Well, we're going to the first
book of Kings now in our Young People's Address. So if you would
like to turn with me please to 1 Kings, and we're going to chapter
two. 1 Kings, chapter two. This is another
really long chapter so we're not going to be reading it all
but we are going to read a number of verses from the beginning
and then I'll give a little summary of some of the other things that
are mentioned in the chapter but it's a chapter that's worth
reading so if you have a desire and an opportunity you could
perhaps read it a little bit later at home yourself but Here we are at the moment in
1 Kings chapter 2 and we're going to read down to the end of verse
12. So 1 Kings chapter 2 and down
to the end of verse 12. Now the days of David drew nigh
that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go
the way of all the earth. Be thou strong, therefore, and
show thyself a man. and keep the charge of the Lord
thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his
commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is
written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all
that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thyself. that the
Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying,
If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me
in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there
shall not fail thee, saith he, a man on the throne of Israel. Moreover, thou knowest also what
Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two
captains of the hosts of Israel. unto Abner the son of Ner, and
unto Amasa the son of Jethar, whom he slew, and shed the blood
of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle
that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his
feet. Do therefore according to thy
wisdom, and let not his whore head go down to the grave in
peace. But show kindness unto the sons
of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be of those that
eat at thy table. For so they came to me when I
fled because of Absalom thy brother. And behold, thou hast with thee
Shimei the son of Gerah, a Benjamite of Bahurin, which cursed me with
a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came
down to meet me at Jordan, and I swear to him by the Lord, saying,
I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore,
hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what
thou oughtest to do unto him. But his whorehead bring thou
down to the grave with blood. So David slept with his fathers,
and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David
reigned over Israel were forty years. Seven years reigned he
in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father, and his
kingdom was established greatly. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Now we come to the death of David. He is old and frail, but his
mind is alert and attentive still to the needs of Solomon and the
needs of the kingdom of Israel. David is aware that his end is
near, but he has a few things to say to his son. He acknowledges,
I go the way of all the earth. And in saying so, he reminds
us that we all must die. Then he counsels Solomon to follow
the Lord in all his ways, so that whatever Solomon does with
his life, that the Lord will prosper him. And this is very
good advice from David. No one can live another person's
life. And we all find those who are
young and grow old, that we like to share those experiences that
we have learned and perhaps the wisdom that we have gleaned,
at least in our own mind, with those who are coming behind us
in the hope that they may not make the same mistakes that we
made. And David knows that his life
is coming to an end, but he has this desire to convey to his
son Solomon, who is still just a young man, possibly still a
teenager, perhaps approaching 20, but still it seems a young
man. And here he wants to give Solomon
this advice. Solomon, of course it is. And
so he says to Solomon that he should follow the Lord. Follow the Lord. Whatever path
we take in life, we each have our own life to live. We each have our own path to
take. But what David is telling Solomon
is that let that path follow in the ways of the Lord. Sometimes we make good choices,
sometimes not. and our lives will follow their
course in the overall providence of God. And yet David knew, and
he told Solomon, that if the Lord is honoured in our hearts,
in our thinking, in our actions, then he will help and he will
bless us wherever we end up in this life. When we're young we're
full of ambition and aspirations and we've got ideas about the
things that we would like to do and sometimes we are eager
to get out and do things for ourselves and not have someone
else telling us what to do. Well let me just say that whatever
age you are and whenever it becomes your Opportunity to do the things
you want to do for yourself. Remember what David told Solomon,
follow in the ways of the Lord and he will prosper your path
and prosper your life. David had proven this to be true. He had not lived perfectly himself
by any means, yet he knew that the Lord had been gracious and
faithful to him, even in his mistakes, even in his sins. And we can leave no finer advice
to our children than this. Keep the charge of the Lord thy
God. or as Solomon would later paraphrase
David's advice, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and
lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. David tells Solomon the words
that the Lord had spoken to him Remember, the Lord had spoken
to David and had given him a promise, a covenant promise about his
children, his seed, sitting upon the throne of Israel and reigning
over the kingdom of Israel. These are the words that David
spoke to Solomon. repeating what God had said to
him. If thy children take heed to
their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart and
with all their soul there shall not fail thee a man on the throne
of Israel. Now, there's a little word there
at the beginning of what David said to Solomon. It says, if,
if thy children take heed to their way, if. And that little
word is conditional. That makes this a conditional
promise. If the children of David, if
Solomon and Solomon's children and Solomon's children's children,
if they walked before the Lord and kept his will, kept his ways,
then they would stay on the throne in Israel. So that
was a conditional promise for David's immediate family. Some of his descendants did not
live up to their calling, and therefore the throne was taken
out of the hands of David's children. But spiritually speaking, this
is a covenant promise that applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, the
son of David, who rules over the spiritual kingdom on earth
and in heaven forever. You'll remember when Gabriel
came and spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and told her that Jesus
was going to be born. It's in Luke chapter 1, and in
verse 32, Gabriel the angel says this, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. Now the house of Jacob is a picture
of the church and so what Gabriel was telling Mary here is that
the fulfillment of this covenant promise was not conditionally
in Solom and Rehoboam and his children, but rather in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that reminds us that when
we look at the lives of David and Solomon and the lives of
these biblical men and women of old, there are spiritual parallels
and types for the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
types taught the Old Testament people to expect the Messiah,
or it taught those who had faith to expect the Messiah and recognize
him when he came. And that is what we find when
we look at these Old Testament scriptures with a spiritual understanding. David had more instructions as
well. He spoke of Joab, who had been
his general for 40 years, but who had supported Adonijah, Solomon's
brother, to be king against Solomon. And justice demanded that Joab
should be slain by Solomon. Justice demanded Joab should
pay for the murders of his rivals Abner and Amasa. Committed murders
committed not on the battlefield, but deviously in peacetime and
also for other affronts that Joab had made against David,
especially regarding Absalom. Shimei also was guilty of despising
David. And while these men had been
suffered to live in David's lifetime, David warned Solomon to deal
with them at the start of his reign. so that they would not
cause him trouble later. The family of Barzillai, who
had shown David kindness in a time of need, they should be provided
for. And then David died. Having given
these words of advice to Solomon, then he died. And he died as
we all must die. And we all will die in the ordinary
course of nature. David was buried in Jerusalem
and his tomb was still known at the time of the Lord Jesus
Christ, a thousand years later before the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Romans. The rest of the chapter that
we did not read gives an account of how Solomon dealt with Adonijah,
his brother, who despite being shown mercy, seems still to have
desired to obtain the throne, and sought to use Bathsheba,
Solomon's mother, and Abishag, David's concubine, in order to
help him achieve that desire. He tried to marry Abishag and
if he had been able to do that, it would have given him a stronger
claim to the throne. And it seems as if, although
it's not stated, but what Solomon says is suggestive, it seems
likely that Joab and Abiathar the high priest may have been
involved in Adonijah's subtle deception still to retain an
interest in the throne. Adonijah and Joab, consequently,
are slain. And this is spoken about in the
rest of the chapter, second chapter of 1 Kings. And Abiathar, the
high priest, is sent into exile. The high priesthood then is taken
from Abiathar's family and given to Zadok, the family of Eleazar. And that fulfilled a prophecy
that God had made some 80 years before in the time of Eli, when
God said that the priesthood would be taken from Eli's family,
of whom Abiathar was a descendant, and it would be given to another
family because of the wickedness that was in the family of Eli. Shimei, who had cursed David,
is permitted to live his life in Jerusalem, but under certain
terms. He's not allowed to leave the
city. Within three years, he breaks the terms of his arrest
and is slain by Solomon. This is the content, then, of
this chapter. There are some lessons I think
that we can draw from this and I just want to spend a couple
of minutes pointing out one or two things which we might learn
for ourselves personally from these verses. Here's the first
one. David died at the end of a long
and illustrious life. And I think that in many respects
we should think of David as one of the champions of the faith. That's not to say that he was
perfect. We have learned much about his sinfulness and the
trouble that entered into his life and his family because of
that sin. And yet David had come from being
a shepherd boy to being king of a huge and prosperous empire. David was a prophet of the Lord
and David was the composer of the most beautiful inspired compositions
for the worship of God. David was beloved of God and
therefore David should be beloved of God's people. David was beloved
of God, as all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are beloved
of God. And we should love one another.
Robert Hawker, I mentioned Robert Hawker from time to time. He
was an old minister of a few hundred years ago down on the
south coast of England. And I like to read some of the
things that Robert Hawker said on some of these passages. But
he said a very interesting thing, and I'm just going to leave it
with you for you to consider. I'm not saying that it's absolutely
true or right or wrong, but it's an interesting perspective. Here's
what he says of David. He says, what a wonderful character. Taken together doth he appear. The most extraordinary, perhaps,
that ever the Lord brought forward from among the sons of Adam. That's high praise indeed when
we think of David and the man that he was. But again, we're
reminded that if David was a man after God's own heart, as indeed
he was, who can fail to see in him the type of Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's elect son. God's son in whom the father
delighted. God's well-beloved son in whom
he was well-pleased. David fought Goliath and the
Philistines to deliver Israel from slavery. And our Lord Jesus
Christ has fought all our enemies to bring his church and his people
into peace and prosperity. David was anointed king by God,
though the people of Israel chose Saul. And Christ was always the
chosen one, the anointed one, the one appointed as the Messiah
to fulfill all righteousness and accomplish the salvation
of his people. Many people tried to dethrone
David. Saul fought against him, and
there were several usurptions of his authority during his lifetime. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
is often assailed and criticised and mocked by those who endeavour
to throw him from the throne of his kingdom and his majesty. David was afflicted in his life,
all through his life, on his way to the throne and afterwards,
and Christ was afflicted. He is called a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief, David was the sweet psalmist of Israel
and the Lord Jesus Christ has inspired the praise of millions
who sing the glory of his name and the accomplishments of his
labours upon the cross. David, impressive as he was,
was just a man, frail and sinful. Christ was perfect and without
sin, and yet he became sin for us, and he died under God's wrath
in the place of God's people. The types of Scripture always
fall short of the reality and the fulfilment that is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, our wonderful Saviour. By all means,
let us look at David and learn from him. As God's prophet, in
all of his highs and in his lows, But let us mostly follow his
advice to Solomon and place the Lord Jesus first in our lives. May we all follow in the ways
of the Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's just one other thing
I want to mention. David's death reminds us that we all must die. Sometimes when we are young,
we feel like we're invincible and we're indestructible. But
it's not true. And young people die too. David
was old. David, we read, knew that his
days drew nigh. He got to know the time was short
because his body began to fail. But some people die when they
look as if they're in the prime of life. Some people die suddenly
without any notice whatsoever. And this is why we must all be
prepared to meet our Maker and to stand before God at any time. You who are young who are listening
to this, you should not procrastinate. You know what that word means?
Don't put off seeking God's grace until you are older. Don't put
off seeking God's mercy until a more convenient time. Don't
think to yourself, well that's something I can take care of
when I'm old. Do not put this matter off. That time may never come. And when we die, whenever that
may be, we shall be judged. And after judgment, every man,
woman, boy or girl will go either to everlasting happiness in heaven
with the Lord, or to everlasting suffering in hell and separation
from the Lord. How do people prepare for death? Well, some people might make
a will or try to settle their affairs, put their affairs in
order. Some people will plan their funeral
or try to squeeze some bucket list ambition into the days that
they've got left. But how do we prepare our soul
for death? That's the most important thing.
No matter what age we are. Isaiah tells us this. In Isaiah
55, verse six, he says this. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon. If we would have peace with God
and forgiveness of sins and happiness in heaven, let us ask Him to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from our unrighteousness. Let us ask Him, simply ask Him,
to make us holy in Christ and let us ask the Lord believing
that he will, let us ask on the basis that Christ died to save
sinners, and I'm a sinner that needs salvation. Jesus says in
Luke chapter 11, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall
find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. May the Lord enable
us all, young and old, to do so. For Jesus' sake, amen.