We noted in 1 Kings 4 how King
Solomon was king over all Israel. This chapter details the princes
that he had over Israel and the twelve officers he had over the
nation and his great wisdom, his dominion and his wealth. verse twenty-six we read and
Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and
twelve thousand horsemen and those officers provided victuals
for king Solomon and for all that came under king Solomon's
table every man in his month they lacked nothing barley also
and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto
the place where the officers were, every man according to
his charge. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom excelled the
wisdom of all the children of the East Country, and all the
wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men,
than Ethan, the Ezraite, and Haman, and Charcoal, and Dada,
the sons of Mahal, and his fame was in all nations round about.
And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand
and five. And he spake of trees, from the
cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall. He spake also of beasts, and
of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And they came
of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of
the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. All that came unto
King Solomon's table, every man in his month, they lacked nothing. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore. Oh, we know of his wisdom, but
God also gave him largeness of heart. This was a king who loved. A king who ruled over Israel. But he ruled with a largeness
of heart. All that came to his table lacked
for nothing. He watched over his people. He provided for them. He cared
for them. This was a gracious, a merciful,
and a loving king. And as we've seen before, Solomon
here is presented unto us as a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of his reign, of his kingdom,
of the authority and rule of Christ over all his people. He's
a picture of the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ. And in his largeness
of heart, He exemplifies the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The mercy, the love of God. For as we've read in 1 John 4,
God is love. At his very heart, in his very
character, God is love. He is a God that delights in
showing mercy. He's a gracious God. He pardons
the iniquity of His people. He rewards us not according to
our transgressions. In sending His Son into this
world as a Saviour of sinners, in offering up His Son, in Christ
shedding His blood for sinners, in taking their place under the
wrath and judgment of God, in washing them in His blood. and
making them to be the righteousness of God in him. God manifested
his love and Christ set forth his mercy and his grace towards
his people. He bids them to come under his
table, to sit at his table, to receive of his gospel feast,
to eat and drink at the very king's table where they lack
nothing. This largeness of heart of which
we read is the largeness of heart of a king, King Solomon. It's the king's heart of which
we read here. A largeness of heart, a grace,
a mercy, a love which was bestowed upon all his house upon the princes
in the house, the officers of the house, those that came to
his table, and upon all his kingdom. He made known his will, his desire
to be merciful, his love and his grace through his word. He ruled over his house, he appointed
princes over it, he appointed officers over the kingdom. 12
officers to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel. His word commanded
from the very head of this household, the head of this kingdom, and
went down through the officers unto the people. He made his
will known. He made his purpose known. He
made his largeness of heart known. This was a house and a kingdom
that was built upon foundations. At the head of the house, the
head of this kingdom sat the king. Beneath him he had princes
and officers. Twelve officers over the twelve
tribes of Israel, a picture of the twelve tribes and the twelve
apostles of the Lamb. How Christ is the head. of his house. He is the foundation,
the chief cornerstone upon which the house of God is built. The apostles' doctrine, the Twelve
Apostles of the Lamb, is that by which the gospel is preached. And the mercy and the love and
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is made known. Do you know anything
of this grace? This grace of God that brings
salvation. This God that delights in showing
mercy. Have you heard his gospel? Have
you heard his word? Not just in word only. Not just
in the letter. But have you heard him speak?
in your heart? Have you heard the voice of Jesus
Christ? Have you heard his heart speaking
unto your heart? Do you know something of the
largeness of Christ the King's heart? It is made known in the gospel
and it is made known in the preaching of that gospel. a gospel which
has gone forth to the four corners of this world to seek out the
lost. For Christ said that he came
to seek out the lost sheep of Israel. He came not to call the
righteous but sinners unto salvation. He will find them out, he'll
bring his word into their ears and he'll call them and he'll
call them to sit at his table. Oh, what a picture this is of
Solomon's table, that every man in his month was called unto
it and they lacked nothing. Solomon knew the grace and the
love of his father David, who in his latter years, when Saul
and Jonathan were slain in battle, sought out one from their household. upon which he might show mercy. He sought out one from his enemies,
upon whom he might show mercy. And they told him of poor Mephibosheth,
lame in both feet, who sat as a beggar at the gate. And David
said, Call him, bring him, cause him to sit at my table, provide
for him. This lame beggar, This man who had nothing was
called to the king's table. Oh what love David had for those
who were once his enemies. And oh what love Christ has for
while we were yet enemies, while his people were his enemies,
while they hated him and despised him, while they sought to put
him to death, when they put him to death, he loved them and gave
himself for them. If you know Christ, you will
know yourself to be a Mephibosheth, of the household of Saul, an
enemy of Christ once. who in your heart cried out of
him, away with this man, crucify him, crucify him. You did not
want to know him. You had no time for him, you
had no care for him. In spite of your weakness, in
spite of your lameness, in spite of your poverty, you had no care
for this king. You had no care for Christ. None
of us did. We cried out, crucify him. We
put him to death. We shut our ears to his gospel.
We said, another day of no time. And yet when he was crucified,
when we pierced him, when we put him to death, he looked out
upon us and said, father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. He looked out upon us in love
and in mercy. He took his people's sins. He took their rebellion, their
hatred, their unbelief. He bore it as though it was his.
He suffered upon the cross. He took the judgment of God upon
him. He went into the darkness. He
went into the abyss. He suffered under the outpouring
of God's wrath. the fires of God's wrath. He
suffered for those that were his enemies. He suffered for
those that hated and despised him. He suffered for Mephibosheth. And in the end, when he rose
and ascended into his courts and sat down upon his throne
and sat down at his table, he said, send for Mephibosheth.
and bring him here. Send for the sinner, send for
the lame, send for the weak, send for the bruised, send for
the despised, send for the base, the nothing, the nothings of
this world. Send my word unto them, send
my gospel to the nothings and call them to come and to sit
at my table. So what David did for Mephibosheth,
Solomon did for others at his table, and Christ does through
his gospel in declaring what he has done unto sinners and
saying, come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, come unto
my table. Come unto me. Have you heard his word? Have
you heard him calling when you're sat there in your lameness, in
the darkness of your sin, in your poverty? Have you heard
the largeness of the heart of the king in his gospel calling
unto you, come unto me? All that came to the king's table
lacked nothing. Lacked nothing. What do we lack? By nature we lack everything.
We have no wisdom. We're fools by nature. We have
no strength. We're unable to live as we should. We have no righteousness. We're
sinners through and through. Whatever we do, whatever we say
is tainted by sin. We're blind, we cannot see things
as they are. We're deaf, we never hear. We're
lame, we cannot walk, we cannot follow. We're dead in trespasses
and sins. We are poor. We labour under sin. We're heavy
laden with sin. We cannot work out our own righteousness
though we may try. And some do. Brought to understand where they
are before God, brought to understand the reality of eternity which
awaits, they try to labour to produce a righteousness and they
find that they cannot. The good that they would they
cannot do and the evil that they would not that they do. It's
a labour. They're heavy laden with the
burden of their sins. Is that you? Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. Are you labouring under the burden
of your sin? Well here's a king who calls
to his table. unto those that labour and are
heavy laden, unto the poor, unto the broken, unto the lame, unto
Mephibosheth like you and I. Have you heard his word? Why would we refuse when at his
table we would lack for nothing? Why would we turn our back upon
this king? And yet by nature we do. The
word goes out and we come not. We read of this in the parables
of Jesus, how there's one that laid on a banquet and he summoned,
he invited guests and they did not come. Despite the fact that they had
been called to this wonderful banquet, they would not come.
So he sends to call out those that
are in the highways and byways, he sends for those who are nothing. He calls sinners under salvation.
As Christ said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
Why don't we come under him by nature? Because like the Jews
under whom Christ came, we think by nature we're okay. We think
we're righteous. We think we're good by nature. We think we've got all our need.
We lack for nothing. We don't need to go to this table. We're our own masters. We're
our own kings. We sit at our own table. We think
we lack for nothing. We have our own righteousness. We think that when eternity comes,
God will look upon us and be well pleased with us. Because
we're blind to how vile we are. We cannot see the filthy rags
that our so-called righteousnesses are. We cannot see what we are,
that even that which we do, which we think is good, is seen in
God's eyes, is darkness, is evil, is iniquity. Why don't we come by nature?
Because we're blind, because we're deaf, we can't hear, because
we're dead, we can't move. Oh, that God would break the
heart of dead sinners, would bring our wisdom to nothing,
would cause our thinking we see to be brought to an end so we
see our blindness, would cause us to know that we are nothing,
cause us to know that we're deaf. Oh, that he would quicken us
unto life. that he would show us what we
are. As a poor Mephibosheth who cannot
move, who can't do anything for himself, who's in need of mercy,
that he would show us what we are and make known his grace
unto us. Make known His love and mercy
unto us in particular and call us by name and say, Mephibosheth,
come to my table. Come dwell in my house forevermore. At my table you will lack for
nothing. You will lack for nothing. I
will give you righteousness. I will give you riches. I will
provide for you in every way. I will feed you. I will feed
you through the gospel. I will give you wisdom. I will
give you knowledge. I will set my love upon you.
I will lead you through the way. I will be the light in the darkness. I will be your shepherd. I will
lead you by the still waters. I will lead you through the green
pastures. I will provide all for you. You
will lack for nothing. O God, give us ears to hear the
voice of this shepherd, that we as lost sheep might be found
and led into this fold. As God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore You could not measure his wisdom. You could not measure his understanding
and you could not measure the largeness of his heart, his grace,
his mercy, his love. And not only did Solomon have
a large and a gracious heart, it was a heart that acted. It was a love that was seen.
It was a love that was made known. And God has manifested His love
in Jesus Christ by giving His Son as a sacrifice for sin. Christ makes known His love unto
us by giving Himself for His own, by laying down His life
for the sheep, by coming into the darkness of this world as
the light of God and offering himself in the place of sinners. He's made it known. As we've read in 1 John 4, herein
is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. herein is love. Beloved let us
love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God for God is love. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Oh, do you know this love? A
love which is manifested, a love which is made known. A love which
sent Christ into this world. a love by which He laid down
His life. O sinner, O believer! Believer,
a love which caused Him to lay down His life in your stead,
to take the judgment that you deserved, to take the penalty,
the punishment you deserved and take it upon Himself. He died
that we should live. Yes, herein is love. We did not
love him, but he loved us. We never sought him, but he sought
us, if we're his. We never cared for him, but he
cared for us. We showed him no mercy, but his
mercy unto his own is boundless. His grace is without measure,
it abounds under his own. It's eternal, it's everlasting. This love knew no beginning,
and it knows no end. You cannot measure its depths. He gave everything for His own,
that they might have everything in Him. Yes, we did not love Him. We
hated him, we despised him because his love was set upon sinners.
Sinners like you and I. Those who had no time for him,
those who despised him, who hated him, who in their hearts said,
we will not hear. Those who pierced him. His grace
is towards sinners, the vile, the base, the wretched. the blind,
the deaf, the dumb, the lame, the dead, sinners like you, like
me, those who have nothing, those who have no righteousness, those
who have no claim on salvation, sinners. There are very few sinners. In
reality, all have sinned, but only a few own it. Only a few
acknowledge it. Only a few accept it. How many
think they are righteous? How many think they are good
inherently? When the reality is so different.
But oh that we might be found a sinner before God. One that
knows what they are. For it's sinners for whom He
came. We sin constantly. Our sins cannot
be numbered. But oh, the largeness of heart
of our king, our God and savior. How abundant is his grace towards
us. As Paul writes in Romans, moreover
the law entered that the offense might abound. When the law came
upon us, it condemned us. And we tried to do what it commanded,
but we sinned all the more. The law entered that the offence
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. This is grace abounds. Perhaps you feel at times overwhelmed
by your sin. Even as believers, perhaps you
feel like you fall constantly, like you cannot stop yourself
sinning, like every day you're aware of it. Oh, how your tongue
gets the better of you. Oh, how cold your heart can be. Oh, how your thoughts go here
and there. Oh, how great the flesh is within
us, still lusting after this and that. Oh, how it wars against
the Spirit. Oh, how it quenches and grieves. And at times we wonder, do we
have any faith? Are we truly the Lord's? Sometimes
our sin is overwhelming. And yet if we're His, He will
constantly bring us back under the gospel, bring us to here. Cause us to see a Saviour crucified
in our stead. Cause us to hear and know of
the largeness of His heart. His grace will abound. Wherever
our sin abounds, His grace abounds all the more. Shall we then sin that grace
might abound? No, God forbid, we hate our sin,
we'd rather not. But we know that we do. And when
we do, How he comes unto us in mercy and grace and says, come
to my table and eat. And we lack for nothing. How
his grace abounds, we read of this in many places. 2 Corinthians
9 verse 8, and God is able to make all grace abound toward
you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good work. What a statement. He's able to
make all grace abound toward you that ye always have in all
sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. We
don't feel sufficient for these things. We don't feel like we're
able to follow Christ at times. We feel our weakness and our
depravity. We feel our coldness. We feel
our inability. But in Christ, we are more than
conquerors. In Him, when we're brought to
an end of ourself, an end to looking upon ourself, an end
to trusting ourselves, when we look purely under Him as our
Saviour and rest in Him, then all grace abounds towards us.
And we discover that we have All sufficiency in all things
we have Christ. We lack for nothing. We're at
his table. We're eating of his gospel feast. We lack for nothing. He's been
merciful unto us. He's been loving unto us. He's
our great shepherd. He will lead us by the right
way. None shall be plucked out of
his hand. None shall be lost. He will fight every battle. He
will win every battle for us. He will watch over us. He will
conquer. In him, we are more than conquerors. In Ephesians 1, we read, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace, wherein he have abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He's given us all things. He's
redeemed us. He's set us free from our sin. He's set us free from the condemnation
and the penalty of the law. He's delivered us. He's delivered
us from that curse. He's set us free. He's ransomed
us through His blood. He gave Himself, He gave His
all, He laid down His life for us, He set us free through His
blood, and He forgave our sins. Every one of them, He's blotted
them out. Whiter than snow they are. They
are as far from the east as from the west. They cannot be found. He's taken them away. He's washed
us clean according to the riches. of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us." He abounds towards his people. He gives
them everything. He abounds towards them in all
wisdom and prudence. Oh, how Solomon pictured this,
this wise king, this understanding king, this king with great largeness
of heart, who bid the people come to his table and they lacked
nothing. and there was peace in the kingdom
and rest, such that he built the Lord a temple into which
the people would come and worship, a people who had been delivered,
delivered from their enemies, delivered from the warfare, delivered
from all that was against them. So are we in Christ, if we're
in his kingdom. The warfare's been accomplished.
Christ has gone to battle. He's gone to the war. He's gone
out victorious. He's conquered every enemy. He's
conquered sin. He's conquered death. He's conquered
hell. And he comes riding back in blood-soaked
garments from the battlefield, leading his people forth, leading
them into eternal glory, leading them into a kingdom that lasts
forever, leading them into their holy temple, where they will
reign and worship with him forevermore. And he brings them to his table,
and they lack for nothing. He came to the dead. to bring
them life, everlasting eternal life. As he says in John 10,
the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am come
that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly. Has this king come unto you,
riding upon a great horse, in blood-soaked garments? Has he
come unto you, who are dead, dead in trespasses and sins,
dead in the darkness? Has he come unto you with his
word, his gospel, and brought unto you life? Has he touched
you and said, rise up? Take up thy bed and walk. As
he touched your blind eyes and said, see. As he touched your ears and caused
you to hear. As he called out to you in the
grave and said, Lazarus, come forth. As he come unto you in
the gospel and said, come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden. as he called out and sent his
messenger, sent the Spirit unto you to call you by name, Mephibosheth. Come unto me. Come unto my table. Sit down and eat. Come into my
house wherein you will dwell evermore. Come unto my gospel
in which you will lack for nothing. Come unto me. Oh, do you know
the largeness of heart of this King? Do you know His grace? Do you know His grace in your
life, in your walk, in every circumstance? Do you see His
rule over all things, that He purposes all things for your
good? That there's no circumstance
comes upon you that will bring you harm? That He's watching
over you in every way? That the pathway He's brought
you on is the right way? He's your shepherd leading you. As a shepherd leads his sheep,
he's providing for you. He's watching over you. He's
keeping the wolves and the bears from you. Is he your king? Is he your savior? Is he your
shepherd? Is he the door through which
you have entered? Is he your priest? Is he your
sacrifice? Is he your righteousness? Is
this king your wisdom, your understanding? Is he your heart? Has he come
unto you in largeness of heart, in grace, in mercy and love?
And has he made known his heart for you? And have you received
him in your heart by grace? Has the spirit made him known
unto you? O that we might know the King's
heart in our heart. O that we might know His grace. O that He might be our all in
all. For if He brings us as Mephibosheth
to His table, we shall lack for nothing. Amen.