Sermon of the Week

THE BITTERNESS OF SIN: “And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.”1KI 3:1. It is important to understand the spiritual meanings of some of the terms in Scripture. Egypt throughout Scripture is referred to as “the world,” in other words, sin. “Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter” to be his wife. The Lord had commanded Moses that the children of Israel were not to take wives from among the heathen. They were not to have affinity with Egypt. The Lord had warned them through Moses, yet this was the first move of the Kingdom of Solomon. This affinity with Pharaoh became his downfall. I want to dwell on how he became hardened to the Word of God. One of the greatest dangers for those privileged to be under the preaching of the Word of God is to become gospel-hardened. We can have so many blessings and enjoy the Lord’s presence, yet become gospel-hardened. This is a dangerous thing, and I believe that the history of Solomon teaches us the solemn reality of this. How do we see Solomon? The Lord spoke to him and gave him excellent wisdom, yet he offered sacrifices at the high places. When the Lord gave him wisdom, he went back to Jerusalem and sacrificed burnt offerings before the Ark of the Covenant. He knew where sacrifices should have been made, but he later went to the high places. When he experienced the Lord’s nearness, he went to the proper place: he went to the Ark in Jerusalem and there sacrificed his burnt offerings. This offering in the high places was an exception. It says in 1KI 3:3, “And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only [with this exception] he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.” This exception was so dangerous because Solomon became gospel-hardened and fell as an idolater. Yet he was a man who had known the nearness and the preciousness of the Lord. That is such a warning to you and me. Solomon had great respect for God’s house and was morally clean, but with exceptions, which we see all through his life. These exceptions led to his becoming gospel-hardened, which is claiming to love God and His Word and obey it, but not acting upon it. This is a warning to us in the history of King Solomon. Solomon told the Lord, “Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child,” 1KI 3:6-7. Solomon realized that the Lord had given his father David “great mercy, according as he walked” before Him. Solomon realized that it was David’s walk in the ways of the Lord that pleased the Lord, but Solomon did not walk in the ways of the Lord. I want to show you some Scriptural references of those who were gospel-hardened. First I will show you some who did not obtain the favor of the Lord and did not receive the Lord’s love. King Saul heard a clear, strong word. Samuel told him in 1SA 15:3, “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” King Saul claimed to obey that command in 1SA 15:13; “And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” King Saul disobeyed this command, yet he boldly affirmed, “I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” He was gospel-hardened. He was commanded to kill all of the Amalekites and all of their animals, yet in 1SA 15:9 we read, “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” Those who are gospel-hardened will disobey yet claim that they have obeyed. If we compromise the Word of God with our human reasoning and claim we are obeying the Word, it is very dangerous. After becoming gospel-hardened, Saul refused to repent and blamed his sin on the people. That is the next thing that happens when we become gospel-hardened is that we put the blame on someone else. In 1SA 15:20-21 we read, “And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.” He used his human reasoning to justify his disobedience and glorify God by sacrificing that which he was supposed to have destroyed. Samuel pointed out that Saul’s heart was already given over to rebellion, which is witchcraft. Samuel said in1SA 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” When we reject the Lord, the Lord rejects us. The Lord rejected Solomon. Solomon was told that because of his sin, his son would not be king over all Israel; but for His servant David’s sake, because of his walking in righteousness, He would yet let one of Solomon’s sons have the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Israel and Judah had become gospel-proof. They loved to hear the Word of God, but refused to act upon it. Solomon was a man who dearly understood the Lord, but he became gospel-proof. That is what happened to the children of Israel and the tribe of Judah. We read that in EZE 33:30-32; “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” The Lord Jesus Christ says that the man who hears His words and does them is like a man who builds his house upon a rock, but the man who hears His words and does not do them is like a man who builds his house upon the sand. The gospel is not legalism, but doing His words is the evidence that the gospel has reached our souls. Was Judas Iscariot gospel-hardened? He was one of Christ’s disciples! He was chosen. He was called to preach the gospel, to cast out devils, and to heal the sick. Most important of all he sat under the ministry of the Son of God for three years! You may think Judas became the most gospel-hardened of all, but that is not true. Judas never did have the love of God in his heart. All these I mentioned, King Saul, Judah, Israel, and Judas, were gospel-hardened, but Solomon started out so spiritual, so close to God and blessed with God’s anointing. He was anointed of the Lord to be king, and he is the most shocking example of all. That makes it necessary for you and I to examine our hearts carefully. If we have the Lord’s blessing, if the Lord speaks to us and is near to us, we must not get caught off-guard and become gospel-hardened. King Solomon began as a tenderhearted, God-fearing servant of God, but he ended up a gospel-hardened idolater, wallowing in sexual lust and perversion. He fell because he did not obey the Lord. For the first point, let us consider those commandments that Solomon had full knowledge of, yet disobeyed. For the second point, let us consider Solomon’s half-and-half religion. For the third point, let us consider the distinction between Solomon and Moses. First, let us consider the commandments, which Solomon had full knowledge of, yet disobeyed. Solomon was well aware of God’s commandments. We read in 1KI 3:3, “And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father.” He was well trained in the commandments of the Lord. The Lord spoke by Moses in DEU 17:14-16, “When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose [Solomon was in compliance with this]: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother [Solomon was in compliance with this also]. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” Solomon disobeyed all three of those final commandments. He multiplied horses unto himself, he returned unto Egypt (he had an affinity with Pharaoh and married his daughter), and he received horses from Egypt. He opened a trade agreement with the Egyptians and traded with them constantly. Verse 17 says, “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself [Solomon disobeyed that], that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” We read how Solomon’s wives turned his heart away from the Lord. He heard and he knew, but he did not obey. He did the very things the Lord cautioned him against. He compromised the Word of God. “[N]either shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” Solomon made silver as common as the gravel in the streets. He sent ships to Haran to get gold year by year, multiplying unto himself silver and gold. He fell miserably disobeying the Lord; he heard the Word but did not do it. Solomon was fully aware of God’s warning in EXO 34:14-16. “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.” Solomon did not obey and ignored the Word of God. He took wives from among the heathen. He bowed down and worshipped their idol gods. Solomon truly loved the Lord, but his heart was not right with the Lord. Not only was it an exception to God’s commands that he offered in the high places, but also his whole life was filled with exceptions to the Word of God. God granted Solomon’s request, as we find in 1KI 3:9, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad:for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” He was given the wisdom to discern between right and wrong, but he did not do it. This makes our hearts tremble, to see how the Lord is such a jealous God. He gave Solomon what he requested: a spiritual understanding to discern what was good and what was bad. This promise was granted with a warning in 1KI 3:14; “And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.” The Lord gave a warning not to turn from His ways when He granted Solomon’s request. Solomon had the Psalms and sermons of his father David ringing in his ears. His father was the sweet Psalmist of Israel. He had the example of his father’s sin and consequent judgment. He saw that the Lord would not tolerate sin. David had warned his son, when he gave him the crown, in 1KI 2:3, “And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.” Solomon was fully aware, as were the men of Judah and Israel. They loved to hear the Word, but they did not obey it. Let us look at Solomon’s total disregard for these commandments of the Lord. The Lord had commanded in DEU 17:16, “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” That is a specific command. No little child could misunderstand that, yet Solomon violated all of these commands. We read in 1KI 10:28, “And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.” The commandment was that “Ye shall henceforth return no more that way,” but he set up open trade with Egypt. 1KI 10:29 says, “And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.” He had a regular route of transportation back and forth and a set price for the horses. 1KI 11:1-7 tells us, “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.” That is how Solomon fell. Let us look at the consequences of his fall. The Lord had told Solomon that if he would obey and walk in the ways of David his father, He would establish his kingdom forever. The twelve tribes of Israel would have remained under the leadership of Solomon and David forever. The consequences were that ten tribes were broken off and went under Jereboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin more and more. Those ten tribes of Israel never turned back to the Lord. They continued to decay further and further. Those were the consequences of the sin of Solomon. Think of the responsibility that lay upon one man! For my second point, let us consider Solomon’s half-and-half religion. This is something that you and I understand the peril and watch out for, so that we do not have a half-and-half religion. Our text says in 1KI 3:1, “And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.” He not only took this heathen woman, the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt, to be his wife, when he was forbidden to go back to Egypt, but he brought her right into Jerusalem, into the holy place and polluted it. All of Solomon’s compromise can be traced back to this one fatal flaw: He refused to close the door to Egypt, which is the world, the flesh, and the devil. Solomon did not realize the serpent that was lurking in his heart when he asked for wisdom to discern right and wrong. He did not realize that he also needed the Lord to uphold him in His ways. In 1KI 3:11 we read, “And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment.” At this point Solomon did not covet gold or silver, nor did he trust in horses, nor had he opened up free trade with Egypt. It was at this point that we read in 1KI 2:45-46, “And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.” He was anointed by the Lord. Solomon was warned when the Lord appeared unto him the second time in 1KI 9:6-7, “But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.” God did not say that he would cut off Solomon; He said He would “cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them.” What a responsibility lay upon that man! Solomon’s half-and-half religion was revealed by his “affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt [which is the world], and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David.” It was most provocative to the Lord that he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David. Solomon was halfway convicted, which led to a halfway repentance. In 2CH 8:11 we read, “And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.” He knew that she did not belong there, so he built her a house and moved her out of the city. In the time of Ezra, Israel had gone out and taken strange wives and Ezra commanded them to put away the strange wives. Solomon should have sent the daughter of Pharaoh home. In EZR 10:10-11 we read, “And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.” Ezra commanded that they turn their backs upon the world, but Solomon compromised. He had two places: in the city of David, he had a place where he could worship the Lord, but in the house of Pharaoh’s daughter, he had a place where he could serve the world. That was a halfway religion. For the third point, let us consider the distinction between Solomon and Moses. Solomon was anointed by the Lord to be king of His people, but he disobeyed God’s clear command in DEU 17:16; “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” Solomon, the anointed one, transgressed the commandments of the Lord with his eyes wide open. Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter; Moses fled from her. Moses was held to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, because she took him out of the water. Moses lived in the king’s palace. He could have inherited a kingly state. He could have inherited all of the riches of Egypt. He could have inherited all of the horses and all the gold and silver of Egypt, but we read in HEB 11:24-27, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” He fled from her; he fled from the world by faith. That is the distinction between Moses and Solomon. Moses could have had all the gold, silver, horses, luxuries, and pleasures of Egypt; they were his, but we read in HEB 11:25 that he chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” When Solomon was in the Promised Land, and was exalted as king and given rich wisdom, he coveted that which Moses rejected. Moses was brought up in the palace of Pharaoh. Moses had all these riches, yet he turned his back upon it and refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward,” HEB 11:25-26. This is where Solomon fell so miserably. In the books of Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, you will see that Solomon understood the beauty that there is in Christ. Moses esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,” while Solomon, sitting in the middle of all these treasures, coveted those things of Egypt and it became his downfall. Verse 27 says, “By faith [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” By faith he looked unto the Lord, not fearing what the king would do when he forsook all the luxury, wealth, and honor. At the end of his life Solomon made this confession in ECC 2:10-11, “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” That word vanitymeans empty; it had no value; there were no durable riches; it was the work of iniquity. He saw the emptiness of all the things of this world that he had so coveted. He saw the emptiness of his life and how his life was a failure. He saw there was no value in all his gold, silver, horses, and all his labor. He saw that it was “vexation of spirit;” it was nothing but a vexation of his soul when the Lord opened his eyes to see the emptiness. Solomon goes on to say in ECC 2:17, “Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” His life was unprofitable. See the misery he brought in his soul and in his life. He hated life “because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me.” He saw the emptiness. He also said in ECC 7:26, “And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.” He realized that his life was not pleasing to the Lord; his life was empty and unfruitful. That was why the Lord allowed him to fall into that pit. “[W]hoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.” Do you know what sin is? It is transgressing the law, God’s revealed will. He openly violated the revealed will of God. He walked in open sin and so was taken by “her.” Solomon, who dedicated the temple and saw the Lord’s presence come with such mighty force, received such a revelation of God, saw such sweetness and rich promises, and loved the Lord was speaking here - not Judas, not King Saul. Think of the warning this is for you and me. We may love the Lord, but are we gospel-proof? Do we hear but not obey the Word of God? Of Moses we have a different testimony in DEU 34:10-11; “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land.” There never arose another like him, because he had a heart that was tender for the Lord. Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, but Moses refused her. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. By faith, he chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” That is the distinction between Moses and Solomon. Those who become gospel-hardened are not those like King Saul, Judas, or their kind, but the Solomons, who start out right but were hardened through compromise. When my children were young, we would go to different congregations with great groups of young children. They would say, “See that your children find a partner within those circles.” It bothered me to see those who had been brought up under the truth, who had the gospel preached to them all their lives, walking in open sin. They were gospel-hardened. I said, “That is not a partner that I would covet for my children.” They and their parents may be members of the church, they may attend church, and they may have been brought up under the truth, yet they are hardened against it, and that is a scary situation! It is very dangerous and does not make a desirable partner. Solomon was hardened through compromise. Those people who are gospel-hardened cling to their idols, areas of disobedience, and little sins. Those who are gospel-hardened can be cautioned. The Lord Jesus says that we must wash each other’s feet. That means our walk of life. You and I must be able to observe in each other things in our lives that need to be corrected and wash each other’s feet. Those who are gospel-hardened do not want you to show them their little sins. They do not want to leave them. They do not want to correct those little areas of disobedience. They love the Lord, and as far as they are concerned the Lord loves them, but there is one thing they overlook: the Lord loved Solomon and Solomon loved the Lord, but his sin brought emptiness and grief in his life. Not only that, but look at the consequences of his sin for the nation of Israel. What a weight that would be to carry, to know that it was my sin that had caused a nation to fall in sin and fall in the displeasure of the Lord! That becomes a very weighty matter. When we will not step over those little sins, those little compromises, and do what is right, then we are becoming gospel-hardened. That is a very dangerous thing. Our text says, “And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David.” We cannot serve both God and mammon! We cannot be the friends of the world and the friends of the Lord. Solomon made affinity with the world, with Egypt, with Pharaoh, and took his daughter. That was the beginning of his downfall because he took her for his wife and brought her into Jerusalem. He wanted to have the world in one hand and the Lord in the other. He brought her into the city of David, into his religion, and into the inner circle of his life. We must be jealous for the Word of God, because the Lord is so jealous. His name is jealous. He is a jealous God and He is jealous of His Word. I would tremble to think of murdering a man, of violating such a command. The average person would probably tremble to think of killing another, but violating the Lord’s commands and commit “little” sins is a much greater offense to Him. Why? If we are willing to disobey Him and show our disrespect for His will for such a “trifling” thing, it is especially offensive to the Lord because they are “little.” If we trample upon His Word and disobey “little” commandments, just commit “little” sins shows our lack of love and godliness. Godliness is a desire to love, to honor, and to obey Him with our whole heart, soul, and mind. When we bring dishonor upon the Lord for a trifle, for a small thing, it is especially offensive to the Lord. We could learn from the life of Solomon and Moses. Moses chose, by faith, to refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” He chose the truth. He chose to obey the Lord and to walk in His ways. We will not enjoy the pleasures of sin and then come to the riches of Christ. We must choose one or the other. By faith, Moses forsook Egypt. He was born there, he was raised in the house of Pharaoh’s daughter, and he forsook it. That was the difference between Moses and Solomon. Amen.