Two Kings, Two Coronations, One Ruler

Read Psalms 2.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Psalm 2

PSALM 2

The Reign of the LORD’S Anointed.

1 Why are the nations in an uproar

And the peoples devising a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth take their stand

And the rulers take counsel together

Against the LORD and against His cAnointed, saying,

3 “Let us tear their fetters apart

And cast away their cords from us!”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs,

The Lord scoffs at them.

5 Then He will speak to them in His anger

And terrify them in His fury, saying,

6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King

Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:

He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,

And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

9 ‘You shall abreak them with a rod of iron,

You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ”

10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;

Take warning, O judges of the earth.

11 Worship the LORD with areverence

And rejoice with trembling.

12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,

For His wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Let’s pray.

Though my heart was heavy this week, I was comforted when God began to teach me more about how He is on the throne that matters, no matter who runs the country.

We should feel calm in the chaos because God has already anointed His King.

Our declaration of joyous praise to the King of Kings, causes our enemy to scatter.

The throne that matters most is the one in Heaven.

When you feel warn out, by the schemes of men, The Lord sits on the throne, that matters most.

There are constantly schemes at work to take the Lord’s throne.

In, Genesis 3 we read about the first attempt to overthrow God’s throne.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Adam and Eve’s sins was an attempt to be like God.

This is a part of the human nature, is it not?

We naturally desire our own way.

When children are born, they are served on hand and foot, until one day they get a reality check and are taught to think of others, not only themselves.

There is constantly a battle for the throne of our hearts.

Along with the throne of our hearts, we have Earthly Kings, Thrones and Kingdoms

We see political leaders capture the heart and affections of people.

All of this was shown in Israel’s obsession with an earthly king.

In fact, when Israel asks for a king, God answers Samuel and says,

“they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.” 1 Sam 8:7

This is just a continuation of Adam and Eve in genesis three.

The Israelites are saying, we know you’ve set up your Kingdom, but we want to be like the rest of the land.

Who sits on the throne of earthly kingdoms is of great importance for the people who have to live under their rule.

Even today, the nations conspire, in hopes to assure their leader is on the throne.

Campaigns are run, votes are counted, and in this fallen world, you can bet there will be fraud, but in the end only one can rule on the throne.

We read that in verse 2-3.

Read verse 2-3.

Schemes exist to end God’s reign.

We learn something important in verse 1 about these schemes.

Read verse 1.

We learn, that these schemes are in vain.

Why? Verse 4.

Read verse 4.

Why? Verse 6.

Read verse 6.

The Lord is saying, “The land may boast about their king, but it doesn’t matter because ‘I have put My King Upon My holy Mountain.

Who is this Anointed one?

Read Acts 13:32-33

The anointed one, that sits upon the throne, is Jesus.

And he is not like earthly kings.

Read Acts 13:34-37.

How is Jesus different?

Death has defeated all lesser kings. Jesus defeated death.

Earthly kings lie. God keeps his promises.

While lesser kings whither, Our King will not undergo decay.

Charles Spurgeon is correct:

‘Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in vain. God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed.’

Instruct congregation to turn to 1 Kings 1.

1 Kings is a not just a history book, but a history of God’s covenant people.

Today were going to read about Two Kings, Two Coronations, but only One Ruler.

Read Verse 1-4.

King David, is at the end of his life and isn’t in great shape.

A man that was once referred to as “ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. 1 Sam 16:12”, was now experiencing the inevitable decline experienced in old age.

David was only around 70 years of age, however, the text says he was ‘advanced in years.’.

David’s condition was probably due to how David lived, not necessarily how long he lived.

David was a man of passion.

He was a poet, songwriter, and war hero.

He lived a life that exhausted all his energy at the end of his life.

The servants gave him many blankets, but were unable to keep warm. King David was in decline.

They called in Abigash the Shunammite to be caretaker for the king. They thought somehow her youth would prolong David’s life.

The text tells us that her treatment was strictly medical, and was never intimate.

The ESV translates the last part of verse 4 as, “the king knew her not.”

Even though he was relatively good earthly king, we see here that not even the mighty King David can escape death.

That is because...

Earthly kings will eventually fail us.

The question being asked around Israel was, “Who will be King after David?

Adonijah, David’s oldest son, thought he had the answer to that question.

Read verse 5.

Adonijah

One of David’s son

Prideful, Advantageous, you name it.

Not making this up, he literally throws a parade for himself.

Could you imagine?

“Hey you want to come to a parade?”

“Sure, what’s it for?”

“It’s for me.”

If someone you knew through a parade for themselves, you’d think they had gone insane.

Adonijah is that kid, hopefully you don’t have one in your family, who thinks he could do better running the house than the parents.

The most important thing to note about Adonijah, is that he had no interest in respecting God’s appointed leader.

Adonijah chose to carry himself, rather than allow the Lord to guide him.

Jesus during his ministry had some things to say about people like Adonijah.

In Matthew he says,

“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled;” Matthew 23:12

Why did Adonijah have this inflated view of who he was?

While Adonijah is responsible for himself, Scripture plainly tells us in verse 6, that it was also a result of David’s parenting.

Read verse 6.

A Christian parent's job is to emulate Christ and train their children properly about the world.

Check out this quote from the book Parenting with Kingdom Purposes.

“Modeling God’s justice means parents are in authority over their children. They make decisions about structure, limits, and behavior; and they enforce those decisions.

When older children and teens pull against their decisions and their structure, they hold the rope. They dole out more rope as kids show growing maturity and responsibility, but they never turn loose completely.

Here is a paradox:

♦ The parent who chooses to be a buddy instead of a parent likely will not end up with a buddy but with an estranged teenager or young adult. On top of that, parents who try to be buddies seldom rear children with a kingdom focus.

♦ The parent who chooses to be a parent instead of a buddy likely will end up with a warm, lifetime friendship with that child. On top of that, godly parents who parent are most likely to rear kingdom kids.”

Adonijah was the result of a lack of parenting.

We have to teach our kids the right vocabulary.

Their actions aren’t just bad, they’re sinful.

They don’t just need to say sorry to the person they’ve wronged, they need to say sorry to God.

They don’t just disobey their parents when they defy order, but their disobeying the Lord.

Good leaders are constantly defining reality.

Parenting is the same way.

That means, armed with God’s truth, we accurately define reality to our children, battling the efforts at play to pervert their view of the world.

The mighty warrior King David, was used by God to slay Goliath, but struggled to allow God to guide his parenting.

If they live long enough and you look close enough earthly kings will eventually fail us.

Okay, so let’s look at Adonijah’s scheme.

Read verse 7-8.

Adonijah’s plotted with Joab who was a commander in David’s army and Abiathar who was a priest.

Not exactly who you’d expect to be going against God’s plan.

That’s because looks and titles can be deceiving.

Adonijah was a good looking dude, and he had a priest on his side, so he must be legit right?

Not so fast!

There’s a really easy way to see if someone is walking with the Lord.

Let’s turn to Matthew 7.

Beginning in verse 15.

Read Matthew 7:15-20

So, how do we know whether or not someone is a wolf or a sheep?

We look at their fruit!

Adonijah and his followers, are obviously in the wrong here, since their plan is contrary to God’s plan.

We also learn that Adonijah’s scheming all happened within God’s covenant people.

That’s why we should be looking for schemes of men, within the church.

It’s really easy to think everyone in here is good, it’s just an issues out there.

But that’s classic ignoring the log in your own eye, while obsessing over the speck ‘out there’.

We must remember that these schemes against God happen on an individual level first, and then carried out by a group.

Turn back to frist Kings.

In this defining moment they are clear about where their allegiance lies.

Read verse 8b.

Life is full of decisions where you have to decide whether or not you’re going to follow God, but there are days, that are defining moments.

On those days, it’s important that make our allegiance clear.

It’s really tempting to be vague about where our allegiance lies.

Jesus speaks to this when he says,

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 6

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and bwealth.

In this defining moment, when tensions were high, people were forced to answer the question, “Will you have resolve and remain loyal to God, or will you cave and follow the schemes of the world?”

Verse 9 tells us that Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen, and invited important people to an important place to for a party.

This party was a coronation.

A coronation is an elaborate ceremony where a new king is crowned.

Question: What is God doing?

It seems like he’s not doing anything!

We find out in verse 11-14.

Read verse 11-14.

God uses Nathan.

God this entire time has been waiting for the right time, to come in and ruin the plans of Adonijah.

This wasn’t the first time God used Nathan to get David on the right track.

It was Nathan who told David not to the build a temple. God said that David would not build a house (temple) for God, rather God would build David a house (lineage). 2 Sam 7:11

It was Nathan who confronted David after he raped and murdered. 2 Sam 12:1-15

Nathan was obedient when God called him and never backed from confrontation.

Now it’s important to note that Nathan wasn’t just giving his best shot.

He knew the truth.

He knew that Solomon was who God wanted to be King.

Wisdom comes from the Lord, and if you don’t know Him, then you can’t be wise— plain and simple!

What makes someone wise, is long exposure to God’s truth over time.

He was obedient in sharing God’s truth with David. He wasn’t mean about it.

He was shrewd (Mt 10:16)

All of this comes from his commitment.

We should all be surrounding ourselves with Nathans.

We should also aspire to be like Nathan and KNOW TRUTH for two reasons:

So that we can test counsel we receive.

So we can give godly counsel.

So what happens?

Read 16-27

Bathsheba, does what Nathan suggests.

She approaches David, bows down and tells David of the plot to take his throne.

She also mentions the fact that if Adonijah is successful, she and Solomon would be considered offenders.

Meaning they would be killed.

It really hit me when I read this, that David’s lack of preparation for after his death really put a strain on the people around him.

A part of his duties were to make make his replacement well known throughout Israel.

Bathsheba says, “The eyes of Israel are upon you.”

They’re like, “Tell us! You’re the king.”

David put Bathsheba, Solomon, Nathan, and his servants in a tough situation.

Nathan then comes in, and supports her.

He tells David that the his own sons, the commanders, and Abiathar the priest are declaring another name other than God’s appointed.

Solomon’s not even at the coronation.

So what does David do when he hears of Adonijah’s plot?

Read verse 28-31.

David has resolve.

Even though he was a sinful man, David knew that God redeemed all distress.

He remembers all the times in his life, that God was faithful, and now he wants to do the same.

By God’s grace, David provides detailed coronation instructions.

Read verse 32-37.

Most kings, when hearing of a rival coronation of an arrogant prince would maybe send an army to break up the coronation.

David instructs his people, to have another coronation.

The difference is, Solomon’s coronation is legit, Adonijah’s is not.

The plan was to combat Adonijah’s lies, with the Lord’s truth.

The plan, was to drown out the praise of man, with the praise of the Lord’s anointed one.

You might think a mule is kinda lame, but a mule was a sign of royalty.

People seeing Solomon on David’s mule would be a sign of his legitimacy. (Air Force One)

Read 38-40.

What happened at the other party?

Read 41-49.

They were terrified.

They knew they had lost.

Adonijah and everyone else knew, that if the Lord’s appointed was anointed and on the throne, that’s all fokes!

The enemies were terrified because they knew Solomon was legit.

What does this mean for us today?

We should feel calm in the chaos because God has already anointed His King.

Our declaration of joyous praise to the King of Kings, causes our enemy to scatter.

Remember who our real enemy is.

We should make it clear to the those around us to whom where our allegiance lies.

Not with a political party, but a citizenship in Heaven.

Earthly kings will fail us all, but King Jesus, the Kings of Kings, has not and never will fail us.

The last part of 1 Kings 1 goes like this...

Adonijah knew what he had coming.

He went and grabbed the horns of the altar (which was a common way to avoid execution.)

Solomon heard of this and had Adonijah brought to hm.

It might be easier to imagine yourself as Nathan, or even David.

But we’re all Adonijah. (Conspirators against Heaven’s throne, deserving of God’s wrath, clinging to things that won’t save us.)

Solomon says that if Adonijah has any wickedness in him, he will die.

That’s us.

Without Jesus’ righteousness in us, we’re dead.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 10

32 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

33 “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

Paul in Romans brings this eternal truth to our remembrance

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 10

11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

If you feel deep regret for your sin, and haven’t asked God for his mercy, do so today.

There was grace for Adonijah, but it didn’t last for forever.

My honest plea to you, is while you still have breath, declare Christ as King while you can!

I would love to speak with anyone who chooses to make that decision today.

Scripture teaches us that life is just a vapor. It appears for a little while then vanishes away.

In our lives, we are tempted to put our hope in many different earthly kings, but your hope is only as secure as the King in whom you are trusting.

Let’s pray.