Solomon’s Mixed Qualities (Part A)

Solomon thought he was making the truth byHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sea in the flesh. There are so many lessons here for us to not try to bring about spiritual fruit through carnal means. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick Gaston is the pastor of Kalvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently teaching through the Book of 1 Kings. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference.

information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Kings chapter 3 with a brand new study called Solomon's Mixed Qualities. 1 Kings chapter 3, Solomon's Mixed Qualities, that's what stands out to me. You know receiving a gift from God does not guarantee that the recipient will use that gift to the glory of God or use it at all. Judas Iscariot comes to mind as the poster boy for this, but Paul when he wrote to Timothy in both his letters and they're about two years apart, he writes the first letter and he says to Timothy, do not neglect the gift that is in you. And you know Timothy he's probably in his 30s at this point and ministering, had been ministering with Paul through some heavy-duty service also. And yet Paul feels he needs to remind Timothy to stir that gift up. He wasn't going to take for granted that this is Timothy and he's okay. Then in his second letter he writes again and he says, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

This was personal too with Paul. And the lesson of course is, goes back to my opening words, receiving a gift from God or a gift in the spirit that is, no guarantee that we're going to use it or not abuse it and we have to stay awake on these matters. And this is the story with Solomon because God certainly blessed Solomon and he used some of his gifts and but then he let them all go south. He fell into a temptation of, in his particular case, of a leader who felt that he could do more for the kingdom without faith. Oh he might have would have argued with that, well I did trust God, I do believe in God, but he employed these methods that really were against faith. We see that the New Testament Church does this oftentimes rather than trusting God they start employing maybe business tactics and you know marketing the church rather than waiting on the Holy Spirit or living within their means, their spiritual means.

Well Solomon, he is going to use diplomacy and different policies of the surrounding kings, he incorporates into Israel and he just makes a mess of things. Psalm 51 verse 6, Behold, speaking of what God desires, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom. It's got to get inside, it's not enough to have it in your head and this was Solomon, he didn't let it get, it got in for a while it was there but it did not stay there.

The inward man is the upward man, it's the higher self in Christ and for the Jew it was in Yahweh. Romans 7, Paul says, For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, the spiritual man, the man of truth. Solomon's kingdom would bedazzle unbelievers or your shallow believers even but it disappointed God and it saddens the devout. What Christian reads the story of Solomon and does not feel a sadness? A lot of Christians feel judgment before sadness. I don't think that's most of the time, that's not only is it not necessary, it's a hindrance to grace.

There's no need, if there's a need to to pass judgment then yes we do but as a rule we don't want to become self-righteous as though we are so much better. Paul writes, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty that no flesh should glory in his presence. Solomon didn't get that verse but he had no reason to miss the truths that are here. All he had to do is follow his father's lead, spiritual lead.

Well that's just the background on what's coming to this. Again we're talking about Solomon's mixed qualities and we all have them, the flesh and the spirit and these two are contrary to each other and they war continuously with each other which does in fact help us be gracious towards those who are struggling and firm against those who are just blatant in their sin. Verse one, now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married Pharaoh's daughter and then he brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem. Well I don't think the historian is strict to chronological sequence trying to figure out when did this happen. The facts stand by themselves, they are sufficient, we don't really need to link them with anything but his treaties with other rulers included marrying their daughters and this would explain chapter 11 verse 3 when we are told he had 700 wives.

Just think of the insurance policies he'd taken out. Moses, he warned the Jewish kings to not multiply wives and it's as though Solomon felt you know at some point he knew better, he could get more for the kingdom doing it his way and that was the trap he never recovered from and we all risk this, we all risk you know taking a hiatus from the spiritual life and trying to bring about results for the kingdom and the flesh. There was to be separation between Israel and the nations, Israel and everybody else. The word saint means that, it's the truth of the church, the Christians also, there's a line between us and the unbeliever even if they're family and we love them, we can even like them but still we serve the Lord and they don't and we cannot lose sight of that. I know I come up and there's a pulpit sometimes and I talk about people who you know the cheapskates that refuse to tithe, refuse to give God, it's true I mean you know years ago Dave Nigro and I went out to the pastors conference in Marietta, California, beautiful grounds campus, it was just amazing and you look at everything there and you say Chuck Smith brought this about in the spirit, not one penny that paid for these millions of dollars of improvements and maintenance, not one penny was begged for because the Christians that were hungry for the word they knew what their role was, they knew what they had to do before the Lord and they did it. Well you say these things from the pulpit and you can hurt the feelings of some folks because they're not doing what they're supposed to do and you're convicting them or a family member but the fact remains we have to stay true to the Lord. We cannot sweep these facts under the rug because we're afraid somebody who is guilty is going to resent being reminded of their guilt instead of correcting such a thing and it's not only tithe and there's many things of church attendance you know I can stand up here and say the Bible is very clear about church attendance, it doesn't mince any words.

If you're not attending you are absent without leave, the army would say AWOL, the navy and marines would say you have an unauthorized absence. Paul said you're forsaking the assembly. These are just facts and anybody who hymns and haws about that thinks they know better than the Bible. So let's be careful that we can say these things without with a spirit of love. Of course unless it's me and I'm excited then it won't come off that way.

That would be good to have smiley faces pop up when you make certain points and emojis like that. Anyway, this separation where Solomon failed Leviticus 20 verse 26, and you shall be holy to me for I Yahweh am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine. Well this is upheld in the New Testament. When Peter comes out and says you're a royal priesthood be holy, your father in heaven is holy, that's the pursuit of righteousness.

Numbers 23, this is in Balaam, you know Balaam was hired to curse the Jews and when he went to pronounce the curse a blessing came out and this is one of the things he said in an attempt to curse. He blesses with these words a people alone not reckoning itself among the nations. My point is Solomon was supposed to understand he was not like every other king around him.

He loses sight of that and he goes and marries Pharaoh's daughter and doesn't stop there, became court policy. The Lord placed Israel among the Gentiles to be a witness to them, a witness of the life that Yahweh offered to those who would come to him on his terms. Isaiah 42 verse 6, he says a light to the Gentiles.

Same with the Christian. Our witness, our testimony is supposed to be a light to the Gentiles and our truth is a hammer that crushes everything that holds up its head against God's word. So had Israel remained faithful to these terms so clearly laid out in Deuteronomy 27 through 30 for Solomon we're talking about, then God would have blessed the kingdom. It would have been a dynasty of righteousness. It would have continued to be a witness and a lamp, a living example to the nations, but that's not what happened and here's where it's starting right here.

Here is the beginning of the crime scene. Instead, Israel eventually imitated the Gentiles, worshiped their idols, abandoned their witness to God, and sought leadings from sticks and stones that will break your bones. That's exactly what they did. Early on in Samuel, well in the days of Israel when they cried out for a king, they even verbalized it this way. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Imagine coming to a pastor and say pastor we need you to grow the church like a business grows business.

He says crazy. It's the Lord's work to do these kinds of things and we would be giving up our trust in the Holy Spirit so that we can implement our own wisdom before God. Quote Deuteronomy 12 29. The verse there is just so clear. I have to read it. When Yahweh, your God, cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their gods saying how did these nations serve their gods I also will do likewise you shall not worship Yahweh your God in that way for every abomination to Yahweh which he hates they have done to their gods where they have burned even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods which still goes on abortion is burning their sons and daughters to their gods under the guise of whatever who cares it's evil and of course God will forgive instantly those who repent and come to him who may be guilty of such behavior anyway for this reason because they departed from God eventually God chastened them and the Babylonian captivity is all about that and first the Assyrians came took away the north and then later the Babylonians came so Solomon thought he was making political progress he was unmindful of spiritual progress bringing Israel into the family of nations who he was so shrewd but some of them were applauding him not all of them instead the consequence was spiritual deterioration and sin of course his strategies failed because they were in the flesh and so many lessons here for us to not try to bring about spiritual fruit through carnal means through natural means and courageously David he brought peace to Israel on the battlefield and he remained devout to the Lord in spite of his failures but carnally carnally Solomon he maintained peace through diplomacy that compromised the integrity of the faith and this is you want to say to Solomon was it worth it what did you get out of this let's cover some more and he married Pharaoh's daughter peace by treaty a marriage treaty literally the Hebrew is Solomon made himself son-in-law to Pharaoh and this of course was the most politically significant marriage that we know Solomon had amongst his 700 wives it became his foreign policy it was doomed from the time of Moses the law forbade Christians from marrying Canaanites those who were in the promised land but it did not forbid them from marrying foreigners who converted such as Rahab and Ruth Solomon's marriage alliances eventually caused the kingdom to crumble from within in fact after he died and his son Rehoboam comes to the throne Egypt's king comes down and and takes what he wants to take so it didn't even work the failed ambitions of those who could have been far better off had they just adhered to the Lord now Solomon was already married when he married Pharaoh's daughter and they already had Rehoboam she was an Ammonitis and it sounds painful I know but anyway he's his alliance he was already married he just adds to his marriage he thinks this is a good thing then he brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house presumably she remained a pagan and based on second chronicles 8 the daughter of Pharaoh up from the city of David to the house he had built for her for he said my wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel because the places to which the arkley Solomon can you see the conflict you're not bringing your wife to David's palace because that's a holy place because David brought the ark up well would you treat her the same way if she loved Yahweh and yes well no I probably would have brought it up to the city but no problem does this say anything to you well again when they fail it seems to be passed over by many who read the lessons from the scripture but don't heed them and the house of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem I mentioned that because there were many walled cities in that part of the world Jericho was a walled city we'll read about them their defenses verse 2 meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days of course the writer is probably writing long after these events maybe even well we know for sure some of it was finally published after the captivity or during but the spiritual conditions the writer now goes back to he says okay Solomon was having these marriages here's the spiritual condition the temple was not built not in the inward man not outwardly on the grounds now the pagans they believe their gods were honored if they were worshipped in elevated places like hills and mountains and things like that and the Mayans you know you look at their ruins and they're you know a lot of steps to get up to where they were sacrificing so where it says here in verse 2 meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places the Israelites were not supposed to do this these open air centers for worship the Jews inherited and then they just you know got rid of the pagan gods but and started worshiping Yahweh at these places so they would today we may well with the Christian holidays all of them have been Christianized they're pagan holidays that have been Christianized well that's what they were doing here and numbers 33 forbade this numbers 33 said when you go into the promised land and you get rid of all those idols destroy their high places and this was an a feature in the kingdom that the kings could never rid the people it wasn't until after the Babylonian captivity did the people stop with the idolatry many of the good kings they tried to get rid of this practice uh it became a sacred cow and in Christianity there are sacred cows there are churches that practice things that are forbidden and you just can't get rid of them in those churches that do it a pastor would come in and if he condemns it they fire him uh it um it is sinful behavior and sinners not to be over you know not again the word self-righteous not to come against them well you know the kings failed now it's not easy to wrench these kind of practices from a people it says here in verse 2 because there was no house built for the name of yahweh until those days well offering sacrifices at places other than the temple was forbidden way back in leviticus and moses law in deuteronomy 12 you shall seek the place where yahweh your god chooses out of all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling place and there you shall go but the temple that was in gibeon that we'll get to in a little bit when solomon goes there the altar of moses the brazen altar there were two altars the jews had the golden altar where the incense was burned inside the holy place and then outside the brazen altar where the blood sacrifices were offered and this brazen altar was still there the very one from the days of of moses but the ark of the covenant wasn't there they were separated because david took the ark of the covenant and he brought it to jerusalem and put it in a tent and they were offering sacrifices there too so there was this fragmented approach to worship which is why probably enabled the people to get away with going to the high places to offer sacrifices to god in fact gibeon where the temple was is referred to as a high place also at this time so the things were less than ideal but there was hope there was a lot of hope uh you know you could get legalistic and go back in time and just point your finger at all the bad things and miss all the good things god would say well i can just kill everybody because they just can't get it together but he's not going to do that he's going to you know god works with what he has and we're watching this unfold in in this chapter of kings where it is far less than perfect but it is far better than what it could have been jesus of course will tell the woman at the well he says woman believe me the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in jerusalem worship the father i was talking with a pastor friend the other day and he was telling me about another pastor who was just into israel to a fault and he says what do you think about this he's having rabbis unconverted rabbis go into this pulpit and preach well that's a problem that's ecumenicism at the least blasphemous at the worst and he justified it by saying well they're building the third temple or they're you know part of the red heifer and they're just getting ready so what that's not christianity we have christ and when the jeremiah rebuked them for this overzealous approach to the temple the temple of the lord the temple of the lord the temple of lord of disease he was mocking them and rebuking them really and uh no pastor should be so excited about the third temple to where they're no longer excited about integrity uh john says he who denies that jesus messiah has come into the flesh is an anti-christ that's the way it is that's the separation and a jew would understand that because the jews were persecuted let's just take of course the days of nazi germany they're persecuted wherever they went in most parts of the world because they insisted on being separate from everybody and uh they became the scapegoat that way the jews many of them made it to shanghai and they were doing well there and then they got persecuted there when the japanese came and but much of this was because they remained distinct as a people to this day nobody else has pulled it off thanks for joining us for today's teaching on cross-reference radio this is the daily radio ministry of pastor rick gaston of calvary chapel mechanicsville in virginia we trust that what you've heard today in the book of first kings has had a lasting imprint on your life if you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series or share it with someone you know please visit cross reference radio.com we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too so you'll never miss another edition just visit cross reference radio.com and follow the links under radio again that's cross reference radio.com our time with you today is about up but we hope you'll tune in next time to continue 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