Gtcotr/ss070917
Being
right isn’t as important as doing right. The Book of James says that to know
what to do and then to not do it is the epitome of sin.
This
morning we are going to take a brief look at the life of King Solomon.
1 Kings 3 NKJV
11 Then God said to Solomon:
“Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself,
nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies,
but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,
12 “behold, I have done
according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart,
so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you
arise after you.
13 “And I have also given you
what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be
anyone like you among the kings all your days.
1 Kings 4 NKJV
29 ¶ And God gave Solomon
wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the
sand on the seashore.
30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom
excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.
31 For he was wiser than all
men — than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the
sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
32 He spoke three thousand
proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.
33 Also he spoke of trees,
from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall;
he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.
34 And men of all nations,
from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the
wisdom of Solomon.
1 Kings 11 NKJV
1 ¶ But King Solomon loved
many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites —
2 from the nations of whom
the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with
them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their
gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred
wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his
heart.
4 For it was so, when Solomon
was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was
not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
5 For Solomon went after
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites.
6 Solomon did evil in the
sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father
David.
7 Then Solomon built a high
place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.
8 And he did likewise for all
his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Knowing
what God wants is only half the equation. Even the devil and all his demons
know what God wants. The Bible says that they are afraid of God but yet they still
don’t obey Him.
There are only two things we need to pass every test in life
1.
We need to know the right answer
2.
We need to apply that answer
Only two things stand between you and your success in every arena of
life
1.
Knowing the right thing to do - which is
often evident
2.
Doing the right thing – which is
the hard part
God
can’t help us if we are unwilling to do the right thing. We can’t blame our
problems on others … even if it’s true, blame won’t fix it. God is committed to
giving us the right answers … the rest is up to us!
