The Pure Heart
Jeffery Anselmi / General
The King: The Rise and Fall of Solomon / Heart; Faithfulness / 1 Kings 3:4–15
Solomon’s commitment to the Lord positioned him for power.
INTRODUCTION
• The person we are going to examine has always been fascinating to me. Here is a man born out of what began as an adulteress relationship, of which God punished David for allowing it to happen.
• Not only that, but Solomon also became one of the most powerful and wealthy people that ever existed. Solomon was a man who began life with a GREAT dedication to the Lord; then, he struggled with the meaning of life, then in his later years, he found himself drifting away from God because of many bad decisions he made.
• Today we begin a new four-week series covering Solomon's life, including his rise to kingship over Israel and his horrible demise.
• His story reminds us of God's requirement of loyalty in heart.
• While Solomon began his kingship full of God's great blessings, the king's disobedient choices eventually revealed that God is true to his word to punish those who serve idols.
• The history of Israel is filled with God's display of blessings, love, and protection, as well as his heartache, discipline, and wrath toward the rebellious people of the nation.
• Within this story, King David's son Solomon rose to power, and his life can be seen as a representation of both the blessing and the wrath of God.
• His reign established peace and protection like the nation had never seen, but in his old age, his bad decisions were the cause of his demise and fall of the kingdom.
• As we study Solomon's life over the next four weeks, I hope that we can learn something that will help us live a life that is pleasing to God!
› Big Idea of the Message: Solomon’s commitment to the Lord positioned him for power.
• Let's begin our journey in 1 Kings 3:4-9!
1 Kings 3:4–9 CSB
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?”
6 And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
7 “LORD my God, you have now made your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. 8 Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
SERMON
I. An example of a pure heart
• Our text begins with Solomon as he worships at one of the high places at Gibeon. Gibeon was the last of the pre-temple national shrines. Gibeon was located six miles northwest of Jerusalem.
• Verse 4 tells us that Solomon had offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
• Unlike other kinds of offerings, in a burnt offering, the entire animal was burned. In this kind of offering, discussed in Lev 1:2–17.
• The whole animal is cut up and burned on the altar. Slager, D. (2008). Preface. In P. Clarke, S. Brown, L. Dorn, & D. Slager (Eds.), A Handbook on 1 & 2 Kings (Vol. 1–2, p. 108). New York: United Bible Societies.
• Most likely, verse 4 tells us that up to this point, Solomon had offered 1000 burnt offerings in Gibeon, although it could mean he did so on this one occasion; however, the logistics of that would make it difficult to do in one visit.
• On an evening after this long day of sacrifices, Solomon went to bed, and then God appeared to him in a dream!
• God used dreams and visions to communicate with people at this time, but imagine how great it would be for God to communicate with you in this manner!
• Verse five is only something we could dream of! 1 Kings 3:5.
1 Kings 3:5 CSB
5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?”
• Can you imagine God telling you, ask, what should I give you?
• What would you ask for? Power, health, wealth, vanquishing of your enemies? To eat whatever you wanted with no with or health consequences?
• Solomon begins by praising God and thanking Him for showing great faithfulness and love to his father, King David.
• Look at verse 6 with me; I find this passage interesting in the context of Solomon later life failures.
1 Kings 3:6 CSB
6 And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
• Solomon knows that God was faithful to David because David was faithful to God and acknowledged that David walked in righteousness and integrity.
A Handbook on 1 & 2 Kings a. A Prayer for Wisdom (1 Kgs 3:1–15)
In faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart: Each of these nouns in Hebrew functions as an adverb, telling “how” David had lived in relationship with God.
• Solomon also states that the only reason he is now King, was because God was continuing His tremendous and faithful to David through Solomon.
• Solomon then tells the Lord that he is inexperienced that he needs something he currently does not possess because of his youth and inexperience to judge the people of Israel correctly and with purity.
• What does Solomon ask for?
• First, he asks for a receptive heart!
A receptive heart.
• A receptive heart means a HEARING heart. The Hebrew verb means “to hear” or in some contexts, as we find in this passage, “to understand.”
• What is it that many times gets in the way of one being able to make the right decisions?
• The lack of ability to listen hurts us. We need to have a listening heart that allows us to be open to taking in the whole story to make the right decision.
• If we already think we know the whole story and are unwilling to listen fully, we could end up making a terrible choice based on not knowing all the facts.
• Solomon was asking God to bless him with wisdom.
• I love this request on many levels!
• First off, in this passage, we see how honest and pure Solomon’s intentions were initially, as he requests wisdom—not riches—to properly fulfill his new position (vv. 7–15).
• Solomon was willing to admit his weakness; he did not allow pride to hide his weakness. When you are eager to go to God with your struggles, He will help you!
• Today, many of us discount ourselves and our abilities based on a lack of experience.
• We might be scared to accept that promotion at work or sell our artwork because we just started and are fearful of failing.
• We can learn from Solomon how to acknowledge our lack of skill, without doubting our ability to learn.
• We should pray in faith, just as Solomon did, knowing that God can equip us for whatever work we are involved in.
• I also love the fact that Solomon wanted to receive wisdom so that he would be able to stand up to the task of ruling Israel! Solomon had a heart for the people and did not want to fail them.
• Solomon knew that the nation was depending on him!
• Let’s turn to verses 10-13
1 Kings 3:10–13 CSB
10 Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. 11 So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice, 12 I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. 13 In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life.
II. The blessings of possessing a pure heart.
• Well, Solomon hit a home run with God with his request!
• Solomon’s speech pleases God, and the Lord commends him for asking for the right things with the right intentions. There are many times we ask the Lord for things or ask that situations change in our lives, but we ask with wrong motives.
• James 4:3 tells us that we don’t receive the things we ask for because we ask with wrong motives so that we can spend our answers to prayer on our passions.
• When our motives are rooted in our fleshly desires, it can lead to trouble and doubt.
• The Lord gives Solomon what he’s asked for and the riches and honor that he didn’t ask for (vv. 11–13).
• God specifically tells Solomon that he has blessed him in this manner so that there would be no other king like him before or after his reign (vv. 12–13).
• Solomon could have been shortsighted and asked God for many other things that would seem reasonable for Solomon.
• Still, Solomon chose what would be best for people and the great responsibility he would shoulder as he would be leading the people as king.
• Solomon’s request for wisdom was a massive cultural shift for a king of Israel.
• Since its inception, Israel has been in various states of war; the culture was used to this fact.
• Solomon would not have been out of line to ask for the power to conquer his enemies.
• Solomon was asking for a cultural shift from war to peace, and he wanted to wisdom to be able to pull off that feat!
• When we possess a pure heart, it pleases God, and God will bless that type of heart.
• We always need to ask ourselves why we do what we do.
• Why do I sing or play in the band? Why do I preach the Word?
• Why am I am Elder or Deacon?
• We always need to make sure we do what we do in life for the Lord.
• We see this play out in marriage; I should do what I do for my wife because I love her, not because I have ulterior motives behind what I do.
• WE need to love one another at FCC from a pure heart; we need to love with a pure heart!
• Let’s finish with verses 14-15!
1 Kings 3:14–15 CSB
14 If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.
III. The reason for maintaining a pure heart.
• In verse 14, God promises Solomon a long life IF he keeps the statues and commands as his father David did!
• God was giving Solomon a subtle, yet powerful warning, DO NOT FORGET ME AS YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!
• God is the reason Solomon would prosper, and God is the reason we can be successful in life!
• Solomon's reputation would be untouchable because of how the Lord blessed him—as long as he walked in the Lord's statutes (v. 14).
• Once Solomon woke up, he immediately offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, noting that he believed in the communion he had just experienced with the Lord.
• We, too, should act in faith the same way Solomon immediately made sacrifices to God for what he heard and had yet to experience.
• Whether it's tithing while trusting in the Lord's future provision or fasting for future answers, God often calls us to obedience before the outcome of faith.
CONCLUSION
• Our application point is simple, yet profound, a pure heart leads to a prosperous spiritual life.
• We need to work on keeping our hearts pure because a pure heart is one of the keys to a prosperous spiritual life in Christ.
• I encourage you to read 1 Kings chapters 3-9. The next thing we read concerning Solomon was him putting his God ordained wisdom into practice!
