We've been going through the life of Solomon, trying to find lessons for living. And so far in this series, we've seen Solomon's family, what he came from, kind of the turmoil and brokenness there in the family of David. We've seen how God chose him, exalted him, gave him great wisdom and blessings. We saw the great start that Solomon had in honoring and serving God. We looked last week at the dedication of the temple and previous week, the building of the temple and just the grandeur and glory and how God was honored through Solomon. And it would appear that those blessings and that faithfulness by Solomon lasted about 20 years until he let it all go to his head. And isn't that our problem? We see blessings and we take credit for the blessings instead of giving the glory to God where it belongs. That is the funny thing about our fallen human nature. The better things are, the more we tend to forget about God. and look at ourselves and depend on ourselves and glorify ourselves and you'll all be and we see that lived out in Solomon's life. In the opening years of his kingdom, Solomon acknowledged that he needed God's help to rule. Remember that was his initial prayer. said, Lord, I'm not sufficient. I'm not able to rule this great people of yours. Give me wisdom. And God said, I'm so glad you asked for that. I will give it to you abundantly, like nobody else has had. at the dedication of the temple, which was seven years into his reign. He acknowledged that it was God's faithfulness that put him on the throne, and it was God's faithfulness that allowed him to build the temple. He knew that both he and the people of Israel needed to remain faithful to God. They needed to remain obedient to God if they were going to see his continued blessings. In fact, he stated in his prayer of dedication that they would need God's forgiveness when they sinned, and that that forgiveness would come when they confessed that sin to God. Now we move forward a few years. We find in 1 Kings 9, I want to start here, actually, 1 Kings 9, verse 10 At the end of 20 years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, and Hiram, king of Tyre, had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. Therefore he said, what kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother? So they are called the land of Kabul to this day. Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold. And so this is like just a little glimpse into Oh, things are starting to turn. I mean, Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre had a wonderful relationship. And in exchange for all the help that Hiram had given in the building of the temple and the building of Solomon's palace, Solomon said, here, I'll give you these cities. And Hiram was like, what? You gave me broken down, run down, worthless cities? What kind of a friend are you? You can see the beginning of a change in things. And Solomon finished all these grand works. We read further on in the text that, let's see here, down at the end of chapter nine, verse 26, King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. And they went to Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon." So not only did he build the temple, built his grand palace, he built this grand fleet of ships on the port of Ezion Geber on the Red Sea. And we read about the great wealth. This is actually an Israeli stamp, a postage stamp that was done in 2016 to commemorate the richness of Solomon's fleet. And we have described for us in scriptures continuing on where this ship or this fleet of ships went to Ophir, which We think may possibly be modern day India because peacocks and apes or baboons and ivory and gold and almond trees, all the things that are described that he brought are all native to India. that region. But anyway, and it says that he brought all of these things in. And so there was this wealth just flowing into the nation of Israel, again, because of God's blessings on Solomon. And then then we read at the beginning of chapter 10, that when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. I mean, think about that. Here's this queen from a nation that Sheba is probably in the area of Yemen. or somewhere in southern Saudi Arabia. There's some uncertainty about exactly where the kingdom of Sheba was, but it's in that region of the world. But she had heard the fame of Solomon, of his wealth and his wisdom. And she said, I need to come and see if this is all true. And it took her breath away. In verse six, she said to the king, the report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom. But I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men. Happy are your servants who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king that you may execute justice and righteousness. I mean, think about that. Here's this. Queen from Sheba, a land that to my knowledge, didn't acknowledge the God of the Israelites, but she acknowledged, look at what your God has done. He has blessed you and he has blessed your people in such rich, abundant ways. He is to be praised. I mean, this seems really good, right? And she, gives this great report of, wow, half of it hasn't been that I had heard or could even believe. And I love that she finished out there, because the Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness. Now, as she said those things, that may have been genuine praise. I don't know. And on her last night, He lay with her and she became pregnant, returning home to give birth to his son, Menelik, who founded the royal dynasty of Ethiopia. And that dynasty ruled until Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974. That is even the current understanding of that Ethiopian dynasty that it is the descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He gave her all that she desired. He didn't withhold anything. Is this a reasonable possibility? Well, what do we read in chapter 11 and verse 1? Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you For surely they will turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love. It seems entirely likely that Solomon did give himself to the queen of Sheba because he turned his heart to pursue pleasure rather than godliness. And thus he turned his heart away from the Lord. we similarly read in this same section of scriptures, that he began not only pursuing but he began pursuing wealth. Back in chapter 10 and verse 14, we're told, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants and from the kings of the West and of the governors of the land. That would be the equivalent of four and a half tons of gold annually coming into Israel. 6,000 kilos of wheat per day, 12,000 kilos of beef per day, 4,000 kilos of other meats per day. That was just the normal usage and economy of his kingdom. And in fact, It continues on to describe in verses 18 through 20 that his throne was a great ivory throne overlaid with the finest gold. It had six steps with carved lions flanking each step and the armrests of the throne. The like of it was never made in any kingdom, the Bible tells us. goes on to say that all of his drinking vessels were of pure gold. And silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. Silver was as common as stone in Jerusalem in those days. Imagine the richness, not only of Solomon, but the people in that day. If ever there was a real life King Midas, Solomon was it. riches beyond your wildest imagination, and the lifestyle to go along with it. What was the result of this lavish, hedonistic lifestyle of Solomon? Look with me at chapter 11, verses 3 through 8. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites, So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. He went to the Mount of Olives. and built these pagan altars on the mountain opposite the temple. He participated in these pagan offerings that his various foreign wives wanted to do in honor to their gods. And of course, as we read that, and it says that his wives turned away his heart. I don't blame them. He pursued them. He violated the command of God very clearly. First of all, in multiplying wives to himself. God specifically told the Israelites, when I give you a king, your king is not to multiply wives to himself, as the monarchs of the nations around you have done. Don't do it. And then on top of that, he specifically said, and none of you are to take wives of the nations around you less they turn your heart away. Solomon violated both commands. And it happened exactly as God said, it would happen. Solomon pursued them. And he pursued wealth. Why? Because he was pursuing pleasure, rather than God. And that pursuit of pleasure caused him to fall. God warns us in Proverbs 21, 17, those who love pleasure become poor. Solomon's own confession, which he wrote many years later, and it's found in Ecclesiastes 2, 1. He said, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. or emptiness or waste. What he thought would fill him led to emptiness. God had granted him wisdom and blessing, but he squandered it by pursuing selfish pleasure. Next week we're going to look at more of what he says here in the book of Ecclesiastes, and it might take us a couple of weeks to get through that. But that is his magnum opus, is basically his open confession of failure and sin that ultimately ends with an admonition for the reader, for us. Seek God when you're young. Don't throw your life away like I did. That's basically the message of Ecclesiastes. But here, He was, that's why he failed, because he was seeking pleasure. He was seeking, this is what makes me feel good. That is always a recipe for failure. If the pursuit of pleasure is the main goal of your life, this also was vanity. It's already been written. We already know. I don't know how many times over the years I have heard people in personal conversations that were trying to address sin issues and obedience to God issues. And the statement will be made, sometimes it has been exactly these words, I will do whatever it takes to make me happy. I don't care. That's where Solomon was. And it did not lead to a good outcome. What is the result that 1 Kings 11 gives us? Starting in verse 9 it says, and the Lord was angry with Solomon. because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. Now I want to stop right there. Imagine this. If God appeared to you visibly and audibly spoke to you, do you think you would likely turn against That God? And yet he did. Ah, the God who had appeared to him and twice commanded him concerning this. Then what? But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. The sin nature is strong in us. It needs to be killed. It needs to be wiped out it. We are given to sin, you know, over and over again, the Bible tells us that there is no good within us. You know, we'll so often we'll hear people talk about this seed of goodness in us. No, the reality is there is a seed of sinfulness in us. We need new life. We need to repent of that sin. We need to turn from that sin. Solomon didn't use the wisdom that God gave him. He didn't continue to give God the credit, the glory for the blessings that he gave. He didn't keep the commands of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, since this has been your practice, And you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you. I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant." God's judgment, and we could continue reading in here, God's judgment brought adversaries against Solomon and against the nation of Israel. Both external adversaries and internal adversaries. God told Solomon here, I will give it to your servant. There was literally a man who was a servant in the household of Solomon, who his name is Jeroboam. And Solomon actually knew that he was the one that God picked and God actually gave Jeroboam a message saying, you are going to raise up and because I have ordained this, you are going to take 10 of the tribes from Solomon and you will rule over them. Solomon knew that and knew that God is the one doing it. And so what did Solomon try to do? He tried to kill Jeroboam to stop it from happening. Jeroboam escaped to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon was dead. Solomon was was stuck so much in his sinful ways of I am going to make sure that it happens my way. I'm going to make sure I come out on top. Can't do that. God always comes out on top. God brought judgment on Solomon brought judgment on the nation Just like with Solomon, when we turn from God, when we disobey God, we invite his wrath and judgment in our own lives. And we cannot make it right by just barreling through. This is what I want. Therefore, I'm going to do this because this is what makes me happy. It won't work. The only answer, the the only way to respond is confession of sin. repentance. When we look at at the judgment of God, whether it's in Solomon's life, or in David's life, or you know, all the way through Scripture, what is what is the the unifying thing that God tells us regarding his chastisement, it is intended to bring us to repentance. chastens those he loves because he doesn't want us to continue on in the Empty pursuit of those things that ultimately are going to be damaging to us So he brings hardship he brings judgment in order to bring us to repentance to bring us to Confess our wrong and turn away from that and turn back to him That is his desire salvation. God wanted Solomon to enjoy the blessings of salvation. And as we'll see, as we get into the book of Ecclesiastes, at the end of his life, he did turn back. What did he lose in the meantime? What, what did it cost? It's never too late for us to repent, to turn back, to seek God's forgiveness. But it does come at a cost. Our sin, the consequences of our sin don't always get erased when we get God's forgiveness. He'll grant us a new start from wherever we are. But we still have to deal with those ongoing consequences. The main thing is, are we willing to submit, to surrender, to acknowledge, I didn't keep what you commanded, I am wrong. That's the great need. And isn't that the message that we have in the gospel of Christ, that we have all sinned, that we are all guilty that we are all deserving of death and hell because of our sin. But God in his great love said, I will send my son to be the sacrifice to pay for your sins, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ came to be our sacrifice, to be our substitute, to be our savior. And then he on that last night before he died. He was in that upper room with the disciples, participating in the Passover meal with them. And then he said, this picture's me. This bread is my body, broken for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, sealed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. Why are we to do this? Because it was for our sins, our violation of God's commands that caused Christ to die because he loved us because he wanted us to receive forgiveness. So we when we acknowledge our sin, when we seek his forgiveness based on his finished sacrifice, we are reconciled with God. And this meal, this memorial, is the reminder of that, the picture of that truth. We're told in scripture that as often as we partake of this, we show the Lord's death. We visualize it. We remember that it was our sin that caused him to die. And it was his death that reconciles us to God. we might get locked up in the same issues that Solomon was, pursuing wealth, pursuing pleasure, pursuing what I want instead of God. And whether we do that after receiving Christ, or whether we do that instead of pursuing Christ, in both cases, the need is the same. confess and forsake, repent of sin, and seek God's forgiveness. We're told in the scriptures that before we partake of the Lord's Supper, we are to examine ourselves. We examine ourselves to ensure that we are in the faith, first of all, We examine ourselves to ensure that we are in right fellowship with God and with one another. And we read in 1 Corinthians 11.27, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So we're to examine ourselves to ensure that our heart is right before God. And then partake of this in thankful submission, humility, and worship for what God has done for us in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for the example of the life of Solomon. That though he was given so much blessing, so much opportunity, he squandered that because he was pursuing his own ends, his own desires rather than yours. And it caused him to fall. And Lord, you tell us that the things that were written beforehand were written for our admonition, that we might learn, that we might not fall into the same errors. Lord, help us to be on guard against the pursuit of pleasure, the pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of fame, or any other thing that would draw us away from pursuing you and your holiness. Lord, when we find ourselves caught up in those things, reveal it to us. Give us the humility to confess that sin to you, to seek your forgiveness and restoration. We might be in right fellowship with you. Father, we thank You for Your provision of a Savior. We thank You for the memorial of the Lord's Supper. It is a reminder of the cost, the great cost of our salvation, that our Lord had to die on account of our sins. And yet it is also a time of rejoicing Because through His sacrifice, we can be reconciled to You. So Lord, help us to examine ourselves as we approach this communion that it truly would be from a clean heart. That we would be at one with You. That we would be at one with one another in the family of God. We ask that you would minister to us, to each heart today, that you would be glorified in and through us. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.