I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
24. Proverbs chapter 24. I'd like to do something this
morning that, to my knowledge, I've not done. And it's take
a verse of scripture that I just preached out of. Two weeks ago, today, in the
second group, I preached out of this passage of Scripture,
Proverbs 24, verse 23. And I entitled that message,
Things That Belong to the Wise. And had a great blessing with
it. Enjoyed it. This morning my intent was to
start in verses 24 through 26 and finish a thought. And as
I was going over my notes this morning, my heart was turned
to go back to that same passage of scripture in verse 23 and
preach it to you. But if you listen to the first
message that I preach, believe me, It's not the same message,
same truth of gospel. But here's the blessing that
I beheld in this passage of scripture. We'll never exhaust the truth
of God's word in any passage of scripture. When we think we've
got a real handle on something, that's about the time the Lord
may be pleased to show us differently. But I want us to look in Proverbs
24, 23 for just a few minutes. Reading, it says, these things
also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect
of persons in judgment. Now, the Spirit of God moved
upon a man named Solomon to pin those words. And this is what
the Spirit of God said through Solomon. It is not a good thing. It is not cheerful. It's not best. I'm just interpreting
the word good. It's not cheerful. It's not best
or gracious. It's not good to contemplate,
to behold, or to be partial toward others with a verdict because
when it comes spiritually, when it comes to spiritually discerning,
we don't know. It's not a good thing obviously
in judicial matters by a judge, just a civil officer of the court. It's not good for him. to be
partial to one over another. The scripture declares that it's
unlawful. According to the word of the
Lord, God moved upon Moses to say something concerning Moses
himself. The Lord told Moses, you tell
the people concerning yourself. Deuteronomy 117, you shall not
respect persons in judgment, but you shall hear the small
as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the
face of man, for the judgment is God's, and the cause is too
hard for you. Bring it unto me, and I will
hear it. That's what the Lord told Moses
to tell the people. He said, if they don't do it,
you tell them to come to you and the Lord. will make the decision
through Moses. Now, we need to remember something. This message this morning, I'm
going to tell you right now, is especially for me. I pray
it is for you. I believe it's for all of us.
But I can tell you for a fact, I need to hear what this verse
of scripture has to say. There is one judge, That judge is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He alone is the one that
knows the heart of men. Now let me tell you what I'm
going to be talking about for a few minutes. Lord willing,
this is not going to be a very long message. I am talking about
when we make a judgment call on someone else based on what
we see them doing concerning their eternal salvation. This
is what it's all about. This is what I'm talking about.
James 2.1 said, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. We can only imagine the state
of men based upon the things that appear externally. But God knows His own. I'm going
to tell you that I am in total agreement. God's people love
the Lord. They have a walk that is consistent. They walk. God's people do. But
there are instances found in the scriptures, and I'm quite
aware, and I'll bring this up at the conclusion of this, I
know that there are tears among the wheat. I know that. I remember
when that parable of the tares and the wheat and the servants
of the landowner, after they realized that there were tares
among the wheat, they said, you want us to go out there and tear
up the tares? And he said, no, leave them alone. Let them grow
together. And in the end, they'll be separated.
He said, you'll go out there and start tearing up what you
think are tares, and they're actually wheat. So you leave
them alone. So I know this. The Lord knows
His own. He knows His will, His pleasure.
And what we do is we form our judgment of men's character based
on what we always behold outwardly. And the actions of even God's
people have been recorded in the scriptures that appear to
be many times the character of an unbeliever. Peter, whenever
he denied the Lord, the Lord had told him, he said, before
this night, before this night's over, you're going to deny me
three times before the cock, the rooster, crows twice. And
David absolutely gave his word of honor. Everybody else will
forsake you, but I'll never do it. And before the night was
over, he cursed saying, I don't know the man. Let me ask you
this. Could a believer do that? Could
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ do that? David, man after
God's own heart, that's what the scripture says, took a woman
named Bathsheba for his very own, a woman that was married,
a woman that was married to a very faithful soldier of David. And David had that man that faithful
man, that faithful servant of David and had him put in the
front of the line to make sure that he was killed so he could
get him out of the way and had that man murdered. And here was
a man that knew God, a man that Almighty God declares He was
after his own heart. And that man that had done that,
had murdered a man and stolen his wife, committed adultery
with her. Could a man after God's own heart
stoop to such a level that he would act in a way to give great
occasion. This is what Nathan the prophet
said. You have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme. Could a man that knew God do
that? Could he? A man named Solomon, a man that
God raised up to be king, a man to whom God said one day, one
night, vision, ask what I shall give thee. And what did that
man say? That man said to the Lord that
he desired an understanding heart, that he might judge the people
of God, that he might discern between good and bad. Solomon. Could a man like that come to
the end of his life and have his heart turned after other
gods by wives? from nations that God had forbidden
the nation of Israel to marry into. Could that man be a child
of God? Now, for a few minutes, I want
us to just read, and I want to take the instance of Solomon. That has always been an amazing
passage of scripture. I've looked at it and I've read
it and what I've done is I've gone back and I've looked at
some of the promises that God made concerning Solomon and I
looked at what Solomon did and what the scripture has to say.
And I want us to just consider for a few minutes in light of
this, it's not good. It's not good to have respect
of persons in judgment. I know that The scripture declares
that unless God keeps the people, they're going to go out from
us because they were not of us. If they'd been of us, they surely
would have remained. I know that. I understand that. And I believe
it. The issue I'm dealing with right
now is when we get to a point where we think we have the right
or the wisdom or the knowledge or the ability to make a judgment
call and already know, always know, he's a believer, he's not
a believer. You don't know. You don't know. You think you
do. There's been men and women that
I've known and seen over the years that I thought they would
never leave. They'd never leave. They'd never
quit. No way they'd quit. Now this
one right here, I got my doubts on him. I don't foresee. Who gave me the right? Who made
me judge? Who do I think gave me the ability? Now, I want you to hold your
place. No, you don't have to. You can turn back if we do turn
back to it. The scripture I'm dealing with is Proverbs 24,
23. These things belong to the wise. It is not good to have
respect of persons in judgment. It's not good. That's not gracious. It's not kind. It's not good. It's not best. I want you to
turn with me to 1 Kings. Chapter 11, 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings 11, I'd like to read
the first four verses. 1 Kings chapter 11. Now here's what happened at the
end of Solomon's life. 1 Kings 11, verses 1 to 4. But King Solomon loved many strange
women together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites, of the nations concerning
which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall
not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely
they will turn away your heart after their gods, Solomon clave
unto these in love, And he had seven hundred wives, princesses,
three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon
was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods,
and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was
the heart of David his father." Now, the scripture reveals, now
here's the wonder of God's Word. The Word of God sets forth things
as they are. This is the way it is. Now if
you were leaving it up to me, I'm gonna kind of glaze some
things over. There's some things I probably
will omit about myself. You know, I won't bring up everything
about me and my past and this, that, and the other. Or even
right now, I won't even tell you what I'm thinking right now.
That would be best, I think, to not let you in on that. But
not the Word of God. Here's what the Word of God says.
when Solomon was old. How old was he? Well, he was
around 60 when he died. His heart was not perfect. Now what does that mean? I want
to know exactly what that word means. It means that his heart
was not cherishing peace or friendship or devoted wholeheartedly to
the Lord. The word seems to indicate that
he did not forsake the worship of God totally, but he allowed
the worship of his many heathen wives to continue. You say, well, I don't think
that a believer would do that. I'm telling you, this is what
the scripture says happened. And the reason I want to know
about this is, is there hope for somebody like Meron, a wavering,
I'm talking about wavering. At times when I find myself,
even here when I'm studying and trying to prepare a message and
find, and if I'm honest with myself, I'd say, do I truly have
a heart for this? Why do I think the things that
I do? Why do I find myself with attitudes? Can I deem as, John
Luke, can I deem myself a child? Let me ask you this. This is
what the scripture says Solomon did. This is what he thought.
This was his actions. Were Solomon's actions at the
end of his life commendable? No. Were they questionable? Yes. As far as we know, was Solomon
a believer? Well, the only way that I can
know anything, and after I know everything that the scripture
declares, here's what I know. It is not good to have respective
persons in judgment. It's not good. Why? Because there's
one judge. But I want to know if there's
some hope for me. This is what I want to know. Let's see what
the scriptures have to say concerning this man. And this is the only
thing we've got. We can sit here and contemplate
and say, well, I'll tell you what I think. It doesn't matter
what we think. What does God have to say? And
that ends it. I want you to turn to 2 Samuel.
Go back toward the front of the Bible. Just a couple of books,
maybe one book. 2 Samuel chapter 7, 2 Samuel
7 verse 12 to 15. Thanks be unto God that his scriptures,
oh, what saith the scriptures? Was the end of Solomon's life,
was it questionable? Yeah, you think, how could Solomon
do that? Well, you know the answer to
that. 2 Samuel 7, 12. God is talking to David, Solomon's
daddy. And here's what the Lord said,
2 Samuel 7, 12. And when thy days be fulfilled,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels. I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name. Now you know he's talking about Solomon. Who built the
temple? Solomon did. I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father. He shall
be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with a rod of men, with the stripes of the children
of men, but my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it
from Saul, whom I put away from before thee." Now, God promised
that he would be the God of David's son and that David's son would
be God's son. And he said, if he commit iniquity,
he said, I'm going to chasten him. That's a very key word right
there. I'm going to chasten him. And
the Lord did. I want you to turn back. Hold your place. We look at this
a minute. Turn back to 1 Kings 11. Back a couple of verses,
a couple of books there. 1 Kings 11. And when you look
at 1 Kings 11, I'll tell you, let me just say this right here,
I could read the whole chapter, but what I'm going to tell you
is this. In 1 Kings 11, when it says, we just looked at the
first four verses, it says what happened. Look at verse 9, and
the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned
from the Lord God, which had appeared unto him twice. Look
at verse 14. And the Lord stirred up an adversary
unto Solomon. Hey dad, Edomite, king of the
seed. Here's what the Lord had said.
He told David. He said, I'm going to raise up
your seed. And I'm going to be his father.
And he's going to be my son. And if he commit iniquity, I'm
going to raise up and I'm going to chastise him with a rod of
men. And in 1 Kings 11, after Solomon's
heart was turned after other gods, His wives actually obtained
from Him a tolerance. for public indulgence of their
idol worship. That's what happened. He allowed
it to happen. It never said that Solomon forsook
the worship of God. He allowed this false worship
of all these other wives that he had. The Lord chastened Solomon
with the rod of men, a man named Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam. God chastened him. And here's
the blessing, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every one which he receiveth. The Lord had promised David concerning
Solomon, in 2 Samuel 7, 14, 15, if he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with a rod of men, with the stripes of children
of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took
it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. When Solomon was
born, turn back, 2 Samuel 12, 2 Samuel 12, verse 24, 25, 2
Samuel 12, 24, 25. The scripture says, and David
comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in unto her, and lay
with her, and she bare a son, and she called his name Solomon.
Now here's a beautiful revelation. And the Lord loved him. And the
Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan
the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah. Well, if you've
got a margin, it says, Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord. He
called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord. That was that name. It was either given, I tried
to see what it actually was saying. It was either a name that was
quoted by Nathan or it was a name that David also called him. Besides Solomon, Jedidiah, beloved
of the Lord. Now, I want to ask this question.
Could a man that has stumbled as Solomon did in his walk before
God, could a man like that, that God had blessed, had given wisdom
like no other man born of Adam ever had? There was no man wiser
than Solomon. Queen of Sheba came to hear the
wisdom of Solomon. And she was taken away by what
God had taught him. Could a man like that, could
a man like that stumble before God and men and still be a believer? I want you to look at Nehemiah
13. Now if you find Psalms, and then before that is Job, and
then Esther before that, and then Nehemiah. There's just a
couple of books before Job. Nehemiah 13. Nehemiah 13. Nehemiah 13, verses 23 to 26. Nehemiah 13, 23. In those days also saw I Jews
that had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and their children
spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews'
language, but according to the language of each people. And
I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them,
and plucked off their hair, made them swear by God, saying, you
shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their
daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Listen to this,
verse 26. 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 Israel. Nevertheless, even him did outlandish
women cause to sin. In closing, from this verse of
scripture, I want us to learn something. Don't ever presume that sin and
rebellion against God is okay. and that he doesn't carry with
it the chastisement to his people or judgment to a reprobate. Don't ever assume, well, I told
you about a man that I have known many, many years. And this man was going to do
something that he told me he was going to do before he did
it. And I told him, you're wrong. You are wrong to do that. You're
wrong. I said, how in the world can
you do such a thing like that? I said, when you stand before
God, you stand before God right now in God's sight. I said, what
are you going to do when you stand before God? He said, I'm
going to get in the same line that David gets into. I said, that's presumption. David
repented. I said, now listen, that's presumption.
Don't ever think that it's okay, because I'm telling you, Peter
and Solomon, don't you ever presume that it's okay. Secondly, don't
ever despair that God has failed to show mercy and compassion
to one that has acted like David or Solomon. Or Peter? Or the prodigal? Or me? Or you? Don't ever despair. I've
heard Brother Scott said this, as long as there's breath in
somebody's lungs, there's hope. There's hope. Who knows? Who knows? But that God might
show mercy peradventure. That's what Paul said, peradventure.
The Lord might be pleased to show mercy. Well, I tell you
what, God will never save anybody like that. He saved you. He saved
me. He might. Don't ever despair. Remember Romans 14.4, Who art
thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he
standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God's
able to make him stand. Like I said at the beginning
of this message, I know that there's tares among the wheat.
I know that. I know that there's ravening
wolves. I know there's sheep. I mean,
there's wolves in sheep clothing. I understand all that. I'm talking
about those who have professed to believe the gospel and have
done things that appear as though No believer could have ever done
something like that. Who are we to judge? We don't
know. The Scriptures reveal that there
were some men that did some horrendous things in the Scriptures. And
they were the Lord's people. The Lord is able. This is what
it says. Who art thou that judgest another
man's servant to his own master? He standeth or falleth. Yea,
he shall be holding up. For God is able to make him stand. The message this morning is this. Not that there's not tares among
the wheat. We know there are. Not that there's
not unbelievers in this world. We know there are. But the message
of Proverbs 24, 23 says it's not good to have respect of persons
in judgment. It's not good because we don't
know. We think we do, and all that
is is arrogance, and pride, and presumption. And but for the
grace of God, we'd be doing the same thing they are. Pray for
them. Pray for them. Encourage them.
Lift them up. Ask God to have mercy. And who
knows? He may. I pray that He keep me
for His glory and my eternal good. Amen.