Wednesday Night Service 7PM -

If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 1. 1 Kings, chapter 1. Well, tonight we continue on with our study throughout the Old Testament. And as we come to 1 Kings, just by a little bit of way of background, it's really just a continuation of 1 and 2 Samuel. Our Bibles divide 1 and 2 Kings, of course, into two different books. The Hebrew Bible had them as just one book, simply known as the Kings.

But our Bible has divided it up. But again, just a handful of background information that you might find kind of interesting, or you may forget about later. 1 and 2 Kings is going to cover a span of about 400 years. It's kind of a fascinating history of the nation of Israel. It takes them from the United Kingdom under Solomon, all the way through not only the divided kingdom,

but also them being led into captivity. The northern kingdom by the Assyrians, and the southern kingdom by the Babylonians. Tradition states that Jeremiah actually wrote the book of the Kings, although we're unsure about that. Probably just covered by some of the prophets at that point in time. But there's four main lessons that I want us to kind of look for

as we're going through 1 and 2 Kings. Four lessons that I think we can kind of glean from, the things to be kind of paying attention to. The first thing that you'll notice, throughout 1 and 2 Kings, is God's judgment of an unrighteous nation by the use of other nations. The children of Israel will continually find themselves in that cycle where they fall into idolatry.

They fall into the things of the nations that are around them. They fall into the sin that goes along with the nations around them. And God will always judge that. He always deals with nations that fall into sin. And he oftentimes uses nations that, we might not expect, definitely the children of Israel didn't expect, to be those instruments of judgment in the lives of the nation of Israel.

So we'll keep an eye on how God deals with the nation of Israel when they become unrighteous. The second lesson I want you to pay attention to is the sure word of prophecy. Because throughout 1 and 2 Kings, we will see God begin to raise up prophets. Prophets to speak into the lives of the kings and the nation at that point in time. And how God always kept the word of the prophets.

When God gave a word to the prophets, that word always came true. And there's always a sure word of prophecy throughout 1 and 2 Kings. The third thing that we pay attention to is man's inability to govern himself. It's kind of interesting. We put so much hope in government, don't we? And I'm watching it happen right now. And I don't care which side of the political aisle you sit on.

We've put so much hope in government. And we think, man, if just the right government could be there, everything's just gonna be perfect. Well, here's the thing. You have the government literally instituted by God here, and they can't get it right. Because man has an inability to govern himself. Because there's only gonna be one true king. There's only gonna be one real king, and that's Jesus.

And we are pointed to the fact that there is always gonna be an inability on the part of man to govern himself. What we are ultimately looking for is a ruler whose name is Jesus, and we're always looking forward to that. But then the fourth thing that we will continue to notice throughout 1 and 2 Kings is God's, God's faithfulness to his word. God's faithfulness to his word, that God keeps his promise.

Because throughout these two books, we will see the kings of both the nations of Israel and the nations of Israel and Judah fail. And we will see at points in time that it seems like God should just get rid of the nation of Israel and just start over again. But he had made a promise. He made a promise to Abraham. He made a promise to Isaac. He made a promise to Jacob.

And he made a promise to David. And he made a promise to Abraham. And God is always the God who keeps his promises, no matter what we do. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, that we are told that even when we are faithless, he remains faithful. And we see that throughout the books of 1 and 2 Kings. And so as we come to the first chapter and a half, which is what we're gonna cover tonight,

I've simply entitled it, A New King, because we will see the decline and ultimate death of David, as well as the anointing of a new king, King Solomon. And so it starts off in the first part of chapter one with the failing health of David. It says, Now King David was old and advanced in age, and they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm. So his servants said to him, Let them seek a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her attend to the king and become his nurse, and let her lie in his bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.

So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory, the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunammite, and they brought her to the king. The girl was very beautiful, and she became the king's nurse, and she served him, but the king did not cohabit with her. So King David has found himself where age is creeping in, and because of that, sickness and different things like that were coming upon him, and he found himself in a place where he could no longer warm himself. No matter how much they covered him up, he couldn't seem to stay warm.

So they chose what was, at that time, the best way to keep him warm. So they chose what was, at that time, the best way to keep him warm. So they chose what was, at that time, the best way to keep him warm. So they chose what was, at that time, the best way to keep him warm. So they chose what was, at that time, the best way to keep him warm. At that point in time, a very common thing to do,

especially for kings, it was something that was often prescribed by doctors. This is even seen in secular culture at that point in time. Basically they found someone that could come alongside him and warm him with their body heat. And so they searched all over the kingdom, and they found Abishag the Shunammite. And she became the person who basically attended to him.

She was his nurse, but also when he couldn't keep warm, she would lay next to him to warm him up. Funny story that I have to tell you guys. Okay. Obviously, this does not take place in our culture today. My wife would never allow that to happen. It would just be a terrible idea, right? But when my pastor from Johnson County, it's okay, this is going to be an okay story, don't worry.

When he passed away a couple of years ago, I went up right after he had passed, and I went and visited with his wife and went over to his house and visited with her for a little while. And there was the chair that he would always sit in, his very familiar chair, and there was this giant blanket draped over that chair. And she said, you see that blanket right there? And I said, yeah.

And she goes, that's Abishag. And I said, do what now? She said, that's Abishag. One of the problems he was starting to have is that he couldn't keep himself warm. And I said, the best I can do for you is a really big fluffy blanket. That can be your Abishag, the Shunammite. So anyway, I thought that was a pretty funny story. But this is where David finds himself.

But listen, we are told this because it illustrates the weakness of David at this point in time physically, that he's at the place where it's time for them to figure out, who is going to take over the kingdom after him because his health is failing and he's coming near the end of his days. Well, because of this, there is once again a battle for the throne. And that's what the next section is. Notice what it says in verse 5.

Now Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself saying, I will be king. So he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen with 50 men to run before him. His father had never crossed him at any time, asking, why have you done so? And he was also a very handsome man. And he was born after Absalom. And he had conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar, the priest.

And following Adonijah, they helped him. But Zadok, the priest, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, Nathan, the prophet, Shimei, Ray, and the mighty men who belonged to David were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-Rogel. And he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's servants.

But he did not invite Nathan, the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or Solomon, his brother. Now it feels like we've seen this tree before. Can we all agree? Adonijah finds himself in a similar place that Absalom found himself at one point in time. And it's interesting. Because when you look at the name Adonijah, his name has a very interesting meaning to it.

That name literally means Jehovah is Lord. But there was a problem that Adonijah had. He may have borne the name that says Jehovah is Lord. In other words, God is Lord. But he didn't live a life according to that. He didn't live a life where God, the God of the Bible, the God of his father David, was his God. Because if so, he would have submitted to God in his life.

And I think there's an interesting point here. For us to pay attention to. You see, you and I oftentimes will bear the name Christian. That means Christ-like. In other words, we can say that Jesus is our Lord. That's the name that we bear, especially once we start attending a church and have invited the Lord into our hearts to be our Savior. But I have a question for you.

Are you kind of like Adonijah, where you bear the name that God is your Lord, but you don't have a life that would say that God is your Lord? See, anybody can have a name, right? Anybody can claim that. Anybody can claim a name for themselves. Anybody can say, this is who I am. But as my old teacher in high school used to say, the proof is always in the pudding,

right? Like, the proof is always in the way that you live your life. If Jesus is really the Lord of your life, he is ultimately the one that's in control of your life, then your life will reflect that in the way that you live as you submit to him and ultimately submit to authority in your life that the Lord has placed there. But too many people want to be their own authority in their lives.

Oh, they'll allow Jesus. They'll allow Jesus to be their Lord on Sunday morning and go to church and take part in all of the Sunday morning festivities. But their Sunday morning faith doesn't translate into a Monday morning faith. The Lord of their life on Sunday is not also the Lord of their life on Tuesday. And too many of us, like Adonijah, can bear the name without bearing the characteristics.

Well, this guy finds himself in a place where he says, I am going to be the king. I see what's going on with my dad. I see the weakness in him. I'm going to be king. Now, we're told a couple of things about him. He was Absalom's younger brother. We know that he was very beautiful in appearance. In other words, he's a good looking dude, just like Absalom. I wonder if he had the hair thing going on like Absalom did too, right?

I'm just never trust a guy with hair. Anyway, so, you know, he's a beautiful, good looking guy and he gets himself a chariot and he has a whole bunch of guys running in front of him and everybody says, look, this guy must be the king. And he gathers some men to himself. Did you notice that? He gathers a handful of men around himself, including one of the priests and that familiar

name, Joab. Now, it's interesting that Joab has found himself in a place of aligning himself with Adonijah when David had made it clear that Solomon would be the one who would take over after him. How do we know that? Well, because Nathan in just a moment is going to say, hey, isn't that what's supposed to happen? It was a pretty clear notice. But you see, here's why I think Joab joined Adonijah.

He knew he could control him and I think he knew he could not control Solomon. And so Joab, that interesting character all throughout the story of David, finds himself aligning with his son, the one who was ultimately trying to usurp the authority of his father. And so he goes and he runs and has all of these guys and he goes and makes sacrifices, but he didn't invite Nathan the prophet and he didn't invite the mighty men that we read about. And he certainly didn't invite Solomon, his brother.

Once again, we have another instance where there's going to be a war over the throne. Or do we? Notice what it says in verse 11. It says, Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king? And David, our Lord, doesn't know it. I failed to make one point here and reading that part brought it up to me.

There's one little commentary that we're given. It's about Adonijah. Did you notice that? If you will, look at verse 6. It says, His father had never crossed him at any point in time, saying, Why have you done so? You know what that means? His dad never told him no. That was the problem that he had in his life. Is that Adonijah had never been told no. It seemed like this was a little bit of an issue for David.

Unfortunately, great leaders can sometimes fail to be great parents because they're focused on leading the army. They're not focused on leading their kids. And David was one who unfortunately had this weakness in his life. And can I just go ahead and say to those of us that are parents and even grandparents in here, listen, sometimes the best thing we can do is tell our kids no.

Like sometimes the most loving thing that you can do is to tell them no. Listen, if you've been living in a situation where you've not been telling your kids no very much, then initially they're not going to react very well to that. That's exactly what's happening in our country right now, right? Like no one's been told no for a really long time. And finally an adult stepped up and started.

Saying no. And the entire country's freaking out about it. And that's what will happen in your house. If you've never told anyone no, then in the beginning there's going to be some issues with that. But eventually they're going to know that those are the boundaries that they can live within. And those boundaries that you live within are sometimes the greatest source of love

in your life. I look back on my childhood, on my life, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that my parents loved me more than I could have ever imagined. I don't know that I would have always. Thought that at five years old when they were telling me no to things. But looking back, I'm like, thank God that they told me no. Because I can't imagine how rebellious of a human being I would be if those parameters

had never been put on my life. And I look at it and say, that's the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Is that my parents set boundaries on my life. And right now I've got a couple of girls that don't always love the boundaries that I put on their life. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there'll come a point in time when they say, I'm really glad you did that.

Matter of fact, I tell them. I tell them all the time. Until a young man goes to his parents and says, you guys knew exactly what you were talking about. He's not we're talking to. Because up to that point in time, his frontal lobe isn't fully developed yet. And listen, there's some men that are about 40, 45, 50 years old and their frontal lobes haven't fully developed yet.

But that's okay. Keep telling them no. So, Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, saying, have you heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king? David, our Lord, doesn't know it. So now, please, let me give you counsel and save your life and the life of your son Solomon. You see, Nathan knew something. He knew that if Adonijah ultimately became king, that when David died, the very thing

that he would do is he would put Bathsheba and Solomon to death so that he could maintain his power. And Nathan cared about them. And so Nathan says, I have a plan. He says, go at once to King David and say to him, have you not, my Lord, O king, sworn to your maidservant, saying, surely Solomon? Solomon, your son, shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.

Why then has Adonijah become king? Behold, while you are still speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words. So Bathsheba went into the king in the bedroom. The king was very old, and Abishag was ministering to the king. And Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself before the king and said, and the king said, what do you wish? She said, my Lord, you swore to your maidservant by the Lord your God, saying, surely your

son, Solomon, shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne. Now behold, Adonijah is king. Now, my Lord, the king, and you don't know it. He has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest and Joab, the commander of the army, but he hasn't invited Solomon. As for you now, my Lord, the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who

shall sit on the throne of my Lord, the king, after him. Otherwise it will come about as soon as my Lord, the king, sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son, Solomon, will be considered offenders. And while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in and said, excuse me, speaking with the king, and Nathan came in, they told the king, saying, here is Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground.

And Nathan said, my Lord, the king, have you said Adonijah shall be king after me? And he? shall sit on my throne? For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance and has invited all the king's sons and the commanders of the army, Abiathar the priest, and behold, they're eating and drinking. And they say, long live King Adonijah. But me, even me,

your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he's not invited. Has this thing been done by my lord the king? And you have not shown to your servants who should sit on the throne after my lord the king, after him? Now, I want to point two things out to you about this scene, two things that I think are kind of cool. If you remember,

Nathan played a really important role in the life of David, and really in the life of Bathsheba. You may remember that after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had ultimately put to death Uriah in order to cover up his sin. Do you remember who it was that God sent to confront David? In his sin, he sent Nathan the prophet. Now, you would think if anybody would find themselves in

a place that David didn't want to talk to them, it would be Nathan the prophet. But you see, that's not how David felt about Nathan. Nathan was the one that was the trusted prophet that was willing to tell him the truth when no one else was. Nathan was the one who was willing to confront him in his sin when no one else was. And so, Nathan was the one that really stood ground to go in and talk to David to protect not only David,

but the woman that he had committed adultery with, Bathsheba, is Nathan the prophet. You see, the Proverbs tells us, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And it's not easy to hear those things, but how much better it is when it comes from someone that we love. Because I'm here to tell you right now, if someone loves you enough to confront you in your sin, if someone loves you enough to correct you in your sin, that person can be trusted. Because I'm here

to tell you right now, when you have to confront somebody that you know well, somebody that you care about the most, it's the hardest thing in your life you will ever have to do. And if you can tell the truth about that, then you can be trusted to tell the truth about anything. The second thing that's really cool about this is that, remember, the first son that David and Bathsheba had, was ultimately taken from them out of judgment from God. Remember, David prayed and he prayed that God would save that child's life.

But ultimately, that child died and David said, it's okay, I'll go to him someday, even though he won't return to me. But we're told that God provided them with another son and that son's name was Solomon. And Nathan, the very one who confronted David in his sin, said, didn't you say that Solomon the son of Bathsheba was gonna be the one who would rule on the throne after you? Friends, I can't imagine a greater picture of God's grace than the one who was known for her sin and the one who was known for his sin that the offspring that they would produce would be the one through whom the covenant would continue.

That's grace. It's grace when God takes our worst mistakes and he turns them into our greatest successes. And that's what God does here. So Nathan goes and he talks to David and I love that David just accepts him in because I think Nathan and David probably stayed really close through this whole thing. Obviously, Nathan is the only one that stood by him. And so Nathan goes, he goes, we have a problem here.

Did you do this and you didn't tell me about it? Verse 28, King David said, call Bathsheba to me. She came into the king's presence and stood before the king and the king vowed and said, as the Lord lived, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all my distress, surely as I vowed to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, your son Solomon shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne and my place. I will indeed do so this day.

And Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and she prostrated herself before the king and said, may my Lord, the King David live forever. Then David said, call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. They came into the king's presence and the king said, take with you the servants of your Lord and have my son ride on my mule and bring him down to Gihon. Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel and blow the trumpet and say, long live King Solomon.

Then you shall come up after him and he shall come and sit on my throne and be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, amen. Thus may the Lord, the God of my Lord the King say, as the Lord has been with my Lord the King,

so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my Lord, King David. Can we all just take a moment and look back at the vow that David makes in verse 29. He says, the king vowed and said, that as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all my distress. I don't wanna make too much of this, but I know that you can make too much of this.

There's David lying there, probably in a place where he's still kind of shivering because he's just old and his health is failing and he's coming near the end of his life. And as he does so, and he's once again confronted with another issue within his household, with another issue of rebellion within his household. He draws strength from the knowledge of who God has always been to him. Now may the Lord who lives, who has redeemed my life from all my distresses.

I just love that statement that he makes because he draws on the strength of everything that God has been for him throughout his entire life. There's something about an individual that is facing their certain end that causes them to reflect. They causes them to reflect on who they are, on what God has done and on what God has meant to them. And I'm sure that as David laid there with no phone to scroll, with no TV to watch, no old Westerns to watch, he just sat and meditated and thought about everything that God had done for him.

And so, when another issue arises, when one more battle has to be fought when his body can't hold up to another battle, he draws all of it together. He draws all of that together. He draws all of that together. his strength from the knowledge of who God has always been for him, the God who delivers him from all his distresses. I just love that about David. He says, as he lives, Solomon is going to

be king. And this is what you're to do. And he gives them the plan. He says, you're going to take my mule, something that everybody would have known belonged to David, right? You're going to take my mule, and he's going to ride on it. And everybody's going to declare, long live King Solomon, and you're going to put him on my throne. You're going to give him the rightful throne,

and you're going to anoint him as king. And then there will be no question, because the king has spoken, and he will rule in my stead while I'm still alive. And so that's exactly what they do. So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule. And they brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil

from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, long live King Solomon. All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth shook at their noise. And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound

of the trumpet, he sang. He said, why is the city making such an uproar? And while he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, came. And he said, why is the city making such an uproar? And Adonijah said, come in, for you're a valiant man, and you bring good news. He replied, no, our Lord King David has made Solomon king. The king has also sent with him

Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and they have made him ride on the king's mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. And they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. That's the noise that you heard. Besides, Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. Moreover, the king's

servants came to bless our Lord King David, saying, may your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne. The king bowed himself on the bed. The king said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted one to sit on my throne today, while my own eyes see it. And all the guests of Adonijah were terrified, and they arose, and each went on their way.

They will, if you will, saw the handwriting on the wall. And so Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, as well he should be. And he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon. For behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his

servant to death with the sword. And Solomon said, if he's a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground. But if we are worthy, we will not fall to the ground. And he said, if we are worthy, we will not fall to the ground. But if wickedness is found in him, he will die. And King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself before King Solomon.

And Solomon said, go to your house. So they're all sitting around, Adonijah and all of his men, right? And there's a huge uproar in the city. I always want to know in these situations, how much is hyperbole, right? Like it says that the ground shook because of all of the noise. So is that hyperbole, or is it really like that intense? Whatever it was, Joab heard it, and he

goes, now wait a second. What am I hearing? What's all the noise down in the city? Of course, the messenger shows up, and Adonijah goes, you're a good dude. You're going to bring good news. And the guy goes, uh-uh. Nothing good about the news I'm bringing right now. Solomon's king. David made him king. Nathan anointed him king. He's riding on the mule of the king. He's on the

throne of the king. And David said, what a blessing that in my time, I get to see him be king. And in that moment, everybody goes, you know what? God said, you're a good thing, and then I forgot about that I got to go do now. Can you just, let's just pretend I wasn't here, okay? Just don't tell Solomon. That feels like the wrong thing to do. And after everybody departs, Adonijah goes, man, am I in really big trouble. So he runs, and he grabs the

horns of the altar, which was something that you'll see kind of throughout the Old Testament, that when someone's looking for mercy, that's what they do. They go, and they grab the horns of the altar, hoping that at that point in time, they will not be put to death. And Solomon's told about what's going on. Basically, Adonijah's asking for mercy. Five minutes ago, he was declaring himself king, and now he's asking for mercy.

And he says, if he shows himself to be a good man, he'll have mercy. Otherwise, he'll face judgment. Well, we'll deal with that in the next chapter. And so Solomon is made king, and we can try to put people in charge. You can try to put yourself in charge, but ultimately God, God's the one that brings the authority. And that's what he gave to Solomon. And so now, these first few verses,

verses of chapter 2, record the death of King David, including his charge to Solomon. And so we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 2, and it says, As David's time drew near, he charged Solomon, his son, saying, I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statues, and his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do, and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out his promise, which he spoke concerning me, saying, if your sons are careful of their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart, with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on

the throne of Israel. Now, David gives him a promise, and he says, I am going the way of all the earth. He gives a charge to Solomon about how he should live his life. We'll deal with the justice that he wants him to bring in just a moment, but he gives the charge for how he wants him to live his life. And again, this is one of those moments I would like to peer in on one day

when we get to heaven. And if anything's on DVR, I would like to watch this, because I think it would be just a fascinatingly stirring scene between David and Solomon. You can picture David at this point in time, again, just kind of a grizzled old warrior, laying there in his bed, maybe gaining enough strength to sit up to talk to Solomon. And Solomon, who is now about to become the, is now about to be the one true king, ruling over Israel, already anointed by his father, already anointed by the prophet, and he's soaking in as much wisdom as he can. And as he sits at

the edge of his father's bed, his dad speaks to him. Now, I want to share two quick things about this. Number one, if you have that wisdom, you need to share it. I've said it a number of times, over and over again. I've been telling kids this for years, and I started telling adults this when I started being the guy that talks to adults all the time. I used to tell kids all the time,

you need to find somebody that's walked with Jesus for a long time, and you need to ask him to teach you everything that they've learned. You need to ask them just to pour out all of their stories to you, and soak it in. And I'm here to tell you right now, if you've walked with Jesus for some time, and you have some wisdom, find a young person to share it with. Find a young person to soak all that stuff in. Because there is nothing like having the wisdom

of somebody that's walked with God for a really, really long time to pour all of that wisdom into you. I'm reading a fantastic book right now. It's actually written, I think, for pastor's wives, but whatever. I always knew I was called to women's ministry. That's a joke, by the way. I'm not called to women's ministry, don't we? It's called The Trunk. It's a fascinating book. It's

by a woman named... Jane McClure. And Jane McClure was the wife of Don McClure, who was one of the original Calvary pastors. And she's just recording all of the faithfulness that God has shown in her life. All of the things that God has done, all of the stories that he has given her because of events that have taken place in her life. And I got to tell you, I'm just soaking it up.

I'm just soaking it up, because I love hearing what people who have walked with God for a long time have learned. I had this experience early on in my life. I've shared about him so many times. Truman Page was such a fantastic individual in my life, because as I worked there at Lakeview Village, somebody had told me, hey, you should go talk to that guy, because they knew I wanted to go into ministry. And they said, that guy has more degrees than we know what to do with

about the Bible. I bet you guys would get along really, really well. And so I said, okay. So I was the guy that mowed the section that he lived in at Lakeview Village. And I, I went and knocked on his door one day at break. And, and I said, hi, I'm Ryan Nichols. I want to be a pastor someday. And I've heard that you have a lot of wisdom. And he said, well, come on in.

And every day I'd go over to his house on my break, and I would sit on his couch, and he would just share with me things that I didn't even know were in the Bible. And he would just share with me his wisdom. And he would just talk to me about, about his relationship with the Lord. He would share with me about his own personal life, things that he had learned in scripture. And I'm here to

tell you right now, I got to be just like David with, or I got to be just like Solomon with David. I was there just a day or so before he died at the, at the healthcare center. And that's when he gave me what I think is one of the greatest pieces of advice any human being has ever given me. When he said, Ryan, I am more aware now, two days before he goes home to be with Jesus. He says, I am more

aware now of my need for the grace of God in my life than I ever have been before. And I am so thankful for that. And now just truthfully, I know my dad's probably watching online right now, because everybody's sick at their hands. But I'm so thankful for that. And I'm so thankful for that. But, but, but I know that's what I'm trying to do with my dad right now. Just a little moment of

transparency on Ryan's part. I want to soak in as much of the wisdom as he has. I want to soak in as much of the knowledge that he has, because he's walked with Jesus for a really long time. And you should find people like that, because you, we all need people like that in our lives. And if you're someone that's walked with Jesus for a long time, I know young people sometimes act like they know

everything. They don't. They don't know, come here from Sikkim, their frontal lobe isn't fully developed yet. They don't know stuff. And sometimes you just got to pull them aside anyway and say, can I share some stories with you? Because we need that exchange in the church today. And that's what David does with Solomon. As he sits him down and he says, the time is drawing

near. I'm about to go home. And there's some things that you need to know. Number one, be strong and show yourself a man. I love this. He looks at his son square in the eyes and he says, dude, you got to act like a man. That's something that's missing in our culture today. Nobody looks at guys and tells them to act like men anymore. And that's something that's got to

change. We got to look men square in the eyes and say, you have to act like a man. And a man stands up and takes responsibility. A man is strong when he needs to be strong. A man is sensitive when he needs to be. sensitive. A man knows how to love with all of his heart, and he knows how to protect with all of his body. And men, we have got to stand up and be men. And we have got to look at the generation following

us and look at them and say, listen, you better learn how to be a man. And sometimes we've got to take them by the scruff of the collar and say, you're not acting like one right now, and it's time to man up. I'm so tired of having young college girls come to me and say, Pastor Ryan, where are the men? Why are there no men for us to marry? Why are there no men that want to actually take

us on real dates and show us what it really looks like to be a godly man? That show us what it really looks like to be in a good relationship? No, we have boys that text us at midnight saying, do you want to come over and watch a movie? And we know what that means. And we've got to start teaching these young men to be men, because right now all they know how to act like is boys. He says, Solomon,

be a man. And then he explains what he means by that. Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in His ways. In other words, do what God has called you to do. Obey God in everything that He's called for you to do. Walk in His ways, keep His statutes, keep His commandments, keep His ordinances, and keep His testimonies. Why? So that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn. You want

to know the secret of success? Do what Jesus tells you to do. Just do what the book says to do, and you'll always be successful. Maybe not in the world's eyes, but in God's eyes. Because success in the world's eyes says you have to have X, Y, and Z. Success in God's eyes says you've been faithful. You've been faithful. Remember who we said we thought maybe wrote this? The guy that we think wrote first and second Kings was was maybe Jeremiah the prophet.

And Jeremiah the prophet, you know, in all of the time that he prophesied, nobody was converted. He was, as far as the world was concerned, unsuccessful, and yet in God's eyes was incredibly successful because he was faithful. He says you keep what God has told you to do so that you can be successful in every way that you turn. And then the last thing that he tells him to do is, keep your eyes focused on the promise. Keep your eyes focused on the promise. Verse 4,

So that the Lord may carry us on the side of God. Verse 10, So that God may carry us on the side of out his promise, which he spoke concerning me, that if your sons are careful to walk before me in truth with all of their heart, then you will never lack a man in your family to sit on the throne. He says, Solomon, stay focused on the promise. Be a man. Obey God. Keep your heart and

your mind focused on the promise. Those were his parting words for his son. And then, of course, he speaks to him about justice. Notice what he says. And you also know that Joab, verse 5, the son of Zeruiah, you know what he did to me and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner and Amasa, whom he killed. He shed their blood, the blood of war, in peace.

And he put the blood of war on his belt about his waist and on his sandals on his feet. So act according to your wisdom and don't let his hair, his gray hair, go down to Sheol in peace. Shokar, kindness to the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table. For they assisted me when I fled from Absalom, your brother. Behold, there is with you Shimei,

the son of Gerah the Benjamite of Bahurim. Now it was he who cursed me with a violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, I will not put you to death by the sword. Now, therefore, don't let him go unpunished. For you are wise, and you will know what you ought to do, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with

blood. And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. Seven years he reigned in Hebron, thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established. His parting words were, make sure you handle things with wisdom. You know where justice

needs to be meted out. You know what Joab did. You know what Shimei did. May God give you wisdom to know how to handle those things. But you also know those who treated me with so much kindness. Show the same kindness to them. And those were his parting words to his son. Follow God, show justice. And they were told that David breathed his last and went to be with his fathers.

So that closes out the reign of David. It's fascinating because we've spent so much time talking about him, right? Like we spent a lot of time in first and second Samuel, and now this first chapter or so of Kings, talking about David. We spent so much time with him, it feels like we know him pretty well by now, right? But he reigned for forty years. Forty years he reigned

over Jerusalem, or reigned over Israel. But there's a handful of things that I'll remind you about David. Number one, David was always known as a man after God's own heart. What made him a man after God's own heart? Well, what made him a man after God's own heart? Well, what made him a man after God's own heart? Well, what made him a man after God's own heart? Well, what made him a man

is number one, he always sought to seek the Lord in everything that he did, or to please the Lord in everything that he did. But number two, his heart was always to shepherd the people, because God's heart is always for the people. He was a man after God's own heart. Number two, he was an imperfect man, but he was a man that stayed true to his God. I bet if David were to

sit down and have a really candid conversation with you towards the end of his life, he would have probably spent a great deal of time talking about the failures that he had. He may even, like me, have said at my funeral, please don't get up and talk about all the good things that I did. Get up and talk about how much I was a failure and that God is the only reason that I am where I am today. But he would have had some of those conversations as well. But at the

end of the day, he was true to his God because he always came back to the Lord. And that's what makes someone true to God. It's not that they do everything perfect. It's that they know where to run when they failed. And that's what David knew. And the third thing that we read about David is, do you realize we don't read about any of David's sin in the New Testament?

Once we're done in the Old Testament reading about David's failures, we don't read about them any longer. You ever wonder why that is? I believe it's because David's sins were all put under the blood. You see, when he sinned, he confessed his sin. And we're told in the book of 1 John that when we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know what David wrote?

He wrote, blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, whose transgression has been covered. That's what David wrote because that's what he knew about his God. Because in the New Testament, we read none of that. We don't read about the sins of David. We only read about the success of David. It reminds me of a point that I like to make often. God does not remember our failures.

He remembers our faith. God doesn't remember our failures. He remembers our faith. We're the ones that tend to hold on to the guilt over our failures. We're the ones that tend to hold on to what we've done wrong and say, oh, that's what I'm known by. God remembers our faith. Because as David in the Psalms wrote, as far as the east is from the west, so far have you

removed the east from the west. So far have you removed the east from the west. So far have you removed our transgressions from us. Because blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven, whose transgression has been covered. Amen. Father, we come before you and Lord, I thank you that we get to study lives of great men like this. Lord, I thank you that you give us the good,

the bad, and the ugly so that we know that your word is real, that your word is true. And Lord, you are not shocked by anything that we go through. You're not shocked by anything that we go through. You're not shocked by anything that we go through. You're not shocked by any failure that we have. But your blood continues to cover us. And by your grace, you continue to forgive us. And so Lord, keep us true to you in everything

that we do. May we follow you with all of our hearts. May we, like Solomon, be obedient in everything. And so Father, fill us with your grace as we move out from here and go about the rest of our week. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.