The Chastening of Solomon

If you your Bible, 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11, looking at the chastening of King Solomon This is the sermon right before our last one when it talks about the obituary of Solomon That'll be next week as we conclude our study: 17 weeks of looking at this man's life. 1 Kings 11, we pick up the narrative in verse number 9 Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice And it commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods But he did not observe what the Lord had commanded

So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen Then the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Had the Ediomite

He was of the royal line of Edom For it came about when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck down every male in Edom For Joab and all Israel stayed there six months until he had cut off every male in Edom, that Had fled to Egypt He and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him while Hadad was a young boy They arose from Midian and came to Paran They took men with them from Per and came to Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him food and gave him land Now Had found great favor before Pharaoh

So he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister Top, the queen The sister of Top bore his son Ganub, whom Top weaned in Pharaoh's house, and Ganub was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh But when Had heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead Had said to Pharaoh, Send me away, that I may go to my own country Then Pharaoh said to him, But what have you lacked with me, that, behold, you are seeking to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing, never, you must surely let me go

God also raised up another adversary to him, Rezon, the son of Eliad. who had fled from his lord Had, king of Zob He gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band after David slew them Of Zob, and they went to Damascus and stayed there and reigned in Damascus So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon Along with the evil that Had did, and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Aram Then Jeroboam, the son of Nab, an Ephraimite of Zare, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king

Now this was the reason why he rebelled against the king Solomon built the melo and closed up the breach of the city of his father David Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior When Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph It came about at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahia, the Shalon, found him on the road Now Ahia had clothed himself with a new cloak, and both of them were alone in the field Then Ahia took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces

He said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces For thus says the LORD the God of Israel, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and give you ten tribes But he will have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, because they have forsaken me. and have worshipped As, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemes, the god of Moab, and Milcom

The God of the sons of Ammon, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight, and observing my statutes and my ordinances, as his father David did Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose, who observed my commandments and my statutes But I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you, even ten tribes But to his son I will give one tribe, that my servant David may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem

The city where I have chosen for myself to put my name. I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over Israel Then it will be that if you listen to all that I command you, and walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my commandments, as my servant David did, then I will be with you And build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you Thus I will afflict the descendants of David for this, but not always Solomon sought, therefore, to put Jeroboam to death

But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shish, the king of Egypt And he was in Egypt until the death Of Solomon You read this story and you realize that the Lord gives us some background to help us fill in the blanks, to help us understand how God Himself would raise up Adversaries Solomon began in great splendor, tremendous su But because of continued setbacks and sin, his reign end in all kind of shame And that was because he was a self-indulgent individual We know that by what he said in the book of Ecclesiastes, the second chapter

In verse 11, we said, Everything that I saw, that I wanted, I took for myself Everything that I wanted to buy, I bought for myself Everything my heart wanted, I obtained. I kept nothing back He was a self-ind individual He had come to a place in his life where whatever he wanted to obtain and sought to obtain it, he did Because he had the power, he had the money, he had everything that he des And soon, his wicked ways Would be faced with the wrath of the living God, whose anger would burn against him He even went against his own counsel

Under the inspiration of the scripture, he would say these words in the book of Proverbs, the first chapter He would say, In verse 24, because I called you and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention, and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my rep, I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your dread comes When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me But I will not answer

They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord They would not accept my counsel They spurned all my reproof So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be satiated with their own devices For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them But he who listens to me will live securely and be at ease from the dread of evil But Solomon was not at ease from the dread of evil, because as time went on, things got worse

And what he would say under the inspiration of the Spirit of God when writing to his own son He would not even listen He went against the advice Of the Lord God of Israel How sad is that? He would say to his son, guard your heart For out of it flow all the issues of life Proverbs 4:2 And yet, Solomon's heart was turned away from the Lord Verse 4, verse 9 of 1 Kings 11, it tells us that Solomon's heart had been turned He did not follow holy the Lord any longer He desired the things of the world That's what he wanted

And the more he desired the things of the world, the more he was deceived by those things And those things being wealth and women And the more he was deceived by those things, the more he would disregard all the warnings surrounding them Thus defying the word of the Lord, thus being disobedient to the word of the Lord That's the downward spiral of Solomon's life The Bible tells us that as Solomon would encourage his son to guard his heart, you have to realize that, you know, the Bible only gives us The names of three children of Solomon Seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines

Three children, one son, only one where you bone You'd think that he'd want to have a lot of sons And maybe God would not allow that to happen specifically because of what would take place in his life Because in all reality, David had more than one son He had several sons And yet, Solomon Beloved of the Lord, Jedediah was his name, the man of peace, Solomon Jedediah, beloved of the Lord Even the queen of Sheba would say, That God's delight was on his life. A man loved by the Lord. A man whose life had experienced the delight of God now was facing the an Of God

Is it possible that you and me can face the anger of God? Answer: yes, absolutely Don't ever think that God doesn't get angry with his children Oh, he does He was angry with David David took a census Anger of the Lord burned against David Israel's greatest king God was angry with Moses, Israel's greatest leader, angry with him Because he would not make himself available to be used by God He would fight against God using him, and the anger of the Lord in the book of Exodus would burn against him Hebrews chapter 3 tell us that Israel had tested God in the wilderness

And they att him to such a point that he swore in his wrath as he became so inc with Israel because they would not obey his word So we need to realize that God does get angry In fact, the book of Hebrews tells us that he chastens every son In fact, Revelation chapter 3, verse number 19, tells us that all those that he loves, he rebukes and he chastens And sure enough, Solomon would be fac the chastening of the Lord God of Israel Everything looked great on the outside But what takes place on the inside is all that matters Because God looks upon the heart of a man

Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart David, I'm sure, would reiterate that to his son, Solomon, over the years And yet, Solomon could not Bring himself to protect and to guard his heart from all those foreign wives that he would take and all those altars that he would build As he began to participate in the worship of foreign gods And Solomon knew Oh, he knew exactly What he was doing He had become so deceived, but he knew what he was doing Because we have read it to you on several occasions in the book of Deuteronomy that he was to

Sit on the throne, Deuteronomy 17:18, write for himself a copy of the law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest It shall be with him, he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God He had to live in the fear of the Lord all day long Book of Proverbs, 28th chapter, Solomon writes, Live in the fear of God all day long Well, how are you going to do that? Well, you just keep writing the law of God, keep reading the law of God, keep obeying the commands of God, and you learn to fear the law of God

Solomon would read the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6 He would write it: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength In fact, he would read and write these words in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 14, You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the people surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God Otherwise, the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth

How many times did Stalin write that? How many times did he read that? The anger of the Lord will be kindled against you And yet, you come to 1 Kings chapter 11 And the anger of the Lord burn against Solomon sim because He would not obey He would not hearken to the words of God and follow what he said God was angry with Solomon The text tells us he would dis All those beautiful privileges that he received The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice He had appeared to him twice

Now, why is that important? Why is that even stated there? Well, that's a great privilege, right? For the Lord to appear to you twice Each time the Lord appeared to Solomon, he would reaffirm He would repeat, he would re-establish in his mind the covenant he made with his father David And each time he did that, he would warn Solomon In other words, the text tells us that Solomon was up without excuse There is no excuse for Solomon not to know what God said

In fact, in 1 Kings chapter 9, when the Lord appeared to Solomon, It says as for you, verse number 4, if you walk before me as your father David walked in integrity of his heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom Over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel

But Those but of scripture: if you or your sons indeed turn away from following me, and that's exactly what it says in 1 Kings 11: you turned away from following the Lord And do not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them The text you read in Deuteronomy chapter 6 is exactly what God warned them against: Do not go after them, do not worship them, do not serve them, or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you

That I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them and the house which I have consecrated for my name. I will cast out of my sight So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples, and this house will become a heap of ruins Who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house? And they will say, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and adopted other gods and worship them and served them Therefore, the Lord has brought them Brought all this adversity on them

You see in 1 Kings 3, in 1 Kings 6, and 1 Kings 9 When the Lord would come to him and speak to him, he would reiterate over and over again the promises But always give the warning: don't do this If you do, it's going to cost you And so God makes sure that all the privileges are spoken about What he says He had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he did not observe what the Lord had comm him Didn 't do that

So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it To your servant Now, think about that. I'm not going to give the kingdom to your son. I'm going give the kingdom to your servant He is hearing this God is speaking to Solomon Now, you'd think at that moment, right there, he'd say, You what? You're right, Lord Everything you said was right He'd repent He'd fall on his face before the living God But he never did He never did

In that self-indulgent attitude and lifestyle, became a very stubborn lifestyle for Solomon And he had the opportunity God grants him the opportunity God's going to raise up adversaries against him And with each adversary being raised up against him, he would have the opportunity to repent And when Jeroboam Rises up against him, you would think at that point he would say, You know what, Lord, you're right, because he would understand what The prophet told Jeroboam about the future of the kingdom, but he never did That's the marked difference between David and Solomon David repented

Solomon didn't David never went after foreign gods Solomon did David never erected idol to foreign gods and structures to foreign gods Solomon did, see? And when David was confronted, he repented of his sin He turned from his sin He asked and begged God to forgive him because he truly was a man after God's own heart That's why the text says that David followed him With his whole heart Solomon had a divided heart You see, whenever you begin to erect something in your life, Above God, that now becomes your idol, right? It could be money, yeah It could be your family, it could be a person

It can be a situation, anything, anything you erect above God, you make it the priority in your life It consumes your thinking, it consumes your passion, it consumes your emotion Whatever that may be that you set your heart on, that now becomes your idol David never did that That he didn't because his heart was truly committed to his God Solomon, he did that, see, he had a divided loyalty. A divided loyalty David's loyalty was never divided And that's why David becomes the hallmark That's why God says he followed me holy It doesn't mean that David never sinned, of course, he sinned

Nobody lives a sinless life except the Lord Jesus Christ, right? So David was going to sin He would fall into sin on various times, but he would repent of his sin He would seek the forgiveness of God and be reconciled to his God That he would restore to him the joy of his salvation Solomon never did that Some would say the book of Ecclesiastes is that repent Reconciled, restored Solomon And probably so, because he recognizes all the things that he did wrong, right? And realizes at the end of his life how bad things were That's why it was all vanity, all empty pursuits

But the Bible never records the opportunity where Solomon fell down on his face and repented of his sin Doesn mean he didn't Because if you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you would tend to think that he did But during this scenario, you would think he would wake up and smell the coffee and realize, hmm, yeah. I was wrong But he doesn't So God tells him, I going to tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant Wow Nevertheless. I will not do it in the days for the sake of your father David Wow One man's influence for evil versus one man's influence for good

And so God would allow Solomon not to experience a divided kingdom under his rulership because of his father's faithfulness and because of God's commitment to David In the promise he made to David way back in 2 Samuel chapter 7 God was faithful to his word and true to his word He says, However, I will not tear away the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David And the sacred Jerusalem, which I have chosen, because of the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, the place I have chosen to write my name

The place that I have chosen to make the dwelling place of my presence For the sake of Jerusalem, I will allow your son To over one tribe, which really was two, because Benjamin was absorbed in Judah So it was really two tribes, but it was called Judah And of course, the ten northern tribes are called Israel So Solomon is hearing this as God's anger was being demonstrated to Solomon This is God's chastening of Solomon He's going to feel the repercussions of a sin You know, be not deceived God will not be mocked Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap

And Solomon sowed the seeds of tremendous destruction He did because he would not obey the word of the Lord He would not listen To what God said In spite of the fact that even in 2 Samuel 7, when God warned that he would always have a son on the throne as long as they obeyed me As long as they followed me That was always set up that way And so when God would reiterate it back to Solomon again Rea it back to Solomon again, repeat it back to Solomon again He would say it in different ways, always with the same emphasis You got to keep following You got to keep my commandments

You got to keep my statutes You got to walk in my ways That's what you have to do, Solomon Don't Forget that Well, from the anger of the Lord, I want you to see God's adversaries It says, then the Lord raised up an advers That 's just such a powerful phrase Do you know that God raises up your adversaries? Did you know that? God's in charge of everything Book of Proverbs, 16, chapter Solomon says this You'd think that Solomon would get a hold of this after a while Proverbs 16, verse number 4: The Lord has made everything For its purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil

Solomon said that early on in his ministry The Lord even raises up the wicked for the day of evil So God, through the spirit inspiration of Scripture, would reiterate the fact that he was raising up adversaries Against Solomon God was demonstrating the fact that he was in complete ch And so through his anger, he would raise up the enemies of Solomon to come against him And he would make sure that Solomon understood what was happening And so the Lord gives us this historical background, and it begins by helping us to understand that

Uh Had, the Ediomite, was the individual that had escaped David And Joab, when they in 2 Samuel chapter 8, invaded Edom And Had had escaped He went down to Egypt Now, maybe he was a small child at the time We don't necessarily know exactly how old he was, but he escaped and he would marry the sister-in-law of the Pharaoh of Egypt And he would then set up his borders in the southern section of Israel, in Edom Edom is in the southern section of Israel, it's in the wilderness, and so that's where he would set up his camp

And that would be interesting because what would happen then is because in the northern part of Israel was Rez from Damascus And he too had fled in 2 Samuel chapter 8 when David defeated the Syrians at Zobah And he too would flee, and he would set up his camp and become king of Syria in the northern section of Israel And these two men would be raised up by God as the adversaries To Solomon But you see, they couldn't do anything until Solomon died Now think about this Sin, sin never strengthens, it only weak Always does Solomon was going to become extremely vulnerable

The kingdom would be vulnerable because of Solomon's sin The kingdom wasn't getting stronger under Solomon, it was getting weaker When he began, it was filled with strength It was filled with peace And there was peace in the land for 40 years under his rulership Now, remember, Solomon reigns 40, he becomes king at age somewhere around 20 years of age So he's at least 61 or 62 at this point when he dies, and we'll cover his death next week So he's a very young person Because that's how old I am See? So Stalin is still a young guy, even though he dies older

He sins older rather than younger when it comes to his rebellion against God But these men were unable to do anything until God allowed them to be unleashed upon Israel Because they were under the direction of God Himself But God would raise up these adversaries What in the south? One in the north But the most troublesome adversary was not from the outside, but from the inside Jeroboam Because Jeroboam, as the text says, was a valiant warrior He was a trusted servant of the king And the Lord would use him in Solomon's life And Solomon would appoint him, as the text says in First Kings 11

It says the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he put him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph And so God would use him And one day, he's in the field And up comes a prophet Now remember, under David, under Solomon, prophets are very rarely used But after Solomon, prophets will be used in an enormous way in the land of Israel So this prophet, Ahia From Shiloh, they would come up to him with a new cloak They would talk to him about what was going to happen in the land of Israel

Explaining to him what God was doing in the life of Solomon, in the life of the kingdom Now, Jeroboam knew about all the altars that had been erected on the Mount of Olives, and he had seen all the idol worship that was going on in the nation And Jeroboam has the opportunity and potential to be a great king in Israel He's not, but he has that potential And so the prophet comes to him and speaks to him very clearly and points to him and says as he tears his cloak into twelve pieces He says, Take for yourself ten pieces

For thus says the Lord God of Israel, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I'm going to give you ten tribes These are the ten northern Kingdoms or territories, ten tribes He will have one tribe He'll give it to his son Rehob But you will have ten Why? Verse 33 They have Forsaken me How that became the theme throughout the rest of Israel's history They have Forsaken me They have turned away from me And that's why in Israel's history there is this constant repetition of what took place in their history

So they would know that all the great privileges that they had, all the things that God had done for them How he took them from the land of slavery and out of Egyptian bondage and brought them to the promised land and set them in that land and gave them this land free Flowing with milk and honey, and just said, Look, this is yours Just keep my word, just obey my statutes That's all you got to do Just follow my word And so they would go back and reiterate all the great things that God did So they would never forget Never forget And yet, A says, They have forsaken me

They've worshipped foreign gods And yet, because of David King David, because of the covenant God made with the king, his son Rehob will have One tribe That is the tribe of Judah. I'm going to remain, or let him remain there, so that David, it says in verse 36, may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem The city where I have chosen for myself and put my names, I will take you You shall reign over whatever you desire You shall be king over Israel Wow

Then it will be that if you listen to all that I command you, walk in my ways, do what is right, observe my statutes, my commandments, as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you an enduring house, as I built for David And I will give Israel to you That's the promise to Jeroboam. I'm going to give you Israel It's going to be yours All you have to do is obey me All you have to do is follow my commandments That's it Not a big deal, right? It's always got to do But he doesn't, as the history of Israel is seen

He says in verse 39, thus I will afflict the descendants of David for this, but not Always Why? Because it remains a promise God had this plan, a plan that was already in motion He told them already that he would cast them out of the land if they worshipped other gods And they did So he begins with a divided kingdom And let the tribes of the north be ruled by kings, the tribes of the south be ruled by kings, so that somehow they have the opportunity to turn and repent and follow God And they never did

So eventually, through Assyrian captivity, through Babylonian captivity, they were all driven out of the land of Israel, exactly as God said And all they had to do was obey All they had to do was keep the commands Of the living God It says in verse 40, Solomon sought, therefore, to put Jeroboam to death Somehow he found out Bab doesn't tell us how Solomon found out about Jeroboam Maybe Jeroboam told him Maybe Jeroboam told his best friend, and his best friend has the best friend, and His best friend has a best friend, and the king found out about it We don't know

But the king wanted him dead to somehow thwart the plan of God It wasn't the fact that, you know what? God's got a plan going on God's in charge here. I've got to get right with God That's not the answer For Solomon He doesn't want to do that Because his heart's already been divided His loyalties have been dispersed to all these different gods No longer is the Lord God of Israel his heart's passion and heart's desire Therefore, his only recourse is to take things into his own hands and to kill Jeroboam to stop The division of the kingdom after he dies

But Jeroboam flees to Egypt and finds himself Waiting until Solomon dies So, what's our application? What's our application? Our applic simply is found in the book of Ecclesiastes In the book of Ecclesiastes, The Lord God of Israel explains to us through the pen of Solomon ex what needs to happen Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse number 13 Solomon concludes, When all has been heard, fear God Keep his commandments, because this applies to every person For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or whether it Is evil

Solomon says, The end of everything is this Having bought and purchased and done everything he's ever wanted to do, marry whoever he wanted to marry, live any way he wanted to live Realizing all of it brings nothing of substance The only thing that satisfies is to fear God And keep his commandments Because you see, that is the only thing that God reiterated over and over and over again in the Old Testament: fear me And keep my comm Back in Deuteronomy chapter 6, God said in verse 24

So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival as it is today The end is this God said, Fear me, keep my commandments, because this will be for your survival This is how you're going to survive in a foreign land This is how your lives are going to make it Fear me, keep my commandments That's it He says earlier in verse number 13, you shall fear only the Lord your God and worship him He says in Deuteronomy 6, verse number 2, you and your son and your grandson

Must fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments Well, this is what's reiterated over and over again in the Old Testament So, when Solomon now, at the end of his life, is writing the book of Ecclesiastes, he goes back and finally realizes: fear God, keep his commandments That's the sum of a life that survives and is successful In Deuteronomy chapter 8 The Lord says, Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines a son

Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and fear him There it is again Just keep the commands, fear God Chapter thirteen I'm sorry, chapter 10, verse number 20 You shall fear the Lord your God You shall serve him, cling to him, you shall swear by his name He is your praise He is your God For he has done these great things and awesome things for you which your eyes see Have seen Chapter 13, verse number 4: You shall follow the Lord your God and fear him, and you shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cl to him Same thing

Same thing that is said in Deuteronomy 17, which we read earlier: that the king is to constantly write the law of God, because as he writes the law of God, as he reads the law of God, as he hears the law of God, he will keep the commands of God and Fear his God That's it So now at the end of his life Before he dies, somewhere, somewhere in the palace of in Jerusalem, in his house, he begins to pin the words of the book of Ecclesiastes And when it's all said and done, he concludes: every act, whether good or evil, falls under the judgment of a sovereign God

So make sure you fear him and keep his command David would say it this way in Psalm thirty Psalm 34, verse number 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints For to those who fear him, there is no want Solomon thought there would be no want if he had wealth and women He was wrong He was still wanting at the end So David, his father, said, For those who fear him, there is no want He would say, The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord should not be in want of any good thing So there is not one good thing that you will be in want of if you fear the Lord and keep H comm

Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord He who is the man, or who is the man who desires life and loves length of days, that he may see good, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from seeking deceit Depart from evil Do good, seek peace, pursue it. I will teach you the fear of the Lord That is a theme Of the Old Testament We know that the New Testament tells us in the book of Romans that there is no fear of God before the eye of the unbeliever They don't fear God Only the believer fears God There's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared

Psalm 130, verse number 4 God forgives you so that you'll fear him He wants you to fear him He wants you to live in the fear of the Lord all day long The Bible says those words in the book of Proverbs written by Solomon: live in the fear of God all day long Proverbs 23, 17, Proverbs 28:1 Blessed is the man who fears God Always And yet, something happened in Solomon's life that turned him from fearing God to fearing his wives So that he would build altars for his wives And therefore, once he began no longer to fear God

He would no longer keep the commands of God and turn his back on the true and living God The Bible says in Proverbs 16, verse number 6, Solomon said this: By fear, by the fear of the Lord, one keep away from evil By the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil When Solomon stopped fearing the Lord, he indulged himself in evil Because he no longer feared what God said He no longer feared what the warnings were that God gave And God is long-suffering, and God is filled with grace and mercy, and God has a very long fuse, very long fuse But God will not be mocked He will not be

And those who sin against him If they live a life of unrepentance and no longer wanting to serve and follow him, he will do whatever it takes to get their attention He will raise up adversaries against them As he did with Solomon in the nation of Israel, he will do that The Bible says in Isaiah 66, verse number 2, To this man will I look, to him who is broken and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at my word That's the kind of person God looks to Psalmist said in Psalm 112: How blessed is the man who fears the Lord! Who greatly delights in his commandments That's the blessed man

Why would the psalmist say that? Because he has read The Old Testament He has read what God says about fearing Him and keeping His commandments How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who great delights in His commandments His descendants will be mighty on the earth, and the generation of the upright will be blessed Wealth and riches are in his house Wow The man who fears the Lord has a home filled with wealth and riches But the man who doesn't fear the Lord, as Solomon stopped fearing God, he had wealth, he had riches, but was completely unsatisfied

Because he did not live in the fear of the Lord all day long The man who fears the Lord, verse 6 of Psalm 112, he will never be shaken And the righteous will be remembered forever Solomon very simply says at the end of his life: here is a sum of everything If you want to sum up everything about life, it's just this: fear God and keep His commandments That's all that matters And if you learn anything about the life of Solomon, learn that Because early on, he feared the Lord He kept the commands of God God was pleased with him God delighted in him God loved him

And just because God was angry with him doesn't mean that God stopped loving him God never stopped loving Solomon That wasn't the point The point was that an entire nation would follow his leadership And they would engage in such idolatrous worship, so much so That it brought destruction upon the people of God Solomon led them in that direction The man with all this privilege, all this splendor, all these opportunities, the son of the great king David Led the nation into idolatry, led the nation to being split in two

The hairline fracture began with Solomon and erupted into a huge chasm upon his death So much so that the nation was driven from the land, as God said But one sinner Destroys, oh, so much good Oh, by the way, Solomon said that Ecclesiastes 9 One sinner destroys much good Would he be looking back at his life, thinking about the destruction as he looked out of the palace windows at all the Idol worship taking place on the Mount of Olives, reflecting back on his life, knowing what the Lord God of Israel has said

How Jeroboam is going to take, his own servant is going to take ten tribes and be king over them His son will have one There'll be a divided kingdom And real I'm the one sinner that destroyed so much good That's his warning to every one of us May we live righteous, holy lives, seeking the face of God, living in the fear of God Let's pray Father, we thank you, Lord, for an opportunity this evening to study your word once again, to be reminded of Solomon's life, to be reminded of all the privileges that he had All the things that you did for him

And yet, in spite of all the wealth, in spite of all the wisdom, he turned his back On the true and living God Lord, there's a great admonition there for all of us And our prayer, Lord, is that you would keep us from falling into sin Psalm 112: The man who fears the Lord and greatly delights in your command shall never be shaken He will not fear when evil comes his way Why? Because he fears the Lord That's why May we be God-fearers May we keep your commandments May we desire the things of God more than anything else May we be like David, the father of Solomon When we sin, may we be repentant

May we seek the face of God May we live in harmony, always wanting the joy of our salvation restored That we might be able to live for the glory and honor of our King We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.