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1 Kings 9 Bible Study (The Lord Appears to Solomon/Solomon's Other Acts) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  First Kings Chapter 9. Let's meet there together First
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  Kings Chapter 9. Let's just begin our time by
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  going straight into the text and then taking our time to mind the
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  word of God together. First Kings 9 verse one reads as
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  soon as Solomon had finished building the House of the Lord
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  and the King's house and all that Solomon desired to build.
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  The Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared
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  to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, I have
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  heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me.
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  I have consecrated this house that you have built by putting
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  my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be
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  there for all time. And As for you, if you walk
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  before me as David, your father walked with integrity of heart
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  and uprightness, doing according to all I have commanded you, and
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  keeping my statutes and my rules.
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  Then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I
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  promised David, your father, saying, you shall not lack a man
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  on the throne of Israel. But if you turn aside from
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  following me, you or your children, and do not keep my
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  commandments and my statues that I've set before you, but go and
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  serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off from,
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  cut off Israel from the land that I've given them, and the
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  house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of
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  my sight. And Israel will become a proverb
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  and a byword among all peoples, and this house will become a
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  heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be
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  astonished and will hiss. And they will say, Why has the
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  Lord done thus to this land and to this house?
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  And they will say, because they abandoned the Lord, their God,
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  who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold
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  on other gods, and worship them and serve them.
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  Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.
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  This is God's word. Let's pray and ask him for his
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  help. Father in heaven, with absolute
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  reverence and adoration, We look to you tonight as a church.
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  And we ask with great humility as well, that you would come to
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  our aid and expound these truths to us, the way you intended
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  these things to be learned and explained.
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  May it come forth by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
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  And we ask, Lord, that you would hover over every heart and make
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  it the right soil to receive the seed, so that it can germinate
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  and become the harvest that You desire from us.
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  We thank you, O Lord, that everything we learned today.
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  Is on the basis of your grace and mercy, your love, the love
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  that initiated everything that we are enjoying in this moment.
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  We ask, Lord, that you would receive the glory that is your
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  due as we respond to this word in Jesus.
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  Name Amen First Kings Chapter 8 Solomon spoke to God First Kings
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  Chapter 9. God speaks to Solomon, and I
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  want you from the outset to consider verse one and look at
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  the timing in which this divine manifestation occurred.
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  We read again as soon as Solomon had finished building the House
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  of the Lord and the King's house and all that Solomon desire to
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  build. The Lord appeared to Solomon a
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  second time. When was the first time when
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  Solomon became King of First Kings, Chapter 3, and he sought
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  the Lord for wisdom, and he did so in Gibeon.
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  The Lord appeared to him at Gibeon.
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  In what way? Through a dream by the night.
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  And so here we're saying we're being told that this happened at
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  Gibeon the same way that it happened at Gibeon back in
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  Chapter 3. So it's through a dream at
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  night. But when did it happen?
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  As soon as Solomon finished building all those major
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  projects, Then the Lord in his perfect wisdom decided to
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  manifest himself to the King, to not just explain his delight of
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  what was just accomplished for his name, but to also provide
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  warning, to provide warning that Solomon would.
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  Continue on the path of faithfulness and that He would
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  finish well. God is concerned not just of
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  what we have done, what we're even doing in the moment.
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  God is concerned about all of us finishing well.
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  He wants us to all finish and faithfulness and devotion to
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  Him. And the Lord appears to Solomon
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  to encourage him on that path at a very strategic juncture, one
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  that you and I also have to consider.
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  The Lord appears to Solomon brings himself before him at a
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  time of great accomplishment, at a time when Solomon is advancing
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  with unprecedented success. The Lord chooses to come at this
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  time and say, hey Solomon. Don't forget about me.
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  Hey, Solomon. Remember Me?
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  Hey Solomon, remember my word. Solomon, remember the conditions
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  of the blessings that you are enjoying at this time.
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  It's not very difficult to seek the Lord when things are falling
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  apart. It's very difficult to seek the
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  Lord and keep Him before you. When everything is going
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  extremely well, everything is going very, very well.
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  For Solomon, humanly speaking, even spiritually speaking, he is
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  obeying the Lord, at least to this degree, with the temple
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  honoring His name, fulfilling the promise that was made, the
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  command that was made to build a house.
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  That's all done. But Solomon has to understand
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  something as you move forward. Keep me before you.
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  You know, David Solomon's father sent something incredible in
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  Psalm 16, verse eight. He says I have set the Lord
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  always right. Did he say sometimes before me?
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  Did he say on Sunday morning before me?
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  Did he say Sunday morning, Wednesday night prayer, and
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  Friday night Bible study before me?
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  I have set the Lord always before me.
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  Always. What does that mean?
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  I've put the Lord as priority, as my focus, as my goal, as my
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  motivation. I filter every event in life
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  through the Lord because He's before me.
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  And that's a choice David made. That's a choice you and I have
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  to make every single day. And the rest of that verse, in
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  that Psalm chose and declares the reward of doing so.
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  I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my
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  right hand. I shall what?
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  Never be shaken, Never be shaken?
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  Implying what? That when you choose to put God
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  first, always, God promises you to never be removed from His
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  perfect will for your life. You'll never be shaken.
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  You'll never be intimidated. You'll never have to fear being
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  outside of his perfect provision, his perfect
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  protection and the abundant life that he promised those who abide
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  in the vine. I have set the Lord always
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  before me. And here's the Lord saying
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  something with that truth in essence.
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  Solomon, don't forget about me. Don't forget about my word,
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  Believer, tonight. What a wonderful exhortation
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  leading up to the New Year. Don't you lose sight of God and
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  His word ever, and especially when you're when your heart is
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  riding on the thrills of achievements and milestones that
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  you've passed in life. That should only exhilarate and
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  exalt God more in your heart, not diminish his presence and
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  who he is in your day-to-day life.
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  So this is what the Lord is doing.
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  He's essentially telling Solomon, I am pleased with what
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  you have done, but you have to understand I want you to
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  continue and notice what he says here in verse three.
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  And the Lord said to him. I have heard your prayer and
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  your plea. Pause and just simmer.
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  There consider the wonder of that statement.
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  I have heard your prayer and your plea.
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  The God of heaven heard the voice of A.
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  Creature on Earth? That's amazing.
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  That's astounding. That's fascinating.
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  And Lord, assure Solomon that he did in fact hear him.
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  He did in fact hear every word that he said, every request that
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  he made. And he in fact also says, I'm
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  going to do something about that request.
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  Here's a simple truth, but so incredible at the same time.
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  When you and I speak to God, we can expect for him to hear, you
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  can expect him to hear, and you can expect him to answer in one
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  way or another. Doesn't mean that he's going to
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  answer in the same way that he did with Solomon.
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  But the same invitation that God gives to this royal king to pray
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  and to be heard and to have an answer to that prayer is the
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  same invitation that's extended to you and I as well.
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  We are. Invited to have that kind of
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  experience with God, to seek him, to offer these prayers to
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  them and forgot to answer them in His perfect way.
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  But look how the Lord answers. What stands out to you.
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  Apart from I've heard your prayer and your plea, which you
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  have made before me, I've consecrated this house that you
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  have built. Wonderful.
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  Look what he says. By putting my name there
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  forever, my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
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  My eyes and my heart. He could have just said my eyes,
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  right? But he doesn't just say my eyes,
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  He says my eyes and my heart. Why do you think that's
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  significant? I'll give you a hint.
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  Consider First Kings, Chapter 8. Consider within First Kings,
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  chapter 8. What Solomon's request to the
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  Lord was concerning this house? OK.
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  There's there's more there. When Solomon asked the Lord to
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  do something for the house or toward the house, what did he
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  ask specifically? It's in chapter 8.
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  Another hint, it's in the 20s of the verses.
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  I'll give you a few more seconds, OK, verse. 29 Look at
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  the specific request of Solomon makes when he prayed to the
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  Lord. What?
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  Did he ask that your eyes may be open night and day toward this
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  house? This is what?
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  He asked. Any.
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  Mention of the heart. Did he say, Lord, your eyes and
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  your heart toward this house? Did he say that?
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  Did he ask that? No, He just said, Lord, your
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  eyes just asking for your attention to be on this place.
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  I'm asking that you wouldn't forsake us or turn your back on
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  this place, that your blessing would forever remain.
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  As you hold this place in your sight, you know what the Lord
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  does. And answering, Solomon's Prairie
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  says. I won't just give you my eyes,
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  I'll give you my heart with it. I won't just give you my eyes.
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  I'm going to give you my heart. What does that say?
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  What does that testify about God?
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  A pattern that you see throughout the Scriptures, that
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  when you and I ask of the Lord, He goes above and beyond.
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  When you and I ask the Lord, he answers with surplus that in his
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  enjoyment he gives an excess man.
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  This is this has happened more than once with Solomon.
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  Remember what Solomon asked in First Kings chapter three?
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  He asked the Lord for what? Crown me with what?
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  Give me wisdom. What did the Lord say in
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  response to him in First Kings chapter 3?
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  You're going to get discernment. You're going to get discretion
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  between good and evil. But I'm going to give you what
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  you didn't ask for. Remember that.
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  I'm going to give you riches. I'm going to give you all these
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  other things on top of what you asked for.
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  This is the character of God that not only is he willing to
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  meet our request, but in his infinite goodness, he's willing
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  to pour out even more saying why?
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  Because he's good, He's good, that's why.
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  Because he delights and providing and flourishing and
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  showering us with his presence and his goodness and his
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  blessings. So he tells.
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  He tells Solomon. Not just my eyes.
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  I'll give you my heart. Toward this place.
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  Oh, what did that do to Solomon? Oh, I don't know.
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  I'm telling you what it would have done for me and say, oh
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  wow, Lord, you're willing to do that even?
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  Yes, I'm willing to do that. So how can prayer be something
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  that you're hesitant to do when the option is constantly there
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  that the Lord is willing to do more than?
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  What do you even ask? Bless more than you ask him to
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  bless. Empower more than he's willing.
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  More than you're asking him to empower even more.
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  So he says. I'm going to give you my heart
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  that tells me something else over the Lord.
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  He could have just said, I'll give you my eyes and that would
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  have been great. That would have been consistent
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  with the faithfulness of God and the goodness of God.
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  But He's He's not just saying. I'm going to give you my duty of
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  observing and protecting and shielding and giving what is.
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  Necessary for this House to remain consecrated.
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  My heart is going to be attached to my duty.
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  I'm going to delight in doing this.
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  God. Has a heart behind what he does.
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  He's not a cosmic robot and. Prayers aren't.
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  Coins that you put into the slot.
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  And if you just do it with the right amount and you do it at
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  the right time, then he'll dish out what you're asking for.
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  No, his heart is behind his willingness to partner with us
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  in advancing purposes for his glory.
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  I'm just going to give you eyes. I'm going to give you my heart
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  with it toward this place. I'd love to know that God's
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  heart is connected behind his works.
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  His heart is connected behind. There's a there's a heartbeat
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  behind his promises and his commands toward us and.
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  Solomon hears this, says, I'm going to give you what you
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  didn't even ask for, and that's something you and I can expect
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  for ourselves. But now, with these wonderful
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  assurances, the Lord is going to tell Solomon that he must also
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  continue to adhere to things. That if he's going to continue
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  to enjoy what the Lord has in store for him.
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  So it's it's wonderful that Solomon had obeyed up to this
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  point, but the Lord is interested.
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  In wanting Solomon to keep going, as I said earlier, and so
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  he gives these commands, he gives us encouragement and he
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  gives a warning. And the encouragement here has a
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  promise of reward for obedience. And then there is a warning of
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  the consequences for disobedience.
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  So. Here how.
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  Here's how he begins with the reward for obedience, verse 4.
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  And As for you, if you walk before me as David your father
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  walked with. Integrity of heart and
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  uprightness. Doing according to all that I've
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  commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules.
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  Pause, pause, pause if you do. As who David, so the Lord
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  points. To Solomon's father.
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  David as a model to emulate in terms of faithfulness, integrity
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  and longevity of devotion to the Lord.
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  You and I have studied David's life carefully and long enough
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  to be very familiar with his personal failures.
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  Have we not? How can the Lord point to David
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  as an example of righteousness and practical holiness, knowing
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  that he had many trip UPS and a major fall that would have
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  ripple effects for generations? How is the Lord thinking here?
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  What do we know about God if he again is pointing to David as an
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  example? Any idea?
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  Yes, go ahead. He doesn't expect you to be
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  perfect, but he just. Expects you to go to the very,
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  very well put sinless perfection is impossible on this side of
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  heaven for any person, David, you and I, except for the person
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  of the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked on this earth perfectly.
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  It's impossible. So the Lord here is not pointing
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  to this clean, Immaculate record that David was without sin.
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  No, no. He's pointed at David because
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  there's something about David's heart that David that God longs
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  for all of his servants to possess.
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  What is it about David? What is it that made him so
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  unique? He was persistently repentant,
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  persistently contrite in heart, persistently returning to the
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  Lord after his failure. That is what the Lord is after.
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  Not that we have permission to fail, but what God longs for is
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  that if we do fail, we would never fail to repent.
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  If you do fail, not when that you're premeditating to fail.
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  If you do fail. John speaks about if we sin, if
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  we do fail, that in our failure we would not fail to turn back
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  to the Lord. David did that.
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  David had psalms about that, and that is what moved God's heart
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  to honor him and even honor him before others.
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  A man who is broken, penitent, always realizing what sin really
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  does ultimate to your relationship with the Lord, and
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  you turning back to him when you fail, seeking to never repeat it
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  again. Solomon, that's what I'm after.
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  I saw it in your father. And I want you to walk in those
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  steps where if you do fail, you would learn how to repent, that
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  your loyalty to me would be proven in turning back to me.
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  Even for a moment, your glance turns away from me.
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  Isn't that refreshing? Isn't that wonderful to know
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  and? Again, that if that moves you to
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  say well, gone, OK, I have AI have a little bit of loophole
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  here that I can take it. You you got to reconsider Jesus
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  Christ altogether. But if you understand the heart
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  of God in this, then that moves you to be holy.
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  And even as you pursue that and seek that, and you fall along
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  the way, you can be assured that the Lord will still honor you
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  because, like David, you turned back to him.
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  And this is what Solomon had to do.
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  Question. Did Solomon do that?
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  Interestingly, Solomon sinned, but he sinned in a way that
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  David never sinned. Sin is still sin.
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  David never worshipped idols. He lied a lot.
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  He fell into lust. He committed murder.
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  But he never did what Solomon did.
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  And according if you just look at the record of kings, you'll
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  find that Solomon will die in apostasy and there is no
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  indication that he died being devoted to the Lord.
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  It's a very, very sad sight. So the very standard that the
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  Lord gifts to Solomon, which again is not perfection, though
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  we should strive to be perfect, as our Father in heaven is
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  perfect just to be repentant and constantly leaning on the mercy
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  and grace of Lord of the Lord, even He couldn't do that.
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  At least in the record of Kings when you throw in Ecclesiastes,
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  there's debate about how Solomon might have ended his life.
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  But if you just look at this account doesn't end well for
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  Solomon. Just.
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  Just walk like you're father, David walked.
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  And this is this is the promise if Solomon does this and his
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  successors. Follow in those steps as well.
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  They would secure perpetual rule.
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  In the throne, they would. Remain on the throne in the
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  land. This is what they had to do, and
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  this is a wonderful promise associated with it.
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  But now this positive promise is followed by -1.
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  Verse 6 But if you turn aside from following me.
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  You are your children, and do not keep My commandments and My
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  statutes that I've said before you, but go and serve other Gods
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  and worship them and for the. Rest of these verses there.
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  Are three particular repercussions that the Lord
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  spells out to Solomon. Let's identify them.
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  The first one here is in verse seven.
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  Then I will cut off from Israel from the I will cut off Israel
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  from the land. That's.
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  Number one, I will cut off Israel from the land.
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  There will be a deportation. You will be exiled.
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  You will be removed from the promised land.
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  I will remove Israel from the land that I have given them.
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  Secondly, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I
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  will cast out of my sight. So not just a removal of the
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  people from the land, but a destruction of the House of God.
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  This beautiful adorned, this project that years went into.
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  God says I'm willing to bring it down to rubble if you turn from
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  me. So exile from the land #1, the
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  destruction of the temple. And here's the last one.
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  And Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
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  In. Other words, the nation and the
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  people of Israel will become the object of scorn and ridicule.
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  In the sight of the neighboring nations.
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  For how low they will be brought because of their sin, it will be
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  a reason for the other nations to look upon them with disdain.
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  And to mock them and to say many things about them.
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  These are heavy consequences, he goes on to say.
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  And elaborates and this house in verse A will become a heap of.
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  Ruins, everyone passing by will be astonished and will hiss, and
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  they will say, Why has the Lord done this, done thus, to this
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  land and to this house, Solomon, if you obey, you will know
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  perpetual blessing, success for generations to come, if.
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  You turn aside a persistent rebellion and apostasy.
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  Say. Goodbye to the land.
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  Say goodbye to the temple, and I say goodbye to the holy
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  reputation you could have maintained if you had just
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  obeyed what I had said and watched the nations look at you
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  in a light that you do not want. I I step back from this and I
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  looked at this and I. Thought if I read this in
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  isolation, I can come to very, very strong conclusions about
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  the fate of Israel the. Future of Israel.
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  But it's a whole different story when you consider the whole
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  council of God. Here's the question that I
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  proposed to you in light of these verses, both the positive
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  promise and the severe consequences.
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  Is. The Lord namely about the
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  consequences, speaking about a permanent punishment.
• 21:38
  Or is she speaking about a temporal act of discipline
• 21:45
  somebody? Peeped out temporal.
• 21:47
  Is this a permanent punishment, or is this a temporal act of
• 21:51
  discipline? This is where knowing our Bibles
• 21:54
  will come in handy especially. When things like in our culture
• 21:57
  are taking place temporal. Temporal.
• 22:01
  Temporal. Temporal.
• 22:01
  OK, Any idea why Temporal any? Proof.
• 22:04
  In Scripture, that this is this is Temporal God.
• 22:08
  Is love God? Is love?
• 22:10
  Well, we can say God is love about a lot of things, but God
• 22:12
  in his love is going to throw people into hell.
• 22:14
  His mercy is. Prophecy where he will say when
• 22:18
  you go to that land, if you turn back then.
• 22:21
  OK, so there are conditions for restoration, so there isn't a
• 22:25
  permanent cut off. Even if they do head this way
• 22:28
  toward apostasy, which they will do very good.
• 22:32
  I'm looking for something to sink my teeth into.
• 22:35
  I'm looking for verses. I'm looking for something to
• 22:37
  point to, something that I want to see it in my Bible.
• 22:41
  Right. These are good.
• 22:41
  That was a good one, brother. I'm not disqualifying that.
• 22:44
  But give me We want to be informed about this because.
• 22:49
  It's important for many reasons. Yes, very, very good.
• 22:55
  Romans 11, Sister, you went straight for the jugular.
• 22:59
  Well, that's good. Well.
• 23:00
  I did ask. We'll get there in a moment.
• 23:02
  We'll get there in a moment. But Paul is not pulling Romans
• 23:06
  11 out of thin air, is he? No, he's not.
• 23:09
  Paul knows his Old Testament very well.
• 23:11
  He knows he knows the theological realities concerning
• 23:17
  the subject extremely well. Can I show you a verses?
• 23:21
  There's many verses to go to, but can I show you a collection
• 23:24
  of verses in? One place that ties so
• 23:27
  beautifully with this warning because.
• 23:30
  We see these very warnings come to fruition at one point,
• 23:35
  especially in Israel's history. Tell me which one it is.
• 23:39
  What happens? At what point did they be?
• 23:41
  Were they removed from the land? The temple was destroyed and the
• 23:44
  neighboring nations mocked them. Babylonian exile.
• 23:49
  There were two exiles the northern tribes were exiled
• 23:51
  through and by whom the Syrians came in, but the major one, the
• 23:56
  major one that touched the core of the nation.
• 23:59
  Because. Of Jerusalem and the Temple was
• 24:01
  the Babylonian Exile, and the Babylonian Exile was warned
• 24:05
  about as a final set of warning and eventually manifested in the
• 24:09
  days of Jeremiah and Jeremiah's day.
• 24:14
  People heard and were being prepared, though they'd some
• 24:17
  many of them didn't believe it would happen.
• 24:19
  But. Some heard what Jeremiah to say
• 24:22
  that they were going. To be removed from the land.
• 24:23
  That what what God warned here actually manifested and came to
• 24:26
  pass. And you know what happened.
• 24:28
  There was a popular opinion that was swirling around concerning
• 24:34
  the identity and the fate of Israel as a result of God's
• 24:38
  punishment in the way that he spells out in First Kings nine.
• 24:40
  Can I show it to you? Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
• 24:43
  33 and let's read here together in verse 23, Jeremiah 3323, May
• 24:54
  God Equip us and Allow Us and empower.
• 24:57
  Us. To.
• 24:58
  Recall these verses and remember them when they need to be
• 25:01
  remembered. Jeremiah 3323 This is so
• 25:07
  powerful. We read the word of the Lord
• 25:11
  came to Jeremiah. Have you not observed that these
• 25:16
  people are saying the Lord has rejected the two clans that He
• 25:22
  chose? Thus they have despised my
• 25:26
  people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.
• 25:30
  So what's happening? People are beginning to say,
• 25:34
  because this is what's going to happen to Israel, because of
• 25:36
  their apostasy, because of their rebellion, because of their sin,
• 25:39
  God has cast off Israel, not in a temporal sense, but in a
• 25:43
  permanent sense, that they would be no longer regarded as God's
• 25:49
  people and that they would even no longer be recognized as a
• 25:53
  nation. Does this sound familiar?
• 25:56
  It doesn't. It does sound familiar.
• 26:00
  And so here's what the masses believed, evidently based on
• 26:07
  Israel's spiritual condition here and what God's going to do
• 26:11
  with them. Then God's done with them.
• 26:14
  It's over. And the Lord says something very
• 26:17
  powerful, He says. They have despised my people so
• 26:24
  that they are no longer a nation in their sight.
• 26:28
  By refusing to acknowledge them as a people, not just the
• 26:31
  people, people who have a covenant with God, they're being
• 26:34
  despised. And then he goes on to say.
• 26:40
  Thus says the Lord. I'm going to respond to this
• 26:42
  opinion. Thus says the Lord, If I have
• 26:45
  not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed
• 26:50
  order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of
• 26:53
  Jacob and David, my servant, and will not choose one of his
• 26:56
  offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and
• 27:00
  Jacob. You know what he's saying here.
• 27:02
  It's very simple. My covenant with Israel is as
• 27:05
  fixed as my covenant with the order of nature.
• 27:12
  My covenant with Israel is as fixed as my covenant is with the
• 27:17
  order of day and night, with the order of nature.
• 27:22
  Then he goes on to say. For I will restore their
• 27:25
  fortunes. And will have mercy on them.
• 27:31
  I will do it. You know what's so significant
• 27:33
  about this? This is being declared in the
• 27:35
  context of severe punishment coming to Israel.
• 27:40
  This is not in the context of them walking faithfully before
• 27:42
  God. This is in the context of them
• 27:45
  ready to receive the most brutal punishment they can receive as a
• 27:52
  people who have been given a land, have been given a House of
• 27:54
  worship, have been given a reputation and responsibility
• 27:57
  toward the nations. And so this is what God says.
• 28:01
  And for some reason when you when you say something like
• 28:04
  that, Christians tend to translate it as then we have to
• 28:07
  approve everything that the people of Israel do, whether
• 28:10
  that be sinful or idolatry, idolatry or idolatrous.
• 28:14
  No God is saying this. Ready to punish them.
• 28:17
  God is saying this while they are going to be chastised the
• 28:21
  idea of covenant with Israel. Does.
• 28:24
  Not excuse, sinful behavior, apostasy or idolatry.
• 28:28
  It's that's not the case at all. People view View this.
• 28:32
  This, this conversation with a very simplistic frame of mind
• 28:35
  and argumentation. You look at revelation and we're
• 28:38
  talking about the city in which in Chapter 11, the two witnesses
• 28:42
  will declare the word of the Lord with great signs and power.
• 28:46
  And the Holy Spirit writes that the place in which they'll do
• 28:50
  it, which is Jerusalem, which is the holy City, is called Sodom
• 28:54
  in Egypt, spiritually speaking. So God can condemn behavior, God
• 29:01
  can convict. God can even exercise His
• 29:04
  judgment. But.
• 29:06
  To say that sin. Namely, Israel's.
• 29:09
  Sin can reach a point where it completely deletes all.
• 29:13
  The declaration that God has made concerning their fathers is
• 29:16
  a grave mistake is a serious mistake.
• 29:20
  It's a misguided opinion and a skewed theological idea.
• 29:26
  Because even the Lord doesn't believe it.
• 29:28
  So that how? How do we understand that?
• 29:30
  How do we understand these consequences that seem to
• 29:33
  indicate being cast off, being rejected, not continuing to
• 29:38
  enjoy the promises that God has declared to David and declared
• 29:41
  to Abraham? I think this one verse helps a
• 29:43
  lot. In Hosea chapter 3, verse four,
• 29:47
  we see here that another prophet describes what this punishment
• 29:52
  looks like in terms of timing, in terms of how far it goes.
• 29:59
  Here's just one example in Hosea chapter 3, verse four, for the
• 30:05
  children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or
• 30:09
  Prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or
• 30:12
  household gods. So Hosea is declaring that it's
• 30:17
  possible for there to be long periods of time where the people
• 30:21
  of Israel will not know, King will not know our righteous
• 30:25
  governance, will not know a place of worship, will not know
• 30:28
  a sacrificial system. Along.
• 30:30
  With other things, it's possible for there to be a stretch of
• 30:33
  time where this is not a reality for the people of Israel.
• 30:37
  And. That's what's happened in
• 30:38
  Israel's history. That's what's happened to Israel
• 30:40
  post Bible times, where there was a stretch of time and there
• 30:45
  is a time now where this is a reality.
• 30:49
  And it was true then. For many, many years, many
• 30:51
  centuries, they didn't know these things.
• 30:54
  And that's what God is warning about.
• 30:55
  I am willing to put a pause on these blessings.
• 30:59
  Your your lack of repentance, your sin, your idolatry is able
• 31:04
  to interrupt what I'm willing to give you without end and without
• 31:09
  stop. Does this make sense tonight?
• 31:11
  So it's possible for the children of Israel to go many,
• 31:14
  many days without knowing even the things that are secured by
• 31:19
  covenant. And I can hear it.
• 31:24
  I can hear it. I can hear it on YouTube.
• 31:26
  I can read it. I can see it.
• 31:29
  I'm not a prophet nor a son of a prophet.
• 31:32
  These are Old Testament verses. These are pre Christ.
• 31:38
  Pre cross, pre gospel, pre resurrection, pre inception, pre
• 31:45
  inception of the church. Surely when the Messiah comes to
• 31:49
  his people and they reject them, that would be the final straw.
• 31:54
  That would be the line crossed, the line of no return.
• 31:58
  That would be where the people of Israel with all the things
• 32:01
  that were connected to them will evaporate and have evaporated.
• 32:06
  So we got to find some evidence. Post cross post gospel, post
• 32:12
  crucifixion, post church. Is there anywhere we can find
• 32:16
  where we get? Clarification about God's
• 32:19
  dealing with the nation of Israel, Well, our sister already
• 32:22
  referenced it. Let's look at just verse one of
• 32:24
  Romans 11. Here's the New Testament version
• 32:29
  of Jeremiah 3323 to 26, along with other verses in the Old
• 32:33
  Testament. Here's what Paul says in Romans
• 32:35
  11 verse one. What does he say?
• 32:41
  I ask, Then has. God rejected.
• 32:45
  Has God rejected his people? By no means.
• 32:51
  And here's his first order of proof.
• 32:55
  Fry myself in an Israelite. In other words, hey, look at me
• 32:59
  for I myself in Israelite, a descendant of Abraham.
• 33:03
  OK, you can spiritualize. You can spiritualize Israelite.
• 33:07
  You can probably spiritualize, spiritualize.
• 33:09
  Descendant of Abraham. But he goes even further.
• 33:10
  He goes I I'm a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
• 33:12
  Like I'm trying to hone in as closely as possible to my
• 33:15
  fleshly identity here. I'm an Israelite, I'm a
• 33:19
  descendant of Abraham, and I'll tell you which tribe I'm from.
• 33:22
  Paul is not speaking about a spiritual Israel here, he's
• 33:25
  speaking about flesh and blood Israel.
• 33:27
  He's speaking about being an actual physical descendant of
• 33:30
  this ethnic people group. And by God's grace, at some
• 33:34
  point we will talk about Romans 11.
• 33:37
  But let's just Fast forward through all of that and go to
• 33:40
  what I believe is the clearest New Testament statement about
• 33:45
  this, what some people would deem A controversial theological
• 33:49
  discussion and topic. Verse 28.
• 33:54
  What? Is Paul saying the same breath
• 33:57
  of Romans 11 verse one speaking about the Jewish people, the
• 34:01
  people of Israel? As regards the gospel.
• 34:06
  They are enemies of God, for your sake, in other words.
• 34:10
  In the rejection of the Messiah and the rejection of this gospel
• 34:12
  that saves this eternal gospel that has been prophesied about
• 34:16
  from the beginning of time, they are enemies.
• 34:21
  You know what Paul saying there? They are in rebellion.
• 34:26
  They are in a bad position. They are standing as enemies
• 34:32
  before God in terms of the truth that they are rejecting, and
• 34:35
  they are in need of the gospel. They need to repent.
• 34:39
  They. Need to bow their knee to the
• 34:40
  Lord Jesus Christ. They need to be washed by the
• 34:42
  blood of the Lamb of God. They need the gospel.
• 34:47
  They need to see. The truth and give themselves to
• 34:50
  this truth. Paul is not dismissing that
• 34:52
  idea. He's not.
• 34:54
  He's not in defense of the people still having a connection
• 34:57
  to God's purposes of plan, saying that they are exempt from
• 35:00
  the gospel. You know, there are some people
• 35:03
  who would say that and believe that that because of the history
• 35:06
  and the covenants and the promises and the prophets, they
• 35:08
  are not as urgent to be reached for with the gospel.
• 35:12
  That's not Paul's attitude. Absolutely not.
• 35:16
  He goes, yes, as regards the gospel, they are enemies for of
• 35:19
  God for your sake, but he doesn't finish it there.
• 35:21
  Let me tell you something so fascinating.
• 35:22
  I received a. Link to documentary many weeks
• 35:25
  ago, especially when things started to get crazy in the
• 35:29
  Middle East and this document is to our documentary was about.
• 35:34
  The. Very opposite of what Paul
• 35:35
  teached, that Israel is no longer relevant.
• 35:38
  Israel has, has, has nothing to do with the new covenant, has
• 35:43
  nothing to do with God's future, has nothing to do with
• 35:46
  eschatology. It's just there's no need to
• 35:49
  look at Israel whatsoever and consider them as a distinct,
• 35:53
  separate group that God has a special purpose and plan for.
• 35:57
  You know what? I was?
• 35:57
  I clicked play and I thought to myself, I wonder if they're
• 36:00
  going to go to Romans 11. I wonder if they're going to go
• 36:03
  to Romans 11. They went to different places.
• 36:05
  And finally they quoted Romans 11, Romans 11, and can we go put
• 36:12
  that verse back up there, Romans 11/28?
• 36:14
  I said no way. How are they going to explain
• 36:17
  this? And here's what happened.
• 36:19
  This is what happened as regards the gospel.
• 36:22
  They are enemies of God for your sake.
• 36:24
  They stop and they say see their enemies of the gospel.
• 36:28
  That's what they did in the documentary.
• 36:30
  They didn't. Finish the rest of the verse.
• 36:33
  You can make the Bible say anything.
• 36:35
  If you can cut verses in half, you can say whatever you want.
• 36:37
  You can come up with any school of thought.
• 36:39
  Any you can dismantle the deity of Christ by doing that to the
• 36:43
  Bible. Finish it.
• 36:47
  But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of
• 36:50
  their forefathers. In terms of election, God made a
• 36:57
  promise to the forefathers of this people group, and because
• 37:00
  of his love for them, he's going to keep those promises.
• 37:02
  He's. Going to keep those promises.
• 37:05
  This is not as much about the people of Israel as much as it
• 37:08
  is about the God of this people. The God of Israel.
• 37:14
  But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of
• 37:17
  their forefathers. I made certain promises to this
• 37:19
  people group. And I'm going to see it through
• 37:22
  because my faithfulness is on the line.
• 37:25
  My. Reputation is on the line.
• 37:27
  The word that I said I am the Lord who do not change.
• 37:30
  I don't change. Malachi 36, You heard it last
• 37:32
  Sunday. Therefore you will not be
• 37:34
  consumed, even in my discipline, against you.
• 37:38
  And So what does that mean? Well, if you know, and if you
• 37:41
  see the Bible for what is in terms of even the events of the
• 37:44
  last days, there needs to be a land with a city called
• 37:47
  Jerusalem in it. There needs to be, because Jesus
• 37:52
  is going to plant. His feet on the mount of what?
• 37:55
  Not Mount Everest? The Mount of Olives.
• 37:59
  And there's going to be a time when the people that Paul
• 38:03
  describes are going to see the one whom they have pierced and
• 38:06
  mourn after him. There's going to be a.
• 38:09
  Dramatic event that's going to take place in the last days,
• 38:12
  that's going to 'cause this people group as a nation to
• 38:16
  declare Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Messiah.
• 38:20
  You remove that from your eschatology and and you're going
• 38:23
  to have a very different looking eschatology.
• 38:27
  And so Romans 11 is key. In fact, Romans 11 is not just
• 38:30
  Romans 11. Connect Romans 11 to 910 and 11.
• 38:33
  Those are all there to make this main point.
• 38:36
  What has God done and what will God do with this people called
• 38:40
  Israel in light of the rejection of the Messiah.
• 38:43
  And he ends it on this point. He's close to finishing where he
• 38:45
  says, look, they are enemies in terms of the gospel.
• 38:49
  And so people wonder, well, as a Christian, how should my
• 38:53
  attitude be toward this people group, the Jews, the nation, The
• 38:57
  same as Paul's. I argue, what was Paul's heart?
• 39:01
  Oh, that they would be saved. All the great sacrifices and the
• 39:05
  great lengths I'm willing to go to for them, my brethren, to
• 39:07
  hear the truth and be saved. You evangelize them.
• 39:09
  You pray for them just like anybody else who needs the
• 39:12
  gospel that is your mandated mine is the Church of Jesus
• 39:15
  Christ. And so this is not speaking
• 39:22
  about permanent punishment, but a temporal act of discipline.
• 39:26
  God spells that out, and Jeremiah 33 many other
• 39:28
  scriptures. Hosea. 3-4 tells us by way of
• 39:33
  inference about how that would play out.
• 39:37
  And Romans 11 and our New Testament declares what these
• 39:40
  prophets knew that even in the rebellion of the people of
• 39:44
  Israel are walking in, that will never irreversibly nullify these
• 39:49
  promises because God is going to save this nation.
• 39:56
  Let's come back to First Kings 9.
• 40:01
  How will Solomon respond to the word of the Lord?
• 40:04
  Unfortunately this next section that will be read.
• 40:08
  Here is an early indication that he did not take complete heed to
• 40:13
  the warnings that were given to him.
• 40:17
  Let's read from verse 10. At the end of 20 years in which
• 40:21
  Solomon had built the two houses, the House of the Lord
• 40:25
  and the King's house, and Hiram, King of Tyre had supplied
• 40:28
  Solomon with cedar and Cypress, timber and gold as.
• 40:32
  Much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the
• 40:37
  land of Galilee. But when Hiram came from Tyre to
• 40:41
  see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please
• 40:46
  him. Therefore, he said, what kind of
• 40:49
  cities are these that you have given me, my brother?
• 40:53
  So they are called the land of Kabul to this day, Hiram.
• 40:57
  Had. Sent to the king. 120 talents of
• 41:00
  gold. Here's the first questionable
• 41:03
  decision. A flag, if you will, following
• 41:06
  this clear warning from the Lord.
• 41:09
  This seems to be a very clear business transaction, right?
• 41:14
  Hiram provides certain things to Solomon, and Solomon as a
• 41:17
  collateral gives back what the set of cities from the land of
• 41:21
  Galilee. Why is this?
• 41:25
  A flag. This is the land of Israel.
• 41:34
  No king, no person, no matter how influential, no matter what
• 41:38
  neighboring nations have done, have the right to give away
• 41:42
  God's land. This was issued by divine
• 41:45
  decree. This was solely for the people
• 41:49
  of Israel, and if you want, a reference to.
• 41:52
  Solidify what my brother said because what he said is
• 41:54
  absolutely true. It's in Leviticus chapter 25
• 41:57
  verse 23. It says here the land shall not
• 42:01
  be sold, for the land is mine. So God says this is my land.
• 42:07
  I'm giving it to you but it belongs to me.
• 42:09
  It belongs to me. So.
• 42:11
  No Israelite have had any right, especially toward outsiders.
• 42:15
  To. Give away portions of God's
• 42:17
  promises, the prize that he consecrated for these people.
• 42:20
  They didn't have the liberty to do this.
• 42:23
  And. Solomon for some reason felt
• 42:25
  like he could do this. I mean, there was even a
• 42:28
  celebration and event. Called.
• 42:30
  The Year of Jubilee. You've heard of this, right?
• 42:32
  And then the Year of Jubilee. What would happen is, in very
• 42:35
  simple terms, everything that was passed on or given over
• 42:40
  through business transactions must return to the original
• 42:43
  owners, lest they be deprived of their inheritance, lest they are
• 42:48
  cut off separate from that which belonged to them by God's
• 42:51
  original declaration. And so they couldn't just do
• 42:56
  this. Solomon does this, and I don't
• 42:58
  know what's going on through Solomon's mind.
• 42:59
  Maybe he thinks they're just 20 cities.
• 43:01
  It's not a big deal. But these 20 cities sat on this
• 43:05
  property that God had consecrated.
• 43:08
  And. Solomon for some reason felt
• 43:09
  like he can do this that he even allowed.
• 43:12
  Something to happen as you read in verse 16.
• 43:14
  Look at verse 16. This is astounding.
• 43:18
  We read Pharaoh. King of Egypt had.
• 43:21
  Gone up and what does he do and. Captured Gazzer and burned it
• 43:27
  with fire. Gazzer is in Israel, by the way.
• 43:30
  And had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had
• 43:33
  given it as a dowry to his daughter Solomon's wife.
• 43:37
  So at some point the King of Egypt goes into the promised
• 43:40
  land. Takes over a city, kills the
• 43:43
  remaining Canaanites and takes that city and gives it to an
• 43:47
  unbelieving idol worshipping woman.
• 43:51
  Solomon's wife. Remember he married her back in
• 43:54
  chapter 3. So now even that is given over
• 43:58
  to someone who has no right to put their hands on.
• 44:03
  What is Solomon thinking? He clearly has a low view of
• 44:07
  what God esteems and longs to protect and shield.
• 44:12
  And so we see here right away that there is a flag in
• 44:14
  Solomon's devotion to the completeness of God's decree and
• 44:17
  word. And we look at this and we think
• 44:21
  to ourselves, where is this going to go?
• 44:24
  Well, it's going to lead to many other things in a moment.
• 44:26
  But notice that Solomon was not the only one who had a low view
• 44:30
  of the land of promise. What was Hiram's reaction when
• 44:33
  he saw these 20 cities? What's this?
• 44:38
  Are you serious? We don't know why he said this.
• 44:43
  We don't know what it was about these cities that made him feel
• 44:45
  this way. But regardless.
• 44:48
  That's God's land and and Hiram showed disrespect, disdain and
• 44:56
  he lacked the insight of the preciousness of what God had
• 44:59
  given his people. You know what?
• 45:01
  You learn from that. Don't expect nor be surprised if
• 45:04
  the world and the unbelieving don't see the preciousness of
• 45:08
  the inheritance that you have in Christ.
• 45:10
  Don't be surprised this. Is what Hiram is reflecting as a
• 45:16
  gentile, someone separated from the people of God.
• 45:19
  He lacks, he lacks the necessary adoration and approval and
• 45:25
  acknowledgement that this is a blessing from God and you and I,
• 45:30
  as we look out into this world and as this world observes us.
• 45:34
  Don't. Expect them to understand the
• 45:36
  joy of prayer. Don't expect him to get why you
• 45:39
  take your Friday night out of your brief weekend to come here
• 45:44
  willingly and actually enjoy this.
• 45:48
  The blessing of fellowship. The joy.
• 45:50
  The peace of holiness, positionally and practically.
• 45:55
  Peter talks about how the world in First Peter 4/4 is surprised
• 46:00
  when you do not join them in their filth, in their
• 46:02
  debauchery. So they're surprised when you
• 46:06
  don't join them on Friday night sinning against God.
• 46:10
  And I'm sure they are equally surprised that you're willing to
• 46:12
  do this instead of pleasing the flesh and advancing your own
• 46:16
  purposes and your own plans and your own priorities.
• 46:20
  So Hiram, here is a wonderful illustration of those who are
• 46:23
  outside of our relationship with Christ and.
• 46:26
  They don't esteem and value what you and I esteem and value.
• 46:30
  It's frustrating, yes, but your heart has been made new.
• 46:33
  Your heart sees. Your heart has been regenerated.
• 46:37
  And so this man here says, I don't even want this.
• 46:40
  And you read in the Chronicles account that Solomon takes aback
• 46:43
  and he builds it for Israelites to live in again.
• 46:45
  But. That's just the first flag.
• 46:47
  Let's read the second flag. From verse 15 down.
• 46:51
  To verse 19 we read of these different projects that Solomon
• 46:54
  undergoes, but notice here in verse 20 all the.
• 46:57
  People who were left of the Amorites.
• 47:00
  The Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites
• 47:05
  who are not of the people of Israel.
• 47:07
  Their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the
• 47:11
  people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction.
• 47:16
  These Solomon drafted to be slaves.
• 47:20
  And. So they are, to this day flag.
• 47:23
  Number one is that Solomon gave pieces of the land away.
• 47:28
  Flag #2 is what Solomon. Kept people in the land that he
• 47:36
  should not have kept. When Israel was in Joshua's
• 47:43
  generation entering into the Promised Land, they were called
• 47:45
  to lay siege and to bring total deliverance from the inhabitants
• 47:50
  of the land who have heaped up. Mountainous sins throughout
• 47:54
  centuries that deserve to be punished, and God used Israel as
• 47:57
  a divine instrument of judgment for that to take place.
• 47:59
  But you read Joshua. We've studied Joshua in great
• 48:01
  length, and we saw that in many instances as these people
• 48:04
  established their tribes. They.
• 48:06
  They did not remove all of the Canaanites.
• 48:10
  And in some cases, in their human wisdom, they took these
• 48:13
  Canaanites and they made them slaves.
• 48:16
  Instead of driving out of the land as God commanded.
• 48:19
  Solomon is following in the footsteps of the failure of
• 48:22
  Joshua's generation. And you know what's so crazy?
• 48:25
  I mean, what did we just hear about the king of Egypt and what
• 48:27
  he did with certain Canaanites and Gazer?
• 48:29
  What did he do with them? Did he make them slaves?
• 48:33
  No, he he destroyed them. A picture of us destroying sin,
• 48:36
  that's what the pictures we're not called the holy war and take
• 48:39
  up arms. We do not wrestle against flesh
• 48:40
  and blood, nor our weapons carnal, But we see here that
• 48:45
  even the king of Egypt, indirectly and unintentionally,
• 48:49
  is doing what was originally commanded.
• 48:53
  And what does Solomon do? I can make use of these guys.
• 48:57
  We have a lot of things that we still need to do, a lot of
• 48:59
  projects, a lot of things that I want to accomplish, and why not
• 49:02
  take them and make them slaves? Just another compromise
• 49:09
  attitude, More compromise. And clearly, Solomon, as a king,
• 49:14
  did not understand the repercussions, the potential
• 49:16
  dangers that awaited maybe not in his lifetime, but in a time
• 49:20
  to come, like Joshua's generation failed to see and
• 49:25
  understand in their time let. Me give you an example, This is
• 49:28
  a scripture that came to mind. This is the beauty of being able
• 49:30
  to have a reservoir of the word of God in systematic study in.
• 49:36
  Joshua 1122 and one of the attempts to eradicate these
• 49:41
  people we read in Joshua 11/22. There was none of the Anakim
• 49:46
  left in the land of the people of Israel, and I noticed this
• 49:51
  only in Gaza. I know that's a that's a tough
• 49:55
  word these days, but it's in the Bible only in Gaza, in Gath and
• 50:01
  in Ashdod that some remain. So when they destroyed these
• 50:07
  Anakim, right, we're told they're very specific that there
• 50:10
  were certain of these Anakim that were left in these
• 50:15
  respective cities. And they.
• 50:18
  Left it alone. They didn't think it's just only
• 50:19
  a few. It's only some.
• 50:21
  What? Stands out to you about this
• 50:22
  verse. There's one particular city that
• 50:25
  should ring a bell, especially after our study in First and
• 50:28
  Second Samuel. Very good, Gath.
• 50:32
  You know why that's important? Who's from Gath?
• 50:34
  Goliath's from Gath. So you didn't deal with Gath
• 50:39
  then? And what you end up having to
• 50:41
  deal with a giant many years later, a bigger problem down the
• 50:46
  road that you could have dealt with early on.
• 50:48
  Not that there weren't giants then, there were giants then.
• 50:50
  But the picture is so clear that if you don't deal with these
• 50:52
  things early on, they will come back to haunt you.
• 50:56
  And I've. Said this back in Joshua, I
• 50:58
  remember it so clearly that if you don't deal with things in
• 51:00
  your single life, your marriage isn't going to heal those
• 51:03
  problems as you get married. Your wife isn't going to heal
• 51:06
  them. Children is that your promotion
• 51:07
  is not going to do it you whatever you do.
• 51:09
  Only. Christ can deliver you, and
• 51:12
  Christ wants us to have this urgency of dealing with these
• 51:14
  things now because they can take root and they can build walls
• 51:18
  that become much more difficult to overcome.
• 51:22
  Solomon didn't see it as a he didn't.
• 51:24
  He didn't recognize that this can potentially go wrong down
• 51:27
  the road. So that is his second
• 51:28
  compromise. Not only did he give pieces of
• 51:30
  the land away, he kept people in the land that he shouldn't have
• 51:32
  kept. Let's look at the third one.
• 51:34
  This one's a little bit more subtle, but it's there
• 51:38
  nonetheless. In verse 22.
• 51:41
  But of the people of Israel, Solomon made no slaves.
• 51:44
  There were soldiers. There were his officials, his
• 51:46
  commanders, his captains. His chariot commanders and his
• 51:51
  horsemen. There's.
• 51:53
  Compromise. There.
• 51:55
  This sounds like a noble thing. This sounds like a respectable
• 51:57
  thing. This sounds like something to
• 51:59
  praise Solomon for you. He didn't make slaves of the
• 52:01
  people of God. He gave him high-ranking
• 52:02
  positions and. He didn't degrade them and but.
• 52:08
  Where's the issue here? Anybody see it?
• 52:14
  Very good observation. Chariots and horsemen.
• 52:23
  Why is that a problem? That's one thing.
• 52:28
  When you go to Deuteronomy 1716, you know this very well.
• 52:31
  We're kings. Not just Solomon, but kings as a
• 52:34
  rule. For all the rulers in the
• 52:36
  monarchs were not to have many. What horses don't acquire many
• 52:43
  horses? Not.
• 52:44
  No, horses don't acquire many to the point where you put your
• 52:49
  trust and strength in the arm of the flesh.
• 52:51
  Did Solomon have many horses? How do we know that?
• 52:57
  All you have to do is go to chapter 10 and 1st Kings and
• 52:59
  look at verse. 26. Here's.
• 53:03
  The exact number and. Solomon gathered together
• 53:07
  Chariots and horsemen. He had 1400 Chariots and 12,000
• 53:13
  horsemen whom he. Stationed Look at this in the
• 53:17
  chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
• 53:24
  That's a lot. Those are a lot of horses.
• 53:28
  That's in direct violation of what?
• 53:31
  Of what God had said in Deuteronomy 17.
• 53:35
  So. You see that when he had these
• 53:37
  leaders of horsemen and horses, he was violating the law of God.
• 53:41
  And so already, if we honor the sequence of First Kings Chapter
• 53:46
  9, we see that there are even more cracks to this man's faith.
• 53:51
  There are now more footholds in his devotion to the Lord.
• 53:55
  This is not going to end well for Solomon.
• 53:57
  And we're being told that if we know what our Bibles, well, what
• 53:59
  you do, you say this is? You should be reading saying
• 54:02
  Solomon, you got to change quickly.
• 54:05
  Things are going to come crashing.
• 54:07
  There is a mighty fall waiting to happen, and all you have to
• 54:09
  do is wait two chapters for that mighty fall to come.
• 54:12
  Chapter 11. So here's here's a summary of
• 54:18
  this chapter as we read the last few verses, Verse 24.
• 54:25
  But. Pharaoh's daughter went up from
• 54:27
  the City of David to her own house that Saltman held built
• 54:29
  for her. Then he built the Milo.
• 54:31
  We we read this and we looked at this many weeks ago.
• 54:34
  Now look at this. This is interesting.
• 54:35
  Verse 25. Three times a year Solomon used
• 54:37
  to OfferUp burnt offerings and peace offerings on the author
• 54:41
  that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it before
• 54:45
  the Lord. So he finished the house.
• 54:47
  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
• 54:49
  Solomon's not assuming the role of a priest.
• 54:51
  Solomon is participating in these feasts and he even by way
• 54:56
  of example goes to these 3 Pilgrim feasts that was
• 54:59
  commanded in Exodus. That you were to be present at
• 55:01
  the House of God. This is a praiseworthy Dean.
• 55:04
  This is an excellent thing. But.
• 55:06
  Again, you take that in isolation, you say, OK, Solomon
• 55:08
  seems to be doing well, but what's the backdrop?
• 55:12
  It's interwoven with compromise. And.
• 55:16
  This is an illustration of how us in compromise, we can become
• 55:22
  very strategic when we are intentionally doing things that
• 55:25
  we know we're not supposed to be doing.
• 55:27
  And partial obedience has a incredible way of quieting.
• 55:31
  Sprinkled conviction in our lives or or compromise in our
• 55:34
  lives. Partial.
• 55:36
  Obedience has a wonderful way of quieting, sprinkled compromise
• 55:41
  in our lives. So what does this really mean?
• 55:44
  What does this really mean in light of what God asked of him
• 55:47
  in verse four of the same chapter, First Kings, Chapter 9?
• 55:49
  What did the Lord ask of him? And As for you?
• 55:51
  If you walk before me as David, your father walked with
• 55:54
  integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to
• 55:57
  all, all, all, all. That I have commanded you.
• 56:01
  Not some, not almost, not 95 all.
• 56:06
  I'm asking for all. And and Solomon, if you fail to
• 56:09
  meet me with that request, be like your father David, repent
• 56:13
  and turn to me. I'm willing to embrace you and
• 56:14
  restore you and walk hand in hand again.
• 56:18
  But Solomon found a place where he thought he can do some and
• 56:22
  and others he can operate in his own wisdom and this is going to
• 56:25
  cost him greatly. Verse 25, here's how we're
• 56:28
  ending. We read that where he goes three
• 56:31
  times a year and then interestingly ends with this
• 56:34
  thought. King Solomon, verse 26 built a
• 56:36
  fleet of ships at Easy on Geber, which is near Eloth, on the
• 56:40
  shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom and Hiram, sent with the
• 56:45
  fleet his servant seaman. We're.
• 56:47
  Familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.
• 56:51
  And they went to Ofra and brought from their gold 420
• 56:55
  talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.
• 57:01
  So the last thought that. We're supposed to have, with the
• 57:02
  backdrop of compromise, partial obedience, God speaking and
• 57:06
  visiting to Solomon with these instructions is that he was at
• 57:11
  this time advancing economically, politically.
• 57:14
  He. Was growing as an entrepreneur.
• 57:17
  He was expanding his his administrative abilities and now
• 57:20
  he is he is now executing trade by the sea and he's able to
• 57:24
  enlarge his international relationships and and import and
• 57:29
  export. You know, you read that.
• 57:30
  You think, wow, he's able to bring this vast amount of gold
• 57:34
  and and humanly speaking, you think this is impressive,
• 57:37
  naturally. Speaking in the carnal, you
• 57:38
  would say this is wow, this is something, this is something
• 57:42
  remarkable. But here's what we're seeing.
• 57:45
  Here's this man growing in wealth, growing in popularity,
• 57:50
  growing in power. And yet at the same time, his
• 57:53
  heart is hardening and he's weakening in devotion, weakening
• 57:58
  in his worship, weakening in his commitment to the things of God.
• 58:03
  So in one sense, he's going this way, But in the most important
• 58:05
  sense, he's declining. And it's possible for people to
• 58:09
  do that. You know, it's so amazing.
• 58:11
  The Lord appeared to Solomon twice.
• 58:15
  If the Lord appeared to you and I once in our lifetime, what
• 58:18
  would that do? What would that do for you and
• 58:20
  I? If He appeared in a way that was
• 58:22
  undeniable, it wasn't because you had pizza late at night.
• 58:25
  It was a real visitation from God.
• 58:27
  What would you do? How would that mark you?
• 58:30
  Would that not be a? Life changing event.
• 58:33
  Solomon didn't get it once. He got it twice, you know, read
• 58:36
  later on and when he is going to fall in the way, he falls.
• 58:39
  The Holy Spirit is going to make the comment of how the Lord
• 58:41
  appeared to him twice. And still with those
• 58:44
  appearances, he was willing to turn his back.
• 58:45
  You know, sometimes you look at people and you see the
• 58:48
  trajectory of their lives and you think to themselves,
• 58:50
  yourself. You you look at this one portion
• 58:52
  of their lives, you go, they seem to be so devoted, they seem
• 58:54
  to have a genuine experience with the Lord.
• 58:56
  But how did they end up here? And you know what some people
• 58:58
  say, well, that must not been real.
• 59:00
  That's not the case. That's not the case the.
• 59:04
  Appearances of the Lord to Solomon at this juncture, at
• 59:06
  this point, were very real. They weren't imagination, They
• 59:08
  weren't hallucination. They were genuine.
• 59:11
  It's. Possible to have a genuine
• 59:13
  encounter with crap. It's possible to have a taste of
• 59:16
  the miraculous. It's possible for the Lord to
• 59:17
  come in in a very special way, and down the road you make money
• 59:21
  your God. It's possible it is.
• 59:25
  Possible. It's possible to at some point
• 59:29
  have great priority toward the Kingdom of God, and eventually
• 59:32
  other things take priority. In the Kingdom of God is not
• 59:34
  even a secondary thought, it's an afterthought.
• 59:38
  It's possible for us to understand through Solomon's
• 59:41
  life for someone to do even great things for God yesterday,
• 59:43
  but turn away from him tomorrow this.
• 59:46
  Is the tragedy of Solomon's life.
• 59:50
  And I think it's a providential illustration that has been
• 59:52
  brought before us as we prepare to enter into a new year with
• 59:55
  new hopes, new desires, new dreams, new longings, new
• 59:59
  vision. Let me circle it back to how
• 1:00:02
  this whole thing started. Don't fail to bring God.
• 1:00:08
  Before you always, always His word above all things.
• 1:00:13
  No matter what goes for you, no matter what goes against you.
• 1:00:16
  I have set the Lord always before me.
• 1:00:19
  May that be true of 2024 and the years beyond until we see Him
• 1:00:23
  face to face. Let's pray,
• 1:00:37
  Father, with great delight. We have tasted the morsels of
• 1:00:42
  these truths and we feel nourished.
• 1:00:45
  We feel equipped. We feel stirred and we feel
• 1:00:48
  challenged. Lord, your mind is brilliant.
• 1:00:55
  Your word is irrefutable. It's so clear.
• 1:01:00
  And, Lord, you've invited us to investigate and discover your
• 1:01:03
  heart, your mind, the consistency in the harmony of
• 1:01:09
  your word from beginning to end. Thank you for confirming things
• 1:01:12
  to us. Thank you for bringing new
• 1:01:14
  things to our attention, Lord. We just ask that no matter what,
• 1:01:19
  we would be people who know the truth and love the truth and
• 1:01:22
  submit to the truth. Lord, even if the Truth Tonight
• 1:01:26
  has challenged us here or would challenge viewers online.
• 1:01:30
  May one thing be said of what was shared, it was found in
• 1:01:34
  God's Word, and it was by God's grace honestly and faithfully
• 1:01:41
  explained. Lord, would you keep us faithful
• 1:01:45
  to your word? No matter what shifting opinions
• 1:01:49
  come or go, may we stand firm on the rock of your truth.
• 1:01:55
  And Lord, we just pray that Solomon's example would not be
• 1:01:58
  taken lightly. We would see him as a divine, as
• 1:02:06
  a divine inclusion of your Word, to be careful that we can fall
• 1:02:11
  in the same traps. And at the same time may we see
• 1:02:15
  the encouragement that you, O Lord, with David and even with
• 1:02:19
  Solomon, you're willing to work with imperfect people, and
• 1:02:22
  you're willing to take us back and walk with us, and and wash
• 1:02:26
  us and strengthen us and even use us on top of that, even
• 1:02:29
  after we have fallen into into any kind of failure.
• 1:02:34
  Lord, as we seal up this time together, we pray that you would
• 1:02:37
  receive worship not just in our singing and closing, but in our
• 1:02:41
  obedience to say, Lord, help me, help me apply this to my life.
• 1:02:47
  Show me in the areas of my life where I am not in alignment with
• 1:02:49
  what I just heard, and may I be in alignment with what You
• 1:02:52
  desire for me. Lord, we give you praise and our
• 1:02:54
  we thank you. We thank you with all of our
• 1:02:56
  hearts that you are truth, and we rejoice that we are in the
• 1:02:58
  truth. We rejoice that we've been
• 1:03:00
  rescued from deception. We rejoice that what we have in
• 1:03:03
  our hands can keep us free from any lies that would make us miss
• 1:03:07
  out on the promises of your inheritance that we have in
• 1:03:10
  Christ Jesus. We rejoice now together as a
• 1:03:13
  family and saying thank you for your word.
• 1:03:16
  In the name of the word who became flesh, Jesus Christ.
• 1:03:20
  Amen. Amen.
• 1:03:21
  Amen. What a mighty God we serve.
• 1:03:25
  Well, let's stand and worship the Lord on this wonderful
• 1:03:28
  evening.