Chapter 9. And while you're turning there,
I need to correct something. My wife has informed me that
I need to correct something I said a couple of weeks ago. Both Lynn
and even Aubrey said it did not sound good, so I have two against
me. I said there's no way anyone
took it this way, and as it turned out, they did. When I said Lynn
has to act like she likes gifts when she really doesn't, I was
solely speaking of the gifts that I give to her. She says after 35 years of marriage,
I should know what she likes and what she doesn't, but evidently
I don't. Actually, I was wrong saying
that she acts like she likes my gifts because she's cried
before when I've given her things. Correction over. First Kings 9. I want to begin reading in verse
15 and read down through verse 23. And this is the reason of
the levy. The tax, the slave labor is what
it actually means. And this is the reason of the
levy, the slave labor, which King Solomon raised for to build
the house of the Lord and his own house and Milo and the wall
of Jerusalem and Hazar and Megiddo and Gezer. For Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire
and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city. and given
it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon built
Gezer, and Beth-horon, the nether, and Baaleth, and Tadmar, and
the wilderness, and the land, and all the cities of store that
Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, cities for his
horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem,
and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion, and all
the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,
their children that were left after them in the land whom the
children of Israel also were not able to utterly destroy. Upon these did Solomon levy a
tribute of bond service. And to this day, they were turned
into slaves is what that means. And I don't see much difference
between what Solomon did and what Pharaoh did. Remember when
Pharaoh had all the children of Israel build the pyramids
and so on. But if the children of Israel
did Solomon make no bondman, but they were men of war and
his servants and his princes and his captains and rulers of
his chariots and his horsemen. These were the chief of the officers
that were over Solomon's work, 550, which bear rule over the
people that wrought in the work. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask in Christ's name that you would be pleased to meet
with us. We're so thankful that you're God, that you're on the
throne, that you rule and control all things, and Lord, By your
grace, bow in our hearts to your majesty and your greatness and
your glory. Be pleased to meet with us for
Christ's sake. Forgive us of our sins, Lord,
for Christ's sake. Cause us to be found in him and
cause your gospel to be preached and be with all your people wherever
they meet together. Accept our thanksgiving in Christ
and we pray. Amen. Now, I'm not going to get
to the text. until about the last five minutes
of this lesson. God did something for the nation
of Israel that he didn't do for any of the other nations. That's
clear. You remember in Exodus chapter
11, verse 7, where it is said, with regard to the nation of
Israel, against the nation of Israel shall not a dog move his
tongue, against man or beast, that you may know how that the
Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." God
did something for Israel that he didn't do for anybody else. He made such a difference. Now this began with the calling
of Abraham. Isaiah 51, 2 says, I called him
alone. He didn't call anybody else. Evidently, all I can see is that
at this time there were no believers in the earth. And God called
Abraham alone. And you know the amazing story
of Abraham, Abraham, having Isaac, Isaac having Jacob, Jacob having
the twelve patriarchs. And they were sent into Egypt
through Joseph being sold, that wicked act of his brothers. He
was sold into Egypt and he became the head man in Egypt. What a
wonderful story. God bringing good out of evil.
Seventy men from Abraham's loins came into Egypt. And God told
Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 that they were going to be a
nation of slaves for 400 years. As a matter of fact, they're
the ones who built the pyramids. All these big pyramids, they
were the ones who did it. Now, they were a nation of slaves
for 400 years. And then God raised up Moses
for their deliverance. And by this time, there were
about two million people and God promised them the promised
land. He promised to give them this
land and to drive out all these other people and kill them. And
he said, you kill them, you drive them out, don't have any mercy
on them. Now, when people read the Old
Testament, they think that's That seems so violent. That seems
so wrong for God to just tell them to exterminate all these
places. Why did he make this difference
with Israel? That he would actually push these people out of their
land? What if somebody came into the United States and made us
a bunch of slaves and took over? Why? It would seem awful, wouldn't
it? Well, it was no more awful than it was back then, but this
is what took place. Now understand, first of all, that God did not
do this because Israel was better. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 9.
Deuteronomy chapter 9 verse 4. Speak not thou in thine heart
after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee
saying for my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess
this land. Now that's not the reason But for the wickedness
of these nations, the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.
Now, this is why God drove them out because he's just and their
wickedness. Verse five, not for thy righteousness
or for the uprightness of thine heart. Dost thou go to possess
their land? But for the wickedness of these
nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee,
that he may perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy
fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Now, God had promised
them this land and these people were to be driven out because
of their wickedness. And he told them to exterminate
all these people without mercy. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter seven. This is Moses speaking to the
children of Israel before they enter the promised land, right
when they're getting ready to enter. When the Lord thy God
shall bring thee into the land, whether thou goest to possess
it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and
the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier
than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall
deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them. and utterly
destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show
mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son,
nor his daughter shalt thou take for thy son. For they shall turn
away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.
So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy
thee suddenly. But thus shall you deal with
them. You shall destroy their altars, break down their images,
cut down their groves, burn their graven images with fire. For
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord didn't
set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all nations.
But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the
oath, which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of bondman from the house of Pharaoh. And this was to be continued
throughout their history. Read first Samuel 15, where he
says, destroy all the Amalekites, women, children, and cattle,
kill them all. Now this is to be carried out
that they were not to have mercy on these lands. And look at these
warnings of what would take place if they didn't. Turn to Numbers
33. Numbers 33, beginning in verse
52. Then you should drive out. Numbers
33 verse 52, then you should drive out all the inhabitants
of land from before you and destroy all their pictures and destroy
all their molten images and quite pluck down all their places.
And you should dispossess the inhabitants of the land. Now
look down at verse 55, but if you will not drive out the inhabitants
of the land from before you, Then it shall come to pass that
those which you let remain of them shall be pricks in your
eyes and thorns in your side, and shall vex you in the land
wherein you dwell." If you don't kill all these people, there
are going to be nothing but grief. Turn to Joshua 23. It's a Joshua speaking to the
children of Israel, and he says pretty much the same thing. This
is after Moses has been dead sometime, beginning in verse
11. Take good heed therefore unto
yourselves that you love the Lord your God, else if you do
in any wise, go back and cleave unto the remnant of these nations,
even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages
with them and go in unto them, and they to you, no for a certainty.
that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations
from before you, but they shall be snares and traps unto you,
scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish
from off the good land which the Lord hath given unto you."
Now, Solomon broke this commandment very early in his history as
king when he married this Egyptian woman. the daughter of Pharaoh
in 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 1, and you know where it led him.
He ended up dying like an idolater. If God didn't tell us he was
saved, we would believe he wasn't saved just by reading the last
of his life. But before he failed, we just
read of all these building projects. He built the temple. He built
his own house. He built this fortress called
Milo. His entire kingship was used
to make all these fantastic building projects, which at that time,
Israel was the mightiest nation in all the world. They could
put tribute on anybody. They could control everybody.
Solomon had become the most powerful man in the world. And I'm not
sure that he was any different than Pharaoh because he got slave
labor to do this. We read about that. He put a
levy on people and did slave labor. Now back to our text,
verse 15. And this is the reason of the
levy, which King Solomon raised for to build the house of the
Lord and his own house and Milo and the wall of Jerusalem. and
Hazor and Matagot, and they talk about all these different building
projects. Now look down at verse 20. And
all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,
these are people that God had commanded them to exterminate
and kill and drive out of the land. but they were unable to
do it. Their children that were left,
verse 21, after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were
not able to utterly destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a
tribute of bond service unto this day. These people who were
still there, who shouldn't have been there, they were the ones
that Solomon used as slave labor to build all these Buildings. I hope I don't have to remind
you that all of this is given to picture some aspect of the
gospel, but I want to quote this scripture to you. And he said,
drive out all of these nations. All of these people, kill them.
Don't have any mercy on them. Get them out. If you don't, there'll
be thorns in your side. There'll be scourges through
your eyes. There'll be nothing but problems. First John chapter
2, verse 1, John says, these things write I unto you, that
you sin not. Now I want you to think about that. This is God's purpose for me
and for you, that we sin not. Somebody's thinking, how can
you say something like that? Well, the Bible says it. These things write I
unto you, that you sin not, no sin is to be spared. No sin of the flesh, no sin of
the spirit. That's God's command. I think
of that scripture in 2 Corinthians 7, 1. Let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. were to bear the fruit of the
spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Isn't it beautiful? The Beatitudes. I love the Beatitudes that describe
the believer. I'm to be poor in spirit before
God. I'm to mourn. I'm to be meek.
I'm to hunger and thirst after righteousness, his righteousness. I'm to be merciful. I'm to be
pure in heart. I'm to be a peacemaker. I'm to
be persecuted for righteousness sake. I mean, all these descriptions
of what a believer is and is to be. We're called to love our enemies,
to turn the other cheek. We're called to holiness. Sin
is never okay. We're to drive out the Jebusites. and Hittites and Hivites and
all these different things. We're not to spare any of them. Now, here's my question. Have you driven out all the Hittites,
Hivites, Jebusites, and whatever else we could talk about? Have
you driven them out? You know, preachers use the term
whether living in sin. They're living in sin. Would that describe me? Would
that describe you? Living in sin? We have not driven
out the Jebusites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Amalekites.
There are scourges in our eyes. There are thorns in our side. You know, Paul actually spoke
of being given a thorn in the flesh. He said, unto me, there
was, lest I be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations given to me, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh. a messenger of Satan to buffet
me, to knock me black and blue. Now for this thing, I besought
the Lord three times there would depart from me. You want his
answer to this request was my grace is sufficient for the
You're going to have to be satisfied to be saved by pure, free, sovereign
grace. Now, here is something that only
God can do. This is the point I wanted to
make. I said everything to get to this point. Only God brings
good out of evil. Aren't you thankful he's that
way? What a glorious God. He brings good out of evil. And all I got to talk about is
the cross. What's the most evil thing to ever take place? When
men nailed the son of God to a cross, what wickedness, what
evil, what is the most glorious thing to ever take place? The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished. Now
there we have God bringing good out of evil. Now, these nations
that Israel was unable to drive out, they should have. They were
wrong in not doing it. It was an act of disobedience
to God. There wasn't any justification for it. God told them, exterminate
them. Get rid of them all. These men
left were used as slave labor to build the buildings. Now here's
the point. Here's the point. Your sins,
the Jebusites, the Hittites, the Hivites, Whatever else there
is, your sins. There's no justification for
my sins. There's no excuse for them. Evil,
sinful, no excuse for sin. Those very sins are used by God
as slave labor to cause me and you to look only to Christ. Thus God brings good out of evil. Is that a justification for my
sin? No. Is that a reason for me to think
it's okay to sin? Well, God's in control of it.
No, there's never an okay in this thing of sin. It's evil.
That's all you can call it. But aren't you thankful for that
verse of scripture in Romans chapter eight, verse 28. And
we know. We as every believer, and we
know that all things, what goes under that umbrella? All things. And we know that
all things work together for good, to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose." Now, they should
have drove those Gentiles, people of another nation,
out. They were commanded to. They
were commanded to destroy them all. The people deserve to be
destroyed. God said, for the wickedness
of these nations, I'm driving them out. It's not because you
have your righteousness and you're good and I'm giving you what
they had. No, he said, because of the wickedness
of these nations, I'm driving them out. And indeed they were
called upon to drive them out. And you and I are called upon
to not spare any sin. And every one of us, when we
think of that, we think of all the sin in my life. Don't spare
it, but understand this. The elder shall serve the younger. The old nature, the nature that
you were born with, will serve the new nature. In this sense,
your sin, the sins you commit, make you know so clearly that
the only hope you have is Christ. You can't look to your works
in any way, to any measure, to any degree. Thus, God brings
good out of evil. And he's the only one who can
do this, but how we admire him for doing this. Thank God. Drive out. the Hivites and the
Jebusites and so on. But understand this, I think
of, like I said, somebody living in sin, who doesn't live in sin?
Somebody raise your hand if you don't live in sin. You know,
I mean, we breathe it. But that very sin, is what causes
us to know that the only righteousness we have is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. So we see God's glory even in
an event like this. Amen.