AM 1 Kings 1:5-6

Chapter 1, page 334 in your pew Bible if you're using one of those.! 1 Kings 1, verse 31-31.

1 Kings 1, verses 1-31.

Hear the word of God. Now King David was old and advanced in years, and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm.

Therefore his servants said to him, Let a young woman be sought for my lord, the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord, the king, may be warm.

So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.

Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, Why have you done thus and so? He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom.

He conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and Abiathar, the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him. But Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Re, and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the serpent stone, which is beside Enrogel. And he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah.

But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the mighty men, or Solomon his brother. Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it?

Now therefore come, let me give you advice that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David, and say to him, Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?

Why then is Adonijah king? Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words. So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber.

Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king. Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, What do you desire?

She said to him, My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne. And now behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it.

He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army.

But Solomon, your servant, he has not invited. And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

Otherwise, it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.

While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. And he told the king, Here is Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king, with his face to the ground.

And Nathan said, My lord the king, have you said Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? For he has gone down this day, and has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest.

And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, Long live king Adonijah. But me, your servant, Zadok the priest, and Benaniah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited.

Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king, and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

Then king David answered, Call Bathsheba to me. So she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. And the king swore, saying, As the lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, and as I swore to you by the lord the god of Israel, saying, Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place, even so will I do this day.

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and paid homage to the king, and said, May my lord, king David, live forever. Amen.

May the lord add his blessing to the public reading of his holy and inspired word. That passage that we've just read, in the book of 1 Kings, chapter 1, Today we'll be looking at the character of this person, Adonijah.

This morning we'll be looking at the first, verse 5 and verse 6, and this evening we'll be looking at verse 7 to 10. So do come back this evening for not quite a conclusion of the life of Adonijah, but at least that portion in 1 Kings, chapter 1.

So, 1 Kings, chapter 1 and verse 5 and 6, we read these words, Now Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself, saying, I will be king.

And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, Why have we done this, thus, and so?

He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom, and so on. Now the book of 1 and 2 Kings gives us a summary of the history of kings from King Saul to Zedekiah.

As far as the authors of these two books are concerned, some have suggested it might be Jeremiah who wrote the book of kings, and so some have said that he's giving us a history of the kings through the lens of the prophet.

I think more importantly as to who the author is, is the purpose of the letter. The purpose of the letter. It's been said that the book of kings is written to have an effect upon the readers.

The book of kings is written to have an effect upon the readers. The general objective was to bring about change in these readers, to create persons different from what they were before the reading took place.

You see that? And the readers in this case would be the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity. These are exiles who have fallen away from the Lord and fallen so far away from God, they've disobeyed God's word during the time of the Babylonian captivity, that they needed somebody to come along and jolt them from their sin and indifference and their disobedience.

And so this book is written so that it would have an impact, an effect upon the readers, to change them, to make them different from what they were before the reading took place.

And so the book of kings is all about a proclamation, it's all about preaching, it's all about declaring God's truth to a people who have fallen far from the Lord, who are indifferent to the Lord, who needed to be changed from within.

And the future of Israel's success is all highly dependent on their changed hearts. There must be a fresh attitude, the right attitude towards God's word.

And there must be, there must be submission to God's word in order for there to be success in Israel. In other words, 1 Kings is also for us.

When we read God's word during the reading earlier, I read all 31 verses, there must be a change in us. We cannot leave this place saying, well, that was all good and fun.

No, there must be a change in us. There must be, the reading and the preaching of God's word must bring about a new character in us. If we are born again already, if we are Christians, then it should be more sanctifying.

It should transform us more and more into the likeness of Christ. And if we are not believers this morning, then, well, then it should jolt us and bring us to salvation, bring us to see the glorious, crucified, and risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so, the first thing we need to ask ourselves is will there be any difference? Will there be any difference for us after this morning and even this evening service?

And the example that we have before us this morning is the example of Adonijah. A few things can be said about him. He's one of the sons of David.

And you read, you've read, as you're doing the reading, you see that he, basically he set himself up as a king. And so, the first point I can say about this is the sin of self-exaltation.

The sin of self-exaltation. This morning and this evening is all about Adonijah and his character, his motivation, we'll touch a bit more about his downfall.

But just to begin with, we'll look at what he's like. The sin of self-exaltation. Verse 5, Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself saying, I will be king.

And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. Was Adonijah meant to be king? Was he even ready to be king?

Was he even called or anointed to be king? Now, God had already told the Israelites and he's already instructed the Israelites that both people and rulers, whether kings, generals, priests, whatever, they must obey God's laws.

They must obey God's word. Disaster will fall on them if they fail to do so. So, these are very, very high standards that God has set for his people in the Old Testament times.

And in, for example, Deuteronomy chapter 28, you can turn to that in your own time. In chapter 28, we read about the blessings for obedience. In verse 1, we read, and if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

That was promised to Israel. Well, evidently, they didn't do that because by the time we come to, towards the end of the Old Testament, they were all dispersed, scattered, nations, been divided.

In one sense, there's almost quite a bit of chaos there. But if they faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful, then the Lord will set them high above all the nations of the earth.

They'll be highly blessed. And there's also curses for disobedience in verse 15 in Deuteronomy 28. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

And so, you know, it's a very high standard that God has placed upon his people, and certainly for those who are going to be rulers.

And then Adonijah thinks, I will be king. Well, was he even ready for that? We'll see that he wasn't even called to be that position, but he imagined in his own mind that he can do it.

Who is going to succeed David as king? First kings, we know that when David was king, he was a godly king. Yes, despite all his past and all his many failings, but he was a man after God's own heart.

But he's becoming an elderly man, and his reign was coming to an end. Israel was prosperous, God was good to them.

And so who was going to succeed him? Who was going to succeed David as the next king? Now, Solomon is already tipped to be the next king.

Solomon was son of Bathsheba, and he was going to be the next king. And this decision was already made known to his family, to David's family and close friends.

In the reading earlier, Nathan and Bathsheba came to David, and David told both of them that Solomon was going to be the next king. You see that in verse, for example, in verse 13, and so on.

And then later on, he's going to announce to the whole nation that Solomon was going to be the next king. In verse 17 and verse 30, in this same chapter.

And in fact, it wasn't just David's idea that Solomon was going to be king. This was already being determined by God himself. You remember in 1 Chronicles, when David was preparing to build the temple of God, and God told David, no, you're not going to do that.

In 1 Chronicles, chapter 22, you can turn to it in your own time, we read that David said to Solomon, my son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God.

That's his desire. But the Lord said to him, you shed much blood and wage great wars and you shall not build a house to my name because you shed so much blood before me on the earth.

But this is what God said to David, behold a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest, I will give him rest, for his name shall be Solomon and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days and so on.

So it's been prophesied, earmarked, that Solomon, his son, was going to be the next king. Now, why Solomon?

Why not the eldest living son, Adonijah? Adonijah was, technically, he was the next eldest living son.

Absalom, his brother, and Ammon, his other brother, are both dead. And so Adonijah was next in line. So you perhaps understand why Adonijah said, I will be king.

Perhaps he was thinking like all the other nations around Israel, you know, where all the kings are all handed down to the eldest son, Adonijah may have thought, well, there you go, that will be me, I will be the next king.

However, Adonijah seems to have forgotten that God doesn't do that all the time. Jacob and Esau, Esau came first, I know they're twins, but Esau came first and a few minutes later Jacob came but Jacob was going to be the leader of the nation.

David and his brothers, in fact, David, his own, Adonijah's own dad and his brothers, same thing. David was called to be the king, not the eldest brothers.

king. And so perhaps Adonijah may want the crown but it is God who would determine who is going to be king, not Adonijah.

But yet Adonijah wanted the crown and he sincerely believed that he was entitled to the crown, being the next in line to be king.

He had this unchecked pride. he wanted to claim a kingship that God had not granted. He wanted to be a king even though God had not promised him that.

And the sin of self-exaltation is evident in there. The sin of self-exaltation. Not only did he think that he was going to be king, he made preparations for that.

He relied on the external displays of power to make him look more regal. more king like. You know, you see that he prepared chariots and horsemen.

And then he had 50 men to run before him. Presumably that's part of the military. It's almost as if he's going to take the crown by force.

He gathered himself military personnel to go before him like a king would to take the crown by force. And then he's going to recruit Abitha, the priest, and Joab who was one of the great generals of King David's army.

He's going to recruit them. Isn't it great that if you think you're going to be king to make yourself look more king-like by having a priest, a general, part of the army?

He forgot only God can raise kings. And if God can raise kings, well he can also remove kings too. Daniel chapter 2, we read he changes times and seasons.

He's God. He removes kings and sets up kings. God does this. Not Solomon, not David, and certainly not Adonijah.

God determines these things. And later we see that even though Solomon was formally recognized as king, even though Solomon was recognized as king, we see that later on there's a half-hearted repentance of Adonijah.

It wasn't covered in our reading but in the second part of chapter 1, we see in verse 50 that Adonijah feared Solomon so he arose and went and took off the horns of the altar.

David had declared Solomon to be king, the rightful king, as appointed by God himself. And now towards the end of chapter 1, Adonijah feared Solomon and he had this half-hearted repentance.

He clung to the horns of the altar. That's a sign of repentance. But we see later on that it was very much a half-hearted repentance. Even though Solomon, king Solomon spared his life.

King Solomon spared his life in verse 53. King Solomon sent and they brought him down from the altar and he came and paid homage to Solomon. Solomon said to him, go to your house.

We're going to see later on in chapter 2 that he still, even though he's been chastised by Solomon that he's not going to be king, there's this half-hearted repentance there.

We're going to see later on in chapter 2 verse 15 that he still thinks that he's king. We read in chapter 2 verse 15 when Adonijah went to see that Sheba, the mother of Solomon and he said to her, in verse 15, he said, you know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel fully expected me to reign.

You see the cheek in that character, Adonijah? Even though he knows that he's been caught out and he's not meant to be king, yet he still felt that he deserved to be king.

There's a lesson there for us already. We live in a day and age where the sin of self-exaltation is everywhere. Everywhere.

The culture promotes it. Social media encourages it. You see that we're always encouraged. The culture and the social media tells us that we should promote ourselves, demand our rights, make up our own self-importance.

There are words which used to mean something else, but today means something quite different. We're empowered, we're empowered to do certain things. We are champions to do certain things.

The word hero, the word brave, now means something to do with us. We bring ourselves up, we exalt ourselves. Wow, that person is so brave, that person is a hero.

That is, sadly, that is the sin of self-exaltation or the sin of self-promotion. We can do all of that and imagine that we can promote ourselves, we can puff ourselves up with self-importance and ignoring our own character and our own spiritual accountability to the Lord and to others.

If you see that is happening in the culture today, in society today, well, it's even worse when you see that in the Christian church.

Self-promotion, self-exaltation amongst Christians, it does damage to us because it replaces our humble reliance and humble trust in the Lord.

Just read the words of the Apostle Paul. In Romans chapter 12, we read, for by the grace of God given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself or herself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

We can safely say that Adonijah didn't practice that. He thought himself more highly than he ought. He thought himself more highly than deserved.

He did not think with sober judgment. friends, I trust we are not going down that road like Adonijah, but we will always have, always exercise humble reliance and trust in the Lord.

And to think, not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment according to the measure of faith that God has assigned to us.

Well, the other thing we can say about Adonijah, he shows us the reality of sin within the professing church. He shows us a bit of the reality of sin within a professing church.

You see, if his deeds, if his wicked ideas, if his sinful ideas is demonstrated and written down for us as he exercises his unauthorized kingship, we can see all that within the so-called covenant nation of Israel.

Should it not surprise us that sometimes sin does reside within the church of Jesus Christ? Well, when we studied the life of Adonijah, we should study his life and learn the lessons how we ought not to live.

I trust you can see why we are looking at the character of Adonijah. It's not to learn how to be like him. Far from it. It's to learn how not to be like him. That's the beauties of the word of God.

The beauty of God's word. It not only tells us how we should live, but also tells us how we ought not to live. Adonijah is that. But you see, there's some in society today who say, especially those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will say that, oh well, there's so much sin within churches today, it means that the Bible is not to be trusted, and that the Christian faith is a fraud.

Actually, we can say quite the opposite. I would say that it's actually the opposite. the fact that there is sin found even amongst professing Christians actually confirms the Christian faith.

Because Adonijah is a good example there. And even the Lord himself, the Lord Jesus Christ himself has informed his disciples that evil will exist in society.

We read in Matthew 24, because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold. And not only the love of many will grow cold, but sadly even within the professing church as well, amongst churches.

And so by the time we come to Timothy, the time of Paul and writing to Timothy, we read in 2 Timothy chapter 3, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, by having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth, and wander off into myths.

So the fact that there is sin within professing Christians, it doesn't invalidate, or it doesn't mean that the Bible is untrue.

No, it actually shows us the reality of it. The Bible does show us the reality of sin, but it also does tell us that one day the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return.

And when he returns, he will sort out all of this. Now, what else can we say about Adonijah?

There is the sin of self-exaltation, self-promotion, but there is also the problem of over-indulgence, the problem of over-indulgence. And look at verse 6, first part.

His father, this is David, had never at any time displeased him by asking, why have you done thus and so? This is the problem of over-indulgence.

David was too soft on Adonijah. David's lack of instructing and lack of disciplining his own son to avoid any kind of confrontation led to some form of unchecked narcissism, led to Adonijah cultivating, growing, this over-inflated sense of self-importance within himself.

And not only did David being too soft for Adonijah led to this inflated sense of self-importance, but it also meant that Adonijah grew up with a lack of empathy that became worse and worse over time.

David's refusal, by David's refusal to just frankly tell Adonijah to put him in his place in the nicest possible way that his behavior was wrong, by not doing that, we see sin flourishing.

you know, this is not the only time it happened in the Old Testament. You remember Eli and his sons in 1 Samuel chapter 2, the priest Eli, remember he was asked to look after Samuel after Samuel was handed to him by Hannah, he raised up Samuel as if he was his own son, wonderful, did a fantastic job there, but his own sons, you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 12, now the sons of Eli were worthless, in some translations it says the sons of Belial or scoundrels, wicked men, the sons of Eli, on one hand he raised up Samuel to be a wonderful priest and yet on the other hand his sons were worthless, scoundrels, the sons of Eli, we read in the same verse, did not know or had no regard for the

Lord, that's down, that is written there to pin it directly on Eli, and Eli knew it as well, he didn't discipline his sons when it mattered, and David did not discipline Adonijah at the time when he mattered, he did not at any time displease him by asking why have you done thus and so, now, David thankfully when he came to Solomon, he did tell him not to go down the road of idolatry, so at least David did kind of, not quite save himself, but you know, in one sense, you know, try to rectify the problem, in chapter 2, David's instruction to Solomon, he told Solomon to keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written, a law of

Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. Now, Solomon went his own way, he had a thousand women, he had idolatry, that is pinned on Solomon, that was his problem, that was his own fault.

We cannot pin that on David, David did tell Solomon. But in this case, with Adonijah, we may ask, why did he not say anything to Adonijah, when Adonijah was growing up?

Did he perhaps think that, you know, got two other sons, I need to cultivate them, the first two, well, you know what happened to the first two sons. Of David, Absalom, and Ammon.

Both betrayed. And Adonijah is another example of the problem of over indulgence. You know, one person put it this way, bringing up children is a bit like pruning a tree.

You prune a tree in order to get rid of the dead branches, and by getting rid of the dead branches, the healthier branches will bear more fruit.

If you don't prune your tree, what happens, the tree, the branches, the weight of the branches, would just basically bend the tree, and the tree can snap under its own unbalanced weight.

for those of us, for our parents, sometimes we need to be, this is a lesson there for us, we cannot be like David.

David had never at any time displeased him asking, what have you done thus and so? It's a reminder that for us as parents, or perhaps even grandparents, sometimes we need to tell our children or grandchildren, in a loving way, that some things that they're doing is wrong, or maybe not just wrong, but maybe the trajectory of where they're going is not going to be healthy, spiritually speaking.

I know this is so counter-cultural today, the fact that parents have to discipline our children, set boundaries for our children, to confront them in a loving way.

I know this is not very popular, but this verse reminds us what will happen if we do not, if we allow our children, if we overindulge in our children.

And again, this is nothing new. Deuteronomy chapter 21, we read this verse, this few verses. If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and drunkard, and so on.

There's a time and place for parents and grandparents to tell children and grandchildren where they're going in the wrong direction.

If the trajectory of their life is going in the wrong direction, we need to tell them. I know, like I said, modern society is quite against that whole idea, and in fact nowadays you see there's quite a thing in America and certainly in this country as well, where children are divorcing their parents, or what they call no contact.

If we overindulge our children, the danger is there. The danger is there. So trust that we will not go down that road.

Like I said, the Bible does tell us how we ought to live, but it also tells us how we ought not to live, and this is one example of what we ought not to do. But what else can we say?

What else can we say about Adonijah in the last few minutes? Verse 6 again, he was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom.

Interesting that they put this little detail, that the Bible puts this little detail in there. Whether it be Jeremiah who wrote it, I don't know, but he was also a very handsome man.

nothing like a good-looking king, right? If you think about it, it's nothing quite like a good-looking king. Nothing like a good-looking ruler. JFK, John Kennedy, the 35th president of the USA, he was president in 1961.

apparently the voters voted for him not because of his talent and his skills and all the rest of that, but they voted for him because he was young and handsome.

He was young and handsome. So the electorate gravitated towards his youth and his looks. well, something more closer to home, you may remember when Charles was made king, Charles III now, was king.

Do you remember what happened in the social media and so on? Perhaps you don't go on social media, that's good. Many people didn't want him to be king because they thought he was old.

But who did he want to be king? Oh, the young, the handsome William, and his equally young and good-looking wife. Now, sadly for Adonijah, this little point, he was also a very handsome man.

I think it's put there to remind us, sadly, the problem with style over substance. The folly of superficial qualities to rely on one's looks and one's youth.

external beauty, external looks, and even natural privilege like Adonijah, cannot compensate for bad character.

The looks, the youth, is no replacement for bad character. We cannot compensate for that.

the world may have a certain criteria for leadership. And quite often you see in this day and age, the world's criteria for leadership very rarely falls on a person's character.

Usually it tends to be the biggest noise that they can make on social media or in the public sphere. The bigger the noise they make, the more likely they're going to be elected.

No question about what the person's character is like. And we cannot do that. It may happen in society, it may happen in politics, that's one thing, but we cannot do that.

Certainly not within the church of Jesus Christ. When any office bearer is chosen, when office bearers are chosen, they're not chosen on the lines of charisma, on youth, certainly not on education.

And I've heard that far too often. This person is going to be an office bearer because this person has got a PhD. I don't see how that is a reflection of a person's character.

1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus 2 give us the blueprint, the template of what an office bearer should look like.

You don't see youth, charisma, education, or being trendy, but it's all about character. Which is probably why in 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7 we read, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart, the character.

Some of you may remember the car, the DeLorean, perhaps maybe before some of your time. If you watch the movie, Back to the Future, it's that car with that funny gull-wing doors, the doors that open like that, rather than the traditional way of opening on the side, it opens like that.

It's got this stainless steel look about it. If you watch the movie, Back to the Future, it was a fantastic car. It didn't make its appearance in Singapore, where I grew up, but it was a car that everybody thought, wow, got to have one of those, that was the car to have.

I'm not sure if DeLorean was in this country, maybe it was. But if you know anything about the DeLorean itself, have you ever seen a DeLorean after that car?

I don't think you see that, I haven't seen any. But apparently that DeLorean, that particular car had a lot of defects. Apparently, and I don't know about the ins and outs of it, but the engine that was underpowered, it had failed electrical systems, so that sometimes even the door couldn't open properly or couldn't close properly, so all that fancy door mechanism had its faults.

But people loved it because it looked futuristic, it looks fantastic. But yet, the car was, at the end of the day, not really a great success.

we cannot rely on our natural advantages and try and hide behind our natural advantages because at the end of the day, it fosters some kind of false security.

Adonijah evidently must have done that. He was a very handsome man, born after Absalom. Makes in line to be king. I'm young, I'm good looking. Got to be me.

Must be me. Must be, I must be the next king. We cannot rely on our birthright, we cannot rely on our looks, our outward attributes.

What we ought to do is we ought to cultivate our Christian graces. If we are believers this morning, well, that's what we ought to be cultivating. We ought to be asking the Lord to, cultivate Christian gifts and graces.

That we put to death the sins in our life. That we grow and build Christian character, all the fruits of the spirit.

That's what we ought to be praying for. God. But, you know, the example of Adonijah just reminds us that we certainly need the gospel.

We need the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we see Adonijah exalting himself, I will be king. See what Jesus Christ, great David's greatest son, see what he was like.

In Philippians 2 verse 6, we read that Jesus Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Did not count equality a thing to be used to his own advantage.

Yes, this is Jesus Christ who is both God and man, but yet he did not see that as something that he can take advantage of. But what did he do? In verse 8, Philippians 2, Jesus help may may may Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.