Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When the Heart Is Turned Away Msg 46 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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When the Heart Is Turned Away Msg 46 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Our Father, we thank you tonight for the goodness of
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  Speaker 1: our faithful God. Thank you that in hiding in you
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  Speaker 1: there is never the fear that you will drop us
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  Speaker 1: or leave us, forsake us, or turn away. We bask
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  Speaker 1: in that warm provision. We revel in it. We rejoice
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  Speaker 1: in it. And on the eve of a good day
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  Speaker 1: of relaxation and rest, we pause this evening thanking you
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  Speaker 1: for making it possible in this great land for that
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  Speaker 1: kind of provision. For this and countless other blessings, we
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  Speaker 1: give you thanks. And on the basis of those good things,
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  Speaker 1: we give in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to read
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  Speaker 1: for you a brief biography of a failure. and I
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  Speaker 1: would like for you to think with me about who
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  Speaker 1: this person might be. It will perhaps surprise you to
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  Speaker 1: know the identity. He began his life with all the
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  Speaker 1: classic handicaps and disadvantages. His mother was a powerfully built,
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  Speaker 1: dominating woman who found it difficult to love anyone. She
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  Speaker 1: had been married three times, and her second husband divorced
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  Speaker 1: her because she beat him up regularly. The father of
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  Speaker 1: the child I'm describing was her third husband. He died
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  Speaker 1: of a heart attack a few months before the child's birth.
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  Speaker 1: As a consequence, the mother had to work long hours
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  Speaker 1: from his earliest childhood. She gave him no affection, no love,
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  Speaker 1: no discipline, and no training during those early years. She
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  Speaker 1: even forbade him to call her at work. Other children
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  Speaker 1: had little to do with him, so he was alone
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  Speaker 1: most of the time. He was absolutely rejected from his
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  Speaker 1: earliest childhood. He was ugly and poor and untrained and unlovable.
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  Speaker 1: When he was 13 years old, a school psychologist commented
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  Speaker 1: that he probably didn't even know the meaning of the
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  Speaker 1: word love. During adolescence, the girls would have nothing to
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  Speaker 1: do with him, and he fought with the boys. Despite
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  Speaker 1: a high IQ, he failed academically and finally dropped out
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  Speaker 1: during his third year of high school. He thought he
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  Speaker 1: might find a new acceptance in the Marine Corps. They
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  Speaker 1: reportedly built men, and he wanted to be one, but
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  Speaker 1: his problems went with him. The other Marines laughed at
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  Speaker 1: him and ridiculed him. He fought back, resisted authority, and
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  Speaker 1: was court-martialed and thrown out of the Marines with an
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  Speaker 1: undesirable discharge. So there he was, a young punk in
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  Speaker 1: his early 20s, absolutely friendless and shipwrecked. He was a
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  Speaker 1: small and scrawny man, He had an adolescent squeak in
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  Speaker 1: his voice. He was balding. He had no talent, no skill,
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  Speaker 1: no sense of worthiness. He didn't even have a driver's license.
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  Speaker 1: Once again, he thought he could run from his problems,
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  Speaker 1: so he went to a foreign country to live. He
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  Speaker 1: was rejected there, too. Nothing had changed. While there, he
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  Speaker 1: married a girl who herself had been an illegitimate child
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  Speaker 1: and brought her back to America with him. Soon she
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  Speaker 1: began to develop the same contempt for him that everyone
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  Speaker 1: else displayed. She bore him two children, but he never
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed the status and respect that a father should have.
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  Speaker 1: His marriage continued to crumble. His wife demanded more and
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  Speaker 1: more things that he could not provide. Instead of being
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  Speaker 1: his ally against the bitter world, as he hoped, she
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  Speaker 1: became his most vicious opponent. She could outfight him, and
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  Speaker 1: she learned to bully him. On one occasion, she locked
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  Speaker 1: him in the bathroom as punishment. Finally, she forced him
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  Speaker 1: to leave. He tried to make it on his own
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  Speaker 1: and was terribly lonely. After days of solitude, he went
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  Speaker 1: home and literally begged her on his knees to take
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  Speaker 1: him back. He surrendered all pride. He crawled. He accepted humiliation.
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  Speaker 1: He came on her terms. Despite his meager salary, he
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  Speaker 1: brought her $ 78 as a gift. asking her to take
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  Speaker 1: it and spend it any way she wished. She laughed
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  Speaker 1: at him. She belittled his feeble attempts to supply the
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  Speaker 1: family's needs. She ridiculed his failure. She made fun of
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  Speaker 1: his sexual impotency in front of a friend. At one point,
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  Speaker 1: he fell on his knees and wept bitterly as the
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  Speaker 1: greater darkness of his private nightmare enveloped him. Finally, in silence,
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  Speaker 1: he pleaded no more. No one wanted him. No one
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  Speaker 1: had ever wanted him. He was perhaps the most rejected
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  Speaker 1: man of our time. His ego lay shattered in a
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  Speaker 1: fragmented dust. The next day, he was a strangely different man.
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  Speaker 1: He arose, went to the garage, took down a rifle
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  Speaker 1: he had hidden there. He carried it with him to
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  Speaker 1: his newly acquired job at a book storage building. And
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  Speaker 1: from a window on the third floor of that building
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  Speaker 1: Shortly after noon, November 22, 1963, he sent two shells
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  Speaker 1: crashing into the head of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Lee
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  Speaker 1: Harvey Oswald, the rejected, unlovable failure, killed the man who,
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  Speaker 1: more than any other man on earth, embodied all the success, beauty, wealth,
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  Speaker 1: and family affection which he lacked. In firing that rifle,
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  Speaker 1: he utilized the one skill he had learned in his
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  Speaker 1: entire miserable lifetime. When we hear the full story of
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  Speaker 1: this strange man and all that went into the background
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  Speaker 1: of Lee Oswald, we're not surprised to discover that his
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  Speaker 1: life became a failure. As a matter of fact, most
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  Speaker 1: of us raised in those conditions would find it virtually
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  Speaker 1: impossible to turn the tide. I am not justifying his
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  Speaker 1: actions by any means. But you would expect a person
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  Speaker 1: like that to be a failure. But in contrast, how
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  Speaker 1: do you explain a life that was 180 degrees different
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  Speaker 1: from that that results in failure? It's not hard to
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  Speaker 1: explain the failure of a Lee Harvey Oswald or of
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  Speaker 1: a Charles Manson or of the strangler that ran free
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  Speaker 1: in the streets of Boston or of those still running
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  Speaker 1: free today. But how do you explain the strange events
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  Speaker 1: found in the last years of a very successful man's life?
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  Speaker 1: that give the lie to all the good things that
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  Speaker 1: had been invested in him. Of course, I'm referring to Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: the man who had all the tangible signs of success
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  Speaker 1: from the day he was born. I'd like you to
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  Speaker 1: turn to 1 Kings 10 as we unravel this strange
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  Speaker 1: life that doesn't really make sense. I want you to
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  Speaker 1: understand to begin with that he had those four tangible
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  Speaker 1: signs of success. If there had been a Forbes magazine
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  Speaker 1: or Fortune in that day, I am sure he would
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  Speaker 1: have been written up as among the top 100 most
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  Speaker 1: successful men of his times. He certainly would have been
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  Speaker 1: written up because of his fortune. It is known for
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  Speaker 1: a fact that his annual income was somewhere between $ 25, 000
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  Speaker 1: and $ 65 million on a regular basis, not counting a
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  Speaker 1: number of the benefits that came to him by way
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  Speaker 1: of gifts from those that admired him. He was an
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  Speaker 1: incredible man of incredible fortune. This led to his fame.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 10, verse 23, we read that he became greater
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  Speaker 1: than all the kings of the earth in riches and
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  Speaker 1: in wisdom And all the earth was seeking the presence
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  Speaker 1: of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put
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  Speaker 1: in his heart. He was a God-blessed man. The hand
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  Speaker 1: of God was on him. And people clamored for an
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  Speaker 1: audience with this man. He was a man of amazing fame.
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  Speaker 1: He also had power. Go back to chapter 4, verse 20.
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  Speaker 1: Along with fortune and fame, he was, of course, a
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  Speaker 1: man of incredible clout. His power was unlimited. Judah and
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  Speaker 1: Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on
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  Speaker 1: the seashore in abundance. They were eating and drinking and rejoicing.
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  Speaker 1: Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river
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  Speaker 1: to the land of the Philistines. to the border of Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of
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  Speaker 1: his life. Verse 24, the last part of the verse,
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  Speaker 1: he had peace on all sides around about him. Judah
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  Speaker 1: and Israel lived in safety. Every man under his vine
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  Speaker 1: and his fig tree. From Dan even to Beersheba. All
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  Speaker 1: the days of Solomon. It's a colloquialism like we would
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  Speaker 1: say from Seattle to Miami. Or from Maine to California.
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  Speaker 1: From the extremities of that land. This man had power.
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  Speaker 1: They all served Solomon. And with it, of course, came pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: We've looked at length in previous studies in Solomon's life.
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  Speaker 1: At the book of Ecclesiastes, there's no reason to turn again.
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  Speaker 1: Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 10 declare that he
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  Speaker 1: was a man who had unlimited pleasure. He had an
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  Speaker 1: extravagance of delights. and whatever he attempted to try or
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  Speaker 1: to do, he seemed to accomplish. Along with the pleasures
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  Speaker 1: of sensuality were the pleasures of fulfillment. Whatever project he began,
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  Speaker 1: he saw completed, and he found no difficulty in meeting
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  Speaker 1: the needs for the budget because it was always there
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  Speaker 1: in abundance. How in the world do you explain failure
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  Speaker 1: in a life like that? Born with a silver spoon
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  Speaker 1: in his mouth, the blessing of God... a marvelous heritage,
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  Speaker 1: good training at the feet of Nathan, the prophet, a
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  Speaker 1: model in his father, David, who was a man after
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  Speaker 1: God's heart. He followed hot after God. How do you
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  Speaker 1: explain the failures? Well, I've discovered in the study of
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  Speaker 1: Solomon's life some characteristics of disintegration. And in the study,
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  Speaker 1: I have seen them clearly set forth in the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 3 of this same book, I want to show
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  Speaker 1: you a couple of internal attitudes that began to deteriorate
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  Speaker 1: his life. Of course, I have in mind the relevance
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  Speaker 1: of all of this today. We're not interested just in
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  Speaker 1: Solomon's deterioration. We're interested in how it happens today as well.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 3 of 1 Kings, verse 1. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: uncover a couple of these damaging attitudes that persisted in
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  Speaker 1: Solomon's mind. Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh,
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  Speaker 1: king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her
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  Speaker 1: to the city of David. Remember that. It'll come back
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  Speaker 1: to haunt us a little later in the study. He
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  Speaker 1: brought her to the city of David. She didn't fit,
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  Speaker 1: but he brought her. He was her husband. And to
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  Speaker 1: fulfill the alliance, he took her from Egypt and brought
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  Speaker 1: her back to the courthouse or to the courtroom of
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  Speaker 1: the king. He brought her back to the house of David,
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  Speaker 1: to the city of David, until he finished building his
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  Speaker 1: own house and the house of the Lord in the
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  Speaker 1: wall around Jerusalem. Now, God had said, don't do it,
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  Speaker 1: and Solomon did it. Verse 2, the people were still
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  Speaker 1: sacrificing on the high places because there was no house
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  Speaker 1: built for the name of the Lord until those days. Now,
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  Speaker 1: they're sacrificing to other gods as well as to Jehovah God.
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  Speaker 1: And it says, verse 3, Solomon loved the Lord, walking
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  Speaker 1: in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed
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  Speaker 1: and burned incense on the high places. God had declared
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  Speaker 1: the danger of that, but Solomon went right on and
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  Speaker 1: did it. Remember that. Turn from here to 2 Chronicles 8,
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  Speaker 1: verse 11. These are parallel books, and so we look
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  Speaker 1: at them one after another as we study Solomon's life.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 8, verse 11. Then Solomon brought... Pharaoh's daughter up
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  Speaker 1: from the city of David to the house which he
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  Speaker 1: had built for her. Earlier he had a marriage alliance
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  Speaker 1: with Pharaoh and married the daughter of Pharaoh and he
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  Speaker 1: brought her to the city of David. But we don't
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  Speaker 1: read anything more about it. I take it that he
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  Speaker 1: sort of hid her out. He kept her behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't display her or flaunt her right now. But
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  Speaker 1: he just quietly, after building a house for God and
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  Speaker 1: a house for himself, made sure that she had her
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  Speaker 1: own dwelling. It's called her house or the house that
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  Speaker 1: he built for her in verse 11. For he said,
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  Speaker 1: my wife shall not dwell in the house of David,
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  Speaker 1: king of Israel, because the places are holy where the
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  Speaker 1: ark of the Lord has entered. Isn't that something? A
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  Speaker 1: woman from an unholy background has no business being in
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  Speaker 1: a holy place. So he built her, her own dwelling,
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  Speaker 1: and it was there that he apparently lived and coexisted
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  Speaker 1: with her. The first attitude that began to have a
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  Speaker 1: deteriorating effect on Solomon was this. He did not take
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  Speaker 1: God seriously. Now this is certainly not a theoretical study.
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  Speaker 1: This is so pertinent, I can't believe it. so pertinent
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  Speaker 1: for us who have been reared in Christian homes, especially.
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  Speaker 1: Those of us who have heard the name of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ since our earliest years, fresh out of the crib,
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  Speaker 1: right in the church, and sometime while in the crib,
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  Speaker 1: raised in the church, our father's And our forefathers forged
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  Speaker 1: out the faith that has been passed on to us.
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  Speaker 1: We gave no blood. We gave no sacrifice. We simply,
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  Speaker 1: by being born into the family we were born into,
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  Speaker 1: have had this laid on our lap as if it
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  Speaker 1: were on a silver platter. The easiest thing in the
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  Speaker 1: world is not to take God seriously. That's dad's job.
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  Speaker 1: That's what mother does. That's granddad. He's the preacher of
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  Speaker 1: the family. I mean, that's where the roots of our
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  Speaker 1: heritage go, and it's there that we have our commitment.
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  Speaker 1: Not to the Lord, but to some family member. And therefore,
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  Speaker 1: when the chips are down, we don't take God seriously.
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  Speaker 1: I've come up with three rather practical reasons why we
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  Speaker 1: don't take Him seriously. Number one, overexposure to the things
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  Speaker 1: of God. The problem of overexposure. There was never a
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  Speaker 1: time in Solomon's life when he didn't hear of Jehovah God,
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  Speaker 1: when he wasn't under the sound instruction of a godly prophet, Nathan,
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  Speaker 1: when he didn't have modeled before him a good father,
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  Speaker 1: not perfect, but a good one. Never a time. He
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  Speaker 1: was overexposed, and it led to cynicism. Overexposure leads to
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  Speaker 1: cynicism if your walk with Christ isn't kept sensitive. If
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  Speaker 1: you question that, frequent many a Bible college in the
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  Speaker 1: school year. And you'll see cynicism in the raw. It's
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  Speaker 1: not planned to be that way. It just happens. Because
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  Speaker 1: the kids that have come to the Bible college often
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  Speaker 1: are reared in it, are up to here in it,
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  Speaker 1: and they're at the school thinking somehow this will be
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  Speaker 1: a measure of freedom. And while they're running with others
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  Speaker 1: coming from that same overexposure problem, fall into that cynical trap.
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  Speaker 1: Number one is overexposure. Number two, he was indulged. Too
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  Speaker 1: much for nothing, and that leads to irresponsibility. He got
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  Speaker 1: everything without a cost. He had to fight for nothing.
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  Speaker 1: His dad did the fighting. He got the benefits. And
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  Speaker 1: like any good father, Some represented right here. Gave so
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  Speaker 1: greatly in your life. Finally made something of yourself. Finally
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  Speaker 1: found the truth. And when your kids come, your tendency
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  Speaker 1: is just sort of give it to them on a
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  Speaker 1: downhill slide. And that breeds irresponsibility. Solomon was that. That
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  Speaker 1: explains his extravagance. Being indulged leads to extravagance. And so
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  Speaker 1: it was with Solomon. A third reason I find from
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  Speaker 1: a practical point of view is that he was promoted
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  Speaker 1: too fast, too far. He was only 20, not more
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  Speaker 1: than 25 years old when he took the throne. And
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  Speaker 1: there are not many 25-year-old young men who can handle
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  Speaker 1: a nation as big as Israel. That led to professionalism. Cynicism, irresponsibility, professionalism.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to be careful not to be cynical when
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  Speaker 1: I give you this illustration, but I do want to
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  Speaker 1: make it really clear. One of the best places to
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  Speaker 1: find professionalism is among those preachers who are on the circuit.
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  Speaker 1: By that I mean they travel from church to church
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  Speaker 1: and from place to place professionally delivering a barrel of sermons.
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  Speaker 1: And they have long since stopped doing fresh study They
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  Speaker 1: are not really accountable to any congregation or any board.
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  Speaker 1: They just go from place to place. And there comes
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  Speaker 1: from them a whole line of cliches, not all of
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  Speaker 1: them certainly, but many of them, and just sort of
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  Speaker 1: a brassy barrenness that comes out in orthodox yet sterile truth.
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  Speaker 1: And if you have been around it, you spot it
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  Speaker 1: right away. If you entertain very much, you certainly see
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  Speaker 1: it among many of those in my profession. And I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you, it is the easiest thing to fall into
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  Speaker 1: the professionalism trap. You're paid to pray, you're paid to preach,
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  Speaker 1: and you pray and preach like that because you're paid
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  Speaker 1: for it rather than because you have a burning passion
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  Speaker 1: to communicate fresh truth in a fresh way. Well, that
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  Speaker 1: was Solomon. He learned how to do it from his
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  Speaker 1: earliest years. You can learn that. There's a way to
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  Speaker 1: do it. And there are words to say and the
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  Speaker 1: right way to say them. And you just sort of
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  Speaker 1: zing your way right in there. And everything is just
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  Speaker 1: so right. Yet it's so wrong. Very little warmth emanated
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  Speaker 1: from Solomon regarding the Lord God. He didn't take God seriously.
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  Speaker 1: Let me show you something else. You're in 2 Chronicles.
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  Speaker 1: Look at chapter 8, verse 4. He built Tadmor in
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had
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  Speaker 1: built in Hamath. By the way, a storage city was
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  Speaker 1: nothing more than a place to house the vast reservoir
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  Speaker 1: of his riches, things, trinkets, monies, supplies. He had a
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  Speaker 1: great storage house or series of storage houses that he
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  Speaker 1: built on his own. Verse 5, he built upper Beth
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  Speaker 1: Horon and lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with wall gates
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  Speaker 1: and bars and bailiff and all the storage cities that
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  Speaker 1: Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots, cities
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  Speaker 1: for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to
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  Speaker 1: build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, In all the land under
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  Speaker 1: his rule. Can you imagine? That's what you call open-ended budget.
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  Speaker 1: Blank check management. You know the second problem with Solomon?
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  Speaker 1: He was not accountable to anyone on earth. He got
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  Speaker 1: vast riches. He chose to build storage cities. He built
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  Speaker 1: storage cities. He loved horses. He chose to get a
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  Speaker 1: hold of a lot of horses and with those horsemen.
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  Speaker 1: And he had to have stables and places to put them,
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  Speaker 1: so he built them. And you never find in the record,
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  Speaker 1: I've looked carefully, you never find where he bounced that
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  Speaker 1: idea off of anyone else. It says in the verse,
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  Speaker 1: wherever he chose to do it, wherever it pleased him,
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  Speaker 1: he built it. Now the tendency on the part of
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  Speaker 1: the young tonight is to say that is the way
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  Speaker 1: to rule. That sounds great. No, that's great danger. Unlimited
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  Speaker 1: freedom leads inevitably to disaster. Unrestricted unaccountability nobody on earth
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  Speaker 1: can handle. Go back to chapter 9 of 1 Kings,
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  Speaker 1: and you see it again. He wasn't accountable to any person.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 9, 17. Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower
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  Speaker 1: Beth Horon and Baileth and Tamar and the wilderness and
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  Speaker 1: the land of Judah and all the storied cities which
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  Speaker 1: Solomon had, even cities for his chariots. He was a
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  Speaker 1: collector of chariots. What do you do when you run
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: out of things to do? Collect chariots. Some collect coins.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Some collect stamps. He chose chariots. They were in. That
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: was the in thing in those days. You collected all
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: sorts of chariots. And you read about this supply he had.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and in Lebanon and all the land under his rule.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: He had it. There it is. Verse 1. Chapter 9,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: it came about when Solomon finished the building of the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: house of the Lord and the king's house. And all
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that Solomon desired to do, you can read on to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: see what it says. Just whatever he desired. By the way,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: he passed on this attitude to his son, Rehoboam, if
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: you remember the record. We'll look at that next time
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: in our study. But when his kingdom failed and he
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: passed off the scene and his son took up the scepter,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: it says that his son denied or... ignored the counsel
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: of the older and the wise, and he went with
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: those who were his peers, and they led him astray.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Just like his dad. Why should we be surprised? An
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: unaccountable father gives birth and training to an unaccountable son.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And when his son came, Rehoboam right away split the kingdom.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He was just like his dad. I want to say
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit about unaccountability because I think we are
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: living in a day in which it is displayed. I
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: want to say it carefully, too. We have said some
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: things in recent days about leadership in the Christian family
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: and how some of it is disintegrating. And I need
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to make it clear so that you don't just automatically,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: when you hear of Christian leaders being used of God,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: you don't suspect them. That would be a very unwise
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: extreme to fall into. Not all Christian leaders are suspects.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say most of them are not.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Those that are somewhere down the line have lost a
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: sense of accountability. Accountability to family, accountability to peers, colleagues,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: accountability to an assembly, to a board. They are doing
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: their own thing in their own spinoff. That is suspect.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Gene Getz has done a good service to the body
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of Christ in his book Building Up One Another. And
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: in his book, he has a chapter entitled Submit to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: One Another. I'd like to draw some excerpts from it
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: to illustrate what I'm trying to say. Ask the average
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Christian what he thinks when he hears the word submission.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: And generally, the response will have something to do with marriage.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: particularly the attitude and actions that a wife should have
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: toward her husband. One reason for this, of course, is
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: that the Bible does refer to wifely submission. Another reason
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the average Christian thinks in terms of the marriage relationship
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: is that we have overlooked its larger use in the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: New Testament. It is not a word used exclusively to
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: describe a wife's behavior toward her husband. Submission is, in essence,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: a synonym for obedience. In its most general use, it
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: means to yield to another's admonition. I don't want to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: go too fast because this is crucial to what I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: have to say tonight. It means to yield to another's
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: admonition and advice. In Scripture, it appears in contexts... describing servanthood, humility, respect, reverence, honor, teachableness,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and openness. We must hasten to add that Christians who
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: are in positions of authority, as the subject at hand,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: must also function with a submissive attitude. Husbands are directed
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: to love their wives just as Christ loved the church.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Fathers are to deal sensitively with their children, understanding and
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: meeting their needs. For each of these, he gives scripture reference.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Elders are commissioned to be servants. They are to be
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: eager to serve. They are not to lord it over Christians,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: other Christians, using their positions as a means of unjust gain, financially, psychologically,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: or socially. Christian masters are to treat their servants fairly,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: and sensitively, just as Jesus Christ treated us. Now, one
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: more word. Unfortunately, not all Christians in positions of authority
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: have the mind of Christ. Some men use the concepts
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: of submission and headship to lord it over their wives
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and others to force them into subservient roles. In reality,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: they have used the Bible as a means to get
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: their own way, that is not loving as Christ loved.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: That's selfishness. Such men have yet to learn that you
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: cannot demand respect. For it to be real and meaningful,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: it must be earned. I have found, much to my chagrin,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: that those who want to live in their own world
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: answering to no one, love verses like, touch not God's anointed.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: And they'll use it. And they'll strut around as though
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: they are that, meaning, answerable to no one, certainly not you.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I find in individuals like this a deadening, a thickening
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: insensitivity to family. That's where it first comes out. And
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: then to others in the body of Christ who are
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: not on their professional level. Solomon was like that. After all,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: he was the son of the king. He was brilliant
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: and he began to believe his own stuff. It concerned
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the Lord so much that he appeared to Solomon the
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: second time. See verse 2 of this chapter we're looking at,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: chapter 9. It says the Lord appeared to Solomon a
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: second time. First time was when he was inaugurated. Now
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: here we are 20 years later and the Lord sees
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: cracks in the armor, chinks in the armor, and he
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: begins to say to Solomon, Hey, watch out, man. You're
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: headed for trouble. He appeared to him here as he
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: had done in Gibeon, verse 3. The Lord said to him,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I've heard your prayer and your supplication which you have
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: made before me. I have consecrated this house which you
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: have built by putting my name there forever. And my
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. And as
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: for you, if you will walk before me as your
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: father David walked in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: according to all that I have commanded you and will
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the throne. And on and on and on. That's what
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I'll do. Verse 6. But if you or your sons
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: shall indeed turn away from following me and shall not
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: before you and shall go and serve other gods and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: worship them, Solomon, you have no corner on my mercy.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: I will cut off Israel from the land which I
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: have given them. I'll deal severely, Solomon. You are accountable,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: young man. If to no one else, certainly to me.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: You walk with me and you fear me. I never
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: know how these words that I prepare and share in
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: a service such as this strike different individuals. I never
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: know who's ripe for picking by the Holy Spirit. But
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I always know there are some. And I'm convinced some
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: are dangerously close to believing too much in themselves and
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: their own abilities. Perhaps on the teetering on the edge
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: of real success, and that's a dangerous time, few people
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: can handle that kind of freedom and blessing without that danger,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: without that temptation. Now there were steps that led to
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: the final failure, and they're in chapter 11. When you
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: get to chapter 11, put your finger there and go
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: back to chapter 17 of Deuteronomy. Hold on to chapter
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: 11 of 1 Kings and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: This is a great passage of scripture. It's interesting to
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: me because it gives us a threefold regulation for the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: kings of Israel. And the Lord gives it to them
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: before they ever have kings. It's sort of like advice
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: you got before you ever had children. And some wise
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: mother or dad passed on to you a parent to
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: be some words that they hoped you would never forget
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: about bearing those kids and rearing them. Now, the Lord
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: gave Israel some guidelines when they would have a king.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Verse 14, chapter 17. When you enter the land which
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: the Lord your God gives you and you possess it
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: and live in it, and you say, I will set
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: a king over me like all the nations who are
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: around me, you shall surely set a king over you
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: whom the Lord your God chooses. One from whom among
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: your countrymen, one from among your countrymen, you shall set
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: as king over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: that is a non-Jew, over yourselves who is not your countrymen. Moreover,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: now mark this well, guidelines, regulations for a godly king.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Three things are important. Number one, He shall not multiply
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: horses for himself. Number two, 17, neither shall he multiply
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. Number three,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: That's what you call strike one, strike two, strike three
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: for Solomon. But before you go back to 1 Kings 11,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: read on. God is so practical. He knows how to
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: cement truth into our minds. Look at his project. Now,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: it shall come about when he, that's the potential king,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: sits on the throne of his kingdom. He shall write
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: for himself a copy of this law on a scroll
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: in the presence of the Levitical priests. He'll take a
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: piece of paper, a scroll, and in his own hand,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: with his own stylus, he will write out what I
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: have written right here in this law. He will write
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: it out. Not in his own words, but just as
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I wrote them. He will write it out. Verse 19.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: It shall be with him. He shall read it all
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the days of his life that he may learn to
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: do two things. To fear the Lord his God. To
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: take God seriously. Verse 20, that his heart may not
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: be lifted up above his countrymen, that he might be accountable.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Both things Solomon failed in. Number one, verse 19, he
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: did not fear the Lord his God. He walked in
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: his own strength, didn't take God seriously. Second, he was
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: never accountable to his countrymen. He was above them. They
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: served Solomon. They didn't serve with him. They answered to him.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: They didn't give him advice. You do not read of
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: that happening, especially in the latter years of his life.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: He didn't take God seriously, and he wasn't accountable. Now
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: we're ready for 1 Kings 11. Boy, what a perfect
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: setup for chapter 11. Solomon is now getting up in years.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: He's written the Psalms. He's written the Proverbs. He's well-known.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: He's famous. He's rich. He is also on very shaky ground.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: He has eroded into a pathetic specimen of humanity. You're
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: going to read why in these four steps of failure
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: that occurred. I find them right here in this passage.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Verse 1, Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: with the daughter of Pharaoh, He was enraptured with women
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: outside the family of Jewry. He did not fall for
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: the Jewish women. He liked women of Pharaoh and the
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Moabites and the Ammonites and the Edomites and the Sidonians
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and the Hittites. He liked foreign women. From the very
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: of Israel, you won't associate with them. Neither shall they
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: away after their gods. First thing I notice in the
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: steps of failure is that Solomon willfully ignored God's written word.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: He willfully ignored Deuteronomy 17. He knew it was there.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Don't think for a minute that Nathan hadn't passed on
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: that advice. But giving advice to kiddos... is not the
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: same as having the children imbibe them. How many parents
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: could testify to that? Solomon, for some reason, got hard
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: of listening as he grew older. He heard well, but
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: he wasn't listening. So he willfully ignored the written warnings
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: of God. We just read them in chapter 17. The
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: second thing I notice, it is in the latter part
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: of verse 2, he flaunted his own desires. He held...
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: fast to these in love. I take it that he
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: clung to them. He was seen publicly with them, and
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: perhaps in great number. He had 700 wives, and he
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: had 300 concubines, The Berkeley Bible says, and his wives
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: perverted his mind. That's exactly what happened. He clung to
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: them in love and in return, just as God told him,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: he fell under their spell. Part of the reason is
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: he was getting older and he couldn't resist them. They
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: were wily, clever manipulators. They had been reared in that
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: in idolatrous homes. So he flaunted his own desires, and
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I take it that he was greatly excited with sensual delights.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: And we'll let it go at that. For some reason,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he loved the perversions that foreign women brought to satisfy
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: his fancy. The twisted mind. It came about when Solomon
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: was old. Boy, does that ever hang in my head.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: When you get old, you have no guarantee you get wiser.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Remember that. If you pass by the shows that are
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: X-rated and if you have occasion to see the traffic,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: you will not see just the young. There will be
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: many an older person there feeding on that filth. Great
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: men are not always wise, neither do the aged. Always
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: show judgment, says Job. Solomon, while he is old, is
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: now unable to resist the women of his life. And
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: it says his wives turned his heart away after other gods.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Now note this, his heart was not wholly devoted to
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: To the Lord, his God, that's been his bent all
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: through his life. His dad's heart was, but not his heart.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: As the heart of David, his father, had been, Solomon's
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: was not. Verse 6, he did what was evil in
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord and didn't follow the Lord fully.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Third step to failure, he resisted being totally committed to
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the things of God. He played with them. They formed
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: his Saturday religion. He got just enough to ease enough
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: of his conscience to take away his sufficient guilt to
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: get back into it. Neck deep. He played with the
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: things of God. He wasn't committed to them. He was
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: set up when he grew older. The lines of resistance
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: had already crumbled. What a formidable figure he could have been,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: but he was not at all. I find a sad
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: scene in verse 8. Thus also he did for all
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Here's the fourth. He pursued the satisfaction of ungodly companions.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: By the way, all four are very prominent today among
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: those that slide. He pursued the satisfaction of ungodly companions.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: He did it for them. Hey, they wanted it. We've
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: got to have our own little idol temple. Solomon, come on.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: You've got the money for it. The whole land is yours.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Build mine here. Build ours there. We want ours here
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: in blue. Put these jewels around this idol. Set this
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: one up a little higher. No, I want this decorated
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: like that. And he became a puppet to a thousand whims.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: What a joke. When he spoke of the living Lord.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: I find the gods mentioned right here by name. That's
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: a little unusual to have them just sort of listed.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Verse 5. He went after Ashtoreth. Isn't that interesting? Not
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: the wives now but Solomon. He went after Ashtoreth. Ashtoreth
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: by the way is the goddess of the Sidonians. She
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: was the goddess of Canaanite fertility. She was the goddess
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: of sexuality. Sensual love. She was the goddess of maternity
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and fertility, the whole realm of sensual pleasure. The base
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: things of the flesh were practiced by those who worshipped Ashtoreth.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Unger says in one of his works on archaeology that
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: the spade of the archaeologist has uncovered such things as
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: do not even befit an encyclopedia such as this. And
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: he wouldn't even tell you what they were. That's how
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: filthy they were. And he trafficked in that whole thing.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: David's great son, highly gifted, genius among the geniuses of
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: his day, falling into the pit of Ashtoreth. Then there's
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Milcom listed. Milcom was a little bit like the god Baal.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: This Milcom god, verse 5, is said to be the
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: detestable idol of the Ammonites. This is the God of
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: authority and lordship. He was subservient to the demands of Milcom.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: And if that were not bad enough, he followed and
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: built high places, verse 7, for Chemosh, and mentioned with
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Chemosh is Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: These are gods of cruelty, child sacrifice. And he was
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: involved in that as well. Isn't it interesting that when
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: there is backsliding, there is inevitably a heavy emphasis on sensuality, strong,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: stubborn pride, I'll have my own way, I'll be my
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: own Lord, thank you, and a sense of cruelty, if necessary,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: to both others and oneself. Even bodily pain. to the
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: point of suicide. And the Lord was angry, verse 9,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: with Solomon, and he appeared to him the third time,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: and he laid him low. Two things I leave with
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: you by personal application. First of all, no heart is
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: suddenly turned away. Some of you have turned away. It
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: didn't happen suddenly. You know where you are tonight. You
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: know how you got there. You never dreamed it would
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: get as far as it got, but you're there. Didn't
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: suddenly happen. Second, no one who has slipped needs to
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: stay in that condition. The provision of grace says God
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: can get you out. What is the greatest thought that
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: can occupy a man's mind? Daniel Webster was once asked.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: His accountability to God was the profound answer. I tell
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: you the truth. I fear mainly for those who have
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: been reared in the homes of Christians and cannot remember
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: a time in which mom and dad did not faithfully
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: and regularly take part in the things of God because
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: they loved the things of God. And to this day
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: still do. As a result of trafficking and unlived truth.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: Our great, great tendency is to serve the goddess. The
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: goddesses of Ashtaroth and Chemosh and Milcom. And Molech of
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: our day. Those goddesses and gods live on, don't they?
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Let's bow together, shall we? Just to be quiet before
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord, please. Very serious warning tonight for some who
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: are in desperate need of turning around. Don't kid yourself.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: The enemy has heard everything that's been said and he's
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: already given you the barrage of rationalization. Such as, don't
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: become a fanatic. Or as good as your parents were,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: they weren't perfect. Or you're in so deep, think of
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: what it would mean to get out. You can't do that.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Or those habits you've had all your life, you just
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: can't suddenly break them. All of those statements come like
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: a flood to dull the edge of what you have heard.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many calls came to me
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  Speaker 1: from the message I brought on erosion, most of them anonymous,
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  Speaker 1: from people who were broken and simply said, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for calling my hand without even knowing me. And I
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: say tonight, the warning is the same. God is the same.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot flirt with the holy God and walk away
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  Speaker 1: without being burned. Some of you need to take God seriously.
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  Speaker 1: To the point of fanaticism, if you please. To get
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  Speaker 1: your life squared away. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son,
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: keeps on cleansing from all sin. Just keeps on doing it.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, I pray tonight in a very personal way
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  Speaker 1: that there would be the ministry of the Spirit Take
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  Speaker 1: charge right now as my voice ends. And somehow there
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  Speaker 1: might come from the ministry of your word as it
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  Speaker 1: is mixed with the Spirit's words a deep sense of conviction.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: Deliver us from substituting an emotional reaction for a volitional
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: decision to change. Just sorrow over sin does nothing regarding sin.
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  Speaker 1: May we come to terms with it. May we be
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  Speaker 1: your people within and without. Help me personally to model
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  Speaker 1: what I talk about and all of those that are
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: in this place and all that hear my voice so
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: that there might be true, authentic integrity Please do that
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  Speaker 1: in the private part of our lives when nobody is looking,
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  Speaker 1: when we're alone, when it's dark. For young and old alike,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: I pray, please, Lord, minister and give us in the
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  Speaker 1: wake of this message a time tomorrow to come to
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  Speaker 1: terms with what we have heard so that lives are
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  Speaker 1: turned around, shaped anew. Make us holy like you are.
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  Speaker 1: Free to be ourselves but holy. Walking in the light.
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  Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus I pray this. Amen.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: The preceding message When the Heart is Turned Away was
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in 1978 1980 1982 1987 1995, 2008, and 2024.
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.