Is it on? There you go. Turn in your Bibles this morning to the 11th chapter of 1 Kings. Our passage this morning is Kings chapter 11, verses 1 through 13. We've come to the end of the reign of perhaps the greatest earthly king to have ever sat on the throne. Our passage this morning is surprising. It can be depressing. It is a low point, the beginning of a low point in Israel's history. We have details before us of perhaps the most precipitous fall in the history of nations. We all know the saying, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And perhaps the higher the nation rises, the further the drop to the abyss. It's fascinating how little information we're given about the reign of Solomon. When he's at its peak, when Israel here is at its pinnacle, we're given very little information about Solomon, the things he did, the rule. We know about him building the house of God and building his own houses, but We have very little detail about Solomon, especially at this point of his rule. A man who led Israel from being on the brink of civil war at the beginning of his reign to a nation secure inside and out. Where the capital city is so wealthy that pieces of silver are treated like rocks to be skipped across a pond. Things that children collect. That's how wealthy the capital city of Jerusalem has become. At the height of his reign, Solomon was the wealthiest, the wisest, and perhaps the most influential man on the earth. Hundreds of kings are sending him their daughters as wives. Kings and queens start traveling literally thousands of miles just to gaze upon the splendor of this man and to ask of wisdom from him. This is a man that wrote almost 3% of the Bible. And for all of that, we have very little, seemingly, information. It's as if the author is reluctant to write these things. They're so embarrassing. It's as if there is a reluctance to record these details. And obviously we know this is inspired scripture. And I'm not saying anything contrary to that. But there seems to be an embarrassment in this passage. So let's read our passage and we'll pray. 1 Kings 11, verse 1. Now King 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 sons of Israel, you shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon held fast to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses. and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab on the mountain, which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was 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. But he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen. You pray with me. Father, we have come to a heavy passage this morning, and I pray that you would help us. I pray that you would open your word to us, and that it would have its effect upon your people. It's in your name we pray. Amen. This morning, I've broken this passage into four sections. We have accumulation, starting verse 1-3, culmination, verses 4-8, condemnation, verses 9-11, and continuation, verses 12-13. The fourth section. Accumulation, culmination, condemnation, continuation. Say that fast four times. So, verses 1-3 is what we'll look at first. Accumulation. Solomon loved many foreign women. Right out of the gate we have problems. This is the man who wrote, for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life to preserve you from the evil woman from the smooth tongue of the adulterous. The man in our passage is ignoring the command that he wrote. That word that is translated adulterous is the same word that we have here in 1 Kings 11, foreign. It's the exact same word. Foreign or strange. The King James will render this foreign or strange woman. Solomon was given a wife. At the beginning of his ministry, the first wife that we have recorded, there are apparently theories that he had other wives, but the one we have recorded is the daughter of Pharaoh. He makes an alliance with the daughter of Pharaoh and is given this wife, and we have that in record. And then there seems to be, I say there seems to be, there is definitely a, he added to that. So that was in chapter 3, and that's the first compromise that we see as far as women go. And when we go back, and we've talked about this because we've been preaching through Solomon's life, there are small little compromises that you see regularly, okay? And we need to keep that in mind. He amassed horses, he amassed chariots, and he made an alliance with the king of Egypt because it was politically advantageous. It was the wise thing to do, okay? But God had said not to. And so we see the compromise at the beginning of his reign. And this is where, this is how we know that it was a compromise and how we know that it was wrong. In Deuteronomy 17, 17 through 20, it says this. And he, speaking of the kings of Israel, shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book, a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by keeping all the words of this law, and these statues, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. It's almost like he had a time machine, almost as if it was prophecy. Solomon knew this, he knew this law, he knew that it was in there. It's talked about in Joshua, it's talked about in Exodus. In Exodus 34 we read this, take care lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. What is a marriage but a covenant? And Solomon, he didn't make just a forbidden covenant with one nation. Hundreds of nations he made covenants with. To a degree that it's hard for us to wrap our brains around. You know, we all kind of chuckle, 700 wives and 300 concubines, the children. We read this passage and Maranatha had some great questions that I don't know if I handled that well at nine o'clock at night. But it's difficult to answer some of those questions. You know, most men can't lead one wife well. They can't. Solomon thinks in his pride he can handle a thousand. You know, when it says that he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, what it means is that 700 of these were political marriages. 700 of these would have come with a dowry, with wealth, with an inheritance from their own nation, and as a political alliance. And 300 of them, he just wanted them. So these would have still been considered like wives. We would have thought of it, it would be very similar to the same thing. They would have rights and privileges and their own inheritance for their children and these kinds of things. So we need to recognize this is basically, practically speaking, a thousand wives is what he has. So to put that in perspective, if he spent one week with each wife, that's over 19 years. Half of his reign Okay, if he spent a week with each Most people cannot name a thousand people You can't name that many names. You can't even come close. You've some people in here have never met close to a thousand people Thousand wives just too for us to try to wrap our brains around it So here's the point. This didn't happen all at once. This did not happen overnight. This wasn't Solomon did not marry Pharaoh's daughter and think, okay, 999 more to go. He wasn't thinking like that. He never would have conceived of getting to where he got, okay? This is true for us. We never think that we'll do Z. Jerry points this out all the time. We never think we'll do Z, but we would do A and maybe B and, you know, next thing you know, you've got 1,000 wives. Could happen to anyone. This is why small sins, church, are so dangerous, because we think one is okay, a little bit's okay, this won't be a problem. Quote, catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossoms. You know who wrote that? Solomon, Song of Solomon. So the failure to govern his own passion over 40 years has led to a thousand wives that Solomon clings to and love. And instead of repentance, which is what we saw from David, Psalm 51 is David's psalm of repentance after Bathsheba. or the way Nehemiah deals with the same problem. In Nehemiah 13 we read this, in those days also, and remember Nehemiah is building the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra is reinstituting the worship of God, and Israel's being rebuilt. And so that's the context, and it says this, in those days also, I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, and Ammon, and Moab, and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod. And they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. And I confronted them, and cursed them, and beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made him, even him, to sin. Shall we then listen to you and do this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women? this anger against sin, you don't see that in Solomon because there has been a slow progression of compromises over 40 years that has led him to where he is so hard that we never see repentance from Solomon. Some make the argument that Ecclesiastes is his letter of repentance, but we don't know that. We don't have what we have for David. So with Solomon, there's not that hatred of sin that we see with Nehemiah. And so, let's see where it leads. So that was the accumulation. Now let's look at the culmination. I don't want anyone to panic. This is where we will spend the majority of our time. So when you realize that we haven't got to three and four, please don't panic on me. So, culmination, verses four through eight. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, or Qomesh, the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammons. Thus he did for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their God. So Solomon has allowed his wives to turn his heart away from the one true God to idol worship. Solomon went after Ashtoreth. That's the first thing we see. Who is Ashtoreth? What is that? It was a goddess of the Sidonians. It was a goddess of fertility and love and war. The statue carvings that you find of Ashtoreth Usually depict a female deity with the body of a woman in the feet of an animal or some body part that is animalistic wings or serpents for arms Something like that. It is always a combination. There's always a twisting And almost always as a warrior as a woman who is a warrior, okay, so you've got this I combination of a masculine role and female body. And so there's always, with Astereth, the female body parts are accentuated, because she is the...it's a sex cult, is what it is. And so you've got this combination of male and female in this one deity. In fact, some peoples, some people groups, believed that Astereth could be both male and female goddess or God however you would phrase that but Often in fact some of the images that you can find it's a man's body but with accentuated female body parts and so you see this combination of this sexual perversion in this in this worship of this goddess So, that's what Ashtaroth is, and that's the first one that says that he went after. He went after this god, this twisted, wicked deity. We also have Milcom he talks about. So, Milcom's only mentioned a few times in scripture, and we don't really know a lot about Milcom, about the way the worship or anything, and in fact, that's led some to believe that this is actually an incorrect spelling and that this is Molech. And the reason for that would be that the exact same phrase is used of both of them, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon, or the detestable idol of the Ammonites in other places. And so you've got this exact same phrase used for them, okay, for Molech and Milcom. I tend to think that they were a duo, that they went together. Whether Milcom was perhaps the deity and Molech is the idol that is worshipped is possible, but we don't know for sure. But regardless, they are intertwined and connected, and both are the gods of the Ammonites. So what we do know more about is Molech. So Molech is talked about quite a bit in scripture, and we know that Molech required human sacrifice, specifically child sacrifice. So we read about Molech in 2 Kings when King Josiah was clearing the land of these abominations. In 2 Kings 23, 10 it says, and he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or daughter as an offering to Molech. So Molech required child sacrifice and Solomon has built a temple to Molech. Leviticus 20, two and five says this, say to the people of Israel, any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set his face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given one of his children to Molech to make my sanctuary unclean and profane my holy name. And if people of the land do at all close their eyes to the man who gives his children to Molech and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech. In Jeremiah 32, it says, they built the high places of Baal, this is Jeremiah looking back at what Israel has done, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. Such wickedness that God says it didn't even enter my mind that they would do this. Interestingly, Molech is quoted, or I say quoted, Molech is mentioned in John Milton's Paradise Lost in a line. Molech is a demon deity, demon god in Paradise Lost, and it says this, First Molech, horrid king, besmeared with blood, of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, their children's cries unheard pass through the fire. So when they would kill these children, the priests would blow trumpets and beat drums and wail so that the parents could not hear the screams of their own children. There was multiple ways that Molech has been represented by historic writers, mostly in the medieval period, and we don't know how a lot of them know what they knew, but they wrote in detail about Molech worship, and it could have been because the Carthaginians continued Molech worship. The Carthaginians sacrificed children. But one of the one of the depictions of Molech and you may have seen this it would be a almost always a man's body with a with a head of a bull or a head of a cow and With the statue with extended arms and its hands out and they would build a fire either in the statue or under the statue and get it red-hot and And then the parents would bring their babies, and the priest would take those babies and lay them on the hands or the arms of the statue, and the baby would be burned to death. And this is what they would do. And while they were doing that, they would beat drums and wail and blow trumpets so that the parents couldn't hear the cries of their own children. And this is what Molech did, and this is what Molech demanded. Another was to build a statue, there again with a cow's head, body of a man with its hands raised, And in the stomach would be like an oven with an entrance in the front. And they would take the babies and toss them in. And there's a medieval rabbi that wrote about the children would be consumed so quickly that he likened it to a drop of water on a fire. And the vapor would just instantly just disappear because that's how hot that they would get it. This was Molech. Solomon built a temple to Molech east of Jerusalem on what would later be called the Mount of Olives. It's called something else in Josiah's day, but would later be called the Mount of Olives. Okay. Chemosh, which is how it's spelled, but a more correct pronunciation would be Chemos, is a Moabite god whose name means conqueror or subduer. It means to force, to submit, or to make bend. That's what this god's name meant. And we don't know much about him other than he was a detestable Moabite god. And so we have listed two gods of the Ammonites, One God of the Moabites and one God of the Sidonians. And my question is, why did they list these specifically? Why did the author, because it tells us down in verse 11, or, okay, no, verse eight, excuse me, that he did this for all of his foreign wives. All of those who burnt, who sacrificed to their gods, he built them a place to worship. So why are these specifically listed? And I think we have a few reasons. The Moabites and the Ammonites, y'all remember who they were, where they came from? They were the two sister nations that came from the incestuous relationship with Lot and his daughters. Lot's daughters got him drunk, and they slept with him, and from their children came the Moabites and the Ammonites. Okay? So they literally came from sexual perversion. It's where these nations came from. The Sidonians are a people the Israelites didn't completely remove from the land. They were Canaanites that were there already. And their main god, as we have said, it was the god of sexual perversion. This was their god. Later in 1 Kings, we'll see a Sidonian woman who is characterized by sexual perversion and whose name is used throughout the scriptures to denote sex cult, Jezebel. She was a Sidonian woman married to Ahab. So here's the point. All of these specifically mentioned are nations whose identity revolves around sexual perversion. And this is what got Solomon. This is what got him. His failure to govern his desires and passions got him, destroyed him. So we've seen where this has brought Solomon. I mean, this is incredible. The wisest ruler in all the world is unable to rule himself. The greatest king in the world is not king over his own heart. And we see where it brought him. Building temples and idols that promote the death of children. He never anticipated this. He never would have thought that this is where it led. So where'd this lead the nation? So we read in 2 Kings 16, Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. This is how bad it gets by 2 Kings, guys, that when it talks about someone doing wickedly, it says he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. This was a king of Judah. He even burned his son as an offering according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. So by the time of 2 Kings, kings of Judah are giving their children as sacrifices to Molech. In 2 Kings 23, we read about King Josiah. I love King Josiah. I can't wait till we get there. But King Josiah, it says this, and the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest and the priest of the second order and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem. Those who also who burned incense to Baal to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh outside Jerusalem to Brook Kidron and burned it at the Brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust upon the graves of the common people. And he broke, listen, listen. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the city of Judah and defiled the high places where the priest had made offerings from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places at the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua and the governor of the city which were on the left hand of the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the son at the entrance to the house of the Lord. He pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places, they were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, so that's what it's the Mount of Corruption, talking about what would later be called the Mount of Olives, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. This is where Solomon's unbridled lust has led. Utter devastation. Israel has followed wholesale their king into his idolatry. False worship is rampant. Injustice is everywhere. Their enemies are overpowering them. They're killing their own children. Pagan idols are being worshiped in the house of God. Sodomite whores are in God's house. God's law is all but completely forgotten. The name of Yahweh has become a byword and a mockery. What was once a nation that honored God and was blessed is now forsaken God and is in ruins. Who am I talking about? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? This is what comes from unbridled lust. Solomon's destroyed. His witness to the watching world is shot. Just last week, Jerry talks about how people are coming from all over the world, perhaps asking salvific questions of him. How can I be saved? How can one be made right before God? His witness is shot. His wealth squandered. He actually dies young. He only reigned for 40 years and he was in his late teens or early 20s when he started, so he's in his early 60s. God promised him in chapter three that if he would walk in his ways and be careful to obey all the law of God that he would prolong his days. He had a promise from God of a long life if he would be obedient. He dies young. Instead of leading men to God, he spent his best years leading men to worship demons who pervert the sexual union and demand child sacrifice. What a legacy. What a way to be remembered. A thousand wives. Seems crazy, doesn't it? No. It's not. Most of the people in this room have a device in their pocket. that gives them access to millions of women. Most of us, you got a thousand? Lightweight compared to us, compared to what we can pursue, compared to what our unbridled passion can do. Everything you want's at your fingertips. Young people, listen to me. It will destroy you. I promise you. It'll destroy you. It took the greatest king of all the earth and it subjected him to bowing at the feet of a perverted sex god that had chicken feet. May sound funny, but I'm not joking. It's what it did. Took the greatest king of all the earth and it took him to that. That's what it'll do. One time won't hurt me. One more won't make a difference. I've already got 486 wives. What's one more? God will forgive me. No one's perfect. Lies. Lies. It will destroy you and make you wish that you had never been born. That's where it'll take you. I promise you. This isn't just for young men. And frankly, this isn't just for men. We live in a time so dark and perverted that, according to recent studies, women's use of porn is almost as high as men's. In fact, some studies have come out saying that it's higher. Ladies, when ladies expose their bodies for men who are not their husbands, it's just as wicked as a man looking at a woman who's not his wife. It goes both ways. How did we, as a people, get where we are? How did we get here? We tend to think that it was because of Obergefell or Roe v. Wade or these kind of things, these more recent, or the degeneracy of the 80s. And they were degenerate. But that's not what got us here. That's the fruit. That's the fruit, guys. These are the symptoms. Did you know that the first disrobing act, as a traveling act, was in the late 1800s in this country? Legal, no laws against it, in the 1800s. Before the Civil War, 16 of the southern and eastern states had laws against fornication. It was a criminal offense, not just a sinful offense, it was criminal. And after the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled that you can't make those kinds of laws. You can't violate bodily autonomy like that. In 1875, they ruled that. I looked up the history of the legality of pornography in this country, and I don't want to talk about it. It is wicked and dark and heinous, and needless to say, it's been going on for over 100 years. It's not new. It didn't just show up with iPhones. iPhone's been around since 2007. This stuff was back before, this was in movies before they had sound in movies, silent films. That's how far back it goes. Here's the point of all this. When you look at these things, when you look at it in our nation specifically, and you do this in any nation, the sexual perversion that has grown consistently It's just a long tale of compromises. That's all it is. We thought, as the church, that we could make a truce with the world as long as it stayed outside. As long as it was on that end of town, on that side of the tracks, as long as it wasn't over here, we didn't have to go to war with it. That's what we thought. Solomon built all of those temples outside of Jerusalem He's like I'm not gonna bring them inside the worship of God didn't stop fellas the worship of stop God didn't cease worse It's still going on like normal business as usual. Oh That's outside. That's that's that's in the mountains. That's on the the other hills. It takes a little while to get there. I It's not in Jerusalem, it's not in the temple. We wouldn't dare do that, no. No, we wouldn't dare do that. As long as it's outside, we're not gonna go to war with it. We made a truce. In just a few generations, there was a sex cult inside of God's house. In just a few short generations, there were idols to Molech and to Ashtoreth and all of these abominations in God's house, in this house that we just read about earlier where the smoke filled the temple and God's presence came. Couple generations, sex cult inside. Building things for false gods. Women who lived there, that's what they did is they wove things, they built things for false gods in a few generations. Fathers, do you think that you can make a truce with this stuff and it not torch your family and destroy your marriage? You're a fool. If you think that you can play with this stuff and it not destroy you, you're a fool. It'll destroy you. It'll destroy your family. Pastors, You think that you can grow lax in this battle and not harm the church? It's lies. It's lies, the little compromises, the little foxes. It's all it takes. I don't care how private your worship of Ashtoreth is, it's not a victimless crime. This has been the lie, right? Well, if it doesn't hurt anybody else. It always hurts everybody else. We don't live in an individualistic bubble that doesn't affect everyone else around us. It's not how it works. Can a man pour hot coals in his shirt and not be burned? Solomon. Nope. Worshiping Ashtoreth leads to worshiping Moloch or Molech. Private sin always hurts those around us. Young men, young people, if you are struggling with this sin today, or perhaps, perhaps, you're so far down the hole that you're not struggling anymore. You need to be very afraid. But if you're struggling with this today, you need to find someone to confess it to. Because you will not beat it. You will not overcome darkness without turning the light on. It will not happen. So, I would encourage you to go to a brother or sister today and expose it. Because I promise you, you won't beat it on your own. I promise you that. You will not. Go and confess it. So, on this, a word to parents. Parents, we must train our children to govern their appetites. It is life or death. I don't care how much you focus on education, your child will never be as wise as Solomon. Never. But what did it profit him? Without teaching your children to be self-governed, whatever education you give them just makes them better able to pursue their lusts. Whatever inheritance you leave, You leave to be squandered on godless passions if we do not teach our children to govern themselves, to bridle their emotions, to bridle their desires. We are all about big families, right? We love big families. 10 children who can't control themselves are not better than two. So if you want to have a big family to the glory of God, praise God. I'm jumping up and down, clapping, shouting hallelujah. But if you do not teach those children to bridle their passions and desires, it'll be worse than if you hadn't had any. And another thing, parents don't set your kids up by failure, by giving them things that they're not ready for. Unless you're confident that your son or daughter is able to go to war with the world, the devil, and their own flesh, then do not, under any circumstances, give them access, or at least unfettered access to the internet. Parents, don't do that. Don't give your teenager a phone. And I'm sorry, kids, I know y'all are all like me. But they need to be able to contact me. It's for their own safety. Saints, there's phones you can get that don't have internet, and there's very little in this world as dangerous as what's on that phone. Very little. And I recognize it's hard, but there's schoolwork. There's ways to educate your children without giving them, without throwing them to the wolves. There's ways to allow them to study and do all those things without tossing them into the garbage of this world. And frankly, if there was no other way, protecting them from that garbage is more important. It is. And I have nobody in mind here. I do not. But I do not understand how parents are so naive. I don't. Giving their children these devices at these young ages. I don't get it. 999 young people out of 1,000 who have a smart device have seen explicit material. Guaranteed. And you may think, no, no, no, no, no. I've got a system. I've got things on my phone that locks all that down. They can't do anything. I dare you to bring it to me. I dare you to bring it to me. And let's look and see what can be found. Promise you. And I'm not half as tech savvy as your 15-year-old. I'm like a boomer compared to your 15-year-old. So when I was 20, I got rid of my smartphone. I threw it away, and I got a flip phone because I couldn't handle it. And it was destroying me. And I had a young man that worked for me. He's 19. Everyone else he knew had a smartphone. He had one that couldn't do anything. I don't even know if he could save numbers. He'd just punch numbers and call, and that was it. And he and his parents had made that decision out of wisdom to protect him. I know lots of young men in here who have done that and I know the rest of you who should If this sounds like Lisa if you're thinking in your mind this sounds like legalism stop thinking that Jesus said if your right hand offends you to cut it off Because it's better to enter heaven without a hand Then to go to hell hole It's life or death guys young people It's life or death. I'm not exaggerating. It will send you to hell. Fathers, you mess with this stuff, it'll send you and your kids to hell. That leads me to my third point. Condemnation, verses 9 and 11. Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods. But he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. Now the Lord was angry with Tanner. That's terrifying. That's terrifying to think of that being said about you. Just insert your name. The Lord was angry with Dustin. The Lord was angry with Joel. That's terrifying. Saints, God hates sin. You see, we shouldn't just be avoiding sin because it destroys us. We should avoid sin because God hates it. And He is righteous. and he sees everything. God has been so gracious to Solomon. He's appeared to him twice, giving him unthinkable wealth and wisdom. As Jerry pointed out in his sermon, he had immediate access to God. So many people in Israel had to travel so far to the house of God. He had steps from his own house to the house of God. Boom, he could go to church anytime. Glory, hallelujah. He had direct access. He had so many things to be thankful for. Saints, this is truly terrifying that a man whose house was connected to the house of God, where he saw the presence of God show up He saw the fog and the smoke in the house of God. It wasn't a Bethel trick, this was the presence of God. He saw that. And then he, over 40 years, made one compromise after another until he's willing to build temples that murder babies. I could name so many men off the top of my head that have fallen because of sexual sin that I know. We've had men in this church. And this leads us to a question that I, it's hard to answer. Was Solomon saved? And I know what you're thinking, now hold on, hold on pastor, we're Reformed, there's a P at the end of TULIP, right? Perseverance of the Saints, this man wrote almost 3% of scripture. He actually pursued God. He actually worshipped God. Three times in our passage it says that Solomon's heart was turned away from God. Once it says his heart was not fully devoted to God and once it says he did not follow the Lord fully as his father David had done. Proverbs 28.9 says, if one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Solomon wrote that. Proverbs 2.21 and 22 says, for the upright will inherit the land and those with integrity will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. Solomon wrote that. Proverbs 14, 14, the backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways. So was Solomon saved? I'll be honest with you, saints, I don't know. I don't know, this man was in the lineage of Christ. He was a picture of Christ, as we have preached for weeks. Solomon was a type of Christ. And he pictured what was coming in Christ's glorious kingdom. But how could a Christian do the things that he did and not repent? And perhaps he did repent, and it's just not recorded, we don't know. But we do know that later in this chapter, I think Jerry may be preaching this maybe next week, I'm not sure, but later in this chapter, God gives 10 tribes to another man. What does Solomon do? He tries to kill him. Does any of this sound familiar? God literally says, I'm gonna tear the kingdom away from you and give it to someone else. And then he tries to kill that man. That's what Saul did to Solomon's father. This is what Saul did. Solomon has become like Saul. Only worse. Only God knows if he was saved. These that we see, these are not the actions of a man who fears God. They're not. But this is what sin does to you, saints. Either you prove that you were never in the faith to begin with, or at the very least, you lose your confidence before God. You lose your blessed assurance. Saints, don't wallow in your sin until you prove that you were never in Christ. Don't do that. Repent. Confess your sin. Repent. Renew as David says he begs God in Psalm 51 renew to me the joy of my salvation Saints run to Christ and renew the joy of your salvation Don't waller in fear Number four continuation verses 12 through 13 Nevertheless, God says, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen. The kingdom is busted. It's like a piece of firewood, busted right in two. Instead of God's king, there are a thousand pagan women sitting on the throne of Israel. Jerusalem is surrounded by pagan demon-worshiping temples. Solomon has offered the kingdom to Satan for the sake of his unbridled lust, and yet God does not cast off his people. God is gracious in the midst of all of this, there is a remnant and sovereign protection over the line of David. Friends, God has not forgotten his promise. The Messiah will come, the faithful king who was promised, the king who would never have a single ungoverned desire, ever. The savior of the world, the true son of David, the king whose reign would never end, Saints, God is gracious. He upheld Israel for the sake of the coming Messiah, Christ. And He will hold you fast because of the Messiah who came, Christ. Saints, run to Him today. I don't care if you're struggling with these sins or not. Go to Him and put your faith and trust in Him. Stop living in doubt and fear and striving to fight this fight on your own. Go to Christ. The hymn writer may have had Solomon in mind when he wrote, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Father, I pray that we would be those who follow David's example and repent of our sins and put our trust in Christ, who lived and died for only one bride and saves all those who put their trust in Him. And it's in His precious name we pray. Amen. We certainly don't come to this table this morning as those who are sinless or perfect. We understand that. We come as those that have been rescued from the domain of darkness. We come recognizing what Christ has done and we celebrate what Christ has done through the taking of these elements. The taking of these elements is not the thing that cleanses you from your sin. It's what Christ has done and these symbolize those and we are those And many of us have walked to the house the way