January 14, 2024 - 1 Kings Recap
Notes
Transcript
So - Last week we finished up with the last chapter of 1 Kings… chapter 22 -
And so - if you’ve been around here long enough you know that when we finish a book of the Bible...
…I like to provide a RECAP of the book - in one concise - sermon.
*Why? (I actually think it helps provide a necessary - OVERARCHING view of what we just walked through - for the past X # of the months.
There IS a particular angle I’d like us to hold to today - and it’s something we’ve mentioned before...
If we think about the time frame of when this book was LIVED OUT...
…we would know SEVERAL things...
This book starts out - in approx 970 B.C.
It then SPANS about 120 years - from chapter 1 to chapter 22
GIVEN THIS - 970 years before Christ comes...
I want to contemplate - HOW God would TEACH His people (mankind) - about what was to come IN CHRIST...
HOW would God TEACH His people (the world) about His plan of REDEMPTION?
With THAT in mind - let’s REVISIT our walk-thru of 1 Kings - and see WHAT GOD was teaching His people about THEM, HIMSELF - and what was to come.
We KNOW - from our trek through 1 and 2 Samuel - that Saul was the first King of Israel -
AFTER THE PEOPLE - COMPLAINED about wanting a KING to rule over them - like the other nations.
Saul ends up FAILING - due to Disobedience to God
David then takes over - DAVID - a man after God’s own heart…YET - an IMPERFECT man.
David then dies - and his son SOLOMON takes over.
THAT is where 1 Kings begins.
BUT BEFORE - David dies...
He gives Solomon some parting words…Words of wisdom.
2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,
3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
David tells Solomon - WALK in the WAYS of God and Keep His statutes...
DO THIS - and you will PROSPER in all that you do.
INFERRING - if you DON’T walk WITH GOD - you will NOT PROSPER...
NOW - What could God have been teaching His people - and the WORLD for that matter - through David’s words to Solomon?
And let’s look at BOTH SIDES of it...
Speaking it in the negative - He said - if you DON’T walk with God - you will NOT PROSPER.
There will be CONSEQUENCES!
And even in CHAPTER 2 itself - Death came to Joab for what he had done to Abner. DEATH was a consequence.
What could God have been teaching His people?
How about this:
SLIDE:
Sin has consequences, and apart from walking with God, death will be the consequence.
Verses? [half verse]
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As we know - Sin has consequences
But DAVID told Solomon - Walk with God...
Well...
we need to know - Walking with God - requires - FAITH
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Do you see the same message here from PAUL - as David?
Walk with God and you will prosper (DAVID) - Walk by the Spirit (of God), and you will NOT gratify the flesh (positively - you will HONOR God) (PAUL).
And so = WALK with God - David says - And God is teaching His people…the TRUTH of
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
…by faith.
God then MOVES into giving Solomon a “blank check” - and asking him what he wants?
Instead of asking for Riches or Wealth - Solomon asks for - WISDOM…a discerning spirit.
And BECAUSE Solomon didn’t ASK for RICHES...
God GRANTS his request - AND ALSO gives him many riches.
11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,
12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
Solomon became KNOWN as the wisest man on earth… with riches like NO OTHER.
And the people TOOK NOTICE!
34 And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
NOW - again - what would God be teaching His people and the world - by GIVING to Solomon this unmatched WISDOM…?
Think about this - When John the Baptist came on the scene in the 1st Century...
And he started proclaiming that man needed to REPENT...
And when Christ CAME - and began attacking RELIGION...
And when Paul began reorienting Israel’s MIND to the PURPOSE of the LAW...
ALL of that - WREAKED HAVOC on the mind of man!
And WHAT WAS HAPPENING?
What was God teaching His people?
SLIDE:
The Wisdom of God Confronts the World
It was - the Wisdom of God - CONFRONTING the MIND of man!
And this is EXACTLY what happened - by WAY of Solomon.
Solomon’s WISDOM - confronted the world!
People HEARD him speak - HEARD him REASON out judgments…and they were BLOWN away!
They ALSO - were able to see - a MAN - SO WEALTHY - SO RICH - YET - declare that all of it - WAS VAIN = under God.
And so - THROUGH Solomon - God taught the world - the VALUE of Jesus - OVER all things.
…the WISDOM of God that would crush the wisdom of MAN...
And FROM THAT PLACE of wisdom - We then HEAR about God’s desire for a TEMPLE to be built.
3 “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.
4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.
5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’
SOO - those intentions become a reality - and Solomon finished the Temple...
When it was completed - the word of the Lord came to Solomon...
11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon,
12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
The Temple is built - and God lays down this - CONDITIONAL STATEMENT - using Covenantal language...
“If you walk in my statutes and obey my rules, and KEEP ALL My commandments and walk in them - THEN I WILL establish my word with you...”
NOW - my question is - WHY would God SAY THIS?… KNOWING the Covenant He made with Abraham?
Remember? - that covenantal ceremony?
The one where God told Abraham to cut the animals in half - and lay them on each side - making this BLOOD path?
And the thought was - the SERVANT - would end up WALKING that blood path - and by DOING SO - declaring that IF he would break that covenant - then may the Master do to HIM - what had happened to the animals… be torn in pieces!
Well - what happened during that ceremony?
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
That smoking FIRE POT and flaming torch - was GOD HIMSELF...
Abraham NEVER walked the blood path!
God DID!
And it was God - FROM THE BEGINNING - declaring that EVEN IF ISRAEL broke the covenant - that God WOULD TAKE the punishment on Himself - and be torn to pieces!
NOW - God already declared that HE would bear the punishment Himself - If ISRAEL failed!
SO WHY then - do we hear God say this to Solomon?
12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
What is God TEACHING His people? AT THIS time - in history?
SLIDE:
God is holy, and that perfection is His standard.
God here - is letting them know - that HIS STANDARD - IS - and ALWAYS WILL BE - - Perfection!
IF you KEEP ALL my commandments!...
God is teaching the PEOPLE - His STANDARD - is perfection.
The standard - to GET TO GOD - is perfection!!
And it’s GETTING the people READY - for the One to come - who would actually LIVE THIS OUT - PERFECTLY!! - and meet the standard.
And so - WITH the Temple - the people are reminded of God’s PRESENCE… in their lives...
And WITH God’s presence - comes access to God - through prayer.
Following the building of the Temple - we see Solomon dedicate a PRAYER to the Lord in Thankfulness...
And BEFORE ALL the people of ISRAEL - we hear this prayer from Solomon...
38 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,
39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
So Solomon asks God to hear the CRY of His people - and to forgive them their trespasses....
But then he says this...
41 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake
42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,
43 hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
This prayer MAY HAVE perked the ears of the Jewish listeners that heard it...
What could God have been TEACHING His people - and the world - about Himself and His plan of redemption - with Solomon’s prayer?
Solomon says - Lord - when the foreigner calls out to You - forgive them… in order that ALL the PEOPLES of the EARTH - may KNOW Your name and fear You.
God was teaching His people - and the world -
SLIDE:
The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, included in God’s plan of redemption, and partakers of the promise in the coming Messiah.
This is a FORESHADOWING of the INCLUSION of the Gentiles into God’s redemption!
IN OTHER WORDS - God revealed - in 1 Kings - …what we end up reading about in Eph.
6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
And so - some 970 years before Christ - we have a foreshadowing of the Gentiles being included in the Redemption found in Christ!
And in God’s WISDOM - we see this revealing of God’s plan - and how it would have - CAUSED the Jews to begin to maybe SEE themselves - as LESS Ethnically SPECIAL...
…as they thought they were.
And this TRUTH lead right into the next thing we saw in 1 Kings...
If you remember - Saul was the first king of Israel...
The people wanted to be LIKE OTHER NATIONS - who had Kings...
God had separated out Israel - but the nation wanted to be like the other nations.
And so - the pattern we see throughout Scripture - is that ANY King who would fill the throne...
Would still just be - a Fallen Man...
Solomon was no different.
And so - Solomon BEGAN very well...
He followed the Lord - and so HE-and-the-NATION was blessed!
But then..
6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.
And so - We’ve seen many TEACHING points so far in this book - where God ordained certain things to happen - that would TEACH His people about Himself and what was coming...
But even Solomon’s FAILURE - was a TEACHING point for God.
SLIDE:
Man alone can not live up to God’s standard, but there was One to come who would.
God was showing His people - that EVEN - seemingly PERFECT kings - would FAIL....
Saul - the people LOVED his SIZE...
David - the people LOVED his warrior heart
Solomon - the people LOVED his wisdom
YET - each ONE - had failings...
WHY?
Because the problem with Mankind - is they’re NOT GOD!
And God was getting His people and world READY - for the one to come who WAS GOD!
And so - during this time of FAILING KINGS - God taught His people....this
SLIDE:
Man is accountable to God.
See - we make choices everyday.
And during this time - MANY choices were made - where God’s judgment came...
11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Choices made - Consequences come!
And God is teaching that Man is Accountable to God.
God does what He says - and He tears the Kingdom from Solomon...
And gives a portion to Solomon’s son - Rehoboam.
Rehoboam then makes some SHADY decisions...
And in his decision making - God removes the Kingdom from him…ALL but 1 tribe...
So ON THE ONE HAND - in v11 here - we see God ORCHESTRATING this REMOVAL of the Kingdom...
YET - we know that Solomon made decisions...
AND his son Rehoboam made decisions!!
NOW - Solomon was TOLD this was going to happen - BY GOD - and then it DID…!
What’s God teaching His people?
SLIDE:
God is sovereign over all things.
God told MEN - what would happen - and then IN TIME - through the decisions of men - those things happened!
And NO - God wasn’t looking down the corridor of time - and just regurgitating what those men ended up deciding APART from God.
No - God CAUSED these things to happen - and USED men’s choices to do it.
HE has - authority....He is SOVEREIGN...
And in His SOVEREIGNTY - God then teaches His people - about the SERVANTHOOD of the coming Messiah!
Yes - EVEN in 1 Kings...
When Rehoboam went to seek counsel about how to handle the people...
He was given COUNSEL by some older men...
This is what they said...
6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
7 And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”
What advice was given?
Notice the details of it...
They say:
“If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever”
We can HEAR the call to Rehoboam...
In a NUTSHELL.... they say… “Be a SERVANT to the people - and they will be your SERVANTS - forever”...
Hmm…what could God be teaching His people?
Let’s first go to the CORRELATION in the NT...
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”
23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So Jesus here - tells us that He came - NOT TO BE SERVED…but to - Serve!
He came to BE A SERVANT!
And so - the counsel from the Old Men - to REHOBOAM - was what - - Be a servant!
AND - if you BE the people’s SERVANT - they will be YOUR servants - forever!
Jesus came - and - AS HE SAID - He SERVED His people!...
And in DOING SO - those who believe - what?
Believers BECOME SERVANTS of Christ…forever!
How do men of faith - in Scripture - describe themselves?
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
The Old Men’s counsel to Rehoboam (son of Solomon) - REFLECTED the life and posture that the COMING Messiah would take...
And God TAUGHT His people the way of SERVANTHOOD… through COUNSEL - to a King.
JESUS - the TRUE King to come…the COMING Messiah...
WORTHY of worship…the ONLY King worthy of worship...
AND YET - we see how - OFTEN - we will seek to WORSHIP ourselves.
Rehoboam had not done himself any favors with the people - and so THE PEOPLE decide to anoint ANOTHER King over Israel...
Jeroboam...
Rehoboam remained King over Judah...
And Jeroboam became King over the rest of Israel.
BUT - it seems that Jeroboam got a BIG HEAD right away...
And he decided that the people would end up MAKING SACRIFICES in Jerusalem - the Temple ...
And that their hearts would TURN BACK AGAIN - to the Lord.
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David.
27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
SO - Jeroboam assumes that the people would KILL him…and go back to Rehoboam as their King.
SO - He decides to CHANGE a few things!!
He changes the OBJECT of WORSHIP...
He fashions two golden calves…that the people should NOW WORSHIP...
He then changes the LOCATION of the people’s worship
and places one of those idols in the city of Bethel and one in the city of Dan.
He tells the people they no longer need to go to Jerusalem.
He then changes the AUTHORITY over the people.
He appoints non-Levites to the office of Priest...
And these new “priests” would now guide the people spiritually
IN DOING THIS - Jeroboam was actually WORSHIPING himself.
He would rather live his life - in REBELLION against God - than DIE - in obedience to Him.
And SO - what we saw with Jeroboam was a man who LOVED self - MORE than God...
And when Jeroboam DECIDED that his LIFE was more important than OBEYING God...
THAT WAS Jeroboam - wrestling with - FEAR
Just like Peter ON THE WATER.
Jeroboam wrestled with FEAR - and he lost that fight.
BUT there was ANOTHER KING - who chose not to wrestle…with fear…
INSTEAD he relied on God for his victory...
11 And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done.
What did he do??
We go to 2 Chronicles...
9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
10 And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”
How many men?
a MILLION! Enemies - standing before him...
What did Asa say?
Read v11
THIS King - In HIS POSITION - relying on GOD...
knowing it’s GOD’s VICTORY!
He’s resting in God’s VICTORY!
What’s God teaching His people?
SLIDE:
God’s victory is our victory, through faith.
Asa PRAYED! TO GOD!
He displayed FAITH in God - to believe that God’s victory would be his victory.
WE - today - can REST in Christ’s VICTORY over sin and death!
The sins we battle with … wrestle with...
Those sins have already been defeated.
I said it the past several weeks...
Peter didn’t NEED to sink in the water.
He decided to WRESTLE the wind…FEAR.
He didn’t NEED to!
We really CAN - disengage the sins that beset us.
We can - let go - FOCUS on the VICTORY of JESUS OVER that sin...
and walk out of the valley.
THAT’s the FIGHT - the fight is to - NOT FIGHT. but to rest - in Christ’s victory.
And listen - THAT’S not easy!
It’s gonna take - several things along the way....
And we saw in 1 Kings God DISPLAY for us SOME of these things...
And we saw them in - ELIJAH
PRAYER
Conviction
And actually FEAR
We saw that in 1 Kings!
Elijah was a man of PRAYER -
He was a PROPHET - and so he was in constant communication with God...
AND LIVING that way....
Through Prayer -
He was connected to God’s:
Posture in the world
Preparation
Providence
Power
And if we know anything about Elijah - we know that he displayed ALL of these things - IN SPADES.
For Elijah - Prayer kept him connected to all of these things...
God’s Posture - going to King Ahab (the worst of the worst) and confronting the prophets of Baal
God’s Providence - God using ravens to feed him
God’s Preparation - God sending Elijah to a widow in Zeraphath (a GENTILE)
God’s Power - in God restoring LIFE to the widow’s son who had died.
Do you SEE?
God TEACHING His people - WHAT WAS COMING!
And Jesus Himself - even referencing - In His Synagogue teaching - Elijah going to the Widow - the Gentile Widow.
And so Elijah - connected to God in prayer - READY for the next thing!
We often think PRAYER is a one-way street = and ELIJAH - showed us otherwise!
ELIJAH - a MAN of CONVICTION!
And BEING a man of CONVICTION - his conviction...
Was Contagious (he convinced Obadiah to Trust God) - Elijah’s conviction became Obadiah’s conviction.
Corrected the Culture - He spoke back to Ahab and corrected his lies
Was Without Compromise (Pick a Side - the side of Truth)
Elijah displayed PRAYER - and Conviction!
He also displayed FEAR.
After defeating the prophets of Baal - Ahab’s wife - Jezebel - threatened to KILL HIM...
And so Elijah got scared - and ran!
He actually ends up RUNNING to Mt. Sinai...
And THERE - he is restored!
What had happened at Mt. Sinai - with Moses...
The giving of the LAW...
The giving of God’s WORD…!
What was God teaching His people?
SLIDE:
God restores with His word.
- If we want to be restored - we come to God’s word...
His truth restores....as we know...
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And IN the life of ELIJAH - God was teaching us something as well...
SLIDE:
Weapons of grace include prayer, conviction, and fear.
Not the fear of man...
But the fear of the Lord - for it’s the beginning of wisdom.
ELIJAH - was a man of...
prayer
conviction
And had a moment where he FEARED man...
BUT GOD - in His KINDNESS - restored Elijah...
But that’s God’s way!
Not only is God KIND to those of faith…but He EXTENDS that kindness to all people!
See - we ALL start out in this life - UNDER God’s wrath!
Why?
Sin!
And so - we START out LIFE - by default - needing RESCUED!
God - in His mercy - EXTENDS us all kindness...
Air to breathe
water to drink
food to eat
A UNIVERSE to see His greatness
And this KINDNESS has a purpose...
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
And so - God - BEING this way - it shouldn’t have been surprising to us when God was KIND to Ahab...
the worst of the worst - kings
And so - God - was showing the world...
SLIDE:
No sin is too great for God’s grace to cover.
Even the worst sinner - is still redeemable.
Still savable...
WHY?
Because GOD saves! - - Not man!
And so EVEN in the period of the Kings...
God was pointing toward salvation being by God’s grace - and not by our works.
SUMMARY
Sin has consequences, and apart from walking with God, death will be the consequence.
The Wisdom of God Confronts the World
God is holy, and that perfection is His standard.
The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, included in God’s plan of redemption, and partakers of the promise in the coming Messiah.
Man alone can not live up to God’s standard, but there was One to come who would.
Man is accountable to God.
God is sovereign over all things.
God’s victory is our victory, through faith.
God restores with His word.
Weapons of grace include prayer, conviction, and fear.
No sin is too great for God’s grace to cover.
Let’s pray
Have a Great Week