The Promise to Solomon (1 Kings 9:1-9)
1 Kings 9:1-9
I have heard it said many times in my life that
Satan attacks after a great victory.
That after a person wins a victory for the Lord,
Then Satan will attack, hoping to catch his prey
at a moment of over inflated arrogance, and bring them down.
After Jesus was baptized, then went to be tempted by the devil.
Consider Peter.
One minute, he was used by the Holy Spirit to publicly confess Christ.
A few verses later, he was being used by Satan to privately correct Him.
It is no wonder that Peter would later write:
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
And perhaps you have seen such a thing in your life at various times.
You experienced a great victory, and Satan used your momentum against you leading you to step beyond the will of God.
And from experiencing such difficulties,
We learn that a Christian must remain focused at all times.
WE DO NOT SIGN UP AND THEN SLACK OFF.
The Christian life is one of intense commitment to God.
Many times in Scripture this is illustrated by way of sports analogy.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
2 Timothy 2:3-6 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”
We are reminded that the Christian life is not about starting well.
The Christian life is about finishing well.
And would this ever be an important point for Solomon to get.
We are just now entering the final phase of Solomon’s life.
We know how Solomon began.
Removing rebellion, Seeking God, Building the temple, Praying with intensity, and Teaching the people to seek God.
But of course as we will learn in a few weeks,
This king who started well, did not finish well,
And his failure left an irremovable blemish on the nation of Israel.
But before that downward slide ever occurred in Solomon’s life,
God was first present to warn him about it.
We pick up our text in the first two verses.
(1-2) “Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.”
The writer of Kings actually gives us the time frame here.
“Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house”
If you were to go back and read 1 Kings 6,
• Solomon began the temple in the 4th year of his reign.
• This project would take him 7 years (6:38)
• After he finished the temple, he built his own house. (13 years – 7:1)
By the time he finished his house he was 24 yrs. into his reign.
He would reign for a total of 40 years.
So he is past the half-way point.
And since Solomon has now finished his own house,
This encounter with God is occurring approximately 12 years after
The events we just studied in chapter 8.
And so here is Solomon, now on the downside of his reign,
Most of his major work is behind him,
Most of his famous achievements have been accomplished.
Solomon now must focus on finishing the race.
This is precisely why God is visiting him now.
(2) “the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.”
WHAT DID GOD HAVE TO SAY?
(3) “The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”
God is NOT just now answering Solomon’s prayer.
Solomon has not been in limbo
As to what God’s answer would be for the past 12 years.
The past 12 years would have proved
That God has done as Solomon requested,
Which is why God speaks of His faithfulness in the past tense.
“I HAVE heard your prayer and your supplication…”
“I HAVE consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever,”
God reiterates that it is His promise to continue to do this forever.
“and My eyes and My heart will be there perpecutally.”
God has shown up and reiterated to Solomon
That He has been faithful, and plans to continue being faithful.
The first 24 years of Solomon’s reign have been a piece of cake.
• No wars…
• No famines…
• No recessions…
• No worries…
That is why Scripture is silent for those 12 years.
Once God moved into the temple, everything in Israel was great.
And now God shows up 12 years later to remind Solomon
That the reason all has been great is because He has been present.
And that He has every intention
For things to continue on as they have been forever.
WHICH BRINGS US TO SOLOMON.
Notice the personal nature of what God is about to say:
(4) “As for you”
DO YOU GET THE FEEL FOR WHAT IS GOING ON?
“I’ve been doing my part, and I would love to continue blessing Israel in the same way, now as for you…”
God is about to tell Solomon how to finish the race.
The question here for Solomon is not about what God will do.
The question is whether or not Solomon will be a part of it.
We talk a lot about the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, and rightly so.
I love to talk about God’s sovereignty, and His perfect will.
But God’s sovereignty is only half of the equation
In Scripture, not only is God sovereign, but MAN IS RESPONSIBLE.
While God is sovereign and has foreordained all things,
Man is still responsible and his actions also dictate the future.
It is admittedly difficult to merge the two truths,
But they exist none the less.
And it is Solomon’s responsibility that is highlighted here.
(4-5) “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of 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.’”
Boy, the word “if” is a big word in the Bible.
God is spelling out a very serious conditional statement to Solomon.
God basically wants two things from Solomon
1) INTEGRITY
“if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you”
God simply wants Solomon to be sincere in his devotion to God,
And to take God’s word serious, just like David did.
David wrote:
Psalms 24:3-5 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
2) LOYALTY
“and will keep My statutes and My ordinances”
Don’t follow someone else…
Don’t listen to anyone else…
Just do what I say, and be totally loyal to My will.
God wanted those two things from Solomon.
And by the way, this is what God wants from you.
Remember what Jesus asked Peter just before His ascension?
John 21:15 “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
Jesus just wanted to know how sincere
And how devoted Peter was going to be.
That is what God wants from us,
And that is what God wanted from Solomon,
And if Solomon would give that to God…
(5) “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.’”
Solomon, if you will be truly devoted to Me, then the blessings you have been experiencing through My presence, you will never stop experiencing.
God wanted things to continue just as they had been going,
And that hinged upon the responsibility of Solomon
To continue to be faithful.
Solomon had started well, God wanted Solomon to finish well
And if Solomon would be devoted to God,
The blessings would never end.
However, there is also a FLIP SIDE to this scenario.
And we see that in the first word of verse 6, “But”
The perpetual blessing of God was very possible for Solomon,
But it was not guaranteed.
Just as there was a blessing to pursue,
There was also a penalty to avoid.
Remember what Paul told Timothy?
We already read it once.
2 Timothy 2:5 “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”
In running the race, you need to make sure that you avoid the things
That will disqualify you from reaching the prize.
And that is the essence of what God is about to tell Solomon.
(6-7) “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then 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.”
As long as Solomon had integrity and loyalty, all would go well,
But if those attributes slipped, things would go south in a hurry.
In fact, God actually listed
Three problematic attributes that Solomon needed to avoid.
1) APOSTASY
“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me”
Apostasy is the sin in which a person who confesses the Lord
Turns and departs from Him.
An apostate is worse than an unbeliever,
For they at least pretended submission to Jesus before rejecting Him.
Apostates are described by both Peter and Jude.
2 Peter 2:15 “forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”
Jude 11 “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
Apostates are the ultimate traitor and once a person becomes an apostate
Repentance and therefore salvation is impossible.
In fact Jude actually says that
Their judgments is already set, and cannot be reversed.
Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
And so it is understandable why God would warn Solomon
About the sin of apostasy.
HE STARTED WELL, BUT HE NEEDS TO END WELL.
God first warned Solomon about Apostasy
2) INIQUITY
“and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you”
This is good old fashion rebellion, and it is the FRUIT OF AN APOSTATE.
Once an apostate turns away from God,
They evidence their apostasy by refusing to listen to the Lord any longer.
Peter described the iniquity of an apostate like this.
2 Peter 2:12-14 “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;”
They’ve turned away from following God, they commit the fruit of iniquity.
Apostasy, Iniquity
3) IDOLATRY
“and go and serve other gods and worship them,”
The final step of apostasy is worship of someone other than God.
This could be a false god such as Allah, or Buddha,
Or this could be the worship of SELF (the god of atheists).
They started out worshiping God, but they then Rejected Him,
Disobeyed Him, and end up Betraying Him through idolatry.
And the extreme tragedy is
That they seemed to start the race so well.
There was actually a point in their lives when they
Had professed faith in God, and had pledged their lives to obey Him.
The only difference between them and true Christians is that
While both seemed to start the race, the apostate failed to finish it.
And God adamantly warns Solomon against such a crime.
For if he does, then the consequences are tragic.
1) ISRAEL REJECTED
(7) “then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them,”
If you turn from following Me, then I will turn from protecting you.
2) TEMPLE REMOVED
(7) “and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight.”
This magnificent structure trimmed in gold.
God will pick it up and throw it away.
As we said last week.
Temples trimmed in gold do not secure the presence of God,
Obedience does, and when obedience stops, God will destroy the temple.
3) JUDGMENT REMEMBERED
(7) “So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.”
Thomas Mulligan was a passionate golfer in Ireland in the 1800’s who developed a theory that the only shots that count on a golf score are the ones that you hit during the game.
So his game did not start until he hit a first shot that he liked.
If his first shot was bad, he just declared that he hadn’t started, and hit again.
No doubt his friends heckled him, and before long the do-over shot in golf
Became known as the “Mulligan”.
His name became a “byword” among all golfers.
That is what God said would happen here.
If you turn from following Me, I will bring such a judgment on you,
That it will literally set the standard for all future judgments.
HOW FAMOUS WOULD THE JUDGMENT BE?
READ VERSES 8-9
Did you catch that?
“everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss”
The term “hiss” literally means “to whistle in amazement”.
And furthermore, God will see to it
That everyone knows why you were destroyed.
(9) “Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought this adversity on them.”
God will be glorified either in your obedience or in your judgment,
But God will be glorified.
BUT OF COURSE YOU SEE THE POINT TO SOLOMON.
Solomon, you have started well,
But you must not grow arrogant or lazy in regard to your success. YOU MUST ALSO LEARN TO FINISH WELL.
AND WHAT A WARNING TO US AS WELL.
In a day when people are so tempted to sit back
And rest upon past accomplishments.
If we do not finish well, then starting well means absolutely nothing.
WE ALL WATCHED OLYMPIC SWIMMING
Does anyone remember who started out the best in any of those races?
But who finished the best? – Michael Phelps
LIKEWISE, GOD WANTS US TO FINISH WELL
This is why Jesus made statements like these:
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”
This is why the writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:36-38 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”
Paul had this passion:
Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
The life you have been given is a marathon for God,
And while starting well is important,
The burning ambition of the Christian life is to finish well.
This morning, there are some who have never entered the race.
Unlike Solomon you’ve never even started well.
• You’ve never had a passion for Jesus.
• You’ve never sought His present.
• You’ve never dedicated the temple of your heart to Him.
This morning, you need to start the race.
Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.
But some have started the race,
I want to encourage you to learn from God’s promise to Solomon.
Do not get content in what you have accomplished.
• Maybe you have gone to church many times…
• Maybe you have given lots of money…
• Maybe you have taught Sunday School for years…
• Maybe you have built a temple and lined it with gold…
• Maybe you have purified the kingdom by removing the stumbling blocks…
Forget what lies behind,
And TODAY strive to be the best Christian you’ve ever been.
Let me encourage you, wherever you are in the race,
Kick it up a notch and focus on the remainder of your race.
You will learn that this decision
Would be one of the most important Solomon would ever make.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
