Those who honor me I will honor. Those who despise me, I will
lightly esteem. One of the primary ways that you
honor God is you honor His Word. You love His Word, You tremble
at His word. You consider the word of God the
voice of God. And we are going to hear from
the voice of God today in a exciting chapter in First Kings.
So meet me in First Kings Chapter 3 as we posture our
hearts to hear from the living God in First Kings Chapter 3.
And we are going to begin and study starting from verse 16,
First Kings 3 verse 16. Father, we bow before you in our
hearts, and we pray for a special help from the Holy
Spirit. Lord, we are privileged to be
students of your word. But, Lord, you call us more than
just students or servants. You call us friends.
Thank you for making us friends. Thank you that you've adopted us
to be your children. We are not orphans.
We belong to you. And we pray that we would hear
the voice of our father speaking exactly how we need to be taught
and encouraged and built up, maybe even convicted, so that we
can reflect the image of the one that we belong to.
Lord, We ask for a special unction, even in a Bible study,
that our hearts would be gripped by the truths in this time
together, and we pray that you would be exalted and blessed and
honored in it all. In Christ's name we pray.
Amen. Prayer is a privilege.
Prayer is a treasure. For the Christian, prayer is
often the object of much scorn and mockery by those who deny
God altogether. But what is the object of scorn
is the delight of the Christian, the St.
And one of the things that makes prayer such a privilege is that
it is God's invitation to us to come to Him and to open our
hearts, and to pour out what's in our hearts at His caring
feet, and to be. Assured every single time that
we don't not have to go to a brazen altar.
We don't have to bring specific types of animals that at any
place, anytime we can commune with God and we are promised His
listening ear. But the exciting thing about
prayer beyond that, beyond the access we have with God, as
amazing as that is, is that prayer will be answered.
God responds to prayer. He delivers.
He will move, He will act, He will respond to.
Consider this the creator and the sustainer of the heavens and
the earth will actually bend down and act upon the desperate
request of a creature. And you and I, beginning in
chapter three of this witness a man who prayed, we studied, a
man who realized the the great responsibility he had as a king
and could not fathom pursuing and advancing in that calling
apart from God's help God's hand on his life.
And so he prays. He asked God for his help.
He asked God to be endowed with certain discernment and skills.
And what you and I are going to see now for the rest of this
chapter is God answer that prayer.
Oh yes, God told him that he was going to do it.
But now we're going to see that answer materialize.
We're going to see it now manifest.
And that makes it a thrilling study.
Because apart from salvation, I can't think of a more thrilling
experience than knowing that God in heaven can actually answer
and intervene in my life when you and I pray.
God is going to answer Solomon's prayer.
Solomon prayed. God answered and promised to
provide and do more. And now we are going to behold
how God is going to allow Solomon experience that answer.
In a very dramatic scenario, Solomon now is going to know the
endowment, the enablement that has been assured by God in and
through him. And what we're going to do is
really just read the case that's going to pull on the wisdom that
Solomon received from God. But let's make this interactive,
shall we? I'm going to read these verses
before we see how Solomon's wisdom interacts with it.
And let's try to investigate and and draw insights and details,
Not just mere observations, but perhaps even some kind of
instruction in the scene before us today.
Let's read beginning of verse 16 and give your attention to this
as we complete a few verses at a time.
First kings 316. Then two prostitutes came to the
king and stood before him. The one woman said, Oh my Lord,
this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to
a child while she was in the house.
Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave
birth. And we were alone.
There was no one else with us in the house.
Only we two were in the house. And this woman's son died in the
night because she lay on him, and she arose at midnight and
took my son from beside. Me while your servant slept and
laid him at her breast. And laid her dead son at my
breast. When I rose in the morning to
nurse my child, behold, he was dead.
But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was
not the child that I had born. But the other woman said, No,
the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.
The first said no, the dead child is yours, and the living
child is mine. Thus they spoke before the king.
Any details, Anything that stands out to you that think
that you think will contribute to the understanding of this
passage, or at least color it in a way where we can draw some
principles? What things stand out to you?
What characteristics? Nobody else was in the house.
That's repeated over and over. We were the only ones in the
house. We were alone in the house.
That's going to be huge. That's going to really determine
how Solomon's going to really need to draw from God's wisdom.
Good, if we can answer like that.
Just rapid fire. Anything else standing out to
you Doesn't have to be this incredible revelation, just
observations. Yes, very good.
Two prostitutes were able to enter and stand before the
presence of the king. I believe that said something
about Solomon as well. Sorry, go ahead.
Not only that, they were arguing before the king, and I'll add to
that. The king lets them argue, and he
is silent. Good.
Anything else? These are great observations.
Observations that will be noted in this study.
Anything else? Once telling the truth, one
isn't, that's that's obvious, right?
We're going to see how Solomon's going to discover who's telling
the truth. Anything else?
Well, let me remind you again, this is how you and I get
something from the Bible. We talk to the Bible in a way.
We engage with the scriptures, we ask questions, and that will
make all the difference between you just scratching up a
devotional. Time and actually getting gold
from the Bible. Well, let's do this together.
Let's revisit verse 16. Then two prostitutes came to the
king and stood before him. Were these women moral or moral?
Immoral. Immoral.
They were prostitutes. They were harlots.
And they made a decision in their lives what to do with
their bodies. And the decisions that they
would make with their bodies brought turmoil upon themselves.
Is it not true? But not only did they experience
distress in their own lives, it's spilled over into the lives
of others, namely, these precious babies.
These precious babies, in fact, one of these woman.
Was so careless with her body and it reflected even in how she
treated the body of another innocent, precious child.
Because we we just read that one of these woman turned over
without caution and laid on top of a child and smothered that
baby to death. And so we see here that there is
this attitude of selfishness at play here.
And one of the one of the unfortunate things about
selfishness is that selfishness doesn't just affect self.
Other people have to. Endure the suffering that comes
from a person who is absorbed into themselves.
And so we see that these people who made the decision to live as
prostitutes, not only did that affect their lives, that affect
the lives of those in their close context, but not only did
it affect the lives of those in their close context, they became
a stain to society. This is, this is a public affair
now. This is a scandal and how true
it is of sin. Sin is not just in the air,
right? It starts in the heart.
This is where it overflows from. Jesus made that emphatically
clear. And sin is slippery.
Contrary to the false hope that many sinners have, the
repercussions of sin cannot be contained.
They can't be contained. You can't determine where your
decisions will take you. You can't determine the
collateral damage that your decisions and disobedience can
bring. And so we see this here. 2
prostitutes who lived in one home together are now on the
public stage nationally, so to speak, the Supreme Court of
Israel. And this is a reminder to us
that the stench and the sting of sin has a tendency to spread and
permeate beyond what you had hoped or imagined.
May we shun it from the beginning at the same time you
brought it up, sister. It's interesting to see Solomon
willing to engage with this dilemma as a king.
You know Solomon with his stature, with his with his
responsibility. He had every right to ignore
these citizens who are staying to this God centered culture.
He could have just shooed them away and let them endure their
pain, but instead he brings them and gives them a chance to
receive justice. And already you and I have a
glimpse of a king to come. Do you not?
One who is infinitely more holy and just than King Solomon, who
will also receive sinners, and he will eat with them, and he
will give him a chance to experience new life through
repentance and faith. Here are two prostitutes who
came before King Solomon. But the King of Glory, when you
read through the pages of the New Testament, comes to the
prostitutes. She is coming, one of these
women's coming to receive justice.
And our King leaves the throne and comes to those who are not
searching for him to begin with and sits with them in the homes
of tax collectors, in the homes where the religious leaders
would stick their nose in the air and look down upon.
Already we see just just a little stitch of what makes
Jesus greater than Solomon here. And now we read and we continue.
What do we notice? One of these woman's speak up.
The one woman said, Oh my Lord, this woman, verse 17, I live in
the same house. They live in the same house.
OK, clearly they don't have husbands.
And it makes you wonder what kind of house this was.
Probably a brothel, probably some kind of an inn where
inappropriate behavior regularly took place.
And so we know that this House is not a respectable abode.
It's questionable and we we're told that they live together.
And what's more important than determining what kind of home
this was was the fact that this child she says that she born
came into this world at a certain point and this other
roommate of hers had another child.
And what's the days of difference between these
children? Three days?
When it comes to infants 3 days
apart, is there much significant features that distinguish them?
Not really. Three days.
Very little to work with. If this one baby had been a few
weeks older, you wouldn't even have controversy here.
But you have two children. You have two babies coming to
this world three days apart. Very difficult to even
distinguish. I mean, only a mother can look
closely and see the difference as she confesses later.
But in terms of what this means for Solomon, you have very
little evidence. To work with in in terms of
making the right judgement and if it wasn't difficult enough to
have very little evidence. We heard it from our brother.
You have no eyewitnesses. What does she say?
Over and over again she said he she says it here at the end of
verse 18 and we were alone. There was no one else with us in
the house. Only we two were in the house.
No evidence, very little to work with in terms of evidence, and
no witnesses. This is what Solomon has to deal
with. How will he make a right choice
without risk? How will he solve this?
Where can he go with this? All he has now is 2
contradictory statements being made and you got to pick one.
You got to choose someone, and this is what thrilled my heart
when when studying this Out of all the potential circumstances
and predicaments, this is the one that the Lord brings to
Solomon to prove that his wisdom is in fact true.
It couldn't have been a little bit easier, no.
He gives them an almost impossible puzzle.
For what purpose? So that when the solution would
come about, Solomon would be absolutely convinced that the
wisdom he had. Was exceptional and given by
God. There would be no room for doubt
that if God will come through with what I asked for, then
certainly I have received my answer.
I want you to never forget that when God in His Providence
places you before something that seems absolutely impossible to
resolve, because that is by design as you walk in obedience
to His will. Remember this as a principle
that if I am standing before something that seems to be a
tight and tricky trial, how am I going to get out of this one?
Understand that by design, God LED you there so that when you
do come through, and you will, as long as you hold His hand,
both you and all the witnesses in your world will be able to
say, God did this, God did this. And that's why James can say
something. So bold as count it all.
Joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds, What
specimen, What kind of human being can actually count it?
Joy When you face a trial, I'll tell you which one the Christian
not because of the Krishna, but because of the Christ in the
Christian's life. And so you really can't lose as
a Christian in your pilgrimage, because even things like this,
that seem like you don't know how you're going to get out of
this. You don't know how God's going
to be glorified in this. You don't know how you're going
to be able to exemplify Christ likeness in it and come out
successful, come out shining with his glory.
You will, because God often times brings us to these moments
so that you would come out believing him more and
confounding others who might have doubted him.
This is where Solomon's at. This is immediately following
his request to receive wisdom. And God says, I'll show you
wisdom and I'll show you that I'm with you and I'll prove
myself in and through you. Here are a couple of prostitutes
with no witnesses, with little to no evidence.
Now watch me work. Watch me work.
So you can smile, my brother. You can smile, my sister,
because of the Lord is. With you that he'll bring you
through. And that's what Solomon's going
to experience in a moment here. But look at this scene, this
interesting scene in verse 22. But the other woman said no.
The living child is mine and the dead child is yours.
The first said no, the dead child is yours and the living
child is mine. Thus they spoke before the king.
So an argument breaks out in the throne room.
And that is often the case with people.
This is an extreme situation, but.
Tense relationships, accusations, lies, personal
offences are unfortunately far too common, especially believer.
Listen to me very carefully. As long as you live in
community, what you see here between these two women going at
it back and forth will be something that you will witness
on more than one occasion. I'm just preparing you, and what
we need is what Solomon has here.
As we do life with other people, Solomon's a leader.
Here's a king. He has governing authority.
He has a different kind of responsibility.
But this, this kind of context and situation is something that
you and I share in to some extent.
When we deal with people as Christians, and we're called to
bear one another's burdens, and we're called to confront sin,
we're called to listen to those who need some advice.
We need wisdom. You and I need wisdom from God.
Or else we'll do damage to ourselves and damage to others,
and ultimately damage to the testimony of Christ.
And so this is not just you and I studying an interesting story
and applauding it from a distance.
This is you and I saying, OK, yes, Solomon, receive a wisdom
that will never be repeated, but there is still an invitation for
me to receive wisdom. And I want to show you that
Solomon is exercising a wisdom that can be reflected on our own
lives before he even utters a word.
I believe Solomon is operating in wisdom before he even says
anything. You say how?
Look at the last part here, verse 22.
Thus they spoke before the King. Solomon's wisdom here is in his
silence. In his silence he has two women.
Here. They're both claiming something
contradicting each other and Solomon on his throne.
Let's one speak her mind and share her perspective and lets
the other speak her mind and share her perspective.
And this man is living out the principle that you see in two
verses in one chapter of the book of Proverbs.
The one is Proverbs 1813 and the other is a very well known one.
In Proverbs 1817 wisdom is not given to everybody, but it is
required of everybody. You and I are called to be a
wise people. And so let's glean some
practical wisdom. Here a couple ways that you can
assure yourself you can measure wisdom in your life.
Proverbs 1813 reads. If one gives an answer before he
hears it is his folly and shame if one brings an opinion, a
judgement before taking the time to gather as much necessary
data. It's foolishness.
And often times people want to
try to prove their wisdom by interjecting halfway through
somebody's explanation to try to show that they are prophetic in
some sense. I guess I don't get it.
And the Bible says no, no, no, you have to actually wait and
hear before you give an answer. And part of waiting and hearing
before you give a judgement or opinion.
I'm telling you, so many Christians have made a mess of
so many relations because of they refuse to be wise in this
respect. One of the ways in which you and
I listen carefully before we give an answer is verse 17.
What does verse 17 say? The one who states his case
first seems right until the other comes and examines him.
The one who states his case first seems right until another
comes and examines him. It's a part of listening is also
including different perspectives depending on the nature of the
situation and how providential is this in a time in which we
are receiving hourly updates on a world scale.
There seems to be this pressure to make statements and to give
commentary on absolutely everything that comes your way.
You don't need to do that. You don't.
But because everybody's been given a platform, right, Which
is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
Because people who should have a voice can now have a voice, and
people who shouldn't have a voice.
They unfortunately have a voice. Be be careful.
Be wise. There's wisdom in silence.
There's wisdom in stepping back and examining.
There's wisdom in taking your time instead of allowing your
emotions to spring you into statements, to make judgments,
only to find ourselves to be foolish and shameful.
And so we're we're living in a different era of world history
now again because everybody has a platform.
And now not only your own little world, not only your family, now
you you are given access to what's happening across the
world. And so be very, very careful
because what you and I say and do ultimately reflects the one
that we love and serve. I don't want to be too specific
in this. I I think I I'm communicating
clearly enough, and Solomon here is showing that as a general
rule, when you and I are presented with a predicament of
problem, especially in our own world, Listen, ask, listen more,
inquire more, and patiently endure the temptation to try to
give a premature opinion or judgement.
Because if you and I desire to be wise, then what I just
explained from these two verses will help you do this and
applying it will clear your understanding so that your
vision will be more precise. In order that you can provide a
more specific and sound suggestion or an answer as what
Solomon does here. Look again in verse 23 First
Kings. Look at verse 23.
Then, the king said. The one says this is my son that
is alive and your son is dead, and the other says no, but your
son is dead and my son is the living one.
What's Solomon doing there? He's making sure he got his
facts right. I just want to make sure I'm
clear here. So this is what you're saying
and this is what you're saying. And once that was affirmed, he
was able to now execute in wisdom, in wisdom.
Don't make decisions with your feelings.
Please, please don't do that right.
Ask the Lord for the ability to make statements, decisions,
moves, reactions, interactions with truth, with truth.
And the more truth you gather, the more confident you can be in
your answer, the more you save yourself from looking like a
fool. Is this what I'm hearing?
This is what you're saying about the child.
The silence here tends to agree that this is the case, and I
could not help but also at this point, think about Jesus.
Think about Christ and how he is greater than Solomon.
Do you know how? Because Christ will one day
return as king. And when he returns as king, he
will return as the king who judges the whole world.
He'll be a righteous dictator. And the beauty about King Jesus,
which is often found here, prophetically speaking, at least
in types and shadows with Solomon, is that he does not
need to and he will not need to do what Solomon does here and
what you and I have to do on a regular basis.
Let me prove that What do I mean by that?
And Isaiah 11, verse one and three.
This is a picture of Christ in terms of what he will do, his
ministry, what it would look like.
And in these first three verses you have what Christ will do in
his first coming, and also what he will do in his second coming.
Let me read these verses with you, verse one of Chapter 11.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a
branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
Well, the fear of the Lord can't be what most people think the
fear of the Lord is if Jesus delighted in it.
This might disturb you, but it's OK.
It's Bible. Do you realize that Jesus Christ
in humanity feared the Lord? How many of us viewed Christ
that way? How many of us understand Jesus
in that sense? Jesus Christ feared the Father
and he delighted in it. So clearly the fear of the Lord
is a good thing. I'm very passionate about the
doctrine of the fear of the Lord.
If you can't tell, and this is the sevenfold ministry of the
Holy Spirit. You see this later on in
Revelation, The sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit.
It's explained here in Isaiah 11.
But notice this in verse 3. And His delight shall be in the
fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his
eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear.
So when Christ does come, and he will come as King, there would
be no outward appearance or persuasive speech that will
alter or influence the accuracy of his assessment of every
single problem that will come before him as king.
Jesus doesn't need a jury. Jesus doesn't need eyewitnesses.
Jesus doesn't need security footage.
Jesus doesn't need fingerprints. Why?
Because the Lord Jesus knows what is in the heart of man, and
he can discern perfectly the depths of the human heart.
Oh, and when it comes to rule and reign, how swift that
justice will be, how pure it will be.
No one will be able to say anything about it.
No one will be able to blame him for anything.
No one will be able to correct them.
He will be able to bring justice.
Without the need to see anything or hear anything.
And that is true of Jesus when he comes to rule and reign.
But that is true of Jesus now. You and I can't hide from him.
This is the essence of the fear of the Lord.
In one way. Jesus is with me wherever I go.
He's with you wherever you go. If you really believe that
you're going to live differently, I promise you you
will. And so I can't wait for Christ
to come and to bring true justice to the earth.
He will come, Maranatha. May he come sooner than later.
The king on this particular occasion, did not have.
That much to work with. He didn't have the ability that
Jesus alone has, so he doesn't have eyewitnesses.
He has very little evidence. So what does he have to do?
He has to create his own evidence.
Solomon has to create his own evidence, and he's going to do
that in a very unorthodox way. On the surface it may actually
seem to be barbaric and just out of bounds.
Verse 24 and the king said, bring me a sword.
I wonder what the suspense was like at that point.
Bring me a sword. So a sword was brought before
the king, and the king said divide the living child in two
and give half to the one and half to the other.
Was there any gasp? I don't know.
The people break out in sweat. I don't know.
But I can imagine that there was much discomfort.
The king said divide the living child into and give half to the
one and half to the other. And this would prove to be
absolutely genius on Solomon's part.
But you know. Somebody earlier this week.
I don't even know if they knew we were talking about this at
this Bible study came with an interesting question, and I
presented to you because we know here that Solomon's purpose is
not to actually go through with this, right?
Solomon doesn't actually believe that this is the solution to
this problem. But what he is doing here is
that he is going to bring a test to measure the presence or the
lack of motherly affection and qualities of a true mother.
This is what he's doing. He's about to expose who here
truly has a heart of a mother. But the question was, this seems
a little bit deceptive on Solomon's part.
Because Solomon. Wasn't really going to do this
and the question was an interesting thought if this is
Solomon coming with a deceptive tactic to achieve his judgement.
He wasn't actually going to kill the baby, but the source of this
controversial approach was from God, evidently because this
wisdom would come from God. Does God here then promote a
form of dishonesty? There we say lying to achieve
certain ends. Do you understand the question?
I thought that was a thought provoking question.
How would you answer that? Any idea?
OK, but that's testing a faith. But what about actually?
OK, so you're looking at, from God's perspective, from
concealing certain matters, right?
OK, so you guys now are touching on the idea of God testing us
because he tested Abraham, right?
It's a test. So this is the.
So your answer would be this is more like a test than anything
else. This is, this is not, this is
not the Lord implementing, you know, duplicit things or he's
trying to be clever and sneaky. Would you guys agree with that?
I think that's a helpful answer. This is a test and I would.
Take it even further than that, because when you look at the
context and consider Solomon's position and responsibility,
then there's more light to be shed on this.
Solomon was a governing authority.
That was given the duty to do what?
To exercise justice in the land, to actually cleanse the land, to
even hunt for evil and to purge the land of evil right.
That was one of his responsibilities at least.
And as king with that sole and unique authority, he was also
granted with that certain approaches, certain permissions
to make his task effective. And maybe a modern example would
help. Because upon hearing that
question, this modern example came to mind.
Because in certain operations you have our police who will
undergo undercover, Undercover plans and investigations for the
purpose of what? Discovering evil?
Gaining evidence that would not be gained otherwise.
And you can almost say going undercover is what deceptive
you're camouflaging. To pretend to be something that
you're not, but with a righteous end, with a righteous goal in
mind, and none of us would criticize that, right?
None of us would look at that kind of a strategy and condemn
it, and rightfully so. And so the way I view Solomon
here, if this is a problem, we're seeing Solomon presenting
this in a in a certain way. Look at Solomon as a detective.
Seem here as somebody who is. Doing an investigation.
And part of that investigation is infiltrating, right?
It's to get deeper, go to the heart of the matter, discover
things that are cloaked, discover things that are not
easily perceived for the sake of what?
Executing justice. And God is behind that,
especially for those who hold certain positions that allow
them to punish evil and to establish that which is good.
And so the Lord enable Solomon here because of his unique
position and authority. To do so, and to do so very
well, yes, brother, you had your hand up.
Can you read it please? Psalm 1826.
With the purified you've shown yourself pure, and with the
truth you make yourself. Seem torturous?
Torturous, Yes. So is your question pertaining
to Solomon reflecting that truth?
Oh, I see. So you're saying because of the
nature of their sin and how they are dealing with things in a
crooked way, Solomon is responding in a crooked way as
well? Yeah.
I don't know if I would apply that certain verse to this, but
I think you are on to something in that Solomon has to, he has
to go about this in a different way to almost expose them at
their level, right. And and so he he is now doing
something that is wise. And coming down to a certain
level, meeting them at a certain level, and then from there
really pulling the sheets and exposing them and unveiling the
true nature of their heart posture.
So this is genius. And Solomon has all the
permission to do this. It's end is righteous, it is God
glorifying and it is good and it fulfills his role as a king.
And wisdom is the application of knowledge, right?
That's really what it is. A simple definition of wisdom is
the application of knowledge. You can be a knowledgeable
person. I know knowledgeable people.
They're not wise. They stumble, trip, bump into
things, socially speaking, financially speaking,
spiritually. They stuff their head with a
bunch of information that they're they're very good and
being able to rehearse facts and bring things to your attention.
But wisdom is being able to take all of that.
And to apply it to certain situations, ultimately
glorifying God. What is Solomon going to do
here? Divide the living child into and
give half of the 1 to the one and half to the other?
What is the knowledge behind this strategy that is bringing
him to formulate this kind of a plan?
What is he working with in order for him to bring this about?
The heart? Sure.
Think deeper. Who's he dealing with here?
What? What's the situation?
You have two women who are claiming to be what mothers.
They're claiming to be mothers. Solomon's Dilemma is who is the
true mother? What knowledge does Solomon have
here concerning a mother that is bringing him to this kind of
request? Motherly instinct, right?
Yes. OK.
And one of them is also a killer.
All right, so hold on. You have here, Solomon,
understanding something about the nature of a mother.
She has intrinsic love, sacrificial love, something
wired in her that's willing to do anything for her baby, right?
Any mother in here would know that.
And Solomon, knowing that now is taking that general truth and is
going to bring it to this situation.
That's what wisdom does. And as our brother said also,
these two mothers are blaming each other.
For the murder of a child. And the essence of this murder
is that there was carelessness involved, right?
Criminal negligence. One of these ladies apparently
rolled over during the night and smother the child to death.
So the way this is wired is that it would not only reveal who has
this true motherly instinct and nature.
But it also show who is the one who is less concerned of the
life of a child this is. Wise this is so good.
This is like, who said the Bible is boring?
Shame on you. Bible is not boring.
And so Solomon now is operating in wisdom and in a moment of
suspense the unmasking will take place.
And so he makes this strong suggestion, almost in the form
of a command. And verse 26 happens then the
woman whose son was alive said to the king because her heart
yearned for her son. Oh my Lord, give her the living
child, and by no means put him to death.
But the other said he shall neither might be mine nor yours
divide him. So let's look at these two women
separately, because not only do we have the success of Solomon's
wisdom before us, there's some things to learn between these
two women. Right?
So the first response is this woman, the same woman who opened
up this case to Solomon, pleading her innocence, is now
pleading for the life of her baby.
You have here the ingredients of true love.
Even in this story, you can. You can pluck something out of
it to apply in your own understanding of what true love
is. What's true love?
That you prioritize the well-being of someone else, even
if it's at your own expense. That you're willing to protect
and provide for someone else, even if it costs you.
Because that's what love does. It gives even if in that giving,
you have to surrender something. Can you think of something more
excruciating than a mother giving up her baby to the care
of someone else? And you can't do anything about
it? Can you?
Can you imagine that seeing a baby being handed over to the
supervision of someone else? And you know that this person is
careless. You know this person does a
really want to this child, and for the sake of that baby's
life, you're willing to pay that price?
Why? Because she loves that baby.
She loves that baby. That's what love does.
It surrenders. It prioritizes, it cost.
And what's so amazing about this woman is that she reflects the
exact opposite attitude of many people who are pro abortion.
Instead of yearning and protecting the life of babies,
they see them as a burden and they're gladly willing to
slaughter them in order to protect self.
You know, Paul told Timothy that one of the signs of the last
days, he lists all these different vices and one of them
stands out in light of this. It's in Second Timothy 33, it's
in the ESV, it's this. And you'll see if it goes on the
screen or if you want to turn there, you can turn there as
well. That one of the marks of the
last days is that there will be people in Second Timothy 33 who
will be heartless. I like how the King James words
it. Void of natural affection, Void
of natural affection. Things that are natural, like
the love that a mother would have for a baby, love in your
family. Things that are almost just
embedded in human nature. As we approach the end of all
things will become more and more rare, become less and less
common, and Jesus even said that there will be a coldness of love
for other people. As we approach the culmination
of the age, we tend to only think about rumors of wars and
wars. And that is true.
That is a mark. But the quality of men, one of
the marks, is that they will be void of natural affection.
That's a sign of the times, my friend.
The fact that we've slaughtered millions and millions of babies
is not divorced from prophecy. It's prophetic.
We're living in prophetic times and we tend to miss it.
But Paul spells it out clearly, and this woman here is is
showing that she does have natural affection.
I want that baby to live. And contrast it now with this
other lady and verse Kings 26th of Chapter 4.
And the second part You heard it, but the other said, He shall
be neither mine nor yours. Divide him, divide him can.
You imagine that. I mean, you've been making a
case that this baby is yours. And the moment you hear that
this baby can be killed, you don't even hesitate.
Here's the principle behind it. She professed one thing, but her
actions betrayed her. She confessed one thing, but her
deeds denied whatever confession or conviction she had.
And I looked at this verse and I thought to myself, we, here we
go, yet another example that time and certain opportunities
will either confirm or deny the legitimacy of your confession or
conviction. All takes is time and all takes
is certain opportunities to really show the sincerity of
what you might have confessed and the convictions you might
have had and even fought for, claimed to have.
Wow, isn't that fascinating? This woman claimed to be the
mother this woman claimed to be for the love of her child and
once this was brought forth she was exposed.
Jesus speaks about different soils and one of the seeds, the
word of God, would fall on rocky soil, and the rocky soil he
describes are those who receive the word of God initially with
what? Rejoicing.
That's the initial reaction This is.
Amazing. This is fantastic.
Yes, I want to follow this Jesus.
And in Luke's version, we were told they endure for a while.
Time. But when persecution arises on
account of the word, they're uprooted.
Certain opportunities, certain circumstances.
Here you have this woman. She had the confession strong if
I she was willing to go to court for it.
But when the opportunity, the time came, she was exposed of
being hollow and false. Why was she fighting for this
child then? Any idea why go through all this
effort? Why put yourself out there?
Why risk being exposed like this?
Well, let's make this certain. Did she love the child?
Oh, please say no. No, right?
Divide the child. Let it happen.
I'll take the 1/2. Who says that?
Who thinks like that? You would think that they would
both fight for the life of the child.
No one says forget it. So if this woman was willing to
be careless with this baby, surely she was careless with her
own. And that's what it reveals.
That's the wisdom of Solomon here.
Look at the difference here You have one mother who reflects
selfless love, and you have another woman who reflects
selfish ambition. One is so beautiful, the other
one is so ugly. May the spirit of Christ conform
us to that which is lovely. Look at verse 27.
Then the king answered and said, give the living child to the
first woman and by no means put him to death.
She is his mother. I would love to be in that
courtroom to see the faces of people.
I would love to see the woman of that mother who was faking it
the whole time. Did her jaw drop?
Did they want to break out into tears?
We're not told, but what we are told is verse 28 and all Israel.
Heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, And they
stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom
of God was in him to do justice. When God gifts you with
something, when he empowers you in a certain way, not only will
he confirm it to you in one way or another, he'll confirm it
through the witness in the testimony of other people.
Remember that. Listen, if you believe God has
given you a call and he's giving you something special, something
supernatural, you don't have to parade it.
You don't have to advertise it. People will eventually recognize
it and see it, and that's the best way to do it.
That's the best way to do it is trust in God's Providence and
leading your life that it will be identified.
And let me give you a hint that if you're a person that's
wondering how is it that I can identify the gifts in my life,
God has ordained that the primary place for that to be
recognized is within the local church.
Because this is the primary arena where your gifts are
recognized and are utilized and other people benefit from it.
So if you're a person again who is eager Lord, what is it that
you have for me? How have you?
Furnished me. What is it that you want me to
do? Well, the longer you stay in the
local church and the more you build relationships with people,
and the more you respond to opportunity to serve, the closer
you will come. And if you're a true Christian,
I'm sure you want to know why you're here on the earth.
Side note, not really. In the main part, everybody saw
the wisdom that Solomon had a unique story, a unique measure
of wisdom. But an invitation for us still
to access wisdom for ourselves. I want to end here in this New
Testament text. Turn with me to James chapter
one. I referenced it earlier.
Many people know this verse, but they don't understand the
immediate context of this verse. Look at James chapter one, verse
2 counted all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various
kinds for you know James one verse 3.
For you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its
full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing. Now it is an end there.
So what's that? What's he talking about here?
He's talking about what? Christians going through.
Trials is that. Does that tell you and I that
we're going to go through trials?
Yes. You're going to go through
trials of various kinds, various kinds of trials.
It might not look like the next person beside you because you
have a unique family, right? You have a unique marriage,
right? You have special children,
right? You work at a specific place,
right? So it's various kinds.
That's encouraging to you and I. Not just certain kinds of
trials, various kinds of trials. There's a spectrum of suffering
that this is for, but I can rejoice.
I can count it all joy. But that joy also is not just in
the truth that I can see the end of it.
There's going to be something produced in me as a result.
But look at verse five. If any of you lacks wisdom, let
him ask God, who gives generously to all without
reproach, and it will be given him.
Is James starting a random thought after this?
No, no, no, no. This is tied into the fact that
he just finished saying when you go through trials, Christians
count it all joy. So the instruction is still
within the context of you and I going through trials.
And one of the things that I do in trials, one of the commands
that God gives me as I go through these tribulations, is
not just to by faith counted all joy, but to ask God for wisdom.
So the asking God of wisdom is within the context of me going
through a trial when I go through something that, like
Solomon, seems difficult, unanswerable, challenging,
uncomfortable. I am commanded that if I don't
know what to do, how to respond, how to pivot to ask God for
wisdom. So here's what this tells me
too. That when I go through trials,
God allows trials. God expects me to talk to Him.
God expects you to talk to him when you go through a season of
trials. And it could be that many people
keep going through trials because you haven't caught that
yet. You still don't know how to go
to him and talk to him in your trials.
A lot of stubborn people. I know a lot of strong people.
And that's not a compliment, because it takes so much for
them to get on their knees and to ask God.
But here's the invitation. If any of you lacks wisdom, let
him ask God, who gives generously to all, to do what?
To know how to navigate through this trial.
Primarily, try to come out of the most successful, the
shiniest you can come out of it because that's what wisdom will
do. Wisdom will protect you from
making pitfalls, from making foolish decisions, and will
bring about the greatest success in your sanctification, if any
of you. I love that.
Not just kings and not just pastors.
If any of you likes it, let him ask God.
When was the last time you endure turbulence relationally
in the context of the Church, and you stopped and you ask God,
God, I need your wisdom. I don't know how to do this.
My flesh is telling me this. God, this is a very tangled and
complicated thing. Like Solomon, I have to make a
choice here. I have to stand on one side
here. The nature of my status in this
mess is that I am required to answer to it.
Lord, give me wisdom, please. That's God's will.
Notice it's not a suggestion, right?
If any of you lacks wisdom, if you feel like it, you can.
You can call God. No, let him ask.
It's an invitation, but it's also command your your
Commission to come to the Lord. And here's the beauty of it.
He will bring about and deposit in you something for that
specific trial. Some of you are very young here,
so you're hearing this and you're thinking, OK, live life
long enough and this will be a treasure.
Do life with professing Christians long enough and this
will be a refuge for you. But I even say as the world is
going through many trials and as Christians are stuck in the
middle. Let's ask God for wisdom and he
will give it to us. Lord, we thank you.
For this Bible study and we thank you that.
In this small portion of Scripture, you have awakened our
hearts to the beauty of your wisdom.
It's very possible, Lord, that there are people in here who are
suffering in one way or another and they feel like they're
suffocating because they don't know what move to make next.
They don't know how to answer. They don't know how to counsel.
They don't know whether they should give or not give.
They don't know whether they should keep or not keep.
They don't know if they should respond or not respond.
Lord, we ask for all the things that we might be going through,
things that are unspoken, unknown to our neighbors.
Give us wisdom. Give us wisdom and help us
believe that when we ask you, you can answer that you are a
God who says if any of you to the least, to the greatest, to
the minister, to the stay at home, Mom, you are willing to
give the same gift and we pray we would know what to do.
Lord, as we go tomorrow to serve you, give us power, energy.
May we be like Stephen and have our faces shine like an Angel.
It made people witness a people who are not of this world, a
royal priesthood, those who are unashamed and bold for truth,
those who have the same cry as this mother who in love are
willing to sacrifice time and energy to say let that baby
live. And so, Lord, we thank you that
your word is eternal. It is timeless.
It applies in every way for all things and all generations.
Lord, we want to glorify and give you thanks as we worship
you. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Amen.
Let's stand, fellow soldiers in Christ.