asked, 'Did they do the same thing with the foundation?"
He laughed and said: "Oh... you can't do THAT with a foundation."
A contractor will tell you that a building is only as good as its foundation. If the foundation is faulty, the building is doomed. But if the foundation is solid, the building will stand a long time.
2. Yeshua (Jesus) and Foundations
24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; 25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; 27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." Matthew 7.24-27
3. Today we look at Solomon -- famous as the wisest king in the history of the united Israel; also failed to exercise his wisdom; wrote scripture; built the temple/house of God
4. 1 Chronicles 28.1-10
I. Solomon Was a Gift from God
A. His Names
1. "Jedidiah" -- "Beloved of the LORD"
2. Solomon (Shlomo) from Shalom -- "Peaceful" (David was a man of War; Agony of the loss of the first child)
3. God had not given up on David (and Bathsheba -- lineage of Messiah)
B. A Reminder: PEOPLE are gifts from God
1. Babies -- For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me my petition which I made to him. 1 Samuel 1.27
2. In the Life of a Congregation -- 11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; Ephesians 4.11-13
II. Solomon Was Gifted by God 1 Kings 3:7-9
THREE GUYS ON A DESERT ISLAND, THEY FIND THE MAGIC LANTERN. FIRST GUY, I MISS MY WIFE AND KIDS, WISH I WAS HOME. SECOND GUY, I MISS MY JOB, I WISH I WAS HOME. THIRD GUY, I MISS MY BUDDIES, I WISH THEY WERE BACK. IF YOU WERE GRANTED A WISH, WHAT WOULD IT BE? SMARTER, RICHER, TALLER, SKINNIER, MORE WISHES? AS YOU CONSIDER THIS, AND BTW, GOD IS NOT A MAGIC GENIE TODAY TO GRANT YOUR WISHES.
Abraham went 10-12 years between hearing from God
Moses in the wilderness of Midian did not hear for 40 years; on the desert journey to Canaan, he heard daily
A. God Gave Solomon:
1. Wisdom -- 1 Kings 3.16-28 (cutting baby in two)
2. Wealth -- 1 Kings 10 (Queen of Sheba -- the half was not told to me)
a. Solomon's wealth is symbolized by gold, highlighted by the shields of hammered gold and the great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.
b. In one year--probably the year of the queen of Sheba's visit--the gold revenues of 2 Chronicles 9.13 (666 talents of gold; approximately $700 Billion -- US Debt-- $17.2 Trillion+)
c. Solomon's tableware was made of gold. Prosperous kings were expected to have such tableware and display their wealth flamboyantly.
d. Solomon has a fleet of trading ships that travel a far-reaching route and bring back exotic items every three years.
e. Israel's king is greater in riches and wisdom than all other kings. The whole world comes, bearing gifts, to hear the wisdom God has put in his heart.
f. An expensive horse and a chariot from Egypt are singled out to put an exclamation point on the king's actions. As already observed, the law of the king prescribed, "The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, 'You are not to go back that way again' "
God's blessings on Solomon abound. God has kept all of His promises but will Solomon uphold his end of the bargain.
3. Authority
a. Promise of God
b. Aid of Bathsheba and Nathan -- 1 Kings 1.15-31
c. Theologically, Solomon did not sit on David's throne. Chronicles places him on the throne of the Lord. The kingdom belongs to God, and the one who sits on the throne does so by grace rather than right. Solomon's kingdom is a manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth.
Solomon's request for "wisdom and knowledge" to lead and govern "this great people of yours" is an acknowledgment of his own weakness in the tasks of government and of the fact that Israel was God's people, not Solomon's.
4. Warnings -- 1 Kings 9.4-9
B. Solomon's Waning
1. Women -- 1 Kings 3.1-15
a. Alliance with Egypt -- Danger of bringing foreign idols to Israel
b. Other Alliances -- Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he loves Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. Altogether he accumulates "seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines." Like the marriage to the Egyptian princess, most of these unions probably were politically motivated.
c. He developed a Divided Heart -- 1 Kings 11.9-13
2. Emptiness (Ecclesiastes)
a. Skilled Author and Composer -- 1 Kings 4:29-34/3000 proverbs; 1005 songs; 2 Psalms (72/127)
b. Skilled Administrator and Architect -- 1 Kings 4:1-19, 1 Kings 6
c. Skilled Diplomat and Businessman -- 1 Kings 5:1-18, 1 Kings 10:26-29
d. Skilled in Art and Sciences
e. Not enough
Billy Graham tells in The Secret of Happiness of the disturbed patient who consulted a psychiatrist for help. He was suffering from deep depression. Nothing he had tried could help. Now he was desperate; he couldn't go on this way. Before he left the office, the psychiatrist told him about a show in one of the local theaters. It featured an Italian clown who had the audience convulsed with laughter night after night. The doctor recommended the show; that it would be excellent therapy to laugh for a couple of hours and forget his troubles. Just go and see the Italian clown! With a dejected expression, the patient muttered, "I am that clown." He too could say of laughter--"Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"
f. Bottom Line -- Solomon forgot the source of his blessings -- and it bit him!
1) Raccoon
A lady kept a raccoon as a pet and unknown to her they go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be the same as a 100-pound dog in a fight her friend, who happened to be a zookeeper, felt compelled to tell her of the coming change. She listened politely and simply said, "It will be different for me, Bandit would never hurt me, he just wouldn't." Three months later the lady underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason.
Sin too often comes dressed in an adorable disguise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, "It will be different for me!"
When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:14-17
2) Solomon disobeyed this important command is and the result was exactly as predicted: His wives turned him to idolatry. 1 Kings 11:4-8
III. Solomon Gave a Gift to God
A. Temple 30X90X45
1. Make it the best -- "God is greater than the gods."
2. Follow the Plan (of God through David) -- 1 Chronicles 28:19
B. Dedicated At Sukkoth
1 Kings 8:27-29 - "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
C. Accepted by God -- 2 Chronicles 7.1-3
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORd's house.3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."
1. Waiting until the last minute
A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump.
"Preacher," said the young man, "I'm so sorry about the delay. It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip."
The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It's the same in my business."
a. Solomon led a tormented life for many years -- should have heeded his own wisdom -- Proverbs 3.5-6
b. We assume he came back to God near the end -- Ecclesiastes 12.13
2. The Temple he built was fabulous, but God has since chosen a new place to dwell
1 Corinthians 6:19 - Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
2 Corinthians 6:16 ... we are the temple of the living God.
1 Peter 2:5 ...you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
