WELCOME to the International Baptist Church of Prague Sermon.pdf · 6/7/2020  · International Baptist Church of Prague SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2020. SERMON. ... 28 Now Jeroboam was a man

WELCOME

to the

International Baptist Church

of Prague

SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2020

SERMON

1 Kings 11

“Solomon - downfall”

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1 Kings 11:1-431 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter – Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD

his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.

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6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 2/6

12 ‘Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.’ 14 Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom…23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 When David destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile towards Israel.

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26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.27 Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. 28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labour force of the tribes of Joseph.29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

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31 Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.34 ‘“But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes.

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36 ‘I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not for ever.”’40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death.41 As for the other events of Solomon’s reign – all he did and the wisdom he displayed – are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 43 Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

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1 Kings 11

“Solomon - downfall”

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1 Kings 11

Solomon’s Downfall summed up in a single word:

Idolatry

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1 Kings 11:1-8

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter –Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon

held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.

4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the

same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

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1 Kings 9:4-9

4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with

integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have

commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 then I will

establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your

father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you

turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my

commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve

other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I

have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will

cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among

all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing

by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has

the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say,

‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of

the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and

served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

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Exodus 34:11-1611 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive

out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the

Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care, lest

you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which

you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear

down their altars and break their pillars and cut down

their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for

the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest

you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and

when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods

and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,16 and you take

of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore

after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

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Deuteronomy 7:1-4

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are

entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations

before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the

Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven

nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when

the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them,

then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall

make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You

shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their

sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would

turn away your sons from following me, to serve other

gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you,

and he would destroy you quickly.

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Notable False gods

Ashtoreth: a god of war and sexuality or fertility that has been a

stumbling block to Israel since they arrived in Canaan. Judges

2:13. Somewhat fitting for a king with 700 wives to allow the

worship of a sex goddess.

Molech: the national god of the Ammonites, is an astral deity

whom human sacrifices were offer to. Lev. 20:2-5; 2 Kings

23:10; Lev. 18:21; Jer. 32:35.

Chemosh: the national god of the Moabites, was probably an

astral god as well and was offered a child sacrifice by a Moabite

King during his war with the Israelites as seen in 2 Kings 3:27.

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2 Different Rebukes

13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done

foolishly. You have not kept the command of

the Lord your God, with which he commanded

you. For then the Lord would have established

your kingdom over Israel forever.14 But now your

kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has

sought out a man after his own heart, and

the Lord has commanded him to be prince over

his people, because you have not kept what

the Lord commanded you.”

-- 1 Samuel 13:13-14 9/14

2 Different Rebukes

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had

turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared

to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing,

that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what

the Lord commanded. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon,

“Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my

covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will

surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your

servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in

your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your

son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will

give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and

for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

-- 1Kings 11:9-1310/14

Ecclesiastes 4:13

“Better was a poor and wise youth

than an old and foolish king who

no longer knew how to take

advice.”

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“Your Charisma leaves the first

impression, but your Character

leaves the last impression.”

— Greg Surratt

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St. Augustine, City of God Book XVII

“Let him therefore attend and behold the house of

Solomon full of strange women worshipping false

gods, and the king himself, aforetime wise, seduced by

them, and cast down into the same idolatry: and let

him not dare to think that God either promised this

falsely, or was unable to foreknow that Solomon and

his house would become what they did. But we ought

not to be in doubt here, or to see the fulfillment of

these things save in Christ our Lord, who was made of

the seed of David according to the flesh, Romans 1:3

lest we should vainly and uselessly look for some other

here, like the carnal Jews.”13/14

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