We
have been studying 1, 2 Chronicles here on Wed nights for the last several
months – making our way thru the OT.
A) Written to a remnant of
B)
They have come back to a
C) They Have the task
of rebuilding – The writer who is probably Ezra is writing 1st
and 2nd Chronicles to encourage them in that task
D)
It is a big task – but He is a bigger God / They are few / But one
with God is a majority
1)
They are weak – But God is able to do great things in & thru the lives of
weak pp who put their trust in Him!
The
focus in these two letters has been to Chronicle the Success of the nation of
A) The majority of his time
is spent on highlighting the Success of their leaders and spending little time
on their failures.
B) We looked at David – been
Looking at Solomon – tonight he will finish with Solomon and we will move into
other Kings of Judah { Lord used … Revival
C)
Which is exactly what they needed at that point. See the greatness of God and His faithfulness
toward those who’s hearts are loyal toward Him
RD
V.1-6
Solomon
reigned for 42 yrs – So this is the ˝ way point in his reign and God is
blessing – Kingdom is expanding.
A) Note v.6 All that he desired to Build- There were no restraints – no limits Solomon was able to do all
that He desired to do.
B) Praying for – Lord bless
us – Provide/ let us do all that we desire to do for your kingdom/ New Property
C) Solomon has been blessed with great wisdom{
He is using that wisdom to expand the Kingdom is growing – building Cities and accumulating wealth.
D) But Sad to say Solomon
would lack the heart of his father David.
1) Heart
is really the Compass of the Human being – not the intellect – not
wisdom – the heart – Desire and longing
E) David’s heart and desire
was always after God.
Now V.7-10 tell us how
Solomon continued to expand and put key men in key leadership positions
His wisdom as a LEADER! Pick up in v.11
11
Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of
Here the writer
makes a quick note of one of the failures in Solomon’s life – He marries a
Pagan queen – Pharaoh’s daughter. {Egyptian
alliance
A) Solomon had to build her
a separate house because she being an unbeliever couldn’t be around that which
was holy –
B) Solomon should have got a
clue here: What am I doing- Compromise
C) Like a person saying: I
am going to take the cross off of the Wall in my TV room – because I like to watch things there the Lord would
approve of
And
in a very subtle contrast – v.11 is placed in this section that is going to
tell us about Solomon’s worship RD V.12- 13
A) Note the contrast- he
moves his wife out because – it was unholy – but then goes right back to his
religious practices
B) No doubt this was one of
the problems for Solomon at this point in his life his faith was becoming more of a religious exercise rather than a heart
devotion.
C)
Solomon is going thru the motions – but his heart is not in the same place as
we saw earlier of this young man crying out to God
Cc) Calling the
pp to follow the word of God –
1) Leading the pp in worship
of God to the point – GOD SHOWED UP – GLORY
D) Now he is simply going
thru the motions – allowing his heart to compromise in areas.
E) Folks
– Dear People –My Beloved brothers and sisters / Dudes and Dudettes
1) Take note: We must not
allow ourselves to go there.
Shortly
after Easter – Love the Lord with …….
Spark – Ignited a move of God
here
A) Lets not go back – lets
move forward in our commitment our intensity to seek the Lord – worship Him /
Serve Him / Know Him
B) Let this never be about
going thru the motions – God deserves so much more than that from us.
C) Solomon is
starting to go thru the motions
RDV.
14-18
CH.9:1
Now when the
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test
Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore
spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon,
she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.
So
Solomon’s fame is spreading all over the world – A queen 1500 miles away living
in the area of Arabia – hears: What did she here?
A) Richest man alive - Annual income 1 Billion dollars a year
B) How much is that? - Listen to some of these stats Those who have the time to do this type of
research
1) If you started counting as
fast as you could from the day you were born, and counted NON-STOP, day and
night, it would take you 75 years to count
to 1 billion.
C) IF you were a millionaire you could turn to your wife and say:
“honey, I want you to go out and spend $1,000 a day.
1) And I don’t want you to
come back until you’ve spent the million. IF she did this, you would not see your wife for three
years.
D) Some of the Wives are thinking – let’s
test that – 1,000 a day spending spree
E) BUT - If you were a
billionaire and said: “Honey, go out and spend $1,000 a day and don’t come back
until you’ve spent the billion”, you would not see her for 3,000 years!
That is how much
money 1 Billion dollars is – HUGE – This was Solomon’s annual income
A) She no doubt heard – He
is the richest man alive –
He is the wisest man alive {
Great wisdom
B) She no doubt heard the
Story of how He built a temple to His God and the Lord descended
upon it in a visible way: Fire / Glory
1) Tangible
Seen and Felt – which is way more than she could ever say about one of
her gods.
C) So she says to herself –
I have got to see this – I have got to find out if this is really true – So she
travels 1500 miles on the Back of a camel
1) 1500 miles thru the hot
desert to come and see Solomon – Ask him some tough
questions.
D) Here is what is
interesting:
1) Prove to us that you are
who you say you are.
40 For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so
will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth. 41 The men of
Jesus
condemns them for their unbelief and unwillingness to hear him by commending
The queen of
A) She was willing to travel
so far to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
B) A
greater than Solomon was in their midst{ Jesus
1) The one who gave Solomon
his wisdom was available to them – accessible to them
C) Think about this she
traveled 1500 miles to meet with Solomon.
1) We can simply travel to
our prayer closet to meet with Jesus.
D) He is readily available
to meet with us / hear us
Shame
on us for running to others for wisdom and not running to God
A) We need to run to Him and
be willing to wait for an answer.
B) See
that is my problem: I know that if I go to God I might not receive an
answer right away:
1) He wants me to wait on
Him – diligently seek him
2) Quiet
my heart to hear his voice –
C) I know that if I run to
one of my friends I will get an answer right away.
D) Yesterday: Wrestling with a dilemma - I thought of 3-4 of my Pastor friends I
could call. -
1) Devos –The Lord gently
said – What about me - Right! – Prayer
walk
E) Still praying still
waiting – but the Lord has quieted my heart – I know the answer is coming.
1) The Queen of
2) I think I can wait a
little while on He who is greater than Solomon.
F) My Jesus who says come to
me!
RD v. 2-4
She
was impressed ! By what?
A)
The Food / The Service of His servants
– V.7 How they served with such Joy!
B) Their
Apparel / the Entry way { The whole
thing took her breath away
C) You know I think that
this is what needs to happen when pp come to a Church.
{ They should be impressed
Impressed
with the Food that is served: The Bible Study { Try
to make it good / relevant
A) When pp come here it is
not to be entertained – not to see a show or a production –
B) They need to sense there
is something deeper here that is taking place
1) Group of pp gathered here
because we believe that God is real – Knowable
C) Given us His word – Love
letter – Not just words on a page – ALIVE –
Profitable for
teaching / Reproof / Correction / training in righteousness Complete / Equipped
D) We have gathered – Lord
speak to us – Cut us – Let your word have its way with us. -
1) That
impacts people!
I
think they should be impressed by servants Serving w/ Joy!
A) They see us – worship and in service – Privilege God would
choose to use me at all. Greet / Park Cars / Clean a toilet / teach class /
worship
B) I think they should be
impressed by our apparel – Neat –
1) Expectations:
I would wear shorts and Flip flops all year long
C) Suits
at Easter in the Park – Steve: No one offended if you do – But there
might be those who are offended if you don’t
D) We are pretty Casual here
in CCV / in So.
E) Entryway:
Things presentable – That has to be a focus!
She was impressed by Everything
wow! RD V.
5-9
What
great insight she has here: God did this because He loved
A) He has given them you to
be King and blessed you in this way because He Loved them
B) Solomon needed to
remember this: God’s glory in focus – not Solomon’s
Bb)
All that He was given was a direct result of God’s love for Him and His love
for
C) We need to remember that
as well. Your gifts / your talents / your resources –
1) All because – He loves
you and loves – His pp
D) What He has given you He
wants you to use to bless others.
1) To use it otherwise or
simply for ourselves is a waste of a gift.
Great insight
from the queen of
Now V. 13-28 give us a sort of summary Break down of Solomon’s
wealth { Not read –
quick break down
A) V.13 The weight of gold
that came to him annually 666 talents of gold
Odd #
V.14 – Created toll roads
for merchants traveling thru the
V.15 He made these large
Shields that would cover the whole body made of Solid gold – valued at 400,000
a piece
V.16-19 Huge throne made of
ivory covered with gold and images of lions on either side.
There was no other King in any kingdom
that had a throne as ornate or as expensive as Solomon.
A) Here is what is really interesting God has NOT
chosen to be enthroned upon an ivory throne,
covered in gold.
B) He has chosen to be enthroned upon our
praises!!
Psalm 22:3
C) We sing – He settles – He is enthroned in that
1) Isn’t
that reason enough to lift up our praises to Him
C) Be a throne builder!!
Skip down to v.25
25 Solomon had
four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom
he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at
Multiplying Horses /
gold/ wives{ Solomon don’t
RD V.26-31
Now
the Chronicler doesn’t go into a lot of detail about Solomon’s failings – He
leaves us here
A) But we know from the book
of ECCl – that although Solomon was Successful, wealthy, extravagant, yet none the less, He was miserable.
When we get into
the Book of Ecclesiastes we will see from Solomon’s own pen, that during THIS
time of incredible prosperity, he was filled with emptiness.
VANITY, VANITY, ALL IS VANITY
A) He had wealth, education, pleasure and power and found that none of
it could make him happy
WEALTH - Andrew Carnegie:
“Millionaires seldom smile”
PLEASURE - Lord Byron: He lived for pleasure, but at the
end of his life he said: “The worm, the canker, grief are all mine and mine
alone”
EDUCATION - Voltaire: One of
the greatest philosophers said, “I wish I had never been born”
POWER - Alexander the Great: At the age of 30 he conquered the world. He
sat and wept that there are no more worlds to conquer. Shortly after he died.
Solomon – Greater
than all of them combined – Said – It is all Vanity.
A) What happened to Solomon?
Simple Solomon didn’t heed the words that he wrote
in
“Keep your heart with all diligence,
For
out of it spring the issues of life.”
Solomon
didn’t do that – He didn’t heed his own advice { He didn’t guard his heart
A) He wasn’t careful with
his affections
Aa) Jesus said of the
religious leaders – they honor me with their mouths but their hearts are far
B) They played lip service
to God.
C) They were affectionate
about the Laws of God and all their rules – but not the God of the Law
Solomon
had a similar problem – He started off having a loyal heart toward God
A) Solomon became
sidetracked by his Success
B) In Solomon’s life – that
which was meant to be the means became the END
C) In the Beginning the End
of Solomon the goal was to Know God –
1) And faithfully Serve God
by taking care of his People.
D) God blessed Solomon with
great resources and success – that enabled him to do that Job more effectively
But
in the 2nd half of Solomon’s life – That which was meant to be the
means – Became his end – His Focus
A) A pursuit For More
B)
He began to multiply Gold - / Women / horses
C) As He grew in those areas
– His heart became hard
1) His affections
sidetracked –
He became like the rich fool in Luke’s gospel – lots of
stuff – But heart was not rich toward God
Where is happiness found?
Psalm 16:11
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
.
NOTE: Here
is the problem. All of us think that happiness is right around the corner.
A little more of this or
that and I’ll be happy. If I just had a different husband or wife I would be
happy.
Solomon was at the TOP and
had no where else to go.
1,000 wives.... Vanity
He had money 1 Billion ..... Vanity
He had
parties.... Vanity
He had power.... Vanity
He had intellect.... Vanity
It
was at the end of his life that he finally turned to the Lord. It was from that
point forward that he referred to himself as “the preacher.”
A) End of his days – Warning
……
B) His life is an incredible
example to us – of the riches that are available for the heart that is loyal.
1)
God bless you – He gets glory
2)
God GIFT YOU – You can bless others
C) His life is also a great
warning to us –
1)
Finish well – a good 1st half doesn’t matter – what will be
remembered is the 2nd ˝
Close tonight the Lord I think would have us consider:
A)
Search our hearts – Area’s began to compromise
Confess
it
B) Has
out worship become Religious ritual instead of heart devotion. { Call out to
Him – Ignite passion
C)
Are you in need of wisdom – A greater than Solomon bids you to come –