Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20030420.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSING IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part V: Learning To PRESERVE God's Blessings By FAITHFULLY Obeying Scripture
(1 Kings 3:16-4:34)
  1. Introduction
    1. In Evangelical Christian circles today, many believers often equate the degree of external numerical and program abundance and joyfulness in Christian groups with true spiritual health and vitality.
    2. However, though God is gracious, such abundance and joy can not replace true spiritual health, and 1 Kings 3:16-4:25, 27-34 with 1 Kings 4:26 demonstrates this fact with a warning for us today as follows:
  2. Learning To PRESERVE God's Blessings By FAITHFULLY Obeying Scripture, 1 Kings 3:16-4:34.
    1. In the early days of King Solomon, the nation enjoyed God's blessings in terms of great numerical and program abundance and joy (1 Kings 3:16-4:34):
      1. Because of the wisdom God graciously granted Solomon (1 Kings 3:12), he made such wise judgments as a king that he earned the respect of all Israel, 1 Kings 3:16-28:
        1. On one occasion, two harlots came to Solomon to claim matrimonial rights to an infant, 3:16-22. One of them had accidentally killed her own baby, and was jealous of the other with the living child.
        2. Aware the true mother would sacrifice all to save her baby's life, and the false mother was simply jealous of the living baby's mother, and thus would agree to the living baby being slain, Solomon ordered the living baby to be divided with half of his body going to each woman, 1 Kings 3:23-25.
        3. When one woman pleaded to let the child go to the other woman while the other agreed to divide him, Solomon ordered the baby be given to the woman who pleaded for the child's life, 3:26-27.
        4. As a result, all Israel realized the king was very discerning, and thus respected him, 1 Kings 3:28.
      2. Solomon was blessed with an extensive administration listed in 1 Kings 4:1-19, an administration over a huge population that was joyful and spent much of its time in festive celebrations, 1 Kings 4:20.
      3. God had blessed Solomon with dominion stretching from the Euphrates River in modern Iraq to the Philistines, and huge gifts and provisions came his way daily from many peoples, 4:21-25, 27-28.
      4. Besides, Solomon's God-given wisdom made him renowned throughout the Middle East:
        1. Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of other sages throughout the Middle East, 4:29-31.
        2. He spoke three thousand proverbs and wrote one thousand and five songs, 1 Kings 4:32.
        3. These proverbs and songs addressed subjects of all sorts of matters, including that of nature so that people came from all the countries around to hear of his wisdom, 1 Kings 4:33-34.
    2. However, at this time, Solomon significantly disobeyed God, and no one seemed to be concerned about it as the nation was enjoying such great times, 1 Kings 4:26 with Deuteronomy 17:16:
      1. In the Law of Moses, God had ordered Israel's kings not to multiply horses unto themselves lest they depend on military might rather than trust in the Lord for the nation's protection, Deuteronomy 17:16.
      2. Nevertheless, Solomon built forty thousand stalls for his horses and had twelve thousand horsemen, meaning he was able to mount a formidable cavalry and three horses per rider to use so that he always had a fresh horse for rapid military deployment of his forces, 1 Kings 4:26.
      3. Yet, as Ryrie notes in his Study Bible, "No one seemed to be concerned that Solomon was disobeying God . . ." in the matter as people were apparently so relaxed and joyful in God's blessings that strict obedience to Scripture just was not a priority, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. To 1 Kings 4:26.
    3. This carelessness in obeying God eventually led Solomon to be careless about not obeying other Scriptures to the extent Solomon sinned in idolatry and God had to check him, 1 Kings 11:1-3, 9:
      1. When Solomon failed to heed God's command to Israel's kings about not multiplying horses, he then failed to heed the edict to Israel's kings regarding not marrying foreign women and thus being influenced into idolatry, 1 Kings 11:1-4 in light of Deuteronomy 17:16 and 17.
      2. This roused God's anger, and led to God's judgment on Solomon's lineage, 1 Kings 11:9-12.
Lesson: When God's rich blessings flooded Solomon's reign, he (and the nation with him) RELAXED the DEGREE of their OBEDIENCE to Scripture, and that only led to eventual divine discipline.

Application: If we wish to PRESERVE God's blessings in our lives , we must FAITHFULLY heed Scripture no matter HOW GOOD are the times and material blessings from God at the MOMENT!