I have tried to warn you for the last several Sunday nights as we have been making our way through First Kings, try to prepare you that the author was setting us up, if I may use that language. He has been slowly driving us up this precipice, up this beautiful mountain to see all of Solomon's glory. And today, we're gonna ride with Solomon right off the edge of the cliff. And that is unfortunately the truth. Solomon fails significantly, seriously, majorly. 1 Kings chapter 11. I like bad dad jokes. I think every dad likes bad dad jokes. I'm finna hit you with a bad dad joke, but don't throw your shoe up here at me, okay? 1 Kings 11 verse 1 says, but King Solomon loved many strange women. Is there any other kind? That's an old English word, obviously. It just means foreign. foreign women, okay? Those that were not proselyte Jews, or they were not natural Jews, and nor had they converted to Judaism. But Solomon loved many strange women. Together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart." And if you're that person that highlights things in your Bible, the key thought in this section is Solomon's heart. You'll see it repeated several times. They will turn your heart after other gods, Solomon clave unto these, these foreign women, in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. 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. For Solomon went after Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of Yahweh, in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build in high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, excuse me, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, foreign wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. Yahweh was angry with Solomon. because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David, thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David, my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen. Tonight, the road to ruin. the road to ruin, or King Solomon's undoing, or the king's downfall, the king's downfall. What we see tonight is Solomon's divided heart, which led to a divided empire. A divided heart led to a divided nation. Most anyone can start something strong. can start strong. A race, you can start a race strong. I can start a diet strong. I can out-diet anybody here to begin with, guarantee. An exercise plan, a shift at work, on and on. Anybody can start strong. But the question is, can you finish well? Can you stay strong and can you finish well? And that is the question that lies before us as we consider this section of the life of Solomon. We have spent weeks, friends, months, considering all of the wonderful things that Solomon has done. This first 10 chapters is just full of the accolades and accomplishments of King Solomon. Those things that he has accomplished in the building of the temple and the temple complex and the trade deals and the financial, just this huge influx of money coming into the kingdom. All of these things have been preparing us for this moment. Solomon started strong, but he didn't finish well. And we need to give some serious thought to this and see it as both a warning and at the same time see the beauty in how Christ not only started strong, He finished well. How our Lord succeeds Solomon in this. I want to ask you just to turn back a couple of pages. There's one little thought I want you to see. Look at chapter 3, 1 Kings chapter 3. One little simple sentence. 1 Kings 3 verse 3. And Solomon loved the Lord. Walking in the statues of David, his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in high places. I want you to take careful notice of those first few words. And Solomon loved the Lord. And then look back at our text. Verse one, but King Solomon loved many strange women. The author here intends us to see the king's downfall. Right in verse, I'm sorry, chapter 11, verse one, and it's hard to say this without you wanting to smile back at me, but that's a great big but, B-U-T, that's a great big but. Solomon began with loving the Lord, loved him and was walking in the statues, but King Solomon loved many foreign women. He started strong, very successful, doing many good and godly things, but his heart was turned, his heart was divided, and he didn't finish well. The text tells us right here and over and over that it was a hard issue. It was a hard issue for Solomon. This failure, you can look at all the exterior things and all of those things help reveal whether it is him returning to Egypt, the accumulation of vast wealth, the horses and chariots, or all the wives that he accumulated. But all of that is just the symptoms. The problem is his heart. His heart isn't right with God. His heart is divided, and his heart is yearning for things that are forbidden, and yet the king indulges in them, and he does so to his own demise. but not only to his own demise, but to the near destruction of the nation. When you read here in verse number three, and he had 700 wives, God had told in the Old Testament law that kings were not allowed to multiply wives to themselves. They just weren't. Polygamy was forbidden. But Solomon, it's not like he had two wives or 10 wives. He married 700 women. That's a lot of mothers-in-law, 700 wives. Now, we don't know, we cannot know. Many of these, their position as a wife of the king was purely ceremonial. like it was political. Marry my daughter and we'll enter into this alliance. And sadly, it was just very normal for men, particularly men of wealth or power, to give their daughter to a king in order to curry favor with him. So it is likely at least a large percentage of these 700 wives what the Bible terms as princesses, it was just political alliances, okay? But that doesn't make it right. Marriage is supposed to be what? Symbolic of our union with Christ. Two become one. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. A marriage is to be a portrait of that relationship between Christ and his church, his bride. But he married, he took polygamy off the chart. Had 700 wives, whether he had 700 weddings, I don't know. How formal it was, we don't know. Yes, a lot of it was political alliances to strengthen the nation, to increase trade and for prosperity, but nonetheless, it's still wrong. In verse 3 says he had 300 concubines. And you can't clean that up. It was the job of a concubine to satisfy the carnal desires of the king. There's no way to clean that up. It is what it is. Forgive my rough language, but in my notes I simply said these women served as sexual playthings for the king. That's what they were. They were taught, crafted, trained in the art of intimacy just for that opportunity to spend a night with the king. And it's ugly, and it's wicked, and it's a rotten life if you're a pretty young lady. And so don't try to pretty this up. Don't try to clean it up. Let's call it what it is. This is a gross, immoral act of what is otherwise a very godly king. And he has between his wives and his concubines 1,000 women at his disposal. And the issue that, but beyond the fact that he's not supposed to marry all these women, the major issue is what we see at the close of verse number three, they turn his heart away from God. It has nothing to do, this multiplicity of wives, the issue beyond the sexual abuse of it or the manipulation of women of it. Beyond that, he is covenanting in relationship with all of these individuals who do not recognize Yahweh as the one true living God. They were at the least idol worshipers, if not polytheistic pagans. who turned Solomon's heart away from God. Had nothing to do with their nationality. This has, you know, the issue has nothing to do with their skin, color, the pigmentation. The issue, beyond the polygamy, yes, but beyond that is that he aligned himself in covenant relationship with all of these women that loved and served false gods. The king had accumulated wealth, chariots and horses. He breached the Old Testament law by going back into Egypt and striking relationship with them. But the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back is all of these wives who turned his heart away. And you can't blame the women. This was Solomon. Solomon was a fool. I'm sorry. He was a wise man acting foolish. Now don't forget who we're talking about. When God asked, what do you want? Solomon said, give me a discerning heart, a discerning mind that I can rule the people well. that I can lead the nation well. And Solomon was one of the greatest minds that ever walked on planet Earth. Read the Proverbs. Read Ecclesiastes. This significant, wonderful mind may have been great and was, but the issue was his heart was divided. I want to point out that this failure of Solomon was both predictable and preventable. predictable, because this is what happens when you begin down this long, dark journey and you never repent, you never turn. You know, it's not like, okay, I got 100 lives and that's enough. Now I got 200, that's enough. 300, 400, 500. How many does it need? How many do you need? How many concubines, Solomon, do you need? So this egregious behavior didn't happen overnight. This was predictable because he set himself on this path and refused to get off of it. And the further he went, the further he got from God. I illustrate it like this. This was a slow leak, not a blowout. Each and every time Solomon bought and brought another horse and chariot From Egypt, he went further down the path in the wrong direction. Every time he stockpiled more money than either he or his nation needed was another step away from God. Every marriage, every new concubine, every new night with another woman was a step away from God. He went further and further away from the God that had appeared to him twice and the God that had blessed him so greatly. I want to read something. If you want to follow, you're certainly welcome. From Deuteronomy chapter number seven, this speaks specifically to the warning that God gave. Deuteronomy chapter seven. This is referenced, this warning is referenced in our text in First Kings chapter number 11 in verse two. But in Deuteronomy 7, listen to this language. Verse one, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, now this is the second giving of the law just prior to entering into the promised land. When you, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land which thou goest to possess, You cast out many nations, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites. Look at all those nations and compare it to what's listed in 1 Kings 11, many similar nations. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, shall smite them, utterly destroy them, Thou shalt make no covenant with him, nor show mercy unto them. And now here it is, Deuteronomy 7, 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with him, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. Solomon knew what we call Deuteronomy chapter seven verses one through four. He knew it. This was a wise man. Well schooled, well studied in the law of God. Or say it another way, he knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew it. He knew he was wrong. And so do we. I mean, he's off of Solomon just a minute. And so do we. We realize, do we not, I would say the vast, vast majority of the time, we know what God's word says. We know what it forbids. We know what it prohibits. We know what his law, his commandments, and his statutes are concerning this particular issue. And we know what we're doing is wrong. It's not that we're unaware, but like Solomon, we continue to go down that path. And if we do not repent and turn away, it can lead to our destruction like it led to his. God said, you marry these individuals, they will turn your heart away. What happened? Solomon married those individuals and they turned his heart away. I want you to notice back in our text, and I got this underlined in my Bible. Verse four. Some chilling words. 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 Yahweh God. See those words? When he was old. When he was old. Not when he was young. He started strong. Youth, no doubt, has its own set of temptations. But listen to this, old age is no guaranteed exemption from apostasy. Old age is no guaranteed exemption from apostasy. This is the road to ruin that Solomon was on. It had begun years earlier, and as he began to age, and through all of the bad decision after bad decision, turned his heart away from the God that had so greatly blessed and used him. Let that be a warning. In case I'm speaking to any old people tonight, there's no guarantee. You better stay close to Jesus. When my mother died, Tom and Rita, and I appreciate this, Tom and Rita Horn drove up to my mom's funeral. It was a long drive just to be there for her funeral. And that meant a lot to me. He wasn't involved, he didn't have anything to do with the wedding, I'm sorry, with the funeral or with the graveside service. But at graveside, the preacher asked, he said, Brother Tom, would you lead in prayer? And you know, if you've been through this, you don't remember a lot. There's such a flood of emotions, you don't remember all that's going on. But I remember this. And it meant a lot to me, and it continues to mean a lot to me. He said, thank God that she finished well, that she kept the faith right up to the end, and that she stayed strong. He said that in his prayer at the graveside for my mother. And I want to be able to say that for you. I want someone to be able to say that for me, that they finished well. Not perfect, not sinless, but they finished well. When Solomon was old, don't think old age exempts you. There's a lot more my flesh is tempted to say about this, but he was still an old man, but he still had a young man's mind. You follow what I'm saying? And that led him to all kinds of trouble. But wait a minute, it's not bad enough that he allowed his many wives, probably concubines as well, their own religion, or allowed them their idolatry. The text tells us that Solomon actually eventually joined in with them. Verse 5, for Solomon went after Ashtaroth. That's the fertility goddess, also known as Ishtar. Verse 5, also after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Verse 7, we see Chemosh. And then you see Molech. I don't think sometimes we realize how ugly idolatry is, in particular what we're reading about right here. You realize Molech, you know how sacrifice was made to Molech? Get your phones out, Google it, Molech. There was this bronze, normally bronze statue. and it had outstretched arms, had like the face of an animal, and had these long, outstretched arms. And they would build a fire underneath those arms, and sometimes even inside of the idol itself, so that the bronze would heat up, scalding hot, and listen to me, and then they would take their newborn children, and set it into the arms and hands of Molech and their children would simply be burned alive. Today we call that abortion. And it gets sanitized and cleaned up. And it's called health care. But it is Molech worship. And it is godless. Solomon Look, I skipped this. Verse six, and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord like David. Verse seven, because he built a high place. He helped them in this sacrifice to these idols. Verse eight, likewise did he. He did this for all of his wives, which burn incense to all of their many gods. He participated in this. the same God that built this temple that we spent weeks studying, that Yahweh had appeared to twice, that Solomon who stood on that raised bronze structure and watched the fire of God come down from heaven and fill the temple. is now sacrificing at the feet of Molech and Ashtaroth and Mil- whatever his name is there. Milcom. He knew better. He knew better. This was a wise man acting incredibly foolishly because he took his eyes off Yahweh and he began down this path of lust and covetousness and desire. He knowingly disobeyed God's law. He knowingly ignored God's commands. On Wednesday nights, we spent three uncomfortable weeks studying about women and Solomon warning about foreign women, and strange women, and sensuality, and sex, and adultery. We spent three uncomfortable Wednesday nights working our way through Solomon warning his sons, don't do this. And he did the very thing that he was warning against. Hypocrisy. Blatant hypocrisy in his part. On the two tables, the Ten Commandments, what's number one? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. What's number two? Don't make any graven image and bow down and worship him. Solomon messed up on number one and number two. And he knew better. I say again, this was predictable because he was down that path and refused to turn, but it was also preventable. He could have at any time repented and turned. But he refused to obey God. Folks, before we just dog Solomon out too much, the same warnings ought to be heard in our own hearts. Don't give in to idols, whatever form that they take. We know better. We know when our decisions don't honor God, and yet so often we do them anyway. And when, like Solomon, those slow, bad decisions accumulate, they can lead to major problems. In other words, this disobedience came at a cost. Look at verses nine through 13. And Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from Yahweh God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. Answer this. What had Molech done for Israel? It really is absurd because Yahweh, the one true living God, has given Israel victory over all of these false gods, false deities, and victory over those who worship them. And now you're going to go bow at the feet of those false gods? What had Astaroth done for Israel? Nothing. What do our idols do for us? Verse 10 he had commanded him specifically God Yahweh warned Solomon against this commanded him when he appeared to him it Solomon if you'll do this I'll bless you and if you if you go the other path I'm going to bring destruction. God specifically warned him that he should not go after other gods but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. In verses 11 through 13, if you notice, if you highlight things in your Bible, notice the word rend, rend or tear. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, for as much as you've done this, you've not kept my covenant, my statues, which I've commanded you, I will rend the kingdom from you. I'm gonna tear the kingdom away from you, Solomon. And I'm gonna give it to your servant. Verse 12, notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David your father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit, verse 13, I will not rend away all the kingdom. This disobedience, like all disobedience, comes at a cost. And it came at a high cost for Solomon. It cost Solomon the kingdom. His sin. Even after all of these wonderful things that he did, his sin cost really his son and his son's sons cost him the kingdom. Because you know what happens after Solomon, right? We're gonna get there in 1 Kings, Lord willing. The son, his son, Rehoboam, ends up only governing Judah and Benjamin. That's what he talks about there in verse 13. He ends up only governing two tribes of the 12, Judah and Benjamin. And Jeroboam, a foreigner, a stranger, ends up, I shouldn't say a foreigner as he's not Jewish, but someone who's not of the kingly line. Jeroboam ends up taking 10 of the 12 tribes and the nation splits from Israel, 10 tribes in the north, Judah, two tribes in the south. That's a high price to pay. I'm trying to be careful. High price to pay to have flashy chariots, powerful horses, buckets of gold, and a whole bunch of pretty women waiting on you when you get home. That's a high price to pay. The kingdom, listen, will be torn in two. And you can lay this at Solomon's feet. The nation split because of Solomon's sin. Folks, it's bad. Listen, it's bad when we mess up, but we've got to come to terms with this. When those who are in authority, when our leaders mess up, it affects everyone in the nation. Their behavior, their decisions don't just affect them, it affects the entire country. And this is a huge, in my notes, all capital letters underlined, huge, punishment for Israel. This is a huge, if you, I don't care who you are, what you know about the Bible, if you were to put major moments in Israel's history, say the Exodus, crossing of the Jordan into the promised land, Mount Sinai, there's some mountain peak moments, whether good or bad, the divided empire is one of those mountain peak moments. It's a low place. It is incredibly hurtful to everyone involved, and it has long-standing effects, far-reaching effects, but this is a huge, significant punishment on Israel because of Solomon's sin. The nation will be torn in two. Friends, never underestimate the consequences of sin. But as I close, I want to do a little quick comparison. I wanna compare King Solomon's failure with King Jesus' faithfulness. We've mentioned some of this as we've made our way through, not just tonight, but through this study of 1 Kings. But while this is good and fresh, think. Solomon was deliberately disobedient, right? He knew better. King Jesus, perfectly obedient. Solomon had a covetous heart. More silver, more gold, more women, more horses, more chariots. And you understand, just in case, it wasn't that Solomon wasn't allowed to have nice things. Israel was forbidden from having this vast cavalry of horses and chariots because they would depend on that instead of depending on God to keep them safe. But Solomon's heart was covetous, wanting more and more and more. But Jesus had a contented heart, contented. Solomon gave in to the worship of idols. King Jesus only ever worshiped the one true and living God. Solomon fell into persistent sin. Jesus was perfectly sinless. Solomon, listen to this language, Solomon left his first love. You get that? He left his first love, and it destroyed a nation. Jesus remained true to God, and by him, it has brought blessing to all nations, all people, all people groups. So my closing exhortation is, Christian family, finish well. Stay strong. Don't let some great big butt, B-U-T, be written about you. Finish well, finish strong, stay true, stay faithful. He is worthy. He's worthy. If you ask Solomon right now, Solomon, Was all of that, was it worth what it cost? What do you think he'd say? Not a chance. No, it wasn't worth. So hard to see it when you're in it, but it's not worth it. God bless you, I love you. We've been hard on Solomon. I just say this, and I'm gonna close. I'm glad I'm poor and ugly and fat, and I don't have to deal with all that temptation Solomon did. God got me right where I need to be. Let's be dismissed this evening with a word of prayer, all right? Steve Brown, dismissed this night with prayer, please.