40:18
  Then you come to verse six as David his father had done.
• 40:22
  I find that interesting. I find that interesting for one
• 40:26
  main reason. Was David really wholehearted to
• 40:30
  the Lord himself? If we're being honest, what's
• 40:34
  the answer? No, and less Wholeheartedness to
• 40:38
  us means perfection. Here's what's even more
• 40:41
  fascinating. There's a there's a comparison
• 40:45
  here, right? Solomon was not like his father
• 40:47
  David. And what's the sin that we're
• 40:49
  dealing with here? Multiple wives.
• 40:51
  Hello, Who had multiple wives? David had multiple wives.
• 40:59
  How do we make sense of this? I think the best way to make
• 41:03
  sense of this is that though David struggled in the same area
• 41:06
  as his son here, he never allowed it to totally sabotage
• 41:09
  his faith. He struggled.
• 41:13
  There's no doubt he stumbled absolutely.
• 41:15
  He paid the price for it, yes, but in the area of worship,
• 41:19
  David never wavered and understanding that this is the
• 41:24
  true and living God, This is the one to whom I pledge my
• 41:28
  allegiance to. There is no other God but this
• 41:31
  God. David was firm, and when he did
• 41:34
  sin, you know what he did? He lived a repentant life.
• 41:40
  That's what the Lord is after. You've heard this before from
• 41:42
  this Bible study. That's what makes David a man
• 41:44
  after God's heart. Not necessarily whether or not
• 41:46
  this, the sin in his life was present, but it was his attitude
• 41:50
  toward that sin. Yes, we should strive unto
• 41:53
  perfection. This is not license for us to
• 41:55
  justify sin, but what's the the thing that the Lord is after is
• 41:58
  your attitude towards sin. That's what defines us as being
• 42:03
  wholehearted to the Lord. Do we turn back to the Lord when
• 42:05
  we do fall? If we do fall, there's no
• 42:08
  indication from the narrative of first kings that Solomon ever
• 42:10
  turned back to the Lord. So he struggled in the same area
• 42:15
  as as they. Maybe not to the same extent,
• 42:17
  but it was to his ruin. It.
• 42:21
  Ruined him. And I find David writing many
• 42:25
  Psalms, expressing his woes and his laments of what his sin has
• 42:28
  done, not just in his life, but primarily to to you Lord.
• 42:33
  And before you have I sinned. David repented.
• 42:39
  Solomon remained. Big difference.
• 42:46
  Verse 7. Solomon built a high place for
• 42:51
  Akimosh, the abomination of Moab, for Molech the abomination
• 42:54
  of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
• 42:58
  And so he did for all his former wives who made offerings and
• 43:03
  sacrifice to their gods. And partly why this is an
• 43:06
  abomination. I'm going to turn you there to
• 43:08
  Psalm One O 6 Psalm One O 6. Verse 37 we read they sacrifice
• 43:28
  their sons in Psalm One O 6, verse 37.
• 43:31
  They sacrifice their sons and their daughters to who?
• 43:36
  Demons and their daughters. To the demons they poured out
• 43:42
  innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom
• 43:45
  they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
• 43:47
  And the land was polluted with blood.
• 43:49
  You know this very well, that in great part the practice of false
• 43:52
  worship. To these false deities were very
• 43:55
  cruel, cruel things. The giving up of the lives of
• 43:58
  infants and little children, sexual orgies and drunkenness,
• 44:05
  and arriving to a state of ecstasy as a form of trying to
• 44:08
  tap into the divine. It was horrible.
• 44:10
  But Psalm One O 6 indicates that behind these Isles are demons,
• 44:17
  spiritual entities that deceive the masses, and believing
• 44:22
  something to be untrue. And so let me say this bluntly
• 44:27
  and boldly. No matter how innocent, no
• 44:29
  matter how pure, no matter how civil some of these different
• 44:32
  beliefs are, rest assured and believe that behind these things
• 44:36
  are demons, demonic ideas. We we kind of equate demons to
• 44:43
  erratic behavior and self harm, sure, but demons are very
• 44:47
  sophisticated. They come up with doctrines,
• 44:50
  they come up with false theologies.
• 44:52
  So if they don't physically destroy, they'll deceive you and
• 44:56
  allow you to destroy yourself for all of eternity.
• 45:00
  And I think that's very important in our understanding
• 45:02
  of spiritual warfare. That demons are at work, whether
• 45:05
  you realize it or not. And the more you understand this
• 45:07
  word, the more you realize that what we're seeing before us is
• 45:10
  energized by demons. Now, this is what's so
• 45:16
  interesting. Come back to verse seven and 1st
• 45:18
  Corinthians. Excuse me.
• 45:19
  First Kings 11. Solomon built a high place for
• 45:22
  these different gods. Notice where they were built.
• 45:24
  Tell me where they were built. On the mountain east of
• 45:28
  Jerusalem. That's very specific.
• 45:31
  On the mountain east of Jerusalem.
• 45:35
  The consensus this mountain east of Jerusalem guess which
• 45:39
  mountain it is. No good guess though.
• 45:44
  Mount of Olives. This mountain where these high
• 45:48
  places were built was actually to this day is the Mount of
• 45:52
  Olives. The Mount of Olives is mentioned
• 45:55
  a couple of times in the Hebrew Scriptures.
• 45:57
  Is mentioned plenty more times in the New Testament.
• 46:00
  But this is where Solomon decided to erect these false
• 46:03
  things. And what's so interesting is
• 46:06
  that over time in the Book of Kings, in the Record of Kings,
• 46:09
  this very mountain developed a reputation and actually
• 46:13
  developed a new name. Do you want to know that name
• 46:16
  is? Actually, let me ask you, do you
• 46:17
  know what the name is? It's it's called the Mount of
• 46:19
  Something, and it's found in Second Kings.
• 46:24
  This mountain is referred to in a derogatory way.
• 46:32
  You'll have the chance to say it if you're the quickest to the
• 46:34
  reference. In Second Kings 23 verse 13 you
• 46:38
  have the answer of what this mountain was referred to as.
• 46:44
  And it's not a pleasant name. If you're there, you have the
• 46:51
  right to blurt it out. Mount of corruption, Did you see
• 47:01
  it? Well, let's read in Second Kings
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  2313. This is in the context of
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  Josiah's reforms where he's bringing revival to the land, to
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  the people of Judah. And this is what we're told here
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  at this point of his efforts. And the king defiled the high
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  places that were east of Jerusalem.
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  We just read that in First Kings 11/7 to the South of the Mount
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  of Corruption, Mount of corruption which Solomon the
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  king of Israel, had built for Asherah, the abomination of the
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  Cydonians, and for Akemos the abomination of Moab, and for
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  Milk on the abomination of the Ammonites, the same deities that
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  we read of in First Kings 11. It became known as the mount of
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  Scandal, the mount of corruption, vile, putrid, evil,
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  and Josiah. I love that.
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  King, My nephew's name too. He defiles that, He defiles that
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  which Solomon honored, and he brings it down.
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  The mount of corruption. I find that fascinating.
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  If this is in fact the mount of Olives, what a glorious picture.
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  At the same time, because Jesus comes on the scene and he
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  declares himself to be greater than he of Solomon.
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  One who is greater than Solomon is here.
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  How is he? Greater in so many ways, and
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  even in this way that he reverses what Solomon did.
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  On this mountain, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, this place
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  that was known as the mount of corruption.
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  And what does he do on that night, the night that he would
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  be betrayed? He intercedes for you, for me.
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  He sweats drops of blood. He patiently endures the lack of
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  faithfulness of the three closest of his disciples.
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  He has one of his disciples come with an army to betray him with
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  a kiss and one of his own and their zeal.
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  And the flesh strikes one of those men, and his ear is cut
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  off. And one of the final acts of
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  Jesus before he is nailed upon a tree, is to heal a man.
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  He recreates the ear of that man.
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  And here's Jesus on that night, the night that would begin the
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  Passion and the one greater than Solomon on the mount of
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  corruption was ready to pay for humanity's corruption.
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  The time of Solomon, not just time of Solomon, all the way
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  back to the beginning, and not just in the beginning before the
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  generations ahead. He who is greater than Solomon
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  came to the mount of corruption and with his blood can make the
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  most corrupt, evil, dark, vile, perverted of them all, make them
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  pure, white and holy in the sight of a holy God.
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  This is why he is greater than Solomon, and This is why we
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  study, Bible study. Because Christ is there, Christ
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  is there, Christ is here. Let's pray,
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  oh Lord, we, like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus,
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  testify that our hearts burned within us as we open the
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  scriptures. What a book this is.
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  What revelation is this? Forgive us for our unbelief, for
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  every thinking that such texts have no value to us in the New
• 50:57
  Covenant. Lord, many of these truths were
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  heavy, sobering, challenging, convicting, and we say yes to
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  them. And, Lord, we thank you for the
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  final note of redemption, That on that mount of corruption
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  there was the Christ who spoke to the Father and accepted the
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  will of the Father to die for the sins and the corruption of
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  all humanity. Thank you for dying for our
• 51:31
  corruption. Thank you, Lord, that despite
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  our failures we have been made righteous, and that Lord the
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  Holy Spirit in us as a seal, as a guarantee until the day of
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  redemption. Thank you, Lord, that even in
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  the temptation that we experience, even when we are
• 51:51
  feeling the urge to flirt with that which we should not flirt
• 51:54
  with, your Holy Spirit will not let us go so easily.
• 51:58
  You will convict us, You will warn us, You'll send things in
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  our way. You are a gracious God, a
• 52:04
  jealous God. You are jealous, and we praise
• 52:07
  you for being jealous. Lord, tonight we sit here
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  basking in the glory of your attributes, in your character
• 52:15
  the practical truths that Solomon's downfall provides for
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  us. And we pray that they would be
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  indeed so embedded in our hearts that as we grow old, we would be
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  sober minded. Unlike him, we would be vigilant
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  and clear headed. We would not be given over to
• 52:32
  excess in anything. And when we feel ourselves
• 52:35
  drifting in one way, we would with holy ambition, say no, this
• 52:38
  is not to be true in a man of God.
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  So we pray for the men of this church that older men and
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  younger men would pursue these attributes.
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  Oh Lord, there's so many things that we can pray and ask for.
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  We just ask that in this time of meditation you would receive the
• 52:55
  aroma of personalized prayer. You would receive, Lord, our
• 52:59
  true, sincere supplication. We need you, Lord.
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  It's so easy to begin, so hard to finish.
• 53:06
  Well, number US among those who finish well, we want to finish
• 53:13
  well. And thank you that we are
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  considered wholehearted. When we know how to live
• 53:19
  repentantly, we repent. We repent, and we gladly repent.
• 53:23
  We thank you for the gift of repentance in your name.
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  Amen. Don't lift your head too
• 53:37
  quickly. I encourage you to just the next
• 53:43
  few moments as the praise team will come quietly to prepare to
• 53:45
  sing a final song. This was a weighty Bible study,
• 53:50
  and I love when God's weighty conviction settles in because
• 53:55
  it's so necessary for us to reflect on these truths and
• 53:58
  conviction is what alarms us. I just want to encourage you
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  just speak to your God, just you're in the House of the Lord.
• 54:06
  Speak to the Lord and just give him your desires, your needs,
• 54:09
  your prayers. Offer him praise.
• 54:12
  Just before we sing and we wrap up, we're all going to make it
• 54:14
  home by God's grace. But now in this moment, as we've
• 54:16
  heard from the Lord, speak to the Lord now and don't distract
• 54:20
  your neighbor. Just speak to the Lord, your
• 54:22
  God, your king, your shepherd, with the truth that you heard
• 54:26
  and translate them in your own way to him.
• 54:30
  And then we will sing together, OK.