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Scripture Reading

Warning Signs of a Drifting Sire

1 Kings 3

Heroes Fall One of the most disappointing lessons. The

only heroes who really never fall are in cartoons. Sports figures get into drugs and other illegal activities. Elected figures cannot be put on a pedestal. One president is disgraced and forced from office; another uses the Oval Office as a pleasure den and then lies to the American people about it. Politicians are involved in scandal after scandal. Ministers leave their ministries, wives, and the church.

The Bible is candid about its heroes It does not try to paint heroes as perfect.

One of the saddest falls is Solomon. We see all the things he built in 1 Kings 3-10; then we see him involved in many marriages that turn him away from God, beginning in 1 Kings 11. We get the impression that he suddenly lost his moorings and went bad. Not so. There were warning signs.

Solomon's Success

Fortune 1 Kings 10:23 NIV King Solomon was

greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

His annual income was about $75 million

Fame 1 Kings 10:24 NIV The whole world sought

audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

Queen of Sheba & whole world knew of him

Power Name, Solomon, meant peace Forty year reign was peaceful - only one military campaign Solomon was a man kings made treaties with 1 Kings 3:1 NIV Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh

king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Pleasure Ecclesiastes 2:10 NIV I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

He would have made the cover of Forbes, People, Time & GQ as one of the 10 most admired men of his day

Spiritual Erosion Adversity is hard on a man, but for every

man who can handle prosperity, there are 100 who can handle adversity - Thomas Carlyle

Promotions are more likely to cause a man to lose his equilibrium than demotion

I've never had a person tell me how success has brought him closer to God

Spiritual erosion of the successful is subtle and almost always fatal

No man suddenly becomes base Solomon is okay for seven chapters, and

then he goes bad

Like catching crawdads Put a piece of bacon on a safety pin tied to

a string - when crawdad focuses on bacon you pull slowly - he's focused on the bacon - once you pull him in, you have to decide what to do with the crawdad

That's the way Satan catches a successful man - gets him to focus on the bacon

Sinners don't know when they left God Sam, Montgomery AL, left Hwy 20 to gas

up car, then drove five hours before he realized he'd left his wife at the gas station, then had to explain he didn't notice her absence

Like successful man who suddenly discovers God isn't there any more

Saddest story Samson gave away his secret, then didn't

know God had left him Judges 16:20 NIV Then she called,

"Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

Symptoms of spiritual erosion:

Unwise alliances 1 Kings 3:1 NIV Solomon made an alliance

with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Not technically forbidden Letter of the law only forbade marrying

Canaanites - but miles from the spirit of the law

Did he convert her? No, twenty years into his reign, she was

still a pagan 2 Chronicles 8:11 NIV Solomon brought

Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."

Unsuitable worship 1 Kings 3:2-3 NIV The people, however,

were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. (3) Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

The temple hadn't been built The tabernacle was still in Gibeon High places were where pagans

worshipped Solomon copies the examples of

foreigners: All kings marry foreigners; all kings worship on high places

Solomon's basic two sins revolve around women and idolatry

1 Kings 11:1-10 NIV King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's

daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. (2) They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. (3) He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. (4) As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (5) He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. (6) So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. (7) On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. (8) He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. (9) The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. (10) Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.

Seeds sown in 1 Kings 3

Unresolved conflict 1 Kings 9:10-13 NIV At the end of twenty years,

during which Solomon built these two buildings--the temple of the LORD and the royal palace-- (11) King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted. (12) But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. (13) "What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?" he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day.

Their agreement was one city per year Solomon gave Hiram poor cities "Cabul" means "good for nothing" i.e. "ripoff" No text indicates that Solomon ever tried to

work things out Early in his reign, he was a model of

diplomacy Now, he's famous: "Hiram, I do as I please.

You can like it or leave it." Solomon is successful and doesn't care about

his friends

Unrestrained extravagance 1 Kings 10:14-28 NIV The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,

(15) not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. (16) King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas of gold went into each shield. (17) He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. (18) Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. (19) The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. (20) Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. (21) All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. (22) The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. (23) King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. (24) The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. (25) Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift--articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules. (26) Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. (27) The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. (28) Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue --the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

Every utensil was made of gold Silver considered common Who needs that many horses and all that

money? Solomon is acting like all the other kings - not like he was supposed to

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 NIV When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have

taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," (15) be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. (16) The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." (17) He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (18) When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. (19) It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees (20) and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

That explains David's actions in 2 Samuel 8:3-11 NIV Moreover, David fought Hadadezer son of Rehob, king

of Zobah, when he went to restore his control along the Euphrates River. (4) David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses. (5) When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. (6) He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went. (7) David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. (8) From Tebah and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze. (9) When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, (10) he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze. (11) King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued:

Solomon did all three:

Great wealth - Strike one 1 Kings 10:14-25 NIV The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666

talents, (15) not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. (16) King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas of gold went into each shield. (17) He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. (18) Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. (19) The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. (20) Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. (21) All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. (22) The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. (23) King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. (24) The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. (25) Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift--articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

Many horses - Strike two 1 Kings 10:26-29 NIV Solomon accumulated chariots

and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. (27) The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. (28) Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue --the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. (29) They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

Many wives - Strike three - You're out! 1 Kings 11:1-11 NIV King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides

Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. (2) They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. (3) He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. (4) As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (5) He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. (6) So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. (7) On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. (8) He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. (9) The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. (10) Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command. (11) So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

Thoughts on spiritual erosion

Submit to a regular examination Something happens when a famous

person contracts a disease. Lots of ordinary people recognize the symptoms and go see the doctor

Reason God tells us about Solomon: if we can see the spiritual cancer in his life, maybe we'll recognize the symptoms in our own. Do I see anything like that in me?

1 Corinthians 10:6-12 NIV Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from

setting our hearts on evil things as they did. (7) Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." (8) We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. (9) We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes. (10) And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel. (11) These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (12) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

We need to regularly examine ourselves for this disease The only cure is to catch it before it's too late; otherwise

it's fatal If the symptoms appear, take drastic measures at once If a spot showed up on your lung, you'd do something

radical, if necessary - whatever it takes for your health If it's a spiritual disease, drastic changes may be in order: If your job takes you away from the Lord - change your job If your friends take you away from the Lord - change your

friends Maybe you need to break off some relationships Some people contract lung cancer, but keep on smoking.

Cemeteries are full of them

Pray Father, cause each of us to realize that

this lesson is for each one of us I beg you not to leave this building without

a serious evaluation of your spiritual health: repentance, baptism, prioritize life

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Closing Prayer

Please remain for a brief period of fellowship followed by Bible Classes from 10:30 to 11:15