1 Kings 11, Symptoms Of A Heart Turning Away From God
1. Ignoring A Command Of God (v1-2)
2. A Weakened Commitment To God (v3-4)
3. Going Out Of Your Way To Do Evil (v5-6)
4. Making Arrangements To Keep Doing Evil (v7-8)
1 Kings 11, Symptoms Of A Heart Turning Away From God
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As we look at the example of Solomon this morning, I would say that we have before us one of the biggest mysteries of the Bible.
It's one of the biggest mysteries because he's such an incredible guy at the beginning of his life.
In asking God for wisdom and receiving from God, the promise of wisdom and the next.
Few chapters, as you read on.
In early in First Kings you see the wisdom of Solomon disk.
Lead and known and worldwide people are flocking to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
He he becomes famous because he genuinely is incredibly wise as a gift of God.
And then we get to Chapter 11 and it's really hard for us to understand this part of Solomon life.
Compared to where we've come from with Solomon on Wednesday evening, we were in First Kings Chapter 8.
And we were considering the dedication of the temple and just the amazing realities and truths that there is no God like our God in considering the words of Solomon and the prayers of Solomon.
Considering the the things that he said surrounding the building of the.
People and his awe of God and the the recognition of how Greek God is and think about all that he invested the millions of dollars that he invested in the temple and and and this great and awesome work for God was done in the building of the temple.
And so you have this history where Solomon was.
Loving God and relying upon God and fully devoted to and focused on God.
But then you get to Chapter 11 and.
You see that his life at the end was full of idolatry.
His life was full of the worship of false gods, J.
Vernon McGee says Solomon is the most colossal failure in the pages of scripture.
That's a pretty big statement, right?
He's the most colossal failure because he he was coming from such a height.
Some from such a place of opportunity in in in all that he was given from God.
But now we find him in all out rebellion against God as.
He concludes his reign as he concludes.
His Kingdom.
Commentator FB Meyer says
It would have been useless to argue with Solomon for the claims of idols.
He could at once by his wisdom, have annihilated all arguments and have established the existence in unity of God.
But step-by-step, he was led by silken cords, a captive to the worship of other gods.
If someone would.
Have approached Solomon and tried to argue him into idolatry.
It would not have been successful, right?
Solomon could not be defeated on the debate field, right?
Like that.
That wasn't going to work.
You couldn't logic him into the worship of false gods.
You couldn't beat him in a argument or debate.
But the enemy has other strategies besides those direct assaults.
And what the enemy used in Solomon's life was an indirect guerrilla warfare in leading Solomon after the pursuits of his heart.
Into idolatry, and I like the way that FB Meyer describes it. He was led by silken cords.
Very gentle and soft and lovely.
But the end result was still the same.
He was fully immersed in.
Devoted to the worship of false gods.
Here at the end.
Of his life.
You couldn't have argued him into this, but he could be seduced into it.
And this is where Solomon ends up.
His heart having turned away from God, and so I've titled the message This morning, symptoms of a heart turning away from God.
As we look at Solomon example, we get to identify some of the signs.
Some of the symptoms.
Of course, for.
The purpose that we could examine our own hearts.
And make sure that we are not following along the path of Solomon and a lot of ways.
You could say if it could happen to Solomon, it could happen to me.
If it could happen to Solomon with all his opportunities with all that, the wisdom that he had and the the heritage that he had.
And all that was going for.
It could happen to us.
In fact, you could even understand that we have a higher standing than Solomon a a better access to got a better relationship to God.
He built that incredible Temple, right, but we have access to the very throne room of God by faith.
In Jesus Christ.
And so we have an even better standing to start with, which would make our following his path even more tragic.
Although we have much more in Christ than Solomon ever had.
We don't have so much.
That we are immune.
To these symptoms that we are immune from turning away from God.
Solomon ended his life as a man who had everything money, power, fame.
But he also had misery.
He was also miserable, and we'll get to that next year as we get into the Book of Ecclesiastes as we continue on reading through.
But but Solomon, in writing that just is hopeless, desperate, depressed.
Last really, all motivation and hope for life because he is so miserable.
If money satisfies the heart, why are rich people miserable?
If fame satisfies the heart, why are famous people miserable, right?
You can go down the list.
Solomon had it all.
But he was miserable.
Because in the.
End his heart had turned away from God.
Now God addresses this directly in verse 9 and 10, and I want to take a moment and read through that with you again.
It says, so the Lord became angry with Solomon.
Because his heart had turned 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 keep what the Lord had commanded.
Notice there in verse.
Nine, it tells us the Lord became.
Angry with Solomon.
At the beginning of Solomon's reign the Lord was pleased with Solomon, because when the Lord showed up and said, ask whatever you want, I will give it to you. And Solomon said, I need wisdom to rule your people to lead well.
And it pleased the Lord to have Solomon requests this, and to answer that request.
But now the Lord became angry with Solomon and notice why he's angry because his heart had turned from the Lord.
The wood is angry because Solomon heart had turned from the Lord and this is something very important to note that each of us are accountable for our hearts.
God looks at us and he holds us accountable and he says look, the condition of your heart is your responsibility and if your heart turns from me.
God says I'm going to be very upset.
I'm going to be very angry if you allow your heart to be turned now.
Solomon in an earlier day when he was still wise and walking with the Lord.
Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23, he said keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
The the reality is that God has given us all this responsibility and we are accountable before God for the condition and status of our.
Start the condition of our heart is not just something that happens to us, not just something that we have no control over, not just something that we you know are are powerless in impacting.
God calls us to keep our heart and he was angry with Solomon because Solomon heart had turned from the Lord.
This wasn't something that had happened to Solomon that was out of his control.
This was something that Solomon allowed to take place.
And again, it wasn't an overnight, you know.
Attack that caused Solomon heart to turn.
It wasn't a direct argument or logical debate.
But it was a gradual.
He was led by silken cords.
But the end result is that his heart was turned.
And God says, that makes me angry.
We are accountable.
For our hearts, for the condition of our hearts, listen if your heart turns away from God, it's your fault.
It's nobody else's fault. It's not your spouse is fault. It's not your parents fault. It's not the TV's fault. It's not the Internet fault. It's not Trump's fault. It's not by default.
It's your fault if your heart turns from God.
And so we need to recognize.
The symptoms of a heart that's trending from God.
So that we can catch it early so that we can catch when we are progressing in that path of Solomon and moving away from the things of God we can identify when our hearts are leading us astray.
And so there's four symptoms we'll consider here from Solomon example in First Kings Chapter 11, the first one.
Is found in verses one and two.
Point #1 symptom #1, ignoring a command of God.
The first symptom that should cause us to pay attention 'cause some alert and alarm sounds to be ringing in our heads is when we are OK ignoring a command of God checkout versus one and two it says.
But King Solomon loved many foreign women.
As well as the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel.
No, you shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.
Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.
Solomon clung to these in love.
Here in verse one and two is we see the last season of Solomon life.
The closing chapter on King Solomon.
Is that he loved.
Many foreign women
Now the issue here was not the foreignness.
Not like some people take issue with it as the idea of like interracial marriage and that kind of thing.
No, that that wasn't the issue.
The issue was a religious issue that in the loving of all of these women Solomon was.
Engaged with people.
Attached to married to those who did not worship the true and living God.
But those who were engaged in.
Walking in idolatry in the worship of false gods.
What command is it that Solomon ignored?
Of course, there's a few things that we could talk about in Solomon's life. Of course, we could address the issue and maybe consider the issue of polygamy.
Understanding that polygamy is not God's ideal, gotta told King's and Deuteronomy chapter 17 that they were not to multiply wives unto themselves.
And although polygamy isn't God's ideal, that wasn't the real issue that God is addressing here.
Not just the issue of polygamy itself, but but that the people that Solomon was married to.
The people that he entered into this relationship with was the very people that God said.
You are not to intermarry with them.
So it's not just the matter of the.
Number of wives.
That's not the core issue here.
That's an issue.
Not one to.
Capitalize our time this morning, but.
The issue that God highlights the issue here that God addresses is that.
These are the very people that God said.
Whoever you marry.
That's your choice, except not these people.
Not those who worship these gods, not the ones that were the inhabitants of the land.
You can find this command clearly stated in Deuteronomy Chapter 7, where God says when God brings you.
Into the land.
He's going to drive out the inhabitants of the land.
And those inhabitants of the land God says in Deuteronomy Chapter 7 verse three, you shall not make marriages with them.
You shall not give your daughter to their son or take their daughter for your son, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods.
So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
You see any parallels there from Deuteronomy chapter seven with First Kings Chapter 11?
God said you shall not make marriages with.
The inhabitants of the land who worship these false gods for the.
Very reason here's.
Why God says I'm making this command because they will turn your hearts away from following me.
What happened to Solomon?
He married those people that God said don't marry what happened to his heart.
His heart was turned away.
And then God says if that happens, the anger of the Lord will be aroused.
What happened to Solomon?
The anger of the Lord was aroused.
The word of God is fulfilled exactly as God declared back in Deuteronomy Chapter 7.
And so it was very clear.
Now keep in mind Deuteronomy chapter 17 also instructs kings.
What they are to do is to write out the copy of the law for themselves.
Write out the book of Deuteronomy.
And so Solomon knew these things, Solomon.
Had every opportunity to have this clear instruction from the Lord.
He knew it well.
He alludes to it in his prayer and dedicating the temple and his interactions with the Lord.
The Lord had warned him and called him to make sure that he is faithful to obey his commands in each of his appearances.
But here we.
Find Solomon ignoring a command of God.
He's ignoring this command of God.
Now this is not like the worst command.
Or the most important command of all time, right?
I where did the point this way on purpose, ignoring a command of God.
You can kind of take your pick.
What what command that you might be tempted to ignore and willing to negotiate and to try to work out a way for you to be able to do what you want to do, even though God has said something else.
This is a symptom of a heart that is turning away from the Lord.
When there is any command of God.
That we're OK ignoring that we are considering laying aside.
And we would probably do so in a much simpler way to Solomon, in that Solomon had a strong confidence.
It's not that he didn't know the instruction.
It's not that he didn't have this command.
I think it's safe to assume that Solomon.
Knowing this.
Said yeah, but I'm the wisest man.
Whoever was.
My heart is not going to turn away.
Like God gave this command and he specifically attached and said, because your hearts might be turned away.
Solomon says that that's not a threat for me.
I'm not going to look.
I built the temple.
So I can engage in this.
I can behave this way.
I would suggest Solomon is not intending.
To run away from God to turn away from God he's expecting.
It's not going to happen to him.
Look at the millions of dollars that I've invested in this temple for God.
There's no way I'm ever turning away from God.
Solomon might have been saying, you know, I know this warning and the the command is there and everything that's good but but I have a really good reason.
Marriages was one of the techniques that kings would use in that day to establish alliances and make peace with the surrounding nations.
And so Solomon could have a.
Ready excuse.
A really good reason I mean.
God wants peace, doesn't he?
Is not what everybody wants, World Peace that's that's that's the most important thing.
So here's how I can achieve that.
It's a good result.
It's a noble cause.
Perhaps Solomon could say I'm not doing it for the sex, I'm I'm doing.
It so that we can have peace.
Doesn't God want us to?
Have peace.
And he's negotiating, he is.
Expecting that he is not going to struggle.
With the warning that God had declared.
He's confident enough.
He thinks it's safe.
To ignore a command of God.
And so as we consider the example of Solomon this morning, it's important to ask ourselves.
Is there any command of God that you are ignoring any command of God, not the worst commander.
The most important command right is there.
Is there any command of God that you you just kind of like?
I know what it says I know that's the ideal.
I'm just going to kind of lay it aside here.
I've got good reasons.
For it I I'm not going to.
Be tempted.
To completely turn away from God in this I'm not going to be tempted to really pursue that, but but this thing I can just kind of put it aside here.
It's it's OK.
I'll just walk around that command a little bit and and be able to handle.
The situation as it develops.
You could consider you should consider anything that is commanded to us in the scriptures.
Husbands, love your wives wives.
Submit to your husbands.
Forgive those who hurt you.
There's a lot of commands.
I don't think I have to.
List them all because.
Well, if the Lord wants to address that and you're willing to hear it, he's going to be bringing that to your mind.
In your heart.
Is there any command of God that you are ignoring?
I would add on to that though.
We have of course the commands that are directly written in the scriptures.
We also have.
What we often refer to as personal convictions?
There's some commands that God is just given to you personally.
They're not general sin for everybody, but for you the Lord is said.
Said here is something that I declare to you.
To do or to not to do.
That that we all have.
Those things that God speaks to us about personally.
Is there any command of God?
That you are.
Ignoring this really is the first symptom.
It's the the beginning stages and we need to pay attention and not be slack.
In our obedience to God, to not allow our hearts to be loose with the commands of God where there's a little bit of wiggle room, I can kind of make my way around it, but but that we take the commands of God seriously and that we submit ourselves to God completely and wholeheartedly to protect.
Our hearts, of course, at the beginning.
At this stage we all look at the end of Solomon and say I will never do that right?
That's what Solomon would have said at the beginning.
Also, that's what everybody who's ever turned away from God has said at the beginning.
It doesn't happen as a radical change rebellion against God, just like instantly.
It happens with.
A little bit of negotiation.
Yeah, I know this command.
I know this instruction God, I know that you've put this on my heart but.
I've got some good reasons and I've got a lot of wisdom.
I I know how to navigate these things and handle these things, and I'm able to go forward with this.
Even though you have said something different.
If you start out this way.
And you ignore a command of God.
Any command of God.
And your heart ends up turning away.
God will say very clearly to you.
It's your fault.
And you've made me very angry.
Your heart has turned away because you did not keep your heart with all diligence.
You didn't take.
Seriously, my instruction to you my word CU.
You've allowed yourself to be deceived and LED astray.
Do not ignore.
The commands of God.
Well, the second symptom we find in Solomon's life found in verses three and four.
Is a weekend commitment to God.
It starts out with just a little bit of a negotiation with a command of God, but.
That inevitably results in a weekend commitment to God.
Remember back at the beginning he had a strong commitment to God and he was fervently desiring to do well with all that he was given.
But towards the end, his passion, his zeal, his commitment to God was not so strong.
Verse three and four says this.
And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
For it was so when Solomon was told that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
Now Adam has already tried to blame the wife spiel, right?
But it was the woman you gave me.
Solomon Heart is turned away and it says here his wives turned away his heart.
But who's got angry at in verse 9?
Gods angry at Solomon?
It's not the wives fault.
They were an influence.
They had a part to play, but it's not their fault.
His heart was not loyal to the Lord.
And so the wives here.
Are used by the enemy.
To seduce Solomon again.
You try to do a frontal assault against Solomon to get into idolatry.
It would have never worked.
He would have seen it coming 1,000,000 miles away.
Try to argue him into the worship of Asterisk.
Or molek.
He would have said no way is that.
Ever going to happen?
But the enemy has more than just that one strategy.
And his attachment.
To these, the division of his heart.
Is really what's at issue here?
It says in verse four that his heart was not loyal to the Lord.
The word loyal there sometimes it's also translated piece.
It's the word Salem as in jeru Salem.
It's a word that means peace because.
Well, there's a completion.
There's a wholeness.
The idea of having a loyal heart to the Lord is the idea of having a whole heart for the Lord that the heart has piece because there's no element of the heart that is in conflict with the Lord.
The idea of having a loyal heart to the Lord.
Is not that.
There is all this conflict, but I'm not going to give up and I'm going to be faithful to the Lord.
Or there's all.
This division or there's all these other pursuits in my heart, but but I'm going to hold on to the Lord that's that's not loyalty to the Lord.
Loyalty to the Lord is.
A heart that is at peace because is it because it is fully and wholly.
Devoted to God.
And the issue for Solomon was that his heart at this time is not loyal.
To the Lord.
Going back to the beginning for skiing chapter three, you can see it says.
That he loved the Lord.
He followed after the pattern of David, except that.
He didn't deal with the high places.
He worshiped at the high places when David did not.
His commitment to God was challenged.
From the beginning, as zealous as he was, as passionate as he was.
And even as he received the wisdom from God, there was this issue of his heart that there was not a whole heart for God.
There was a divided heart.
Other things were higher priorities.
Other things were competing.
For place in Solomon heart, the real issue here is that Solomon heart was not exclusively for the Lord.
He didn't give up the worship of.
The God of Israel.
He didn't stop going to the temple.
He didn't, you know, tear down the temple and turn away in that way.
He still.
Went to the temple and offered sacrifices and still prayed to the true and living God and still called out to the Lord and worship the Lord and offered sacrifices.
He still did all of that.
But he also participated in these other pursuits.
His heart was divided.
He was not exclusively for the Lord.
One commentator says stubborn disobedience is obviously a sin.
But so is falling short.
So is halting between two opinions, so is trying to serve 2 masters.
The Bible consistently condemns.
Divided allegiance.
As a sin.
Divided allegiance is a sin.
When our hearts are not exclusively for God.
When our hearts don't have peace because there is areas of our hearts pieces of our hearts that are in contention with God.
We've negotiated commands of God and allowed areas of our lives to continue.
In in opposition to what God has said in the ignoring in ignoring what God has said.
It develops in US.
A weekend commitment to God.
And and it happens gradually.
Our loyalty to God is weak and more and more and more our heart is divided more and more and more as we allow.
That to continue.
It's one of the strategies that the enemy uses.
Again, not the radical overnight.
Turning away from the Lord.
But a slow and gradual normalizing of sin in our lives.
Changing our attitude and perspective about things that God has said.
The serpent showed up in the garden and said, did God really say right?
If the enemy took that approach with us.
Might not be fooled by it.
But we are much more susceptible.
To that same message, did God really say, but delivered in little bits slowly over time as society tries to tell us, thin is fine.
It's good, it's OK.
As desires.
Are stirred up within us that that are longing for those things that God has forbidden and God has called us out of.
The commitment to God that we once had.
Is weakened over time when we allow our hearts to be divided are you less faithful to God now than you were?
I always like to try to do some self evaluation and review as we transition out of one year and into the next.
It's a good time for us.
To think back House 2021.
Ben for you.
What's your commitment level with God like?
What's your faithfulness with God like?
How, how?
Whole is your heart and and perhaps you don't need to go back far, but just to compare it to the things that have been happening in the past months.
Are you seeing symptoms of a heart that is turning away from God?
The ignoring.
Of God commands or a weekend commitment.
To God.
If your heart turns away.
It's your fault.
You're accountable, you're responsible to keep your heart with all diligence.
And if your commitment level is waning, if your heart is dividing.
God is looking at uni saying that's your responsibility.
That's not your spouse is fault.
That's not the Seductresses fault.
It's your fault.
It's your responsibility.
James tells us this in James Chapter 4.
Submit to God.
Resist the devil and.
He will flee.
From you draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts.
You double minded the double minded idea.
Here is the idea of the heart that is not whole.
There's there's two minds.
There's two hearts I want to serve, the Lord I want to follow the.
Lord, but I.
Also want to engage in these things.
And James says.
We need to stop that submit to God.
Not double mindedly not OK.
I'm going to submit to God except for this area.
I'm going to carve out this nook in my life.
That there I'm allowed to engage in this or pursue that or be active in that this.
You know attitude that I have is the one that I learned from all my years growing up.
You know my family and their heritage, and so I'm going to continue to have this attitude.
And there's just no getting away round with that God, so you know you're just going to have to live with that.
'cause I'm not going to try to change my heart, so I'm not going to try to.
Adopt A new behavior.
A new nature in Christ.
That's just how I am.
That's just who I am.
No repentance, just.
Accommodation for this is what I like to do this is.
What I want to do?
James says no submit to God.
Stop being double minded and trying to live it both ways.
Trying to live the life you want to live and be in the the will of God and the plan of God.
You can't do both.
You have to make living 100% for God. The thing that you desire most.
Draw near to God.
He will draw near to you.
Satan will flee from you as you align your heart.
But Satan will be attracted to you as your heart is divided.
There's open doors, there is vulnerabilities.
There's opportunities galore.
When we are not submitted to God.
And so James says, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts.
Don't be double minded.
Well, the third symptom we'll see as we continue on is in verse.
Five and six.
Going out of your way to do evil.
As we see the progression in Solomon.
It didn't start out with running towards evil or pursuit of evil, it was just.
You know, God says, don't marry so many people.
God says don't marry people of that religion.
I think I can.
I can handle it.
I think I can.
I can make make it work out.
I have enough wisdom.
I'm going to be able to handle this.
I'm gonna ignore that command.
In doing so, he weakened his commitment to God.
It wasn't obvious.
He probably didn't feel it right away.
It probably didn't happen right away, but the foundation is crumbling.
The more he ignores the commands of God.
To the point that now he finds himself.
Actually engaged.
In evil.
Verse five and six.
Says Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Malcolm the abomination of the Ammonites.
Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David.
Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord.
He did evil that the progression continued, so that now he is engaged directly, actively, deliberately in evil practices.
He went after Astrid that says in verse 5.
Now ashtoreth was.
A God of the people of the land that.
Was worshipped and celebrated with immorality.
The goddess of fertility and prosperity.
The way you entreated her favor was through immorality.
And so Solomon.
Began to engage in the worship of this false God.
Verse five also mentions milk on.
Which is understood to be a another way to reference the God molech, just different cultures naming it slightly differently, but the God of Malek was a God.
That was worshipped with sacrifice.
Humans sacrificed specifically, children were sacrificed.
To worship this God.
To seek the fever and prosperity from this God.
Solomon went after these gods again.
He didn't stop going to the temple, but he added.
To his worship schedule, the worship of these gods.
I kind of think of it this way.
Each wife was a tour guide to her land and her gods.
Notice it says he went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians.
And so one of his sidonian wives said, hey Sullivan, let me take you out to my neighborhood.
Show you how we live and show you how.
We worship, let's take.
A trip I'll show you around.
And he went with her.
And he engages there in the worship of Ashtoreth
One of the ammonite wives said hey Sullivan, my turn.
Let me take you to my neighborhood.
Show you where we worship, how we worship and and, and introduce you to my people and my family.
Let let me take you and show you around and.
Solomon goes with her.
And as he has all of these wives and concubines, he has a multitude of opportunities to.
Engage in the worship of these false gods.
He's not just turning a blind eye to things that his wives are doing.
Again, verse six, it says specifically Solomon did evil in the sight.
Of the Lord.
He engaged, he practiced, he did the things that were involved in worshipping.
These gods, and he did not fully follow the Lord.
He didn't fully abandoned the Lord like we would pat ourselves on the back.
Hey, good job.
You didn't fully give up on God.
You didn't stop praying, you didn't stop reading the Bible.
We might congratulate ourselves in that, but.
God says it this way.
Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord.
It was evil that Solomon not only engaged in those things, but it's evil for Solomon to not fully follow the Lord.
It's evil for solomonson not be fully committed to be not to be wholehearted unto the Lord.
Now notice it compares to his father David.
Now it's an interesting comparison, right?
Because David had issues.
He fell in sin.
But David.
As God confronted this in.
When when he's talking about not fully following the Lord, it's not saying completely perfectly following the Lord.
David didn't perfectly follow the Lord.
But he did return to the Lord when God brought his sin to light.
What Solomon didn't do was returned to the Lord completely.
He tried to hold on to the things of God while he engaged in the evil.
That were the practices of the inhabitants of the land.
The evil of idolatry.
Pastor David Guzik says Solomon found himself in a place where he never thought he would find himself.
He found himself at the altar of child sacrifice unto the God Molech.
This is the power of less.
It can capture us in a spell in a fog of spiritual confusion.
Until we do things we never thought.
We would do.
Going back to the beginning, we never start out.
Intending to go.
This far.
We start out, always convinced.
I can ignore that command.
It won't result in that that's crazy talk.
That is insane.
I will never.
Sink to that level.
I will never do that.
And yet what we find?
You can look at example after example.
In the scriptures.
What we find is that little by little.
While we're ignoring commands of God while we're allowing our commitment to God to be weakened and weakened and weakened.
The foundation is crumbling and we will find ourselves.
Going out of our way to do evil.
Now I put the point this way.
The symptom this way going out of your way because.
Solomon here is going out of his way.
He's going after the Astros.
He's going after he's going out, she's.
Pursuing and making trips.
There wasn't a place for him to worship ash astroth.
Close to home, he had to go out.
And so there's this.
Division in his mind that.
He can go out and engage in those things and then come back to Jerusalem and worship.
In the temple and.
That's OK.
He could be thinking he's getting away with it.
He could be thinking that God is OK with it.
God doesn't have a problem with it, he.
He could be deceiving himself in.
100 different ways.
While the reality is he's going out of his way, making deliberate plans taking deliberate steps.
To engage in evil.
Well, then that.
Leads us to verse seven and eight.
Here's the 4th symptom.
Making arrangements to keep doing evil.
Here's where it leads.
Eventually, it's too much to always have to go out of town when.
You have to worship ashtoreth.
Or when you want to worship molech.
I have too much to go out of town, so let me make some arrangements, Solomon says.
So I can.
Incorporate that.
Into my home.
Into my normal life.
Verse seven and eight says then Solomon built a high place for chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molek the abomination of the people of Ammon.
And he did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrifice to their gods.
Built a high place.
He built a high place.
He entered into a construction project.
Brought in the materials drew up the plans.
Hired the contractors.
He engaged.
In the building of this place or these places.
Devoted to dedicated to these false gods.
What an incredible progression to consider.
He built the temple to the true and living God.
Invested in God.
Loving God.
Pursuing God to now he's building.
Places for.
All kinds of gods.
At the beginning, if you would have asked him, hey, Solomon, I see this temple project you're working on.
That's really cool.
Looks like it's going to be cut, you know, glorious and amazing what?
What temples are you going to build after this he would have said you're crazy.
There's no other temples to build.
All other gods are false gods.
But now we find him building.
Places of worship.
For these false gods.
For a while he would go out of town.
To do these things?
But now he brings it home.
He makes it a part of his life.
He makes it accessible.
Takes it.
To another level, he built a high place again for Chemosh.
On the hill that is east of Jerusalem.
There he also built.
A place of worship for Malek.
Most noteworthy practice of Molek was the offering of children to the God and the fire.
But notice where it's at on the hill that is east of Jerusalem.
Has your biblical geography east of Jerusalem is hill known as the Mount of Olives?
That's where Jesus gave the olivet discourse.
That's where Jesus ascended.
To the father.
That's where Jesus.
Was riding over and he saw Jerusalem.
He wept over it.
That's where the triumphal entry happened.
Right?
The Mount of Olives was on a direct route to Jerusalem.
It was right there.
If you've been to Israel.
You remember you.
Stand on the Mount of Olives you see.
The temple mount.
You stand on the temple Mount, you see.
The Mount of Olives.
It is right there, there's just the Kidron Valley.
It's just a few 100 feet in between the two.
It's right there visible, it's on the way.
Everybody who now would come to worship God at Jerusalem would pass by.
These monuments, these places of worship that Solomon has established the low that Solomon has sunk to here, is incredibly low.
And and they're established in such a way.
It's not till king Josiah.
The math is rough in my head, but doing a rough calculation it's like 2 or 300 years later.
That these high places these.
Places of worship that Solomon builds are taken down.
Here's one of the issues with allowing our hearts.
To be LED astray to be turned away.
So many times we convince ourselves we say to ourselves, it's only me, it's my life.
It's only affecting me.
We're not told directly that Solomon said that, but.
Wouldn't be surprising if he did.
But the reality was.
The choices that he made not just affected himself, and immediately you know his wives and the immediate people.
Didn't just affect his kids in the next generation it affected 300 years of people.
No wonder God was angry.
That Solomon allowed his heart to be turned away.
Making arrangements to keep doing evil.
There's no more stops after that like that's.
That's the final symptom that we see here, and then it tells us in verse 9.
God was angry with Solomon.
Now the rest of the chapter records gods dealing with solemn.
We don't see Solomon directly repenting.
We get hints of it in the book of.
Ecclesiastes there's a.
Little bit of assumptions made there that's not actually abundantly clear that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, although there's strong case for it, right?
But but it's not explicitly stated like David when he turned back to the Lord and it's.
Clear and you have some 53 and you have you know these these records of the the clear turning back. We don't have that clear record for Solomon.
We see the consequences that God leads out here.
One of those consequences is that there would be a man named Jeroboam who would rebel and take 10 tribes of the Nation of Israel.
The Kingdom is going to be divided.
We'll see that happen in the coming chapters.
But it tells us that Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam.
Remember house all tried to kill David, 'cause Saul knew David was going to be the next king that got it anointed him King Solomon now has become like Saul.
Knowing what God has said, knowing what God will.
Do he tries?
To defeat the plan of God and kill Jeroboam.
He ends up in this place of full on rebellion, where now he is arranging his life.
For the pursuit.
Of evil.
To continue on in wickedness.
It's a strong warning for everyone of us.
James Celsius in James chapter one.
Each one is tempted.
When he has drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
And sin when is in full growth when it is full grown, brings forth.
Death notice the progression that James outlines here.
There's the drawing away by your own desires.
Solomon was there being drawn away.
The wife had apart.
But the real issue was.
Him being drawn away by his own desires.
And so now he's going out of town to engage in this worship.
To engage in these things.
And fulfill or satisfy this temptation.
But the desire when it's.
Conceived, it gives birth to sin.
And he does more than just go out of town now he brings it home.
Now it's just.
It's a full grown thin, full grown pursuit of wickedness, full grown pursuits of evil again, still going to the temple so he can say I haven't turned away from the Lord in that way, right?
I haven't given up on God.
I still love God, I'm still.
Committed to God, I'm still faithful to God.
All those things that we might say.
Meanwhile, there is this full grown rebellion and that brings forth death, the wages of sin is death.
That was true in Solomon's Day. It was true in Paul wrote in Romans. It's true today, the wages of sin is death.
And it's nobody else's fault.
When we experience the death that comes.
From sin.
When we experience the consequences of a heart that is turned away from God.
It's nobody else's fault James goes on. I didn't put it on the slide here, but James one verse 16 the very next verse says do not be deceived, my beloved children.
Don't be deceived about this.
This is the reality.
We're drawn away by our own desires and insights.
And as we allow that to continue in our life.
The desire is conceived.
It gives birth to sin.
We allow that to continue, sin grows up, becomes full grown.
Brings death, brings destruction.
The wages of sin is death.
And so this 4th symptom making arrangements to keep doing evil.
Is there some arrangements that have been made in your life?
Some accommodations for since some things that are set up.
So that you can carry on and continue on.
And things that God has called you out of Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 13 to put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its less.
But there's the opportunity for us to make provision for the flesh.
We're called not to do that, and to put on Jesus to be wholehearted towards Jesus for Jesus.
Which means making no provision, but.
The question and consider looking at the example of Solomon.
Have you made provision for the flesh?
Is there?
Certain routes you take in your drive.
To accommodate
Some fleshly desire, something happening in your heart.
Is there some accounts that your spouse doesn't know about?
To a comedy.
Your fleshly desires, and the things that you're going going through or pursuing, is there.
Perhaps an alternate address APO box.
Something that enables you.
To engage in the things that you want to engage in.
Is there a?
Password on your phone that protects you from.
Prying eyes.
So that you can continue on.
The patterns.
The pursuits the desires have you made arrangements in your life.
Not just kind of turning a blind eye to a command. Going back to .1, but now you've gone the Step 2 now.
You've actively arranged your life in a way that protects.
This pursuit protects this desire.
That allows you to continue on.
And the very thing that got us called.
You out of.
Listen what you have in Christ is better.
Than what Solomon had.
He has everything that you need and whatever fulfillment your heart is craving whatever it is that you're desiring.
The only thing that the enemy has to offer is a cheap substitute.
Thieves don't be tricked.
What you have in crisis far better.
Don't let your heart turn away from God.
Recognize these symptoms.
And begin to correct them immediately.
But if you allow your heart to be turned away, it's more tragic than Solomon's example.
If you allow your heart to be turned away.
Because you have greater opportunity, greater access.
Greater understanding.
It's incredible all that God has given to us.
Solomon had all his material needs met.
He had everything that anybody could ask for in life.
But at the end of his life he was miserable.
Experiencing constant battles and problems externally, but internally.
Saying vanity of vanities, everything is vanity as you go through the book of Ecclesiastes.
He could not be satisfied by all the wealth by all the fame by all the fortune.
He couldn't be satisfied by anything else, but he really needed was to come back to where he began with a heart wholly devoted to God.
That's what we need the the most that what that's what must be first and foremost.
But we need to be warned.
We need to understand you can start there and then end up where Solomon ended up.
There's a need for us to.
Keep our heart with all diligence.
To be checking our hearts and allowing God to lead us and to develop our relationship with God more and more.
The work that God wants to do.
In our life is.
Not done overnight.
But it is.
Realized as we walk with him day by day.
And so we need to be immersed in the things of God.
I'm pursuing the things of God with all of our hearts.
Pastor David Guzik says if this was the case with the wisest man, whoever lived, then what hope do you have apart from constant dependent dependence upon Jesus Christ?
But the example of Solomon drive you to greater dependence and abiding with Jesus.
Let us learn.
To abide with him, to depend on him, and rely upon him more and more.
We have no hope.
If we're not dependent upon and relying upon Jesus, we will for sure follow the pattern of Solomon.
If we're not going forward in developing our relationship with the Lord.
One other thought, I wanted to bring up before we.
Finish up this morning and.
That is Hebrews chapter 3.
In Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12 and 13, the author of Hebrews says, beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, and departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily while it is called today, list any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
There's the importance of us first of all.
Making sure that God.
The whole attention or the the whole focus of our heart.
That we continue to develop that and continue to depend upon and draw near.
To the Lord.
But here the author of Hebrews says.
But also look around.
Do you see anyone else around you?
Following the path of Solomon.
Now check for blinks in your own.
I first right, that's not like just go round everybody else or chase everybody else down like deal with your own.
I deal with that plank there.
But then help others and exhort one another daily.
Engage with brothers and sisters around you.
Because they're facing temptations and difficulties and challenges, just.
As you are.
And there's the opportunity that you have that you could rescue someone from being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
And so.
Take heed, beware.
And exhort one another daily.
Let's pray.
God, I praise.
We consider the example of Solomon that you would help us to see these symptoms clearly in his life.
Lord, that we'd be able to reflect on the condition of our hearts.
What is there any command from you that we're ignoring?
I pray that you would bring it to our mind.
Let it be clear to us God that.
We have disregarded or thought ourselves above.
Your word.
And your instruction helped us to turn from that God to submit back fully to you.
But have we gone beyond that and begun to have our foundation?
Start to crack and crumble.
As our heart is divided.
We still love you.
We still want to see Q.
We still want to know you, we still want you to work in our lives.
But Lord, also our hearts are tide to you, and craving and desiring and pursuing.
Other things other gods, other passions, other pursuits.
But help us to recognize that Lord, would you show us?
If we've weakened our commitment to you.
If we've retreated and our faithfulness to you.
May we be wholehearted?
To love you with all of our hearts and soul and mind and strength.
God, if we've been dabbling with sin going out of our way to do evil.
Would would I?
I pray that our hearts would be.
Lord, that there would be.
A work of your Holy Spirit that we would identify those things clearly.
Lord hearing your call and turning from them.
Or the sooner we stop, the better it is.
The less damage there is 'cause that less hurt there is inflicted.
Help us Lord to see to recognize and to turn quickly back to you like David did.
God, if we have allowed sin to take such a foothold in our lives that we've accommodated it, we've made arrangements for it.
I pray God that you would give us by your spirit the boldness and the strength to make radical changes to overturn tables.
To throw out anything that's not a view.
And to reunite our hearts with yours completely and wholly.
That would keep us in that spot.
Loving you first.
In four months.
We need your help.
If Solomon had this struggle and had this issue Lord, we recognize we need your help Lord, would you keep us close to you?
Help us to see these things, catch them quickly and to turn back to you repeatedly.
I pray this in Jesus name.