Thursday, March 26, 2020

* Solomon makes his requests to God


Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet


I Kings 3:1-14   In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said,  

Ask what I shall give thee.


And Solomon said

THOU hast shewed unto THY servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with THEE; and THOU hast kept for him this great kindness, that THOU hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

And now, O Lord my God, THOU hast made THY servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

And THY servant is in the midst of THY people which THOU hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

Give therefore THY servant an understanding heart to judge THY people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this THY so great a people? 


And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 

And God said unto him

Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

And if thou wilt walk in MY ways, to keep MY statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

***

Solomon loved wisdom and Solomon taught us about wisdom in his life actions and in his Book of writing of Proverbs. 

Proverbs 1:1-7   The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:  To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

(The fear of the Lord is a respect and fear concerning that WORD spoken to us by God through HIS Spirit, for we know God is right regardless of what anyone might think, and to follow and obey that Word wholly is critical for us.)

Proverbs 3:13-15    Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

We must develop a desire for wisdom and really come to understand how precious wisdom is for us.

I spent much time in these proverbs concerning wisdom when I was a new Christian and revisiting them now is like seeing an old, cherished friend again.


***

So we must learn to love wisdom and to seek wisdom, not cherishing our own thinking.

Some people I've met do not love the truth and do not seek for truth, even in secular matters.

One woman clearly showed me this.  She loves her own wisdom and doesn't care about establishing the truth of the matter.  I was speaking to her of various points of truth and she seemed shocked.  She had thought her own thinking to be right and never considered that her thinking might be wrong.  She really didn't care about the truth.  (This was a secular matter.)  She just imagined something and went with what "she thought" without investigating the matter for facts.  I separated myself from this woman when I saw this, for why would I want to be around a person who didn't care about establishing  the truth from available facts?  Whether secular or spiritual, facts are important.

Recently I was writing something and I made a statement which seemed right and even clever.  But before the writing was published, I checked the facts and found my thinking to be wrong.  Therefore I changed the writing.  I care about truth for I am born of truth.

John 8:43-45   Jesus said to the Jews:  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

The Holy Spirit given to us by God is the Spirit of Truth:

John 16:13    Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

If a person does not care enough about truth to establish the truth, that person cannot be of God no matter how much he professes to be of God.

John 8:37-42    I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.   

Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 



(They try to "kill us" by arguing against that truth we have heard from God.  If possible, they would turn us from the truth and get us to follow the devil with themselves.  These are the religious people who would turn us from that word we have heard from God, if they could do so.)
Jesus says:  Ye do the deeds of your father. 

Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 

If they are of God they will understand the truth when we speak truth.  Instead they argue against that truth which we have heard from God.  They show that God is not their father even though they have been baptized in water and call themselves Christians and say, "Jesus is Lord."

Matthew 24:4-5  Jesus says:  Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

If they come saying, "Jesus is Lord", and they argue against the word we have heard from God, be swift to put them away from you for they are not from God.

***

When David was dying, he charged Solomon as follows:

I Kings 2:1-12    Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,

I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man;

And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in HIS ways, to keep HIS statutes, and HIS commandments, and HIS judgments, and HIS testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself: 

(We do not follow the "law of Moses" today, which concerned sacrificing animals for sins and trespasses, because we have the sacrifice of Jesus today.  Since they did not have that sacrifice Jesus paid in those days, God made a temporary way to come to HIM through the sacrifice of animals and use of the blood of animals.  But regardless, we do follow many of the written promises of God given to HIS people in the Old Testament and we can learn from the examples of the Old Testament and we can heed many of the words in spiritual terms today.)

4 That the Lord may continue HIS word which HE spake concerning me, saying, If THY children take heed to their way, to walk before ME in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said HE) a man on the throne of Israel. 


5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 

Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. 

David is basically telling Solomon to kill Joab which would clear the house of David to be established.  In New Testament terms, we "kill them" by putting them away from us.  "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."  (I Corinthians 5:5)

David says:

7 But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother. 


8 And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the Lord, saying, "I will not put thee to death with the sword."  

9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.  (kill him) 

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

***

I Kings 2:11-12   And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.

Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.


Solomon took early, swift action against the enemies of God:  against Adonijah, his 1/2 brother who tried to steal the throne and make himself king over Solomon; against Joab who had blood on his hands in times of peace; and against Shemni who cursed David and lived in evil and had wickedness in his own heart.

By these actions of wisdom, Solomon removed the wicked and established his throne.

Our flesh wants to make excuses for evil doers, keeping them around us.

The Spirit would remove them from us.

II Corinthians 6:14-18    Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?


And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be MY people. 

(Many in churches show themselves to be idolaters as they wear religious medallions and crosses and touch these to feel faith; by falling down before their graven images and praying or reciting scriptures; and by conjuring feeling of emotions through things which they see and think to be religious.)

II Corinthians 6  
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you.

And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

***


Certainly we forgive that person of the world who turns from his evil and heeds scripture, but when that person is called "a brother" and returns to evil, then we have to do strong acts against such a person.

Paul says:  Turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.  I Corinthians 5:5

This might be the only way this "brother" can be saved!  For there is no more sacrifice for his sins after his sins have been forgiven.  To try again to turn him to God would be to crucify Jesus afresh.

Thus we see the following scripture:

Hebrews 6:4-8    For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put HIM to an open shame.

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.


Hebrews 10:26-31   For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

For we know HIM that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto ME, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge HIS people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

II Peter 2:20-22   For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

There might be one chance for such a person.
  If we will turn him over to Satan by refusing to keep company with him, by refusing to sit with him at church and by refusing to eat the word of God with him, his flesh might be destroyed but his spirit saved in the day of the Lord.

I repeat Paul's statement in I Corinthians 5:5   To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And Paul tells the church:

I Corinthians 5:11;13  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat ... Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

***

In the Old Testament, men such as Solomon, killed the wrongdoer with the sword.

In the New Testament church, we "kill the wrongdoer" by putting that person away from us, knowing if we do this his spirit could be saved in the day of the Lord though his flesh, for now, be destroyed by Satan.

We are not going to restore such a person by prayer or counsel as most in the churches try to do.  Only by separation from the godly does he have a chance, for there is no more sacrifice for his sins after he has been enlightened and returned to his sins, according to scriptures which we must choose to believe.

And here is another problem for us:  If we try to stay around that brother who has returned to sins, then we put ourselves in danger.

Romans 1 tells of God turning people over to a reprobate mind when they refused to keep HIM in their knowledge ... and when they took pleasure in those who lived in sins.

Romans 1:28; 32    And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient ... Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

There is a woman I cared for like a daughter ... she was humorous to me.  I knew she was rejecting the word of God as she attended church regularly, declaring herself to be a Catholic, not a Christian. But I did take pleasure in her because she was so humorous to me.  Finally God broke me away from her and caused me to focus on the truth about her, that she did not care for the truth of God and she loved her own way.  Then I put her away from me by not communicating with her.  But if we continue to take pleasure in the unrighteous, what will happen to us?

And what if we wish the ungodly well?

II John vv. 8-11    Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.


Doesn't it frighten you when someone says, "Have a good day" ?

What if that person they "bless" with their words is about to commit fornication that day?  That makes you a part of their sin if you bless them and wish them well.

I'm very careful about doing this.  I rarely tell anyone to have a good day, unless I'm sure that is a godly person.

Proverbs 31:10   Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

By our words we will be justified ... and by our words we will be condemned.

If we speak godly words we will be justified ... but if we speak ungodly words by blessing with our flesh, we will condemn ourselves.

So we have to be very careful about blessing another person with our words.


***

This is far from that which is being taught in most church groups today but they themselves have fallen away from scriptures and have set up another doctrine to approve people and to make them feel comfortable in their sins so no one repents and all are destroyed in those church groups.

Antichrist in the churches:

II Thessalonians 2:3-4   Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 

(A falling away:  church groups will fall away from portions of scripture, allowing antichrist to rule in the church group.)

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

10-12   And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.


***

Solomon establishes his kingdom by heeding the charge given him by David through God, and we establish that given us by God by heeding that shown us by God by His Spirit through the New Testament.

But beware when reading the New Testament concerning forgiveness:  There is a difference between that brother who returns to his sins after enlightenment and the person who is first born again.

We separate ourselves from one and accept the other among us.

*****