(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, let's jump right in here to chapter number three. Starting in verse number one about the reason Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had made an end of building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Now, if you don't know what that word affinity means, it just means that basically he's built a relationship with Pharaoh through marrying Pharaoh's daughter. So now, through this marriage, Pharaoh has become, in essence, his father-in-law. And oftentimes, kings and royalty would intermarry with different kingdoms, different other princes and princesses and stuff in order to, it's really for political reasons most of the time. And we see here that's not a good step for Solomon in the first place and the Bible warns of marrying women who were heathen women and we're going to see ultimately in the end, I'm not going to preach that right now, but in the end they end up turning Solomon's heart away from the Lord. And we just see here, it's just that little seeds planted right here in chapter number three right at the beginning. This one small seed that gets planted, this one mistake that he does very, very, very early on in his life is for at least in his reign. Okay, maybe not in his life, but in his reign as king. We see him right here in verse number one because chapter three is a great verse for Solomon or a great chapter for Solomon. I mean, this is, I don't want to bring that down too much, but I just want you to pay attention to that, that this happens as early as chapter three where it just brings up the fact that he marries the daughter of Pharaoh, because we're going to see later on in First Kings what ends up happening with Solomon as a result of that. And look at verse number two, the Bible reads, only the people sacrificed in high places because there was no house built under the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place, a thousand burnt offerings that Solomon offered upon that altar. So we see here, I mean, ultimately other than verse number one, Solomon really loves God. I mean, he loves the Lord, he wants the foul Lord, he is following the Lord, just like David his father did, he has taken over those traits, and this is why, we can see, this is why God wanted Solomon to be the king, and not Adonijah, not any of his other sons, but Solomon was chosen because he was someone who now at least is starting off loving the Lord and wanting to do what's right and following the good paths of David and following the way of the Lord. And he's so excited here, so happy that he decides to do some sacrifices, it says that he offered a thousand burnt sacrifices. And that's a lot. I mean, think about just the cost of a thousand cattle, a thousand animals that he's offering up to sacrifice, it's a significant sacrifice. He's really happy, he wants to show God, you know, hey, I'm here to serve you and do good. And the only thing that you see here, as it's written, it says that the people in those days, they sacrificed in the high places, and it says that Solomon, he loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, only except, basically what it's saying, except he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. This is a bad thing all throughout the Bible, and this is something that the majority of people in Israel just struggled with and failed at, was offering sacrifices in the high places. It happens all throughout the Bible, I mean, if there's one thing that's just mentioned over and over and over and over again, it's this one thing of just, yeah, but they still, this king did right in the eyes of the Lord, but he still sacrificed in the high places. And you'll see as you go through the books of 1 and 2 Kings, how common that was. Turn if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 12, we're going to see why this is a problem. We're going to see in God's law that God didn't want them offering in the high places, he didn't want them having groves, he didn't want them making images, because these are all things that the heathen of the land did when they worshipped their false gods. These are all the ways that they worshipped the pagan gods, Baal, whoever they were worshipping at that time, they did all these other things, and God said, no, you're going to worship in a place where I tell you to worship, and you're going to do it my way. And my first point I just want to make out here with the high places is that we need to be very diligent in our life, because oftentimes the sacrificing in high places, for example, is something that happens traditionally, it's things that are passed out, it's things that you learn, you know, you might be growing up like Solomon was, learning to serve God, learning to serve the Lord, learning to do things, and you go to say, I want to make a sacrifice in the Lord, where do we do that? Well, we've been doing this, we've been going to the high place, so you just keep doing just what you're used to and what you've learned. We want to be careful of that, and we'll always be reanalyzing ourselves, our lives, what we have in our house, all these various things, how we worship in church, everything that goes on here, the way that we worship God, that it lines up with scripture. Because we're going to read Deuteronomy chapter 12, which was totally available to everybody at that time as well. Deuteronomy 12 was available to Solomon. There is no reason why he couldn't read this and say, wait a minute, why are we doing this? Wait a minute, why is it that there's this altar up on the high place that we're going to sacrifice? And he'd say, yeah, but the temple hadn't been built yet. Yeah, but the temple wasn't even part of God's law, it's not even part of his plan. That was something that David wanted to do extra. That was something that he wanted to do out of his own heart, and God is going to allow that to be built. But that is not an excuse for the high places to be offering places. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse number 1. We're going to read through like the first 14 verses of this, because it just goes over this whole law in depth. Look at verse number 1. These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places where in the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. This is God's command. When you go into this land, you need to utterly abolish all memory of these false gods completely. You need to tear down. You need to destroy. And many of the places were called like Baal-Beareth and named after their false gods. He says you need to rename the places. They have altars built. They have these extravagant things built. You need to tear those things down. You need to get rid of their false gods. Any images that they have up anywhere their false gods, destroy those. Get rid of everything that's going to lead people to wonder, hey, I wonder how these people worship their gods, and start to stray from serving the Lord and just going after some fake false god. That's what He doesn't want them to do. So He says, this is everything you need to do. Verse number 4, you shall not do so unto the Lord your God. He's saying, this is not the way you worship Me. This is what they did. You're going to destroy that and get rid of it. And I'm going to tell you what you need to do. Verse number 5, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there. Even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. And thither you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows and your free will offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto. Ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about so that ye dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye and your sons and your daughters and your men servants and your maid servants, and the Levite that is within your gates. For as much as he hath no part nor inheritance with you, take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee." Now this was given back to Moses when the children of Israel were wandering around in the wilderness. Before they ever came into the land of Canaan, before they got into the promised land, before they defeated all their enemies, he was given this and he's instructing them about what they're going to do once they get into that land and have defeated their enemies. At the time of the kings, we're well past that time. I mean, Israel is established. They've had this land for hundreds of years now. This should have been taking place. He said, you're not going to do what you've been doing out in the wilderness when you sacrifice to me. He says, there's going to be a place. I'm going to set my name there, and that's where you're going to go, and that's where you're going to do all your sacrifices. That's where you're going to bring your tithes. That's where you're going to eat unto the Lord. That's where you're going to do everything that has to do with worshiping me and serving me. It's going to be done in the place that God chooses. One thing I want to point out to that is that God still feels the same way today. You know, a lot of people are looking for churches that suit them. I want a church that offers me these programs. I want a church that does this, and look at what they think. This is what I want in a church. Well, you know what you ought to be thinking about is where does God want you to go to church? It's not as much about what do you want in a church. What does God want in a church? Where does He want you to be going to church? And that's where you ought to be looking for and looking according to God's measure and God's standards. Where do you think God is placing His name? I'll tell you right now, and I'm sure you believe the same thing, otherwise you wouldn't be here that God's name in Prescott Valley is right here, because this is where the work's being done. This is where the people are being sent out. This is where the gospel's being preached. This is where the work is being done. And this is the type of church, and look, I'm saying this because you're in the right place right now, but if you're ever going to leave here, if you move, you want to go somewhere else, we've already had people that have come and gone and people have said, you know, oh, well this church isn't for me. You better make sure you're going to the place that God wants you to be and not worried about your own self and not worried about taking offense to something that's preached or not worried about some little doctrine or something or, oh, you guys are pre-trib or post-trib or whatever, I can't go there. Look, if that's where God wants you to be, then that's where you need to be. You need to look at everything that's involved here. And I'll tell you one thing for sure, God doesn't want you just completely hanging out at church either. Just staying out and not assembling yourselves together. He definitely wants us all to have, not forsaking that assembly, but getting into church. But we want to make sure we're finding the right church, that we're doing it to God's specifications. Everything that we do, God is a God of details. Read through the book of Exodus. Read through the book of Numbers. Read through these Old Testament books, especially when it describes the tabernacle, when it describes the temple. We're going to get into a little bit of the temple building. Look at the detail. Things need to be the way that God said. The details are extremely important to God. Look at Uzzah lost his life because they didn't listen to the details that God said of, you're not supposed to touch that. That's for the Levites to carry on their shoulders. And when he put out his hand to keep the ark from falling, God took his life. Look at Naid Eben Abihu that offered strange fire before the Lord. Aaron's sons, Aaron the high priest, his own sons had very important roles as priests in the service of God. God said, this is the way you make the incense. This is what you need to offer. You make it with these ingredients. And I don't want anything else. And what did they do? Eh, I like the smell of this better. I think God would be pleased with this. I've got a better way of doing this. Lost their lives. God cares about the details. He wants more than your sacrifice or what you feel in your heart is going to satisfy God. First he just wants you to obey him. And if what's in your heart has anything to do with contradicting what he said, then you're wrong. You're in sin. We need to make sure that we're doing everything right. If there's a high place in our life, we want to tear that high place down. We want to get rid of it. We have nothing to do with it. There's a lot of ways people like to worship God even these days. I don't have any of this stuff in my notes, but you think about the way that people think they're doing service to God, oftentimes it ends up just being sinful. Not even right. I mean some people think it's service to God by witnessing someone, for example, by inviting them over for a beer. Right? Hanging out. Let's go out to the bar and we'll talk about Jesus there. Because you want to feel real cool and you're right on their level with them. When the Apostle Paul said, you know, I become all things, all men, I might by all means save some. He said, to those that are without the law, as without the law, yet not without the law to God. I know I didn't completely quote that perfectly, but he's saying I am still keeping myself to God's law. Like I'm not going to go so far as just to get in sin to try to get somebody saved. There is a standard that we need to keep. So consuming alcohol, I hate to break it to you, is a sin. And I preach entire sermons on that topic. I'm not going to do it again tonight, but we don't need to be getting ourselves involved in sin in order to preach the gospel to somebody. You can do it just fine the way that God said to do it. You don't have to come up with your own inventions of doing things. You don't have to come up with the wordless book. You don't have to come up with the lifestyle of sin. You just do it the way that God said. That's what He wants you to do. Let's go back, if you would, to Proverbs. I'm sorry, 1 Kings. I'm still thinking we're in Proverbs. I'm like three weeks, four weeks behind. 1 Kings chapter 3. So we see here Solomon loves God. The one thing he does, and I would say it's ignorantly. He loves God and he's trying to serve Him and he's offering up a thousand burnt offerings. And he's doing his best. God understands this, but He still points it out. It's still in the high places. God does care about these things. And then continuing on to verse number 5, it says, In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. What an awesome event. I mean, God speaks to you in a dream. Just ask what you want. Tell me what you want. Now, put yourself in His shoes for a minute. What would you say to God? Ask what I want. Seriously, think about that. If you went to bed tonight and you fell asleep and you had this dream and you knew God was speaking to you and He says, Tell me what you'd like. How would you answer that? And be honest with yourself because that will give you an insight into your heart, into what's truly important to you. Because we're going to see the answer that Solomon gives is an excellent answer and it really pleases God and it makes God really happy. And this is a great answer that Solomon gives and this is on the right path and this is something that we want to strive to get our hearts into this type of a place. Hopefully you're not thinking that you'd ask God for like a million dollars or something or a whole bunch of money, right? Hopefully not. A lot of people would have that desire and would have that wish. But that's not going to do you any good. That is completely unwise. Let's keep reading here. We're going to see what Solomon answers. Just the fact that God answers. And I believe there's nothing in here that is accidental or by coincidence that this is in this format and in this chapter where Solomon just gets done sacrificing a thousand animals unto God and now God's coming to him and saying, hey, what would you like? I think Solomon was very pleasing unto God and God was looking to bless him. Just based on his heart, based on what he was doing, based on him taking these actions and just serving God and making a sacrifice himself. Verse number six, and Solomon said, thou has shewed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. According as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. Look at how respectfully he entreats the Lord. How he just is saying how great God has been for being good unto David and for giving him a son to sit on that throne. And he's acknowledging that in humility just saying like he doesn't think it's because he's so great. It's like you've been great to David my father who served you and you've been really merciful and you've allowed his son to take the throne. And that's where he starts off saying that without even going into anything yet on what he wants. Verse seven, and now, oh Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. Look at this, and I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in. Now I'll tell you what, Solomon is not a little child. Solomon is a grown man. Solomon is like, I forget now, he's probably like in his 40s when he comes to reign. I mean David lived to be a really old man when he turned the king over to Solomon. I mean there's a lot of time, he is definitely an adult, but the reason why he's saying I'm a little child is because he's being really humble. And he's trying to explain that this is such a great task to be the king over this great kingdom and this responsibility that's been given to him, he's like I'm just a child. He says I don't know how to go out or to come in. And going out and coming in is typically in reference to leading the people in war, leading them to victories and stuff like that. That's the phrase that's used going out and coming in before the people is leading the people typically in military in a war or something. Saying look, I'm a child, I don't know how to go out and come in, I don't know how to be this great leader in order to take this role of being the king of this kingdom. So verse 8 he says, and thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou has chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. He's saying there's so many people here, this is your people God, this is a great responsibility. Verse number 9, give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, thy so great of people? He's asking for wisdom to know right from wrong. He says I just want to do what's right God. There's going to be so many people coming to me for judgment, I need to be making decisions, I need to be leading the way here God and I need to know what's right. He wasn't interested in his own fame, he wasn't interested in his own glory, he wasn't interested in being the most powerful nation in the world, he just said, I want to do what's right. And this ought to be our motivation too. Hopefully that's the desire that you have. You know there's a lot of things that go on in this world, there's a lot of things we could work for, there's a lot of things we could spend our time doing, but do you care just about what's right? Regardless of what other people may think, regardless of anything else, what people might say about you, where your position is going to be, how much money you're going to have, do you want to just know what's right to be able to discern right from wrong? This is what he asked for. This is a great thing to ask for because we know that God gives him his petition, he gives him his request, he blesses him abundantly, and this isn't just for Solomon, even though he appeared for him in a dream. If you want to have wisdom, if you want to have knowledge, James chapter 1, verse number 5, the Bible reads, if any of you lack wisdom, if any of you, any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for ye that waverth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed, for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. That request is available today. All you have to do is ask. Do you still believe that God is a God that answers prayers, that God hears prayers? I do. The Bible says so right here. He says all you have to do is ask and not only ask, he says God will give it to you liberally. I mean God wants you to have wisdom, he's going to pour it out on you. But do you have the humility to go to God and ask him? Or do you think that you already know everything? Have you already read the Bible so many times, say well I already know all this stuff? Or are you willing to humble yourself and go to God and say God I'm still like a little child. I need your wisdom. Please give me some understanding, give me some knowledge. He'll give it to you. I believe that. This is something that we all should be doing regularly. I'm always asking God, God teach me, God please help me understand your words, God please help me to teach others. But if you do that, you have to do it in faith. You have to believe that God is a God that answers prayers. You can't waver, you can't think yeah but I'm not very bright, I'm not very intelligent, I don't think I'm going to get it still. If God's going to open up your understanding, you'll get it. You have to just have faith and believe that he'll do that for you. And he will. And he will. Just as assuredly as he'll save your soul by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. He will give you liberally wisdom if you just ask him for it. So that was what he asked for. He said I just want to be able to discern good and bad. I want to know what's right. Verse number 10. And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing and God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. So he lists all three things there that probably would have been very common for a lot of people to be asking for. Long life, right, God just let me be healthy, give me a real long life, to enjoy things on this earth, or give me a lot of riches, or defeat all my enemies for me. Those are things that everyone else would ask. He says no, this pleases me that you're asking just to know how to do what's right. Verse number 12 he says, Behold, I have done according to thy words, lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. That's a pretty strong blessing that he gets from God there saying, you know what, there's no one that's ever been like you in your wisdom before you, and even after you, there's not going to be anyone that comes that's going to be like what I'm going to do for you. That is a great blessing to have. And we see the result, we see the whole book of Proverbs, what we just went through, the book of Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Now obviously God is the author, those are God's words, but it's still he uses man in a certain capacity to reveal his words through, and there's definitely character behind that. It's really hard to explain how God's the author, but the way that he uses man to reveal those words, and Solomon was used appropriately to divulge the book of wisdom, the book of Proverbs, since God gave him basically more wisdom than anyone else. Look at verse number 13, and I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. So he's saying, I'm going to give you, because I like your request so much, because you're asking for the right things, I'm going to give you that, I'm going to make you extremely wise, but I'm also on top of that now, you're going to be rich. You're going to have riches and honor. This is more than any other king too. So he was someone that excelled far above any other kings. And then he puts one caveat on the length of days, he says, and if you walk in my commandments, if you walk in my ways. See, he's not promising him a long life on this earth without staying and obeying his commandments. These other things he just gave, that shows you how important the riches is, it's like, okay, yeah, whatever, I'll just give you the riches. I'll give you the honor, that's fine. But you want to live a longer life, you better be listening to me. And that shows you too, you know, saved people, children of God, you can lose your life early as a result from just disobeying God, being rebellious, not listening to the things that he has for you to do. It happens. And that is something we need to remember that. Just because we're saved, hey, your soul is saved, amen, praise the Lord. I mean, you cannot lose that no matter what. But what we do in this life really does matter. It really matters. There's a big impact. If it didn't matter, we wouldn't even be there. This isn't just a charade. God has us here for a very important reason. People's fates, their destiny is decided in this lifetime, on this earth. There is no chance outside of the life that we have here for people to go to heaven or hell. This is it. This is where it's all decided. With such important work to be done, we ought not want to shorten our days on this earth. And even God wouldn't even promise that to Solomon without putting in there, you better be listening to me, you better be walking according to the way that I have for you, and then I will lengthen your days. It's no wonder that Solomon was used to write down the wisdom and the words in the book of Proverbs. We just went through all that. Turn, if you want, to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. I'm going to read for you from Proverbs chapter 4 about the importance of wisdom, because this is what Solomon asked for. He said, I want wisdom. I want to know right from wrong. I need to know how to judge this grade of people. Ecclesiastes 2 is where you're turning. I'm going to read from Proverbs 4, verse number 5. The Bible reads, get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. We went over this quite a bit in Proverbs. I just want to mention it again, how important wisdom is. Principle means it's the first thing. Wisdom is important. With wisdom, that is how you're going to determine every decision that you make for the rest of your life. It should be based on your wisdom, on your knowledge, the things that you know from God, how to choose right from wrong. We live in a life where you're making decisions all the time. Some are very minor decisions, some are more important. But every decision that you make, the more wisdom that you have, the better off your life is going to be all the way around, because you'll at least know the right path. Now, knowing is still only part of the battle. It's a big part. But it still comes down to us to choose to do what's right. God has given us a will to do what's right and to do what's wrong. The more you know, the more advantage that you have. Because you can say, no, I know this is right and I shouldn't be doing this. But oftentimes people still will go and do the wrong thing. Solomon ended up doing the wrong thing and he knew what was right. He had the wisdom and he still chose wrong later on in his life. Early on, he's doing great. And we're going to, I don't want to bash Solomon. Yeah, we're going to wait until the end of his life to get on him for that. But these, you know, all of these people and all these stories, I mean, they're there here for our admonition and for our learning. That's why we have them. That's why God preserved them for us today. And don't forget that Solomon had all those riches, yet he still exalted wisdom. He was able to speak from a position of understanding, of authority. You can't say, well, Solomon was poor. He never knew what it was like to have riches. So yeah, that's why you say wisdom is important. No, Solomon had all the riches more than any of the other kings ever had. He had more than anybody could ever wish for. And what did he exalt? Did he exalt the riches? Did he exalt the work of his hands? Did he exalt all the labor that he did and all the great works that he accomplished? No. He still exalted wisdom. In Ecclesiastes, he talks about the great works he did. He talks about the riches. He has a great book of the Bible and the pleasures that he sought is just trying to figure out this life and just understand everything. Solomon was in a unique position to just do all this stuff. He was in a time of peace. He didn't have to worry about war. So he had a lot of time to just explore God's creations and just all the things that go on under the sun, doing these works. He even dabbled in foolishness and dabbled in alcohol and dabbled in these other things. He was trying to figure everything out. These people are doing all that. What do they do in this form? And read through the whole book of Ecclesiastes. But he still maintains, even throughout that whole book. It's an interesting book. He starts off, vanity of vanity, says the preacher. All is vanity. He's basically saying like everything's worthless. That's kind of the attitude he has throughout the book. You can build all these great things, but what's that good for? It's good for nothing. You could do all this work and what's it good for? Nothing. It's all vain. It's all vanity. But all throughout the book, he's still referencing wisdom. In chapter 2, verse 13, he says, then I saw. Then I saw after he had done these other things, his other experiments. Then I saw that wisdom exceleth folly as far as light exceleth darkness. And wisdom is going to continue to excel. Turn if you would to chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 11. Wisdom is good with an inheritance and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. And notice that there's profit to them that see the sun. Wisdom is good to them. It's good with an inheritance. So receiving physical goods. He says it's profitable to them that see the sun. People who are still alive, right? It does no good once you're already dead and gone. To them that see the sun. Verse number 12. For wisdom is a defense and money is a defense, but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Again, just showing how much more important wisdom is than money. Yeah, you can use money as a defense. There's a purpose. You could use that for. It could help you out a little bit. But wisdom gives life to them that have it. Jump down to verse number 19. Ecclesiastes 7, 19. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city. The power of wisdom. Being able to do more. It's more valuable than having the strength of ten mighty men. Flip back now if you would to chapter 12. I'm not going through all the references where he's referencing wisdom. I just want to point this out because as he's going through, if anyone who knows the book of Ecclesiastes, it's almost like a downer of a book in a way. Just the way that he's just kind of saying how everything is pretty worthless. That's why I'm just skipping through these parts where he's talking about wisdom. He's just intermixing this in his message about all these other things that are worthless. How important wisdom still is. And at the end of the book in chapter 12, we're going to read just kind of his conclusion. His summary of the whole matter. The entire book of Ecclesiastes. Verse number 8. Ecclesiastes 12, 8. Vanity of vanity set the preacher all his vanity. That's how we started the book in chapter 1. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. He gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs. So even though he's saying vanity of vanity, everything you're doing is basically vain. You can do these great things and you don't know what's going to be left to you. You can do all this other stuff, he says, but because he had that wisdom, he still saw it's important. I need to still teach knowledge. I still need to instruct people. I'm still going to provide these proverbs and these truths to help other people out in their lives. Verse number 10. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. And further by these my son be admonished of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil. He's saying every work that you do is going to be determined by the judge whether it's good or evil. This is why it's important to be able to discern good from evil by having that wisdom because that is how all of your works are going to be judged. So how are you going to ensure that the good works that you do are actually good and not evil unless you have wisdom? You won't know the difference. We need to have that wisdom. Go back if you would to 1 Kings chapter 3. Verse 15, and Solomon awoke and behold it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings and offered peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants. Now we're going to see this last part of the chapter here where Solomon's going to demonstrate his wisdom. And this is really the first thing that kind of besides all the politics and all the family stuff and the taking care of the old business. Now he's just established. He's the king. And God has just bestowed all this wisdom upon him. And now the people are going to see because the king, at least back then in these days, the king wasn't just some figurehead. He was in charge and people would come to the king in order to judge certain matters and to determine who's right, who's wrong, what's going to happen in this case. He was really a judge. He was a king but he was also a judge and he was the one who was in charge. So these whores, these hookers, these harlots come before Solomon. Let's just read it again. I know we read it already once, but we've got a little bit of time. Verse number 16, then came there two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him. And the one woman said, Oh my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also. And we were together, there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. So these two whores were living together and within three days of each other, they both had babies. They both were delivered of children. They both had a baby, a brand newborn baby three days apart. And they're saying there's nobody else in the house, it's just us two. We're staying together, just us two and our babies. And verse 19 says, And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom. So basically, the problem is that the one lady's child died. She overlaid it. So she laid on top of whoever, she fell asleep and smothered the baby and the baby died. So she decides, well, I still want to have a baby. So sneaks over, swaps the babies out, takes the living baby and says, yeah, no, that's your baby. So the lady wakes up and she's like, this isn't my child. You could tell. Mother can tell her child even when you know. Sometimes those guys can look at a baby and be like, yeah, it's a baby. But not a mom. The mom went through all that labor and when that baby comes out, mom memorizes like every detail about a little baby. Mom knows when the baby is hers and when it's not. So mom's like, this isn't my child. At first I think she freaked out. Oh man, my baby's dead. Wait a minute. This isn't my baby. That's my baby. So they go through and the lady's like, no, no, that's yours. I don't know what happened. Your baby died. This is my baby. So it's back and forth and they go to the king and they each have their own story. So then the king answers them. He says, look at verse 24. And the king said, bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. So he said, okay, we'll figure this out right away. We'll make it evil. We'll make it even. Give me a sword. We're going to chop this baby in two. There you go. You each get a half. We'll make it fair. Verse 26, then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king for her bowels yearned upon her son. And she said, oh my Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other said, let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. So yeah, the one whose baby already died, she's like, yeah, go ahead. Chop it in half. That's fair. But the real mom's like, no, I'll give up the baby in order for the baby just to survive. I don't want the baby to die. It's better for my baby to be living with someone other than me than to die. And of course, Solomon does this to test, to get to the heart of the matter. What was the truth? And see, this is what having wisdom will help you to do. We live in a world of lies and of deceit and of people who are going to come at you and say, no, no, this is the truth. No, this is the truth. No, I have the answers. And having that wisdom helped him to cut through to the heart to determine what really is the truth. He did it in a way where he could say, okay, I know that the real mother is going to care about this child. He had no intention of dividing that child up. They didn't know that. I mean, he's a king. He could just be some real mean guy. You know, that's just, there we go. Problem solved. Get out of here. And then of course he gives the child unto the rightful mother because he's like, okay, you're obviously the mom here. But having that wisdom was important for him to be able to determine what's right and what's wrong. We want to know what's right. We don't want to be lied to. What a travesty that would be for some lady who killed her own child to then end up walking away with this other woman's child and just adding even more damage under the situation if Solomon didn't have any wisdom in how to deal with that case. Right? Or, what he could have done, which, you know, the courts these days probably do, is say, well, the state's just going to take your child. Now you're both left without a child. And speaking of that, I just want to point out real briefly, because that's not what was done here. And notice, these are two prostitutes living together and one of them killed her own baby. In America, I guarantee you they'd be taking that baby away from there. But the righteous judgment with the wisdom of God was not to take away the baby, but to give the child to its mother. We live in a wicked society where there's wicked forces that want to steal babies from their parents and it's not right and it's not of God. Babies belong to their parents. This is not the best situation. Okay? This is far from ideal. If CPS were to show up at their house, they'd probably be like, we're taking this child now. And one other point I want to, I just want to make real briefly here also on the overlaying the baby, right? Because this was the cause of death of that first child. I've seen people try to use this example as a reason to say why mothers should not sleep with their newborn child. I don't think, you do what you want to do. And I'm not going to pontificate just, you know, you have to do it or you should never do it. You do what you want to do with your child. But I don't think that this is a good example to use of a reason why not to have your child sleep with your child. I actually think it's a good thing to have your newborn sleep with the mom and be able to nurse and get the food that it needs. And there's so many, I'm not going to get into all the details about it, you can look it up for yourself why there's a lot of good reasons to do that. But this particular situation, there's a prostitute that smothers her own child, okay? Prostitutes, I don't know the exact percentage, but prostitutes have a tendency to be drunkards and have a lot of drug problems. Because of the nature of the work that they're doing, because they're degrading themselves so much and selling their bodies that it screws up your mind. Because you are extremely just, I mean, you're like one of the lowest people as selling your own body to be used by men in that way is extremely degrading so it makes sense that they turn to alcohol and they turn to drugs as a way of coping and dealing with themselves. I don't see how a person can honestly just completely cover their child and not wake up unless you're under some kind of influence. I mean, I know I myself am a pretty heavy sleeper, but we've had children in our bed all the time and you know what, I wake up every single time I come close to that child or start to hear them crying or whatever right by me. The baby's not going to just be completely silent, they'll start to cry, they'll start to squirm, they'll start to do something. I've never even tried to smother my baby so I don't know what, it's never even happened accidentally. And even as being such a sound of the sleeper as it was, now look, I was concerned with our first child, I was. I mean, because you don't want anything to happen to your baby. But when you do it, you realize that's not going to happen. I mean, it's not going to happen unless there's something else involved. Now look, if you drink alcohol, if you're taking medications and things like that, then yeah, I would say don't sleep with your baby. You don't want that to happen where you're just going to be passed out. I'm just bringing this up because I've heard this used before. I don't think this is some great example to use. Now do I know that she was drunk or anything? No, I don't. I am inferring that from the passage. So this is not like dogma, this is not something I'm just going to sit on. I just don't think that it holds a lot of water because first of all, it's not God saying that like, you know, you should do this or shouldn't do this. It's a story of something that took place and happened. We don't have to point to this story. I mean, just because this story is in the Bible doesn't mean that it's right or wrong. It's just something that's happened. I mean, these things happen still today. So you could point to any story of a person overlaying their child. But to try to give it more weight by saying, well, this is in the Bible and this happened with the harlot and everything else that happened, I don't see this as being a very solid case for that. So I just wanted to bring that up. Now the last thing I want to point out, or at least go back to because I started to talk about this, is just the love of a mother and the love that a mother should have for her children to be able to be willing to even give the child away in order for the child to survive, to look at what's best for her. And this is what the mom was willing to do. And the love of a mother is something that is amazingly beautiful and something great that God has given us through our moms caring for their children. And we live in a pretty sick world today. And unfortunately, there are some mothers that don't seem to care about their children at all. But that's usually the result, again, of other sins when those types of things happen. And we see here that one prostitute didn't seem very empathetic to be willing for the other baby's child to die. You'd think that she'd at least be like, okay, fine, if you're going to kill it, it's not mine. But she was willing to hold on to that until the death. But see, it wasn't her child. She didn't have that same level of care anymore. She wanted to have a child. She wanted it to be hers. But wasn't even willing to fess up at that point. That's something that's pretty sad. But let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for these great stories that we have in the book of 1 Kings. God, I pray that you please help us to get rid of the high places in our lives. Dear Lord, help us to learn to study Scripture that we are doing our best to be in line with you and your word, dear Lord, and our service to you that we would be very careful to do things obediently in the way that you have for us to do. And that we wouldn't just start adding all of our own thoughts of our heart to do things in ways that you've said not to do, especially if we'd end up contradicting you, dear Lord. I pray that you please give us knowledge, give us wisdom. We know that you will do so when we just ask. I'm asking tonight, dear God, that you would please just give unto us all liberally your wisdom and knowledge that we could discern right from wrong, that we can determine what things we're doing that are sinful in your eyes, dear Lord, especially the things that we don't even know about right now. Lord, help us understand and to make known to us the sins we're committing ignorantly right now, that we can make them right and that we can do what's right by you, dear Lord. We love you and want to serve you in sincerity of heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.