Solomon referenced outside Kings-Chronicles

I also extend a very warm welcome and a thank you for all who have taken time to come tonight. The difficulty is I was also told that the numbers would be small and the majority of people would be coming tomorrow, so I was faced with having a message that would be about Solomon and yet not interfere with the continuity of the meeting, and so we're going to look at mentions of Solomon that are not in the Kings and Chronicles. We'll see how the Spirit of God refers to Solomon and all the rest of Scripture outside of the historical record that we have in the Kings and Chronicles.

Actually, in many ways, it becomes the justification for the weekend of meetings. What I mean by that is if we just had historical information, you could well challenge and say, on what basis then can you draw principles from a life like that, a life that was lived now over 3,000 years ago, and apply it to 21st century Western society? Well, I think the Spirit of God will give us warrant for it as we look at how he refers to Solomon throughout the remainder of Scripture. So turn, we'll look at them in the order in which they occur, not necessarily the order in which we will speak of them.

So beginning in the book of Nehemiah and chapter number 13. Now, for one or two of these, we'll just give a brief background. This is after the return, actually many years after the initial return, and Nehemiah has come back from where he was as the king's cupbearer to see how things were in Jerusalem, and he has found that many of the Jews have intermarried with heathens, and if we turn to chapter 13 and verse 25, Nehemiah says, Now, just a moment's interruption, not related to Solomon.

Men are very different. Ezra pulled out his own hair. Nehemiah pulled out other people's hair.

So you take your pick who you want to be. A Nehemiah or an Ezra, depends on how much hair you've got left, I guess. But anyway, he plucked off their hair, made them swear by God, saying, Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel.

Nevertheless, even him did outlandish women cause to sin. The book of the Psalms, Psalm number 72. And you'll notice the title for this Psalm, Psalm number 72, A Psalm for Solomon.

Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. Down the chapter, down this Psalm, verse number 18. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

Blessed be his glorious name forever. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen.

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. The book of Proverbs, chapter 1. There are quite a number of readings, so just be patient. And I assure you, we will not keep you beyond the time.

Proverbs, chapter 1. Verse number 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. Ecclesiastes, chapter number 1. Ecclesiastes 1 and 1. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, vanity of vanity saith the preacher, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. Now notice, if you drop down to verse number 12, it confirms that this is Solomon.

I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. The only son of David who was king over Israel in Jerusalem, over all of Israel, was Solomon. So Solomon is the writer of this book of Ecclesiastes.

And then the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. And we have that in verse number 1 of chapter number 1. The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. Now turn to the New Testament and the Gospel according to Matthew.

Matthew, chapter 1. Verse 1. The book of the generation, the Genesis, a whole new beginning. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Verse 6. Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.

And Solomon begat Rehoboam. Turn, if you will, just a few chapters to chapter number 6. Verse number 28. Matthew 6, verse 28.

Why take ye thought? The idea is anxiety, anxious thought for raiment. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow and they toil not, neither do they spin yet. I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Wherefore, therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these things shall be added unto you. Chapter number 12 of Matthew again. Verse number 42.

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

The gospel of Luke chapter 12. The corresponding verse number 27 of Luke 12. Consider the lilies, how they grow, they toil not, they spin not.

Yet I seem to you that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow cast into the oven, how much more will ye clothe you, O ye of little faith? And finally Acts chapter 7. I guess this is the closest thing to surfing the Bible. I appreciate your patience as we have gone through many, many verses.

Acts chapter 7 and we will break in at verse number 47. This is Stephen's great discourse. But Solomon built him a house.

Howbeit the most high dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet. Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. What house will ye build me, saith the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hands made all these things? Now God will add his rich blessing to the reading of these many different portions of the word of God.

We have looked then at all the references, at least that I can find directly, of Solomon that are found outside of the record of the Chronicles and the Kings that give us the historical account of his life. When I am in Matthew chapter 6 and also in Luke chapter 12, I am reminded of Solomon and a sovereign God. Solomon and a sovereign God.

When I had come to what we looked at together in Matthew chapter 12, Solomon and the Son of God. A greater than Solomon is here. Solomon and the Son of God.

When you are in Matthew chapter 1, you are looking at Solomon and the Savior. Solomon and the Savior. When you come to, further on, we come to the Proverbs Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Solomon and the Scriptures.

Actually responsible for three portions of the word of God that we read and that we value and we will look at those very briefly. Solomon and the Scriptures. When you are in Matthew 1 and Luke, Solomon and the sinner.

They came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. Solomon and the sinner. We read together in Nehemiah chapter 13, Solomon and the saint.

Even him, even a man of such saintly character, even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Acts chapter 7, Solomon and the sanctuary. He built God a house.

Solomon and the sanctuary. And then Psalm 72, ending where we began, Solomon and the supplication. Now when I come to Solomon and a sovereign God, there is a lesson about worry.

A lesson about worry. Why take ye anxious thought? Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So Matthew chapter 6, Solomon and the sovereign God, a lesson about worry.

When I am in chapter 12 and looking at Solomon and the son of God, a lesson about worth. Far greater than Solomon. A lesson about his worth.

When I am looking at chapter 1 of Matthew, Solomon and the savior, I am learning a lesson about the ways of God. How God acts. How God is a God marked by such incredible grace.

Solomon and the scriptures, all about wisdom, isn't it? The wisdom books of the word of God that we have. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalm of songs. The wisdom books that are at the heart, at the center of our Bible.

And I learned something about wisdom from those three books. When I come to Solomon and the sinner, it is a warning. A warning to sinners.

That reminds us that the queen of the south will rise in the judgment and condemn this generation. She came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. When I come to that solemn portion in Nehemiah, Solomon and the saint, I am reminded about a lesson in weakness.

A lesson about weakness. When I am in Acts chapter 7 and verse 47, Solomon and the sanctuary, a lesson about worship. The most high dwells not in temples made with hands and we'll look at some of that if we have time.

And then Solomon and the song, a lesson about the wonder of the king that is coming. A greater than Solomon. And I'll mention just now, we'll probably most likely leave that for more on Lord's Day since there's a short period for ministry then and look at Psalm 72 at that point in time.

But what we have before us now should occupy us. Let me just talk to you about the lesson about worry. The lesson about worry.

I don't know how you view life today, but we are bombarded, barraged with messages that are intended to make you worry. You're told about the latest finding that if you eat this particular food, you will die five years earlier than the average person. The only problem is next month a new study comes out that contradicts that study and you're left in a perpetual state of uncertainty.

And likewise, you are told about how many predators are moving in your town where you live and all the tremendous potential for environmental disasters. And the news radio, the media keep everyone in a constant state of uncertainty and worry and fear. A climate of fear really exists in our world today.

I've often thought, you know, if I lived on the frontier and you had no idea who was coming by to burn your little log cabin down or take you away as a captive, to me that would be a bit of anxiety producing. And we've got every advantage, every blessing, every convenience, everything that has been handed down to us and yet there has never been a generation of individuals who have lived with so much fear, worry, anxiety as exists right now. One of the problems, one of the things that cause anxiety, you may not appreciate this, but if you just think about it for a moment, one of the things that causes us anxiety is the fact that we have choices.

Now what I mean by that is this. If there were only one laptop computer brand and model available in the world, you'd buy it and you'd never worry. But you know what happens now? You buy a laptop computer and along comes one of your wonderful friends who tells you that was not the right one to buy.

And, you know, you've bought it and now what do you do? And, you know, a new one is coming out and, you know, you just bought your iPhone but there's something better and you should have waited. And every time you go to make a decision, you're bombarded with choices and in the back of your mind is the awareness, no matter what choice I make, it's going to be wrong. Someone is going to tell me I made the wrong choice.

And because we have this plethora of choices, we are left with this angst and this anxiety. And the Lord Jesus really takes our minds away from all of that. And He says, look, all those things, all that worry, all that anxiety is what marks people who do not have a sovereign God to care for them.

He says, first of all, God cares for His creation. He reminds them that the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, all of that, all of creation is under the sovereign control of a God of absolute capability. Not only does He care for His creation, but He's absolutely capable to meet its every need.

And He reminds them, are you not of more value? We didn't read it, but that's what it is. Are not you of more value than many birds and so on? You and I are of tremendous value to God. This isn't a pat on the back, feel good time.

But you will understand, won't you, that you are of infinite value to God. Maybe there's someone here and you suffer from thinking, you know, I'm just a second-rate Christian, somehow I don't measure up to the others and I don't fit in. Listen, every believer, every believer is God's gift to His Son.

You know how much God thinks of you? He gave you as a gift to His Son. That raises each believer to a tremendously valuable position. That's what God thinks of you.

He gave you to His Son as a gift because of how much He thinks of His Son and how much He thinks of you. And so we are reminded here of a God who cares, a God who is capable, a God who conveys value. Worry, we are reminded in these sections, does many things.

First of all, worry is totally inconsistent, isn't it? Worry is inconsistent with claiming to have a God who has an absolute control. Now you will understand, just in case there's a young Christian here that doesn't appreciate the difference between taking thought and taking anxious thought, we're not talking about living a life with no plans, no goals, no sense of responsibility for providing for a family, for paying bills, for meeting financial obligations. Those are part of Christian testimony that we are supposed to meet.

We're talking about that anxious worry that is constantly concerned and feels trapped and feels helpless. So the Lord Jesus Christ says, take no anxious thought. Don't live in a perpetual state of worry and anxiety and uncertainty because you have a Father who cares, a Father who is capable, a Father who has placed value upon you, communicated value to you.

And so He tells us that worry is inconsistent with being a child of this Father. But He says this, He reminds us as well that worry is inefficient, isn't it? What does worry really accomplish in the end? It really accomplishes very little. You remember, don't you, the morning that those women went to the tomb? Who will roll us away the stone? You know, they had made all this preparation and as they're walking to the sepulcher, they're in a state of concern and worry.

What are we going to do now? Who's going to roll the stone away? And when they got there, it was rolled away already. And I think that you would have to admit as well as I, there are many, many times that we have worried. And the stone is gone by the time we get there.

Here's a God who tells us that worry is inconsistent, that worry is inefficient. But the Lord Jesus reminds us the greatest problem with worry is it interferes with life's chief purpose. To seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Don't be sidetracked. Don't be detoured by getting overwhelmed with all the things that could happen in life. Keep your focus right, He says.

He reminds them, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Solomon and a sovereign God, a lesson about worry.

So the Spirit of God dips back into the story of Solomon, reminds us of a man who was arrayed in gorgeous apparel, sitting upon an ivory throne. And yet He says, just take us, just scan the lilies of the field. They're far more beautifully arrayed than even Solomon could be.

And they didn't do anything for themselves. God did it for them. And so we'll have to leave that.

Let me just come then, if I can, to Solomon and the Son of God, a lesson about worth. What was Solomon known for? When the name Solomon comes to your mind, what we have read together, when you think of Solomon, what do you think of? Well, you think about wisdom, first of all. He was the wisest man in all the earth.

So you think about wisdom. You think as well about the women that he was able to deal with, the two harlots and the wise decision he made about dividing the child and discovering who was the true mother. So you think about wisdom.

You think about the women. You think about wealth. You think about the work he did in building the temple for God that we'll look at.

You think about the welfare of the kingdom that he had, that in his day Israel probably rose to its highest zenith that it would ever rise to. Never again would it achieve the stature, both geographically, economically, politically. Never again would it achieve that status.

So you've got his wisdom. You have the women. You have the wealth.

You have his work. You have the welfare of the kingdom. But the Lord Jesus said a greater than Solomon is here.

Greater in wisdom? Absolutely. We will look tomorrow and notice that in chapter 4, Solomon very rightly, very wisely gathers around himself counselors, men that are part of his, we might call it his cabinet, his counselors, his administrators. The Lord Jesus will need no counselors.

His name is the wonderful counselor. He will need no counselors. When he steps to the throne and reigns, he'll take advice from no one.

He'll need no input on how to rule the world and how to put down every foe. He will need no advice on how to handle all of earth's problems. It's poverty.

It's discrimination. It's blights. He'll need no help.

Far greater than Solomon in his wisdom. What about with women? The very best that Solomon could do when two harlots came to face him, the very best he could do was decide which one really was the mother of the child. John 4 and John 8 tell me of the Lord Jesus meeting two harlots.

You know what he did? He sent them away changed forever. Far greater than Solomon when it came to the women. Far greater than Solomon in his wealth.

Far greater than Solomon in the wealth of the kingdom that will be his in a coming day. As great as Solomon's wealth was. What about his work? Well, there's a temple that Solomon built and we're not going to look at the details of it, but it must have been a such a tremendously magnificent.

In fact, he calls it this magnifical. It's such a tremendously magnificent structure that when in the days of of Ezra, they were rebuilding and Nehemiah. They were they were rebuilding the temple.

The older men wept because what was being built was just a faint shadow of the glory that was once Solomon's. So the work that Solomon did as great as it was. It was reduced to nothing.

There's still one wall standing. I know in Jerusalem, but you realize it was really reduced and gone. What about the work of Christ? Not just I'm speaking now, not just of Calvary, but think of all that he is doing in our world and building a church.

Nothing will ever frustrate it. Nothing will ever mar it. Nothing will ever scar it.

Nothing will ever deface it. Nothing will ever lessen it. What he is building will be eternal.

What about his kingdom? The welfare of his kingdom? No limits to it. Solomon's kingdom extended likely to what God originally intended for the nation of Israel when he gave the promises to Abraham of the land. And very likely that Solomon was the only king that actually extended the borders almost to the very dimensions God intended.

But there was a limit to his kingdom. There were borders. There were boundaries.

One translation of the expression that is used concerning the Lord Jesus, of his kingdom there shall be no end. One translation is of his kingdom there will be no outposts. There will be no boundaries to this kingdom when he reigns.

His kingdom will stretch from shore to shore. It will cover the earth. And he will be king over all the earth in that day.

Far greater than Solomon in every sphere. Whether we are looking at his wealth, his dealing with women, at his wisdom, at the welfare of his kingdom, or at his workmanship, he is far superior. What about Matthew chapter 1? Solomon and the ways of God.

Solomon and the Savior, and we learn lessons there about the ways of God. Notice how Matthew 1 begins. Now, we're not dealing with Matthew, but it's actually a new genesis.

It's like God is beginning all over again. The book of the genesis. It's a new genesis.

Opening suddenly. And it opens with the advent of the Son of God. But you'll notice the two people brought before us.

Tells us there the beginning of the generation of Jesus Christ. Son of David. Son of Abraham.

David had a son marked out for the throne. Abraham had a son marked out for the altar. And Matthew brings them together at the very outset.

We would have put Abraham before David. But of course, the whole lesson of Matthew, the whole purpose of Matthew, is to bring us the Son of David. Nine times over, in Matthew alone, he is called the Son of David.

In fact, the only other one, once it's referred to concerning Joseph as the Son of David, in chapter number one, but it is otherwise a title given to the Lord Jesus, Son of David. And so he is seen then in his linked with David and linked with Abraham, the son for the throne, the son for the cross, the altar. But I want you to come to verse number six especially.

We are reminded there that David, we are told, the king, begat Solomon. The son of her that had been the wife of Uriah. It is interesting that there are four women mentioned in Matthew chapter one, and only four, of a long list of individuals in that genealogy.

It is possible, I can't say for sure, at least three of those women were Gentiles, if not all four. A little question about Sheba, but at least three of them were Gentiles. So that would be something itself.

But now God is reminding us that Solomon was the son of David through Bathsheba. In fact, it doesn't even mention her name, does it? It says, her that had been the wife of Uriah the Hittite. God's ways of grace.

We would have never, we would have never included that in Matthew one. We would have never included, we would have never even allowed Solomon to have a glimmer of hope. But yet, God says, Solomon will be king.

We are reminded that God is a God of grace. Tremendous to think of how gracious God can be. In this chapter, four women, several of them really, you know, you've got Rahab the harlot, you've got Tamar with her adulterous ways, incestuous really, and then the only woman you have of any character really is Ruth the Moabitess.

And yet she was under a curse that she had, could not come into the congregation for ten generations. So you've got a list of women there, all of whom, all of whom remind us of the tremendous grace of God in His dealings with all of us. That He takes a Tamar who would deceive her father-in-law in an incestuous relation, bear a child.

We would be reminded of Rahab the harlot, of the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and then of Ruth the Moabitess. God as a God of wondrous grace. And of course, we hardly need to stress that to ourselves, do we, as those who have been the recipients of God's grace in life, those who have known something of having no claim upon God, and yet God in wondrous grace has reached us and saved us.

Solomon in the Scriptures, a lesson about wisdom, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. Proverbs is about how life normally works. Normally works.

Doesn't mean it happens without exception. For example, you read there, that if a man's ways please the Lord, he make even his enemies to be at peace. Now you may take that as a promise and hold to it, but the problem there is you have the Lord Jesus whose ways please God, and certainly his enemies weren't at peace.

You've got the Apostle Paul whose ways please God, and yet he had enemies galore. So we're looking at how life normally works. There are exceptions, and there are things that do not fit the pattern of Proverbs, but they are maxims for life.

How life normally works. When you're in Ecclesiastes, it's how life is worthless. Not how life works, but how life is... Vanity of vanity is life is worthless.

This is just a drag. This is useless to live this way. Empty.

And when you come to the Song of Songs on how life can be wonderful, to be enjoying a love relationship, makes life really wonderful to be in a relationship with the Lord Jesus. And so one tells you how life works. One tells you life is worthless.

One tells you life can be wonderful. In Proverbs, you have maxims for living. Here are the maxims for living life.

When you come to Ecclesiastes, it's the misery of life. And when you come to the Song of Songs, it's the marvel of love, and how wonderful it is. When you are in Proverbs, you are learning what the heart should value.

And so time and again in Proverbs, Solomon is bringing forth what really is of value. And virtues after virtue is paraded, and we are given wisdom as to what really is worthwhile in life. He speaks of honesty, integrity, diligence.

And down the list he goes, telling us of virtues which are important to grasp and to seek to live. When you are in the book of Ecclesiastes, not now learning what the heart should value, but you're learning really that the heart is too big to be filled by the tinsel toys of life. And his heart is just aching and empty as he searches and pursues and seeks out something in life that will fill him and give him a sense of purpose.

And when you come to the Song of Songs, it's the exact opposite. The object is too big for the heart. There's too much of Christ that you just can't possibly fit it all into one heart.

It's just too big. All that Christ is and all that God is. And so you have all of that In the Proverbs you have a man, you have a teacher passing on wisdom.

In Ecclesiastes you have a man toiling to find wisdom. And when you come to the Song of Songs, you have a man who has found wisdom. He appreciates all that he has found in the one he loves.

We could talk about this Solomon and the sinner and notice something there too. The Queen of the South, everything is in contrast. The Queen of the South versus Christ.

Coming from the outermost parts of the earth and there being right there. To hear the wisdom of Solomon and there's the wisdom of Christ which is far greater. We'll leave that for now.

That's for gospel work. But Solomon the sinner, a warning to those who are unsaved. Let me come to Solomon and the saint.

Now more of this tragically that we'll have to look at tomorrow afternoon. But I want you to think first of all that Solomon, Solomon was a man who knew God. I don't know if Solomon's life is a warning to you or not.

It's a tremendously solemn thing to think about Solomon and how he ended his days. He's a man who knew God. He is a man who made one of the most eloquent, moving and effective prayers in our Bible.

He knew how to pray. He was mighty in prayer. He stood one day in the temple and prayed and he looked down the corridor of time and thought of the nation and all of its needs for generations to come.

And he stood before God and prayed. And his prayer is a model for intercession and supplication. And his heart is longing for God to bless and to preserve his people.

He's a man that everything he did turned to gold. If you know what I mean. I mean there aren't many Christians that you can think of that everything they do seems to just, you know, they're good at this, they're good at that.

It seems whatever they put themselves to, they're a success at it. And by a success, you don't understand what I mean. They show an aptitude for it and they're able to do it.

I mean Solomon was a poet. He was a writer. He was a songwriter.

He was a scientist. He was a naturalist. You name it, Solomon could do it.

Everything he did. He would be like your Renaissance man of the 10th century BC, right? Everything he did, he did so well. Everything he did, God blessed.

And so Nehemiah says, listen, you everyday boys, just remember this, even Solomon, even him, as inconceivable as it is, even him, that outlandish women cause to sin. So let me just take a few minutes and talk to you about the danger of our weaknesses. Weaknesses.

I used to think smugly that I had strong points and I had weak points. And I have come to realize that I have weak points and I have weaker points. Don't have any strong ones.

You don't have any strong points. There is no sphere of your life you can sit back and coast and think, well, I'm safe there. Satan, my flesh, the world can never approach me that way.

It can only be this way. Here's where I'm weak, but I can handle that. No.

Even him. Even a man like Solomon, gifted, wise, successful, spiritual, active, blessed, used, honored, even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Now I'm not just circling in on the moral issue of women and men and all that's involved there.

I am just saying that not one of us, not one of us is immune from falling any given day. Remember that every day, every day is a day of fresh challenge, of new choices, and of recommitment. Every day.

Every day of your life you make choices. You'll be faced with choices to make. Some days will be, I'll say it, the battle will be greater than other days.

But every day of your life you will face choices that will have influence upon your spiritual life and your life for God. I don't know where, well I have an idea where it began with Solomon, and we'll look at that. But it may not always be easy to discern where it begins.

Sometimes it's just a small compromise. You know, here was your standard, and you decide to maybe just tone it down a few pegs. And you just compromise.

And next time the compromise is a little lower. And you gradually move away from what you know is God's will. And so we are reminded here that we are not safe.

Now I'm not trying to engender a sense of anxiety, what I just told you not to have, okay? But I just, a sense of just an awareness. A total distrust in yourself. Never trust yourself.

There is not one of us here, not one of us here, who is so strong, that on a given day, in the wrong spiritual condition, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, that we could not make disaster shipwreck of our Christian lives. Someone has said that God preserves us so that opportunity and desire do not occur at the same time. I'll say no more about that.

But you understand what I'm saying. God graciously preserves us so that those two things do not coincide in our lives. Sometimes there's the desire, not the opportunity.

Other times there's wide open opportunities, but no desire. May God continue to preserve us. Less like Solomon, we become very, very conscious of our weakness and shipwreck as a result.

Let me just say a few words about Solomon and the sanctuary in Acts chapter 7. Solomon built him a house, albeit the most high, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. If you go back to where Solomon built the house and Solomon is praying, he says, Will the God indeed dwell with man on earth? Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, how much less this house that I have made. Similar words are used by Paul when he's on Mars Hill.

And he's speaking to the Athenians of his day. And he speaks about God who made all things dwells not in temples made with hands. Neither is worship by men's hands and so on.

Solomon is reminding us of the greatness of God that He is above our confines. We can't contain God in a building or in a structure or somehow just limit Him in some way. God is above all the confines that men would try to place around Him.

He reminds us as well that God is above all of our contributions. He needeth not anything, absolutely nothing that God needs. And this may come as a surprise, but the reality is He doesn't need you or me either.

He doesn't need us. He could very well, in fact, He's done quite a good job running His universe without your advice or mine for many, many millennia. And He could accomplish all of His purposes without a single human being being involved.

The great thing is this, He has given us the privilege, the privilege of having some little part in the great work He is doing. That's a privilege. God somehow doesn't depend upon individuals, but He allows individuals to have a part, even our prayer life.

Some people wonder, well, why bother praying if God's will is going to be done and God is sovereign, His will is going to be carried out, so why should we pray if it's going to happen? Well, of course, one answer among many that could be given is that God has ordained the means as well as the end. And God has chosen to use your prayer as the fulcrum to bring about His purposes, to give you a part in what He's doing, to give you the joy, the privilege, the honor of actually playing a part in the great work He is doing in this world today. But in reality, He's above our contributions.

Read Isaiah 40. In Isaiah 40, the writer there, Isaiah, says that all of Lebanon, and he's referring to the cedars of Lebanon as wood for their sacrifices, and the beasts of the field are not sufficient for Him. If you were to take all the beasts of the field and all the cedars of Lebanon and make altars and offer them all up, he says, God doesn't really need that.

He doesn't need it. And it's really not enough to really reflect His greatness. He's above our confines.

He's above our contributions. He's even above our concepts. We have such a small concept of God.

And the speaker included such a small concept of the awesomeness of the God we serve. He's above every comparison as well. God, in Isaiah 40, to whom then will you liken me? God says, there's nothing you can compare me with.

Unique, singular, distinct above all others. What would Solomon have thought? What would Solomon have thought? If one day the God who is so great that a temple could not confine Him and only the heaven of heavens was large enough for Him, what would He have thought if He stood by a manger and saw a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and knew it was Emmanuel, God with us? What would He have thought if He went to a peasant's cottage in Nazareth and to a carpenter's shop in Nazareth and saw the Lord Jesus there, confined by walls? Maybe not even walls, maybe just leaned to. The one that heaven itself could not contain, He is there in a manger, there in a house, there in a carpenter's shop.

No doubt He would have been amazed at the grace of God, the one above our confines, the one above our contributions. And wise men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to finance a flight into Egypt so that He could be safe there until Herod is dead. The God who is above all of our counsel, all of our contributions, all of our confines, all of our concepts.

And Solomon would bow in worship, bow in worship to think of the greatness of God and yet all seen in a man here upon earth. Solomon in the sanctuary, a lesson about worship, how deserving He is of our worship, the one who came in lowliness. Could I use the expression sacredly confined by human flesh? You know what I mean.

The Godhead bodily in Him, here with us, Emmanuel. Solomon in the sanctuary, Solomon in the supplication, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended. Now it wasn't that David ceased praying, it's just that there was nothing better he could ask for.

Nothing better he could possibly ask for than a day when not just Solomon but he's now preaching, he's now speaking as a prophet when a greater than Solomon would come and he would reign and the world would know righteous rule. He says, I really can't ask for anything better than that. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended.

When you go to 2 Samuel and he speaks about a coming king, you know what he says? He says, these be the last words of David. I have nothing more to say. I can say nothing more than what I've said about the coming king and all of his greatness.

And now the same thing here with his prayer. I can pray for nothing greater than a coming king who will reign one day over this earth. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended.

David, Solomon rather, and the supplication, the wonder and the wealth of that coming kingdom. And so we've looked very hurriedly. Solomon and the sovereign, a lesson about worry.

Solomon and the son of God, a lesson about his worth. Solomon and the savior, a lesson about the ways of God. Solomon and the scriptures, lessons about wisdom.

Solomon and the sinner, a lesson about a warning. Solomon and the saint, a lesson about weakness. Solomon and the sanctuary, a lesson about worship.

Solomon and the supplication, a lesson about the wonder and the wealth of his coming kingdom. We trust God will bless his word, and hopefully he'll return tomorrow. And we'll be looking, you'll see in the outline, we'll be starting in 1 Kings 1, and considering lessons from the life of Solomon that are still very, very relevant to us today.

So with that, we'll ask God's blessing on our meeting before we separate. Our Father, in the name of thy Son, we bow together and thank thee for the word of God. We thank thee, the Spirit of God, so wisely, so ably, so deftly, brings lessons forth from the life of this man, and all of these portions are the word of God.

What a tremendous place he played, and what a prefiguring he was of a greater than Solomon who would come. We do thank thee that in him there was no weakness, there was no frailty, there was no failure. We bless thee for a moral beauty that we can look upon in thy Son, which makes everyone else look, in a sense, so defective and so lacking.

He is so lovely. We would long to see him in all of his beauty and to be able to express it more ably and more eloquently. We thank thee for him.

Thank thee for thy grace to us in him, and ask now that as we separate, thou wilt be with us. Remember us now for the weekend and the ministry of thy word tomorrow, as we look to thee and ask thy blessing on all who have taken time to come, and the assembly here that has sponsored this weekend of meetings, and ask for a blessing for all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.