Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of 1 Kings 11. I'd like to read one verse of
Scripture. And I pray that God have mercy
on us this morning and teach us of his indescribable kindness
for Christ's sake. 1 Kings 11, chapter 1. But King Solomon loved many strange
women. together with the daughter of
Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Amorites, Edomites, Zidonians,
and Hittites. That is an arresting passage
of scripture. I'd like to preach this morning
for a few minutes on the subject of God's mercy to Solomon. You know, we've been going through
the book of Proverbs for some time. And I'd like for us to consider God's mercy to his people. But while we are considering
God's mercy to His people, I would like for us to look this morning
at the man that God raised up to pen the book of Proverbs that
we have been going through. I want you to remember that whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning
that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might
have hope. Solomon penned, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, three books, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and
Ecclesiastes. I want us to consider our glorious
God, the God of all grace. And I'd like for us to consider
the grace of God through this man, but not for the sake of
mere history. I've said before, if we're reading
these scriptures and all we're considering is the history, History
of Israel. History of this guy. History
of this woman. What prophet is that for us today? But I would like, by the grace
of God, to behold our God who has mercy and compassion on whomsoever
He will. That's what He told Moses, you
remember. Moses says, Lord, show me Your glory. I tell you what,
mark your place right there in 1 Kings and turn with me to Romans
9. I've quoted this, quoted this.
We do well to look at the Scripture. Look at the words. Romans 9. Now this is what God has to say. This is the Word of God. And
let the whole earth keep silence before Him. Let God be true,
let every man be a liar. Romans 9, verse 9. For this is
the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall
have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger. Which, naturally speaking,
was the exact opposite. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will, he hearteneth. David and Bathsheba. Turn with
me to 2 Samuel 12. David and Bathsheba lost a child. And David prayed for that child
and prayed that before the child died, that God would have mercy.
And the Lord was pleased to take the child. And 2 Samuel 12, verse 24 picks
up right after the Lord took that child, 2 Samuel 12, and
David, comforted by Sheba, his wife, and went in unto her and
lay with her. And she bare a son. And he called
his name Solomon. And my dear friends, look at
these next words. And the Lord loved him. And he sent, that is the Lord,
by the hand of Nathan the prophet. And he called his name Jedidiah
because of the Lord. This boy was named Solomon. That name Solomon means peaceable. A beautiful type of our precious
Lord, the Prince of Peace. Solomon was a beautiful type
of Christ. His blessing from the Lord was
sent to be known by the prophet Nathan. God sent the prophet
Nathan to tell David and Bathsheba, this is what I think of this
boy. He's beloved of the Lord. That's
what Jedidiah means. Beloved of the Lord. Another
glorious type of our Savior who was recognized from heaven by
his Father. When our Lord said at his baptism,
said on the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son and whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Solomon pictured our Lord, I
want you to turn to 1 Kings 3. Solomon was a beautiful picture
of our Lord. When the Lord asked him, what do you want me to give you?
Now here's this boy. Loved of God. That's what God
said. The Lord loved him. This is what God thinks of him.
Beloved of the Lord. This is Solomon. Solomon now. And being raised up as the King,
1 Kings 3, 5, hear the Word of God. 1 Kings 3, 5, in Gibeon, the Lord
appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, Ask what
I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed
unto thy servant David my Father great mercy. according as He
walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness
of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for Him the
great kindness that thou hast given Him a Son to sit on His
throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king and said to David, My father, I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in. And thy servant, is in the midst
of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people. That cannot be numbered nor counted
for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern
between good and bad. For who is able to judge this
thy so great a people?" And his speech pleased the Lord that
Solomon had asked him this thing. And God said unto him, Because
thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the
life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding
to discern judgment, behold, I have done according to thy
words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before
thee, neither after thee shall any. arise like unto thee, and
I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches
and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like
unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways
and keep my statutes, my commandments, as thy father David did walk,
then I will lengthen thy days. Hear a beautiful type of Christ. Solomon. What did he ask for? The Lord said, what shall I give
you? This is what Solomon asked for.
Wisdom. And it pleased the Lord. Solomon,
again, a picture of the wisdom of God. Christ Himself. In fact, a picture of the one
that Solomon himself, under the inspiration of God's Spirit,
wrote of. I'll read this. I've read it
before. Proverbs 8.23. The Scripture says, I was set
up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was. 30 and 31, Then I was by him
as one brought up with him. I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him, rejoicing in the habitable parts of his
earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. Solomon, under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, spoke of Christ. Wisdom. was the king raised up by Almighty
God in Jerusalem, typifying the Lord who is the King of kings. Solomon was a preacher setting
forth the Lord God's prophet. Solomon was the one that the
Lord used to build the temple. I mean, time would not permit
us for me to go and to set forth and to bring out this morning
all of the things that God was pleased to do through this man,
Solomon, in the building of the temple there in Jerusalem. Of the amount of beauty, the
type of wood, gold. And on and on and on. Indescribable
beauty. You go back and read the amount
of gold that was in it. Jewels. And you're thinking,
how do you calculate? And here, this man was the man
that God loved. Beloved of the Lord. Raised him
up. Gave him wisdom. Gave him riches. Gave him honor. Wouldn't let
David build a temple. Or let Solomon build it. Here was a picture of our Lord. The One who is the foundation,
the substance, and the glory. The Lord Jesus Christ. The temple
of God Himself. The fullness of the Godhead bodily. Solomon was a picture of Christ. Solomon was the physical son
of David, who also typified the Lord Jesus, God's Messiah, who
was truly of the seed of David, lineage of David, the one who
would surely save his people according to his everlasting
covenant of grace. Scripture bears out. We might
as well just see what God has to say about it. Scripture bears
out that this man Solomon was loved of God, blessed of God,
but there was a greater than Solomon that was being set forth. There was a greater than Solomon
that we must see, that we must hear, that we must believe. And it's his glory and his honor
that we seek. Solomon, and I'm going to show
you in a minute, Truly, one of God's elect, God's chosen, God's
beloved. But when we consider the one
of whom Solomon was a picture, the blessed Savior, God's elect,
listen to Isaiah 42.1, Behold, speaking of Christ, my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment."
That is, vindication, privilege to the Gentiles. Verse 4 says,
"...he shall not fail, nor be discouraged, be broken, till
he have set judgment in the earth." That's my first point. God's mercy is distinguishing. The Lord loved Solomon. Here is my second point. All
that the Lord has eternally loved, he is going to teach. Of all that is recorded of King
Solomon concerning God's blessing upon him, no verse sets forth,
I think, any more vividly, any more forthright, any more honestly,
the frailty of man. No verse of Scripture sets forth
man any more in light of man's depravity than this verse of
Scripture that we turn back to 1 Kings 11, that we read. A few minutes ago, when King
Solomon loved many strange women together with the daughter of
Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Amorites, Edomites, Ionians,
Hittites, look at verse 3 through 6. He had 700 wives, princesses,
300 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. For Solomon went after Astaroth,
the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination
of the Amorites. And Solomon did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his
father. Here is what God has to say about
man by nature. He is a depraved, frail, fallen
creature. He has no heart in himself after
God. He has no will after God. By nature, he hates God. And left to himself, will return
to his own vomit just like a dog. Just like a hog that wallows
in the mire. But my friend, you remember,
I read a few moments ago, 2 Samuel 12, 24. This is what God has
to say about Solomon. The Lord loved him. And whom the Lord loved, what's
he going to do? He's going to chase them. Whom the Lord loveth. He chastened
it. Chastened. I looked it up. He
trains, He educates, He disciplines, and He teaches. Yes, truly. God's people. They shall be all
taught of God. Taught what they are by nature.
Taught of their need of Christ. Nobody knows anything except
by experience. Nobody knows, but by experience. Lose a spouse. Somebody says,
I know how you feel, not unless you lost a spouse. Lose a child. Well, I sympathize with you,
not unless you lost a child. I know how you feel, not unless
you've experienced. I want you to turn to Luke 22.
Luke 22. Luke chapter 22. Nobody knows except that you've
been there. Luke 22, verse 31. Luke 22, 31, And the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat. But I prayed for you. that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren." He said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee
both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
the cost shall not grow this day before thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. Look at verse 55, the same chapter. When they came to the fire in
the midst of the hall and they were set down together, Peter
sat down among them. A certain maid beheld him as
he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, This
man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman,
I know him not. And after a little while another
saw him and said, Thou art also of them. Peter said, Man, I am
not. About the space of one hour after
another, confidently affirmed, saying of a truth, this fellow
also was with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter said, Man,
I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet
spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked on Peter. And Peter
remembered the word of the Lord. which he had said unto him, Before
the cock a crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out
and wept bitterly." I'll never deny you. You'll never catch
me doing that. You won't find me falling into
such dregs of rebellion. I would never do that. but for the grace of God you
want. But if Almighty God removes His
restraining hand off of you, you'll do anything that anybody
else would do and more. Don't you even think for one
second that you wouldn't do it. Here's my question concerning
Peter. The Lord told him. He said, Satan has desired to
have you, to sift you as wheat. But I've prayed for you, that
your faith fail not. Three times, Peter denied the
Lord. Now here's my question. Did his
faith fail? No. Let me answer it for you. No. No. You know how I know? The Lord
told him, He said, I prayed for you, that your faith fail not. The Lord prayed that his faith
would not die. That's what the word fail means.
Weak faith, strengthless faith without Him, Feeble faith? Yes. Yes. Little faith? That is, puting in degree or
duration. Brief or lacking in confidence? Yes. But fail? For God's elect? Faith given? Faith that absolutely will not
fail? Never. Why? Because my friend, you're
looking in the wrong spot. We're justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. And His faith never fails. Little faith, Us believing Him? Yes. Weak faith? Yes. But faith
that would fail, die? No. No, sir. All God's people shall
be taught what they are in themselves. Solomon was loved of God. We
already looked at that. Beloved of the Lord. We looked
at that. Given wisdom. Blessed. Blessed. Beautiful picture
of Christ. Paul. Taught of God? Yeah, this is what God taught
Paul. I'm talking the band that was raised up, whether in the
body, out of the body, to the third heaven, into paradise.
Into the place, Sammy, of the departed saints of God's souls. Heard things that he couldn't
say. He didn't have the capability of saying it. What did Paul say
that God taught him? Oh, wretched man that I am. Job, a man perfect, God said. Upright. Escheweth evil. Hates
evil. What did God teach him is what
Job said. I abhor myself. and repent in dust and ashes.
Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah. What did Isaiah say? He said, in the year the king
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Woe is me, for I am undone. You know what that means, undone?
I'm brought to silence. Quiet. Quiet. Because I'm a man of clean lips. What do I have to say? What do I have to say? What does
a man have to brag about, Neil? Nothing. The mercy of God teaches a man
what he is by nature. But you remember this, my friend,
it was sinners that Christ Jesus came to save. And to save sinners, He was made sin. That we might
be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Solemn was the man loved of God.
Taught of God. Blessed of God. And Almighty
God allowed that man to do what he would do by nature. And the Scripture says that his
heart was drawn away with strange women. Friend, don't ever do... I had somebody tell me this.
I was in their house when they told me one night he was going
to leave his wife. And he told me, this is what
I'm going to do. I said, you're wrong. I said,
how are you going to justify this? He said, when I stand before
God, so help me, this is exactly what he said. He said, I'm going
to get in the same line with David. I said, my friend, that's presumptuous. If you think that you can justify
yourself, you say, well, I'm looking at what Solomon did.
Friend, you tempt God and think that you're going to justify
yourself by what you saw the frailties of men and women were
in the Scriptures. You don't know Him. Solomon was a man beloved of
God, blessed of God. Had God allowed this man to see
himself One of the wisest of men born in Adam of all men. Richest of all men. Indescribable. You just read
the Scriptures about Solomon. But here's my third and final
point. God's mercy endures forever. I want you to turn with me to
2 Samuel 7. 2 Samuel 7. In light of everything we've
read, God Almighty, who knows the end from the beginning, God
Almighty, 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, spoke to David, Solomon's daddy. This is what God told David. And when thy days be fulfilled,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seat
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will
establish his kingdom. And he shall build a house for
my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, he shall be my son." My friend, read the
next few words. 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 away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom
I put away before thee. Thine house and thy kingdom shall
be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established
forever according to all these words and according to all this
vision." So did Nathan speak unto David. It's what God said. He loved Solomon. He loved Solomon. He blessed Solomon. He taught
Solomon. Paul said, lest I be exalted
above measure because of the abundance of the revelations
of God, there was given me a thorn in the flesh. Solomon never said that. But
I'll show you something in a few minutes that sets forth that
God taught him that. The Lord mercifully called Solomon. One that he had everlastingly
loved. And in loving kindness, because the Lord loved him, whom
the Lord loved, he chastened him. The Lord lovingly showed
Solomon what he was in himself. And Solomon was kept by the power
of God through faith, believing that the faith of Christ was
his only hope. Solomon penned Song of Solomon. I looked up, tried to look as
closely as I could when these books were written. As closely
as I could tell, Solomon was placed on the throne. The timeline I found was 1014
B.C. I know the Jews were very good
about keeping records and I was looking at the timeline. The
book Song of Solomon was written about the time that Solomon was
installed as the king. We went through Song of Solomon.
You read the Song of Solomon and it's the beautiful language
of the church and her love for Christ, Christ's love for her.
and her adoration of her Lord, and his adoration of her, and
him telling her, you've ravished my heart, you've stolen my heart.
With one of your eyes, you've taken away, you've just... I
love you. That's when Solomon wrote the
Song of Solomon, when he was installed. As closely as I can
tell, about 20 years after Solomon was placed on the throne was
when 1 Kings 11 was penned. About 20 years after Solomon
was placed on the throne is when 1 Kings 11 was won. But Solomon loved strange women. About 20 years after he taught
in that. And then about 15 to 20 years after his heart was
drawn away by the teaching, chastening hand of Almighty God that showed
him, God had already told David, He says, if he transgressed,
I'm going to chasten him. But my mercy will never, never,
never leave him. Never. 15 to 20 years after his
heart was drawn away by strange women, Solomon penned Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes. 1 Kings 11, last verse. 1 Kings 11, verse
41-43. 1 Kings 11, verse 41. About 15 to 20 years after the
Lord allowed Solomon to see himself, is when Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
was written. 1 Kings 11.41, and the rest. I looked up the word rest. If
you just read it, you'll miss what it's saying. It says, And
the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did in his wisdom,
and his wisdom, and his wisdom. Are they not written in the books
of the acts of Solomon? And the rest. The word rest there
means the superiority. the plenteous, the remnant. That is what Solomon, by the
grace of God, was taught concerning himself, concerning God Almighty. And it was written for our learning
and our instruction. The things that were written
aforetime were written for our instruction. The rest of the acts, that is
the words, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes that
were written after the Lord showed Solomon what he is. In the wisdom
of Almighty God, God moved upon this man to write things such
as vanity of vanities. All is vanity. I took to myself
to find pleasure. Nothing. This world is nothing. Solomon was the one that wrote,
it's better to get wisdom than it is gold. Understanding than
silver. Solomon was the one that penned.
And I know, spiritually speaking, that Solomon, I mean, Proverbs
chapter 7, when he's talking about the harlot, and he saw
her and she stole his heart, and she says, come lie with me,
the good man's gone. Solomon knew that. No man knows
anything until he's experienced it. Almighty God moved upon this
man right here to right the emptiness, the vanity of this world and
this life. What Psalm 51 is to David, after
David went into Bathsheba, he looked upon her one night and
he took her and committed adultery with her. And then God sent Nathan
to David and said, You're the man. You're the man. This was
a man after God's own heart, the Scripture says. You go back
and read Psalm 51, what David had to live with for the rest
of his life. He said, My sin is ever before me. God have mercy. Keep me from presumptuous sins.
What Psalm 51 was to David, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is
to Solomon. This man was loved of God. This
man was taught of God. And do you know the difference?
When God teaches a man, teaches a woman, they say as Paul, O
wretched man, they say as Job, I am a whore myself. They say,
as Isaiah, woe is me. God's people know what they are
by nature. And the more they go through
this world, the more they know it. Solomon was a broken man. And God broke him by grace and
by mercy. Pride, pride cometh before fall. May God bless these words to
our heart for Christ's sake.