Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is The Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Good evening, everyone. It is Tuesday, February the 6th, 2024. It is currently 9.55 p.m. Central Time, and I am coming to you live from The Theology Central studio, located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, I was here in the studio, I was messing with some things and it wasn't really working very well. And I'm like, and I was messing with settings and I thought, okay, that's all going to get kind of messed up. And then I'm like, you know what? I don't want to mess with that anymore. I'm just going to stop. And then I was like, well, I know, I know it's almost 10 PM. I know it's almost 10 PM. So there will not be a lot of people listening live, but. let's go live and maybe we could find something to talk about this evening." So I started looking around like, what could we talk about? What could we talk about? And I found an article at the Christian Post, Pastor Jack Hibbs. Now, we reviewed one of his sermons, and that's maybe the only time in the history of broadcasting where I got so upset in reviewing a sermon that I literally stopped it in the middle and said, I will never review another one of his sermons or anything. So I saw an article you know, about Jack Hibbs, that he gives us five things Christians will go to war over in 2024. I guess it's from a sermon or a sermon series he did at the end of 2023. For some reason, the Christian Post decided to publish it today. see on well they published it no today yeah february the 6th so they published it today so i'm like well we could go over this list of five things but as soon as i started looking at the five things i'm like this is the most i this is the most ridiculous thing the irony in this thing is ridiculous because he's like christians are going to be going to fight over these things and i'm like these are the very things christians are guilty of but okay so then i i was just getting irritated and and i remembered you know what Jack Hibbs, we're not reviewing because I was going to go find the sermon. I'm like, I'll just review the sermon. I'm like, nope, nope, not going to do that. So then I'm like, you know what? Let's forget that. Then I'm like, well, you know, we're working on 21 days in the minor prophets right now. So I did the Bible pop quiz today on Hosea chapter one and two, and maybe you're working on the assignment for that. So I thought, well, maybe I'll grab a sermon on Hosea and do a sermon review. I'm like, but it's, It's almost 10 p.m. Central Time. We know a sermon review would go in hour 15, hour 30, and we wouldn't even finish it. Then I would have to try to finish it tomorrow. I'm like, ah, I don't know if I wanna do that. I'm like, so what should I do? Why should I do it? I'm like, oh, wait, wait, I know what. We're also working on, well, the lectionary for this year, right? The historical lectionary. So I'm like, well, I haven't looked at the lectionary readings for today. So I grabbed my iPad and I went to the app that I use for the lectionary readings. And I looked to, you know, Tuesday of the fifth week in ordinary time. And then the first reading is a reading from the first book of Kings. A reading from the first book of Kings. And I'm like, okay. I'm like, so I just kind of stopped there. I'm like, well, maybe, maybe I could turn on the microphone and do something about this. But wait, then I immediately said, wait, before I do anything, before I do anything, I better look because it's in First Kings. And we know when you get into the Old Testament, the next thing you know, you got names of places and of people. Maybe you're better than me, but there's a high probability I will not say the names right. So I better look at it and see if there's going to be some kind of problem. And if it's going to be a problem and I'm going to need a lot of time of preparing, then maybe I won't do that. But then I looked and I read these words, and I'm reading this directly from the lectionary. I have my King James Bible right here, so we'll read it from there as well. But I read these words. This is exactly how this happened. I read these words. So, I'm reading from the first book of Kings, chapter 8, verses 22 through 23, then 27 through 30, because the lectionary loves to skip around sometimes. And here is what I read. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching forth his hands towards heaven, he said, Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart." And I'm like, wow. There's Solomon. What powerful words. He's standing before the altar of the Lord and the presence of the whole community of Israel. And he's got his hands stretched forward. And he says these words, listen to them again. Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful, your servants who are faithful to you with their whole hearts. And I'm like, wow, that's a powerful scene. Now, forgive me, but immediately my mind went from, wow, that's beautiful, to that's kind of sad. That's kind of tragic. I mean, those are powerful words. Hear them one more time. I'm repeating it on purpose, okay? I'm being repetitive on purpose. Lord God of Israel, your servants are, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart. Now, there's more there to read, but just right there, I'm just explaining exactly how this went down. I was like, wow. And then immediately I was like, well, that is tragic and that is sad. Because that's 1 Kings 8. 1 Kings 8, verse 22. Then you go to 1 Kings 9. chapter 10, and then we read this in 1 Kings 11, verse 1. But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Zidonians, and the Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said, unto the children of Israel, you shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely They will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love, and he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Now, I'm gonna go back to 1 Kings 8. 1 Kings 8, and I'm gonna read again what the lectionary has for us. 1 Kings 8, verse 22. Now I'm gonna read it from the King James. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands towards heaven. And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath who keepeth covenant. who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. Now I'm going to go right to 1 Kings 11, verse 1. But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Zidonians, and the Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for surely They will turn away your heart after their gods Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Now, you don't even need me. At this point, I could end the broadcast. You don't need me to say anything. I need you to write those two passages down, put them on paper, and I want you to write them and I want you to look at them. Or if you don't want to write them down, cut and paste them somewhere in a note program or some kind of word processing program and just look at them together. Just forget everything else. Just put those two together. And you have to be like, wait a minute, wait a minute. How does Solomon go from someone who's got his hands lifted towards heaven, saying, and I'm gonna read the words again, I'm gonna read directly from the lectionary. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and the presence of the whole community of Israel, stretching forth his hands toward heaven. And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you. with their whole heart. He goes on to say things like this. Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth if the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you? How much less this temple which I have built. Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. May your eyes watch night and day over this temple, the place where you have decreed You shall be honored. May you heed the prayers which I, your servant, offer in this place. Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, which they offer in this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon." I mean, this is someone who is lifting up God. He's humble. He's praising God. But just note what he says there, that you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart. Now he says this, hey, you're going to be faithful. It seems almost like he is saying, you're going to be faithful if we keep, you're faithful to, hang on, you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart. This seems to imply that, hey, God, you're going to be faithful to your covenant if we are faithful to you with our whole heart. You're going to keep your covenant if we are faithful. That's what Solomon seems to be saying. Praise God that God keeps his covenant even when they're not faithful, because if he only did it when they were faithful, there would be major problems, right? Yes, there would be, because guess what? Solomon is not faithful. Look what, I mean, you go from chapter 8 to chapter 11, and the next thing you know, he's got a thousand women. 700 wives, 300 concubines. He goes from lifting his hands, praising God, magnifying God, showing humility, and being very like, Hey God, you're going to be faithful to your covenant. You're going to keep your covenant if we are faithful to you with our whole heart. I mean, that sounds so great. It sounds so bold. It sounds so wonderful. And then just a few chapters later, Solomon goes from the man with his hands raised towards heaven, praising God, and so just dogmatic that God will keep his covenant if we are faithful with our whole heart. So dogmatic to assert that to a man who is a polygamist. a serial adulterer and a full-blown idolater whose heart is turned from God. Now, the typical way to preach this would be for me to come along and say, hey, ladies and gentlemen, here are four things you need to do to make sure that you're never the Solomon in chapter 11. You'll always be the Solomon in chapter 8. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to give you four ways, or three ways, but I'm not going to do that. Because if it was so simple, a three-step program or a four-step program, then it would never happen. I'm going to state something that maybe nobody wants to hear, but here's the reality. Inside you, inside me, what was played out in real life, in the life of an individual. It was played out externally for the world to see. Please note, go back to chapter 8. Go back to chapter 8. I want you to see the words carefully. I keep reading them over and over and over, but that's okay. I know someone's gonna get mad at me for repeating them, but I'm doing it on purpose, all right? 1 Kings 8, verse 22, and Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and the presence of all the congregation of Israel. He stands there praising God in front of everyone. And then trust me, his polygamy and adultery and idolatry would have been known to everyone. So what plays out in Solomon's life externally for the world to see, recorded and inspired scripture for generations to follow, to read and to study and to preach, So this is a very external thing. What is played out in the most external way possible is real inside of every person who claims to be a Christian. There is a part of us, because look, when you became a Christian, we changed our mind, right? We acknowledged we are a sinner. There is a God. His word is true. This is what God declares to be right, and this is what God declares to be wrong, and we may stand early on in our Christian life. We may stand early on in our Christian life and we may say something like Solomon said right here. I'm gonna read it again. I'm gonna read it again. And he spread forth his hands and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on the earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. We may stand before everyone early in our Christian life, and we may proclaim this to ourselves. We may put this in our journals. God, you are God. There's no one like you. You're greater than anything. I want you. I desire you. And Lord, we will, and I will follow you with my whole heart. I'm going to keep your word. I'm going to keep your law. I'm going to obey you. We all remember maybe those early days in our Christian life where we said these things and we felt it. Lord, I don't need anything but you. You are what I desire. I don't want anything. I don't need anything. I love you. You love me. What else do I need? You are a greater than everything. I think we really meant it. And I think we really believe that. And there's times we still feel that. But the entire time that we are lifting up our hands and proclaiming that, there's something inside of us. And it may not show up in the area of polygamy. It may not show up in the area of serial adultery. It may not show up in full-blown external idolatry. But let me tell you, that part of Solomon is just as much a part of you. It's inside of you. And Christianity wants to sometimes pretend it's not there and deny it. And we teach these things like, when you become a Christian, you're a new creature. The old is gone and everything is new. And I've talked about this a million times. That is true positionally. It is not true practically. Because to be true practically, You would have to believe in the eradication of the old nature. And when you start believing in the eradication of the old nature, that's when you start pretending that you're just the Solomon in 1 Kings 8 and you're denying the reality of the Solomon in 1 Kings 11 that is deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply inside of you and is inside of me. I can sit in front of this microphone and I can say all of the right words. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to love God with all my heart, my mind, my body and soul. And that as long as I have God, I don't need anything else. With God alone, I am content. I find my hope and my satisfaction and my peace and my comfort in God alone. And everyone will say amen and say, what a great sermon. But guess what? As soon as the microphone is turned off. As soon as I go about my business, guess what's inside of me? Something that obviously wants something other than God. Something that wants something, well, dare we say, more than God. No matter how great he thought God was, God was not, obviously he was not satisfied in God because he found one woman. Then he found another woman. Then he found another woman. Then he found another woman. Then he found another one. Do you want me to sit here and keep saying that until I reach the number 700? That's just for the what? Do you want me to do another 300 for the concubines? Do you want me to do that? He kept wanting more and then, Let's go to 1 Kings 11. I mean, read it for yourself. I'm just gonna keep reading these passages over and over and over. He loved many strange women. He even loves the women that he, it's not like he just loved women. He loved the women that he was not to have anything to do with. See, this goes even beyond just love, that he just wanted women. He wanted obviously the women he wasn't even supposed to have. It's not like he found a thousand women that he was allowed to have. No, no, no, no. He went after the women he wasn't even supposed to have anything to do with. Because God warned them that they would turn away your heart. And look what it says, Solomon, clave unto these in love. He may be lifting up his hands, talking about how great God is, how amazing God is. But somehow the amazing, how amazing God is, how great God is. Wasn't enough. Wasn't enough. So he clave unto these women in love. He loved them. 700 wives, 300 concubines, and they turned away his heart. His heart was turned. Look, for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. His heart was not perfect. Remember what he said? Hey God, you will keep your covenant to those who are faithful to you with our whole heart. We all want to be faithful to God with our whole heart. There's something inside of me. I want to be faithful to God with my whole heart. Look, there's something. Maybe this is, I romanticize this, but there's this, and I've talked about this so many times, that even in my early Christian life, and even to this day, there's something kind of romanticized in my mind. of someone who's like, that's it, I'm gonna forsake everything. No wife, no family, nothing. Me and God, I'm gonna dedicate myself to God, to his word, to prayer, to serving the church, serving the kingdom of God. That's it, that's my life. I'm gonna dedicate myself to that forever. There's something powerful about that image. There's something powerful about that. I mean, there is. Because we talk so much, God is all I need. God is the only friend I, we can sing all these praise songs that extols the greatness of God and how he's the only thing that can satisfy my soul and there's a, you know, there's a God-shaped hole in my heart that only God can fill, and God brings satisfaction. And we say all of this, and then while we say all of that, then we're like, then we go get in our car with our wife or with our spouse, with our kids, to go to our home, and so that we do this, and then we're going to stop at our favorite restaurant, we're going to do this, and we're going to do this, and we're going to go on vacation, and we're going to go to the beach, and then we're going to go to, I don't know, Europe, and then we're gonna go here, and then we're gonna do this, and we're, oh, I'm gonna buy this, and oh, I need a new car, and then I need this, and I need this, and I need that. But the whole time in church, we're raising our hand, saying, but God, you're so great, I don't need anything other than you. Because I think there's a part of us that really wants to say that and really believe that. But our sinful nature says, hey now, it right now. That's the reality. That's why I am so grateful God's faithfulness is not dependent upon my faithfulness. I am so glad that God keeping his covenant is not based on my faithfulness. Because if it was, Israel would have been done. They would have been finished. Now, some people believe they were, but I don't believe they were. I believe God made a promise to them and he will keep it. His calling and election is sure. It's going to happen. God may have to put them aside. He may have to bring chastisement, but he will not forsake them. Where's Solomon? more than we want to admit it. One minute, we may be lifting our hands, praising about how great God is, and there's no God like Him. And the next minute, you're literally turning to those very gods that you said God was greater than. Do you not see the contrast there? If we go back to 1 Kings 8, look at the exact words he says, 1 Kings 8. Back to 22, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel. He spread forth his hands towards heaven and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath. There is no God like you. And then go right to 1 Kings 11, the same man, Solomon, the same man, we read these words, All right? He had, he claimed to these women in love in verse two. Verse three, he had 700 wives, 300 concubines. The wives turned away his heart for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. There is no God like you. And then those other gods that are supposedly inferior, that the true God is greater than, that's where his heart is turned to. He's turned to the inferior. He leaves the superior God for the inferior gods. He turns to worshiping God, desiring God, praising God, loving God, trying to be committed that he's going to be faithful with his whole heart. That very Solomon turns and then he forsakes that God. He turns from that God. And he turns, he just one thing after. I mean, you can make a list of all the ways Solomon failed. We all want to believe that we're different. We've got to be willing to acknowledge what is inside of us. To me, Christianity is much, to me, I think we do such a disservice when we forsake this reality that I think the Bible teaches that, hey, with my mind, I may serve the law of God. In other words, with my mind, I may think about the law of God, say I'm gonna I think I'm going to do it, commit myself to doing it. But with my flesh, I continue to serve the law of sin over and over and over. Because in my flesh, there's a sinful nature. My flesh has its desires, but it's corrupted. My desires are corrupted. I have a sinful nature. No matter how much Christianity wants to try to sell you that you've been set free from it, you know it's there. You know it's there. You say, well, how do I stop from going from where Solomon was to where he ended? If anyone had that answer, then we could all just write it down and nobody would ever end up there. We're always shocked when someone ends up there. We're always like, oh, like it's never supposed to happen. It's been happening over and over and over and over and over and over and over for 2000 years. And if Jesus doesn't come back, it will continue as long as human beings are on this planet. That's why our hope is not in my faithfulness. That's why my hope is not in my ability to love God or to even try to keep his commandments. My hope is in what Jesus did in imputed righteousness. Because Jesus was faithful with his whole heart. I know it's easy to say, well, then this is what you do. When God says you can't go there, then you just obey God and you don't take what he says don't take. You don't partake of what God said. I mean, I know the sermons are so simple. Hey, hey, young people, see, don't, don't date that girl who's not a Christian because she'll turn your heart from, don't do, just, well, it wouldn't be so simple if we could just say, hey, ladies and gentlemen, this is how those sermons should be preached. When God says no, you obey. The end. If it was that simple, people would just obey. But it's not that simple because you have something inside of you. Now, come on. It's late at night. I don't know where you're listening. Maybe you're listening in a room by yourself. Maybe you have the lights out. Maybe you're driving a car. Maybe there isn't anyone around right now. Maybe you have some time alone. Come on. Be honest with yourself. There's the Solomon that wants to lift your hands to heaven and say, there is no God like you. There is no God like you above the earth or below the earth. You are great. The earth cannot contain your greatness. The temple cannot contain your greatness. And God, you, you will keep your covenant. Lord, if, and I'm going to be faithful with you with my whole heart. There's a part of you that may want to say that and believe that. And that's great. Never, never water that down. Never, never throw water on that fire. Always strive to be that. But there's another part of you that if you're even remotely honest, there's a part of you that doesn't even think about God. It's not satisfied with God at all. And I don't know how we live with this duplicity other than just acknowledging it and bringing it before God and being honest with it. But the Bible is filled with these men of God who end up... Look, we just... I know what we have a tendency to do is we kind of say, well, that was David, or that was Solomon. We make all kinds of excuses. But look, I think if we had... If the Bible wanted to, it could record the dirt on every single person in the Bible except for one, which is Jesus, who is tempted in all points, yet without sin. Meaning, Jesus was the only one without sin. You know why he was the only one without sin? Because he was God incarnate. He did not have a sinful nature. Everyone else sins. I am not excusing that. I'm trying to get us to be more open and honest with it. meaning my hope has to be in something other than my efforts, has to be something other than my ability, has to be something other than my wanting to. Now, we should exercise. We talked about words of wisdom. We still have some more to cover in that kind of miniseries that we're doing. We talked about control. We do need to exercise self-control. We do need to make wise decisions. But sometimes even when we're exercising self-control, Even sometimes when we're trying to make wise decisions, even sometimes when we're not doing certain things, even if we don't do certain things, we're still guilty a million, a thousand different ways because of what we're thinking and desiring and wanting. Look, you could go lock yourself away in a monastery. You could gouge out your eyes. You could rip off your ears. Man, that sinful nature is still gonna have desires. Still gonna struggle. Because we carry that side of Solomon is inside of us. Oh, sometimes I want to be the Solomon standing with my hands lifted to heaven, praising how great God is and really thinking that we can be faithful with our whole heart. There's times I want to be that. And then there's other times I just want to be like, you know, one, two, three. And I'm not talking women. I'm just talking sin, things that are forbidden, idols. four, five. Everyone focuses on the women. Everyone may focus on the sexual part. Well, sometimes it's weird. Solomon is always weird, like, hey, David committed that sin, and that's why he wasn't able to build the temple. Yeah, but the one who built the temple turned out to be a serial adulterer that put David to shame, so I don't know. Does that really prove anything? Okay, well, all right. We do weird things with it. So sometimes we remember what Solomon did and other times we're just like, hey, who cares? Hey, Solomon, a proverb a day keeps the devil away. And sometimes we're just like, Solomon was a great guy. And it's like, well, there's some problems there. But the reality is, you can take that number 1,000, right? You can take that 1,000 and you can focus on women and you can focus on sex if that's what you, so desire to do, because in some cases, I think the churches, we spend a lot of time on that. But instead of looking at those thousand as women, that's a thousand idols. That's a thousand idols. He claimed to them, and look, He loved them more than He loved God. He gave His heart to them. He gave His desire to them. And a runaway probably gave His worship to them. And so you can remove women. You can remove men. You can remove all of that. Forget all of that. Even if none of that, if you never have another struggle with that one day in your life, it just disappears instantaneously. You've got your own idolatry. Look, I've said it so many times, that our heart is kind of the idol, in the sense that the heart wants to be worshipped, the heart wants to be served, the heart wants to be pleased. It's our own sinful nature. The idols that we sometimes point to, right? Oh, that's an idol, that's an idol, that's an idol. Really, that is just what the true idol, which is your sinful nature, is just looking to please itself. Those are just the things that they've chosen to please itself. Those things aren't the idol. It's the sinful nature that's the idol, and it's like, go get this and go get that, because that's what I want. Please me. Serve me. I wish I could end this broadcast with some profound answer. I haven't found out, I haven't found the answer. I know the ultimate answer is I've got to put my faith in Jesus Christ and I've got to trust in an imputed righteousness because, well, we're going to be constantly living in this duplicity and this duality and this conflict. And maybe you don't experience it. Now, a lot of times when I don't think people experience it, I think it's just because they're pretending they don't, but if they're just remotely honest, and I think we just have to be, I think the key is being honest with it, and just being honest with the struggle. I mean, what are you gonna do? Either just be honest with it, or are you just gonna, well, I don't know, live in denial, or just gonna give up? I want you to put 1 Kings 8. 1 Kings 8. Chapter 8 is such a long chapter, it's why I keep having to turn multiple times to get to the verse. 1 Kings 2. Verse 22, 23, you can read, you know, they jump down to, I think, 27. We didn't even get to all of that, but you can read a little bit of that section, and then I just want you to compare it to 1 Kings 11. And I love that 1 Kings 11 starts with the word, but. but it negates all of the other stuff. He may have did all of that stuff, but that's where it ends up. Well, guess what? In many cases, we can go to church, we can pray, we can read our Bible, we can do Bible studies, we can do devotionals, and I'm not saying we shouldn't do those things, we should. We can fight against the flesh, which we should. We should exercise self-control, which we should. But in the end, it's gonna be but. All of that's going to be negated because you know what's going to be present in your life and my life. If we're really honest, if someone was to take a video of our internal desires and thoughts and actions, it would be like, we all got to end up that way. You say, then what's the answer? The answer is then an imputed righteousness. to fall before Christ in the cross and say, I have nothing. I come as a beggar. All I have is the righteousness that's imputed in Christ. I just come there. I just have His blood, His death, His sacrifice, and His imputed righteousness, because at the end of the day, I'm going to be laying in a bed, a serial idolater. and we've already discussed this, and Hosea just a little bit, and if you've looked at Hosea and listened to any sermons, spiritual adultery. The thousand women, everybody focuses on the women, The women are just the external representation of the internal idolatry in his heart. He may have said God is greater than all the other gods, but his heart, just like your heart, we desire the other gods. We love the other gods because they please us. That's why we have to be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. Because we're all going to end up on our deathbeds. Serial idolaters. Probably more than anyone would ever care to admit. You can email me newsifatyahoo.com. That's newsifatyahoo.com. Newsifatyahoo.com. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a great night. God bless.