King Solomon

Now perhaps you'd kindly turn with me please to close the conference today to First Kings and Chapter 10 First Kings please and Chapter 10. What's upon my mind is to try to draw together in just about 15 minutes Many of the things that our brethren have already brought before us from the life of King Solomon Now with regards to when we were supposed to be last here I know we had a little bit of fun with Murray and Tim and myself, but you sometimes wonder whether the Lord's hand Just preserves in such a case, you know And there was some reason why the Lord just kept us on the border there at Alton When we were hoping to be down with you two years ago, but it's a joy to be here We trust God will bless his word First Kings chapter 10, please in verse 1 And when the queen of sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord She came to prove him with hard questions And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones And when she was come to Solomon she communed with him of all that was in her heart and Solomon told her all her questions There was not anything hid from the king Which he told her not Now we do trust that God will bless the reading of his precious word to each one When you come to the book of these historical books You will notice that really in the Jewish bible they come right at the end They conclude the whole of the old testament first and second Chronicles, uh in one book conclude the whole of the Jewish old testament. So what you actually get Is the complete history of the whole of humanity up to that point? So when the lord jesus spoke about the blood of rachis abel to the blood of zachariah the son of balachiah Then he's taking us right the way through the whole of old testament history And you find that in fact those of you who were there at the gospel meeting on uh on friday night in uh, Waterloo those of you who weren't there just allow a little blush to come upon your your face And feel a little bit Convicted that you weren't there, but uh, we dealt with uh, the first three names in first chronicles We dealt with uh, adam and seth and inosh and they have a picture of the whole of humanity.

Adam was the man who sinned uh seth was the man who was the substitutionary man who came in the place of two others who had one who had died and one who had departed and then We found there was inosh and he was the spiritual man That was in his days that men began to call upon the name of the lord When you come to the book of chronicles, you'll find that the chronicler continues that theme Uh, he deals with one chapter for king saul He says he was the sinning man. He was a king after man's own heart He says i'll just deal with one chapter to deal with him We don't need to read any more about him King david, who's he? He's the substitutionary king. He comes in the place of the king who's failed What does the writer to the chronicles do? He says well, he says we'll deal with 18 chapters to deal with king With king david what a great subject king david is what a great picture of the great Substitutionary man is king david.

We need 18 chapters to deal with him And then when we come into second Chronicles we find there that he deals with solomon and he says we'll deal with eight Chapters to deal with king solomon and king solomon. He's the saved man He's the spiritual man who you say there wasn't a man less spiritual than king solomon. Well, interestingly You find all solomon's failures in first king You don't find his failures in second chronicles And so the chronicle it gives us this wonderful overview.

I want just to overview very very briefly Uh something of king solomon firstly I want to think of his background and I want to touch where our brother john was Uh, what was the background of his birth? Well, there's a king And he's in the wrong place and he's looking in the wrong direction There's a king as brother john has said when kings go forth to battle he allows joab to go You'd never have let joab out of your sight He was that sort of a person and he allows joab to go out Out of his sight and going to battle and he just tarries there at jerusalem in the wrong place And he goes out in the evening time and he's looking in the wrong direction And he's looking at the wrong person And here's a woman Who is in the right place? She's at home But she's doing the wrong thing And she's up on the rooftop And I think she's on the rooftop to determine to catch the eye of the king And of course, we all know the sad results. Oh you say but but god dealt with the sin Hmm And solomon was was a finally the result of that Matrimony, uh, but when we come to matthew chapter one, we find this it says gave it the king begat solomon of Her that had been the wife of uriah the hittite Oh the sin was forgiven, but it was never forgotten For we find in the new testament It's still upon the page of holy scripture for us to remember the background I thought of the birth The birth of solomon. How did the birth of solomon come about? Well the name solomon, of course, uh, just is shalom peace And so here's one who comes to bring peace What what has happened before? Well, there's been tragedy And there's been tears And there's been trouble and there's been turmoil as a result of the sin that had Beset these two people And there's a child that's born And there's a child that's died And here's a couple now And they know what it is to go through trouble and trials and turmoil and tears And Robert mcfeat used to say that anybody who gets their salvation easy Loses it just as easy And it's good for somebody to get saved after they've had a little bit of soul trouble It's good for new birth to come when there's been a little bit of of turmoil and strife and conviction and conversion And someone sought and sought and when they get it, it's real You see there's far too many not I trust in the assemblies, but there's far too many in christendom And it's a very easy salvation Just follow me in this prayer Just fill in this card Oh, it's good when somebody's under soul trouble And they come to the birth but not only this ties in with what our brother, uh, mary said yesterday, uh Maybe there's someone here and you're going through trouble not soul trouble because you're saved But you've got troubles and trials aplenty And you're just wondering what can I hang on to? This great cataclysmic event has come upon me and the mountain is just caving in upon me And i'm just feeling absolutely oppressed You can hold on to the fact that solomon had a second name Jedidiah You say what's that mean beloved of the law you need a bit of comfort today You need a bit of a an uplift in your life You need someone just to come and just to wipe away those tears Well, just remember jedidiah Beloved of the lord Oh, there's a god in heaven who loves you And there's a god in heaven who can draw alongside Oh, you say now you're probably speaking beyond your experience.

Well We only have one daughter I think my wife had four miscarriages I think of those four Well, I don't think I know there was two when we saw the ultrasound scans And we saw the little heartbeat We saw the little pulse oh and the signs of new life were there And we longed for that child and we prayed for that child and And then things happened and you have the scan Now And there's no heartbeat Or in those days you just rest on one whose name is jedidiah Beloved of the law Not only did I think about his background and his birth. I I thought we should just lift something about his boyhood the boyhood of solomon Well, of course you're all with me now You're all scanning across the scriptures thinking we must find those verses that deal with the boyhood of solomon Well, of course, you will scan the pages of holy scripture absolutely in vain Because you will see nothing of the boyhood of solomon and that's the important thing What was solomon doing in those years When troubles came into king david's life and there were problems on uprisings and all sorts of other difficulties Where was solomon? He was just reading the letter he was just reading the epistle of his father He was just watching how his father dealt with problems How his father acted in certain situations? Solomon wasn't leaping up and saying well dad. You'd better do it this way Well, you made a mistake there dad you were wrong there You never read.

He's just watching silently You know you young people it's a joy to see all the young people here I tell you It is a joy to see everyone, but but you younger people Just don't be too much of a hurry to start at the preaching Just read the letters first Just take it easy Find what your gift is in the assembly Find where you fit into the assembly Exercise that gift that god has given you locally in the assembly And it may be that god elevates you and exercises you to do something bigger and wider Eventually, but work locally Don't be the one that's leaping up and telling the elders what to do Oh, well, they made a mistake there and they should have been doing that and they should have been doing this You know, I was once preaching the gospel in a place many years ago And I finished early Those days over in the uk one gospel preacher had a whole hour And I finished after three quarters of an hour. I felt i'd said everything that needed to be said a little Precocious nine-year-old boy came up to me And he said what do you think you're doing? I said, what do you mean? He said you're finished. I said I know Why I said i've said all that needed to be said didn't you prepare? Yes, I prepared Didn't you have enough material? Yes, I had enough material.

I just said all that needed to be said You know that young man Grew up and he was charging here there and everywhere And well, I don't know how many posts that he put up on the uh on the uh, bible reading Forum, uh, I know that he and another brother were rejoicing that one of them had managed to put up 300 posts And they were usually I felt uh more controversial than they were helpful And now neither of those two brethren are in the assembly you see exercise that gift locally And read the epistle of the assembly and read the epistle of the elders. That's just what solomon did You don't read about his boyhood. I know he had to deal with his brothers He had to deal with amnon absalom and adonijah Those were three brothers he had to deal with before he could make any progress in the things of god He had to deal with a man that just wanted to play and he had no morals That was amnon He had to deal with absalom He was a man who had no respect for the position of his father He just longed for power And he had to deal with adonijah as well He was a man who just wouldn't accept the decision that the king had made with regards to solomon And all he wanted was position My dear friend if we're going to make progress in the things of god We're going to have to deal with those three things in our lives And we're going to have to deal with those three things in the assembly We're going to have to deal with that thing that has no morals the wrong look The wrong reading material all those things We're going to have to deal with those who just want power I cannot believe that there are so many men that want power and when they get it, they don't want to let go My dear older brother there comes a time when it's time to let go There comes a time when those that you have shaped And molded and guided and encouraged you have to let go and let them move on Well, that was absalom the man who held power and then adonijah Just a man who wanted position.

I noticed too that he had to deal with some burdens as well He had a burden with joab did solomon David told him about joab joab was the man Be careful of the friends that you make I do not know how david lived with joab day in and day out The man that when anybody fell out with him, he just brought out the sword and he just dropped them under the fifth rib He knew how to use the sword and he knew how to use the sword in all the wrong way I noticed a man called shimei He wasn't a man who had to use the sword he just knew how to use his speech He came down and he cursed david as david was going and fleeing Just curses him When he comes back, well, he's all sort of half repentant And and he he's put away and he's told not to leave the city And solomon says the day that you leave the city shimei that'll be the day that the sword falls on you and that you die You know what he said of solomon's servants. They were happy happy says the queen of sheba are thy servants in the presence of solomon What about shimei's eye servants? Well, they obviously weren't very happy because they left his employment and they ran and shimei runs after him And solomon has to cut him down You see sometimes there's a time when we just have to cut down those who who like to cut with a sword And there's some times when we just have to deal with those who use speech inadvisedly And we need to deal with those things in our own life What solomon do he brings the two together when he has two rather Unsavory characters standing before him and just one life, baby He speaks he says bring me the sword He speaks and he says we'll cut the child in half and you can have a half each Or you see he is so different to those who are around him I want us to tell you a little bit about his buildings You see there's quite a lot of buildings, I know we deal with solomon's temple, but he has quite a few buildings You know and they all seem when you read it they all seem to be in the area around the temple They were all built around the temple. The temple was central.

I want to ask you now my dear friend Where does the assembly rank in your life in your standing? What's the most important thing oh, well you say first of all, of course, there's the family well, it's good And then of course, there's the there's the work We're getting a bit cold there and of course, there's the There's the college and there's the university and there's the exams that listen Put the things of god first Make the things of god a priority and everything else will fall into place around those things And here's a man and there's the temple but around that temple is various houses five times It's recorded that the glory of the lord filled the house You see so it should why well who's at the center of every meeting? the lord jesus christ That's why you'll want to be at the bible reading. Oh, you say have you been to our bible reading? Well, maybe if you put a bit more into the bible reading, maybe you'd get a little bit more out of the bible Reading How you say but i'm a sister I can't say anything Well, maybe if you've spent a bit more time praying for those who speak in the bible reading You might get a little bit more out of it You'll be at the brekkie of bread meeting. You'll be at the gospel meeting You want to be at the open air meeting you want to be at every gathering of the lord's people It was central the glory of the lord filled the temple and then his own house you say.

Oh, yes solomon's house. Yes It took him an awful lot longer to build up than it did the temple maybe that's because he put the priority into the temple But you only read one verse of solomon's house You never read about the curtains You never read about the the furnishings You never read about the size of his bed. You read about odd's bed, but you never read about solomon You never read about anything that was in listen the things that we put All our effort and all everything else into it's all going to be burnt up one day But when you put your efforts into the assembly That's going to have eternal value You see his own house.

There was the house of the forest of lebanon He said what's that? It's where the shields were kept It's the place of the armory That's close to the assembly too why because we need to defend the truth of god You say how do you defend the truth of god You use these 66 divinely inspired books to defend the truth of the word of god This book is the truth It's the whole truth And it's nothing but the truth And so that of course has to be central to where the temple is There's also a porch there for the throne Oh, you see the throne has to be connected with the temple, doesn't it? We wouldn't want to usurp the place of christ, would we? We wouldn't want any diatrophesis amongst us who love to have the preeminence who steal from the person and the character and the work of the lord jesus Or we want them to be out. Don't we? Or you see these are the buildings And the temple was central And the buildings were around about the temple structure on the temple site I thought maybe just in closing we should just think of the banquet that solomon had First kings four were told of some of the things that he ate You see it says He had 13 measures of fine flour You say what's eating 30 measures of fine flour for every day. He's feeding on the perfections of christ You'll remember on the meal offering the fine flour No, no inconsistency Inconsistencies in it.

Absolutely fine and milk Then he's feeding on fat oxen That's the that's that's just very much the fullness of christ the fat of christ the fullness of christ It says a hundred sheep Every day he's feeding on the sacrifice of christ. He's feeding on hearts and robux and fallow deer That's the uniqueness of christ You've got the whitetail deer over here We've got seven deer species in the united kingdom Had the privilege of seeing all of them and there's a uniqueness about each one. We've got the the the uh, just a Little tiny deer.

It's just a around about that No, no, no bigger than than a medium-sized dog Just a muntjac deer just a glorious little thing and and and then there's the great big red deer That's the one with oh, there's a uniqueness about them and there's a uniqueness about christ That's why all these deers are here. Are we feeding on the uniqueness of christ? That's why it's not one offering It's five offerings. That's why it's not one feast.

It's five. It's seven feasts the uniqueness of christ and then There's the fatted fowl Or you see is feeding on the deity of christ that which is above this world If we're going to be able to fulfill That that our brethren this afternoon have brought before us on this evening We need to have a diet of christ We must feed as solomon did on the perfections of christ on the richness of christ on the freshness of christ on the sacrifice of christ on the uniqueness of christ And on the deity of christ and then We'll be able to live above this world And for his honor and for his glory. May god bless his word