Old Testament in a Year: 1 Kings 1-6

I have the privilege of opening up the word. Before I do, I just wanna make two very brief announcements. The first one is we are going to Israel in November. And we, oh, look at there. We're going, yeah, there it is. Great job in the back. I think we might have a QR code to put up. If we do, you can put it up for more information. If anybody is interested in going or has questions about it, I'm just gonna be up here. I'm gonna be up here immediately after the service, November 1st to 10th. We went last year with some refuge folks. It was amazing. I've been over 30 times, and all I can tell you is one trip to Israel will change you for a lifetime. To open up the scriptures on the Sea of Galilee or the Mount of Olives and just see scriptures come to life, we would love to have you come. If you're interested, you can, for more information on the tap tag, I don't know how to use the tap tag. What do they do, just take their phone? And what do they do? Tap, tap on the tag. Tap on the tag. Second announcement is in August, I have the privilege of being here

three consecutive Wednesday nights, beginning Wednesday, August 12th. And I'm gonna do a three-part series on Israel. Now, Nathan Smith, sorry for the popping, Nathan Smith, let me figure out how not to do that. Nathan Smith, he did a great job when he spoke. I'm gonna teach it like it's a class. So many, so many questions about Israel. Is Israel still the chosen people? Are Jews still the Jews of the Bible? How do we answer critical questions regarding Israel? Let me just tell you one thing it will not be. It will not be a political rah, rah, rah for the nation of Israel. Because every nation without God is corrupt. And we need God in America, and Israel needs God in Israel. The bottom line, though, is that the church plays a role in that, and if we're unaware of the role that the church plays where the salvation of Israel is concerned, I fear that we might miss out on one of the most important things that we as the church are called to do. August 12th, August 19th, and August 26th. So if you've got your Bibles, open up to 1 Kings chapter one. We are going through the Old Testament this year.

It's been amazing opening the Word and seeing how God is the same from Genesis to Revelation to 2026 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. And today, we're gonna be going through the first six chapters of the book of 1 Kings. Let me just say this, the book of 1 Kings was written over a period of about 120 years beginning in 970 B.C. It starts where 2 Samuel leaves off, and then it talks about a series of kings from Solomon all the way to the last king, actually, at the end of the book of 2 Kings. Do you know how many kings there were in Israel? 19. Do you know how many righteous kings of those 19 were in Israel? After Solomon? Zero. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, of each of them, they did evil in the sight of the Lord, or they followed the sins of Jeroboam. And I just wanna start off by telling you this very, very important thing. No matter who is in authority governmentally, God is in control. I don't care whether our current sitting president is of the party that you adhere to or not, God is in control. I don't care whether a king, an earthly king,

is evil or righteous, God is in control. And God's purposes cannot be thwarted. When we understand that, we live in a security that defies our natural circumstances. Because in the end, God is always glorified. So I want to start off by checking out what happens in the book of 1 Kings chapter one. David is in his old age, he's about to die. And before he does, his oldest living son usurps the throne. His name is Adonijah. Maybe you've never heard of him. I'm gonna be talking, I'm gonna give you my three points right now, can I do that? Because I'm so excited that I have three points. And I'm so excited that the last word of each point starts with P-R. I feel kind of like Pastor Jay. Okay, my first point is Adonijah's presumption. My second point is Solomon's prayer. And my third point is Hiram's provision. Adonijah's presumption, Solomon's prayer, and Hiram's provision. So this son, who's the oldest living son, David had about eight wives, if I'm not mistaken. He did a little better than Solomon, who had 700. Speaking of wives, we celebrated our 38th anniversary this week. So Beth, I don't know where you are.

You better be here and not watching online. But for those who are watching online, we welcome you. David had about eight wives, each of them bore children. The first three of those children had died. The fourth was Adonijah, who was the son of Haggith. There's the T-H again in the microphone. First Kings chapter one, verse five. Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Beware, friends, of anyone who exalts himself. Because we know in the word that they will be drastically dealt with. God opposes the proud. If you wanna start off in opposition to God, exalt yourself. Look at me, look what I've done. Look what I've built. He 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. His father, meaning David, had never crossed him at any time, asking, why have you done so? He was also very handsome, and he was born after Absalom. There are many great things that could be said about King David. But one thing that he had difficulty with in scripture, and it's kind of an amazing thing to me, he wasn't the strongest example of a good father. When it says his father never crossed him,

David never challenged Adonijah in anything that he did. You know, having kids is an awesome privilege. And loving your children is an awesome privilege. The Bible says, of God he disciplines those he loves. Beware of undisciplined children. And beware if we as fathers and mothers don't love our kids enough. And mothers don't love our kids enough to be able to sit them down and help them in the way. Train up a child. Listen to what Adonijah did. He conferred with Joab, who was one of David's mighty men, by the way, and with Abiathar the priest. And following Adonijah, they helped him. This is a coup. You know, Pastor Jay's away, maybe Scott comes into the church, and I grab a couple of good guys, Clay, who I'm sure would follow me. And I grab the guys and say, I am the pastor now. It's laughable, but what happened here is wild. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Ray, and the mighty men who belonged to David were not with Adonijah. Adonijah sacrificed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoholith. Which is beside Enrogel, he invited all of 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,

and Solomon, his brother. Listen, in the natural, this man had every natural right to be king, because that's how earthly kings give their thrones to the oldest living son. But if God chooses somebody other than the oldest living son, woe to us who oppose him. Because God throughout biblical history ended up making choices that defied human understanding. He chose Jacob over Esau, he chose Isaac over Ishmael, and do you know what, that ticks some people off. Because we get offended by what God chooses. But do you know that when God chooses something, he's looking for men and women after his heart who will embrace his choosing and not follow the ways of the world. Look, if I was choosing a football team right now, I would choose the 12, how many football players on a team, 12? 11, thank you. 11, I would choose the 11th, 11 biggest, fastest, meanest dudes in this room. You know who God might choose? The 11 slowest, ugliest, not the handsome. He chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise so that no one will boast before him. God's choices actually are built to offend human ways of thinking. So when God chooses something, beware of people who say they're no longer chosen. Wow, that'll preach.

Not because I'm saying something good. Think about, oh, sorry, guys on the camera, I'm stepping off the stage. Think of what God has chosen and think of the ways that the world comes against his choices. You know why? Because those whom God have chosen offend the ways of man and human thinking. Because they might challenge you in a way that you need to be challenged but you're not ready for. I make the mistake sometimes of scrolling on social media. One day, I am going to be disciplined enough to remove all stupid social media off of my phone. I'm not saying all social media is stupid. All the stupid social media, gone. Why do I choose to follow people who make me so angry? It's almost like, you know, if you're watching a train, it's almost like you know it's gonna wreck. Why do you keep looking? I can't believe the things I read and it actually aggravates me. And you know what I do? I keep looking them up. What's so and so saying today? And then I go. So much junk about people opposing what God has chosen. And people say they're right. Oh, I'm right. Oh, the truth's gonna come out. You'll see, you'll see.

And you'll be saying, oh, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. And then when the truth comes out, be careful. And be careful who you align yourself with. Because shortly after Adonijah said he was going to be king, every single one of these guys that align. themselves with Adonijah, ended up suffering the same demise that Adonijah did. Within one chapter, they were wiped off the face of the earth. Before Solomon becomes king, David calls him in 1 Chronicles 22 5, young and inexperienced, certainly not qualified in man's eyes to be king. But I want you to listen to this prophetic word that the Lord spoke over Solomon before he was born. 1 Chronicles 22 verses 8 to 10. This might not be on the screen, but if you've got your Bibles or your devices, you can follow along. But the word of the Lord came to me, meaning David, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before me. Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. Solomon. In Hebrew, the name Solomon, and I'm glad my parents didn't name me this in Hebrew, Shlomo. Shlomo. Sounds like some guy, well, doesn't forget it. Shlomo. But interesting thing about Shlomo is the letters sh, l, and m, S-H-L-M, which makes up the base Hebrew word, which is also shalom. Shalom. Peace. God's desire for his people, God's desire for you, is to live in peace. But can I just say this with regard to the word shalom and shlomo? Peace isn't just in absent of war. Peace infers wholeness, completeness. It infers that something was broken or shattered, and now it's put back together. When the prince of peace is on the throne, then our lives, despite the storms, will be lived in rest and peace. We might have natural kings and natural rulers and natural presidents, but can I just tell you something? If our lives aren't rooted in the prince of shalom, we're going to be living like crazy people. How am I going to survive? What am I going to do? Listen,

there may be some of you that have made unholy alliances. There might be adonijahs in your life right now. Oh, maybe they're not saying they're going to take over the church or the country, but maybe you've aligned yourself with someone who is the antithesis of God. Someone who's inferring that you have to follow after ways that are not pleasing to God. Can I encourage you, ask the Lord how you're to deal with those relationships because you'll never have shalom if you're with adonijah. God wants to do something because amidst every adonijah, there's a Solomon. In every situation where you find yourselves at unrest and at war, God always says, there's a Solomon. Oh, something greater than Solomon, Jesus, the prince of peace. Okay, how far did I get? Behold, a son will be born to you. His name shall be Solomon. I will give him peace and quiet to Israel. He shall build a house for my name and he shall be my son and I will be his father. David was prophesied long before Solomon was going to be born that he was going to be the rightful heir of the throne and the one who will build God's house for him. So, Nathan and Bathsheba, while David is in his dying days, come in, this is all in chapter 1 of 1 Kings, and Bathsheba says, listen, did you not promise that Solomon was going to be king? Nathan, the prophet, the very one who confronted him about Bathsheba, that we talked about a number of weeks ago, looks at David and says, listen, did you appoint somebody else king? Because right now, Adonijah is leading the crew. He sacrificed. He did everything. There are people following him. Listen to what David says. First Kings 129, the king vowed and said, as the Lord lives who has redeemed my life from all 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 in my place, I will indeed do it this day. Point one, Adonijah's presumption, the response to Adonijah's presumption is God prevails. No matter who tries to usurp the God-given authority in any place, God always wins.

Sometimes our election doesn't turn out the way we want, and you'll see people coming into church, I can't believe they elected him, her. They're so downtrodden. Do you know that every evil king sets up a plan for God to move mightily and victoriously? Do you know that the greatest revival in Israel, that right before this that happened, when the children of Israel go out from Egypt across the sea, they had an evil king who wanted to see them destroyed. I'm not saying, oh, we have to applaud Pharaoh and say he's the greatest and he's the best. No, but if Pharaoh's in office, can I tell you what? God's going to prevail. Thank God his ways cannot be thwarted. Point number two, Solomon's prayer. Solomon's a young guy. Some theologians estimate him late teens, early twenties. Remember Adonijah's disposition where he said he exalted himself. Listen to Solomon's prayer. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and God said, ask what you wish me to give you. Oh, stop right there. How cool would it be if God showed up right now in front of you and said, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Actually, the scriptures actually say, ask whatever you will in my name and I will give it to you. He's not talking about asking for Lamborghinis though. He's talking to people whose hearts are after him so that they can ask for the very things that are in God's heart. Listen to what Solomon says. Then Solomon said, you have shown great loving kindness to your servant, David, my father. Long as he walked before you in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart towards you, and you've reserved him this great loving kindness that you have given him a son to

sit on the throne as it is this day. Now, oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in my father's place. Yet I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. Just stop right there. Friends, can I encourage you when you pray, get off your high horse of telling God who you are and what you deserve and come low as a child. Ask whatever you will in that position. Jesus, there's something about little children that God loves because they're not into themselves. Hopefully. Hopefully. Listen to this. Your servant is in the midst of your people, which you have chosen a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours. You know, one thing that strikes me about. Solomon's prayer is not what he asked for, but what he didn't ask for. I mean, if I was in that position, you know, or even today, think about the selfish prayers that people pray. Lord, give me, give me a great ministry. Well, if it's for God to be glorified, that's awesome. But many times people who are praying, Lord, give me a great ministry. It's for them to be glorified. Lord, you know, they're not asking for eternal things. You know, give me a healing ministry. There's nothing wrong with healing ministries, friends, but healing ministries are an ultimate. Because there are going to be many that come to the Lord on that day and says, Father, I've healed the sick in your name.

He says, I never knew you. So let's not ask for something that's not ultimate. Let's ask God for his kingdom. Seek first his kingdom, and then all these things will be added. So what strikes me is what Solomon didn't ask for, and listen to the Lord's response. 1 Kings 3.10. I don't think this is going to be on the screen. It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God said to him, because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice. Behold, I've done according to your words. I've given you a wise and discerning heart so that there is none like you now or after, nor shall one arise after you. I've also given you what you have not asked for, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you in all their days. If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days. Friends, when we pray, I encourage you, be honest with the Lord. Reminded of Jesus in the garden, facing one of the most horrific deaths you can imagine, and hours before that, he actually says, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.

Jesus was being honest with his father. The Lord doesn't mind when you tell him that you're going through difficult things. But then there's a powerful word. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done, O Lord. Pray honest prayers to Jesus. Pray humble prayers to Jesus. But may the ending always be not my will, but thine be done. And God will do. You know what the Bible says, which goes right along with this? He does exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all you can ask or think. The greatest things that you can think of are nothing compared to what God wants to give you. Adonijah's P. Adonijah's presumption. Solomon's. Hiram's provision. How many, honestly, honestly, how many of you before this morning have ever heard the name Hiram in the Bible? Okay. The vast majority have not. Hiram is one of my heroes. He's a king from Tyre, T-Y-R-E, which is in Lebanon. Just to Israel's north. He's a Lebanese king. By the way, I married a Lebanese wife. Did I tell you we celebrated our 30th? Okay, let's go.

I love, I think this is so beautiful. Because here's a king, a Gentile king from Lebanon. By the way, Lebanon right now, at least over the last number of years, is being ruled militarily by a rogue terrorist organization that fires inadvertent rockets into Israel. But do you know that I believe that all of that is gonna turn around? Not because Lebanon is bad and Israel is good, but because God is God. But it's remarkable to me that a king from Lebanon is needed to provide for Israel. You see, when God mandated that the temple, his house be built, they needed an abundance of cedar wood. And as God would have it, Israel has no cedar. Isn't that interesting that God would ask somebody to do something, but there'd be no natural... provision for it? Is it possible that God will ever ask you to do something that you can't do yourself? And that's who God is. If God asks you to do something that you can do, friends, I wonder if God's really asking. He asked Solomon to build this house with cedar and there's no cedar trees in Israel. You've heard the term cedars of Lebanon. This guy, Hiram is used this Gentile king. Listen to this. When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly because Solomon reached out to him and said, Hey, you got cedars anyway we can use them. Blessed be the Lord today who has given David a wise son over this great people. So Hiram sent word to Solomon saying, I've heard the message you've sent me. I will do what you desire concerning the cedar and the Cyprus timber. My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by the sea to the place where you direct me and I will have them broken up there and you shall carry them away and you shall

accomplish my desire by giving food to my household. So Hiram gave Solomon as much as he desired of the cedars and the Cyprus timber. Solomon then gave Hiram 20,000 cores of wheat as food for his household, 20 cores of heated oil. Thus Solomon would give Hiram year after year. The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon just as he promised him and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon and the two of them made a covenant. Think about this. A Gentile king partnering with a, by the way, the word Gentile is not a dirty word. Gentile simply means nations. The, is it the Greek word or the, the whatever word goyim is nations, people of the nations, the goyim, the Gentiles. God had a Gentile king partnering with a Jewish king for the house of the Lord to be built in Jerusalem. Why? So that God could dwell with his people. That's remarkable. It's not, it's not one nation is better than every other nation. No, no, no. It's one nation. Israel was chosen by God to be the bearer of salvation for every nation, right? Jesus was born a Jew. You know that? Please say yes. He was born into a Jewish home. He lived a Jewish life. He died king of the Jews and he's coming back as the lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah. So I don't know if I said that before here. I've said it once already. He's a Jew. When it speaks of him in the book of Revelation as one who's opening the scrolls in heaven, he's called the lion of the tribe of Judah. Friends, the Jews aren't going away. As much as people would like to see them destroyed, they hold a place in world redemption and God is looking for the Hirams of the world to come and help build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Do you know that when Jesus comes back, he's not coming to Kannapolis? 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 10. I lied. I have four points. Adonijah's presumption, Solomon's prayer, Hiram's provision, God's promise. It happened. The house of the Lord is built. The temple is in Jerusalem. Listen to what happened. You guys can come on up. It happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord. Everybody say glory. The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

God made a promise in the book of Habakkuk. All the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Glory of the Lord. The end of the story, friends, for those of us who bow our knee to Jesus as King, is God is glorified. God is glorified. So I wanna encourage you today with a few things. I've got some takeaway points, and then I'd like to close with a song, but I'm not singing Trent is. And everybody say glory to God. Takeaway point number one, God's plan will always be accomplished, no matter how intense the plans of the enemy may be. Point number two, be careful who you align yourself with. Takeaway point three, when you pray, pray humble prayers, and God will do exceedingly abundantly beyond all you can ask or think. Number four of my takeaway points, the nations are needed where the salvation of Israel is concerned, and number five, he will never fail.